with beings too seldom recognized as members of the human family. Towards the sick, the poor, the sad, the suffering in any shape, her hand is unhesitatingly stretched out. They need no credentials save the stamp of sadness, sickness, poverty, and prompt aid is true aid. She seems endowed with God's special license to console, to translate mysterious sorrows into promised joys, to strengthen the weak, to soften the hard, to reconcile the rebellious.
The history of any one day of her life would fill chapters with scenes of anguish, of passion, of hope, of happy consummations, that might adorn the pages of a romance.
Thus, Miriam, "the old maid," is not less happy, less useful, less beloved than the wife and mother whose heart and hands are full of alternate cares and blessings. Those upon whose path of life the smile of Miriam Pleasance shines, never after speak scornfully of an "old maid." We entertain but one fear for Miriam; it is that she will not always bear the vestal title around which she has woven such an indescribable charm.
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