for Mrs. Graham in a variety of ways during her life, and she bequeathed to her £200 as a parting testimony of her friendship and esteem.

The time was now at hand when Mrs. Graham felt herself called upon to change her place of residence. She had been remarkably successful in her boardingschool in Edinburgh, though it was now considerably diminished in numbers, and she was threatened with pecuniary difficulties. She had met with many kind friends who contributed not a little by their society to promote her comfort and happiness; she enjoyed many high spiritual advantages; but still she had always entertained a strong partiality for America ever since she had resided there. When Dr. Witherspoon, her early pastor and friend, who had for some years been settled in America, returned to Scotland, on a visit in 1785, she freely communicated to him her wish to cross the Atlantic, as soon as the education of her family should be completed. At length she consulted with her pious friends in Edinburgh, who highly approved of her plans. She had received from New York many encouraging letters from respectable persons resident there, assuring her of patronage and support. Providence, therefore, seemed to point the way, and she made preparations for her removal. Having received about this time a remittance from her kind friend Dr. Henderson in Antigua, she was enabled to charter a small vessel for herself and family, in which they set sail in the month of July 1789, and landed safely in New York, on the 8th of September.

Her parting letter to a pious friend before setting sail is very affecting :

"Now farewell dear, kind, and tried friends! farewell tried and satisfying ordinances! farewell Scotland, who hast embosomed the clay of many around the throne, and art now possessed of their offspring! My pilgrimage in thee is over; it finishes in a cloud-sin is the cause. The Lord says, 'Bow down, that all may go over thee;' I have done so-the Lord subjected me to it. A bitter cup has been put into my hands —one measure is drunk, and I am drunk, but not with wine.'

"Have pity upon me, O my friends! forgive my faults; look upon me as a weakling of Christ's flock, who shall, by means of all these things, be made 'meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.'

"I am poor, and weak, and cast off; yet the Lord will take me up, and when he has chastened and tried and proved me, he will do me good in the latter end.

"This little cabin hides me and mine. We find it an asylum for the time-we cannot be in the world; but I stop. Let me stifle pride within, and blot out its expression without. For my brethren's and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee; because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good.'

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Many comfortable Sabbaths I have had in Scotland, sweet Christian communion; many kind and steady friends-few real enemies, though some busybodies, who have distressed my friends to little purpose. O Lord! bless and reward every kind and tender thing I have experienced from those who loved me, and every deep cut and wound I have experienced from them-in both the motive was the same.

"I desire to be remembered, me and mine, in the Tolbooth Church. May the Lord's presence be with you, and go

Amen and Amen."

with us. A short time after her arrival in New York, Mrs. Graham commenced an establishment for female education. The school was opened on the 5th October 1789, with five scholars, and before the end of the same month they had increased to fifty. Her mode of teaching attracted universal attention; and what tended to enhance the value of her instructions, in the estimation of many parents, was, the uniform desire which she evinced to train up her pupils in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. All other knowledge she regarded as subordinate to the knowledge of divine truth; and, accordingly, under her wise and judicious instructions, several young persons became savingly acquainted with the Gospel of Christ.

Mrs. Graham joined in communion with the Presbyterian Church under the pastoral care of the late Rev. Dr. Mason of New York. This excellent and devoted minister became her intimate friend and counsellor; and under his ministry two of her daughters were led to join themselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant never to be forgotten. The joy which she felt in seeing her children walking in the truth may be seen from the following extract from her diary, under date 10th October 1791 :

"Glory! glory! glory! to the Hearer of prayer. I have cast my fatherless children on the Lord, and he has begun to make good my confidence. One thing, one only thing, have I asked for them, leaving every thing else to be bestowed or withheld, as consisting with

that; I seek for my four children and myself, first of all, the kingdom of God.'

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My God, from day to day, adds many other comforts, and strengthens my hopes, by promising appearances, that 'the grain of mustard seed' is sown in the hearts of my three daughters. They have joined them selves to the people of God, and I have reason to think the Lord has ratified their surrender of themselves to him; he has made them willing for the time, and he will hedge them in to the choice they have made."

About this period, Mrs. Graham's son, who had been left in Scotland to pursue his education, and who had afterwards entered upon a sea-faring life, paid her a visit. He remained some months with her, when she fitted him out for a situation in the navy-the profession to which he was most strongly inclined. Her reflections on his departure are peculiarly affecting :

"This day my only son left me in bitter wringings of heart: he is again launched on the ocean— -God's ocean. The Lord saved him from shipwreck, brought him to my home, and allowed me once more to indulge my affections over him. He has been with me but a short time, and ill have I improved it; he is gone from my sight, and my heart bursts with tumultuous grief. Lord, have mercy on the widow's son-'the only son of his mother!'

"I ask nothing in all this world for him: I repeat my petition-Save his soul alive, give him salvation from sin. It is not the danger of the seas that distresses me; it is not the hardships he must undergo; it is not the dread of never seeing him more in this world; it is because I cannot discern the fulfilment of the promise in

him. I cannot discern the new birth nor its fruits, but every symptom of captivity to Satan, the world, and self-will. This, this is what distresses me; and, in connection with this, his being shut out from ordinances, at a distance from Christians: shut up with those who forget God, profane his name, and break his Sabbathsmen who often live and die like beasts, yet are accountable creatures, who must answer for every moment of time, and every thought, word, and action. O Lord, many wonders hast thou shown me; thy ways of dealing with me and mine have not been common ones-add this wonder to the rest: Call, convert, regenerate, and establish a sailor in the faith. Lord, all things are possible with thee: glorify thy Son, and extend his kingdom by ser and land; take the prey from the strong. I roll him over upon thee. Many friends try to comfort me; miserable comforters are they all. Thou art the God of consolation; only confirm to me thy gracious word, on which thou causedst me to hope, in the day when thou saidst to me, 'Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive.' Only let this life be a spiritual life, and I put a blank in thy hand as to temporal things. I wait for thy salvation Amen."

This young man passed through various changes and sufferings. The last letter which his mother received from him was in 1794, from Demerara, and contained the intelligence that he had been taken prisoner, and then retaken, and was at that time intending to go to Europe with the fleet which was soon to sail under convoy. This letter expressed deep contrition for the errors of his past life, and a wish to mend his ways in

future.