arriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in
the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

"In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it
is cut down, and withereth....

"For all our days are passed away in thy wrath; we spend our
years as a tale that is told.

"The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by
reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength
labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away....

"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts
unto wisdom....

"O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be
glad all our days.

"Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted
us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

"Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their
children.

"And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish
thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands
establish thou it."

Aunt Jane removed her glasses and folded her withered hands over the
sacred pages. "You know, child," she said, "the Bible's the word of
God. I ain't questionin' that. But it looks like to me there's some o'
the words of man in it, too. Now this psalm I've jest read is the very
one to read at a watch-meetin' on New-year's eve because it's all
about time and life and the passin' o' the years, but there's some o'
the verses I'd like to leave out. There's that tenth one about 'the
days of our years' and the strength of our years. I reckon we all feel
like sayin' such things when we git tired and it looks like we haven't
done the work we set out to do, but that's the sort o' feelin' to keep
to ourselves. It don't do any good to tell such feelin's. And when a
man can say that the Lord has been his dwellin' place in all
generations, he oughtn't to turn right around and say that the
strength of his years is jest labor and sorrow. The trouble with some
folks is that they're always lookin' back and countin' the years
wherein they have seen evil, but they don't ricollect that the Lord's
promise is to make us glad accordin' to the evil years. Trouble has
got to come to us, child, but whenever it comes we ought to know
there's happiness comin' to make up for it jest like this psalm says,
'Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us,
and the years wherein we have seen evil