There were great rejoicings over this event.  Mrs. Meeker exclaimed, while tears streamed from her eyes, that she was ready to depart in peace.  Mr. Meeker, who had by no means been indifferent to his son’s state of mind, and who had sought from time to time to encourage him, (rather, it must be confessed, to his wife’s annoyance,) was thankful that he had obtained relief from the right source.  The happy subject himself became an object of a good deal of interest in the congregation.  There was not the usual attention, just then, to religious matters, and Hiram’s conversion was seized on as a token that more fruits were to be gathered in from the same field, that is, among the young.  In due course he was propounded and admitted into the church.  It happened on that day that he was the only individual who joined, and he was the observed of all observers.  Hiram Meeker was a handsome boy, well formed, with an interesting face, blight blue eyes, and a profusion of light hair shading a forehead indicative of much intelligence.  All this was disclosed to the casual observer; indeed, who would stop to criticise the features of one so young—­else you would have been struck by something disagreeable about the corners of his mouth, something repulsive in the curve of those thin lips, (he had his mother’s lips,) something forbidding in a certain latent expression of the eye, while you would remark with pain the conscious, self-possessed air with which he took his place in the broad aisle before the pulpit, to give his assent to the church articles and confession of faith.  The good minister preached from the text, ’Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,’ and in the course of his sermon held up Hiram as an example to all the unconverted youth of his flock.  On Monday he returned to school, prosecuting his studies more diligently than ever.  He felt that he had secured the true salvation, and was safe now in whatever he undertook.  He was very careful in the observance of all his religious exercises, and so far as I can ascertain, never neglected any of them.  Thus happily launched, Hiram continued at school till he was nearly seventeen.  He had, for the last two years, been sent to Newton Institute, one of the best institutions in the State, where his advantages would be superior to those of the academy in his native town.  There he learned the higher branches of mathematics, and studied with care mercantile and descriptive geography with reference to the different products of the earth.  During this time his proficiency was excellent, and his conduct always most exemplary.

At length his course was completed, and Mrs. Meeker felt that her cousin, the wholesale dry-goods jobber in New-York, would be proud of such an acquisition in his establishment.  He had been duly apprised that the boy was named for him, and really appeared to manifest, by his inquiries, a good deal of interest in Hiram.  Although they generally met once or twice a year, Mrs. Meeker did not apprise her cousin of her plans, preferring to wait till her son should have finished his academical course before making them known.  Her first idea was to send him to New-York with a letter, in which she would fully explain her hopes and wishes.  On second thought, she concluded to write first, and await her cousin’s reply.  It will be seen, from the perusal of it, she took the proper course.