t it go; we have all its beauty
pictured on our souls, and will possess it with our estate;" and before
the week was over, Mr. Nimblet had purchased the row of fields on the
north side of the farm, and the debt was paid, and happiness became,
for that misfortune, no stranger to the household.

XXVII.

SUNNY SKIES.

Time and reflection, mutual sympathy, and a happy knack of always
hoping for the best, completed their resignation, and prosperity and
peace once more attended their efforts and desires. The farm was found
quite ample in what was left, to employ them all, and satisfy their
hearts. In fact there was more land left than Fabens could manage
without much assistance, and more than a supply of all that heart could
wish.

They seemed to enjoy home and prosperity, and everything around them
better than before; for the loss and anxiety given them by Fairbanks
awakened a new appreciation of all good, and taught them to be more
thankful for what they could call their own. They also learned how to
exercise a will that conquered all misfortune, and rested in a faith
that overcame the world. As they looked back to early life, and
counted all the sorrows they had seen, though some had been heavy as
humanity can bear, they could not select one and say, it had not seemed
to soften their hearts, and open to their minds a sense of the goodness
of God and the mercy of every providence. "I can cry with David," said
Fabens, "it is good for me that I was afflicted, although it is
difficult, at all times to see in what way good out of evil may come."

After this, George Ludlow was employed to assist in managing the farm,
and the progress of time only quickened the increase of their love for
him. He grew manly still more in appearance, though to strangers he
was homely; he grew intelligent still more in mind, and his society in
that home was not its smallest joy.

And Fanny Fabens had now attained to full maturity, and she presented a
person and a mind that all admired and loved. Her form had a round and
erect development; and her step was as light, and her carriage as proud
as the colt's that ranged the hills. Her hair was a shaded and glossy
flaxen now, and her eyes were a darker blue. Her beauty was unchanging
as the Pleiades, in all situations; for whether she hetchelled flax in
the kitchen, or spun wool in the barn; whether peeling apples, or
piecing quilts; whether churning butter or dressing cheese; wheth