THERE is something hallowed in the spot where lie the ashes of my mother. Years have passed since she rested from her labors; and now, as my feet press the earth near her tomb-stone, a spirit seems ever to whisper, "This place is holy ground." The little village of sepulchres where she sleeps is in a wild, secluded part of the town which was the home of my childhood. The blue violet and the sweet briar grow there, and there are heard the notes of many a forest bird. A gentle stream meanders near it, and its low murmurings, as it struggles along over its stony bed, fall with soothing cadence on the ear of the sorrowing pilgrim. The stone that marks my mother's resting-place is near the road side, and the passer-by may read the few lines upon that hnmble tablet, without entering the enclosure. The scenes of that ever memorable day, when we stood around the new-made grave, are fresh as if I had witnessed them but yesterday. Oh, it seemed as the earth closed over her coffin, that my heart was buried there.

Green was the grass on her lonely dwelling, when I last visited this cherished spot. Eighteen summers before, we laid her there; we then planted the evergreen at her headstone, and taught the rose and forget-me-not to bloom on the mound. There they still grew, alike tokens of filial love and emblems of the unfading wreath of those who die in the Lord. I love these flowers. They seem like faithful companions of her solitude-faithful when all besides have forsaken. Oft have I watered them with my tears, while I breathed a silent prayer that they might still live and flourish, to strew their petals on that grave.

How many scenes in which that dear departed one participated, have passed in review while standing there! She was a fond and tender mother. Even when obliged to be severe in her discipline, one might perceive how her heart yearned with maternal love, and

in such circumstances, she would sometimes turn away her face to hide a tear. She was a godly mother. Many a time has she retired, with the children on whom she doated, to the mercy-seat, and poured forth her fervent supplications for their spiritual wellbeing.

Dear, dear guide of my erring childhood! I have grieved thee oft with my waywardness; thy tenderness have I many times repaid with ingratitude. Oh, I have forgotten thy counsels, in an unguarded moment, and told but too plainly how little worthy I was of such a mother. But with all my forgetfulness and neglect, I have loved thee fondly, constantly. Yes, blest one,

-"He who counts above

The beatings of the solitary heart,

That being knows how I have loved thee ever!"

Are not the spirits of departed saints allowed to revisit their friends in this world, on errands of mercy and love? I know not that there is sufficient warrant in the word of God for this belief; but to me it seems highly probable. Ministering spirits, we are expressly informed, the angels are to those who shall be the heirs of salvation; and why may not the redeemed ones, constituted angels, perform the same kind offices for those most beloved in this lower world? Oh, I may believe it. My heavenly Father will not Ichide me if it be an error. I will believe it and bind the dear truth to my heart. Thanks, sweet bard, for those lines:

“Oft may the spirits of the dead descend,
To watch the silent slumbers of a friend-
To hover round his evening walk unseen,
And hold sweet converse on the dusky green-
To hail the spot where first their friendship grew,
And heaven and nature opened to their view."

My mother! thou hast gone, and I may not behold thee till the morning of the Resurrection; but methinks thou art my guardian angel still. Methinks ever and anon I feel thy sweet influence in guiding my feet, and in leading me onward to thy heavenly home. The thought shall cheer me in my journey through

this wilderness; and I will bless my Father in heaven that though I see thy face, and hear thy voice no more, I am not utterly bereft of a mother's tender care.

Norwalk, Ct., March, 1844.

F. C. W.

Original.

AGENCY OF MOTHERS.

"It is unquestionable, that the hopes of human society and the hopes of the Church of God are to be found in the character, in the views, and in the conduct of mothers."-Rev. E. N. Kirk.

There is probably no fact better authenticated, and placed beyond the reach of doubt, than that God employs human agents for the accomplishment of His purposes to human beings, and in selecting His agents He chooses those who are best qualified, by physical, mental and moral training, to accomplish the end in view.

He did not command John to fight with beasts at Ephesus, nor Paul to say, "little children, love one another;" and on this principle He commissioned men and not angels to preach the gospel. He did this because, coming to their fellow-men with human syınpathies, as partakers of a common humanity-breathing the breath of the same existence-agitated by like hopes and fears, "subject to like passions" as themselves—and preaching from their own experience, they are better adapted to the ministerial work. For this reason has He committed to woman the new-born soul that she may train it up for immortality; it is God's design, and nature instinctively prompts us to obey Him.

To the mother peculiar facilities are afforded for moulding the

intellect, and forming the habits of those who will soon be actors on the stage of life. She has ready access to each mind, in its every condition of joy and sorrow, in sickness and health, in the open air and by the fireside. She is entrusted with the religious culture of deathless souls, and it should be her chief aim, her earnest, heartfelt and prayerful desire to guide them in the way to eternal life; to induce them to forsake their sins, and fly for refuge from the wrath to come, to that Savior who died to redeem them.

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Children are sinners, and few there are among them who naturally incline to the teachings of religion;-they need to be told of their necessities, and the means provided for their relief; the truth, to be effectual, must be brought in close contact with the mind; the cross, if it heal them, must be upreared in their sight, and who so pre-eminently qualified to do it as the Mother?

She can minister in spiritual things to those whom the preacher cannot reach; she is their pastor-chosen and installed by God; she is settled over them for life, and her influence with them is almost unbounded, it is continuous; she is at all times in the midst of her little congregation, and though her sphere may not be as wide as that of the preacher, she has her flock more immediately under her influence; and she can give them the pure gospel to drink, dipping it up from the limpid streams.

The mother is a "living epistle, known and read of all" her children, and through them to all mankind; and she should be particularly cautious and guarded in her conduct and conversation, for, with her every act, a train of impulses is originated which shall never lose their influence. She can scarcely take a step in the consequences of which others are not deeply involved, as well as herself.

In no instance does she stand alone; her principles, habits and conduct, powerfully affect all her household; and she is the star, by whose genial or unfriendly influence, their present and future destiny is, in a great measure, to be determined. Her example, her prayers, her tears and her labors are to tell on their eternal weal or wo, and through them on others—until "time shall be no

more," and then only will be revealed all the good or all the evil which one mother may accomplish.

Her position, giving vast means for doing good, involves a great responsibility-and she is, of all others, bound to use these means which God has placed in her hands; and while she labors for their spiritual welfare as if all depended upon human instrumentality, she should "pray and wait," knowing that no effort will avail without the quickening influences of the Holy Spirit. Like the careful husbandman, she should well prepare the ground, and cast in the good seed, and then wait for the "early and the latter rain," knowing that without the blessing of the God of the harvest, all will be in vain.

As surely as light and heat and moisture have an effect upon vegetation, just as surely will her intercourse with her children exert an influence, either salutary or deleterious, which will form an inseparable part of their characters. Her teachings and example will help to prepare them to be happy and useful—a bright example of all the social and kindly virtues-honorable members of society,-pillars in the church of God, and at last to shine as the stars for ever;-or they will exert an influence to make them miserable and degraded, a blighting, withering curse in society, and at last to sink in the blackness of darkness for ever.

Let then her teachings be such, that when she is called to her rest, her children will take up the work, and publish abroad the gospel she has taught them to love; and when she, with the children whom God hath given her, shall stand before Him, in the presence of assembled worlds, then will thousands and tens of thousands, to whom her instructions have descended and been sanctified, rise up and pronounce her blessed, as she is called to enter the joy of her Lord.

Fair Haven, Conn.

S. C. B. T.