“Then we will go too,” replied Toneli, starting

“Yes, yes, we shall go there too,” promised his mother, “but now we must first go home to the stone hut,” and without a word she went with the little one back to the silent cottage.

The proprietor of the Matten farm sent word to Elsbeth the following day that he would do everything necessary for her husband, and so she need not come until it was time for the service, for she would not recognize her husband.  He sent her some money in order that she would not have too much care in the next few days, and promised to think of her later on.

Elsbeth did as he advised and remained at home until the bells in Kandergrund rang for the service.  Then she went to accompany her husband to his resting place.

Sad and hard days came for Elsbeth.  She missed her good, kind husband everywhere, and felt quite lost without him.  Besides, cares came now which she had known little about before, for her husband had had his good, daily work.  But now she felt sometimes as if she would almost despair.  She had nothing but her goat and the little potato field behind the cottage, and from these she had to feed and clothe herself and the little one, and besides furnish rent for the little house.

Elsbeth had only one consolation, but one that always supported her when pain and care oppressed her; she could pray, and although often in the midst of tears, still always with the firm belief that the dear Lord would hear her supplication.

When at night she had put little Toni in his tiny bed she would kneel down beside him and repeat aloud the old hymn, which now came from the depths of her heart, as never before: 

  Oh, God of Love, oh Father-heart,
    In whom my trust is founded,
  I know full well how good Thou art—­
    E’en when by grief I am wounded.

  Oh Lord, it surely can not be
    That Thou wilt let me languish
  In hopeless depths of misery,
    And live in tears of anguish.

  Oh Lord, my soul yearns for thine aid
    In this dark vale of weeping;
  For thee I’ve waited, hoped and prayed
    Assured of thy safe keeping.

  Lord let me bear whate’er thy Love
    May send of grief or sorrow,
  Until Thou, in thy Heaven above
    Make dawn a brighter morrow.

And in the midst of her urgent praying, the mother’s tears flowed abundantly, and little Toni, deeply moved in his heart by his mother’s weeping and earnest prayer, kept his hands folded and wept softly too.

So the time passed.  Elsbeth struggled along and little Toni was able to help her in many ways, for he was now seven years old.  He was his mother’s only joy, and she was able to take delight in him for he was obedient and willing to do everything she desired.  He had always been so inseparable from his mother that he knew exactly how the tasks of the day had to be done, and he desired nothing but to help her whenever he could.  If she was working in the little field, he squatted beside her, pulled out the weeds, and threw the stones across the path.