the lord of this
valley, that if any one stretched out his hand to lighten a
neighbor's burden, in fact he never failed to find that he at that
moment also lightened his own. Besides the benefit of helping each
other, was as mutual as the obligation. If a man helped his
neighbor, it commonly happened that some other neighbor came
by-and-by and helped him in his turn; for there was no such thing as
what we called _independence_ in the whole valley. Not one of all
these travelers, however stout and strong, could move on comfortably
without assistance, for so the lord of the valley, whose laws were
all of them kind and good, had expressly ordained.

I stood still to watch the progress of these poor wayfaring people,
who moved slowly on, like so many ticket-porters, with burdens of
various kinds on their backs; of which some were heavier and some
were lighter, but from a burden of one kind or other, not one
traveler was entirely free. There might be some difference in the
degree, and some distinction in the nature, but exemption there was
none.

THE WIDOW.

A sorrowful widow, oppressed with the burden of grief for the loss
of an affectionate husband, moved heavily on, and would have been
bowed down by her heavy load, had not the surviving children, with
great alacrity, stepped forward and supported her. Their kindness,
after a while, so much lightened the load which threatened at first
to be intolerable, that she even went on her way with cheerfulness,
and more than repaid their help, by applying the strength she
derived from it to their future assistance.

THE HUSBAND.

I next saw a poor old man tottering under a burden so heavy, that I
expected him every moment to sink under it. I peeped into his pack,
and saw it was made up of many sad articles: there were poverty,
oppression, sickness, debt, and, what made by far the heaviest part,
undutiful children. I was wondering how it was that he got on even
so well as he did, till I spied his wife, a kind, meek, Christian
woman, who was doing her utmost to assist him. She quietly got
behind, gently laid her shoulder to the burden, and carried a much
larger portion of it than appeared to me when I was at a distance.
It was not the smallest part of the benefit that she was anxious to
conceal it. She not only sustained him by her strength, but cheered
him by her counsels. She told him, that "through much tribulation
we must enter into rest;" that "he that overcometh sha