Blair Collection > Rhys Lewis, minister of Bethel

64 liHYS LEWIS.
CHAPTER XI.
WILL BRYAN ON THE NATURE OF A CHURCH.
I PASSED a day aud a night in bed, for the healing of my
wounds, but was very little better when I got up. I felt as
though I had been sleeping in starch, so stiff were my limbs
when I attempted to move. But for all my pain, the thought
that I had "finished my schooling" was more than sufficient
to sustain me under the trial. Mother looked low-spirited, and
I noticed that she frequently sighed. I fancied I knew what
•was troubling her, and was stricken to the heart with grief to
think it was my wickedness which had brought it all about.
Still she did not reproach me, and the only difference in her
demeanour towards me was that she was silent and serious.
She never as much as asked me how I felt, lest, I imagine, that
should make me think the severe whipping I got was anything
but what I richly deserved. And yet I knew very well she
much desired to find out.
I think, if I am not deceiving myself, that I had in me, even
when rather young, a certain quickness in understanding broad
hints and signs, and that, to some extent, I possess the faculty
still. I perfectly recollect that when a neighbour came to our
house, my mother, so that I might not understand the conversa-
tion, would speak in parables, observing to her friend, that ' ' little
pigs had long ears," and thinking, in her innocence, that I could
not tell what that meant. But I knew very well that I was the
little pig, and was always fairly able to follow the dialogue, al-
though she thought it was Latin to me. She fancied I did not see
her that morning furtively watching my attempts to move. The
fact was I could read her heart as plainly as if she carried
it in her hand. Oh ! how unworthy was I of the care,
the solicitude, and the love that heart contained towards me !
I did not know at the time what it was that weighed most
heavily upon her mind. It was the knowledge that circum-
stances demanded the infliction of church discipline upon her
sons.
In the course of the day, I got to know that Will Bryan and
John Beck were hanging around the house anxious to see me.