Perhaps, if thou
hast ever travelled in those parts, thou hast happened upon some
of my kindred, which are very numerous."
"I have never, reverend sir, travelled in those parts," said the
youth, with commendable gravity, "but I have heard of the Cross
family, which I believe, as you say, to be very numerous--both male
and female."
"Yea, I have brothers and sisters an equal number; I have aunts and
uncles a store, and it has been the blessing of God so to multiply
and increase every member thereof, that each of my brothers, in
turn, hath a goodly flock, in testimony of his favors. I, alone,
of all my kindred, have neither wife nor child, and I seem as one
set apart for other ties, and other purposes."
"Ah, sir," returned the other, quickly, and with a slyness of
expression which escaped the direct and unsuspecting mind of the
preacher, "but if you are denied the blessings which are theirs,
you have your part in the great family of the world. If you have
neither wife nor child of your own loins, yet, I trust, you have
an abiding interest in the wives and children of all other men.
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