ord, strengthen my
patience, that I murmur not, after all I have seen of Thy goodness. I
find daily bread is very desirable; want and necessity are painful to
nature; but shall I follow Thee for the sake of the loaves, or will it
do to forsake Thee in times of emptiness and abasement?"

There was silence again, and restless tossings and sighings continued
the struggle.

"Thomas," the wife's voice spoke tremulously in the darkness, "my dear
husband, I know where thy thoughts are tending. If the Spirit is with
thee, do not deny it for our sakes, I pray thee. The Lord did not give
thee thy wife and children to hang as a millstone round thy neck. I am
thy helpmeet, to strengthen thee in his service. I am thankful that I
have my health this spring better than usual, and Dorothy is a
wonderful help. Her spirit was sent to sustain me in thy long absences.
Go, dear, and serve our Master, who has called thee in these bitter
strivings! Dorothy and I will keep things together as well as we can.
The way will open--never fear!" She put out her hand and touched his
face in the darkness; there were tears on the furrowed cheeks. "Try to
sleep, dear, and let thy spirit have rest. There is but one answer to
this call."

With the first drowsy twitterings of the birds, when the
crescent-shaped openings in the board shutters began to define
themselves clearly in the shadowy room, they arose and went about their
morning tasks in silence. Friend Barton's step was a little heavier
than usual, and the hollows round his wife's pale brown eyes were a
little deeper. As he sat on the splint-bottomed chair by the kitchen
fireplace, drawing on his boots, she laid her hands on his shoulders,
and her cheek on the worn spot on the top of his head.

"Thee will lay this concern before meeting to-morrow, father?"

"I had it on my mind to do so,--if my light be not quenched before
then."

Friend Barton's light was not quenched. Words came to him without
seeking, in which to "open the concern which had ripened in his mind,"
of a religious visit to the meeting constituting the yearly meetings of
Philadelphia and Baltimore. A "minute" was given him encouraging him in
the name of, and with the full concurrence of, the monthly meetings of
Nine Partners, and Stony Valley, to go wherever the Truth might lead
him. While Friend Barton was thus freshly anointed, and "abundantly
encouraged," his wife, Rachel, was talking with Dorothy in the low
upper chamber,