a vessel in the water, hence, figuratively, in the train of. Bard, a poet.
Mar'tyr, one who sacrifices what is of great value to him for the sake of
principle. Sage, a wise man. 3. Hail, to salute.



XXV. THE RIGHTEOUS NEVER FORSAKEN.

1. It was Saturday night, and the widow of the Pine Cottage sat by her
blazing fagots, with her five tattered children at her side, endeavoring
by listening to the artlessness of their prattle to dissipate the heavy
gloom that pressed upon her mind. For a year, her own feeble hand had
provided for her helpless family, for she had no supporter: she thought of
no friend in all the wide, unfriendly world around.

2. But that mysterious Providence, the wisdom of whose ways is above human
comprehension, had visited her with wasting sickness, and her little means
had become exhausted. It was now, too, midwinter, and the snow lay heavy
and deep through all the surrounding forests, while storms still seemed
gathering in the heavens, and the driving wind roared amid the neighboring
pines, and rocked her puny mansion.

3. The last herring smoked upon the coals before her; it was the only
article of food she possessed, and no wonder her forlorn, desolate state
brought up in her lone bosom all the anxieties of a mother when she looked
upon her children: and no wonder, forlorn as she was, if she suffered the
heart swellings of despair to rise, even though she knew that He, whose
promise is to the widow and to the orphan, can not forget his word.

4. Providence had many years before taken from her her eldest son, who