Canute stood in the doorway, gazing upon his little congregation at prayer.  She rose; all the children shouted “Papa!” but he seated himself, and said gently: 

“Oh! let him repeat it.”

The mother turned again to the bedside, that meantime he might not see her face; otherwise, it would have been like intermeddling with his grief before he felt a necessity of revealing it.  The child folded its hands,—­the rest followed the example,—­and it said: 

“I am now a little lad, But soon shall grow up tall, And make papa and mamma glad, I’ll be so good to all!  When in Thy true and holy ways, Thou dear, dear God wilt help me keep;—­Remember now Thy name to praise And so we’ll try to go to sleep!”

What a peace now fell!  Not a minute more had passed ere the children all slept in it as in the lap of God; but the mother went quietly to work arranging supper for the father, who as yet could not eat.  But after he had gone to bed, he said: 

“Now, after this, I shall be at home.”

The mother lay there, trembling with joy, not daring to speak, lest she should reveal it; and she thanked God for all that had happened, for, whatever it was, it had resulted in good.

II.

In the course of a year, Lars was chosen head Justice of the Peace, chairman of the board of commissioners, president of the savings-bank, and, in short, was placed in every office of parish trust to which his election was possible.  In the county legislature, during the first year, he remained silent, but afterward made himself as conspicuous as in the parish council; for here, too, stepping up to the contest with him who had always borne sway, he was victorious over the whole line, and afterward himself manager.  From this he was elected to the Congress, where his fame had preceded him, and he found no lack of challenge.  But here, although steady and independent, he was always retiring, never venturing beyond his depth, lest his post as leader at home should be endangered by a possible defeat abroad.

It was pleasant to him now in his own town.  When he stood by the church-wall on Sundays, and the community glided past, saluting and glancing sideways at him,—­now and then one stepping up for the honor of exchanging a couple of words with him,—­it could almost be said that, standing there, he controlled the whole parish with a straw, which, of course, hung in the corner of his mouth.

He deserved his popularity; for he had opened a new road which led to the church; all this and much more resulted from the savings-bank, which he had instituted and now managed; and the parish, in its self-management and good order, was held up as an example to all others.