"Don't cry, ma," said the little thing, seeing the tears upon her
mother's cheeks, "don't cry; I'll always be good."

"Heaven bless you and keep you, my child!" the mother sobbed,
eagerly kissing the sweet lips that were turned up to hers; and then
clasped the child to her bosom in a strong embrace.

The children were, after a time, removed, but the thoughts of the
dying mother were still upon them; and with these thoughts were
self-reproach, that made her pillow one of thorns.

"I now see and feel," said she, looking up into the face of her
mother, after having lain with closed eyes for about ten minutes,
"that all my sufferings, and this early death, which will soon be
upon me, would have been avoided, if I had only permitted myself to
be guided by you. I do not wonder now that my constitution gave way.
How could it have been otherwise, and I so strangely regardless of
all the laws of health? But, my dear mother, the past is beyond
recall; and now I leave to you the dear little ones from whom I must
soon part for ever. I feel calmer than I have felt for some time.
The bitterness of the last agony seems over. But I do not see you,
nor you, dear husband! Give me your hands. Here, let my head rest on
your bosom. It is sweet to lie thus--Anna--dear child! Mary--sweet,
sweet babe!"--

The lips of the young wife and mother moved feebly, and inarticulate
whispers fell faintly from her tongue for some moments, and then she
sank to sleep--and it was a sleep from which none wake in the body.