Thou dost not well,
nay, I am not assured thou dost not evil, to permit this discontent with
Providence, because thy mother yieldeth to a little more than her usual
mourning, on account of the unexpected return of one so nearly connected
with her that we have lost."
"'Tis not that, girl--'tis not that!"
"If thou refusest to say what 'tis that giveth thee this pain, I can do
little more than pity."
"Listen, and I will say. It is now many years, as thou knowest, since the
savage Mohawk, or Narragansett, Pequot, or Wampanoag, broke in upon our
settlement, and did his vengeance. We were then children, Martha; and 'tis
as a child, that I have thought of that merciless burning. Our little Ruth
was, like thyself, a blooming infant of some seven or eight years; and, I
know not how the folly hath beset me, but it hath been ever as one of that
innocence and age, that I have continued to think of my sister."
"Surely thou knowest that time cannot stay; the greater therefore is the
reason that we should be industrious to improve--"
"'Tis what our duty teacheth.
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