m sure to be laughed at, ony way; I'll goa." He looked at
Sally for a moment, and saw, at any rate, that she understood him,
although she did smile; so opening the door he shot out, saying, "I
shalln't be long, lass." He went to his meeting just the same as
usual, and no matter to Abe if his leader and class-mates were all
surprised to see him, he was quite as comfortable as if a wedding were
an every-day event with him. Abe's maxim was to allow no hindrance to
stand in the way of his duty to God. Christ came first with him, his
wife stood next; and as he began, so he continued through all his
marriage life.
This worthy couple began housekeeping in a very humble way,--it was
really "love in a cot,"--and with very limited means; but they were
happy in each other and happy in God. Sally made a good wife, and
contributed greatly not only to her husband's happiness, but also to
his usefulness in the Church. Too much can hardly be said in honour of
that humble and devoted woman, whose great study, during all their life
together, was to make home most attractive to her husband, and his
path, as a Christian, easy. When the charge of a large family came
upon them, she cheerfully and studiously undertook the multitudinous
little offices and cares that always come, under the circumstances, and
threw as little as possible upon her partner in the house; for she used
to say, "Dear man, he has enough to do to find us in bread, without
troubling to put it into our mouths." Ah, and when there was scarcely
even bread for them, which often happened in those hard times, she
would scorn to murmur at her husband, or utter a word that seemed like
a reflection upon him; no, she was united to him "for better, for
worse," and she bore whatever came with a noble and patient fortitude.
Many a time, however, had she, poor thing, to go to her heavenly Father
with her cares, and vent her anguish in a shower of tears, which Abe
never saw, and perhaps never heard about; and when he came home from
his day's toil, she always tried to have a cheerful face and a smile
for the dear man.
Besides attending to the duties of her household like an exemplary
wife, she was often engaged in her own house _burling_ cloth for the
manufacturers, by which means she earned a scanty addition to their
income. Frequently when Abe retired to rest, she would pretend she was
scarcely ready, and then, after he had fallen soundly asleep, she might
be seen by the d
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