`"Six days shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do, but on the seventh, thou shalt do no manner of work." This is the seventh day,' I replied, `on it, therefore, let us rest.'
`What, is it really Sunday?' said Jack, `How jolly! Oh, I won't do any work; but I'll take a bow and arrow and shoot, and we'll climb about the tree and have fun all day.'
`That is not resting,' said I, `that is not the way you are accustomed to spend the Lord's day.'
`No! But then we can't go to church here, and there is nothing else to do.'
`We can worship here as well as at home,' said I.
`But there is no church, no clergyman and no organ,' said Franz.
`The leafy shade of this great tree is far more beautiful than any church,' I said, `there will we worship our Creator. Come, boys, down with you: turn our dining hall into a breakfast room.'
The children, one by one, slipped down the ladder.
`My dear Elizabeth,' said I, `this morning we will devote to the service of the Lord, and by means of a parable, I will endeavor to give the children some serious thought; but, without books, or the possibility of any of the usual Sunday occupations, we cannot keep them quiet the whole day; afterward, therefore I shall allow them to pursue any innocent recreation they choose, and in the cool of the evening we will take a walk.'
My wife entirely agreed with my proposal, and having breakfasted, the family assembled round me, as we sat in the pleasant shade on the fresh, soft grass.