“My little daughter, I am deeply pained!”

Some way the story came out, and Bertha sobbed away her mortified feeling.

[Illustration:  Grandma’s Early Home in the Wilderness.]

“My dear Bertha!” her mother said, “I am disappointed to see you show so little true courage and warmth of heart.  Ada Wilson has certainly shown herself very ill-bred and heartless in thus criticising so old a person to one of her own relatives.  I am not sure but it would be better to decline the invitation altogether.”

“O mother!  I do not think Ada meant any real harm.  She laughs at the girls, and mimics everybody; but she’s real good and generous, for all that.  And grandma does make mistakes.”

“But even if she does, Bertha, when you are tempted to despise your dear old grandmother, I want you to think of her life.  When she was a little girl, twelve years old, she went to work in a mill, to help her mother take care of her younger brothers and sisters, and then afterward she took the whole charge of the family upon herself.

“Fifty-three years ago she married a plain farmer, and went West, into what was a wilderness at that time.  In her turn, she was left a widow, with a large family, and I shall always honor her for the wisdom she displayed.  It would be hard to find four better men than your uncles and papa.

“Aunt Bessy was poor and had a great deal of trouble, but grandma staid with her to the very last, and now she has come to me.  I really don’t know what I should do without her, and her life has been most praiseworthy in every respect.  She would give her life for any of us.  Suppose she were cross and fretful, and thought, as some old ladies do, that we ought to work every moment, and never take a bit of pleasant recreation.

“Instead of this, she is a genial, tender-hearted woman, serving God and doing good every day of her life, and I am sure Mrs. Bell honors her.

“Suppose, Bertha, that I began to fret at her old-fashioned ways, the caps she loves to wear, and the manner in which she expresses herself?  It would make her nervous and timid, and if she thought we were growing ashamed of her, I really believe her heart would break.  Would you be willing to give her such a wound?”

“Oh, no,” returned Bertha, sobbing.  “Dear grandmother.”

“I think the commandment to honor one’s father and mother takes in one’s grandparents equally.  And, most of all, I want to see my little daughter brave enough to respect true worth, even if it is not clad in fashionable garments, and fresh from school.”

[Illustration:  The Carriage Came for Grandma.]

Bertha began to think she had been very weak and foolish, and after a long talk with her mother, she resolved that Ada should never speak so disrespectfully in her presence again.

And so, when Mrs. Bell’s carriage came, they started on their visit, grandma looking as fresh and sweet as a rose.  In spite of the fact that she was wrinkled, her skin was white and clear, and her soft brown eyes were overflowing with love.