d little Reuben--"Marten tirteen--April--Oh, Marten very
old mamma--very, very wise;" and Reuben opened his eyes quite wide and
looked so very earnestly in his mother's face, that one would have
thought he was trying to read therein what she could mean about being
anxious as to leaving Marten,--the Marten who appeared so very old and
so very wise to him,--to take care of himself for a few days without his
parents protection. "Thirteen," repeated Mrs. Mortimer, "thirteen no
doubt seems very, aye very old, to you Reuben, for you are not yet half
that age; but I am more than three times that age," she added, smiling,
"and that you know must make me very, very much wiser than Marten, and
now once again I say I am anxious about leaving you without your father
or myself, and I should be more anxious than I am if I did not believe
it is our duty to go at once to Portsmouth; and that it being right for
us to go, I can leave you, my boys, in God's care, who is the tenderest
of fathers to his children."

"But mamma," asked Marten, "why do you fear for me? Am I not steady,
mamma? Do not I like to do what you and papa tell me to do? Am I ever
obstinate or rebellious to you? Indeed, mamma, I feel quite grieved; I
think it is unjust to mistrust me, mamma, really I do."

"If you feared for yourself, I should have less fear for you, Marten,"
replied Mrs. Mortimer, "for I know well that the heart of man is by
nature prone to sin, and that our thoughts and desires while we are on
earth are like our natures, full of imperfections. Temptations are ever
before us--they press upon us every minute, and it is not in our own
strength we can resist or overcome even one of them, and while this
life lasts we are not safe, unless we acknowledge their powerful
influence and trust in the Divine Spirit alone to be able to withstand
them."

"I have not been thought a disobedient boy till now," said Marten
somewhat sulkily. "I think my usual conduct should plead for me."

"Every child has temptations, Marten," replied his mamma, "and every
well behaved child, though not a pious one, resists them: and in truth
these temptations are so numerous, that one scarcely thinks of them,
unless we witness the conduct of a spoiled baby, as shame prevents grown
up persons giving way to many things. But I want you to see that in this
life we are in a state of constant trial, and as St. Paul says, if it
were only for this life, a Christian is of all men most misera