On a bright summer day, when the air was sparkling with sunshine, there was to be a large ball given in honor of some royal personages who were to be present.
Gay friends had asked me if I were going, and represented to me what a loss I should have if not there. Though much against the wishes of my nearest friends and advisers, who reasoned with me that such public scenes were of no advantage to young persons, I was determined to go to this ball.
A lady of fashion had promised to allow me to accompany her; and nothing now remained but to procure a card for the entertainment.
I opened my portfolio, and sat down to write to a friend to procure me one. It was Sunday afternoon; for so anxious was I for this gratification, that to wait until Monday to write seemed waste of a day, and I feared the tickets might be all disposed of. I had attended church that morning, and was nominally a Christian, though certainly not a real one. If any one had spoken to me of acquaintance with the Lord Jesus as a personal Savior, or pressed on me that "now was the day of salvation," it would have been to me an unwelcome theme, apparently too visionary for me to grasp, suited to preachers, Sunday-school teachers, or saints of by-past days.
I turned over the blotting-leaves to find some note-paper, and as I did so, something fluttered from the sheets, and fell into my lap. I took it up; it was a leaflet, which had been sent to me in a letter, doubtless months, or perhaps even a year, before; for I could not recollect how it came into my book. The heading caught my eye,