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 232 boys or girls, by which I could give them greater opportunities of education and general improvement. My daughters have been instructed in drawing, and in every variety of ornamental needlework, in addition to the more solid branches of education.

Let us pause a moment for reflection upon the mercies and loving-kindness of our Heavenly Father, and our own short-sightedness. How distressing did it appear to me to lose, by the fisheries at Bear Haven, the property for which I had toiled year after year! When the final blow came by which we were so disastrously stripped of every thing, it appeared to be overwhelming; and yet without it, I should never, most probably, have had the means to clear myself of debt, and I should have been obliged to spend the residue of my days at Bear Haven, and have had to bring you all up in that desert, where it would have been absolutely impossible for me to have given you the excellent education you have received in Dublin; and from this I wish you to arrive at the conclusion, that God knows what is good for us much better than we do ourselves. If this becomes your settled conviction, there is no language equal to describing the peace of mind that it will cause. For my own part, I endeavor to receive with perfect submission every dispensation from the hand of my Maker; even though I see nothing but poverty, sorrows, and afflictions, grievous to the flesh, I can wait patiently his good time, for I know that in the end the result will be for the benefit of me and mine.

Here follows an incident quite to the purpose. General Ingoldsby, whose friendship for me was such that he was always on the look-out for something to benefit me, thought he had hit upon a plan that would be very agreeable to me. He