Betty's Bright Idea; Deacon Pitkin's Farm; and the First Christmas of New England

tumn storms had stripped the painted glories from the trees, and remorseless frosts had chased the hardy ranks of the asters and go

d tracery, in their way quite as beautiful as the full pomp of summer foliage. The air without was keen and frosty, and the knotted twigs

tidings that the Eastern Star had been wrecked on a reef in the Indian ocean! The mother had given back her treasure into the same beloved hands whence she first received him. "I gave him to God, and God took him," she said. "I shall have him again in God's time." This was how she settled the whole matter with herself. Diana had mourned with all the vehement intensity of her being, but out of the deep baptism of sorrow she had emerged wi

ll his hard work and that of his family, Deacon Silas never had

o' streaky, for do what you might there's always suthin' to put him back." As the younger boys grew up the deacon had ceased to hire help, and Biah had transferred his services to Squire Jones, a rich landholder in the neighborhood, who wanted some one to overlook his place. The increased wages had enabled him to give a home to Maria Jane and a start in life to two or three sturdy little American citizens who played around his house door. Nevertheless, Biah never lost sight of the "deacon's folks" in his multifarious cares, and never mis

k bed with one of those interminable attacks of typhus fever which used to prevail in old times, when the docto

-working, godly ancestry, and so withstood both death and the doctor, and was alive and in a conv

most of the day. A cot bed had been placed there, designed for him to lie down upon in intervals of fatigue. At present, however, he was si

: the haggard, anxious lines had been smoothed away, and that spiritual expression which sickness and

quite remember out of the Bible. It's in t

e and to prove thee and to know what is in thy heart, and whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which th

n here sick and helpless. I've fought hard to keep things straight and clear the farm, but

ou leave all?" said his w

e make up the interest this year. I don't know what Bill may get for the hay: but I don't see much prospect of raisin' on't; and yet I don't worr

tter of garments, and Diana rushed in, all breezy with the freshness of out-door air, an

a roll of bills from her bosom, and putting it into the deacon's hand, "here's the interest mone

y would be found and now I see what." She added, kissing Diana and

worry and put himself back again ab

rd has taught me not to worry, but just do my best and leave myself and everything else in his hands. We can't help ourselves-we can't m

ace serene as a star. In this last gift of quietude of soul to

he window, "I should like to know wh

this sickness," said Mrs. Pitkin, as

ng, "Good evenin', Mrs. Pitkin. Sarvant,

ll as can be," s

here for the Deacon. Miss Briskett she was in, lookin' at it, and so was Deacon Simson's wife; she come in arter some cinnamon sticks. Wal, and they all looked at it and talked it over, and co

s Pitkin, the color flushing apprehensively in

was the mortgage on his farm and the other a receipt in full for the money owed on it! The

ook! Is this so? D

, reading over his shoulder. "S

Mrs. Pitkin, softl

in his old' age; but if grace made him do that, grace has done a tough job, that's all; but it's done anyhow! and that's all you need to care about. Wal, wal, I must git along hum-Mariar Jane'll be wonderin' where I be. Good night, al

take his place at the family board. In the seven years since the beginning of our story the Pitkin boys had been growing apace, and now surrounded the table quite an army of rosy-ch

opposite the house door. At that moment the door opened, and a dark stran

rossing the floor, he kneeled down by Mrs. Pitkin's chair

don't you

ll earnestness peculiar to herself, and th

a retreated, pale and breathless, to a neighboring window, and stood w

ts he came, and s

he took her in his arms. She felt the beating of his heart, and he fe

ames, "who'll help br

ho should get near enough to take some part in it's introduction,

"I'm determined you shall have a dress fit for you; and here's a real India shawl to go

family, received with frantic demonstrations o

package done up in silk paper and

olding and shaking out a rich satin; "and here's her shawl,

pale and red all in the same breath, as James, folding ba

d her, and said, gaily, "All

usion of joy and gladness! What a half-telling of

ll, and how he was saved at sea, and where he went, and what befell him

t up too late," said Mrs. Pitkin.

ll be fresh t

wide kitchen fire and the

him at parting, "let me read my Psalm; it has been my Psalm ever since I left

ount up to the heaven; they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so th

sat by the yet glowing hearth and listened to the c

d to-morrow is the seventh Thanksgiving, and I've always set

im, we can't. Th

e got all the

-dress can't be

the week after. You are

will the

et my heart on it, and you owe me something for the way you treated

ust as you will." And so it wa

it was the first time she ever heard of a bride that was married first and h

neither of the parties concerned fo

HRISTMAS OF

against which forbidding and angry waves incessantly dash, and around which shifting winds continually rave. Th

age. Of this harbor of Cape Cod the report of our governmental Coast Survey thus speaks: "It is one of the finest harbors for ships of war on the whole of our Atlantic coast. The width and freedom from obstruction of every kind at its entrance and the extent of sea room u

place, because here, in this harbor, opened the firs

ribed to us in the simple words of the pilgrims: "A pleasant bay, circled round, except the entrance, which is about four miles over from land to land, com

voice or sound of civilized man has broken the sweet calm of the forest. The oak leaves, now turned to crimson and maroon by the autumn frosts, reflect themselves in flushes of color on the still waters. The golden leaves of the sassafras yet cling to the branches, though their life has passed, and every brushing wind bears showers of t

e sunrise from what had been in the days of their fathers. Panther and wild-cat under their furry coats felt no thrill of coming dispossession, and saw nothing through their great golden eyes but the dawning of a day just like all other days-when "the sun

s above were blue and fair, and the waters of the curving bay were a downward sky-a magical under-world, wherein the crimson oaks, and the dusk plumage of the p

different from the lap of the many-tongued waves on the shore; and, silently

r; but her decks are crowded with men, women, and children, looking out with joyous curiosity on the bea

by adversity, tossed and winnowed till every husk of earthly selfishness and self-will had been beaten away from them and left only pure seed, fit for

al, "being now passed the vast ocean and sea of troubles, before their preparation unto further proceedings as to seek out a place for habitation, they fell down on

with his well-worn Geneva Bible in hand, leads the thanksgiving in words which,

ed in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their troubles, and he delivered them in their distresses. And led them forth by the right way, that they might go unto a city of habitation. They that go down to the sea and occupy by the great waters: they see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, and it lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to heave

t, the Book of Common Prayer, with the Psalter appointed to be read in churches; second, the whole Bible in the Geneva translation, which was the basis on which our present English translation was made; and, third, the Psalms of David, in meter, by Sternhold and Hopkins, with the music note

that on ea

Lord with ch

fear, His pra

fore Him a

ye know, is

r aid He d

flock, He d

sheep He d

n His gates

th joy His

and bless Hi

s seemly

he Lord our

y is for

all times f

rom age to

s came the warble of birds, the scream of the jay, the hoarse call of hawk and eagle, going on wit