unapproachable of his flock, how confidingly they talked to her of their hopes and disappointments, their joys and sufferings, their struggles and shortcomings, and with what unwearied interest she listened, sympathized, consoled or advised, in tones of touching sweetness that made her simplest words impressive. Thus she effectually aided in her husband's labors for their welfare.
Mr. Mildmay was not a flowery pulpit declaimer of the sensation school, but there was a persuasive eloquence in the truths he clearly presented to the minds of his hearers which had a more permanently healthful, a more regenerating influence, than the most exciting sermon that ever stirred a congregation into enthusiasm for the servant of the Lord, without raising hearts to the Lord himself. The young pastor's mien, his very presence calmed, encouraged, and elevated. He taught, not by preceptive wisdom alone, but by the example of his life, by the broad charity, the love for others by which his Master had said his disciples should be known. Ethan Mildmay was a stranger to the morose bigotry that dwarfs the mental stature of so many pious men. The grandeur of his own spiritual breadth and height enabled him to reach the hearts of not a few whose expanded intellects rendered them inaccessible to a narrower grasp.
The religion with which he inspired his congregation was not made up of mere external observances and empty forms. He taught them that the
