"But whilst I was thrusting her forward, she cried out in great agony, My brother. my brother!-the Thorns, the Thorns!"..... Page 16. ว HEDGE A OF THORN S. BY MRS. SHERWOOD, 25476.431 OCT 3 1918 LIBRARY PREFACE. This little work, was first published in England; and appears to be the production of a pious writer, as a relation of facts. If it be not a true story, it is so good a mirror, reflecting human nature so completely in early life, it induced a hope that the inexperienced youth of this country might derive some benefit from a perusal of it. But for a "Hedge of Thorns," where should many of us have been! THE HEDGE OF THORNS. My name is John Carrol. I was born not very far distant from the city of Carlisle, in a lone cottage, situated on the southern side of a woody upland. My father was by trade a gardener, and was employed in various gentlemen's families in the neighbourhood; he was also the parish clerk-a man much beloved in the country, being endowed with a mind as lovely as the flowers which he was employed to cultivate; for he was, as I have no doubt, early chosen of God, and precious in his sight, and enabled, by the power of his Holy Spirit, to overcome, in a great measure, the original depravity of his nature, and to seek "whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever A 2 |