An excellent sermon was preached on “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ;” and then a young minister, with the sweet expression of whose face Norman had been struck, got up and made an address full of beauty. It was enforcing the law of kindness. He said that when they drove to the camp-ground the day before they had got into a slough on the road, and there they were fast, the horses remaining quiet after some ineffectual attempts to move forward. The driver, he was glad to say, betrayed no impatience, and did not swear at the delay. Soon another wagon drove up, and the driver, seeing the difficulty they were in, at once unhitched his own horses and drew them out. And that was what, he said, we ought to do when we saw people in trouble, draw them out if we had the power. He then spoke of the harsh judgment we often form of others, because they are deficient in some point upon which we lay stress. “Now,” he continued, “these trees that bend over us are not rounded and full on every side; some have their wealth of branches on one side, and some on another. And so Christians seldom present full symmetry of growth. One brother has a great deal of patience and very weak faith; and one sister has faith almost strong enough to remove mountains and very little patience. Now we should rather contemplate the excellences of our Christian friends than their deficiencies.” He exhorted the people not to be like those trees that are slow to yield their fruit, whose fruit, hard and green, required a vigorous shake to loosen its hold. “Rather,” said he, “be like those generous trees, borne down with their golden fruit, blessing the eye, and the touch, and the taste of all around—trees of blessing, making glad the heritage of God.” He spoke of words of kindness and sympathy, how often they cheered the heart of the desolate, and brightened the path of the wayfarer. How often those who were collecting for benevolent objects were more cheered with the kind words of one who had no money to give, than with the large gifts of another, grudgingly bestowed. One word of counsel he gave, rather at variance with ordinary exhortation. He charged his hearers to try not to be first, but to be second. “In your plans and pleasures think of some one before yourself; prefer the comfort of some friend to your own; sacrifice your own ease to promote the well-being of another, and you will tread in the footsteps of Him who pleased not himself.” Norman saw the tears in his Aunt Lester’s eyes, as he turned to look at her, and he thought that she had learned that lesson well, that she was always thinking of other people, and preferring their comfort to her own. The hymn, swelled by the united voices of that large congregation, filled the grove with its solemn harmony, and then the words of the benediction fell like dew upon them.