Catharine
She was not an infant--an unconscious subject of grace. But the Saviour has led through a long sickness, and through death, a daughter of nineteen years, and has made her, and those who loved and watched her, say, We are more than conquerors. To speak of Him, and not to gratify the fondness of parental love, to commend the Saviour of my child to other hearts, and to obtain for Him the affections of those to whom He is able and willing to be all which He was to her, is the sole object of these pages. Listen, then, not to a parent's partial tale concerning his child, nor concerning mental nor bodily suffering, but to the words of one who has seen how the presence of Christ, and love to Him, can fill the dying hours with the sweetest peace, and even beauty, and the hearts of survivors with joy. Wishing to dwell chiefly on the last scenes of this dear child's life, the reader will not be delayed by any biographical sketch. Nine years before her death, when she was between ten and eleven years of age, she gave the clearest evidence that she was renewed by the Holy Spirit. We had since that time been made happy by the growing power of Christian principle in her conduct, the clearness and steadfastness of her faith, her systematic endeavors to live a holy life, her deep regret when she had erred, and her resolute efforts to improve in every part of her
Monday.
Yesterday night I placed myself at the window as I was going to bed,
to look at the sky, which was wonderfully clear. The stars were like
silver nails, holding up a veil of blue. In the silence of the night I
could hear some one breathing, and by the half-light of the stars I
saw my Spaniard, perched like a squirrel on the branches of one of the
trees lining the boulevard, and doubtless lost in admiration of my
windows.
The first effect of this discovery was to make me withdraw into the
room, my feet and hands quite limp and nerveless; but, beneath the
fear, I was conscious of a delicious undercurrent of joy. I was
overpowered but happy. Not one of those clever Frenchmen, who aspire
to marry me, has had the brilliant idea of spending the night in an
elm-tree at the risk of being carried off by the watch. My Spaniard
has, no doubt, been there for some time. Ah! he won't give me any more
lessons, he wants to receive them--well, he shall have one. If only he
knew what I said to myself about his superficial ugliness! Others can
philosophize besides you, Renee! It was horrid, I argued, to fall in
love with a handsome man. Is it not practically avowing that the
senses count for three parts out of four in a passion which ought to
be super-sensual?
Having got over my first alarm, I craned my neck behind the window in
order to see him again--and well was I rewarded! By means of a hollow
She was not an infant--an unconscious subject of grace. But the Saviour has led through a long sickness, and through death, a daughter of nineteen years, and has made her, and those who loved and watched her, say, We are more than conquerors. To speak of Him, and not to gratify the fondness of parental love, to commend the Saviour of my child to other hearts, and to obtain for Him the affections of those to whom He is able and willing to be all which He was to her, is the sole object of these pages. Listen, then, not to a parent's partial tale concerning his child, nor concerning mental nor bodily suffering, but to the words of one who has seen how the presence of Christ, and love to Him, can fill the dying hours with the sweetest peace, and even beauty, and the hearts of survivors with joy. Wishing to dwell chiefly on the last scenes of this dear child's life, the reader will not be delayed by any biographical sketch. Nine years before her death, when she was between ten and eleven years of age, she gave the clearest evidence that she was renewed by the Holy Spirit. We had since that time been made happy by the growing power of Christian principle in her conduct, the clearness and steadfastness of her faith, her systematic endeavors to live a holy life, her deep regret when she had erred, and her resolute efforts to improve in every part of her