"That broken Sabbath was her first step to ruin, but the blessed Lord, in His rich mercy, and by the Holy Spirit's gracious leadings, led her to the fountain which makes crimson sins white as snow, and she is gone before me too.
"The doctor—a good, kind man—shook his head, and bade me keep my Mary in the fresh air, and give her plenty of new milk. He feared she had taken the seeds of disease in that long nursing, and so it proved; but, with the hopefulness of consumption, she did not believe she was going to leave me desolate, and I deceived myself, and hoped against hope, as I looked on the sweet face and lovely bloom as she lay on this bench, enjoying the sight and breath of the flowers.
"By my carving, which went to a London house, we were kept from want, and Ned sent us home, with sailor generosity, supplies of money.
"'If he'd only come himself,' said my Mary, 'it would be better than all the gold.'
"'Write and tell him so,' I said; and so we both did, and I told him of the fading away of his favourite sister, hoping it would draw him back over the sea, if anything would; but the brother and sister were not to meet here again. My Mary left me one early morn, as the sun's first streaks were gilding the sky. No answer came from my sailor son, but the good pastor who had ministered to us in our hours of sore need, came one day, and gently told me, as I sat alone, that his ship had gone down in one of the wild Atlantic storms. My boy is now safe in heaven, where there is no more sea."
The aged man ceased. His eye was on the sunset cloud, but his heart was in the spirit land. His guest, rising up to depart, took tenderly the wrinkled hand, and said, "The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion, with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
Then he hastened homewards, his own heart full with this touching record of the cost of a broken Sabbath.—From a Tract, published by S. W. Partridge and Co.
A SOFT PILLOW.
If the pillow be too hard, it is very unlikely that the sleep should be sound. Yet this mainly depends upon circumstances. If the conscience is easy, the pillow will be comfortable, even though a block of stone. Jacob slept sweetly at Bethel, when the Lord appeared to him and told him that He was his God. If, on the other hand, there is guilt on the conscience, though the head is laid on the softest down, the pillow will not be altogether easy.