“And now, Tom,” said Martha, when home and plantation news seemed to be exhausted, “I believe I’ve something to tell you. Mr. Sutherland said to me, as we rode up this morning, that he would like to keep you all winter if you were pleased to stay. He said that you understood his business, and did it well, and that you had wound yourself round the hearts of the people; although,” she added, “I did not need for him to tell me that, after Jimmy’s letter.” “Jimmy?” asked Tom, in amaze. “Yes,” laughed Martha. “Jimmy wrote Miss Mason and me a joint letter of confession of his own sins and praise of you. It was funny, but it was good. I will show it to you some day.” Tom gave her a bright smile in answer, and asked her if there was anything more. “Yes,” returned Martha. “Mr. Sutherland wants me to stay here too, to be a sort of waiting-maid for Miss Lillie. How do you like that?” “My dear Martha, that is glorious,” said Tom, bringing his hands together with sudden joy. “There will be no discouragements if you are here.” “But, Tom dear,” said Martha, “I would not stay, and I should not want to leave you, but in the fall the good people who sent Miss Mason to us in Huntsville are going to send a teacher to this plantation, and Mr. Sutherland is perfectly willing. So we may study yet, Tom.” “There is no truer word in the world than that which God spake, Martha,” replied Tom, looking into her gentle, earnest face with glistening eyes: “‘All things work together for good to them that love God.’ ‘Who trusts in God’s unchanging love, Builds on a rock which naught can move.’” And now, dear reader, I had meant to leave you here, and let the story of Tom’s summer work leave its own impress on your minds and hearts, but when I think of the joy, and love, and reward of working for Jesus, and the faintness with which I have tried to show them to you, I am longing for power to carry home the truth to your hearts. But God who giveth the increase will bring it to pass when human hands fall powerless. Do you remember how John finished his gospel? He says: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” So I believe, with him, that if the beauty and joy of the lives spent in work for the Lord were given to mankind, “even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” THE END. TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. Archaic or variant spelling has been retained. New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.