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she raised her eyes, they rested upon a Bible which lay upon it, covered with dust and cobwebs! A lady had given it to her several years before, with advice "to read it, and learn from it her duty to God and her family." Distress, (which leads the most thoughtless to think,) brought to Betsy's remembrance what the lady had said to her; and fixing her eyes, filled with bitter tears, upon neglected book, she said, "She told me it would comfort me in the hour of sorrow;" but what comfort is it to me now;—a sottish husband, and a child in jail. She had never opened the precious volume, to search for the comfort contained in it, or even in such trouble as then she was suffering; for she would have found a promise to them, "who cry unto the Lord in their troubles," that "he will deliver them out of their distresses." The miserable mother closed her eyes again, and the thought of her child in prison caused her to sob aloud; Peter groaned; and Betsy, raising her head, the last bright light of the candle snuff, showed her again the neglected Bible; and then all was darkness. "O! Philip!

said she, throwing her head back upon the pillow, I remember when that book was given to me; I was told that the best way to keep you from evil, was to get you to read it, by setting you the example, and sending you to Sunday school: O! I wish I had; she told me, too, that no boy was found in jail, who was well taught at Sunday school; so, if I had sent you, I might have had you here now."Her tears again fell fast, but they were only tears of distress for Philip's sad condition; not of repentance for her own neglect, of her duty to him, and to her God, or she would have humbly confessed her guilt, and found the certainty of the promise which is in the word of God: "Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins, shall have mercy." When Peter again raised his head from the table, he swore at the pain which he felt in it, for he was proving the truth, that strong drink, "at last, biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." When his wife heard him, she ceased to feel any regret, for her own neglect of her duty to Philip; and began to blame his wicked father. Thus, were these guilty pa

rents employed, while their neglected child was reaping the reward of sin in the prison. The disgrace of being there, was a bitterness to his pride; and bold, as he always was thought to be, he had not the true courage of those, who "fear God only;" when, therefore, he was told he might lay down, he trembled on seeing the ill-looking man, who was laying near him. In vain he tried to rest; and, at last, raised himself with his back against the dark wall, and sat sobbing aloud; but no one attended to him, and if they had, there was no one there to give him any comfort; no one to tell him that a penitent would be forgiven, if he prayed with sorrow for his guilt to the God of mercy, who sent into the world a Saviour for repentant sinners. Thus, closed election day upon the family of Peter Radly.

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CHAP. III.

WHEN Andrew Hilton returned home, after seeking in vain for his disobedient apprentice, he found the boys waiting anxiously for him, and a comfortable dinner ready. When they had eaten it, he said they had better set out on their walk, as the afternoons were short. "I wish you would let Jane and me go with you, father," (said his daughter Peggy,) we never saw the water works." "I should be sorry, my daughter, if mine went into the street on election day, (said her father) especially to be there towards evening, when there are so many idle boys and drunken men." "But, father," said Peggy, "if you are with us they will not hurt us." I cannot prevent your hearing their ill language, (replied her father,) so you must not go; but if your mother is willing, I will take you next Saturday afternoon, and perhaps, she will go too; George can then stay with his grandfather." The girls looked at their mother, who

said, "if you will do this afternoon the mending that you always do on Saturday, I will do mine, and then we can all go." The girls gladly agreed to do so, and Andrew and the boys left them. Hannah Hilton and her daughters spent the afternoon at their work; Jane, who was the youngest, and had least to do, soon finished her task of sewing, and then said, she would read to her grandfather, who was always pleased when she offered to do so. She opened the large Bible that had belonged to her great grandfather, and always lay upon a table in the room; she could just, when standing, see its sacred pages, and liked better to read in it than a smaller one, because the letters were so large. She always had permission to use it, if she had first washed her hands; for it had been carefully preserved from finger marks, though for very many years, no sun had arisen and set, without its being opened and read. After reading for some time, as she closed the holy book, a loud rap was heard at the outside door; Peggy rose to open it, and started back when she saw Thomas with his swelled nose,

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