ad," said the clergyman, sternly.
"You are leading, it may be, a heartless life of pleasure, but, young
ladies, forget not this grave. She could not escape it, nor will you. Pause
from your balls, and your theatres, and your gay doings, and ask, what is
the end of it all. Trifle not with the inestimable gift of life. Be not
dead while you live. Anticipate not the great destroyer. Hear the appeal of
one who was once the idol of every heart; she speaks to you from the grave,
'Even as I am, shalt thou be!'"

He turned from them, and wandered over the ground. Mr. Weston led the way
to the carriage, and Ellen and Alice thought, that if a lesson of life was
to be learned in the gay ball of the night before, a still more necessary
one was found in the cemetery which they were now leaving, as the shadows
of the evening were on the simple monument and the sculptured slab, and
their silent tenants slept on, undisturbed by the gambols of thoughtless
children, or the conversation of the many who came to visit their abode.

* * * * *

The next morning, Bacchus brought no letter for Mr. Weston, but one for
each lady; for Ellen from her aunt, for Alice from Arthur, and Cousin
Janet's handwriting was easily recognized on the outside of Mrs. Weston's.
Hardly had the girls arisen from the table to take theirs' to their rooms
for a quiet perusal, when an exclamation from Mrs. Weston, detained them.

"Is anything the matter at home, Anna?" said Mr. Weston, "Is Cousin
Janet--?"

"Cousin Janet is well, my dear brother," said Mrs. Weston. "I was very
thoughtless, but our dear neighbor, Mrs. Kent, is no more."

"Can it be possible?" said Mr. Weston, much agitated. "Read the letter
aloud."

Mrs. Weston, turned to the beginning, and read aloud,

"MY DEAR ANNA:

"The time is near which will bring you all in health and
happiness, I trust, to your home; and could you see how lovely it
looks, I think you would be tempted to fix upon an earlier day.
You see how selfish I am, but I confess that I quite count the
days, as a child does to Christmas, and am ashamed of my
impatience.

"Throughout the winter I had no care. My kind friends did all the
housekeeping, and the servants in the house, and on the
plantation, were so faithful, that I feel indebted to all who have
made my time so easy; and your absence has not, I am sure, been
attended with any ill effects, wi