It is with pleasure I sit down to reply to your last letter, and it has only been from total inability that you have had to wait so long. I wanted to sit down immediately to send you a few sympathetic words, for your life must have been very similar to my own. The best comfort for us is, to say to ourselves, Are not many, _many_ others carrying the same burdens, disappointments, and toils as we? How do they bear them, and where do they get their patience and strength from? Only from studying the words and lives of those who have had similar trials to bear; and no one bore the cross better than He to whom the whole world has looked as a guide. Therefore though you fall and fail often, be not in despair. All you need is some one to speak with you who sympathizes with you; and though they may not lighten your burden or change your circumstances, they will lighten your heart and make the whole world seem different to you, and full of work to be done, that will take your thoughts out from beyond your own home, and yet at the same time only make that all the more precious to you and just the place you ought to be in. Am not fond of the country myself. Have always lived in the city, and prefer to be surrounded by people and life rather than trees and quiet of the country; still, I love to visit in the country for a short time.... You ask how you can best prepare yourself to become a member of our church. I sent you the church programme, and Mr. Thayer says there, "Those who present themselves in an earnest spirit,"--an earnest spirit to do all the good you can, in every way, at home and to the world. It is _character_, and _not_ belief, which makes the true Christian. And if our conscience is right before God, let man say what he will; if we are only sure ourselves we are doing our best according to our circumstances and our health; if our motives are pure and our conscience clear,--we shall feel a pleasure in joining in a Communion service, though one can be a member of our church if not a communicant. There are several books I wish to recommend to you. The first is a great help to inward strength, and is a gem of a book, "Day unto Day," which consists of a passage or two from the Scriptures, a selection from poetry, and one from writers, for every day in the year.... The whole book is full of selections which fit the needs of every day. I have two copies, and will loan you one copy with passages I have marked as read, and which has benefited several of my correspondents.... Another great help to a good life is Merriam's "Way of Life." "Theodore Parker's Prayers" I can loan you too. Since I wrote you, have had presented to our library Sunderland's "What is the Bible?" shorter than "Bible for