The Sabbath day was indeed a holy day at Huntly Lodge.  Everything that could be done the day before was done.  No fire was lighted in the drawing-room on the Sunday, with, as we are informed, the double object of saving unnecessary labour, and “to present no inducement for visitors to meet together for idle conversation.”  The doors of the house were locked during the hours of service, one, or at most two, servants staying at home.  No letters were received or posted on the Sabbath.  There were no arrivals nor departures of guests on that day.  On a certain Sunday morning at breakfast the duchess was surprised to hear a carriage-and-four brought round to the door.  Her immediate “What is that?” was answered by the appearance of a young English nobleman who had come to bid her good-bye.  “Oh no,” she said, “not on the Sabbath.”  Affectionately she persuaded him to remain until the next day.  Away from home, on the Continent and elsewhere, she was careful that the day should be strictly observed.  So great was her interest in Sabbath observance that she wrote a little tract on the subject.

The duchess used to delight in surrounding herself at Huntly Lodge with those who were specially set apart for the service of God.  The ministers from time to time assembled there, first gathering together for prayer and conference, and then in a more open meeting, at which the duchess and her friends were present, and finally at family worship.

Schools for the poor were munificently founded by the Duchess of Gordon.  The schools at Huntly, which were commenced in 1839, were finished in 1843.  They consisted of infant schools, schools for older boys and girls, and also an industrial school for training fifty girls for service.  When living in Edinburgh, she built large schools in the destitute district of Holyrood.  The lady of Huntly was indeed a worthy precursor in the great work of general education.  One excellent plan of religious instruction she adopted in her own household.  A weekly class was formed of her female domestics, She had prepared a large number of questions.  To each of the class she gave each week a slip of paper containing one question.  This was to be answered before the next meeting.  There was no one in the establishment who could help feeling that the mistress took the deepest interest in him or her.

VII.

ANXIETIES AND REST.

The Duchess of Gordon had been brought up an Episcopalian.  But when in May, 1843, the great Disruption took place, when four-hundred and seventy-four ministers of the Church of Scotland took up their cross for Christ, resigning their earthly livings for conscience sake, the duchess was deeply moved by this heroic act of self-denial, and eventually, after much thought and prayer, she joined the Free Church, becoming a member of Free St. Luke’s Church.  She had left the Church of England, but she loved and honoured