18 MAY-FAIR DAY AND

Hence is it that sorrow is so universal, that we may
have mercy and compassion on one another !”

Joanna drew her sister yet more closely to her, and
laid-her head upon her bosom, and kissed her blind
eyes, and felt that she had never loved her so tenderly
as then.

The little shop was continued as in the time of the —
old uncle, and thus furnished constant occupation for
Joanna; but while yet there lay upon poor Dorothy
the languor of enfeebled health and of a cruelly dis-
appointed heart, the hand of God, which chastens
only in love, sent a new sorrow to bind her heart, as
it were, all the more to Him. Leonard wrote thus
to his sisters :—

‘**T am at length compelled to deal frankly with
you. I am not well. I have felt very weak and
poorly since the winter, when I suffered much from
cold. I have latterly been much at the Hall. Mrs,
Ashdown has been very kind to me, and has nursed
me like a mother. I have had a physician from
Ashburn, and he recommends a warmer climate.
Here, even in summer, the air is keen; and as I feel
myself now unable to preach, I have consented to
give up the curacy for the present. I do this with
the greatest reluctance, for I love the people, and I
see among them a sphere of great usefulness ; and if
I am not able to return, I trust that God in his mercy
will send hither a shepherd, who will faithfully care
for his flock. At the present time, however, I yearn
to be with you. My heart's desire and prayer to *
God is that he may make me submissive to His-will.
Farewell! The day after you receive this, I shall
be with you.”

The anxieties and sorrows of his sisters were for-