BY the side of a great river, whose stream formed the boundary to two
countries, lived an old ferryman and his wife. All the day, while she
minded the house, he sat in his boat by the ferry, waiting to carry
travellers across; or, when no travellers came, and he had his boat
free, he would cast drag-nets along the bed of the river for fish. But
for the food which he was able thus to procure at times, he and his wife
might well have starved, for travellers were often few and far between,
and often they grudged him the few pence he asked for ferrying them; and
now he had grown so old and feeble that when the river was in flood he
could scarcely ferry the boat across; and continually he feared lest a
younger and stronger man should come and take his place, and the bread
from his mouth.
But he had trust in Providence. "Will not God," he said, "who has given
us no happiness in this life, save in each other's help and
companionship, allow us to end our days in peace?"