call of the Master's will.

Now her face is illumed by a heavenly light
As sweet as angels' breath;
For she knows that the unclasped hands will unite,
Across the river of death.

GEORGE F. SARGENT.

NEW YORK, February 17, 1887.

[Illustration: JAMES KNOWLES]

GATHERING JEWELS

CHAPTER I.

BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF JAMES KNOWLES.

"God bless thee, bairn--my bonnie bairn,"
She said, an' straikit doon his hair;
"O may the widow's God be thine,
And mak' thee His peculiar care!"

James Knowles was born at sea, December 5, 1811, his father, the
previous day, having been swept overboard and lost. Unfortunately no
record of the misfortune was kept to be available for the present
purpose; hence we are unable to give either the name of the ship, or
the latitude and longitude it was in when his birth occurred. Picture
to yourself the deck of a vessel in mid-ocean, where the widow of a day
becomes a mother the next, the subject of this sketch being the infant
presented to her bosom, and you have a glimpse of the situation--though
it be unconnected with either a cottage, a mansion, or a palace.

The mother returned with the infant to the home of her father at
Ballymena, Ireland, where her relatives then undertook the care of the
fatherless babe, which eventually grew into healthy boyhood of the most
affectionate character.

As a youth he made rapid progress in the elementary branches of
education, often surprising his teachers with the patience and care he
exhibited in keeping in advance of his fellow-students--for he was
almost always at the head of his class. He was noted for his quiet,
unobtrusive disposition, underlying which was an internal force, which
made him prompt in action, and to the point in word, when the display
of such characteristics was sometimes necessary to establish his
individual superiority with more than usual power among his
fellow-schoolmates.

In 1826 he commenced his apprenticeship as a compositor, under the care
of Mr. Dugan, in the city of Belfast, Ireland, where he continued until
the expiration of the time of his indentures.

In 1832, after an ocean passage of sixty days in a sailing vessel, he
arrived in Philadelphia, Pa.

During this long and tedious voyage across the Atlantic, he and the
captain of the ship became very intimately attached to each other, and
he was frequently invited to dine with the officers.

After a