ame, not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, to
which he promptly added, and from the heart, 'Of whom I am chief.'

"Calamity, sorrow, reverses and all the punishments due to iniquity, can
never be relied upon to bring men to repentance; but in this case they
worked well, and Willing became a new man. It was a great pleasure to us
to see the change in his very countenance, wrought out by the inward
principle, and that his sorrow, as time went on, was not so much for his
punishment and disgrace as for his guilt. He made no effort to get a
commutation of his sentence, saying, It was all right; he had deserved
that and much more.

"Of course our pity was much excited for his poor little wife, who
seemed almost heart-broken. My dear Lucy and John's wife, who had never
cultivated intimacy with her in their prosperous days, now came forward
in true womanly style, and made her feel that she had sisters in heart,
whom she had not known. She had no near kindred, and the few relatives
she had held aloof. Truly she might say, 'My lovers and my friends stand
aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.' No one offered her
help or shelter, of all those who had enjoyed her elegant hospitality.

"Immediately upon the conviction of her husband she wrote to Stewart &
Gamble, offering to give up all her handsome furniture and pictures, and
even her jewels, as a small indemnity for their losses; but they very
nobly refused to accept it, advising her to sell and invest the
proceeds. John and I, acting under the direction of our wives, who were
enthusiastic in their admiration and pity for Olive Willing in her
trouble, told her to pack her trunks at once and come to our house,
where we had room enough and to spare, and that we would attend to the
sale. She could scarcely believe she heard aright, and was full of
surprise and gratitude, and, of course, accepted the offer.

"I don't wonder you think our house was made of gum-elastic; it really
seemed so. 'Room in the heart, room in the house," was our motto; and
the children most amiably agreed to give up one room and be sociable
together; and I fancy they were, from the peals of laughter that often
came from that room, so full of young life and spirits. And so poor
Olive was settled down as one of the family. It was a new experience to
her in every way. The industry of the house surprised her, and from
gratitude and a proper ambition she soon sought to help, which reall