"
I desired him to come into the house, and then said:
"What is your occupation?"
"Sir, I have lived most of my days in a little cottage at ---, six miles
from here. I have rented a few acres of ground, and kept some cows,
which, in addition to my day-labour, has been the means of supporting and
bringing up my family."
"What family have you?"
"A wife, now getting very aged and helpless, two sons and one daughter;
for my other poor dear child is just departed out of this wicked world."
"I hope for a better."
"I hope so, too, poor thing. She did not use to take to such good ways
as her sister; but I do believe that her sister's manner of talking with
her before she died, was the means of saving her soul. What a mercy it
is to have such a child as mine is! I never thought about my own soul
seriously till she, poor girl, begged and prayed me to flee from the
wrath to come."
"How old are you?"
"Near seventy, and my wife is older; we are getting old, and almost past
our labour, but our daughter has left a good place, where she lived in
service, on purpose to come home and take care of us and our little
dairy. And a dear, dutiful, affectionate girl she is."
"Was she always so?"
"No, sir: when she was very young, she was all for the world, and
pleasure, and dress, and company.
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