gerness, and looked into her eyes, as if she saw down
into the very soul, and read her every thought.

"Mrs. Williams," began Widow White in reply, in a tone of voice
thrillingly solemn, her eyes dimmed with tears, and her whole frame
trembling with emotion, "Mrs. Williams, you know how endeared you are
to me--that I love you as if you were my own daughter, and that if I
could comply with any thing that would give you pleasure in a dying
moment, I would most willingly do so."

"Thank God!--thank God!" exclaimed she fervently, clasping her hands
as if in prayer. "I have prayed for this, again and again, and now it
has come to pass--when the grave closes over my mouldering remains, my
child will have a home and a mother still! Widow White, cherish her as
your own. Educate her for heaven, and if we mortals, after death, are
sent as ministering angels to the living, then will I be your guardian
spirit. Our kind minister, into whose hands I have committed them,
will inform you of my little worldly concerns after I am gone, for my
strength is fast failing me, and I feel that I have little time left
for words. Mary, dear, come to my bedside. A little nearer for I am
quite weak and exhausted. I am dying, Mary. I am going far away--away
to heaven. In a short time, my body will be cold and motionless, and
then I cannot hear you, or speak to you any more. Then you will have
no mother; she will be dead. In a few days I will be laid in the cold
and dark ground, and you will never see me again in this world. When I
am dead, this lady will be your mother. She will take care of you, and
be kind to you, just as I am; and you must obey her, and try not to be
naughty. If bad feelings come into your mind, think of your dead
mother, and how she talked to you and advised you when she was dying.
If you do what is right, God will love you, and bless you, and take
care of you, and when death comes, you will go to live with Jesus,
where there is nothing but happiness; but if you are wicked, God will
hate you, and when you die, you will go down to hell, where all the
bad people dwell, and where there is nothing but misery and anguish.
Now kiss me, for I am too weak to talk to you any longer," and the
dying woman drew the child to herself, and imprinted a lingering,
burning kiss upon her forehead.

She sunk back exhausted to the pillow, and her breath came in painful
gasps from her parted lips, while her hands moved about spasmodically
on the w