Was It Chance

I was in the habit of visiting a doconé widow, as paraiysis made it inipossible foi her to attcnii ehuroh. She vu , tended 'by a vory boautiful daughter, who, mnkiüg at a Üax mili in tho n lighbothood, toilcd hard, and contente! heneH witk plain dren and simple fttré titeé ine migbft help hér raothev. Before leMi&g tho cotlngu lor her work, she was in Hm habit of heaping up tho of the mili in the grate and kindlang it. Hho placed her helpless mother in a ohair right before the Ure, aad asthefualbwrn-' ed slowly away tiio Aa wonian was kupt comfurtablc till her return. It happuned ono day tliat I left my , and sluiting the Wttlla of tho old churoh-yard, and passing the oom mili, With ita buay Bound and aashing wheol, 1 took my way down the winding dull tu tho cu ilie (ild wnmaii, which stood in its garden embowered among trees, iiut, naving met a parishioner witii wbom l hadsome subject of interest to talk about, I callud a halt, and sitting down on a, bank of thyme, we trtered into convuisatioii. Ere tho subject was half oxhausten iho widow aro.su to my otian. I feit, somehow, that I must cu{ it Bhoit, . m I hasten awáy' onmy' visit. 15ut tho idea was dismissed, andthe ooiiversAtion went on. Jlowever, it? oooaiTi and again, till, with a feeHng that i was neglectiifg a cali of duty, as by an unoontxollable impulso I ai ose to my feet, and made liaste to tho ootiago. Opening the door, a sight inet my eyo that tbr a moment nailed me tof I ';t erecíion cf mili refuso which hací boen built from the hearth some feot up th ;.■ n, wiile chimney, having its tbundatipna eaten away, had fallen, and preorward, surrounded the B paralyüo with a circle of fire. - The accident took place some minutes b#fo:o I eatered. She hud cried out, but nd M there to hear, nor hand to help. Catching tho looso refuse about her, on and on, nearer and noaror tho flamea crepfc. It was a terrible sight fof the two Wigtown women - martyrs, staked far out on tho sanda of Solway Frith, to mark the sea-foam crawl nearer and neaiei them ; it was more terrible st:!l iirc this lone woman, in her louo cottage, without nuy great canso to die for, to sit thora e tho iire crooping closer, drawing noarer and nearer to her feet. By tho timo I had entored it had alrnost reacbed lier, where she sat motionless, speechleas, pale as dcath, lookiug down ou tho ñreas 't was about to Soize her clothes and buni her to a einder. Ere it caught, I had time, and no more, to iuako ono bound from tho door {■ the hearthstone, and soiiing her, ohair and all, in iny arms, t pluck her i'rom tho jaws of a cruel, iiery doath. By what law of haiure, when I liilon tliu road, wis I moved, without tho remotest idea of her danger, to cut short, agaitíst all niy iuclinatíonfilj an ining conversation, and hurry on to the house, which 1 reached just in tho niok of time ; one or two minutes later, the llames had caught hor clothes, and I ind Li1:1 in a blaze of fire. Bo it m:i; to live and die in the belief of ti , preaiding, as well us a per.soiial God ; in the faith which inspircd my agtd friend to tlutnk Ilim for hor oe, and the boy to oxplain his calm courage on tho roariug déap, in these simple but grund worda: " My father's at the