No matter how
clear the sky, it was always liable to cloud over now in one quarter
now in another, and the thunder and lightning were upon the young
people before they knew where they were.
"And then, you know," said Ernest to me, when I asked him not long
since to give me more of his childish reminiscences for the benefit of
my story, "we used to learn Mrs. Barbauld's hymns; they were in prose,
and there was one about the lion which began, 'Come, and I will show
you what is strong. The lion is strong; when he raiseth himself from
his lair, when he shaketh his mane, when the voice of his roaring is
heard the cattle of the field fly, and the beasts of the desert hide
themselves, for he is very terrible.' I used to say this to Joey and
Charlotte about my father himself when I got a little older, but
they were always didactic, and said it was naughty of me.
"One great reason why clergymen's households are generally unhappy
is because the clergyman is so much at home or close about the
house. The doctor is out visiting patients half his time: the lawyer
and the merchant have offices away from home, but the clergyman has no
official place of business which shall ensure his being away from home
for many hours together at stated times.
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