Part 11 (2/2)

”Yes, indeed. Shall I give you your first lesson now?”

Lifting the dainty thread, she showed me how to toss and wind it through my fingers till it fell away in s.h.i.+ning folds. It was very light and fascinating work, and I soon was weaving it almost as rapidly as she did.

”Now, I can help Carroll!” was my happy thought, as I saw the s.h.i.+mmering fabric grow beneath my hands. ”To-morrow I will go and show him how beautifully we can drape the doors and windows.”

So in heaven our first thought ever is to give pleasure to others.

”You are an apt scholar,” said Maggie, laughing happily; ”and what a charming hour you have given me!”

”What a charming hour you have given me, my dear!” I answered.

When we parted it was with the understanding that every little while I was to repeat the visit. When I urged her likewise to come to me, the old-time shyness again appeared, as she said:

”Oh, they are all strangers to me, and here we shall be entirely alone.

You come to me.”

So I yielded, as in heaven we never seek to gain reluctant consent for any pleasure, however dear; and many were the happy hours spent with her in the cottage by the lake.

CHAPTER XIII.

”I take these little lambs,” said He And lay them in my breast; Protection they shall find in Me, In Me be ever blest.”

--[Samuel Stennett.

On one of my walks about this time, I chanced upon a scene that brought to mind what Mae had said to me about the Savior's love for little children. I found him sitting beneath one of the flowering trees upon the lake sh.o.r.e, with about a dozen children of all ages cl.u.s.tered around him. One dainty little tot, not more than a year old, was nestled in his arms, with her sunny head resting confidingly upon his bosom, her tiny hands filled with the lovely water-lilies that floated everywhere on the waters. She was too young to realize how great her privilege was, but seemed to be enjoying his care to the utmost. The others sat at his feet, or leaned upon his knees; and one dear little fellow, with earnest eyes, stood by him, leaning upon his shoulder, while the Master's right arm encircled him. Every eye was fixed eagerly upon Jesus, and each child appeared alert to catch every word he said. He seemed to be telling them some very absorbing story, adapted to their childish tastes and capacities. I sat down upon the sward among a group of people, a little removed from the children, and tried to hear what he was saying, but we were too far away to catch more than a sentence now and then, and in heaven one never intrudes upon another's privileges or pleasures. So we simply enjoyed the smiles and eager questions and exclamations of the children, and gathered a little of the tenor of the story from the disjointed sentences which floated to us.

”A little child lost in the dark woods of the lower world--” we heard the Master say, in response to the inquiring looks of the interested children.

”Lions and bears--” came later on.

”Where was his papa?” asked an anxious voice.

We could not hear the reply, but soon a little fellow leaning upon the Savior's knee, said confidently: ”No lions and bears up here!”

”No,” he replied, ”nothing to harm or frighten my little children here!”

Then as the story deepened and grew in interest, and the children pressed more closely about the Master, he turned with a sweet smile--and we could see an increased pressure of the encircling arm--to the little fellow with the earnest eyes who leaned upon his shoulder, and said:

”What, Leslie, would you have done, then?”

With a bright light in his eyes and a flush on his fair cheek, the child answered quickly and emphatically:

”I should have prayed to Thee and asked Thee to 'close the lion's mouth,' as Thou didst for Daniel, and Thou wouldst have done it!”

”Ah,” I thought, ”could C---- and H---- see the look the beloved Master cast upon their boy as he made his brave reply, they would be comforted even for the absence of their darling.”

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