AUBIN.

A trustful heart never breaks; it strengthens to the last. And to the last we will trust. God

is almighty; then all

things are his mightiness, and all life is his will. With us, spring and summer and autumn and winter shall be the will of God; and the will of God shall be the wisdom of the starry courses. The vital nature of the air about us shall be the will of God; and it shall be the will of God that we breathe without thinking. And to us joys shall be the will of God, and so shall pains and sorrows be. Providence is in all things, so that whatever we do not understand shall be to us nothing to be frightened about, but it shall be mystery and the will of God. And so, no less than birth, death shall be to us the will of God; and in it we will rejoice always, though sometimes, perhaps, not without trembling.

MARHAM.

We neither live nor die to ourselves, and when

we die, we die unto the Lord.

member, Oliver, and rejoice in.

AUBIN.

This we will re

Yes, uncle. In joy and sorrow I will remember what I am; that I am more than flesh and blood, more than the weight of one hundred and ten pounds of earth; that I am a creature of God, with the wisdom of God in my shape, and the goodness of God in my senses, and the provi

dence of God in my life, from hour to hour. Yes, and more than a creature of God I am. I am a child of God. Some share in the Divine nature I have, and a larger share I am destined to. A little while, and then I shall be immortal. And what I am to be soon, cannot I almost feel as though I were? Yes, I can. I will think more, then, of what I am to be, and less of what I am to be saved from.

You mean

MARHAM.

AUBIN.

Day by day I am watched over by the loving eye of God. What unchangeableness there is in that Divine eye I will think of, and not so much of what change there grows in my own looks. Night by night I will lie down and sleep in the thought of God, and in the thought, too, that my waking may be in the bosom of the Father; and some time it will be; so I trust.

CHAPTER III.

All that God owns, he constantly is healing,
Quietly, gently, softly, but most surely ; —
He helps the lowliest herb, with wounded stalk,
To rise again. See! from the heavens fly down
All gentle powers to cure the blinded lamb!
Deep in the treasure-house of wealthy Nature,
A ready instinct wakes and moves
To clothe the naked sparrow in the nest,
Or trim the plumage of an aged raven; —
Yea, in the slow decaying of a rose,

God works as well as in the unfolding bud;

He works with gentleness unspeakable

In death itself; a thousand times more careful

Than even the mother, by her sick child watching.
LEOPOLD SCHEFER.

AUBIN.

I COULD wish to die on a day like this.

MARHAM.

Oliver, you surprise me.

AUBIN.

You wish to die!

No, dear uncle. But when I do die, I hope it will be on a day like this.

MARHAM.

For

Most others would think their feelings would be best composed for death in autumn. then all things are dying round us, or are in harmony with death, - flowers blackening to the ground, leaves falling from the trees, nights length

ening, and days less bright; and in the air a mist, feeling like the presence of a pall. But why would you rather die in the spring?

AUBIN.

On the first day of spring? Because, at this time, the instinct of immortality feels strongest in Only a fortnight since, there was snow on the ground; and it was still a time of great-coats, and neckerchiefs, and cautiousness, and numbness, and thick breathing. So suddenly out of winter, to-day does feel like newness of life.

MARHAM.

So it does. There is not a cloud in the sky; and how warm it is, and how soft the air is! I feel quite young again.

AUBIN.

For no

You must feel more than that, uncle. young man, while he is well, ever feels as though he could die. But you, in your decay, have the feeling of youth; therefore it is that of the youth of your immortality. It is the youth of the soul that one feels, on such a day as this.

MARHAM.

On such a day as this, then, the body

AUBIN.

With me, feels like a garment outgrown by the spirit.

MARHAM.

So, then, Oliver, you would rather die in the

spring?

AUBIN.

Yes, in hope, and in the season of hope. Now let us go into the garden, uncle. Shall we? See here, how fast these daffodils have grown. They will be in blossom next week, and the snowdrop not be out of flower.

MARHAM.

So they will be, and they will soon be out again. Oliver, do you know Herrick's address to the daffodils ?

We have short time to stay as you,
We have as short a spring;

As quick a growth to meet decay
As you or any thing.

We die

As your hours do, and dry

Away,

Like to the summer's rain,

Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again.

They are pretty lines, though rather pensive ; are they not, Oliver ?

AUBIN.

Yes, uncle. But I do not like flowers being made to smell of the grave. Besides, we do not die like daffodils; or, if we do, it is in a way that Herrick did not mean. I shall die as the daffodils did last year. But see, here they are, the very same flowers, alive and growing again! And I, I shall live again, and everlastingly.