Page:Bear ye one another's burdens.djvu/14

 brethren. It is no vicious or imprudent course that has brought them to this pass. It is the deliberate policy of our nation which has forced upon them, all helpless, their grievous burden. It is what we have done in self-love which has made them miserable! And how nobly, how heroically, how religiously, are they bending to the burden! There is no bitter outcry against the blockaders, no intemperate act or speech against the mill-owners, no riotous agitation for national intervention, no lawless depredation, and desperate helping of themselves, no clamour for relief, no greedy grasping of what is offered. Their very failings lean to virtue's side. They have struggled to be independent. They have drawn from the savings' bank the little fruits of their prudence and frugality: "one by one they have parted with their few luxuries, their half-dozen books, and their musical instrument, whatever it was; then the old clock ceased its familiar ticking; then, lingeringly left behind, the old family Bible, with its little family