heart because of the lack of human friendship made it easy for him to
accept the comfort and encouragement that was sent him through other
channels by his loving, tender heavenly Father.

The small hand was stroking the sleek side of the huge animal, and the
little bird-song in the tree close by added much to his enjoyment, and,
sitting erect, he chirped in reply a sweet little song that he had learned
at the poorhouse from the birds. This peaceful condition, however, was too
good to last. In a very short time he heard the voice of his mother asking
him where his cousins had gone.

"I haven't seen them yet," he said simply.

"And didn't you know that I meant for you to hunt them up?" she exclaimed
in a tone that was much more harsh and severe than that in which her other
words had been spoken. Then adding, "I'll teach you to pay attention to
what I say!" she picked up a board that was lying near and began to beat
him as she had done the day before. Hoping to escape some of the blows, the
child drew closer to his mother, but the following instant he found himself
tumbling head foremost toward a stone wall and heard the woman say, "Get
away from me, you blockhead, or I'll dash out your brains on that stone
wall. You are dumber than the dumb and not fit to live, and I wish you had
never been born."

When the awful treatment was ended, Edwin was lying in the grass in almost
a helpless condition, but he was left there piteously moaning while his
mother went to find the other children. The baby was in the house in his
crib and was still asleep, and the other two children, who had been on the
opposite side of the house at play, were standing in full view of the
scene. Without a word of comfort for her suffering child, she told Elmer