“Oh! my husband! my husband! where is he? Dick, my boy, have you found your father and Tom? Where is your brother, boy?” Such were the questions asked by numbers of the unhappy women.
Dick could only shake his head and burst into tears.
From the report of the viewer, the engineers declared that it would be dangerous to go down the pit again till the ventilation was set to rights, and that all hope of finding any of those below still alive was gone.
Story 6—Chapter 7.
There was deep sorrow and tears and groans in the mining village of Wallford that night. Those who had gone forth to their work in the morning in health and spirits, the bread-winners of the family, were never to return. The widows and orphans sorrowed for husbands and fathers, and it was natural that they should sorrow for themselves.
Among those who had good cause to look forward with dread to the future, was Mrs Kempson, and yet she did not fear it as once she would have done. She believed that her husband had fully accepted Christ’s gracious offer of salvation, and that he was prepared for death; and she also knew that God protects the fatherless and widows who trust in Him. Still she had a good deal to try her faith.
Dick was the only one of the family who could work for their support; he could gain but little, and she trembled when she thought that any day he, too, might be cut off. He, like a good son, was doing his best to comfort her.
“Don’t take on so, mother, don’t take on so,” he said, putting his arm round her neck. “I shall soon be big enough to work as a hewer, and you shan’t want while I can earn good wages, and God will look after us all. Don’t fear, mother, don’t fear.”