Page:Sketch of Connecticut, Forty Years Since.djvu/90

 he would shriek after me in a voice that frightened me, saying that when I was away, evil spirits came to tear him. Yet when I appeared, he would sometimes say, that my sight was hateful to him, as theirs. His pain, made him loath all creatures, and himself also. But God in mercy, gave him a better frame of spirit. For a month before his death, there were no blasphemies, but prayers for patience. He would ask me to read from the good book, and listen with tears. I feared to say much to him, because of his weakness; but I thanked my Father in Heaven for his altered mind. When he died, he looked at me, and his children, with a mild, pleasant face, and though he was not able to speak, it seemed as if there was peace within his heart. I asked him, if he could leave his fatherless children with God, and he bowed his head with a smile, that lifted a weight from my heart. For many months, the sound of his groans lingered in my ears, both when I lay down, and when I rose up, but I commended my soul to the God of the widow, and was preserved."

"And were you able," said Dr. L, "to support your children entirely by your own industry?"

"Oh! that would have been but a light matter, Sir," replied Mrs. Rawson, "for they were all healthy, and willing to help according to their years. We ate our humble food with a good appetite, and found at night that the "sleep of the labourer is sweet," and rose in the morning with thankful hearts to Him who permitted us to live in his good and beautiful world. Once, when we were eating