"Other refuge have I none,"
but it gained courage and persuasiveness until it filled the room and the heart of the man with,—
"Cover my defenceless head,
With the shadow of Thy wing."
A gentle smile and the relaxing of closed hands completed the story of our loss, though the real weight of it came days and months later.
It was long before we could take up our daily duties with anything like the familiar happiness. Something had gone out of our lives that could never be replaced, and only time could salve the wounds. The dear man who had gone was no friend to solemn faces, and living interests must bury dead memories; but it was a long time before the click of Jane's hammer was heard in her forge; not until Laura had said, "It will please him, Jane."
CHAPTER LVIII
BACTERIA
January, February, and March passed with more than the usual snow and rain,—fully ten inches of precipitation; but the spring proved neither cold nor late. During these three months we sold butter to the amount of $1283, and $747 worth of eggs; in all, $2030.
The ploughs were started in the highest land on the 11th of April, and were kept going steadily until they had turned over nearly 280 acres.