"Will you allow me to use the freedom of a friend, Miss Ross, and show you that in neglecting this subject you shut your eyes to the only true happiness? I know that the lot which appears brightest is checkered with vicissitudes--inward struggles, more trying than many visible afflictions. Against these, neither the spirits of youth nor the reasonings of philosophy can always prevail. I know how the lip smiles and the heart bleeds, although the anguish within does not drown the gay words upon the tongue. We may--we do conceal, but the sting rankles the same. Our Father never designed that we should be happy away from Him. These misgivings, this discontent with ourselves, and pinings for something better and higher, are voices beseeching us to partake of his love; they are the homesickness of a child, who has strayed, and has forgotten in new scenes the parent he has deserted, and the sight of a flower, a breath of warm air, a song he used to love, calls up the remembrance of that father, and a gush of shame and longing he is too proud to confess. Thus much all feel, but upon some fall heavier trials. Earth has no cure for the woes which a residence here entails upon us. Young as you are you may know this?" "I do!" "Is what I am saying disagreeable to you?" "No, sir;--go on, if you please!" "Then, if we are told of One, who cannot only comfort, but convert distress into blessing; of whose loving protection nothing can deprive us; who will make this life tolerable--nay, pleasant, and assure us of an eternity of bliss to be shared with Him,--is it not the maddest folly to refuse the pledge He asks in return--a child's love and trust?" "I do not feel that I have acted thus!" said Ida, suddenly. "My reason assents to what you have said, but my conscience is dumb. The thought of a God--Almighty and Holy--overwhelms me with awe--sometimes-with terror. As Ruler and Judge, I pay him homage, and obey, when I can, the letter of His law;--but He does not care particularly for me--one of the most obscure of His countless subjects. I believe that He is a tender Father to the favored ones who have tasted His grace, and they ought to adore and love. I thank Him, from afar off, for preservation--not for creation--and he does not call me nearer. You think me very wicked, Mr. Lacy;--but as I said, if I speak at all, I speak candidly." "I like your truthfulness. You express what others secretly feel; this distant respect is the natural tone of an enlightened mind, wedded to an unregenerate heart; and in your remarks, I detect the bitterness which is its concomitant,--amounting, in some, to deadly enmity against their Maker and Redeemer. Do you read the Bible--may I ask?" "Yes--occasionally." "From what motive?" "I read it as a curiosity in literature--but that is not the principal reason"--