"How I long for home!" she exclaimed, as she resumed her sewing by the fire.
Little Joe came and stood by her knee and gave her his oft repeated blessing:
"God help us and make His face to shine upon us."
She kissed him and said: "Dear comforter! It shines upon me every time I hear you say those words."
The little lad had observed the effect of the blessing on his mother in her moments of depression and many times his parroting had been the word in season. Now he returned to his play again, satisfied.
"Would you mind if I called you mother?" Harry asked.
"I shall be glad to have you do it if it gives you any comfort, Harry," she answered.
She observed that there were tears in his eyes.
"We are all very fond of you," she said, as she bent to her task.
Then the boy told her the history of his morning—the talk with Bim, with the razor omitted from it; how he had met Abe and all that Abe had said to him as they sat together in the store.