“Pa and Ma are at it again!” groaned Nat in a sick whisper. “Probably old Gridley’s been here and told’ em. Listen!”
I heard epithets applied to a woman which made my mother’s face whiten when I suggested them at bedtime.
“Nat and I heard ’em through the kitchen window,” I declared. “We was lyin’ underneath it, listenin.”
“Well, sonny, don’t you ever remember those words or think of them again. They mean horrible, vile, foul, wicked things. That’s all I can tell you that you can understand—now!”
“But Nathan’s father said ’em!”
“Then Nathan’s father is a wicked man, even if he does get up in prayer meeting and tell how precious the Lord is to his soul. And did Nathan get into the house?”
“Yeah, he sneaked up to bed the front way. The door was open.”
“Well, you see, dear, your prayer was answered, wasn’t it?”
“It looks so, Ma!”
“Always remember it, laddie. You’re going to get in tighter situations than you got into to-night. Don’t ever be ashamed to pray, laddie. It never harms and always helps.”