the clods and the dust and the grave's gloom, and sees not the
blue sky, the bright stars, and the sweet face of the Father. So long
has she now been thus bowed down in the habit of sadness and grieving,
that she can in no wise lift herself up.

Since I began to write this chapter I have had a long talk with one
whose life is sorely bent. Ten years since I first knew her as a
bright and happy young girl, her face sunny in the light of God's love.
Trouble came into her life in many forms. Her own father proved
unworthy, failing in all the sacred duties of affection toward his
child. Events in her own life were disappointing and discouraging.
Friends in whom she had trusted failed in that faithfulness and
helpfulness which one has a right to expect from one's friends. There
was a succession of unhappy experiences, through several years, all
tending to hurt her heart-life. As the result of all this, she has
become embittered and hardened, not only against those who have wronged
her and treated her unjustly, but even against God. So long has she
yielded to these feelings that her whole life has been bent down from
its upward, Godward look into settled despondency. God has altogether
faded out of her soul's vision, and she thinks of him only as unkind
and unjust. To restore her life to its former brightness and beauty
will require a moral miracle as great as that by which the body of the
crooked woman was made straight.

Then there are lives also that are bowed down by toil and care. For
many people, life's burdens are very heavy. There are fathers of large
families who sometimes find their load almost more than they can bear,
in their efforts to provide for those who are dear to them. There are
mothers who, under their burdens of household care, at times feel
themselves bowed down, and scarcely able longer to go on. In all
places of responsibility, where men are called to stand, the load many
times grows very heavy, and stalwart forms bend under it. This world's
work is hard for most of us. Life is not play to any who take it
earnestly.

And many persons yield to the weight of a duty, and let themselves be
bent down under it. We see men bowing under their load, until their
very body grows crooked, and they can look only downward. We see them
become prematurely old. The light goes out of their eyes; the
freshness fades out of their cheeks; the sweetness leaves their spirit.
Few things in life are sadder