James Fern had only begun to teach the boy to
read a few months before, when he felt the first fatal symptoms of his
illness; and Stephen, with his few opportunities for learning, had only
mastered one chapter, the fifth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, which
his father had chosen for him to begin with. The sick man lay still with
closed eyes, but listening attentively to every word, and correcting his
son whenever he made any mistake. When it was finished, James Fern read a
few verses aloud himself, with low voice and frequent pauses to regain
his strength; and very soon afterwards the whole family were in a deep
sleep, except himself.
CHAPTER III.
STEPHEN'S FIRST VICTORY.
James Fern did not live many more days, and he was buried the Sunday
following his death. All the colliers and pitmen from Botfield walked
with the funeral of their old comrade and made a great burial of it. The
parish church was two miles on the other side of Botfield, and four miles
from Fern's Hollow; so James Fern and his family had never, as he called
it, 'troubled' the church with their attendance. All the household, even
to little Nan, went with their father's corpse, to bury it in the strange
and distant churchyard.
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