It was so in this case. I did not forgive
these two boys without a struggle with my own temper and pride, but I
_did_ do it, and it came from my heart, and this forgiveness accorded by
me, as well as the thought of what I had suffered, caused me to stand
higher than ever in the good opinion of my teachers, and the kindness
extended to me on all sides more than repaid my past suffering, when
moving under a cloud of suspicion and disgrace. Had I allowed a feeling
of revenge to find a place in my heart it might have been gratified by
the mortification of Reuben and Thomas, but I tried to rise superior to
this feeling, and endeavoured, by repeated acts of kindness, to convince
them that my forgiveness was genuine. When I returned home that day at
noon Grandma Adams said she knew by the joyous bound with which I
entered the house I was the bearer of good news; and when I had told my
story, they were all happy to know that the dark shadow which had rested
over me was lifted, and my sky was again bright. Grandma listened
attentively while I told of the guilty ones being detected, and my own
innocence made clear as the light of day. When I had finished she called
me to her side and said, "I hope, my boy, you remember the verses I
repeated to you the other evening from the thirty-seventh Psalm. That
whole Psalm has been a favourite one with me all my life-long; when
weighed down by trouble and anxiety during my long and eventful life,
I have often derived consolation and encouragement from that beautiful
portion of the Bible; and I have often thought if there is one portion
of that Book more blessed and cheering than another it must be the
thirty-seventh Psalm. If you live to my age, Walter, you have yet a long
journey before you, and when the troubles of life disturb your mind--as
doubtless they often will--when trials beset you and the way looks dark,
remember that old Grandma Adams told you to turn to this Psalm; read it
carefully, and you will be sure to find something which will cheer and
support you." I looked with a feeling of deep veneration upon my aged
relative, indeed I could not have helped it, as she sat in her arm-chair,
with her mild and pleasant countenance, her hair of silvery whiteness
smoothly parted beneath the widow's cap, and as I listened to the words
of pious hope and trust which fell from her lips, I felt that I had
never before sufficiently valued her counsels and advice, and I resolved
that for the futur