" The only other decorations--for
pictures were dear in those days--were two silhouettes, male, and
female, one at each corner of the mantelpiece, and two earthenware
dogs which sat eternally looking at one another on the top of one of
the cupboards. On the cupboard farthest away from the window was a
large Bible with pictures in it and notes, and, strange to say, a
copy of Ferguson's Astronomy and a handsome quarto edition in three
volumes of Cook's First Voyage. Everything was as neat and clean as
it could possibly be; but Mr. and Mrs. Hocking had no children, and
had saved a little money.
Into this apartment Zachariah was brought. There was a fire burning,
though it was not cold, and on the table, covered with a perfectly
white cloth, stood a basin of broth, with some toast, a little brandy
in a wine-glass, a jug of water, and a tumbler. The books, including
the Bible, had apparently not been read much, and were probably an
heirloom. As Zachariah began to recover strength he read the
Ferguson. It was the first time he had ever thought seriously of
Astronomy, and it opened a new world to him. His religion had
centred all his thoughts upon the earth as the theatre of the history
of the universe, and although he knew theoretically that it was but a
subordinate planet, he had not realised that it was so.
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