‘The tender office now engage, To rock the cradle of reposing age, With lenient arts extend a mother’s breath, Make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death; Explore the thought, explain the asking eye, And keep awhile _one_ parent from the sky! But I must suffer Elizabeth again to speak for herself. What follows was written at the close of the year of sorrow, through which she had just past. ‘Thou, O Lord, hast seen fit to take both my parents from me, but thy word of promise is, “When father and mother forsake thee, the Lord will take thee up.” Enable me, O Lord, to follow my dear parents, as they followed Christ; that when time with me shall be no more, I may have a joyful entrance into thy kingdom, where parting shall be no more known, and every tear shall be wiped from my now weeping eyes. I would desire, blessed Lord, to submit to thy will in these most affecting bereavements. O comfort me with the consolations of thy Spirit, and bring me and my dear brothers and sisters near to thyself. Amidst our many trials may we remember our many mercies. May we be enabled to thank Thee for all. What a comfort not to sorrow as those without hope: but to be assured that through the merits of Christ our dear parents are translated from a body of sin and corruption, to a glorious immortality.’ So Elizabeth wound up the history of the past eventful year. Her patience, meekness, and resignation, her thankfulness for the mercies she received, and her joyous hope are alike an instructive lesson to us all. I find another interesting record at the beginning of the year 1839. ‘I have now entered upon another year. Oh how different do all things now appear, to what they did at the commencement of the last. I was then blessed with my dear parents, and I looked forward for some years of comfort and of guidance from them; but thy ways, O Lord, are not my ways, neither are Thy thoughts my thoughts; Thou hast taken them from me that I may look to thee alone for help and comfort. O give me grace to seek all I want from Thee. Wean me, blessed Lord, from the world, and all its treatments, and enable me to live entirely to Thee. Thou knowest, Lord, my weakness and proneness to start aside from my best Friend, but pardon all Thou hast seen amiss in me, through the past year, and enable me now to live more devotedly to Thy service.’ The method which she chose of quietly taking a review of the past, and forecasting the circumstances of the new year, appeared to be peculiarly profitable, and may afford a direction as to the mode of spending this interesting season.