Thy name was always on her lips, as if she were forever addressing a prayer for thee to God in heaven! At last the dreadful hour arrived when she heard the Almighty's voice summoning her above.

The clergyman performed the services for the dying; and you, my child, had been taken from her arms and sent out of the house.

It was midnight, and I was alone with her whose icy lips had already imprinted on mine their last sad kiss.

My heart bled.

Oh, God! how wretched--how wretched--were those parting hours! My beloved wife lay there before me as if already a corpse, while the tears yet trickled down her hollow cheeks and she strove to utter your name with her expiring breath.