FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59  
60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   >>   >|  
le with you, neighbour Page," he said in his usual kind tone. "What means have you of putting up the mill again, and setting it going?" "Not a shilling, farmer," answered Mark. "I'm a ruined man." "Don't be cast down, neighbour," said Farmer Grey. "People, however, may take their grist to other mills to be ground, if yours is not working; so I want you to send at once for carpenters and mill-wrights, and to let them know that they are to look to me for payment. No words, neighbour, about thanks. Let it be done at once; don't lose time. You'll repay me, some day, I am very sure." Then Mark Page knew the true meaning of having coals of fire heaped on his head. In a short time the mill, rebuilt with sound timbers and strong machinery, was going round as merrily as ever, and grinding as much if not more grist than it did in former days. People had wondered at the change in Sam Green; they wondered still more at the change in his master,--once so sullen and ill-tempered,--now so gentle and kind and obliging. The change in him was even greater than in the mill itself. It is easy enough to rebuild a house: no human power can change a man's heart, as Mark Page's had been changed. STORY ONE, CHAPTER 9. Farmer Grey, as he sat in his large house by himself, often felt sad and lonely. He had lost his wife when young; she had had no children, and he had not married again. His nephew, James, was his only near relative; and he found, whenever he thought of the young man, that, in spite of his faults, he loved him more than he had supposed. For a long time he had not heard from him; and, as several bloody battles had of late been fought in India, he began to fear that he might have been among the killed, and that no one had known his address to write and tell him. Still, Farmer Grey was not a man to sit by himself and brood over his sorrow. He went about as usual, doing all the good he could, not only in his own village but in the neighbourhood; and he never heard of a poor person falling sick or getting into trouble, whom he did not visit and relieve as far as he was able. He thought, too, more of poor Mary Page than of himself. He knew how much she loved James, and that she would spend the best days of her youth waiting for him to come back, as he was sure that she would never marry anybody else. Meantime, though Mary was often sad, still she believed that James was alive, and that he would some day co
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59  
60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

change

 

neighbour

 
Farmer
 
thought
 
wondered
 

People

 

faults

 

waiting

 

supposed

 

relative


Meantime

 

believed

 

children

 

lonely

 

nephew

 
married
 

sorrow

 
village
 

person

 
falling

trouble

 

neighbourhood

 
relieve
 

fought

 

battles

 

bloody

 

address

 

killed

 

wrights

 

working


carpenters

 
payment
 

ground

 

setting

 

shilling

 

farmer

 

putting

 

answered

 

ruined

 

greater


obliging

 

tempered

 

gentle

 

CHAPTER

 

changed

 

rebuild

 
sullen
 
master
 
heaped
 

meaning