Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1858-02-04

perennial spring of light, and love, and
joy. You will find it an unerring guide in
life, and a torch to illumine the dark valley
of the shadow of death. Farewell-the
| blessing of Israels God be yours
He placed the book in the hand of Ag-
nes, and turned in a different path. They
walked home in silence. Neither express
sed to the other the thoughts that filed the
bosom of EACH Had an angel from heav-
en- come down and met them in the grove.
the interview could hardly have had more
solemnizing influence. 1t was the first time
they had ever been Individually addressed
as immortal beings, the first time they had
been personally reminded that they were
pilgrims of earth, and doomed to be dwell
lers of the tomb. The voice of the stran-
ger still rung in their ears, deep and mel
lew as the sound of the church going bell.
Those warning accents, they could not for
get them, for there was an echo in their
own hearts, and an answer too, affirming
the truth of what he uttered That night,
when Ellen, unusually exhausted, reclined
on her restless couch, she suddenly asked
Agnes to read her something from that
book, so mysteriously given 1t was the
first time she had addressed her, since their
return, and there was something startling
in the sound of her voice, it was so altered.
There was humility in the tone, that usu-
ally breathed pride or discomfort. Agnes
sat down, and turned the leaves with
trembling hand
what shall | read where shall COM
mence| p asked she, fearful and irresolute,
in utter ignorance Of its hallowed contents.
ALA! ! | know not replied Ellen, then
raising herself on her elbow, with wild
and earnest look, see if you can find where
it speaks Of that dark valley, of which he
told-the dark valley of death
BY one OF those unexpected eoinciden-
ces which sometimes occur, Agnes at that
moment opened at the twenty-third Psalm,
and the verse containing this sublime allu-
sion met her eye. She read aloud
Though | walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, | will fear no evil, for
thou art with me-thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me-
Strange repeated Ellen, and making
motion for her to continue, Agnes read the
remainder of that beautiful Psalm, and the
| two succeeding ones, before she paused
Dark as was their understanding with re-
gard to spiritual things, and deep as was
| their Ignorance, they were yet capable of
taking in some faint glimpses of the glory
of the Lord, pervading these strains Of in
spiration. Agnes was pleasing reader,
and her voice, now modulated by new emo
tions, was peculiarly impressive. Ellen
| repeated again and again to herself, after
Agnes had ceased, who is this King of
glory? The Lord strong and mighty "
She had never thought of God, but as of
Being dreadful in power, avenging in his
judgments, and awful in his mystery She
had remembered him only in the whirlwind
| and the storm, the lightning and the thun-
der, never in the still small voice She
had thought Of death, but it was Of the
winding sheet and the dark coffin lid, and
the lonely grave-hcr fears had rested
there, on the shuddering brink of decaying
mortality. Oh as she lay awake during
the long watches of the night, and con-
science, aroused from its deadly lethargy,
entered the silent chambers of memory and
| walked the slumbering shadows Of the past
how cherries, how dark was the retro
spect Far as the eye of memory could
revert, she could read nothing but ganity,
| canity! A wide, wide blank, on which a
| spectral hand was writing rdnity, and some
thing told her, too, that that same hand
would ere long write this great moral of
life on her mouldering ashes. She cast her
fearful gaze upon the future, but recoiled
in shivering dread, from the vast illimita-
bic abyss that darkened before her. No
ray of hope illumined the dread immense.
The Star of Bethlehem had never yet shed
its holy beams on the horoscope of her
destiny; not that its beams had ever ceased
to shine, since that memorable night when,
| following its silvery pathway in the heav-
ems, the wise men of the East were guided
to the cradle of the infant Redecmer, to
offer their alteration at his feet; but her
eyes had never looked beyond the clouds
of time, and in its high and pure resplen-
denee it had shone in vain for her
Il will seek him tomorrow, this holy
man, said she, as hour after hour she lay
gazing, through her curtains, on the starry
depths of night, and ask him to enlighten
and direct me-
The morrow came, but Ellen was not
able to take her accustomed walk For
several days she was confined from debility
to her room, and had ample leisure to con-
| tinue the work Of selfexamination As
soon as she was permitted to go into the
open air, she sought her wonted retreat,
and it was with feelings of mingled joy
and dread she recognized the stranger,
apparently waiting their approach. This
truly good man, though stranger to them,
was well known in the neighborhood for
his deeds of charity and labors of love.
His name was NJ -, and as there was
no mystery in his character or life, he may
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