Page:Poems Denver.djvu/25

the air of the mountains, and new strength was, for a time, infused into her feeble frame. She greeted each remaining tree and shrub as friends parted from but yesterday, and recollected and described each house in the neighborhood—a proof of her wonderful memory, which was so retentive, that fugitive poems, which had struck her fancy when a child, she could repeat entire, a score of years after, never having seen them in the interval. During this visit she made a public profession of her faith—circumstances having hitherto prevented—by connecting herself with the Presbyterian Church of Winchester, under the pastoral charge of Rev. Dr. A. H. H. Boyd, one of the most eminent ministers of the South, who said, on hearing of her death, "She was one of the most remarkable persons I ever met,—possessed of rare piety." She remained in Virginia eighteen months, passing through a severe illness towards the close of her visit, and returning home a confirmed invalid. The remainder of her life was a period of great suffering, but it was then that the piety, which was the center-jewel of the crowning graces of her character, shone brightest. She strove to make the outer life a counterpart of the inner. Spending much of her time with a married sister who resided a mile from the church, every Sabbath found her, when at all able to go, in her seat in the Sanctuary. It did not hinder her that she was compelled to pause every few minutes on the way,