Page:John Bunyan's Dream Story.djvu/24

20 at his words. "Dear father," they said, "you are very tired. When you have slept and are rested you will feel much better."

"Ah, no," he answered; "it is not sleep that will relieve me. For this book says that the city in which we live will surely be burned with fire; and unless we escape from it soon, we shall all perish. Do you wonder that I am distressed?"

They looked at him sorrowfully; for they feared that he had lost his mind. Then they persuaded him to lie down. But he could not sleep. All night long he tossed upon his bed groaning and weeping.

Very early in the morning he arose. His children came to him and said, "Dear father, how do you feel after your night's rest?"

"Worse and worse," he answered. "There is no rest for me while this heavy burden is on my back."

"We cannot see any burden," said his wife. "You are surely losing your mind."

The man looked at her sadly and then went out into the fields. There he walked back and forth all day, sometimes reading from his book and sometimes weeping most bitterly.

"What shall I do to be saved?" he cried; and he