A NEW BROTHER
One evening when Mr. Bradley and his happy family were gathered around the fire-side, he seemed to be in a very meditative mood. The family had just finished its evening devotion and the open Bible lay upon the huge table which stood near the hearth.
"Why are you musing so intently?" Mrs. Bradley asked. "It seems your forehead is more wrinkled with furrows than ever, and you are altogether too young a man to look so worried." This she said with a smile, and as she said it, she lovingly stroked his cheeks.
"I am not worrying, my dear," he replied, "but only thinking, and I wonder whether that which I think, will please you."
"What pleases you," Mrs. Bradley said, "always pleases me. We are two of a kind, and I am sure I am going to agree to what you say. Pray, now tell me what troubles you."
"The matter pertains to another little youngster in our home," he replied; "though the youngster is not so very young any more. He is a year older than Fred, and I think, he would prove a good companion to him."
Fred listened with much interest, and also Agnes laid aside her book.
"What about the young lad?" Mrs. Bradley asked. "Is he the son of a poor family in the Colony?"
"His case is worse," the husband replied. "Yesterday when the good ship 'Hope' came into port, the authorities found a stranger in the band of immigrants. He was a stowaway, though some of the people discovered him during the voyage and supported him with food. Otherwise the poor fellow would have starved."
"And what are they going to do with the lad?" Mrs. Bradley inquired.