“Over his answer,” she writes, “I shed many tears; but, instead of prostrating myself in deep abasement before the Lord, and craving his pardon, I was desirous of doing something which might claim his approbation and disperse the thick cloud which seemed to hide him from me.  I therefore set earnestly to work to do good according to my capacity.  I fed the hungry and clothed the naked, I visited the sick and afflicted, and vainly hoped these outside works would purify a heart defiled with the pride of life, still the seat of carnal propensities and evil passions; but here, too, I failed.  I went mourning on my way under the curse of a broken law; and, though I often watered my couch with my tears, and pleaded with my Maker, yet I knew nothing of the sanctifying influence of his holy spirit, and, not finding that happiness in religion I anticipated, I, by degrees, through the persuasions of companions and the inclination of my depraved heart, began to go a little more into society, and to resume my former style of dressing, though in comparative moderation.”

She then states how, some time after she had thus departed from her Christian profession.  Dr. Kolloch came once more, and his sad and earnest rebukes made her unutterably wretched.  But she tried to stifle the voice of conscience by entering more and more into worldly amusements, until she had lost nearly all spiritual sense.  Her disposition became soured by incessantly yielding to temptation, and she adds:—­

“I know not where I might have been landed, had not the merciful interposition of Providence stopped my progress.”

This “merciful interposition of Providence” was nothing less than the declining health of her father; and it affords, indeed, a curious comment on the old Orthodox teachings, that this young woman, devotedly attached to her father, and fully appreciating his value to his family, should have regarded his ill-health as sent by God for her especial benefit, to interrupt her worldly course, and compass her salvation.

Judge Grimke’s illness continued for a year or more; and so faithfully did Sarah nurse him that when it was decided that he should go to Philadelphia to consult Dr. Physic, she was chosen to accompany him.

This first visit to the North was the most important event of Sarah’s life, for the influences and impressions there received gave some shape to her vague and wayward fancies, and showed her a gleam of the light beyond the tangled path which still stretched before her.

She found lodgings for her father and herself in a Quaker family whose name is not mentioned.  About their life there, little is said; Sarah being too much occupied with the care of her dear invalid to take much interest in her new surroundings.  Judge Grimke’s health continued to decline.  His daughter’s account of the last days of his life is very touching, and shows not only how deep was her religious feeling, but how tender and yet how strong she was all through this great trial.  The father and daughter, strangers in a strange land, drawn more closely together by his suffering and her necessary care, became friends. indeed; their attachment increasing day by day, until, ere their final separation, they loved each other with that fervent affection which grows only with true sympathy and unbounded confidence.  Sarah thus wrote of it:—­