s will be aroused, on hearing
of the momentous prospect now before us of visiting North America. I
dare say many, many years ago, thy imagination sent me there,--call it
by that name, or the more orthodox one of faith,--so has mine, but I
saw it without baptism; now, I pass into it under baptism, which in
depth far exceeds any thing I have known before; the severing work it
is to the ties of nature, to my dear Father, Mother, and Children,
breaks me all to pieces, but I have much, if not entirely, been spared
from doubts; all I seem to have had to do was to submit; this is a
great comfort, for which I desire to be thankful, and for that peace
which in the midst of deep suffering has so far rested upon it.

Thy very affectionate
H. C. BACKHOUSE."

Her labours in America were very abundant, and there is reason to
believe, blessed to very many. During the five years she spent on that
Continent, she visited the greater part of the meetings of Friends, and
in doing so, shrank from no hardship or privation consequent upon
travelling in districts recently settled.

In 1833, Jonathan Backhouse thus writes of her labours--

"I do think my wife's labours in these parts, have been of essential
service;--helped some sunken ones out of a pit, strengthened some weak
hands, and confirmed some wavering ones, as well as comforted the
mourners. She has no cause to be discouraged about her labours, they
have been blessed."

Her husband thinking it desirable to return for a while to England,
Hannah C. Backhouse was provided with a most faithful valuable companion
in Eliza P. Kirkbride, and for her as well as for many other beloved
friends to whom she had become closely united in America, she retained a
warm interest and affection to the close of her life.

In 1835, they returned to England, and in the bosom of her beloved family
and friends, great was, for a time, her domestic happiness. But home
endearments were not permitted to interfere with her devotion to Him, to
do whose will, was not only her highest aim, but her chief delight: and
whenever the Lord's call was heard, she was ready to obey. Many parts of
England, and Scotland were visited between this time and 1845. During
this interval some of her nearest domestic ties were broken; her eldest
surviving son, an engaging youth of seventeen, her beloved husband, and a
precious daughter, the wife of John Hodgkin, of Tottenham, were all
su