"Well, it's about a certain man named Christian who was always reading and praying, and crying out,—
"'What shall I do to be saved?'
"But no one seemed to have read the Bible, so as to be able to tell him about believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. At last, he made up his mind to run away, and when his wife and children cried after him to come back, he only put his fingers in his ears, and ran all the faster."
"It was a good thought to put his fingers in his ears," observed Mrs. Reardon. "He would never have had the heart to leave them behind else."
"I don't think they wanted to go," said Polly; "but his wife came afterwards, teacher told us, and brought the children with her."
"There was no fear of their mother leaving them behind," said Matthew.
"You should see the picture of Christian, with a great bag on his shoulders!" continued Bessie, eagerly.
"Burden!" suggested her sister.
"Yes, that's the word, Polly. We have all our burdens to bear in this world; and very heavy they are sometimes, enough to break a man's back!"
"Mother has often a heavy burden to carry when she takes home her work," said Bessie, "but I don't think it means that."