Elegy in memory of a young lady. 143 exhilaration... I breathed freely, and lost the sense of fatigue. Dawn was now breathing over the distant hills, and by the time I regained the plain whence we set out, a light rosy tint, the pure blush of morning, was spread on every object: the lark sprang up, and commenced her merry carol over my head; a refreshing breeze gently stirred the foliage; I felt that I was approaching the regions of Happiness. I now looked about for the nearest path to the valley, which, though I had distinctly marked the evening before, I could not now readily distinguish. At this moment I was unexpectedly accosted by Happiness herself, who being fond of early rising, had overtaken me in her morning walk. She saluted me with a courteous smile, and offered her hand to conduct me to her residence. But at first sight I did not recollect her; my eyes had been so much dazzled by the glare of light in the palace, that I could not see her distinctly; and even when she made herself known to me, I could scarcely believe her to be the same person that I had seen a few hours before. I thought her features plain, and that she looked less cheerful and engaging; but every step we took together seemed to heighten her beauty, and to render her conversation more animating. At length we reached the valley, and I descried the white turrets of her mansion rising above the trees. (To be continued.) ELEGY In memory of a young lady who departed this life on the 13th of June, 1817, in her nineteenth year. As the lone Eremite, at early dawn, And lingering, stays its fragrance to inhale, And, as the Hermit to regain his cell, So, when I first beheld thee, did I gaze, Delighted more than language could express; For, though possest of all which merits praise, Yet not thy merits constitute my theme, Then fled delusion from thine eyes away; Farewell sweet flower, transplanted to the clime FOR THE CHRISTIAN HERALD. [Youth's Mag. Lines occasioned by hearing Mr. D. preach, at N. Y. on the words "Christ the wisdom of God." Distilled, like dew from heav'n, thy words descend, P. THE CHRISTIAN HERALD. VOL. IV.] Saturday, November 29, 1817. [No. 10. REPORT Of the Board of Direction of the Society for the relief of poor widows with small children,' presented at their Twentieth Anniversary Meeting, held in the City Assembly Room on Thursday, 20th November, 181.7. During the past year your Managers have assisted 209 widows and 579 children. This is about the average number annually on the books of the Society; and we have no reason to expect that the number of applicants for the benefits of the Institution will be less the ensuing year. The widow whose mental derangement made it necessary to send her to the maniac apartment of the hospital last autumn, has, through the goodness of a merciful Providence, been again restored to her reason, and to usefulness. We have to express our thanks to the Board of Direction of the Orphan Asylum, to whose benevolence we are indebted for the gratuitous support afforded to her bereaved children, during the period in which they were deprived, of a mother's tender care. The relief of temporal wants not being the only benefit contemplated by the labour of love which devolves on your Managers, they have not been unmindful to direct the attention of those committed to their care to the more important necessities of their immortal souls ;-recommending to them to seek the grace of the Gospel, which alone can administer substantial comfort under all the tribulations of life; the possession of which would enable them to sustain bereavement, poverty, sickness, and every privation of this world's good, with patient resignation to the will of their Heavenly Father, and would make the light affliction, which is but for a moment, work out for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' An opinion, advocated by some modern writers of no small note, seems to be gaining considerable currency, that charitable establishments, by holding out the prospect of certain relief, have a tendency to dispel the horrors of poverty, and thereby remove one of the strongest incentives to industry, prudence, and economy; that, consequently, such institutions are instrumental in increasing, instead of diminishing, the amount of human wretchedness in the world. Leaving these new discoveries in human polity to the philosophers of the day, to be discussed and settled among themselves, it is enough for us to be assured, from an infinitely higher authority, that "pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows, in their affliction, and to keep ourselves unspotted from the world;" that He who went about doing good,' has left the poor as a permanent legacy to his followers-has made the exercise of deeds K : 146 Report of the Widows' Society in New-York. of beneficence toward such, a test of their love to him, and has declared that ministering to their necessities will be considered as if done unto himself. If it be the duty of Christians, in obedience to the precepts, and in imitation of the example of their Lord and Master, to fulfil this law of love as individuals, we see nothing in the constitution of human society which can diminish their obligation to exert themselves in a social capacity for the promotion of the same benevolent purposes. The regular income derived from the funds of the Society, and the subscriptions, will not afford more than twelve shillings a month, during the rigorous season, for each widow under your care, if the number be equal to that of the past year. How far so small a pittance can go toward supplying the necessary wants of a widowed mother with two to five young helpless children, they only can tell who have had to struggle with this hard and distressing form of penury. For additions to this scanty supply, we must be indebted to the generosity of the public. Appeals to the benevolence of our fellow citizens in favour of this Institution have never yet been made in vain; and, notwithstanding the multiplied claims upon their charitable aid, we trust that the objects of your care will always be deemed entitled to no small portion of their bounty. With confident reliance on this source of assistance, and especially depending on the gracious providence of Him who hath said, "Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive, and let thy widows trust in me," -your almoners will enter again with alacrity on the pleasing employment of dispensing comfort and gladness in the abodes of indigence and sorrow. Board of Direction, chosen November, 1817. Mrs. Col. FEW, Treasurer. Mrs. M. BANYER, Secretary. NORTHERN MISSIONARY SOCIETY. Annual Report of the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors report to the Society the following outline and summary of their proceedings, and the state of missions, during the last year: It is with mingled emotions of grief and gratitude that the Board of Directors report to the Northern Missionary Society: Annnal Report of the Northern Missionary Society. 147 with grief, on account of the state of our mission among the Oneida Indians: with gratitude, for the unusual degree and extent of their other missionary labours. In addition to the Rev. Joel Boyington and John Covert, reported as employed last year, the Committee of Missions have sent forth this year three missionaries, viz. Messrs. Caleb Knight, John E. Miller, and William Jenkins. The Board regret that Mr. Boyington has transmitted them no journal of his labours. He was employed in the neighbourhood of Chazy, in the County of Clinton, for three months. In consequence of sickness and other providential circumstances, he was prevented from fulfilling his mission, except in a partial manner. While engaged, he was received with cordiality and thanks to the Board for remembering the destitute. Mr. John Covert was employed for two months in the County of Montgomery, at Sacondaga and the Fish-House. His journal has been received, and contains favourable representations; especially concerning the Fish-House, where a building has been erected for public worship, and there is a hopeful prospect of an established and permanent church. He appears to have been diligent and faithful, preaching as often as opportunity offered; but collected no money for the Society, except five dollars in Mayfield. The people at the Fish-House state their embarrassments in erecting their building for worship as an excuse for not making collections. This church should receive the attention of the Society. Mr. John E. Miller, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Columbia, was employed for six months as a missionary, to travel through the middle parts of Virginia, North and South Carolina, a part of Georgia, and to return through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. His journal, which appears to have been kept with accuracy and faithfulness, gives a lamentable representation of the state of many parts of the country through which he passed: destitute of ordinances and preaching, and not desirous of them, and not willing to assemble where the word was proposed to be preached. His journal is on file; from which it appears that he laboured on every Lord's Day, except one, which he unavoidably passed among the Cherokees, and on other days as opportunity offered. That missionaries are much wanted in all the states through which he passed; but that the western states, though yet in want, are far more advanced in sincere religion than the slave-holding states. His route was long and arduous, between 3000 and 4000 miles. He collected $51.19 for the Society. Mr. Caleb Knight was employed as a missionary for eight weeks in the County of Delaware and its vicinity. He preached, visited schools and the sick, and reports, that while there are many causes for lamentation in the state of society and the churches in his route, yet there is cause for gratitude in the effusion of the Divine Spirit.-His journal is very particular and accurate, and is valuable as a subject of reference in regard to the churches which he visited. He collected $21.29. |