"I think I love the winter best after all," remarked William. "It is so pleasant to sit round the fire, and feel its warmth upon our hands and face. Home feels more like home. Don't you think so, father?"
"The change of season is always pleasant," replied Mr. Barton. "Have you never noticed that, my son?"
"Oh yes! I always say, when spring comes, 'I am glad that it is spring.' And in summer-time, when fruit and flowers are so plenty, I say, 'I am glad it is summer.' And then I am glad again when the doors and windows can be closed, and we can all gather around the fire as we do now in autumn. In winter, when the snow begins to fall, I feel that it is pleasant to see the light flakes flying about gayly in the air."
"But I always think then," said Mary, the gentle, loving-hearted Mary, "of the poor children who have no warm clothing, nor good fires, as we have. I wish, sometimes, that it were always warm, for their sakes."
"And yet, my dear, the Lord knows what is best," remarked Mr. Barton, looking into Mary's sympathizing face. "The Bible says He is good to all, and kind even to the unthankful."
"I know it does; and it also says, that He pitieth us even as a father pitieth his children. But, I can't help thinking, sometimes, that there is a great deal of suffering in the world."
"And so there is, Mary, a great deal of dreadful suffering, the reason for which we sometimes find it very hard to understand. But one thing we know, and this is, that it is all from man, and not from God; and that God permits it for some good purpose—not to punish people; for the Lord never punishes any one merely for the sake of punishment, but suffers evil and sin to punish for the sake of reformation. You remember what I read to you about the Divine Providence on last Sunday evening?"
"Yes, sir."
"What did I say the Divine Providence regarded?"
"Eternal ends," replied Mary.