It was there she died, September 27, 1844, in the twenty-third year of her age, only one year and twenty-three days from her marriage-day, and before she had fully entered upon the life to which she had consecrated herself. Of her it has been as truly as beautifully said:
“Thy labor in the vineyard closed,
Long e’er the noon-tide sun,
The dew still glistened on the leaves,
When thy short task was done.”
And yet this life, “so little in itself,” may be found to have an importance in its consequences, hardly anticipated at first by those who, overwhelmed by this sudden and impetuous providence, were ready to exclaim, “To what purpose is this waste?” Her day of influence will extend beyond the noon or the even-tide of an ordinary life of labor. “Sweet Mary Hawes” (as she is named by one who never saw her, and whose knowledge of her is all derived from the volume we have been reviewing), shall long live in these pages, embalmed in unfading youth, to win and to guide many to Him, at whose feet she sat and learned to “choose the better part.” Her pleasant voice will be heard in our homes, assuring our daughters that “there is no sphere of usefulness more pleasant than this;” bidding them believe that “it is a comfort to take the weight of family duties from a mother, to soothe and cheer a wearied father, and a delight to aid a young brother in his evening lesson, and to watch his unfolding mind.” They shall catch her alacrity and cheerful industry, and her “facility in saving the fragments of time, and making them tell in something tangible” accomplished in them. They shall be admonished not to waste feeling in discontented and romantic dreaming, or in sighing for opportunities to do good on a great scale, till they have filled up as thoroughly and faithfully as she did the smaller openings for usefulness near at hand.
She shall lead them by the hand to the Sabbath-school teacher’s humble seat, on the tract distributor’s patient circuit, or on errands of mercy into the homes of sickness and destitution,—into the busy sewing-circle, or the little group gathered for social prayer. It is well too that they should have such a guide, for the offense of the Cross has not yet ceased, and the example of an accomplished and highly educated young female will not fail of its influence upon others of the same class, who wish to be Christians, and yet are so much afraid of every thing that may seem to border on religious cant, as to shrink back from the prayer-meeting, and from active personal efforts for the salvation of others. Her cheerful piety shall persuade us that “it is indeed the simplest, the easiest, the most blessed thing in the world, to give up the heart to the control of God, and by daily looking to him for strength to conquer our corrupt inclinations, to grow in every thing that will make us like him.” Her bright smile is worth volumes to prove that “Jesus