Oh, I cannot give up my child! It will break my heart!" she replied, her voice rising and trembling more and more at each sentence, until it gave way, and the hot tears came raining over her face, and falling upon the insensible cheek of her child.
"'The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away,' Mrs.Gaston.Can you not look up, even in this sore affliction, and say, 'Blessed be the name of the Lord ?' It is your only hope.

An arm of flesh cannot support you now.

You must look to the Strong for strength." As Doctor R--thus urged her to reason and duty, the tears of the bereaved mother gradually ceased to flow.

She grew calmer, and regained, in some degree, her self-possession.

As she did so, she slowly disengaged her arm from the body of her child, placed its head, as carefully as if it had been asleep, upon the pillow, and then arose, and stood with her hands tightly clasped across her forehead.
"I am but a weak woman, doctor, and you must bear with me," said she, in a changed voice.