50 The Brothers.

 

strength and spirits to begin all over again,
just as if we were fresh labourers come to a
piece of work of which others had got tired
out. We ought to thank God for our new
beginnings every morning.”

“It was a big ‘new beginning’ my coming
here,” said Stephen gravely; and in his own
heart he said to himself, “I am sure I ought
to thank God for that.”

“It is about the great ‘new beginning’ of
the world that I was going to tell you to-
night, Stephen,” his aunt went on. “You
know you heard about the first beginning of
all yesterday.”

“Yes—and how soon people left off being

ood.”

“After those days they seem to have gone
on getting worse, instead of better; the more
men there were living together, the more
harm was done, till there was no peace in the
world because of their violence and of their
wickedness ; and at last they grew to be so
dreadfully bad that the Lord God saw that it
was better they should not live on the earth
any more, for the longer they lived the worse
they grew; it was better that their bodies
should return to the earth, and their souls
should be called to God.