Brotherly Love

Brotherly Love, by Mrs.
Sherwood

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Title: Brotherly Love Shewing That As Merely Human It May Not
Always Be Depended Upon
Author: Mrs. Sherwood
Release Date: February 21, 2004 [EBook #11213]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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BROTHERLY LOVE ***

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[Illustration]
BROTHERLY LOVE;

SHEWING
That as merely human it may not always be depended upon.
BY
MRS. SHERWOOD
AND HER DAUGHTER,
MRS. STREETEN.

1851.

THE BROTHERS;
OR,
BE NOT WISE IN YOUR OWN CONCEIT.
It was at that time of year when leaves begin to lose their green hue,
and are first tinctured with a brown shade that increases rather than
decreases their beauty, that Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer received a letter
from a brother of Mrs. Mortimer's, at Portsmouth, requiring such
immediate attention that it was thought advisable that the answer
should be given in person and not in writing, and without a day's loss of
time. So it was determined that Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer should leave
their home, even as soon as the following morning, to visit their brother
at Portsmouth, and that they then should settle the business for which
they went as quickly as possible, that their absence from home need not
be prolonged unnecessarily, nor indeed for any length of time. It did
not take long to arrange this part of the affair, and what packing was
requisite was also done quickly, but the point which required most
attention and thought was, what was to become of Marten and his
young brother Reuben while their papa and mamma were away. "I have
never left them before," said their mamma, "and I feel somewhat

anxious about their being left now."
"Anxious, dear mamma," exclaimed Marten, who had overheard the
remark. "Anxious," he repeated, "why I am a great boy now, and I shall
soon be a man, when I shall have to take care of myself altogether; and
if I cannot take care of myself for a week, what is to become of me
when I am grown up? Indeed, mamma, I think you forget how old I am.
I was thirteen on the 21st of April."
"Tirteen," lisped little Reuben--"Marten tirteen--April--Oh, Marten
very old mamma--very, very wise;" and Reuben opened his eyes quite
wide and looked so very earnestly in his mother's face, that one would
have thought he was trying to read therein what she could mean about
being anxious as to leaving Marten,--the Marten who appeared so very
old and so very wise to him,--to take care of himself for a few days
without his parents protection. "Thirteen," repeated Mrs. Mortimer,
"thirteen no doubt seems very, aye very old, to you Reuben, for you are
not yet half that age; but I am more than three times that age," she
added, smiling, "and that you know must make me very, very much
wiser than Marten, and now once again I say I am anxious about
leaving you without your father or myself, and I should be more
anxious than I am if I did not believe it is our duty to go at once to
Portsmouth; and that it being right for us to go, I can leave you, my
boys, in God's care, who is the tenderest of fathers to his children."
"But mamma," asked Marten, "why do you fear for me? Am I not
steady, mamma? Do not I like to do what you and papa tell me to do?
Am I ever obstinate or rebellious to you? Indeed, mamma, I feel quite
grieved; I think it is unjust to mistrust me, mamma, really I do."
"If you feared for yourself, I should have less fear for you, Marten,"
replied Mrs. Mortimer, "for I know well that the heart of man is by
nature prone to sin, and that our thoughts and desires while we are on
earth are like our natures, full of imperfections. Temptations are ever
before us--they press upon us every minute, and it is not in our own
strength we can resist or overcome even one of them, and while this life
lasts we are not safe, unless we acknowledge their powerful influence
and trust in the Divine Spirit alone to be able to withstand them."

"I have not been thought a disobedient boy till now," said Marten
somewhat sulkily. "I think my usual conduct should plead for me."
"Every child has temptations, Marten," replied his