last year at school.  Of all the family I had become most attached to my aged grandma, whose life was evidently drawing near the close.  She liked to have me near her, and, to her, no other reading was like mine; and the best which any one else could do, fell far below my services in waiting upon her; and my uncle and aunt often wondered what mother would do when the time came that I must leave them.  Considerate ones, spare yourselves these forebodings, for, before I shall have left your family-circle, your aged mother will have been called to enjoy that rest which remaineth to all who live the life she has lived.  It was thought by many to be somewhat singular that a youth of my age should have been so happy and contented in the quiet dwelling of my uncle, whose youngest occupants were middle-aged, and they could not be supposed to have much sympathy with the thoughts and feelings of youth.  I had gone there in the first place merely to obey the wishes of my mother, which had ever been as a law unto me.  I loved my uncle from the first, and, instead of feeling anger at the distrust with which my aunt was inclined to regard me, I felt a sort of pity for the lonely woman, and resolved, if possible, to teach her by my conduct that I was not altogether so bad as she supposed; and my kindness to her soon softened a heart which had become somewhat unfeeling, from having so few natural ties, as well as for want of intercourse with the world at large; and I learned that my attempts to please her, especially when they involved self-sacrifice, made me all the happier, so true it is that “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”

And in time I learned to love my home at the old farm house, with an affection so deep that the thought of leaving it was very unpleasant to me.  I had also become much attached to my kind teacher and his family, and thought with pain of a separation from them.  But the time was now drawing nigh when, like every youth who must depend upon his own exertions for success, I must go forth to make my own way in the world.  By diligent study I had acquired an education which would enable me to fill a position of trust and responsibility, when I should have gained a practical knowledge of business.  My mind turned toward mercantile pursuits, and it was my intention (after leaving school) to seek a situation where I could obtain experience in business.

CHAPTER XXI.

Winter had gradually melted away before the genial sun and warm rains of spring, till the snow had entirely disappeared, and the fields began to wear a tinge of green, with many other indications that summer was about to revisit the earth.  There is something very cheering in the return of spring after enduring for a lengthened period the rigors of winter.  The waters are loosed from their icy fetters, and sparkle with seemingly renewed brightness in the glad beams of the sun, and all nature seems to partake