"Now then," said Schillie, "we will all go and search for caverns. You had better lie down, as you look done up. We will be absent an hour, or you may sound the conch-shell to bring us home in time for evening church. And, Hargrave, have something ready to drink when we return. I shall be dying of thirst, I know."
Every one followed her, Madame and Hargrave only making short searchings near at hand. In the meantime, I lay down and looked at all the texts the young ones had brought to me, as was their custom before the Sunday dinner, and which on this day they had chosen for themselves. How profoundly was I affected at the selection they had made, and the simple trustful observations accompanying each, while the wish to comfort pervaded them all, mixed with hopeful anticipations that all would end well, and earnest protestations that they would be very good, and I had only to speak to be obeyed. But I think their own papers will better show the comfort and consolation they gave me than all I can say on the subject, and I will therefore give them verbatim:—
SYBIL'S SERMON.
Psalm 107, verses 4, 5, 6.—"They went astray in the wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in. Their soul fainted within them. So they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distress."
How good is our great Father in giving such consolation to us. We cannot believe He will forsake us, when in almost every page of His Holy Book we find promises of help and deliverance to those who trust in Him; and how happy should we feel in believing that the greater our sorrow and desolation the nearer we are to Him who afflicts those whom he loveth. Let us think also what comfort he has left us still—that we are not solitary in this lonely island—that our Mothers and dear companions are with us; and let us show our gratitude for such mercies left us by becoming more obedient, loving, and dutiful to those whose sorrow for our forlorn state is so deep. May we be a comfort to our Mother, and always think that in this small island, as in the great world, our thoughts and actions are known, our prayers are listened to by One who has promised never to leave or forsake us. How happy it is to think that on this Holy day numbers of our fellow creatures are in our own dear country praying "for all those in danger, necessity, and tribulation," and whose voices in earnest prayer meet ours, and join with those of the choir of angels above. We may hope that He who supports and sends us comfort in our despair may console our sorrowing ones at home, and give them hopes, as He does us, of meeting them again in this world. For our Saviour, Jesus Christ's sake, whose loving words "It is I, be not afraid," follow us and comfort us far from home. We will ask him to look down and guard our little island, which He brought from the depths of the sea, to be our refuge from storms and winds. To Him whose care is over us we commit ourselves, and those near and dear to us, and we will believe "that those who cry unto the Lord in their trouble He delivereth them from their distress."
SERENA'S SERMON.
"Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened."—Malachi iii. 16.
We beseech Thee, O Lord, to hear us, for we fear Thee and love Thee. We are separated from those we love; we cannot speak to them, or they to us; we have little prospect before us of ever seeing them again; but we have the gracious Lord to speak to, and we have His gracious promise that He will hear us. Through our Father in Heaven we can hold intercourse with our Father on earth. We pray for him, and we know God heareth the prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips. He prays for us, and God heareth him, as we see daily, hourly, in the lovely place allotted to us, in the fruits that rise before us, in the flowers that spring up to our hands, in the love we bear each other, and, oh, more than all, in the privilege that we may speak to each other of the Lord's mercies and loving kindnesses, and know that he heareth us, for Jesus Christ's sake. Then let us remember, should despondency overwhelm us, or sorrow cast her gloomy mantle upon us, that this land is not our "abiding place," that here we have no "continuing city," but that beyond the tomb we have an house prepared, not made with hands, where we shall not only meet those from whom we have been torn in this life, but such things "as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive."
GERTRUDE'S SERMON.
"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint."—Isaiah xl. 31.