LIFE AND ITS PURPOSES.

CHAPTER I.

SUNRISE AND SUNSET.

COME, Reader, in imagination let us visit a loved "mountain home," as it was more than half a century ago. It is an humble abode, in the quiet town of Buckland, Massachusetts; but peace and love dwell within its walls. Costly palaces never held more true affection and goodness than was found in that lowly cot. There prayer had its altar, and piety yielded its richest fruits. Parents toiled and prayed for their children, who were as olive plants round about their table; and children took the counsels of parents to their hearts, and wore them as "ornaments to the head, and chains about the neck." Mutual concord made the hours swift-winged, and daily lessons of wisdom imparted strength and beauty to each young life.

It is a cold day of blustering December, fifty-six years ago, on which we pay our visit to this family