Ester Ried

and wheeled an ottoman to Ester's side. "Where shall we commence? I have so very much to say and hear; I want to know all

ly, "No; I am always thinking how glad I should be if he were a

he is walking on quicksands. I am in one continual tremble for him, and I wish so often that he was just a little boy, no older than your brother Alfred; then I could learn his tastes, and indeed mold them in a

ould she possibly tell her that she sometimes never gave Alfred a thought from one week

"I have no time for any such thing; he goes

that sort, though I think I should enjoy having him depend on me in all his needs; but I was thinking more especiall

look in those earnest blue eyes and say that she ha

are his friends here in the city, and his friends in college,-none of them the style of people that I like him to be with,-and only poor little me to stem the tide of worldliness all around him. There is one thing in particular that troubles me-he is, or rather he is not-," and here poor Abbie stopped,

was expected of her; but the pained look on Abbie's f

is he

a home of my own. I believe I can show him a style of life wh

ong talk on the

ie said; "and of course it is not pleasant as it would be later; bu

Can't you be marri

right little laugh. "You see he is th

er question; then, as a sudden thought occu

he is only

erly unused was she to conversation on this subject,

face as was turned towa

ickly, "I couldn't mar

ist

little at the energy of her t

decide the question; but it would be wrong for me. I am too weak; it would hinder my own growth in

d Ester, growing meta

a Christian you

red through Abbie's f

gth to do what I thought ri

danger of any such trial; but I tell you I don't believe, if

in reply wa

miserably fail; and y

s sufficien

ce, the bright look return

cient unto the day' is my motto. If it should ever be my duty to burn at the stake, I believe I should go to my Savior and plead for the 'sufficient grace;' but as long as I have no such known

us details connected with the wedding, until

nto midnight, without a thought of your tired body and brain. This session must adjourn immediately. Shall you an

it," Ester an

he unclasped the lids of her little Bible. "Are you reading the Bible by

ve any choice?" Ester's

es that I turn to in my various need

said Ester

pressed only in

Now I always thought it would be so delightful to have a

anything about these

Ester said

g of my anxiety; and yet it is different. She is younger than you, and you can have her so much under your in

was supposed to be an anxiety with her in all her life; but she did not sa

ying and troublesome t

as she

thing but

en't a friend

own family; but what a heavy responsibility you must feel in your large household, and you the only Christian.

ily," Ester answered, preferring to avoid

understand how that is; it really seems sa

an Anden, for instance, always had seemed to her most horribly and fanatically in earnest. But in what r

was tr

Do you know I always feel a temptation to read in John? There is

er idea-a temptation to read in any part of t

readin

ns, and, as a cloud, thy sins; return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.' 'Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth in singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glor

ss, selfish girl as I am. You and I will have some precious readings out of this book, shall we n

h made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

her cousin, as the reading ceased,

head a nervous,

ear Ester, would you

d so they knelt, and Abbie's simple, earnest, ten

of her dreams in every particular; in nothing more so than the strangely childlike matter-of-course way in which she talked about this matter of religion. Ester had never in her life he

y of the man with his tract, and the girl with blue ribbons, and the old lady, and t

of it, until the little clock on the mantel spoke in silve

e sleepy all day to-morrow, and you needn't think I

ng around her, had banished all thought of sleep. So she went over in detail everything which had occurred that day but persistently her thoughts returne

as but a few hours since she first beheld her cousin; and yet she distinctly felt the difference between them in tha

Not very many, perhaps, in which she had not used a form of prayer; but their names were legion in which she had risen from her knees unhelped and unrefreshed; in which she knew that she had not prayed a single one of the sentences which she had been repeating. And just at this point she was stunned wi

and ever-watchful Sa

does she know about the petty vexations and temptations, and bewildering, ever-pressing duties which every hour of every day beset your path? The circumstances are very different. Her life is in the sunshine, yours in the shado

lemn, all-powerful "Get thee behind me, Satan." But she gave her own poor brain the benefit of every thought; and having thus lulle