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THE FARMER AND SOLDIER.
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tion. You have taken the fleece, and saved the sheep alive. But I have wantonly defaced the image of God, and stopped that breath, which I never can restore. You have taken the honey, and preserved the laboring bee. But I have destroyed man and his habitation, burned the hive, and spilled the honey on the ground. You cannot imagine how bitter is the warfare in my soul, with the 'Prince of the power of the air, the spirit /that ruleth in the children of disobedience.'"
He declined rapidly. Death came on with hasty strides. Laying his cold hand upon the head of the eldest little boy, who had been much around his bed in his sickness, he said, "dear John, never be