pious Claude. During the first years
of his infancy he had been very delicate and tender, and no one would
have reared him who had not loved him as tenderly as Maria had done;
but from the time that she first saw him in the Castle of Bellemont,
she had loved him with all the love of the tenderest mother.

"Henri was very beautiful, though always pale, never having very strong
health. He always had the greatest fear of doing anything which might
displease God; he was gentle and humble to all around him, and to his
little cousins, the sons of Claude, he was most affectionate and mild.
When they were old enough, these three little boys used to go with the
Pastor Claude when he went to visit his poor people in their little
cottages among the valleys; and heard him read and pray with them. Thus
they acquired, when very young, such a knowledge of God, and of the
Holy Bible, as might have put to shame many older people.

"Many of the cottages which Claude and his little boys used to visit
were placed in spots of ground so beautiful that they would have
reminded you of the Garden of Eden; some in deep and shady valleys,
where the brooks of clear water ran murmuring among groves of trees and
over mossy banks; some on high lawns on the sides of the mountains,
where the eagles and mountain birds found shelter in the lofty forest
trees; some of these cottages stood on the brows of rugged rocks, which
jutted out from the side of the hills, on spots so steep and high that
Claude's own little stout boys could scarcely climb them; and Claude
was often obliged to carry little Henri up these steeps in his arms. In
these different situations were flowers of various colours and of
various kinds, and many beautiful trees, besides birds innumerable and
wild animals of various sorts. Claude knew the names and natures of all
these; and he often passed the time, as he walked, in teaching these
things to his children. Neither did he neglect, as they got older, to
give them such instructions as they could get from books. He taught his
little boys first to read French, and afterwards he made them well
acquainted with Latin and the history of ancient times, particularly
the history of such holy people as have lived and died in the service
of God--the saints and martyrs of old days. He also taught his little
boys to write; and they could sing sweetly many of the old hymns and
psalms which from time immemorial had been practised among the
Waldenses