THE CHILD WANDERS IN THE WOOD. 311 



tion : the granny kept the child, and he was 

 now between ten and eleven years old. She 

 had done and did her duty, as she understood 

 it. A prayer-meeting was held in her cottage 

 twice a week, she prayed herself aloud among 

 them, she was a leading member of the sect. 

 Neither example, precept, nor the rod could 

 change that boy's heart. In time perhaps she 

 got to beat him from habit rather than from 

 any particular anger of the moment, just as 

 she fetched water and filled her kettle, as one 

 of the ordinary events of the day. Why did 

 not the father interfere? Because if so he 

 would have had to keep his son: so many 

 shillings a week the less for ale. 



" In the garden attached to the cottage there 

 was a small shed with a padlock, used to store 

 produce or wood in. One morning, after a 

 severe beating, she drove the boy in there and 

 locked him in the whole day without food. 

 It was no use, he was as hardened as ever. 



"A footpath which crossed the field went 

 by the cottage, and every Sunday those who 

 were walking to church could see the boy in 

 the window with granny's Bible open before 



