captain said he would try to hail the boat when it returned from leaving the pilot, and get it to take our letters to the brig. We all sat down to writing as fast as possible, and when the boat appeared the letters were put into a bucket and let down to them. It was done so clumsily that they all dipped into the sea, and took a bathing, which did not probably improve their beauty or legibility.

"Harbor of Milo, Monday afternoon. You will believe that I cannot have become very tired of the ship, when I tell you that I have just refused an invitation to go on shore with Mr. Hamlin and the captain. I have the whole afternoon to pass away here alone. Yet I do not feel restlessness or ennui. When I am tired of reading and writing, I can go on deck and look at the island. There is a pleasant sunshine upon it now, which brightens everything into beauty. The green fields, the brown, rocky hills, the low, rude houses, all are beautiful.

66

I have not felt the weight of time since I have become well enough to be in action. The books are lying about me unread, for we cannot read the half of them in this voyage. We have a little French every day, preparing ourselves for conversation. It is a very enlivening exercise, and makes our amusement.

The pilot went with them, They visited the city, and they had a treat of wine,

"Monday evening. - Mr. Hamlin and Captain Drew are returned in safety, and delighted with their excursion. Mr. Hamlin brought me a splendid bouquet of Greek flowers, which he found in the fields; some of them very beautiful. You cannot imagine what a gladdening sight it was to me. Capt. Drew brought me an orange, which he said was the only one that he could find upon the island. to point out the lions of the place. he took them to his house, where oranges and almonds. The pilot's wife is daughter of the French consul, so that they belong to the nobility, and live near the top of the hill. When they were coming away, she desired the captain to let her husband stop till morning. She had been keeping the cat under the bucket all day, to get a north wind, that should detain us in harbor, so that her husband could come on shore.

"Wednesday evening. We are in the Bay of Fokea, where we have come to escape a storm. Looking up to the window, I saw that we were passing a fortification, its cannonmouths staring upon us. Soon we came in sight of olivegroves and Turkish farm-houses, scattered here and there along the green shore. It was a beautiful and refreshing sight.

"We are anchored before the town of Fokea, which is unlike anything you ever saw. You can hardly imagine how novel and strange everything seems. I can only gaze, wonder and admire, I cannot describe. I am enjoying my Mediterranean voyage very much.

"Thursday evening. We are a few miles from Smyrna. It has been a breathless calm all day, but this evening it is blowing a gale. We are wondering where we shall stop for the night, as it is too dark to enter the harbor of Smyrna.. This morning, before light, we passed the island of Scio. I went upon deck and looked towards it, for how could I remain in my berth while passing Scio? It is said to have been the birth-place of Homer withal. We could only distinguish a line of white along the shore, which marked their villages.

66

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Smyrna, Jan. 19th. — Our bark came into harbor yesterday morning, and we came on shore as soon as the rough sea would allow, which was not till afternoon. It is delightful to be again among those who dwell upon the earth. We are stopping at Mr. Temple's house, where we have received a kind welcome. We have already seen the missionaries, and like them very much.

"Jan. 25th. * * * I would be in our own room at Constantinople as soon as possible. I have been homeless too long.

"Mr. Adger's teacher, an Armenian, from Constantinople, is to be married in two weeks from this, and he wishes very much that we would stay to the wedding. He is a sensible. and well-educated man, of very gentlemanly appearance. The lady to whom he is to be married can neither read nor write. Almost everything here is as strange as this. She is of a

wealthy family, and very respectably connected. We went by invitation to ine with her, at the house of a cousin, last Wednesday evening. The invitation was for half-past five o'clock. At six we sat down to the table. The dinner was partly in the Frank and partly in the Turkish style. One course followed upon another, until I was tired of counting. I should think there were twelve dishes of meats, served up in different ways, then followed the delicacies of the country, fruits, Turkish sweetmeats, &c. At ten o'clock we had coffee passed, at eleven tea, and at twelve we left.

"We are now stopping at Mr. Adger's, whose house is in a very pleasant part of the city. Just before the door flows the river Mélas, which passes through the middle of the paved street. From the window before me I have a beautiful view of the city, which rears its many doines and spires of mosques and minarets. Beyond are mountains, some of them high and covered with snow, and some of them beautifully fresh and green. In another direction, I look over a range of gardens, toward a Turkish burial-ground, with its dark groves of cypress. A little beyond, rises a hill, on the brow of which are the ruins of an ancient castle. About half-way up is the grave of Polycarp, under the shade of a tall cypress. It is marked by a monument, which may be distinctly seen at this distance.

-I

"Friday afternoon. I cannot sit down to write of things. afar off, while my heart is with you in your very midst. How I would like to be with you to-day! And I would sit down by your pleasant fire and warm myself, for I am very cold. This will seem strange to you when I am looking out upon a garden green as summer. There are orange and lemon trees, and close by the window is a hedge of China roses, from which I have just broken a beautiful bunch of buds and blossoms. But it is not summer, and I am shivering with cold. I no doubt feel it more because my system has been reduced by sea-sickness.**

"I was at a dinner the other evening where twelve different languages were spoken at the table. It is not uncommon for children at play upon the carpet to speak three languages.

"Saturday. I went yesterday, with Mr. Adger and Mrs. Riggs, to see the ruins of an ancient castle. I wish I had the space to describe them. We also saw the remains of the amphitheatre where Polycarp suffered martyrdom. We passed the ruins of an ancient theatre and temple, and visited a Jewish burial-ground. We passed a caravan of camels from the country, which was resting by the way. Everything is oriental, and carries you back into the past.

"Mr. Hamlin asks this letter to fold, and I can write no more. Love to all, to all. I think of each when I write.

"HENRIETTA."

With the selections from Mrs. Hamlin's foreign letters are mingled frequent quotations from those of her mother. Breathing, as they do, such warm maternal instincts, and so delightful and enlarged a spirit of Christian benevolence, no one, we think, can read them without interest. But, in making these extracts, there has been ever in our thoughts a sweet group of children in a far-distant land, to whom they will have a peculiar value.

It was the delight of this truly Christian mother, in correspondence, to pour out her heart to her absent daughter, who took no less delight in the reception of her letters. She often wept over them without restraint, and read them again and again, enjoying them more at every perusal.

From her mother:

"DEAR CHILDREN:

* * 66

Nothing but this is out of the common course at the old mansion; and, whatever your inquiries might be, we could only answer, 'The morning cometh and also the night.' The mercies that have flowed around us so long still continue to flow.

"Dear Henrietta, I need not tell you how, with a mother's anxiety, my thoughts have followed you on the dangerous deep,

to the strange land of Smyrna, and to your unknown abode in Constantinople. I felt that I myself, as well as you, was cut off from all dependence on creatures, and could hope only in God. My mind often dwelt on the treasures He has prepared for those that forsake all for Him. My parting with you has led me to understand many passages in the Bible as I never did before. You have acted, in the eyes of blind and selfish creatures, as if you hated father and mother, and your own life also. But how reasonable the requirement! Surely Christ is worthy of forsaking all for.

"Many times, when I am thinking of the Bible and the precious truths it contains, I rejoice in my heart that you have gone to teach the knowledge of it to the ignorant, and cause its precious light to beam upon them that sit in darkness. I hope and pray that you may be abundantly prepared for this great and good work, and take hold of the promise that 'they who water shall themselves be watered.' We do know that God can bless and make you happy, even in a furnace seven times heated. Dear children, may the Lord be your God, and it is enough!

I must leave room for your father and S. to add a few lines, though they thought my writing was the drawing a bow at a venture; but I thought it might be directed aright by Him who directed the arrow to strike between the joints of the harness.

"Your ever affectionate

66 MOTHER."

"It is pleasant to find even a little corner on which to say a word to those whom we love, and to whom our thoughts have so often fled across the wide ocean. I trust we shall remain a happy family, and enjoy the feeling of oneness, notwithstanding our dispersion to different homes and different climes for a few rapid years.