d
always associated. He noticed, too, that, as the men gathered in the
dining room and took their places around the table, they were quiet and
reserved; and he was puzzled by still another thing--Farmer Z bowed his
head and thanked God for all of His blessings and benefits and goodness
to them all.

Such things were new and strange to John; and when at the close of the
meal, the farmer invited them into another room, saying, "We always have
reading and prayer immediately after breakfast and would be glad to have
you all join with us," John suddenly felt extremely awkward and out of
place, and he longed to make his escape to the barn.

John could have given no reason for his feelings, unless it was that the
farmer's suggestion of prayer made him think about his mother and of the
time when his father had taught him the little prayer, "Now I lay me
down to sleep," and had told him that he very much desired him to be
a little man. But it was not strange that John should feel as he did;
for he had so often associated other scenes with that of learning the
prayer, but had since that time heard very little about the Bible. In
fact, the only part of the Bible that he had ever read was a few verses
in the small New Testament that had belonged to his mother; and he had
read these because he had heard that the reading of certain passages
would stop the toothache and relieve the nosebleed. He experimented one
time when he had the nosebleed, and his nosebleed did stop; but he was
not sure that it would not have stopped as soon had he not read the
verses.

Now, for some reason unknown to himself, John did not want to remain for
worship; so when he noticed one of the other men slipping out of the
back door, he quickly followed. The two were just about to enter the
barn when the farmer, calling to them in words that were gentle but
firm, said, "We always have our help come in with us for worship."
Seeing then that there was no way around going in except to stoutly
refuse, the two returned to the house; and with the others they seated
themselves in the room where it was evident that the family worship was
to be held. This experience was so entirely new to John that he actually
suffered. He did not know what to do nor how to act.

He observed that the children, the workmen, and the farmer's wife, were
all seated, so he sat down, too. He also observed that the men had left
their hats outside where they had washed; and this caused him