"From my traveling companions I had received all possible kindness, yet in many ways I had found the journey quite trying. It was not practicable to vary one's diet very much, with the care of the little ones just large enough to get into all mischief imaginable. So I remembered with especial gratitude Edwin and Ellen Phelps, who used now and then, at our stopping-places, to _borrow_ the boy, so helping me to get a little rest or to do some necessary work which would otherwise have been impossible. At that time Edwin and his wife had no children, and their eyes often followed my boy with yearning looks. Since then the Lord has given them little ones to train for his kingdom, and they are happy. "But of that little sunny-haired baby boy we have naught but a memory left--and this consolation:-- "'Christ, the good Shepherd, carries my lamb to-night, And that is best.' "And this:-- "'Mine entered spotless on eternal years, Oh, how much blest!'" During the meeting the tastes and needs of the children were not forgotten, but Aunt Anna held them attent to her memories of the old home-life, written for the grandchildren. "Shut your eyes, and see with me the home place at Lac-qui-parle--a square house with a flat roof, a broad stone step before the wide-open door--cheery and sunshiny within. Welcome to grandfather's home! "To the right, in the distance, is the lake Mdeiyedan, where, like a tired child, the sun dropped his head to rest each night. Between us and the lake was a wooded ravine, at the foot of which, down that little by-path, was the coolest of springs, with wild touch-me-nots nodding above it, and a little further on a large boulder on which we used to play. "It seems to us as if we had but just come in from a long summer's walk, with our hands full of flowers, and each and every one must have a bouquet to set in his or her favorite window. The wind, blowing softly, brings with it a breath of sweet cleavers, and--well, so I must tell you what I remember. "I can not stop to tell you of all the little things that made our home pleasant and lovely in our eyes; or of the dear mother who had it in her keeping, for I know all the grandchildren are waiting for their stories.