Page:Father's memoirs of his child.djvu/214

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146

and good tempered a sacrifice to reason and propriety was far from trifling. He once said, during the latter part of his illness, "I wonder when the time will come, for me to have a settled sleep all through the night again."

On Saturday, the third of July, which was the first day of his being confined to his bed, his mother was in the morning obliged to be rather longer absent from him, than she could have wished, owing to some little family concerns, which required her attention. On the following morning, he said, "Mama, I am glad it is Sunday to-day." On being asked, Why so? He replied, "Because, Mama, I remember that in the fourth commandment, we are told that Sunday is to be observed as a day of rest; and I therefore suppose you will have more leisure to stay with me to-day than you had yesterday."

If at any time a word occurred to his recollection, of which he did not know the precise import, he always desired to have