her amazement was to see me so
unmoved. I thought then it was Christian submission that enabled me to
bear up so well; but I see now there was a great deal of human love,
and sympathy, and human pride, too, mixed with it.

Although we were not keeping house, at that time, we were very
delightfully and happily situated, for we were boarding (as an especial
favor) at our eldest brother's. He had a sweet wife, and they lived in
their beautiful new house, which, years after, "grandpa" purchased. It
was there your dear mamma passed her young lady days--where she was
married--where her little sons, Charless, Louis and Edward, were born;
and where their loving grandpa breathed away his precious life. But
the same reasons which made it necessary for us to submit to loss and
inconvenience, made it incumbent on my brother to sell his residence.
Consequently, we accepted the kind invitation of our mother to occupy a
part of her house; and, by strict economy in every practicable thing
--paying her a very low price for our board, which the old lady would
receive, but "not a cent more"--we passed three of the happy years of
our life, at the end of which time, we had regained a considerable
amount of our losses; and, what was better still, your dear grandfather
had become firmly and prosperously re-established in business, without
having lost an atom of his reputation as a judicious and energetic
merchant.

"The suspension" of Charless & Blow did not result in a complete
failure, by any means. They solicited an examination into their
affairs, exhibited their books, making a complete and full exposition
of the condition of their business, and it was unanimously agreed upon,
by the committee chosen for the purpose, that it would be greatly to
the advantage of their creditors for "the firm" not to close up, but to
continue the business, each binding himself to extract, for the two
succeeding years, only a small (stated) sum for private use, from the
proceeds of the store.

As soon as the adverse condition of "C. & B." was relieved, and
they had regained their former position--which, I think, was in about
two years from the time of the crisis--they made up their minds to
dissolve partnership: one to take "the store;" the other, "the oil and
lead factory." Accordingly, terms of dissolution were drawn up. Mr.
Charless, being the elder, had the privilege of choosing, and, after
reflection, decided upon retaining the store. My two