THE YOUNG CLERGYMAN. 587 



This love of their infancy " grew with their growth, and 

 strengthened with their strength ;" but when James had reached his 

 eighteenth year, and Mary her sixteenth, a marked change came over 

 their intercourse. Hitherto they had romped together as children, 

 had rambled far away into the recesses of the neighbouring forest, 

 laughing, or kissing, or quarrelling. Now, though they were quite 

 as much together, there was no longer the same familiarity ; on 

 the contrary, they exhibited obvious marks, that a very painful 

 embarrassment interposed between them ; and yet, anomalous as it 

 may appear, they sought each other with more than accustomed 

 eagerness. Never did Mary proceed far on her customary walks 

 before James was at her side, and never did she sit long in her 

 quiet and beautiful cottage in the long summer evenings, when her 

 mother was absent, before his soft knock and his eager step were 

 heard. 



Little was said at these interviews; but their souls drank deeply 

 at the fountain of love ; and when twilight had rendered all dim and 

 indistinct, when the breeze had died away when the twittering of 

 the " household bird " was hushed, the whispered good-night, the 

 trembling pressure faintly given and returned, betrayed an intensity 

 of emotion, that can be felt only in the sunny period of youth and 

 in the impulses of a first love. 



An attachment of the most ardent character thus bound together 

 the hearts of James Edwards and Mary Jennings ; and on the eve of 

 his departure for the university, vows of the purest affection were 

 exchanged between them. 



Brought up as James had been under the eye of his excellent 

 father, and with the constant example of pure and holy living 

 before him, his mind was deeply imbued with a sense of religion; 

 for he had seen its truths and its precepts daily illustrated. 



This was however far from damping his natural cheerfulness. The^ 

 faith of Christ taught him neither stoicism nor fanaticism ; but it 

 enabled him to live in society, and to escape its vices ; to mingle 

 freely in college-life, yet to retain the purity of his principles, and 

 to share the amusements and sports of his companions without di- 

 verging from the path of duty to himself or to his Creator. He was 

 a pattern of sobriety, of diligent and careful study, and in con- 

 sequence made rapid progress and proficiency. 



In little more than four years, his friends had the pride and satis- 

 faction of seeing him obtain distinguished honours. His love for 

 Mary Jennings still reigned in his heart with all its original enthu- 

 siasm. The purity and holiness of a first affection had materially 

 aided him in escaping the snares of his passions. An early attach- 

 ment, indeed, when properly placed, is of the utmost value to a 

 young man on commencing his career of independent existence ; and 

 poor is the philosophy and the prudence that would strive to deaden 

 or destroy the first impulses of young and pure minds. To James, 

 the love for Mary Jennings served as a shield of asbestos against 

 all temptations ; and its purifying influence shed around him a 

 halo of quiet happiness, that soothed and cheered him on in his course 

 of study. 



