also teach him that any station can be ennobled by the upright and
conscientious discharge of the duties belonging to it. But now, let us
have our usual worship, and then we will look in on William, and see
if his trouble is not all forgotten in sleep."




CHAPTER II.

TOILS AND TRIALS.


When William arose the next morning, he met his parents with as
smiling a face as if his father had presented him with a case of
pencils, instead of discouraging his attempts at drawing. Nothing was
said on the subject, and the weeks rolled on quietly and peacefully as
before, until William passed his ninth birthday, and the
Christmas-time drew near. This is a festive time with most; and it
seems right that it should be so, for can man ever be sufficiently
thankful for the great gift of a Saviour, whose birth was heralded by
the songs of angels on that day? All nations observe their peculiar
ceremonies, but perhaps none are more faithfully observant of them
than the Germans in the little community of M----, most of whose
inhabitants at the time of which we write were descendants of the
original Dutch settlers. Many ceremonies and customs, relics of a
ruder age, and now nearly forgotten, were still practised. The
Raymonds, although pious, and more intelligent than most of their
neighbours, kept up many of the usages of Fatherland on the Christmas
occasion, perhaps more as wafting them back in remembrance of early