On his arrival at Vienna, Dr. Olin was at once prostrated by the fever which he had taken in the fens of the Danube, and which now attacked him in the form of congestion of the brain. Days of partial derangement, and several weeks of dangerous illness, ensued ; but he was under the care of a skillful physician, and friends with Christian sympathy and unwearied kindness ministered to the lonely sufferer, till, by the good providence of God, he passed the crisis of his disease safely, and was enabled, though still feeble, to leave Vienna on the first of September, in an Austrian diligence for Munich. He remained three days in this beautiful city, and then proceeded, by the way of Constance, Zurich, and Basle, to Paris. His anxiety to return home, and his extreme weakness, led him to forego a tour he had contemplated amid the mountains and valleys of Switzerland; and, after resting three days in Paris and twelve in London, he embarked at Liverpool in the steamer Acadia for Boston, and made "one of the roughest, and, at that time, one of the shortest voyages ever made across the Atlantic."

CHAPTER II.

REST AND RECOVERY.

DR. OLIN spent the first winter, after his return from Europe, at Columbus, Georgia, in the charming family of his sister-in-law, Mrs. Howard, where he enjoyed every comfort that watchful kindness and affection could provide. In the spring he went to reside with his brother, in Salisbury, Vermont. Many changes had taken place in the home circle during his absence in Europe. His father had sold his farm in Leicester, which was not compact enough to suit him, and had purchased another in the adjoining town of Salisbury. The house to which he removed was burned down shortly after their change of residence, and in it were consumed all Dr. Ölin's letters to his father and family, written before his departure for Europe. His brother repeated the exact words of some of these letters, which informed his father of his conversion, after a lapse of nearly thirty years; and on being asked how his memory could retain them so long, he replied, "I lived upon them; I never had expected to see my brother religious." The old familiar faces were not there to greet the returning traveler. His married sisters, with their families, had removed to Illinois; and his eye asked in vain for the father's room, memorable from childhood, the great arm-chair, and the venerated form that used to fill it. His brother's place was a pretty,

cheerful New England home-a new house, white, with green blinds, not far from the site of the one destroyed by fire. At a little distance rose the white spire of the church, built through his instrumentality, a new and powerful interest in religious things having been awakened in the neighborhood by the prayers and labors of this invalid Christian.

On the 3d of August, 1841, Dr. Olin writes to his brother from Saratoga Springs: "I expect to set out for the White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, in two days. I may return to Vermont this fall, even if I winter in Georgia. All is uncertain now. I am lately quite feeble, but hope to be a little stronger in a few days. Upon the whole, I do not think my prospects brighten. I must be ready for any result. So must my friends. God will do right. I trust in Him. I may not despond. I offer body and soul to Him through Christ."

He returned to Vermont, and spent the winter at Salisbury. A pleasant family circle, consisting of his brother, his brother's wife, his niece, and his youngest sister Clarinda, who is thought to resemble him more in person and character than any of the family, gave him the needful relaxation of society; while with renovated health the ability to use his pen for four or five hours every day furnished occupation to his mind, gave an object to his life, and made the winter pass cheerfully.

On the 19th of December, he wrote from Salisbury to his cousin, Mrs. Dwinnell, with whom he had formed a very agreeable acquaintance at Saratoga a few months before."Early in August I went from Saratoga to New York, on my way to the White Sulphur Springs,

in Virginia. I, however, found myself unable to proceed, and being admonished by my physician that the attempt would be not a little rash, I stopped three weeks on Long Island, and then came, with some difficulty, to this place. I, of course, gave up my plan of wintering in Georgia, and concluded to try the fierce climate of my native state. For three or four weeks I grew 'worse, and pretty much concluded that I might end my race in a short time. With the cooler weather I began to improve, which I have done steadily, and I now am better than at any time within the past year. This is most unexpected to me, and the occasion of many thanksgivings. I trust I have been quite willing to submit to the will of God even in dying; but if I may live-still more, if I may live to labor for His cause. and glory, it is much to be preferred. And I can truly say, no part of my life was ever made so abundantly desirable by rich and permanent religious enjoyments. It is according to the blessed economy of the Gospel of Christ, that one so bereaved and beaten down in the dust as I am should find indemnity in sufficient grace and hallowed anticipations. I know you will rejoice with me in this, and thank God in my behalf, and it is for this purpose, as well as to speak for the Savior's praise, that I thus write.

"My dear brother is in very feeble health, with no prospect of recovery, though, I hope, none of speedy death. No one is riper for heaven. He is a mature and lovely Christian, in whom is no guile. He has sold his farm here, and bought a house in West Poultney, where I have also bought a field to try the effect of labor. We go there, if possible, in April.”

Mr. Olin sold his farm because he found that the necessary attention to it, and the anxieties connected with the religious interests of the neighborhood, were too weighty for his feeble health. This he did with the advice of Dr. Olin, in whose judgment he placed such implicit confidence that he always consulted him in every business transaction. In the spring, they removed to West Poultney, a pretty village in the lap of the hills in the southern part of Vermont. It is about half a mile from the New York state line, so that, in Dr. Olin's daily drives, his road frequently skirted two states. The house is pleasantly situated, nearly opposite the Troy Conference Academy. Dr. Olin added a wing containing a large, cheerful room, with windows on three sides, and a small entry, with a door opening on the grassy court-yard. In this room he finished writing out his Journal in the East for the press, and here he expected to end his days; but God had more work for his servant to do on the earth.

Dr. Olin did not keep a journal of his religious life. He said he had begun it several times, but he was arrested by the fear that, unconsciously, he might be influenced by the thought that the eyes of others would rest upon the page. At another time he said that these records, written in the still hour of meditation, would present the soul in its most devotional attitude, and would scarcely give a fair idea of its ordinary life. He has, however, erected four great landmarks of his spiritual progress, which he did with the deepest solemnity, and as in God's immediate presence. The first commemorates his entrance upon that life which leads to glory, honor, and immortality; the second, on his birth