bowed another to the earth, thou wert the first to stoop and lift the fallen head upon thy knees, and bind with skill the bleeding wounds, and kindle up thy smile of hope, until it melted and rolled back the mists from off the clouded spirit.
O rare combination of high attributes, that formed the setting of that puissant magnet-jewel worn within thy breast! A forbearing spirit, lenient eye, kindly judgment, quiet dignity, bending humility, life-pervading sweetness of Christian charity! Simple, womanly, unconscious, but unfailing magic!
Ere long there came an hour to test the strength of thy dear witchery, to break the spell, or make it stronger. A baby-daughter came to lift her wailing voice and plead for infant suffrages; to stretch her feeble arms, demanding her full share of the kind father's love; to look up, wondering, into all those faces gathered round her cradle-bed, and claim them as brothers and sisters. Then was the newly-made mother's triumph perfected; then was the bond, her gentle hands had woven, tried and cemented. The tiny being that was rocked by throbs of such tumultuous gladness, as it lay upon her breast, was welcomed as no half sister in her step-children's love, but taken wholly, gladly to their unsealed hearts.
And when another, and another, and another cherub girl was sent to swell the band of sisters, each little hand soon forged a new and shining link, in that long, golden chain, and made it dearer,
