It is needless to say that it was not from want of sympathy.

Perhaps it would be nearer the truth to say that it was from excess of sympathy.

I shrink intensely from meddling with the sorrow of any one whom I feel to be of a sensitive nature.

'The heart hath its own bitterness, and the stranger meddleth not therewith.' It is to me a positively fearful thought that I might awaken such a reflection as "'And common was the commonplace, And vacant chaff well meant for grain.' Conventional consolations, conventional verses out of the Bible, and conventional prayers are, it seems to me, an intolerable aggravation of suffering.

And so I acted on a principle that I mentioned to your husband that 'there is no power so great as that of one human faith looking upon another human faith.' The promises of God, the love of Christ for little children, and all that has been given to us of hope and comfort, are as deeply planted in your heart as in mine, and I did not care to quote them.