Old Nance. 1OL

place, or lay on the hay in the back part of the cow-
house. This was the first time that I had scen
death near at hand, and it made a great impression
on me.

Where was old Nance now? I kept asking my-
self. What did she care for and think about now?
for all that had occupied her during a long life was
left behind. Could she turn her mind at once to
singing praises? she would be happier if it were
sweeping or baking. But God, it was true, could
make her able. Then the suddenness with which
she had slipped away, as it were, out of my very
hands, struck me with a startled sense of the near-
ness of death. Why should not I go next, and
with as little warning? And if I did, was I ready?
I hid my face and trembled as I thought of the great
and holy God, and of my own little, mean, unworthy
life. No, I was not fit to die; not fit to die.

But I might dic any moment. I would prepare ;
my life should henceforth be a preparation for
death. I spent my time until the funeral in prayer
and meditation, and in reading all the passages I
could find in the Bible on death and judgment.
“ He feels the old woman’s death more than a body
would have thought for,’ remarked the women ;
but I knew that it was not Nance’s loss, but death
itself that so impressed me.