'I should think,' said Martha, but in a softer tone, 'I should really
think He would give us the green, and the lambs, and the new house, and
everything; for both of us are good, Stephen.'

'I don't know,' replied Stephen; 'if I could read all the Bible, perhaps
it would tell us. But now I must go in and read my chapter to father.'

Martha went back to her rocking-chair and knitting, while Stephen reached
down from a shelf an old Bible, covered with green baize, and, having
carefully looked that his hard hands were quite clean, he opened it with
the greatest reverence. James Fern had only begun to teach the boy to
read a few months before, when he felt the first fatal symptoms of his
illness; and Stephen, with his few opportunities for learning, had only
mastered one chapter, the fifth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, which
his father had chosen for him to begin with. The sick man lay still with
closed eyes, but listening attentively to every word, and correcting his
son whenever he made any mistake. When it was finished, James Fern read a
few verses aloud himself, with low voice and frequent pauses to regain
his strength; and very soon afterwards the whole family were in a deep
sleep, except himself.




CHAPTER III.

STEPHEN'S FIRST VICTORY.