"Not more than others I deserve,
Yet God hath given me more;
For I have food while others starve,
Or beg from door to door.
"While some poor wretches scarce can tell
Where they may lay their head,
I have a home wherein to dwell,
And rest upon my bed.
"While others early learn to swear,
And curse, and lie, and steal;
Lord, I am taught Thy name to fear,
And do Thy holy will.
"Are these Thy favours, day by day,
To me above the rest;
Then let me love Thee more than they,
And try to serve Thee best."
"They are very pretty verses indeed," said his grandmother, when Ned had finished; "and I am glad that you remember them at the right time."
The day after this conversation, Tom told Ned that he should not be able to go home with him when work was over that evening, because his uncle was coming.
It was frosty, and nothing could be done in the garden; so when Ned had mended a rail in the little wicket gate that was broken, and had had his tea, read the Bible, got by heart a column-of spelling, and said it to his grandmother, he sat down on a stool near the fire, and amused himself by going on with a stocking he had begun to knit.
"How thankful I am to you for having taught me to knit," said he, "because it is something pleasant to do when I am in-doors of a winter's evening."
Just as Ned left off speaking a knock was heard at the cottage door. He ran to open it, and was rather surprised to see Tom, and with him a well-dressed, pleasant-looking man, whom he did not remember to have seen before.
"This is my uncle," said Tom.