“My husband felt his loss severely, for we had little property then, and what we had was the product of hard labor.  But he was a Christian, and, I believe, always made his business a subject of prayer.

“About three weeks passed away.  One evening, having been out longer than usual, he came in, and, with his characteristic calmness, said:  ’I shall not worry any more about my sleigh and harness, I think I shall get them again.’  ‘Why do you think so?’ His answer was:  ’I have been praying to God to arrest Cotton’s conscience, so that he will be obliged to leave them where I can get them, and I believe he will do it.’

“From this time, which was Wednesday evening, he seemed at rest on the subject.  The next Tuesday morning, as he stepped into the post-office, a letter was handed him from Littleton, N.H.  It was written by the keeper of a public house, and read thus: 

“’Mr. P.—­Sir, Mr. John Cotton has left your sleigh and
harness here, and you can have them by calling for them.

                                                 Yours, etc., J—­N
     N——­N.’

“He returned home with the letter, and started for L——­; went there the same day, some forty miles; found sleigh and harness safe, with no encumbrance.  The landlord informed him that, a few nights before, at twelve o’clock, a man calling himself John Cotton came to his house, calling for horse-baiting and supper; would not stay till morning, but wished to leave the sleigh and harness for Mr. S.—–­ P.—–­ of Marshfield, Vt.  He said he could not write himself; and requested the landlord to write for him, saying he took them on a poor debt for Mr. P., in one of the towns below!  He started off at two o’clock at night, on horseback, with an old pair of saddle-bags and a horse blanket, on a saddle with one stirrup and no crupper, on one of the coldest nights of that or any other year.  He took the road leading through the Notch in the mountains, left nothing for either of those he owed, and we have never since heard from him.”

“NONE OF THE LORD’S CHILDREN LEFT DESOLATE.”

“The Christian Era tells of a Dutch preacher who held a meeting one evening in a strange city.  While he was preaching, and enforcing upon the hearts of his hearers the doctrine of the Cross, a police officer came into the room and forbade him to go on.  He even commanded him to leave the city.  As he was a stranger in the place, and the night was dark, he wandered around the city gates.  He was not, however, without consolation; for he remembered Him who had said, ’Lo, I am with you always.  I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.’