"
"Now," replied Mrs. Harwood, "can I die willingly. Since my illness it
has been my daily and nightly prayer, that should it be the will of
Heaven that I should not recover, God would raise up friends to care for
my orphan boy, and that prayer is now answered."
Just six weeks from the evening on which Mrs. Harwood entered the
dwelling of Mr. Humphrey, her eyes were closed in death. The last day of
her life was passed mostly in a kind of lethargy, from which it was
almost impossible to arouse her. Toward evening she rallied, and her
mind seemed clear and calm. She was aware that the hour of her death had
arrived; but she felt no fears in the prospect of her approaching
dissolution. She thanked Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey for their kindness to
her, and again tenderly committed to their care her boy, who would soon
become an orphan.
"I am powerless to reward you," said the dying woman, "but God will
certainly reward you for your kindness to the widow and orphan."
She requested that her child might be brought and placed by her side.
Placing her thin wasted hands upon his head she said, in a voice
scarcely audible,--
"May the God who never forsakes the orphan preserve my precious boy amid
the perils and dangers of the sinful world!"
She drew the face of the child close to her own, and imprinted a
mother's last kiss upon his brow, and sank back exhausted upon her
pillow.
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