use of sudden "drop-offs"; but they were
usually shallow, and it was generally safe for the children to play
along the edge.

After the first sharp edge of his grief was dulled, John's father did
not feel it so keenly his duty to instruct his child and to teach him
to reverence his Creator; and when John was about six years of age, the
father was kept so busy with his work that he had but little time to
spend with the child. John's aunt, too, although a good woman, was too
much occupied with housekeeping to do her duty by her own two boys, much
less by a third. So John and his cousins had spent nearly all of the
three years that they had been together in doing as they pleased, and in
finding as much enjoyment in living as it was possible for them to find.
It was, therefore, not strange that they had learned and invented many
new ways to get amusement, and that some of these were evil; for Satan,
as he always does in such cases, had lent them a helping hand.

The work of attending to the cows did not, of course, occupy nearly all
their time, and the boys found it great sport to play around the wallows
and in them.

On one occasion Will said:

"Say, boys, did you ever hear the story about the man who walked upon
the water? I don't remember just how the story went; but I heard
somebody say that the man's name was Jesus, and that another man got out
of a boat to go and meet Him. The first fellow did all right, but the
second one came very near drowning because he looked down at the water.
Maybe he wanted to see how deep the water was, and I guess he would have
got drowned if they hadn't been close to the shore. Now, I am going to
do like Jesus did. Want to see me?"

Naturally both the boys wanted to see him perform a feat like that, and
Will quickly scampered into the water. Now, the wallow was very shallow
all the way across, and Will was soon on the opposite side. The smaller
boys, not knowing the depth of the water, supposed that it was deep and
that Will had actually done some marvelous thing. Will did not know that
he was doing wrong by speaking lightly of one of the Savior's miracles;
for he had never been in Sunday-school, and his parents had not taught
him the sacredness of the words and acts of the Savior. He simply wanted
to play a joke on his companions.

The smaller boys talked the matter over when they were alone, and John
said:

"Say, Charley, what do you suppose held Will up the other day on that
wat