“Yes,” said she, “I planted that vine myself, and it is a daily rejoicing to me, and a sermon too. It reminds me continually of that true Vine from which we must draw all our life and sustenance.”
“It is well,” said Mrs. Lester, “to have divine truths thus brought to our minds by the objects that surround us.”
“My prairie home,” said Mrs. Day, “was really beautiful; that was quite to my mind; a nice house shaded with trees, adorned with shrubbery and flowers, and looking upon broad fertile fields.”
“Why did you leave so pretty a home?” asked Mrs. Lester.
“We came here to be near a church, and to enjoy religious privileges. For years after we went on the prairie our house was the home of the preachers, and meetings were always held there. As the country became more settled the services were transferred to a church, four miles from us, and we at length concluded to give up our home to our son, and come to spend the evening of our lives in a place where we could constantly enjoy the services of God’s house. We have tried to make religion the chief business of our life, and God has prospered us.”
“And you enjoy this new country?” inquired Mrs. Lester.
No. 666.
WESTERN SETTLER’S FIRST HOME.
“It seems to me,” she replied, “the oldest country God has made; such riches as these are in the soil all ready and prepared for the seed of the sower, only waiting for man’s coming to yield of its abundance.”
The sun was tinging town and prairie with his parting beams, and the garden was already in deep shadow when Norman and his mother, loaded with bright and fragrant flowers, returned home.