Blair Collection > Rhys Lewis, minister of Bethel

RHYS LEWIS.
his hair in a jiffey, that I would. There he is, I know, looking
at himself in the glass, every day, to feed his vanity. Thank
Heaven, there never was a looking glass in our family till youv
brother Bob brought one here ; and I could have wished in my
heart that that had never crossed my door-step. Tour grand-
mother used to say that people, by looking in the glass, saw the
Evil One, and I can easily believe it. I don't know what' 11
come of the rising generation, unless there is a speedy revival."
And mother sighed from the bottom of her heart.
CHAPTER XV.
THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLES.
Said my mother to me one day: —
" You are getting to be a big boy, Ehys, and, as thiugs are,
I can't afford to keep you running and romping about any
longer. Your brother began work in the mine long before he
was your age, and younger boys than you are earning their bit
every day, I warrant me. But what you are fit for, I don't
know, and can't think of. It is a hard case you should be carry-
ing your head in the wind at this age, and your mother no better
than a widow, if as good. You are not strong, that is plain
enough, or it is to the colliery you should go, straight away ;
you are not scholar enough for a shop-keeper, and even if you
were, I have no money to give you a start. How I could raise
five or ten pounds to apprentice you, I don't know. Even if ton
shillings were to get you into the best shop in the town, I
couldn't tell where to turn my head to look for them. And yet,
you must think of doing something for a livelihood. Your feet
are nearly on the ground, and, like the dog, you wear the same
suit Sundays and weekdays. If you earned only enough to keep
yourself in clothes, it would be something. Eood is so dear,
and your brother's wages are so small, that as much as I can do
is to make both ends meet, and scrape an occasional penny
towards the cause. And you'd wonder greatly if you knew how