Page:Letters of Life.djvu/241

Rh cost you nothing." Their quiet reply was sweet: "Of thine own, Lord, have we given Thee."

Their benevolence had also the crowning grace of humility. They avoided allusions to it save for purposes of consultation. "It is our design," says one of the articles of their written constitution, "to impart our bounty without ostentation, following the example of Him who went about doing good, without seeking the applause of men." I have reason to believe that they were strictly governed by this principle. Some touching incidents were related to me by various friends, of light footsteps in the abodes of the sick or sorrowing poor, flitting garments, vanishing forms, and relief left behind, as if by angel visitants.

Their spirit of good works had also the element of continuance. Long after the termination of their school, their charitable society held its annual meetings, its choice of officers, its varied and judicious enterprises. I find the following tribute to one of their regular anniversaries, addressed to them several years after my marriage:

The traveller in some clime serene,
 * Where Nature rules with genial sway,

Blots from his heart no blissful scene
 * That cheer'd the wanderings of his way.

If beauty rose with winning air,
 * If Flora's drapery deck'd the place;