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 vicissitudes which,  most  of  all,  appeals  to  human sympathy, and  evokes  the  nobler  qualities  of  our inner nature. No other  tableau,  no  other  scene  enacted on  life's  stage  so  entirely  absorbs  the  actors and so  deeply  moves  the  spectators. It may  be  the death-bed scene,  the  parting  of  the  living  from  the dying; or  by  the  graveside,  the  last  sight  of  the dead. It may  be  the  heartbroken  wife  or  mother's good-bye  to  the  criminal  on  his  way  to  imprisonment, or  the  gallows. It may  be  the  young  soldier patriot's hurried  farewell  to  wife  and  little  ones,  as he  answers  his  country's  call. Whichever it  be,  it  is sure  to  be  inexpressibly  solemn  and  touching. The poet Homer  makes  such  a  scene — the  parting  of Hector  and  Andromache — the  subject  of  his  most famous passage — while,  in  the  Bible,  who  does  not love to  turn  to  the  book  of  Samuel  and  ponder  over the parting  of  David  and  Jonathan! Who does  not understand the  evangelist's  silence  regarding  the first parting  of  Jesus  and  Mary! Because, namely, he was  loth  to  intrude  on  such  a  sacred  scene  and words were  inadequate  to  describe  it. David loved Jonathan as  his  own  soul,  and  their  parting  was  like tearing the  soul  from  his  body;  but  Our  Lord  loved His twelve  Apostles  each  better  than  His  soul — He lived  twelve  lives  in  them  and  He  died  twelve  deaths when they  parted. You remember  that  passage  of the  Gospel  where,  pointing  to  His  Apostles,  He  says: " These  are  My  Mother  and  My  brethren  and  My all." His love  for  them,  therefore,  must  have  been an intensified  mixture  of  the  love  of  a  boy  for  his