scarcely have expected it. Thou must be wondrous strong; many, after
what thou hast suffered, would not have stood on their feet for weeks and
months. What do I say?--Peter, my husband, who is skilled in medicine,
just now told me that not one in five hundred would have survived what
thou hast this day undergone; but allow me to ask thee one thing, Hast
thou returned thanks to God for thy deliverance?' I made no answer, and
the woman, after a pause, said, 'Excuse me, young man, but do you know
anything of God?' 'Very little,' I replied, 'but I should say He must be
a wondrous strong person, if He made all those big bright things up above
there, to say nothing of the ground on which we stand, which bears beings
like these oaks, each of which is fifty times as strong as myself, and
will live twenty times as long.' The woman was silent for some moments,
and then said, 'I scarcely know in what spirit thy words are uttered. If
thou art serious, however, I would caution thee against supposing that
the power of God is more manifested in these trees, or even in those
bright stars above us, than in thyself--they are things of time, but thou
art a being destined to an eternity; it depends upon thyself whether thy
eternity shall be one of joy or sorrow.'

Here she was interrupted by the man, who exclaimed from the other side of
the tree, 'Winifred, it is getting late, you had better go up to the
house on the hill to inform our friends of our arrival, or they will have
retired for the night.' 'True,' said Winifred, and forthwith wended her
way to the house in question, returning shortly with another woman, whom
the man, speaking in the same language which I had heard him first use,
greeted by the name of Mary; the woman replied in the same tongue, but
almost immediately said, in English, 'We hoped to have heard you speak to-
night, Peter, but we cannot expect that now, seeing that it is so late,
owing to your having been detained by the way, as Winifred tells me;
nothing remains for you to do now but to sup--to-morrow, with God's will,
we shall hear you.' 'And to-night, also, with God's will, provided you
be so disposed. Let those of your family come hither.' 'They will be
hither presently,' said Mary, 'for knowing that thou art arrived, they
will, of course, come and bid thee welcome.' And scarcely had she spoke,
when I beheld a party of people descending the moonlit side of the hill.
They soon arrived at the place wher