author. The announcement was received with inexpressible surprise, mingled with delight. When the public learned who the author of the work was, there was no limit to the praises poured upon her. Such literary characters as Johnson, Reynolds, and Edmund Burke, sought her out as a literary prodigy. Still she was not elated. She sought retirement rather than notoriety; and it was probably this trait which saved her from being spoiled by fame, and made her a useful, substantial woman in mature life. The wife of the late President Polk was a woman of rare accomplishments; and her modesty was not the least of her charms. It was to this quality particularly that Mrs. Stephens paid a tribute in the beautiful lines which she addressed to her, from which we extract the following: "There, standing in our nation's home, I love to keep thee in my mind, Thus mated with the pure of old, "When first I saw thee standing there, And felt the pressure of thy hand, I scarcely thought that thou wert fair, Or of the highest in the land; I knew thee gentle, pure as great; All that was lovely, meek, and good; In love of thy bright womanhood." When John Adams was elected to the chief magistracy of the United States, his wife wrote to him at Philadelphia, and the following paragraph of her letter shows that both modesty and humility were traits of her character: "My thoughts and my meditations are with you, though personally absent; and my petitions to Heaven are, that the things that make for peace may not be hidden from your eyes. My feelings are not those of pride or ostentation, upon the occasion. They are solemnized by a sense of the obligations, the important trusts, and numerous duties connected with it. That you may be enabled to discharge them with honor to yourself, with justice and impartiality to your country, and with satisfaction to this great people, shall be the daily prayer of your A. A." Another conspicuous exemplar of this grace was "Mary, the mother of Washington." That, with all her strength of character, and all the glory with which a grateful people invested her as the mother of their illustrious leader, she was singularly modest, is the testimony of all chroniclers of American history. She appeared scarcely to think of the distinguished honors conferred upon her son in her intercourse with him or others. After an absence of seven years, in the great conflict for independence, he returned to pay a visit to his remembered mother. Towns and cities were prepared to greet him with more enthusiastic devotion than was awarded to Grecian and Roman conquerors in ancient days; but no demonstration of respect and love caused the good woman to speak or act in any other than the most unassuming, modest way. She met him at the door of her dwelling, and embraced him by the endearing name of his childhood, GEORGE. She inquired after his health, and remarked upon the traces of time and care upon his once youthful brow. She had much to say about former days and former friends, but made not the slightest allusion to his glory. Subsequently there was a grand gathering of French and American officers in Fredericksburg, and it was arranged that Washington should conduct his mother thither, to introduce her to foreign officers, who were anxious to see her. Judging from European examples, they expected to behold a woman of proud and haughty mein, glorying in the triumphs of her son, and proud to be his mother. What was their surprise then, to behold a woman of the most unpre tending manners, arrayed in the plainest garb of old Virginian style! They showered attentions upon her during the evening, none of which elevated her in the least; and at an early hour she retired, remarking, that it was time for old people to be at home. CHAPTER X. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. MARY LYON'S PUPIL ON A JOURNEY - HER CONSCIENTIOUSNESS THE RESULT OF HER TEACHER'S COUNSELS -MARY LYON'S EXAMPLE IN THIS REGARD - SHE WAS CONSCIENTIOUS IN GIRLHOOD SOME ARE CONSCIENTIOUS ONLY IN CERTAIN THINGS — AN AMUSING CASE IN POINT MARY LYON AS CONSCIENTIOUS IN CHOOSING DRESS OR BONNET AS IN KEEPING THE SABBATH A BEAUTIFUL TRAIT HELEN WALKER WOULD NOT LIE TO SAVE THE LIFE OF A SISTER INSCRIPTION ON HER MONUMENTABSURD TO SAY DECEPTION IS EVER NECESSARY - GIRLS OF GENTEEL LYING On one occasion a pupil of Mary Lyon was on a journey, when the following incident occurred. She was about going in a steamboat to a certain place, and was requested, with the other females, to draw lots for berths. There was no hesitation on the part of others; but this young lady said, when it came her turn to draw, "I would rather not draw. If any berth is left after the other passengers are provided for, I will take it; if not, very well." Her. decided stand for the claims of her conscience was occasioned by her teacher's lessons upon the subject. Miss Lyon's exposition of Proverbs xvi: 33, |