and he must come back and try what he can do for the rest of you, by keeping school, or in some other way."

During her father's brief narration, Grace had remained gazing at him, every faculty absorbed in deep and painful interest, but as he ceased to speak she started up, and with sparkling eye and glowing cheek, exclaimed, "Never shall Philip be called home on such an errand while I live to prevent it. I am young and strong, and can find a way of helping you all, little as you may believe it. Nay, hear me," she said, as she saw that her father's face expressed strong incredulity-"it was only yesterday that Sarah Carter, who has just returned from Lowell, told me what high wages some of the girls earn, who are not older than I, and which of them do you think would have a dearer object to work for than I, with the old homestead and dear Philip before me?"

A tear had been slowly gathering in farmer Lee's eye while his daughter spoke, and fell on her neck as he kissed her, and replied to her fervent appeal,—“ You are too young Grace, to know how impossible it is for you to do all that your love for me dictates-but I thank you for the will, and I shall never forget it."

"But you surely will not refuse to let me, dear father. I have been for some time thinking about the factories, and now I am so certain that I could help you, and Philip, too, it would be cruel to deny me. Mother, will you not plead for me?" asked the ardent girl, "you know not how my heart is set upon this thing."

Mrs. Lee had been apparently intent on some household duty during the conversation between her husband and child, but thus addressed, she took a step toward Grace, and only replied by inquiring in a low voice, "And what do you think Lewis Dayton will say to such a plan, Grace?" Poor Grace! The blood rushed over her cheeks, neck and brow, at this question, and a convulsive movement of the lip told that a chord had been touched to which every heart-string vibrated--but it was only for a moment, and then she said, rather proudly, "If Lewis Dayton cares any thing about me, he will like me the better for doing my

duty as a daughter-and if his love cannot stand this test, it is better to know it now than hereafter."

"Grace is right, wife," said the farmer more cheerfully

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no man deserves our girl, who thinks the less of her for any kind of honest labour, and though I have little confidence in her helping her old father, I am willing she should go and try fortune, since she wishes it."

"Now bless you for that word, dear father. I am certain of success if I only have your approval, and that of my mother, whatever others think or say."

It was with great difficulty that Grace obtained a promise from her father to wait six months before any thing was said to Philip about leaving college, but he yielded at last, and through her agency, an arrangement was made with uncle Thomas, by which the interest was paid up, and the troublesome creditor quieted for the present. Farmer Lee was certain that it was all nonsense, and that he was only getting more deeply into trouble by this respite, but it was hard to deny any thing to the favourite child, who had never seemed so dear to him as now, when she was so soon to leave them. The pleasant farm on Beach Hill had been in the Lee family for two generations, and they were respected and beloved by all the inhabitants of the little town of Meredith, in which it was situated. The news flew swiftly that Grace Lee was about to leave home, to go into a factory, and in that quiet community it occasioned quite an excitement. It was not a few years since, as common for daughters of respectable farmers to enter the mills for a season, as it now is, and Grace Lee, though a hardy mountain maiden, had been so much the household pet, that few imagined how much quiet energy lay concealed beneath her gentle and lady-like demeanour.

"I always knew that pride must have a fall," said Miss Priscilla Jones, whose envy of our sweet Grace had been nourished until it became an absorbing passion-and who had hastened to the store of young Mr. Dayton to tell him the news. "Grace Lee has held her head so high that people thought she was the only girl in Meredith.

I wonder what she will say now, don't you, Mr. Dayton?"

The young merchant only smiled, and said he presumed the whole affair was a mistake, but it was nothing to him certainly, what any young lady thought proper to do. But though he affected great indifference on the subject, he was far from feeling it, for he admired the wild flower of Beach Hill more than he would have chosen to confess, and his attention had been so marked, that neither Grace nor her parents could misunderstand them. But to marry a factory girl-this his foolish pride whispered, was not to be thought of, so he hastened to the house of Farmer Lee, to hear the report contradicted by the lips he loved best. It cannot be denied, that the heart of the young girl fluttered so wildly at his entrance that she could hardly speak to bid him welcome, nor that a strange thrill of pain convulsed it, as he spoke of his surprise at hearing the rumour of her intended departure. But it was with a calm brow and firm voice that she said she was indeed to leave home for Lowell, perhaps to be absent for some years. There was no mistaking her lover's face as she said this-it gave the death-blow to all the hopes she had unconsciously cherished, and taught her that henceforth, Lewis Dayton must be to her as a stranger. After an ineffectual attempt to induce her to relinquish the idea, and a few common-place remarks about other things, he took his departure, leaving Grace in a tumult of contending emotions, among which, gratitude that she had so soon learned the hollowness of his professions, became predominant. "Better now than later," she said to herself, while the tears of wounded feeling gushed from her eyes-"I might in time have loved him so well, that the discovery of his character would have almost broken my heart. I have now only to think of my duty to my parents, and dear Philip."

Philip Lee was two years older than Grace, and though an invalid from childhood, was a young man of uncommon strength of mind and loveliness of character. From his inability to labour on a farm, it was early decided, that,

if possible, he should have an education; and it was the first wish of his heart to become qualified for the Gospel ministry. By great exertion and self-denial on his own part he had succeeded with the little aid his father could bestow, in fitting himself to enter college one year in advance, and the whole family, were looking forward with eager anticipation, to the time when they should listen to his voice from the sacred desk. To Grace, particularly, who idolized her brother, this hope had become a part of her own existence, and she felt that no sacrifice was too great, no labour too severe, to ensure its accomplishment. But Philip possessed a portion of her own independence, and she must conceal her plans and wishes from him, or he would have refused to profit by her generous affection.

The day of parting at length came, and accompanied by her father, Grace Lee left the beloved home of her childhood, to enter on the new and untried scenes that awaited her. All was at first strange and unpromising, and with a heart-sickness never before felt, she sought the solitude of her own apartment, that she might weep without restraint. But she was young and hopeful, and the morning brought happier thoughts and renewed courage, for was she not there to help those who were dearer to her than life itself-and would not this alone make everything tolerable and even pleasant? It certainly was so, for the light of love shone on every object around her, gilded with its own radiant hues the monotonous labour in which she was engaged-and making even the ceaseless hum of the machinery sweeter music to her ear than the warbling of the songsters in her own native groves. It was important to her to secure high wages, and she did so, but not even for this would she neglect the cultivation of her mind, in the few leisure hours she might call her own. Her little room was a sacred spot, where order and neatness presided, and carefully-tended flowers, well-chosen books, and a good collection of music, spoke the taste and refinement of its occupant. Without in the least neglecting her daily duties, she was enabled, by a judicious improvement of

time, in attending lectures, and following a course of reading, to acquire an amount of useful knowledge, far exceeding that of many a young lady who has spent years at a fashionable boarding-school. Her manners, too, though perfectly simple and unaffected, were graceful and dignified, and no one could look on her sweet face, through which heart and mind were ever speaking, without feelings of deep interest and involuntary admiration. Four years had now passed away since Grace Lee became an inhabitant of Lowell-and in that time, the mortgage on the "home farm" had been paid off by her, and her father now sat in his accustomed nook, with the glad consciousness that the inheritance which had descended to him, would go down to his children unencumbered by a single debt. Besides this, Philip had been compelled by her sisterly affection, to accept of her assistance in his course of study, and was now, thanks to her generosity, a licensed minister, looked up to by all who knew him, as a young man of more than ordinary promise. Once a year she visited, for a few short days, the dear spot where her affections were garnered, and it always seemed to the household, after her departure, as if the sun shone less brightly than usual, when they missed the light of her smile and the music of her voice from their midst.

But now the farmer and his wife were growing old, and could no longer spare her, and on the next Sabbath, her brother was to preach for the first time in the old church of Meredith. So Grace Lee bade farewell to the spot endeared to her by many recollections, and at the close of a bright summer, found herself once more amid her earliest friends, under the paternal roof from which she had been so long an exile.

It was a happy circle that surrounded the family altar that night, and as the young clergyman, in a deep, rich voice, that trembled with emotion, thanked God for the way in which he had led them, and above all for the safe return of her whom he had made the messenger of mercy to her father's house; Grace felt that such a moment more than repaid her for all the sacrifices she had made.