Special meetings were at this time held by her pastor; but she did not attend them, lest, by declaring herself an inquirer, she should raise the expectations of her friends only to disappoint them, as she had done in her former seriousness. The safety and propriety of this decision admits of question; although it was natural for an unconverted person to make such a one. In returning one evening, however, from a prayer-meeting, an intimate friend took occasion to speak to her, plainly, of her spiritual state. She then wept, and opened the feelings of her heart. This was on Tuesday evening. Wednesday passed without any thing special, except that, at a sewing-circle, she chose the more serious part of the company; and, entering into conversation respecting submission to God, she advanced the sentiment that if the sinner could be made to understand how to submit, he would do it. The next morning, she awoke with a deep impression that it would be her last day of grace; that God would cut her off or harden her heart, or in some way put an end to her probation. In the evening, she attended the regular Thursday conference, and, before leaving home, knelt down and earnestly prayed that it might be the evening of her submission to the Saviour. It was so. Before the meeting closed, while the assembly was at prayer, she gave up her heart to God. She did it in the full exercise of her understanding, and felt then, and afterwards, that it was peculiarly a rational act. This was on the 10th of August,

1820.

Much joy followed, and the night was spent with her sister, in wakefulness, conversing upon the wonderful grace of God. But in the morning she arose under a cloud. Her sister took her to her pastor; but she found no relief. On reaching home, she retired by herself; and then had such views of her heart as she never had before. She felt that she was a sinner against God, and loved to sin, and she abhorred herself for it. It was an hour of intense conviction of her sinfulness. Overwhelmed with it, she went again to her Saviour, and then found permanent relief.

Writing to an intimate friend, soon after this, and giving some account of the work of divine grace which had been experienced in Norwich, she says, "And can you believe, my dear Mary, that God, in his infinite mercy, has been pleased to snatch me as a brand from the burning, and that I am to join this precious company of converts, and before him, angels, and men, covenant to be his forever? It was on Thursday evening that I hope I was enabled to cast my load of sin- a heavy load at the feet of Jesus, and submit to his sceptre. Oh! it was a glorious liberty I experienced; and I could only say, 'Adore, and praise, and wonder!'"'

In reading the biography of an eminent and useful Christian, we naturally wish to know something of the place of his birth and residence; the circle of society in which he moved; the kind of influences under which his character was formed; and the esteem in which he was held by those who knew him best. A beautiful flower may grow in a wilderness, or on some fertile spot in a desert. But we .ook in the garden most advantageously situated, and where is employed an assiduous and judicious cultivation, for the flower which shall be most rich and beautiful. With the name of Norwich pleasant associations have perhaps become formed in the minds of some American Christians, as the birthplace of Harriet Winslow; and it may not lose any thing now, by the fact that there also the subject of this Memoir was born, educated, and fitted for high service for Christ and a seat in heaven.

Norwich, the early home of Miss Huntington, is one of the most pleasant towns in New England. It embraces much wild and beautiful scenery, of both land and water; always strikes pleasantly the eye of the traveller; and has been a place of some resort by strangers of taste and intelligence. There are not many valleys in New England sweeter than that at the head of the Thames; nor which

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would be more reluctantly left by a resident having a soul to love scenes rendered pleasant by creative power and mercy. And a missionary, forsaking it for the uncertainties of a foreign residence, gives one evidence of willingness to forsake all things for Christ.

Of the society of Norwich it is, some commendation to say, that a lady of Miss Huntington's intelligence and cultivation of mind and manners, loved it, and spent her years happily in its circles, and contributed to render it desirable. She spent her time principally at home; although the number of her friends abroad, their attachment to her, their estimate of her society, and their desire for it, made her visits to be often solicited. At Hartford, New Haven, New York, and at other places, the residences of her relatives, she was sure of a hearty and happy reception; oftener than she felt that, as a daughter, she could be absent from her father's house.

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The delight with which she returned from visiting some of her choicest friends, she testifies in the following extract: Through the blessings of a kind Providence, my dear sister, I am at last seated in my beloved HOME, with every thing to call forth the gratitude of my heart towards that Being who delighteth in mercy. Whether it be that my own happy feelings have radiated every object, or that a peculiar brightness does really encircle them, I know not; but certain it is, that I never returned home under pleasanter surrounding circumstances."

Amidst the society of friends whom she visited, Miss Huntington was unwilling merely to enjoy herself; but seems to have been solicitous lest her time should pass without benefit to those around her. She thus writes to one of her friends while in New York:-"I fear my winter has not been very profitably spent; and have just been saying the same to aunt Faith, and telling her that I do not think I have done any thing for the benefit or happiness of any one." Far otherwise, however, was the sentiment of her

friends. Her jealousy of herself, doubtless, operated to secure a good measure of fidelity in endeavors to be useful.

The friendship of young ladies for each other is interesting and lovely, especially when it is sanctified and strengthened by religious principle. The delicacy and fervency which mark, such attachments, and the intercourse growing out of them; the mutual confidence; the sympathy in each other's joys and sorrows; the liveliness with which they enter into each other's prospects in life; and, if Christians, the refining of these feelings which arises from their hearts being fixed upon the same Saviour, from their rejoicing in the same hope, and anticipating the same bliss, holiness, and glory in heaven;-such friendships, in this cold world, aid our conceptions respecting the love, and harmony, and purity which pervade the society of heaven. True, these same lovely female associates live in a world of sin; and they partake in the sinfulness of human character while without religion, and of the imperfections of other Christians after conversion. But such friendships rebuke the things unamiable, unrefined, and selfish, which so often introduce alloy into the happiness of society, depress the standard of Christian feeling, and perplex the path of many towards heaven.

One of Miss Huntington's earliest friendships, of this class, was with a cousin, near her own age, several years since deceased, to whom she owed much for her endeavors to promote her spiritual good. No letters have been preserved which throw light upon this intimacy. She prepared, for the gratification of the relatives of this friend, a memoir of her life, not designed for publication, but exhibiting favorably both the character of the deceased, and her own ability as a writer of a memoir.

During one of her visits in New York, soon after her religious change, Miss Huntington was much in the society. of one for whom she formed a strong attachment, and who seems to have entered into her views on the great interests