incapable of a light word upon a sacred subject. Such jokes as, more than
elsewhere, one is in danger of hearing among the clergy of every church,
very seldom came out in her father's company; and she very early became
aware of the kind of joke he would take or refuse. The light use,
especially, of any word of the Lord would sink him in a profound silence.
If it were an ordinary man who thus offended, he might rebuke him by asking
if he remembered who said those words; once, when it was a man specially
regarded who gave the offence, I heard him say something to this effect,
"The maister doesna forget whaur and whan he spak thae words: I houp ye do
forget!" Indeed the most powerful force in the education of Maggie was the
evident attitude of her father toward that Son of Man who was even now
bringing the children of God to the knowledge of that Father of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named. Mingling with her delights in
the inanimate powers of Nature, in the sun and the wind, in the rain and
the growth, in the running waters and the darkness sown with stars, was
such a sense of His presence that she felt like him, He might at any moment
appear to her father, or, should it so please Him, even to herself.

Two or three miles away, in the heart of the hills, on the outskirts of the
farm of Stonecross, lived an old cottar and his wife, who paid a few
shillings of rent to Mr. Blatherwick for the acre or two their ancestors
had redeemed from the heather and bog, and gave, with their one son who
remained at home, occasional service on the farm. They were much respected
by the farmer and his wife, as well as the small circle to which they were
known in the neighbouring village--better known, and more respected still
in that kingdom called of heaven; for they were such as he to whom the
promise was given, that he should yet see the angels of God ascending and
descending on the Son of Man. They had long and heartily loved and honoured
the soutar, whom they had known before the death of his wife, and for his
sake and hers, both had always befriended the motherless Maggie. They