their expressions of grief and condolence for his irreparable loss. Breaking away from the bigotry of their church, they spoke of the departed as the "beloved of God" called home to heaven. The aged Kera Maria, whose benefactress she had been, freely poured out her tears, exclaiming, "What, shall I see her no more in this hall? She always spoke to me more sweetly than my own daughters. Others have been very kind, but your lady was different from them all. There is none like her in this world."

From the beloved missionary circle, from which they had been so long exiled, this mourning family received every possible sympathy and kindness. To the common cause, so dear to all their hearts, Mr. Hamlin, after his baptism of suffering, devoted himself with renewed ardor.

"Then cheerly to your work again,

With heart new-braced and set,
To run untired love's blessed race,
As meet for those who, face to face,

Over the grave their Lord have met."

"I anticipate (he writes) greater satisfaction in the missionary work than I have ever before experienced. After offering upon this altar a beloved wife, let the remainder of my days be consecrated to it anew."

But those children, upon whom, in the morning of life, had fallen such a great sorrow,-who, in that large household, and with only unfaithful servants to care for them, who is to fill the yearning void in their hearts? who is to be to them a mother, and train them up for heaven? To such trials parents in Christian lands are comparative strangers.

In considering the question whether he should sunder that precious band, and send his cherished little ones

across the wide waters to America, their afflicted father writes:

"The most momentous responsibility, the sharpest trial, and the heaviest cross to which the missionary is called, relate to his children. There is nothing to be thrown off or evaded. He must decide alone, and the results will be eternal to those for whom he would joyfully sacrifice life itself. I never felt parental responsibility before."

"Father, are you never going to take me home again?" asks one of his little girls, about three years old, as she looks earnestly into his face. He had accepted the kind offer of a missionary sister, and placed this child with her for a time. It is not strange, under these various circumstances of trial, that even the younger children should long have mourned for their mother. In a letter nearly four months after her death, Mr. Hamlin writes of the same child above-mentioned:

"A few days since, I heard little Abbie thus interceding with her mother: 'O, mother dear! if God has made you well, why don't you come again to our home? Come, mother dear, and I will climb up and put my arms around your neck, and kiss you, and give you flowers and walnuts. O, mother dear, mother dear!' Her little voice was so earnest and plaintive, that the recollection of it brings tears to my eyes."

Stricken brother, thy way is thorny, but One hath trodden it before thee!

"It was no path of flowers,

Through this dark world of ours,
Beloved of the Father, thou didst tread;

And shall we in dismay

Shrink from the narrow way,

When clouds and darkness are around it spread?"

FROM the numerous letters testifying to the regard in which Mrs. Hamlin was held by those who knew her, and breathing the spirit of consolation, we cannot forbear making a few extracts.

Says the Rev. Dr. Woods, of Andover :

"From the beginning of my acquaintance with Mrs. Hamlin, I was impressed with the amiable simplicity, modesty and affectionateness, of her character. She possessed a very cultivated understanding, and a refined taste. Her manner was peculiarly delicate and unassuming, and her excellence of character was the more lovely because it never sought to display itself. When I was informed of her consent to go to a distant country as the wife of a missionary, I rejoiced in the accession to the cause of one so intelligent and discreet, so attractive in her personal appearance and manners, and so manifestly possessed of mature and active piety. Her life was short. But in her own sphere, as a wife, a mother, and an assistant in the work of teaching the principles of the Christian religion to the ignorant and perishing, the amount of her usefulness was by no means small. By her labors, her example,. her life and her prayers, she exerted an influence on multitudes

in her home circle and in a foreign land, which will not soon pass away."

From the Rev. Mr. Powers, at Sivas:

"Mrs. Hamlin in her death has spoken to many who never heard her living voice. The account of her last days reached me on a day observed by the little band of brethren here for fasting and prayer. I communicated to them the substance of that baptismal scene you so touchingly describe, at which every eye was båthed in tears. The people of Sivas till now never heard of such triumphant faith, such meek submission, and such heavenly peace and joy in the chamber of death. And even the Pasha of this place has listened with interest and delight to the account, as presented to him by one of the brethren, a few days after. He has received an impression respecting the Christian's life and the Christian's death such as few Pashas ever had before. How sublime is such a deathbed scene! How sweet the savor of it that remains to surviving friends! How rich, how invaluable will the recollection of it be to you and your children, through life!"

From Mrs. Brown, a sister of Commodore Porter, who has long been deeply interested in the missionary cause, and was for many years a warm friend of Mrs. Hamlin :

"There is scarcely an American heart in Constantinople that has not been pierced by the same dart that has wounded yours; for I well know that our dear departed friend was loved, respected and honored, by all. Her sweetness of character, her highly-cultivated mind, her gentle and graceful deportment, rendered her a model well worthy of imitation; and I am sure that not one of our circle would be longer lamented than she will be."

Still later, she writes:

"Her image is indelibly impressed upon my memory.

And

the recollection of the unbounded kindnesses that I have received from her, both in sickness and in health, can never be effaced. Neither my pen nor my tongue is capable of expressing the admiration, love and gratitude I feel, and have always felt, for her, and for her kindness to me. All who knew her loved her and admired her; but it was only those who have experienced her kind attention, as I have, when laid upon a sick bed, who could fully appreciate her kind and feeling heart, and her amiable and lovely character. She was so thoughtful for others, particularly those who were sick or in any way afflicted, that she would forget her own weakness while ministering to them.

"The poor and the needy, though sometimes unworthy, were never turned empty away. Many a loaf of bread have I seen her cut in two to give one-half to them."

From Rev. Dr. Perkins, of Oroomiah :

"We retain a most delightful recollection of our dear departed sister, so gentle, so kind, so refined, so accomplished, so active and so efficient as a missionary, so heavenly in her whole temper and character. We well remember the first time we saw you both, across the double railing, when we were in quarantine on the opposite side of the Bosphorus from Bebek. How grateful were your faces to us then, though strangers, in our wearisome confinement! And how did all your own and your dear wife's subsequent kindness endear you to our hearts! Blessed one! she is now still more perfect and lovely, in her angelic garb in heaven. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!"

From Rev. Mr. Wood, formerly associated with Mr. Hamlin in the seminary at Bebek, but now assistant secretary of the American Board :

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I cannot express to you with what solemn, painful, and yet delighted interest I have read the accounts of the closing scenes of the life of our dear sister. I mourn, my dear