Page:Salem - a tale of the seventeenth century (IA taleseventeenth00derbrich).pdf/156

 Then they asked how it was with her otherwise. To which the patient, cheerful-hearted old Christian replied, "that she blessed God for it, that she had had more of his presence in this sickness than at some other times, but not so much as she desired; but she would, with the apostle, 'press forward to the mark,'" with other passages from Scripture to the like purpose. This was not the cant of a hypocritical piety—it was the common mode of expression among Christian believers in those times; and it seemed as if her religious beliefs and the natural buoyancy of her spirits kept her up under the weight of her years and infirmities.

After a little conversation relative to personal and domestic matters, such as is usual among friendly neighbors, she naturally and of her own accord alluded to the great affliction which had broken out among them, and which was of course the most common subject of conversation.

She spoke very kindly of Mr. Parris's family, and said she was much grieved for them, but she had not been to see them because