Orrin's mother was almost sorry when he was too old to be kept at home under her instruction. She felt afraid that when he began to be more from her watchful care he might become more like those boys whose company she had always directed him to avoid. He was very fond of study; and his teacher soon noticed him as a boy who would be an example to the school. He was always in his place when the bell rang for nine o'clock, and his lessons were well learned. His mother was much pleased with the accounts she received from his teacher, of his good conduct.
When Orrin was about fourteen years old, he met with the greatest affliction that could have been sent upon him. This was the death of his excellent mother. She was sick for a long time, and had a very good physician, but God did not see fit to restore her to health, and she was quite ready to submit to His will. Her only anxiety was for her son, and even this care she was able to commit to the Lord, who has promised to be a father to the fatherless. She talked much to Orrin, and told him that she had trained him up thus far, in the way he should go, and charged him not to depart from it.
