house to shelter us, and wholesome food
to eat? It was but yesterday that two poor men came by, who had been
cast away in a storm, and lost their ship and all they had. One of the
poor men had scarcely any clothes to cover him, and was shaking all over
with a violent ague; and the other had his toes almost mortified by
walking bare-footed in the snow. Am I not a great deal better off than
these poor men, and perhaps than a thousand others, who are at this time
tossed about upon the waves, or cast away, or wandering about the world,
without a shed to cover them from the weather; or imprisoned for debt?
Might I not have gone on in committing bad actions, like many other
unhappy men, till I had been guilty of some notorious crime, which might
have brought me to a shameful end? And ought not I to be grateful for
all these blessings which I possess without deserving them?

Tommy, who had hitherto enjoyed all the good things of this life,
without reflecting from whom he had received them, was very much struck
with the piety of this honest and contented man; but as he was going to
answer, the good woman, who had laid a clean, though coarse, cloth upon
the table, and taken up her savoury supper in an earthen plate, invited
them to sit down; an invitation which both the boys obeyed with the
greatest pleasure, as they had eaten nothing since the morning. In the
meantime the honest man of the house had taken his hat and walked to Mr
Barlow's, to inform him that his two pupils were safe in the
neighbourhood.

Mr Barlow had long suffered the greatest uneasiness at their absence,
and not contented with sending after them on every side, was at that
very time busy in the pursuit, so that the man met him about half-way
from his own house. As soon as Mr Barlow heard the good news, he
determined to return with the man, and reached his house just as Tommy
Merton had finished one of the heartiest meals he had ever made.

The little boys rose up to meet Mr Barlow, and thanked him for his
kindness, and the pains he had taken to look after them, expressing
their concern for the accident which had happened, and the uneasiness
which, without designing it, they had occasioned; but he, with the
greatest good-nature, advised them to be more cautious for the future,
and not to extend their walks so far; then, thanking the worthy people
of the house, he offered to conduct them, and they all three set out
together in a very cold, but fine and star-