“You’ve cheered me up, ’mazingly,” she said, as the minister took his leave; but he carried away more cheer than he brought. He, too, could go to work “with a will,” remembering it was the Lord, not men, he was seeking to please.
And the next Monday morning little Benny Cargill, when he opened the store, swept down all the cobwebs he could reach, and brushed out all the corners, because the minister said in his sermon, “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men.”
PART FOURTH.
I.
HOW NOT TO BE TROUBLED.
“But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself.”
“I should like being good well enough, if we could only do it once for all, and have it done with,” said Maybee, despairingly; “but to just keep at it and keep at it! Don’t you ever get tired, mamma?”
“How little children know about the doctrines nowadays,” remarked Aunt Cynthia, severely. “Now, I knew them all by heart before I was old as Maybee,—sanctification, perseverance of the saints—”
“It was sinners I meant,” said Maybee, scowling, “folks what have to be forgived every single day. I do believe, mamma, the harder you try the worse it is. So many things keep happening, things you don’t like, while things you want to happen, won’t; and Miss Nancy says if anybody ever gets real good and happy, they’re most sure to die.”