folded, she fell asleep; the sleep which is an awakening to the life immortal. So passed the strong, heroic soul away.

The actual results of Mrs. Reeves' ministry cannot be given in words or numbers. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of souls were led by her from darkness to the true Light. But her influence on the multitudes whose minds and hearts were quickened by contact with her own, her influence upon the social elements gathered and combining in newly opened tracts of country, is altogether beyond estimate. It is vital to-day in the lives of those who dwell in the region of her labors. It will pass onward in silent waves through the years to come, nor will the breadth or depth of the stream be measurable in time. In the consummation of time it may be seen, perchance, intermingling with the tide of service allotted to this ardent spirit, excelling in strength, eternally fulfilling the Will that created it for blessing and honor, in the kingdom of grace. "And they shall reign for ever and ever. . . And his servants shall serve him.'

We can discern but one mistake in the plan and course of this life, a mistake that was permitted, perhaps, in order to make manifest its correlative truth. As a rule, no one, certainly no woman, can well follow two professions. She will inevitably be compelled to intermit the one at the expense of the other; and such alternations are perplexing, if not impracticable. With less muscular and nervous strength than her mate, she will do well, will really surpass him in exertion, if she becomes thoroughly efficient in one. Mrs. Reeves was the mother of three children, all of whom perished in early years. Her biography indicates that they were born but to die thus prematurely; for the maternal profession--and it is suchprecludes another set of duties alien to it. Certain queens, it is true, have reared large families and ruled the State simultaneously: as Victoria and Maria Theresa. But as regards

the first, the duties of English royalty, when referred to a queen, do not interfere with, but are, on the contrary, subordinate to, the offices of the mother as head of the family. As regards the second, the fatal lack of maternal care that allowed the miseducation and non-education of her beautiful, unhappy daughter, Marie Antoinette, goes to prove the general truth of the assertion made above.

Mrs. Reeves' personal appearance was in keeping with her character. A working woman, she was invested with native dignity. Without beauty in the common acceptation, she always seemed beautiful, because the beautiful virtues of strength, steadfastness, courage, tenderness, emanated from her presence. Looking upon the transcript of her face, serene, kind, touched with the sadness of humanity, and with the compassion of the Son of man-and upon her hands, scarcely less significant than the face-soft, shapely, maternal hands, that brought gifts to men; whose touch conveyed healing, benignity, goodness,-looking upon these, one is constrained to think, This was, of a truth, a chosen messenger, a servant obedient to the heavenly will. Humble as were the surroundings of her lot, lowly as was her spirit, intent upon tasks that were wrought in all humility, and that would often have been repugnant to an unconsecrated ambition, we can but say, looking backward from the closing of this life,

"Thou to woman's claim

And man's, didst join besides the angel's grace
Of a pure genius sanctified from blame."

Not many are like her; yet some may approach to her semblance. Hence this example, though absent and voiceless, claims encouragement and opportunity for the woman of excellence in whatever class or place she may stand, waiting for an open way; until her province shall be enlarged, even as his whose consort she is; until in the world, as in the ideal Church, there shall be neither male nor female, save for the divine ordering, in the mutual duties of the family,-but both shall be as one in the universal service of Him who has created all existences to obey his will with ardor, and to live in the liberty of his love.

ART. IV.—LIBERIA AT THE AMERICAN CENTENNIAL.

It is the singular privilege of the present generation to live in the period of the centennial anniversaries of the two greatest events of modern times, namely, the discovery of America and the Declaration of American Independence. The man of sixty may live to celebrate, sixteen years hence, the four hundredth anniversary of the great achievement of the illustrious Italian. It is fit that the anniversaries of such remarkable epochs in the history of human progress should be separated by no wider interval. Next to the discovery of America must always be reckoned the recovery of America. It is a time for retrospection and reflection-for gratitude for the past, and lofty resolves for the future.

The American Colonization Society, in its last Annual Report, (January, 1876,) says:

The American nation will celebrate this year the one hundredth anniversary of its national independence. Among the leading events which have taken place during the present century there is none more illustrative of the spirit of American civilization than the organization of this society, and the establishment, under its auspices, of the Republic of Liberia.

Christian philanthropy in the United States stretched its arm over the Atlantic and founded this Republic; and it has never yet relaxed its interest in or its effort on behalf of this offspring of its benevolence. And when it is remembered that some of the men who laid the foundation of American greatness-who endured all the perils of the revolutionary period-the great and good of early American history, were ardent supporters of African colonization, giving to the cause the weight of their names and hallowing it with their latest blessing, it may not be unreasonable in us to presume that the readers of this Review, in the midst of their patriotic rejoicings, will not grudge the few minutes that they may be asked to give in glancing at the present condition and prospects of this offshoot from the great American Republic.

The African continent is now giving up the secrets it has hitherto kept from the world, and is being opened to travel and

enterprise, to trade and colonization. Lieutenant Cameron has just performed the astounding feat of walking across the continent. The white man's foot having now been planted in Central Africa with a firmer tread than ever before, European nations are determining to follow with their enterprise and trade, their benevolence and science, in the wake of their courageous explorers. Under these circumstances the Republic of Liberia, occupying so prominent a part of West Africa, even if it has no political significance, cannot be regarded with indifference on account of its geographical and relative importance on the borders of this immense country.

The colony of Liberia was established in 1822 by Negro emigrants from the United States, and it became an independent Republic in 1847. So far as the motives which led the immigrants to seek an asylum on these shores were concerned, the origin of the colony was similar to that of the American Republic. The people who founded it were refugees from oppression. But there the similarity ends. The African Republic has not been so fortunate as its great western model in the character and class of people upon whom the task of building it up has devolved.

We can trace the present greatness of the United States to the character of the men who, driven by religious persecution from different parts of Europe, sought a home in the western hemisphere, and laid the foundation of that Republic. And we can trace the present condition of Liberia, apparently paralyzed on the margin of a continent, to the antecedent disadvantages of those who, without training, culture, or experience, fled hither from physical, mental, and political degradation. Happy was the American nation in the circumstances of its birth-in the elements that nurtured its infancy!-fortunate in the character of the germ which was planted on its shores! Not so Liberia.

Far more fortunate, however, was this new Republic in the character of her early settlers than in that of the accessions she has been receiving in later years. During the last ten or fifteen years poverty and ignorance have been the capital which, as a general thing, the immigrants have imported to these shores.

Just at this moment, in the United States, Negroes in com

fortable circumstances do not feel the need of leaving the land of their birth for the coast of Africa. The class who are seeking and receiving the patronage of the American Colonization Society, as far as it is able to extend it, are persons who, with some exceptions, but still for the most part as a rule, are hard pressed by straitened circumstances, and who imagine that they will be able to make a somewhat easy living in Liberia. In the Annual Report of the American Colonization Society, quoted above, specimens are given "from numerous spontaneous applications " received by the society for aid to emigrate to Liberia. The following is one :

COLUMBUS, MISS., November 18, 1875. DEAR SIR: In writing you these few lines I feel much depressed in spirit. The mass of colored people in this vicinity have almost unanimously concluded to emigrate to Liberia. We appeal to you, now, for information and assistance. As a class, we are poor and destitute of means. As we learn that the vessel is to go over next May, we would be glad if you could arrange it so some of us could leave at that time. No one but a colored man can realize the circumstances by which we, as a race, are surrounded. If you can do any thing for us, do, for God's sake, help us. We are here houseless, moneyless, friendless, and less every thing else that pertains to happiness. Help us if

Yours, etc.,

you can.

W. J. MITCHell.

Now we know that it is the good fortune of comparatively few in any country to lift themselves above very narrow circumstances, and that men as destitute as the Mississippi applicants so pathetically describe themselves to be have emigrated from Ireland and various parts of Germany to the United States, and have become useful and prosperous citizens. But the circumstances of the two countries are entirely different. In the United States there are numerous employers and directors of labor to take up this influx of physical power and give it employment. In Liberia there is no lack of the lower kinds of unskilled labor supplied by the numerous aborigines who throng the settlements. The immigrant who comes from America is at once made a proprietor. He has land given to him by law. But having no capital to employ labor, he must enter single-handed upon the work of subduing the forest, and with all the effort he may put forth, it is with the utmost difficulty that he ever rises above a hand-to-mouth existence.