lovely in its reflected repose. How beautiful is that sky; how vast its deep and deepening blue! Beyond that arch that seems like polished oriental sapphire, is fixed the throne of God, who, in the boundlessness of His benevolence, has filled the earth with such unerring notices of His loving kindness and favour to man. Every where, I read His lavish goodness, and my heart swells with thankfulness and praise.

Many were the thoughts which rushed across my mind, and large was the blessing that rested on my spirit, as I mused in the loneliness, yet fulness, of the hills of Ayr, when turning round, I discovered standing near me, and leaning upon his staff, an old man, neatly clad, but careworn and sorrowful. I instantly rose, and bade him sit down on the mossy stone, on which I had been seated. He approached, and after taking the seat, he took off his bonnet, and brushed away from his brow a few hairs of silvery whiteness, which the hand of time had still left there to crown his age.

I laid myself down upon the grass recliningly, on the slope of the hill, and remarked upon the enchantment of the scenery and the delightfulness of the evening.

Running his eyes over the landscape, as if to gather it all in his view, and turning his brow to the gentle zephyr which played along and twined its fairy fingers amid his thin locks, he replied:—

"For seventy years I have trod these hills and woods, and wandered along the banks of these streams, and

lingered for hours in these braes; yet have I neve so fair an eve." He paused awhile, and continue These scenes are dear to me, young man ; grown up with them; I am wedded to them; linger yet awhile among them; but soon, very so those I love, whose forms I have not seen thes days,-Heaven rest their spirits,-I'll lay me sleep, and gaze upon these scenes no more."

These words were uttered with an impressive that attracted my attention, and filled me with inc ble emotions; and I could see the tear start in man's eye and fall down upon his cheek, which, h he brushed away, and, unasked by me, continu

When I was young I loved these scenes; the all of life to me. Two and twenty summers, with ardent pleasures, passed over me like a dream of The home where I was born was one of gladness and joy, the offspring of religion, dwelt among blest us. We were not rich, but we were conter that is more than wealth can buy. We were five in ber, knit together in bonds of purest affection. 1 loveliest scene of life may be disturbed. The stor blast the sweetest flower, and turn the fairest lands a waste. Death came across our threshhold, and our ingle-side snatched our aged sire. Soon he again, and laid his icy hand upon the brow and he our fond mother, and she was cold and voiceless; w

her away and buried her. Before she closed her eyes, and ere her voice was stilled forever, she called us-Alice, Mary and myself to her bed-side, and with the trembling tones of stealing death, said:-'Alice and Mary, how much I love you has been fully proved; like tender flowers have I nursed you, and brought you along the pathway of life, thus far, by God's grace. When your father died, he bade me raise his daughters in the fear of God. Now I am dying too. I shall soon be cold in death, and you will have no mother. Promise me now before I leave you, that you will ever remember our counsel and our prayers, and that, when you stand by my grave, you will renew your early vows. To you, William,' she said, addressing me'to you I give the old Bible, that lays there on the stand, out of which your father read, morning and evening, before he died, and round which we have gathered since; take it, and as oft as morning light and evening shadows come, read and pray with your sisters; and, please God, I will hover over you from heaven, and bless your worship.'

"Loud," continued the old man, were the sobs which burst from the fountains of our hearts, as we beheld our dear mother lingering in the shade of death, and listened, for the last time, to her endeared voice. Soon we were to be without a parent, and the spirit of sadness and weeping was upon us. We leaned over her pillow, and kissed her brow and lips, already cold, and in a few moments, we stood, weeping orphans, in the chamber of death. We buried her in the old kirk-yard beyond the hill, and as we

surrounded her grave, we knelt and promised each other, to meet father and mother again-in Heaven."

The old man buried his face in his hands, and sobbed. aloud. The tears were already coursing down my cheeks, and dropping on the grass where I lay. He continued :—

:

"Poor Alice! poor Mary! their young hearts had never known so much sorrow. Beautiful as the blushes of the morning, and innocent as the bloom around them, guileless as the zephyr, and joyous as the singing birds, they never dreamed of aught but pleasure. Grief came upon them, like the storm of winter upon the meadows, overwhelming them with sorrow, and ere a year had passed away, I closed their eyes, and with these hands, fashioned their grave, and buried them beside their mother, in the kirkyard, and wept often, long and loud, the grief of loneliness. Days passed away, and morning and evening I returned to the grave-yard to weep. Weeks passed away, I still grieved and wept. Months came and went, and with them the blossoms and the frost; still I started in my dreams, as the forms of Alice and Mary, in death-robes, appeared before me. Years passed away; I lingered still among the banks and braes of Ayr; and time, who changes all things, softened my grief, but never dimmed my memory of the past. I turned my soul upward to Heaven, and in meditation often mingled with the blest spirits of the departed loved ones, and rejoiced in the hope that I should at last mingle indeed with them never to separate."

Here his voice faltered, and the serenity of his countenance, was as if Heaven had whispered peace to him. The golden sun had now set, and far up the sky left visions of slow-returning glory. All was still as could be; when, suddenly, the old man raised his eyes, illuminated with spirit light, and lifted his hand toward Heaven, and said:-

"I see them now; they beckon me away, and soon I shall be with them. Do you not see them? See! swift descending, they approach, as oft I dreamed I saw them. Father, mother, Alice, Mary-angels,--all--I hear their songs; how sweetly they sing! Joy comes again; I weep for joy; peace stills my beating heart, and lightness dwells within my bosom; I smile amid my tears. The setting of the sun is the fading of life; the shades of evening are the shadows of death!"

I discovered that he was fast sinking! I rose and commanded myself, as best I could; I threw around him my arms, to sustain his frame, which seemed to languish under some sudden stroke. Upon his brow the damp of death was settling, yet it was serene; his eye became more and more dim, yet it was placid; his whole countenance was that of the triumph of peace. There was no struggle, no appearance of painful emotion; but raising himself with a dying effort, he reached forth his arm as if to embrace a loved object, and with a smile upon every feature, he sunk to rest in the arms of death, as to the sweetness of slumber.

Soon after,--in the kirk-yard, where he had often wept; and beside the forms of loved ones, and beneath the