It required no slight effort for Mrs. Van Lennep to part with so many
familiar scenes and go forth to return no more. There was her mother, whom
she tenderly loved, and whose declining years she had hoped to comfort and
cheer. How could she leave that parent? How could she say "Farewell,"
and do it with the consciousness that she should gaze upon that mild
countenance and that loved form no more? How could she take that hand which
had led her up to womanhood,--a hand which wiped her brow when sick and
suffering, and wet her throbbing temples when pained with fever,--how
could she grasp it for the last time?
Then there was her Sabbath school class, over which she had prayed and
wept, and to the members of which she had imparted instruction so often and
so tenderly.
There was also the house of God, in which she had so often heard the music
of a father's voice; the Sabbath bell, which had so often called her to the
temple and the place of prayer; the organ, whose tones had often thrilled
her soul as she sat with the worshipping assembly, chanting the praise of
God. How could she leave all these? The separation cost an effort such as
those only know who have made the trial.
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