Section 9 (pages 132-160) Summary

In the days following the delivery of his sermon, John writes an extensive contemplation of the Ten Commandments, specifically the Fifth Commandment, which orders children to honor their fathers and mothers. He looks at this commandment from several angles, suggesting that parents have an equal responsibility to honor their children. He also writes about finishing ...the Lonesome Pine, and finding comfort in its depiction of the young woman's constant love for her aging husband. As a result of all these contemplations he resolves that the right thing to do is tell his wife about Jack's history. In the writings that follow, however, there are no indications that he does. These writings are mostly used to contemplation age, the difference between the intellectual concept of belief and the actual spiritual nourishment it offers, and recollections of his wife early in...