until the following May.  His soul was firm in faith and full of peace, on his sick and dying bed.  He committed them, again and again, to the care and faithfulness of their covenant God, and felt that therein he left them the best of legacies, whatever they might want of what the world could give.  At the time of his decease, they had four children, the youngest of whom was three weeks old.  The two oldest were the sons to whose deaths we are now adverting.  The two youngest (daughters) are surviving.  The elder son was seven years old at his father’s death.  The responsible trust of rearing these children for Christ and heaven was thus cast upon the widowed mother.  Mrs. Hunt is the daughter of the late Joseph Scudder, of Monmouth, N.J., and sister of the venerable, long-tried, and devoted missionary, Rev. Dr. John Scudder, now in India.  Brought up under the influences and associations of piety, she was early brought to a saving acquaintance with Christ, and a profession of faith in Him within the church.  The consistency and ripeness of her piety has been evinced in the different spheres and relations of life where Providence placed her.  With the infant children cast upon her care, at the death of her husband, she plied herself with toilful industry to provide for them, while her soul was ever intent upon their early conversion to Christ.  She aimed to give these sons such a course of education as would, under God’s sanctifying blessing, prepare them to engage in the work of the ministry, perhaps the missionary service.  She had the gratification of seeing them as they grew up evincing thoughtfulness of mind, amiableness of spirit, and correctness of conduct, and by an affectionate spirit, and ready obedience, contributing to her comfort.  At the time of his death, De Witt was in the Junior class, and Joseph had just entered the Freshman class, and there had gained a good distinction for study and scholarship, and drawn forth the respect and affection of their instructors and fellow-students.  While pursuing his own studies, the elder brother led on the younger brother at home, and it is believed that by his close application he hastened the bringing on of his disease.  In addition to this, the mother’s heart was yearning for the proofs of their having given their hearts to God.  Attentive as they were to divine truth in the sanctuary and Sabbath-school, in the reading of it at home, and careful in forming associations favorable to piety, she yet looked beyond these to their full embrace of, and dedication to, the Savior.  How mysterious is that dispensation which, at this interesting period, when these only two sons were moulding their characters for life opening before them; and when they seemed to be preparing to realize a mother’s hope, and reward a mother’s prayers, and toils, and anxieties, they should, both together, within a few days of each other be removed from time to eternity.  But in the circumstances and issues of their sickness and death we find an explanation of this apparent mystery by the satisfactory evidence they afforded of their being prepared by an early death to be translated to the blissful worship and service of heaven.