hands for me at present, in order that I might have it as a little leaven, to begin again with renewed vigor, whenever the political troubles should be at an end.
When I looked upon the result of this winding up of my business, I could not but feel very grateful to my Maker for the blessing upon my labors, which had enabled me to pay every thing I owed, including the debt left after that last disastrous voyage, which had hung most heavily upon me ever since. Though I had not been pressed for payment by those who had lent me the money in my extremity, yet I now felt it a vast relief to be able to clear it all off, principal and interest. After all this, I was sole owner of the tools and utensils required in manufacturing the stuffs, I was the proprietor of good, comfortable household furniture, and had fourteen pounds in cash. Your mother and I had undergone much labor and fatigue of body, and considerable anxiety of mind, in accomplishing these great things, but it was for the sake of our dear children, and what will not parents do for their offspring! How much better was it for us all thus to struggle through difficulties together, than to have weakly followed the advice of the committee in London, and given up my children to be educated in their Institution! We always find that God assists those who put their trust in Him.
On the 12th April, 1690, my wife gave birth to a daughter, whom she and I presented for baptism the next day; and I baptized her myself, naming her Mary Anne: Mary, after my mother, and Anne, from the second name of my wife.
For several months I followed only the one employment of keeping a school, by which I did not make quite enough to maintain my family. I found it, too, a very ungrateful employment, and I became tired of it.
