parts of the world, she was again led to lament her own secluded situation, and to regret that her lot had not fallen in a more active scene, where more important duties might have claimed her attention-duties, in the performance of which she might have exhibited I know not what wonders of perseverance and self-denial.

In the mean time, the letters from L- became less and less frequent; till, after a while, poor Anna's dear Charlotte seldom wrote more than one short epistle in six months. At length, however, after a longer silence than usual, her father, on his return from market, put a long letter in his daughter's hand, directed in the well-known hand of Miss Parker.

Anna, according to the long established rule among young ladies who form very great intimacies at school, retired to read her friend's letter; and, as it was summer time, she very properly chose an arbour of honeysuckle at the bottom of the garden as the most convenient place to. retire to on this very affecting occasion. The letter was long, and duly crossed with red ink, and very different in its whole style from any thing Anna had ever before received from Miss Parker.

The letter opened with strong expressions of unabated friendship, which rather surprised Anna, as her friend's affection had evidently been on the wane for some time past. The letter then proceeded to say, that a very great revolution had taken place in L- since Anna had made one of the society in that town, and indeed since Miss Parker had enjoyed the pleasure of writing to her friend. "Those," said the gentle writer, "who formerly crowded our theatres, filled our ball-rooms, gathered round our card-tables, and frequented our races, have at length discovered, that they have interests in life of a more serious nature than the mere pursuit of light and evanescent pleasures. They have discovered, that the longest life must speedily close; that man's applause is but as a summer breeze, and that the breath of calumny is but a passing storm, which this day assails our house, and to-morrow is forgotten. Our old people have ceased to covet the dirty pelf of this world; and our young people, regardless of the bloom of their youth, and despising the admiration of the world, devote themselves to the comfort of the afflicted, the

relief of the sick, and the support of the aged. Such is the case, my Anna. And to what is this wonderful change to be attributed, my friend, but to religion? of which we knew nothing formally, and of which we might all have died in ignorance, had it not been for a circumstance which I shall have the pleasure of relating to you by and by."

The young lady then went on to inform her friend of the nature of that religion which she had learned; speaking so much and so well on some of its most characteristic doctrines that she might have led a person far more experienced than Anna to believe, that, if her heart was not touched, it was certainly not because her head was not well stored with knowledge on points of the most vital importance.

But to return to our letter, some passages of which I refrain from repeating on this occasion, lest my serious reader might think me chargeable with a breach of that commandment which saith-Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Miss Parker, having covered three sides of foolscap with the communications above noticed, had recourse to her red ink, wherewith to account for these sudden revolutions, which she did by attributing them to the preaching and conversation of a pious clergyman lately come among them. Much was said of the mellifluous eloquence, the wonderful fluency, and peculiar gracefulness, of this excellent man; with much more to the same purpose, which I have not leisure to repeat. She spoke of the moment when his discourses had been brought with power to her own heart; talked of her conversion as a thing which could not be questioned; represented herself as having given up the world, and devoted herself wholly to the duties of religion; entering into a long description of the delightful religious meetings that had taken place, of those insignificant parties which had formerly engaged every heart; and closing all with an account of the various useful plans then in agitation.

The letter concluded in a manner which again opened the sluices of Anna's eyes; though I doubt whether the sentiments contained in this conclusion will have sufficient genuine pathos to produce the same effect on my tender hearted reader. The pathetic passage was to this effect"And why, my Anna, why are you not here to partake of your Charlotte's happiness? The pleasures I now enjoy

are not such as I am ashamed to ask a dear friend to participate. Why are you not here to assist me in my labours? What a sphere of usefulness would open to you, were you now in this place! How would all my duties be sweetened by the presence of my Anna! But no, it cannot be: I must therefore resign myself to the decrees of Providence. This life is a state of suffering: we cannot have all we wish; but my Anna will not forget her Charlotte, and this shall be my consolation under all my trials."

Poor Anna, after a repeated perusal of this letter, was so much affected, and wept so violently, as to prevent her observing two inconsistencies therein, which might, perhaps, have been detected by a less interested reader. The first of these was, Miss Parker's speaking of her very great happiness in the former part of her letter, and of her severe trials and sufferings in the latter: the second was, that while the young lady so bitterly deplored the absence of her Anna, there was nothing like a request throughout the letter, that she would take the trouble of visiting the town of L. But, be this as it may, the letter met with so kind a reception, that, to use the proper language on this occasion, the gentle Anna failed not to blister the paper in many places with her tears: and she was still thus tenderly engaged, when, looking up, she saw her good friend Mr. Mills standing before her.

"My dear little damsel," said the good man, lifting up his hands and eyes in amazement," what mean these floods of tears? Your father and mother are well, I know; for I am but this moment come from them. Has any mischance bafallen the Guinea-fowls or the pea-hen? or am I to understand that the paper you hold in your hand contains some very affecting intelligence?"

Anna, ashamed to be found in tears, yet too sincere to conceal the cause, after having shown her friend's letter, told Mr.Mills that she had long ceased to regret the worldly pleasures of L-, as being objects utterly unworthy the attention of a Christian; but that the representation her dear Charlotte had made of the improved society in that place, of her own many delightful occupations, and the wide sphere of usefulness which had opened to herthese things had indeed once more revived her feelings of regret at being shut up in a place where she had no Chris

tian society of her own age, and little which she could do to advance the cause in which her heart, she trusted, was so deeply engaged.

Mr. Mills smiled, but it was with an expression of sorrow. Then shaking his head, and beginning to pace up and down the little area which spread itself before the arbour, "What!" said he, angrily, "cannot those who cry, 'Lord, Lord,' without doing any thing else, let us alone in this our lodge in the wilderness ?"

"Sir!" said Anna, looking up with astonishment.

Mr. Mills immediately recollected himself, and instantly altered his tone. "Excuse me, my dear Anna," he added, "if I have spoken with unusual warmth: however, permit me, at least, to say, that I knew Miss Parker before I came here, though I have never happened to visit L; and I must confess that I should not think her precisely the proper person to become your spiritual directress. And now," added he, "if you can give me a little of your time, I should wish to open your mind on certain points which do not appear to me to have been duly considered by many excellent Christians.

Anna was silent, and looked down while Mr. Mills pursued his discourse.

"When I was a boy," said this excellent man, "there were no doubt many pious persons in this country; God forbid I should think otherwise; but religion was, nevertheless, little understood and as little respected; while those who made open profession of being more serious than their neighbours, were liable to considerable ridicule. The case is, at present, reversed: religion is now become creditable, and, in many places, it is a step to honour. There are now few large or even small communities, in which there may not be found a number of persons who are counted pious. Among these, no doubt, there are multitudes of the true servants of the Lord; yet it is to be feared, that there are also mingled with them many hollow professors-persons whose religion consists only in words and outward forms, and who are seldom found adorning their profession by a consistent conduct-persons who may be generally known by their noisy declamation, their constant reference to self in all their discourse, their idolatry of human teachers, and a certain restlessness, whereby

they are induced to forsake their own especial duties and peculiar posts in society, in order to strike out something new, which new plan is probably no sooner proposed than forsaken.

"I do not," continued Mr. Mills, " presume to say, that there may not be restless and injudicious characters among the real children of God; but I will venture to say, that in the degree in which a real servant of God is restless and injudicious, he is proportionably deficient in the Christian character. True religion has a peculiar tendency to procure peace, to make a man contented with his actual situation in life, and to lead him to do his duty in that state in which it has pleased God to place him.

"Your friend Miss Parker, my good girl," proceeded Mr. Mills," did she rightly comprehend the nature of that religion which she professes, if she felt herself called upon to give you her opinions at all, ought to have advised you to stay at home, to read your Bible, to comfort and assist your poor neighbours, and do your duty as a daughter, rather than lead you to fancy that you are out of your place at home, and that you might do better, and be happier in another situation. They who know themselves, my good Anna, and are aware of their own peculiar imperfections, are more anxious to bring their one talent to profit, than to receive ten talents, which they might, perchance, wrap in a napkin, and bury in the dust."

Mr. Mills proceeded to remark, that the posts of most persons in this world are so fixed and determined, and their duties so decidedly indicated by Providence, that no one can well be mistaken with regard to them. "And though an individual," said this good man, " may now and then, as it were, for a moment, find himself thrown into perplexity concerning some particular step to be taken; yet I feel assured, that if the way is not made clear before it is necessary to act, he that trusteth in the Lord, will, though blind, be brought by a way he knew not of, and be led into paths that he had not known, till darkness shall be made light before him, and the crooked places straight. (Isaiah xlii. 16.)

"But in your case, my dear Anna, proceeded Mr. Mills, "and in that of most young women with regard to their parents, and of most wives with regard to their husbands,