It was the same with the others also--both sons and daughters; and they
were scarcely less open with their wisely indulgent father.
Life was not at all sunshine; the children had their faults which would
occasionally show themselves; but the parents, conscious of their own
imperfections, were patient and forbearing. They were sometimes tried
with sickness too, but it was borne with cheerful resignation; and no one
could say what the future held in store for any of them; but God reigned,
the God whom they had chosen as their portion, and their inheritance
forever, and they left all with him, striving to obey the command to be
without carefulness.
The winter passed quietly, almost without incident save one.
Eddie had been spending the afternoon with his cousins at Pinegrove (some
of them were lads near his own age, and fine, intelligent, good boys), had
stayed to tea and was riding home alone, except that he had an attendant
in the person of a young negro boy, who rode some yards in his rear.
It was already dark when they started, but the stars shone down from a
clear sky, although a keen, cold wind blew from the north.
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