was found above. They had wandered far out of the right
course, and must have died in the darkness of that first stormy night,
while their children were watching for them round the fire at home.

They had been such respectable, worthy people, that their loss was
greatly lamented, and rich and poor were alike desirous to help and
care for the orphans. You will ask what became of Agnes afterwards. I
cannot tell you. If she is alive now, she must be an old woman; but
she can never have forgotten the story of her parents' death, and I
trust she has never forgotten how the Father of the fatherless was
then her helper and protector.

Let me point out only two lessons from this sad tale. One is, that if
God be with us, we need fear no evil. Can you think of anything more
dreadful than to be left shut up in the snow-storm, as these children
were, with their parents dying on the wild hills above? Yet God did
not forsake them. He sent no angel, he wrought no miracle for their
deliverance; but he gave wisdom and courage to the little girl, in her
time of sore distress and danger. And so every one of you, if you
trust in Him, may be sure of finding the promise fulfilled--"As thy
days, so shall thy strength be."

Another lesson is, the happiness of being loving towards one another,
and obedient to those older than yourselves. Had these children been
like many others, quarrelsome and unruly, what a sad difference it
would have made! But they obeyed their young sister as if she had been
their mother; and so the days of captivity were far less hard to bear
for all.

Think of these things when you remember the story of little Agnes
Green, and pray and try to be like her.

* * * * *

End of Project Gutenberg's The Old Castle and Other Stories, by Anonymous

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