"I don't know, Mr. Masters. He lets them be unhappy."
"It is not his will."
"But he takes away what would make them happy?"
"What do you think would do that?"
"I suppose it is one thing with one person, and another with another."
"True; but take an instance."
"It is mother's happiness to have her farm and her dairy and her house go just right."
"Is she happy if it does?"
"She is very uncomfortable if it don't."
"That is not my question," said the minister, smiling. "Happiness is not a thing that comes and goes with the weather, or the crops, or the state of the market;—nor even with the life and death and affection of those we love."