=== FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 1870. === Started the plough again to day in the potatoe patch, in order to save time. I have hired Will. D.{?} Courtney six months at seven dollars per month. This with his month on trial will make seven. He wanted me to keep him another month or until he could get another place, by the year but this I could not do. How varied are the means which our Heavenly Father uses to promote our spiritual growth. To day secret prayer has been, of all other means most beneficial, while on other days the greatest blessing comes from reading the Word &c. === SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1870. === The boy and I worked at trimming the willows on the Big Flat this forenoon. while Charley has been ploughing all day. I went out to Dover this afternoon. Found the roads in a fearful state. Recd. word of the Norway Oats which Smith & I sent for, an agreeable surprise. The day has been just like a summer's day. My path seems beset on every side with difficulties. So numerous and formidable do they appear that I sometimes feel very much cast down and discouraged. Thank God, He is my covert from the storms and tempests of life.

Done