MARY'S FIRST HOME. 11

side of the sick and dying negro; of her taking
Mary with her on Sunday to the house which the
negroes called their ‘“‘ Prayer House,” and gather-
ing the children of her husband’s plantation there,
to teach them hymns and Scripture texts, and to
pray with them. Once, when describing these
scenes, Mary dropped her head on her aunt’s lap
and burst into tears. It was long before she
could explain why she wept. At length she
said that it was because she remembered waking
in the night and hearing some one whispering by
the side of her little crib; that she was frightened
at first, till, opening her eyes, she saw, by the
shaded night-lamp, that it was her own dear
mother kneeling down and praying softly for
her. Do you not pity Mary for having so kind
and tender a mother taken away from her?

Mrs. Mowbray was ill for many weeks before
her death. She knew she would never be well
again, ahd, though satisfied that this was right
and best for her, since her heavenly Father or-
dered it, there was one earthly care of which she
could not quite free herself. This care was for
Mary. Mr. Mowbray was a very tender and in-