THE COUNTRY SUNDAY. 65 



any possible excuse for not doing anything they were 

 asked they would not do it — not for money : they were 

 out of what was wanted, or they had promised it, or they 

 couldn't find it, or they were too busy, and so all through 

 the whole course of daily life. 



Now the most remarkable part of this bitter perse- 

 cution was the fact that the elder had lent money to 

 almost all the principal members of the congregation. 

 The bold speculator had never been appealed to in vain 

 by any one in difficulty. Some had had a hundred, some 

 fifty, some twenty, some ten — farmers whose corn had 

 been a loss instead of a profit, whose hops had sold for 

 less than the cost of picking them, little tradesmen who 

 had a bill to meet, handicraft men who could not pay 

 the men who worked side by side with them, cottagers 

 who needed an outhouse built, and others who lacked the 

 means to pay for a funeral. There seemed no one to 

 whom he had not lent money for some purpose, besides 

 the use of his name as security. Fortune had given to 

 him, and he had given as freely to others, so that it was 

 indeed a bitter trial to the heart: — 



Blow, blow, thou winter wind, 

 Thou art not so unkind 



As man's ingratitude. 

 Thy tooth is not so keen, 

 Because thou art not seen, 



Although thy breath be rude. 



In his stern pride he did not condescend to put in 

 motion any revenge against these petty poltroons, but 

 went on his way with absolute indifference to all outward 

 seeming. His family, who were perhaps more nearly 

 touched in the affairs of daily life than he was, consoled 

 themselves with the old country proverb, ' Ah, well, we 

 shall live till we die, if the pigs don't eat us, and then 



F 



