THE RUINED MERCHANT. 507 



of the presence of his mother, and, at times, to smile gratefully for 

 her attentions. Happy mother ! one smile, wavering and uncertain 

 as it yet was, made ample amends for all thy sacrifices and suffer- 

 ings. 



Spring " the eternal flow'ring spring/ was abroad, and, as he in- 

 haled its breezes, a perfect consciousness gradually unfolded itself 

 of his own past sufferings, and his change of situation. Sad reflec- 

 tions, sorrow and tears, were the result of his awakening faculties; 

 but the debility yet hanging over him robbed these of much of their 

 bitterness. Day after day, as his dormant feelings, memories, and 

 sensibilities, acquired power, he became more and more sensible of 

 the miseries and privations that had been undergone for his sake by 

 his parents. The pale, wrinkled, and shrunk cheek of his mother, 

 the dwindled and emaciated figure of his father, the destitution so 

 apparent in all around him, told a tale of woe that came reproach- 

 ingly over his mind, and, leaning his head upon the breast of his 

 mother, who was supporting him in one of his first efforts to sit up, 

 he said : 



" God for ever bless you, my mother ! Your tenderness and 

 care have, I feel, snatched me from the grave. Ever shall I pray 

 that I may be enabled to show you the love and gratitude now swell- 

 ing in my heart, and to repay you in some degree for all you have 

 done and suffered for me." 



" I am repaid, my son, most richly in hearing you once speak 

 again to me. Much, truly, have we suffered, but our grief has been 

 for you, not for ourselves." 



*' Most devoutly do I thank God that your efforts have been 

 successful. Not long ago, in the abandonment of my sorrow, I 

 prayed for death that. I might join my angel wife, and should have 

 left you to the scorn of the world without a single regret. May the 

 Almighty pardon me ! and praise be to His name who has taught me 

 that I have something yet to live for." 



In a few weeks his strength was so far re-established that he was 

 enabled, with the aid of his mother, to venture once more into 

 the open air. The sights and sounds of animated nature, her green 

 and sunny face, and the " deep blue" of the summer sky, came 

 upon his delighted senses like *' opening Paradise," and filled his 

 heart with that profound sensation of happiness ever generated by 

 gazing upon the most glorious and splendid of God's temples a rich 

 country, clad in the luxuriance and beauty of summer, and in which 



" The air's its richest incense, the whole land its shrine." 



