marriage of your mother, the summers were our gala time, for Lizzie and
the boys and grandma were all at home, and happy Grandpa would in his
excess of joy forget the lonely winters, which he had endeavored by
constant occupation at the store, the bank, and in the Church, to make
the best of. His evenings were spent in reading, and in holding
communion, by letter writing, with his loved ones far away: which,
excepting on Church evenings, he would occasionally vary by a visit to
some friend, of whom, I need not say, he had many, who would have
esteemed it a privilege, during my absence, to have admitted him into
their family circle as a member, but, as he often said, in his letters,
he preferred to visit friends, and make his home in the old familiar
spot, where he could so readily call up to his mind the earthly idols
of his heart.

I shall ever be thankful, to the Ruler of all events, that I was
with him during the whole winter immediately preceding his death. We
accompanied our daughter and her three little boys to their home in
Louisiana in December; staid two weeks with them, and returned
together, fully determined to be no more separated; that, in future,
together we would visit our children, and together return to our lonely
home. For the light that had gone out when our daughter married, was
no more kindled in our aching hearts, notwithstanding the joy we felt
in the possession of our precious little grandchildren. In earlier
life when we pictured to ourselves a green old age, with our "bairn and
bairn's bairns" about us, it was a different scene from the reality
when it came with its long separations and anxieties.

Our greatest solace during this last winter of our pilgrimage
together, was the service of our God. And oh, with what gratitude I
shall ever remember His loving kindness and tender mercies towards us.
"He leadeth us in ways we know not of." He can comfort in the darkest
hour.

The spring came, and with it, a month or two earlier than usual,
our beloved ones returned to the longed for homestead, around which
were so many tender recollections of a happy, very happy life. How
your dear mother clung to that precious father! How she feasted upon
his every look. She followed him every where; in his rides, in his
strolls through the garden. She accompanied him at night, and at all
times to Church, preferring (when we did not ride) to take the long
walk with "father" to going with "mother" acro