Having explained how he had been occupied since passing in the early morn, he remarked—
"You live alone?"
"Yes, sir, I am alone in the world, but yet not alone, for the Saviour is often with me in my humble dwelling, and I hope in a little while He'll come and take me to His home above."
"That is a blessed hope to cheer and make you patient to wait His time, my friend," was the rejoinder. "Have you been left long alone?"
"The last went home twenty years ago, come Michaelmas," said the aged host. "It has been whiles a weary waiting-time, but it's sinful to repine. His time must be the right time."
Whilst the old man went to fetch the tea, the guest looked round and observed some articles of carved wood—boxes, flat rulers, and leaf-cutters—and was struck with the frequent recurrence of short words of Holy Writ on the Sabbath. Some little books lay on the window-sill, many of which were on the same subject.
After impressively asking God's blessing, and whilst partaking of the simple meal, the visitor remarked—
"I see the sanctity of the Lord's Day is a strong point with you. I was struck this morning with the expression you used to those lads—'the cost of a broken Sabbath.'"
"THE OLD MAN SAT WITH HIS BIG BIBLE." (See page 132.)