CHAPTER IV.

LETTERS ON THE SICKNESS AND DEATH OF OUR BELOVED MOTHER. DESCRIPTION OF HER CHARACTER AND EXAMPLE

IN LIFE. THE DEATH AND BURIAL AT SEA OF HER YOUNGEST SON, DR. NATHANIEL CHEEVER.

WE change the scene and argument of these

Memorials to an experience of sorrow and a discipline of divine mercy and grace. It was the sickness and death of our beloved mother, and the visions of heavenly hope and happiness given for our comfort. As justly descriptive of her character, we copy a notice written by a relative in Cambridge, Mass., on the event of her death in Greenport, L. I.

The writer says "he will attempt a portrait of her, as the picture appears distinct and beautiful before his own mind. With such an example before them, let the mothers in Israel, left with children to care for and educate, take courage and go forward, putting their trust in God."

"Mrs. Cheever was born in the ancient town of York, in the State of Maine. This town was settled by some of the best families that England contributed to the New

World. The name and family of Barrell was one of the most honorable and numerous. This was Mrs. Cheever's maiden name; she was married to Mr. Nathaniel Cheever, of Hallowell, Me. This was the place of Mrs. Cheever's residence for the greater part of her life. Here her character was matured, known, and loved; here with her the great battle of life was fought and the victory won; here she experienced the sunshine and the storm which gave strength and beauty to her many excellences.

"Her husband, one of the most estimable and excellent of men, was soon established in a prosperous business; and she became the happy mother of seven children. Life was all brightness and hope. Then came her first heavy sorrow, a son, a very promising and lovely lad, eleven years old, suddenly dropped through the ice while skating, and was drowned. No blow to a fond and doting mother could be more terrible and prostrating than this. The shock was severe and the mourning was perpetual; but by the grace of God renewing her soul, she was brought thereby to a serene and tranquil resignation to the divine will. Four years after this event her husband died of consumption, in Augusta, Ga., - whither he had repaired for his health, and left a sad but not desponding household. There the true and genuine woman, the sincere Christian, the devoted and tender mother, shone forth in the life of Mrs. Cheever. Administering with great wisdom the moderate but sufficient fortune left by her husband, she was at once the protector, guide, example, and teacher of her children. For many years the mansion under the elm was the abode of cheerful industry, the

centre of the warmest affections, a source of streams of piety and knowledge, now and long hence to make the hearts of many glad.

"Mrs. Cheever during all this period seemed to live a fourfold life, in each of which she accomplished more than many devoted to a single one of them. She had a life hid with Christ in God.' In the exercises of devotion, in the acquisitions of religious knowledge, she did the work of an ordinary life. In domestic cares, by wisdom in planning and great skill in accomplishing, she did the work of a day in a few hours. There, as teacher of, and scholar with, her children, she did so much that to a stranger it seemed the whole business of life. In all the social relations Mrs. Cheever was a bright, radiant centre. In conversational powers and intelligence she had but few equals. There was a radiance of countenance, flashes of wit, pleasant repartee, that delighted all, while they wounded none. She had the patience of the most schooled and disciplined of philosophers, with all the buoyancy and sprightliness of the most joyous poets. Her presence was a perpetual sunshine; her memory like those beautiful clouds on which the last rays of evening fall, but not, like those clouds, ever to fade from the memory of those who knew and loved her. Her duty was always her delight; the harvest of her labors a rich reward. There were four elements that constituted the strength and glory of her character, her piety, sincerity,

perseverance, and cheerfulness.

"Her last severe trial, - the death at sea of her invalid son, the beloved physician,' and the suffering consequent upon it, were remarkably sanctified to her. The

work of grace was evidently deeper and her faith stronger; the promises of God were sweeter than ever before. In her residence with her son at Greenport, though transplanted like a noble vine to a stranger soil, she is said to have taken root downward and borne fruit upward. She endeared herself greatly to the people of God there by her cheerful tone, her genial benevolence, earnest devotion, and youthful zeal in the cause of her Master. Her loss to the Congregational Church, as a mother in Israel, is very deeply felt. Her memory is hallowed. She departed in the full possession of all her faculties. Her death-bed was bright and glorious by the presence of her Saviour.

"Another hand is beckoning us,

Another call is given;

And glows once more with angel-steps
The path that leads to heaven.

"Sweet promptings unto kindest deeds
Were in her very look:

We read her face as one who reads
A true and holy book;

"The measure of a blessed hymn

To which our hearts could move;

The breathing of an inward psalm,
A canticle of love."

In connection with the above notices we present some extracts from a volume by Rev. Henry T. Cheever, prepared from the journals, diary, and letters of our beloved brother Nathaniel,

a work

published, in two editions, by Mr. Charles Scribner, in New York, in 1851, a work that we could wish. might be found, on account of its sacred, educational, and prayerful lessons, in every Sabbathschool library and in every household. From our brother's youthful experience, later sufferings, and peaceful death and burial at sea, we choose a few paragraphs, introductory to the letters from Greenport, where our beloved mother had resided a few years with her son Henry, then the pastor of the Congregational church in that village:

"His first vivid religious impressions under preaching are believed to have been when eight years of age. He then spent much time in prayer by himself, and he would talk and pray with his schoolmates one by one. In due time God delivered him from all disquieting fears, doubts, and regrets; and cheerful activity in his Master's service, at every relaxation of disease, characterized his course for many years. He used to visit a cabinet-maker's shop, where were several young men, and one or two lads near his own age, in the hope of engaging their attention to serious things. One morning, coming in from them, grieved at having heard profane language, and feeling that he ought to have said something to the person uttering it, he could not be satisfied until, finding the 'Swearer's Prayer,' and going back with the tract to the shop, he gave it, with a few words of expostulation, to the young man. They gave him the designation of 'The Little Mis