Mr. Carleton had given the desired promise, and now as he looked down upon the mills he was reminded of it.
"I can get there by the time the workmen come out for dinner, and it will give me an unusual opportunity to see them all together," he murmured. "I will go, though it will make me late at home." And he hastened away in that direction.
As he reached the main street of the village, he saw a half dozen boys from four to ten years of age at play. Pausing a moment, he asked the oldest:
"Would you like to go to Sunday-school, my boy?"
"What's that?" the lad inquired, curiously.
"It is a school where you learn God's truth, and the story of his Son, Jesus Christ," Mr. Carleton explained.
"Whose he?" the boy asked. "I never heard of him before. I guess he don't live in these parts, does he?"
Laying his hand on the boy's head, the minister earnestly said:
"It is God who made this world, and all there is in it; and he through his great love for us sent his only Son Jesus to die for our sins."
"What are ye givin' us?" the boy answered, with the air of one who was being imposed upon. "If that was so, don't ye 'spose I'd 'ave heard it before?"