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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Nanny Merry, by Anonymous
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Nanny Merry
+       or, What Made the Difference
+
+
+Author: Anonymous
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 14, 2009  [eBook #30681]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NANNY MERRY***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Delphine Lettau and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+      See 30681-h.htm or 30681-h.zip:
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+
+
+
+
+
+NANNY MERRY.
+
+
+[Illustration: CROWNING THE QUEEN]
+
+
+NANNY MERRY;
+
+Or,
+
+What Made the Difference?
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London:
+T. Nelson and Sons, Paternoster Row;
+Edinburgh; and New York.
+1872.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+IN WHICH NANNIE IS INTRODUCED.
+
+
+A little brown house, with an old elm-tree before it, a frame of
+lattice-work around the door, with a broad stone for a step--this is
+where old Grannie Burt lives. And there she is sitting in the doorway
+with her Bible in her lap. She can't read it, for she is blind; but she
+likes to have it by her; she likes the "feeling of it," she says. "When
+my Bible is away," Grannie Burt says, "I am sometimes troubled and
+worried; but if I can only touch it, my troubles are all gone; for what
+harm can any trouble do us when we are going to heaven at last?"
+
+But grannie doesn't always have to _feel_ her Bible. Sometimes--very
+often--a little girl comes down the path to the brown house, and sitting
+down close by grannie, on that cricket that you see there now, takes the
+good book and reads the blessed words to her, till the tears trickle down
+grannie's wrinkled face, and laying her trembling hand on the little
+girl's head, she says, "God bless thee, my child."
+
+I think she is expecting her now; for, see the cricket is all ready, and
+on the little table is a pitcher of cool water from the old well that
+you see just behind the house; and here is the little girl herself.
+
+"Good-morning, grannie; are you waiting for me? I couldn't come any
+sooner, because mamma wanted me to play with Charlie; and here are some
+peaches mamma sent you,--she thought you would like them;" and Nannie,
+quite out of breath with her walk and her talk, stops a minute, which
+gives Grannie Burt a chance to answer her questions and to thank her for
+her peaches. "Now shall I read, grannie?" said Nannie, as, taking a long
+draught from the little pitcher, she sat down on the cricket.
+
+"Eat this peach first," said grannie, picking out the softest and
+handing it to her; "I know you must be warm from your long walk, and
+this will cool you."
+
+The peach looked so tempting that Nannie looked at it wishfully. Her
+mother had only given her one, and she had sent grannie a whole basketful.
+It was only for a moment that Nannie let these selfish thoughts trouble
+her. "Grannie never has any of her own, and in a few weeks I can have
+as many as I want," she thought; so taking up the Bible she said, "No,
+grannie, thank you; the water has cooled me enough; where shall I
+begin?"
+
+"Read about heaven, Nannie; you know I like to hear about that best."
+
+Softly the little voice began: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth."
+Then she read of the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of
+the nations; and of the water of life, that flows near the jasper throne.
+
+When she had finished, she said, "What makes you like to hear of heaven
+so much, grannie?"
+
+"Oh, I'm going there, Nannie! When you read about the beautiful things,
+the pearly gates, and the golden streets, I think, 'I shall see them,
+for there will be no night there; not even in these poor old eyes of
+mine.' And when you read, 'the Lamb is the light thereof,' then I think
+Jesus will be there, and that's what I like best of all."
+
+"Where _is_ heaven, grannie?"
+
+"Up there, I suppose," she said, pointing to the bright sky above.
+
+"But, grannie, there was a gentleman at our house yesterday, and I heard
+him talking with my father, and he said he thought heaven was in the sun.
+So I thought I would ask you, because you always know so much about it. Do
+you think it is in the sun?"
+
+"I don't think anything about it. I don't think it makes much difference
+_where_ it is, if we only get there at last."
+
+"Sister Mary said she thought heaven would be where God was."
+
+"So I think, child; and I don't think it's the pearls, and gold, and all
+those things you read about, that make it either; for I think any place
+would be heaven, if we found Jesus there. This old room has been pretty
+near it, sometimes."
+
+Nannie turned to the 14th chapter of John, which she knew grannie loved
+to hear, and commenced reading.
+
+While she is reading, let us go down the street to the lane--bordered
+with trees--walk up the narrow footpath, and over the stile just by the
+blackberry-bushes, across the field to the little garden, and through
+the borders of pinks and marigolds, to the white cottage where Nannie
+lives. You can come to it by the street, if you choose, and you may come
+in under the great elm-tree, by the gate; but then the street is so dusty,
+and you miss seeing the little garden with its bright flowers; and the
+blossoms in the lane smell so sweetly, that it is quite worth while going
+that way. But here we are, before the door, on which we read, in bright
+letters, "Dr. Merry;" for Nannie's name is Nannie Merry, and Nannie's
+father is a doctor. He is doctor in a pleasant little town that is
+situated on the banks of a narrow river. I don't think you could find
+either the town or the river on your maps, if you should try; so there
+would be no use in telling you their names. It was a pleasant town,
+however, with its large elm-trees, and pretty white cottages, with here
+and there a large house, where the grandest people lived.
+
+But Nannie's father was only a country doctor, and didn't live in a very
+large house. You can see for yourself that it is only a white cottage,
+with green blinds, and a long porch in front, covered with sweetbriar
+and honeysuckle. But the people that live in the house are quite as
+pleasant as the house itself, or even as the people that live in the
+large brick house. After Dr. Merry comes Mrs. Merry, or Nannie's mother,
+who is, like most mothers, very kind and good; then sister Mary, who is
+grown up, and Nannie thinks the best sister ever was; then Belle, who is
+very pretty, and about twelve years old; John and Charlie, who are, like
+most boys, great teasers, and Nannie sometimes thinks a good deal worse
+than most boys--but then, Charlie is only four years old, so there is
+some excuse for him. Lastly, we have Nannie herself, who is--well, we
+shall find out what she is before our story is finished. She is nine
+years old, "nearly ten," and would feel offended if we left that out.
+But here she comes from Grannie Burt's, so we must stop talking about
+her. She is coming by the lane just as we did, running at first, then a
+little slower, till at last she stops, for her sister Mary is weeding
+one of the pretty borders in the little garden.
+
+"O Mary! grannie thinks just as you do about heaven; I don't think Mr.
+Brown knows so much about it as she does."
+
+"Why not, Nannie?"
+
+"Oh, because grannie is almost there, Mary,--she ought to know!"
+
+"What makes you think grannie is almost there?"
+
+"Why, she said so; and then she loves to hear about heaven, just as I
+did about home when I was at Aunt Sarah's."
+
+"Do _you_ like to hear about heaven, Nannie?"
+
+"Sometimes," she answered, while with her little shoe she played with
+the pebbles.
+
+"Not always! Nannie; when don't you like to hear about it?"
+
+Nannie played with the pebbles a good while. At last she said, "I like
+to hear _some_ things about it always, but not everything."
+
+"And what do you like to hear about it always?"
+
+"I like to hear about golden streets, and the beautiful water, and the
+trees, and the harps of the angels, and their golden crowns."
+
+"And what don't you like to hear about?"
+
+The little foot moved backwards and forwards a good while, and when
+Nannie did speak, she spoke almost as if she were afraid to do so.
+
+"I don't like to hear about its always being Sunday there."
+
+"Why, Nannie, don't you like Sunday here?"
+
+"Why, yes, always once a week; but that's not like _always_. I don't
+think I should like to go to church _every_ day, and learn the Catechism,
+and have a cold dinner, and not play at all."
+
+"Maybe I can help you a little, Nannie. Do you ever get tired of loving
+father?"
+
+"Why, no; I should never get tired of that, I'm sure he never gets tired
+of loving me."
+
+"Do you get tired of showing you love him by trying to please him?"
+
+"No, Mary; but--"
+
+"Never mind the 'buts' till I have done. Now, God is 'Our Father,' and
+all we have to do in heaven is to love him, and to show how very much we
+love him by trying to do all we can to please him. Do you think you'll
+get tired of that?"
+
+"No. But that isn't like Sunday."
+
+"What do we do on Sunday, Nannie?"
+
+"Why, go to church and--"
+
+"Yes; but what do we go to church for?"
+
+"Oh, I see now!" said Nannie, her face brightening up,--"oh, I see! We
+worship God on Sunday, and that's what we'll do always in heaven; isn't
+it, Mary?"
+
+"Yes, that's why we say it's always Sunday there; and we shall love
+God so much better there than we do now, that we can only be happy in
+praising him. Even now, when we think how good he is to us, and how he
+loves us, it seems as if we _must_ praise him; but then we shall see him
+always, and never forget what he has done for us. Do you think we can
+help praising him, or that it will be hard work to join with the angels
+in singing, 'Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty'--'Worthy is the Lamb that
+was slain'? Do you think you understand now, Nannie, and will like to
+hear about heaven as much as Grannie Burt does?"
+
+"Oh yes! I felt very sorry, because I knew I ought to love to think
+about heaven! And so I think I do. But Belle said they did nothing but
+sing hymns there, and she didn't see what there was so very pleasant in
+that."
+
+"Belle ought not to talk so. But what did you say to her?"
+
+"I said," Nannie answered, holding down her head, "I thought the reason
+she didn't like it was because she was not good; because all good people
+liked to hear about heaven."
+
+"That's the reason, I think," said sister Mary, as she gathered up her
+weeds for Nannie to take away. Nannie carried them off, thinking all the
+time, "Oh dear, I wish I were as good as sister Mary!" If wishes would
+make any one good, Nannie would have been very good long before this time.
+"At anyrate," said Nannie, as she emptied the weeds into the ash-heap,
+"I will try. Father says there are weeds in our hearts, and we can pull
+them up. I mean to try."
+
+We shall see in the next chapter how Nannie succeeds in pulling up the
+weeds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+"IF THY BROTHER SIN AGAINST THEE, FORGIVE HIM."
+
+
+One bright sunshiny day, just when the snow had commenced melting, the
+children started in high glee to take advantage of its softened state to
+make a snow-man. This was a favourite occupation of the children. Two or
+three times every year they adorned the front yard with a giant figure
+resembling a man, which was allowed to stand until Jack and Charlie
+snowballed it down, or the spring sun melted it away.
+
+"Here's a nice place," said Jack, stopping under the old elm-tree by the
+gate. "He'll do for a sentinel here, and we'll arm him with a gun."
+
+"Or a porter," said Belle; "and we'll give him a key."
+
+"Here, Nannie, come this way," he said, as he saw Nannie and Charlie
+walking off in the other direction.
+
+"Charlie and I are going to make one by ourselves," said Nannie.
+
+"You can't do it," said Jack; "you don't know how."
+
+"We know how as well as you," said Charlie indignantly.
+
+"Well, we'll beat you then. Come, hurry, Belle."
+
+So they set to work, rolling their balls, sometimes running across each
+other's track, when Master Charlie must always leave his work to throw a
+ball at Jack. Jack, however, was too busy to return them.
+
+"Don't, Charlie, keep stopping so," said Nannie; "we shall not get it
+done."
+
+"I want to snowball Jack," said Charlie.
+
+"But we want to finish the snow-man first."
+
+Then Charlie would stick to his work a few minutes; but whenever Jack
+came in sight, rolling his now huge ball, Charlie couldn't resist the
+temptation, and would fill his hands full of snow, and let fly at Jack.
+He yielded to the temptation the more easily, as he found Jack was too
+busy to pay him back.
+
+Belle and Jack now could move their ball no longer, and so they proceeded
+to make a smaller one for the head, and to shape out the arms. Jack
+made the hat to crown him, while Belle shaped his coat and marked out
+the buttons. Soon Charlie, who was more interested in theirs than his
+own, cried out, "Oh, he's putting his hat on!"
+
+Belle and Jack gave three cheers, and introduced Nannie and Charlie to
+Mr. James Snow.
+
+Mr. James Snow was a very remarkable-looking old man, with a long white
+beard, who looked as if he had much better been leaning on a staff, than
+raising the gun with which Jack had armed him.
+
+"You had better come with us," said Belle; "you can't make one by
+yourselves."
+
+"Yes, we can," said Nannie. "Can't we, Charlie?"
+
+"Yes, we can," said Charlie. "Nicer than that one too."
+
+"And we'll call ours Jack Frost," said Nannie, as they hurried off to
+their work.
+
+But Charlie was more trouble than help, and Nannie began to grow tired.
+Belle and Jack stood by, looking on and teasing her. Charlie stopped
+working, and began to defend their workmanship with snowballs, which Jack
+and Belle were not slow to return. At last, just as Nannie had fashioned
+a most uncomfortable-looking nose, and had succeeded with great difficulty
+in inducing it to stay in its right place, Jack's mischievous nature
+overcame him, and seizing a lump of snow, he threw it straight at the
+unfortunate nose. This was more than Nannie could bear.
+
+"You naughty, ill-natured boy," she said; "I'll never speak to you
+again."
+
+"O Nannie, I'm really sorry. I was only in fun;" for Jack, like most
+boys, thought "only in fun" excuse enough for anything. "Come back, and
+I'll help you to make it."
+
+Nannie paid no attention to him, but walked off in a very dignified
+manner. Jack whistled a tune, and walked off in no very pleasant humour,
+while Belle and Charlie went into the house. Their pleasure was all gone
+for want of "_the soft answer which turneth away wrath_."
+
+Nannie came in and sat down by the fire and began to read. She was very
+much interested in the book she was reading; but, somehow, to-day she
+did not like it as well as usual. She turned over the leaves, and read
+a little here and there; but it didn't please her. She got up from her
+chair, went to the window, and began drumming on the window-pane.
+
+"Be still, Nannie," said her father, who was sitting in the room,
+reading. She sat down again, and sat looking into the fire.
+
+"I don't care," she thought; "Jack had no business to do it. I think he
+was very unkind, and I'll do the same to him another time. Yes, I will,"
+she said to herself more determinedly, because there was something within
+which said, _"If thy brother sin against thee, forgive him."_ Nannie
+wouldn't listen, but kept cherishing the angry thoughts.
+
+"He may be thankful it wasn't Belle instead of me, for she would have
+told father of him in a minute. Jack is always teasing me. He spoiled
+all my card-houses yesterday. Forgiving him then didn't do him any
+good."
+
+The little voice within whispered, _"Lord, how oft shall my brother sin
+against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith, Until
+seventy times seven."_
+
+Nannie heard it again, but still wouldn't listen, and went on,--"And the
+other day he tore my prettiest paper doll, just for fun. I'd like to know
+how he'd like to have me tear his things 'just for fun.'
+
+"And the other day he hurt poor pussy's ears."
+
+The little voice whispered,--"And the other day, when you were sick, he
+stayed away from the nutting party, and showed you pictures, and read
+to you;" and as fast as Nannie told of an unkind act, the little voice
+whispered of a kind one. But Nannie could not listen to-day to the
+friendly voice which had so often helped her out of her troubles.
+
+After supper Jack said again, "Come, Nannie, let us be friends, won't
+you?"
+
+Nannie had let the angry thoughts have dominion so long, that although
+she felt almost inclined to make it up with Jack, pride conquered, and
+she turned away without a word.
+
+Poor Jack! he really loved his little sister very much, and had felt very
+sorry about the quarrel. It had cost a good deal of effort to go so far
+towards making it up, even though he knew he was to blame. But now,
+instead of being sorry, he was only angry, and turned away, saying,
+"Well, I can stand it as long as you can."
+
+That night, as Nannie lay awake, the little voice that Nannie had
+neglected so long kept whispering, _"Let not the sun go down upon thy
+wrath."_ She tried to think of something else, but it kept whispering,
+whispering.
+
+"I don't see," she said, "why I need trouble myself so about it. Belle
+wouldn't mind it a bit."
+
+When morning came, she felt better, and determined to think no more
+about it. But at prayers Dr. Merry read the sixth chapter of Matthew:
+_"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
+forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will
+your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses."_
+
+As her father read these verses, the little voice whispered once more,
+"Listen, listen;" and this time Nannie did listen; and when they all
+joined in the Lord's Prayer, it was with a trembling voice she said,
+_"Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those that trespass against us."_
+
+That morning, as Jack started for school, Nannie ran after him, and
+overtook him just as he stepped into the wood-shed to find his knife,
+which as usual was missing.
+
+"Jack," she said, going close up to him, "I'm sorry I called you naughty
+and ill-natured."
+
+Jack was in a great hurry, and already out of patience from the loss of
+his knife; besides, he had not forgotten how Nannie had met his effort
+for peace the evening before; so he pushed by her, saying, "Well, don't
+bother me now; you're in my light." She moved aside a little, so that
+the light from the door could come in, then spying his knife under the
+work-bench, she picked it up and gave it to him. He took it from her,
+and ran off without any thanks.
+
+The tears came into Nannie's eyes. "He's too unkind, I think," she said;
+"he might at least have thanked me for finding his knife. Next time I'll
+leave it alone, and he may find it the best way he can."
+
+Nannie's little friend inside whispered again, _"Forgive till seventy
+times seven."_ Nannie listened now, and in her heart she prayed again,
+_"Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those that sin against us."_
+
+That afternoon, as Nannie was sitting reading, Jack put his head in at
+the door, and said, "Nannie, there's a gentleman in the front yard wants
+to see you."
+
+Nannie was so busy reading, that she did not notice the strangeness of
+the message. She put away her book and went out. As she went into the
+yard, what should she see there but her snow-man, all complete! She
+turned round to thank Jack, but he was nowhere in sight. Nannie went up
+closer to examine the snow-statue, and found a piece of paper on it,
+with Mr. Jack Frost written on it in large letters. Under the name was
+written with a pencil:--
+
+"Mr. Jack Frost requests of Miss Nannie Merry that she will excuse his
+friend Mr. John Merry for his rudeness this morning, as Mr. Frost
+assures her that he will behave better next time."
+
+Nannie laughed as she took off the paper, and running into the house,
+she soon found Jack standing by the kitchen-fire. Coming up behind him,
+without his seeing her, she put her arms round his neck, and kissed him
+several times before he could speak. Then laughing, she said,--
+
+"Miss Nannie Merry will excuse Mr. John Merry this time."
+
+Somehow that evening Nannie and Jack were greater friends than ever; and
+as they sat together looking at the pictures in some large books that
+Nannie couldn't lift alone, Nannie was not sorry she had listened to the
+little voice that had troubled her only to make her do right.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+CHRISTMAS.
+
+
+What a beautiful morning it was, that Christmas morning! It seemed as
+though the earth, in its pure robe of snow, and the trees, in their
+sparkling armour of ice, every twig jewelled and gleaming in the sun,
+had clothed themselves in beauty, and with joyful thoughts were giving
+thanks to their Creator.
+
+Nannie didn't think all this, but something very much like it was in her
+heart, as she stood looking out from the window, as sister Mary set the
+last smoking dish on the table.
+
+That morning Dr. Merry read the 116th Psalm, beginning, _"I love the Lord,
+because he hath heard my voice."_ Nannie listened very attentively, but
+there was one verse she didn't quite understand. It was this: _"I will
+offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving."_ She hadn't time after
+prayers to ask her father or sister Mary about it, but all the time she
+kept thinking of it and trying to understand it. She didn't know that
+every time she had looked out upon the snow, and felt thankful to God
+for the bright fire within that kept her warm, she had offered the
+sacrifice of thanksgiving. She didn't know that when she thought of
+Jesus, and her little heart seemed so full of love to him, because he
+had died for her, she had offered indeed an acceptable sacrifice of
+thanksgiving. She didn't know it; but Jesus knew it, and accepted the
+sacrifice, with the same love as when royal David sang the words to his
+golden harp.
+
+"Nannie," called sister Mary, "Jack is waiting for you."
+
+"In a minute," said Nannie, as she pulled on her warm mittens.
+
+"It had better be a minute," Jack cried, "if you're going with me, for I
+haven't much time to spare before dinner."
+
+Nannie, laughing, took up the little basket her mother had packed so
+nicely for Grannie Burt, and off they started, Jack drawing the large
+basket on his little hand-barrow.
+
+"Where shall we go first, Jack?"
+
+"Oh, to Grannie Burt's, of course, and then you can help me to draw the
+barrow the rest of the way."
+
+"Let us go to the other places first," said Nannie, "and then you can
+draw me on the barrow the rest of the way."
+
+"That's more than I bargained for; this basket is all that I want to
+carry before dinner."
+
+Poor Jack, however, was destined to carry a much heavier load than his
+basket of mince-pies and roast chickens; for as Nannie skipped along,
+her foot slipped, and down she came, basket and all, while grannie's
+nice mince-pies tumbled out, and rolled down the street.
+
+"Oh dear!" said Nannie, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "do look at
+grannie's pie! What shall we do?"
+
+"Pick it up, of course," said Jack, as he ran after it.
+
+"Nothing but clean snow," he said, as he brought it back; "nobody will
+know it from sugar."
+
+"Oh, but it's all broken! What shall we do?"
+
+"See here!" said Jack, lifting the cover of the large basket; "mother
+has sent Aunt Betsy two; we can take one of them for grannie."
+
+"Why, Jack, are you in earnest?"
+
+"Well, it's the best I can do. I can't mend it, and I can't make a new
+one."
+
+"Let us go back, then, and get another."
+
+"Go back! why, Nannie, it's all you can do to walk now; you're limping
+away like crazy Sam."
+
+"Don't make me laugh," said Nannie, laughing all the time through her
+tears; "my foot hurts me so, I can hardly walk."
+
+Jack's fun was all gone in a minute, as he shouldered his big basket,
+and lifted Nannie on his little hand-barrow.
+
+"O Jack! you can't carry the basket and drag me too!"
+
+"Yes, I can,--and hundreds more like you."
+
+And Jack trudged along, stopping now and then to take breath, until they
+came to Grannie Burt's.
+
+"O Jack! what shall we do about the pie?" said Nannie, her tears starting
+afresh at the thought.
+
+Jack couldn't stand the sight of Nannie's tears; so he said, "Never mind
+it; I'll go back and get another."
+
+"Oh, will you? Thank you, Jack."
+
+Grannie Burt's daughter, Susan, now came to the door, and made all sorts
+of exclamations over Nannie, whose ankle pained her so much, she couldn't
+walk, and Jack had to carry her into the house. While Jack told the story
+of the pie, Susan had taken off Nannie's shoe and stocking, and was
+bathing her ankle, while grannie kept saying, "Does it feel better,
+dear?"
+
+"Never mind the pie," said grannie, as Jack went on with his story; "it's
+just as good as ever, though it is broken."
+
+"Oh, but it doesn't look so nice," said Nannie.
+
+"I can't see it, you know," said grannie, laughing.
+
+But Nannie wasn't satisfied, and called to Jack, as he started off, to be
+sure and bring another.
+
+Very soon Nannie felt better, and sitting up in the big chair, she
+reached over for the large Bible, and said,--
+
+"Grannie, shall I read to you, while I'm waiting?"
+
+"I'm afraid you don't feel well enough."
+
+"Oh yes, I should like to read; I want to read the chapter father read
+this morning."
+
+She turned over the leaves and found the place, and began: _"I love the
+Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications."_
+
+"Oh yes," said grannie; "David isn't the only one who can say that. God
+has always heard me."
+
+"Did you ever ask him, grannie, to make you see?" said Nannie.
+
+"No; I never asked him. I asked him to make me patient to bear it. You
+think it's dreadful, Nannie, to be blind, and I used to think so too.
+But God never takes anything from us without giving us something else to
+make up for it. You think I sit in the dark always; but it isn't dark,
+Nannie; it's all light--a light brighter than the sun: it's the light
+of heaven; I see it constantly. It isn't only those that live in heaven
+that can say they have no need of the sun or moon, for the Lamb is their
+light: I can say it too.--Yes," she went on, more to herself than
+Nannie,--"yes, dear Saviour, thou art my light."
+
+Nannie sat looking wonderingly at the wrinkled old face, so happy and
+peaceful, and at the withered hands folded so quietly, and thought she
+did not understand it then. Many years after, when she too was old, did
+she remember that peaceful face and those folded hands, and say in the
+midst of trial and sorrow,--
+
+"Yes, dear Saviour, thou art my light!"
+
+"I have thought sometimes," grannie went on, "that heaven will be
+pleasanter to me, for not seeing here. Think how new it will all be
+there! People that have always had their sight only see something
+different when they go to heaven; but I haven't seen anything for ten
+years. Just think what it will be to me to see those beautiful things
+you read about!"
+
+"What are they, Nannie?"
+
+Nannie said, "Golden streets, gates of pearl, the tree of life, the wall
+of jasper. I don't remember any more."
+
+"And Jesus, Nannie; you don't forget him? Think of these poor blind eyes,
+that have seen nothing for so long, opening at last upon _his_ face! I
+love to think of those blind people Jesus healed, and think that he was
+the first thing they saw."
+
+Then Nannie read on: _"Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God
+is merciful. Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt
+bountifully with thee."_
+
+Just as she finished, there was a knock at the door; and who should it
+be but Dr. Merry, with two pies for grannie, and the horse and gig to
+take Nannie home. And soon Nannie was lying on the couch by the bright
+dining-room fire, while mother, and Mary, and Belle, and Charlie all
+crowded round, asking how she felt.
+
+"Oh, well enough," said Nannie, as sister Mary took off the warm hood,
+and kissed the dear face inside of it. "I hope it will stop aching in
+time for me to go to church."
+
+"To church!" said Dr. Merry, looking up from his book; "no church for
+Nannie to-day."
+
+Nannie said nothing, but turned her head away to hide the tears, while
+sister Mary, stooping down and kissing her, said, "Never mind; you
+couldn't walk there, you know."
+
+Afterwards, when no one was in the room except her father, she reached
+over to the table for the Bible, and found the psalm they had read that
+morning. Pointing with her finger to the last two verses, she said,
+"Father, please read that."
+
+Dr. Merry laid down his paper, and coming over to her couch, he read:
+_"I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people,
+in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem.
+Praise ye the Lord!"_--"Well what of that?" he said, looking up, though
+the tears stood in his eyes, as he watched the little face turned so
+wistfully toward him.
+
+"I want to go to church so much, father," she said, as she saw he
+understood her.
+
+"But, Nannie, I don't think David went to church when he couldn't walk."
+
+"He might have been carried," said Nannie, driving back the tears that
+wanted to come.
+
+"Perhaps he was," said her father; "and so might you be, if father
+thought it right."
+
+"Would it hurt me, father?"
+
+"I don't know that it would. It might, though; so I think you had better
+not try. You must be patient, and remember what I've told you, that God
+sends all these little trials. Do you understand me?"
+
+"I think I do."
+
+"I like to see my little daughter love God's house, but I like to see
+her bear it patiently when she can't go there."
+
+"I will try," said Nannie, while she kept saying "No!" to the tears as
+fast as they came. Every little while, however, one wouldn't mind, and
+would jump over the edge and run down. But she kept on saying, "Be
+patient, be patient;" and at last the tears got tired of coming, and
+troubled her no more. She had pulled up an ugly weed called "Impatience"
+that morning.
+
+Soon after, Jack came in with his empty basket.
+
+"Well, Nannie, I wish I were in your place--not obliged to go to church,
+and not sick enough to lose your dinner. I always go to church, for
+fear, if I'm sick, father'll say, 'Turkey isn't good for headache.' I
+never thought of such a convenient excuse as spraining my ankle. Let me
+hear how you did it. It's too late to try it now, but it may do the next
+time."
+
+"O Jack, how you do talk! I'm so glad you're better than you talk."
+
+"How do you know that, Miss Nannie?"
+
+"Why, everybody knows it. This morning you laughed at me; but as soon as
+you found out I was really hurt, you drew me and that big basket too on
+your barrow. You're so kind."
+
+Jack whistled a tune and kicked the fire-irons, because he didn't want
+Nannie to see the tears that started. He was too much of a boy to let
+them do anything but start.
+
+"Jack," Nannie began, after a pause, "why don't you like to go to church?"
+She was saying to herself all the time, _"In the courts of the Lord's
+house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem."_
+
+"Oh, I don't know; I should like it well enough if father would let me
+sit up with the rest of the boys in the gallery."
+
+"But you wouldn't do as they do in church, Jack?"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"It's God's house," said Nannie softly. Jack sat silent for a long time,
+while Nannie lay looking into the fire, and whispering all the time to
+herself, "Be patient, be patient."
+
+That afternoon, as father, mother, and children were engaged beside her,
+Nannie lay on her couch and looked on; but she did not need to say, "Be
+patient, be patient," for she was patient; and when her father, stopping
+for a moment, whispered, "Is all right, Nannie?" she said, smiling,
+"Yes, father; trying helps, doesn't it?"
+
+Swiftly the evening fled. They had cracked nuts and eaten apples, till
+even Jack was satisfied; and as the fire burned down, and Charlie lay
+asleep in his mother's lap, the father said, "How many things we have
+to be thankful for this year! Let us each tell of something, and then
+together we will offer our sacrifice of thanksgiving."
+
+The mother's fingers played in Charlie's curls, as she said, "I thank my
+heavenly Father for my children's lives."
+
+They were still for a moment. They all remembered the sad days of
+last winter, when they gathered round the fire and whispered anxiously
+together, while Charlie tossed and wearied on his sick-bed.
+
+Then sister Mary said, "I thank him for his Son Jesus Christ."
+
+Then Belle, in a softened tone, said, "I thank him for our pleasant
+home."
+
+Jack said, while Nannie looked up with a pleasant smile, "I thank him
+for my little sister."
+
+Then it was Nannie's turn, and, smiling to her father, she said, "I
+thank him for _patience_."
+
+So ended their Christmas-day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+SOMETHING NEW.
+
+
+"Oh, what a darling it is!" said Nannie to Belle, as they stood looking
+at the little bundle sister Mary was holding. "What wee bits of hands!"
+she said, as she opened the blanket. "I'm so glad it's a little sister;
+I haven't any little one, you know, and it's so much nicer than a
+brother."
+
+"So much nicer than a brother!" exclaimed Jack, who was looking on with
+affected indifference. "I'd like to know how many snowballs that 'dear
+little hand,' as you call it, will make for you. I'm sure I'd like as
+good a brother as you've got."
+
+"Oh," said Nannie, "a brother will do very well; but I think a little
+sister is nicer. Oh, just see," she added in a whisper, "it's going to
+sleep."
+
+"Going to sleep!" said Jack; "I'd like to know how you can tell. It
+looks just as it did before."
+
+"Why, Jack, its eyes are shut."
+
+"Its eyes shut!--do let me see. I didn't know it had any."
+
+"Come, Jack, they shan't make fun of our baby," said sister Mary, as she
+took it into the other room. "It's a good deal prettier than you were!"
+
+Belle and Nannie both laughed, in which Jack joined, not at all
+offended.
+
+"What are they going to call it?" said Jack, after a pause.
+
+"Nellie, sister Mary said," Belle answered; "after a little sister of
+mother's that died."
+
+"How old was mother's sister when she died?" Jack asked.
+
+"Just four years old. I heard mother tell all about her. She was so
+pretty, with long brown curls and brown eyes; and mother said she was
+always happy, and when anybody seemed sad, she would put her little
+hands in theirs, and say, 'What make you feel sorry? I love you.' One day
+she came in, and climbed up into mother's lap--her mother's, you know,
+grandmother's--and laid her head down, and said, 'I'm so tired,' and went
+to sleep. She slept on and on, until grandmother got frightened, and sent
+for the doctor. When he came, he said she was going to die. She was sick
+for about a day, and didn't know anything. The next afternoon, while
+grandmother was holding her in her lap, she opened her eyes, and seeing
+the tears in grandmother's eyes, she said, 'What make you feel sorry? I
+love you!' and that was the last thing she said."
+
+"Did she die, then?" said Nannie.
+
+"Yes; mother said she only breathed a few minutes after it. I saw the
+grave when I was at grandmother's. There's a little stone, and her name
+written on it. 'Nellie Bliss, aged four years.'"
+
+"Just as old as Charlie," said Nannie. "How old would she be now?"
+
+"Almost as old as mother," said Belle.
+
+"How long she must have been in heaven. I wonder if she'll know our baby
+is named after her?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The little Nellie soon began to find her way into their hearts. Nannie
+and Belle loved to sit and hold her, very carefully; and even Jack would
+step softly, and not slam the door quite so hard, when told that little
+Nellie was asleep,--though he did say, "He wished people would be as
+particular when he was asleep, and not make such a racket in the
+morning."
+
+So for three short weeks the little bud shed its perfume, making
+happy those around it; then--oh, how often comes that _then_ in human
+life!--then it withered.
+
+The children stepped softly about, or sat in silence round the fire,
+while the baby lay in their mother's arms panting for breath; and when
+all was still, and they saw their father lay the little form in the
+crib, and close the eyes, they knew that it was dead.
+
+Sadly passed that evening. Dr. Merry was absent to see some patients,
+and sister Mary was in the room with their mother. The children gathered
+round the fire, and talked in low, subdued voices, for death was new to
+them.
+
+"How strange," said Nannie, "that our little baby should die before old
+Grannie Burt, who has been waiting so long."
+
+"Aunt Nellie will know now that she was named for her," said Belle.
+
+"And perhaps," said Nannie, "she will teach her about everything there."
+So they talked of heaven and heavenly things. The little baby's death
+had not been in vain. Belle and Jack both thought more of another world
+than they had ever done before, and in each a little voice whispered,
+"Am I ready for heaven?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE?
+
+
+"O Mother! Fanny Bell, and Mary Green, and ever so many of the girls,
+are going into the woods to-morrow afternoon, and they want us to go
+with them. May we, mother?" said Belle and Nannie together, as they came
+running into the room where their mother was.
+
+"I'll see about it," she said; "it will depend upon what kind of girls
+you are."
+
+"Oh, we'll be very good, mother, if you will let us go."
+
+"We'll see," said their mother.
+
+The morrow came, and with it the desired permission. Pretty early,
+Nannie, who was on the watch, saw them coming, and called out to Belle,
+"Here they are!" Belle ran out.
+
+"Are you going?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Is Nannie?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad Nannie's going," cried one voice and another. "Yes, I'm
+so glad."
+
+"I don't see," said Belle to herself, "why they should be so glad Nannie
+is going. They don't seem to care about me at all."
+
+With rather a cross tone of voice, she called to Nannie to make haste
+and get ready.
+
+Just as they were starting, Charlie came in, and seeing Nannie with her
+bonnet on, he called out:--
+
+"O Nannie, where are you going? I want you to show me the pictures in
+your new book."
+
+"I can't this afternoon, Charlie; I'm going into the woods."
+
+"Oh, pshaw!" said Charlie; "I like so much better when you're at home."
+
+"It does not make any difference to Charlie whether I'm at home or not,"
+Belle said to herself.
+
+When they started there was such a strife who should walk with Nannie,
+that Belle was very nearly left to walk alone. Their walk led through
+the pretty lane bordered with lime-trees, at the back of Dr. Merry's
+house, then on past Grannie Burt's house, when it turned off into a
+little path, across the field that was worn quite smooth by the boys
+going nutting. This path brought you at last to a stile. Over this stile
+they all climbed, and now were in the woods. What a beautiful wood it
+was! The trees opened here and there to let in the sunlight, which
+danced in and out among the green and yellow and russet brown leaves of
+the trees, changing into every hue of autumn. On the ground, springing
+up everywhere, were the dark leaves and bright red berries of the
+cranberry and bilberry; while down by the brook the greenest of all
+mosses covered the stones, and converted any old log that came in their
+way into the softest of seats. Then, what a wild and roaring little
+brook that Stony Brook was! You could follow it all the way through the
+woods by only stepping from stone to stone, and every little while you
+might see a great hole scooped out in the rock, where the water lay dark
+and silent, or a little precipice over which it dashed and foamed. This
+was a favourite wood with the children. In summer they often spent whole
+days there, gathering wild flowers or the beautiful fern leaves, which
+grew in every nook and corner. And now that the bright autumn leaves
+were scattered everywhere, and the tempting berries covered the ground,
+they found employment for many a spare hour. To-day the little girls
+had gathered leaves and berries till they were tired, when Ellen Bates
+said,--
+
+"Let us choose a queen, and crown her."
+
+"What will you crown her with?" said Mary Green.
+
+"Oh, these bright leaves will do," said Nannie; "we can put them
+together by the stems."
+
+Now when it was first proposed to choose a queen, Belle thought, "They
+always choose the prettiest one for a queen--I know they will choose
+me;" so she said with great eagerness, "Oh yes, let us have a queen!"
+
+"Let us have Belle for our queen!" cried one of the girls.
+
+"Oh no, we want Nannie!" said two or three at once.
+
+"A crown of red leaves will look pretty with Nannie's red hair," said
+one of the girls, laughing.
+
+"I don't care," said another. "We all love her best, and I don't intend
+to crown anybody I don't like, if they _are_ pretty."
+
+Belle stood looking on with pretended indifference, for she did not want
+the girls should know how much she cared about it.
+
+"All that vote for Belle hold up a bunch of berries; and all that vote
+for Nannie hold up an oak leaf."
+
+The girls laughed, and held up their hands. There were six oak leaves,
+and only two bunches of berries.
+
+"I'd rather Belle would be queen," said Nannie, though it cost a little
+effort to say it; for she was as much pleased with the honour as any one.
+
+"But we had rather not," the girls said. "You cannot help yourself; so
+sit down while we make your crown."
+
+Belle was too proud to show her disappointment, so she sat down and helped
+to make the crown. Very pretty she looked as she sat on the mossy bank,
+while her hands worked in and out among the bright coloured leaves. A
+stranger looking at the two sisters, would have wondered why the girls
+had passed by Belle, and chosen the plain though pleasant-faced Nannie.
+So one would think that looked only on the outside; but could one have
+looked within, they would soon have understood the reason of the choice.
+
+After the crowning of the queen, which was performed with all due
+ceremony, the children went home, following Stony Brook till it poured
+its waters into the little river on which the village was built.
+
+After they reached home, Belle went upstairs, and sitting down by the
+window, gave free vent to the angry thoughts she had been keeping under
+all the afternoon.
+
+"I don't see," she said to herself at last, "what makes the difference.
+I know I'm a great deal prettier than Nannie;" and she went across and
+looked at herself in the glass. "Yes, I am a great deal prettier, and
+yet the girls all love Nannie better. And I can learn a lesson twice as
+quick, and yet Miss Taylor likes Nannie better than me, and helps her
+out of all her difficulties. And father, and mother, and sister Mary,
+all think there's nobody like Nannie, and they are always scolding me
+for something or other. I wish people would love me as they do Nannie. I
+would rather be the ugliest person in the world and be loved." She was
+silent for a moment, while conscience brought before her all the kind
+acts Nannie was always doing for somebody. How ready she was to give up
+her own pleasure, and do anything for others. Then she went off into a
+pleasant day-dream, in which she was very good, always did just right,
+and everybody loved her. All the old women in the village thought no
+one could do anything for them like Belle Merry; her mother thought she
+never could spare Belle, and Charlie was never satisfied when Belle was
+away. She forgot, when she was dreaming, how, when her father said Granny
+Burt had no one to read to her, she said "she hadn't time to read to an
+old woman."
+
+She forgot how often, when her mother had asked for some little help,
+it had been given so pettishly as to make that mother's face grow sad.
+She forgot how often, when Charlie had made some little request for
+entertainment, she had turned away, until now he never asked Belle
+for anything when Nannie was in the room. Yes, she forgot all this,
+she forgot all the hard part of doing right, and her dream was very
+pleasant--so pleasant, that at last she said, with great determination,
+"I mean to be so kind and good, that they will all love me. I'm going to
+try. I'll begin at once, to-night."
+
+So she started down-stairs. Poor Belle! how many times had she come out
+of her little room and gone down-stairs with the same determination to
+do better, and how many times had she failed!
+
+And how many times had Nannie come out of the same little room with the
+same resolution, and almost always succeeded! What made the difference?
+If you had been there sometimes with Nannie, you would have found that
+she did one thing that Belle had not done. She knelt down and asked God
+to help her.
+
+There was the difference. Belle was trying to make herself good, Nannie
+was praying to Jesus to help her.
+
+As Belle came into the sitting-room, her mother said to her, "You ought
+to have come down immediately to help to set the table, Belle; Nannie
+set it for you."
+
+Belle said nothing, neither did she thank Nannie, who looked up for a
+moment, then went on reading.
+
+"Belle," said her mother, "you may fill the water-pitcher, since Nannie
+has done your work for you."
+
+"I didn't ask her to do my work," said Belle, as she took the pitcher.
+"That's always the way," she said to herself; "now I came down-stairs
+feeling pleasant enough, and mother began scolding me because I hadn't
+set the table. There's no use trying. I wasn't to blame."
+
+Who _was_ to blame?
+
+After supper Belle sat down with a book she was busy reading. Just as
+she began, her father asked her to bring his slippers.
+
+"In a minute," she said, without looking up, while she went on reading.
+
+Nannie, seeing Belle so much interested, ran off and brought the slippers,
+and received a pleasant "Thank you!" from her father. Belle was not so
+much interested in her book as not to hear the "Thank you," and it again
+excited the angry feelings.
+
+"I was going in a minute," she said to herself. "Nannie needn't have
+been in such a hurry. I wasn't to blame."
+
+Who _was_ to blame?
+
+"I wish one of you would take Charlie to bed," said their mother, as she
+came in with her basket of mending. Here was a good opportunity to help
+her mother, and Belle put down her book with determination, and said,
+"I'll take him."
+
+"No," said Master Charlie, "I don't want Belle to put me to bed;--I want
+Nannie. You go, Nannie," he said, putting his little arms around her
+neck, and looking up beseechingly. So Nannie laid down her book and took
+Charlie to bed.
+
+Poor Belle! She held her book up to hide the tears that would come.
+"There's no use in trying," she thought. "It wasn't my fault if Charlie
+wouldn't let me."
+
+Whose fault was it?
+
+Dr. Merry had seen it all. He saw the struggle it had been for Belle
+to put away her book, and he saw the tears fill her eyes when Charlie
+refused; and now, as he got up to go to his surgery, he whispered to
+her, "Be strong and of a good courage. For the Lord thy God, he it is
+that doth go with thee."
+
+"What could her father mean?" Belle kept thinking it over and over.
+"Be strong and of a good courage"--she knew well enough what the words
+meant, but why should her father say them to her. She wondered if he
+knew she was trying to do better, and was almost ready to give up.
+
+"Be strong and of a good courage,"--she said it again. "Of good courage,
+means not to be afraid, not to give up, to go on trying, no matter how
+hard it is. But I don't see the use in trying. It's always the same,
+everything goes wrong. I may as well give up at first as at last."
+
+There was a Bible lying by her on the table, and, almost without thinking,
+she took it up, and began turning over the leaves to find the words; she
+knew where they were, for she had seen them many times. She found the
+place, and read over again the words,--
+
+"For the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail
+thee, nor forsake thee."
+
+"I can't do right,--there's no use trying;" but while she said it, she
+was reading over again the last part, "He will not fail thee."
+
+"I wonder," she said, brightening up as the thought struck her, "if that
+is what father meant! I can't do right myself, but God will help me."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE STORY.
+
+
+One Sunday afternoon, as Mary sat reading in the porch, Jack and Charlie
+came and sat down by her on the old sofa; and soon Charlie put his little
+curly head between her face and the book, and said coaxingly, "Please
+tell us a story, sister Mary."
+
+The little upturned face was well kissed before sister Mary said, "Well,
+Jack, call Nannie and Belle, and we'll have a story."
+
+Jack ran off in high glee, for sister Mary's stories were always
+welcomed by the children.
+
+Nannie and Belle came as fast as their feet would bring them, and were
+soon sitting in readiness on the porch steps.
+
+"Now, sister Mary," said Nannie, "a _good_ story, please."
+
+"What do you mean by a good one, Nannie?"
+
+"One that will teach us to be good," said Nannie in a low voice.
+
+"Oh, nonsense!" said Jack; "that wasn't what I meant. I want a pretty
+story."
+
+"So do I," said Belle.
+
+"And so do I," chimed in Charlie.
+
+"Well," said sister Mary, "can't I tell you a good story, and a pretty
+one too?"
+
+"I suppose so," said Jack, kicking the foot-stool.
+
+"Well, she can't tell us anything, Jack," said Belle, "if you don't keep
+your feet still."
+
+"I think you are rather hard on Jack; but never mind. Now," said sister
+Mary, "we'll have our story:--
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"It was a poor little room the sun was looking into, just as it was
+setting. There was no carpet on the floor, and no curtains to the
+window. The old grate was cracked and rusty, and contained a few red
+coals among the embers. By the fire, in a curious old chair, roughly
+made, yet looking comfortable, sat a little girl rocking herself backwards
+and forwards. It was a very pale face that the sun shone upon, and a very
+thin, pale hand it was that the little girl was holding up, shading her
+eyes. Every little while the girl dropped her hand, and looked towards
+the window with a bright smile,--and no wonder! for there stood the
+prettiest of rose-bushes, with bright green leaves, and one dark crimson
+bud just opening. She sat watching it, till the last rays of the sun died
+away, and it began to grow dark. Then the look of sadness came back to
+her face, and drawing her old shawl closer round her, she sat leaning
+her head on her hand. By-and-by there was a sound of footsteps, and the
+door opened, and a man entered with a slow and heavy step. She turned
+round with a quick smile,--'O father! what has made you so late?'
+
+"He said nothing; but, stooping down, lifted her in his arms, and sat
+down by the fire. Though he lifted her very gently, an expression of
+pain passed over her face, and you could see that the poor limbs hung
+shrunken and helpless. He was a rough-looking man, with a rough, heavy
+voice; but when he spoke to her, his tones were very gentle, and as he
+held her in his lap he stroked her hair softly and kissed her again and
+again.
+
+"'How have you been to-day, Lizzie?'
+
+"'Pretty well, father. When neighbour Green came in to see to the
+fire, she brought me some nice warm broth for my dinner. Wasn't it kind,
+father--and wasn't it odd too? I had been thinking all the morning how
+much I should like some broth, and then just to think I had some for
+my dinner. And then the best of all is that dear little rose-bush. You
+can't see it now, it's so dark; it's got one dear little bud, and it
+won't eat anything but water, so I can keep it. Mrs. Smith brought it to
+me, and she brought a nice basketful of things besides; and you'll get
+some of them for your supper--won't you, father?'
+
+"He put her back carefully in her chair, then put on a few more coals,
+and brought out from a basket in a corner their supper. After they had
+eaten, he took her again in his arms and sat down with her.
+
+"'Was the day very long, Lizzie?'
+
+"'Yes,' she said; 'the days are all long without mother.'
+
+"He started as she said it; then said, 'I'm very glad she isn't here.'
+
+"'Glad! father?'
+
+"'Yes, glad; for'--he said almost in a whisper--'they never hunger
+there. I wish we were there too.'
+
+"He laid his head on her shoulder, while the words came fast: 'No
+work--I have hunted, hunted everywhere. I have been ready to give up,
+and then I would think of you, Lizzie, and I kept on; but there's no
+work to be had. O Lizzie, Lizzie, I could bear it if it weren't for
+you!'
+
+"She said nothing, but kept stroking his hair with her little hand,
+while her face looked very sad.
+
+"'I will try once more, to-morrow, though I know there's no use.'
+
+"'Perhaps you can find something, father. Don't despair. God will take
+care of us. Shall I say mother's psalm, father?'
+
+"He only nodded his head, and she began: _'I will bless the Lord at all
+times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.'_
+
+"'Does it say, "at all times," Lizzie?'
+
+"'Yes, father, "_at all times_;" that means when we are in trouble too,
+doesn't it?'
+
+"'It must mean so; but it isn't so easy to praise him when we can't see
+any light, as when everything is bright.'
+
+"'It isn't so easy to _praise_, father; but then we can _pray_.'
+
+"'We can pray, Lizzie; but what if God doesn't hear us?'
+
+"'But he does hear us, father. That's just what the verse that mother
+liked best said: _"I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me
+out of all my troubles."_ And this verse too: _"Many are the
+afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of them
+all."_ That is a sweet verse, father.'
+
+"'Say them all, Lizzie.'
+
+"'I don't remember them all. I will say all I can: _"The angel of the
+Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them."_
+_"Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that
+fear him."'_
+
+"'Do you think that's always true, Lizzie?'
+
+"'I don't know,' she said, with a puzzled look; 'we want something now.
+You want work, and I want to be well and strong to help you; but maybe
+it doesn't mean we shall have everything we want, but all that is best
+for us. That's what mother used to say, and that's what the next verse
+says too: _"The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that
+seek the Lord shall not want any good thing."_ And perhaps it isn't here
+that we shall not want. You said "there was no hunger there," didn't
+you, father?'
+
+"'Yes, Lizzie.'
+
+"'And then there is that other verse, father: _"Yea, though I walk
+through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for
+thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."'_
+
+"Her voice trembled as she said it, and she paused, for they were her
+mother's dying words.
+
+"'We will fear no evil, father. We won't stop trusting; will we,
+father?'
+
+"'No, Lizzie; I sometimes fear I should if it weren't for you. What
+should I do without you?' and his arms grasped her closer, as if even
+the thought were painful.
+
+"'O father, you would be glad that God had taken me where I couldn't
+suffer any more, and where I should be straight and pretty like other
+children.'
+
+"'You are pretty now, Lizzie. I never see any face that looks so
+beautiful to me.'
+
+"'But it isn't like other children's, father. When Mrs. Smith came in
+to-day, she had a pretty little girl with her, with such bright golden
+hair, and such rosy cheeks, and so tall and straight, she must look like
+the angels, I think. And when I looked at her, it was so hard to keep
+the tears from coming. I had to keep thinking of what mother told me
+when I read about the pool where the sick people washed and were made
+well; and I said I wished there was such a pool now. Mother said the
+river of death was such a pool, and that after I had crossed it, I
+should be like the angels in heaven. But she said, father, she should
+still know me; so, father, you will keep on trusting and praising too,
+won't you, if God takes me there?'
+
+"He made no answer, but held her closely to him, till the few coals in
+the grate grew white, and the room grew cold.
+
+"'It's too cold for you here, Lizzie, and we can't have any more coals
+to-night. Shall I put you in bed now?'
+
+"'Let me sing mother's hymn first, father.'
+
+"He raised her a little, and in a sweet, low voice she began singing:--
+
+  "'Breast the wave, Christian, when it is strongest;
+    Watch for day, Christian, when night is longest;
+    Onward and onward still be thine endeavour,
+    The rest that remaineth endureth for ever.
+
+  "'Fight the fight, Christian--Jesus is o'er thee;
+    Run the race, Christian--heaven is before thee;
+    He who hath promised faltereth never;
+    Oh, trust in the love that endureth for ever.
+
+  "'Lift the eye, Christian, just as it closeth;
+    Raise the heart, Christian, ere it reposeth;
+    Nothing thy soul from the Saviour can sever,
+    Soon shalt thou mount upward to praise him for ever.'"
+
+Sister Mary paused after she had sung the hymn. There were tears in the
+children's eyes, and for a moment they were silent.
+
+"Is that all?" they said at last.
+
+"No," said sister Mary, "there's some more; but I'm afraid you are
+tired."
+
+"Oh no; tell us the rest!"
+
+"Very well," said sister Mary, "but we'll have to make haste; it's
+growing late:--
+
+"The setting sun was shining again into the poor little room, and the
+little girl sat again, wrapped up in her old shawl, before the fire,
+rocking to and fro. The little girl's face had a very bright smile on
+it; but it wasn't the rose-bush with its little bud, now almost opened,
+that caused it, for she didn't look that way at all. She had a little
+bit of paper in her hand that she held very tightly, while her eyes kept
+watching the door. The sunlight faded, and the room grew dark, but the
+little face still wore the bright smile.
+
+"As the door opened, she cried out eagerly,--
+
+"'O father, here's something for you! There was a gentleman here to see
+you to-day, and he left his name; here it is on this card; and he said
+if you would come to see him, he had some work for you.'
+
+"The man sat down in his chair, and laid his head in his hands.
+
+"'O Lizzie,' he said, 'it's more than I deserve; I was just ready to
+give up trusting. I have sought all day, and I couldn't bear to come
+home.'
+
+"'God did hear us; didn't he, father? I'm so glad we didn't stop
+trusting. Hadn't you better go now, father, and see about it?'
+
+"'Yes,' he said, 'I'll go now,' stooping down to read the card by the
+light of the fire.
+
+"He went out, and the shadows settled down over the room; but the little
+girl sat still, and you could just hear her humming to herself,--
+
+  "'Breast the wave, Christian, when it is strongest.'
+
+"Presently she heard her father's step. It was quicker and lighter than
+it had been for many a day."
+
+"'I've got it, Lizzie. It's a place as a porter in a warehouse; and good
+wages too. And see here,' he said, as he lighted a candle he had brought
+with him, 'we'll have a light to-night, and a nice supper too.'
+
+"'O father!' said Lizzie, as she looked on with bright eyes as her
+father took out the parcels; 'how did you get all those things?'
+
+"'The gentleman paid me something in advance. He said he knew people
+that had been out of work so long needed something.'
+
+"It was a pleasant evening; the candlelight seemed so bright to Lizzie's
+eyes, that hadn't seen any for so long a time, and her father was so
+cheerful. Yes, it was a pleasant evening; and they closed by reading the
+103rd Psalm:--
+
+_"'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy
+name._
+
+_"'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.'"_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sister Mary took up her book and went into the house, while the children
+gathered together on the steps to watch the sun that was now setting.
+
+"Lizzie was a wonderfully good little girl, wasn't she," said Jack; "but
+then she was sick. I never knew any good people that weren't either sick
+or ugly."
+
+"Why, Jack, there's sister Mary, and papa and mamma, and Miss Taylor,
+and--"
+
+"Oh, I mean children. All the children I read about are good, and get
+ill, and die. I rather think Lizzie would have died if sister Mary had
+gone on with her story."
+
+"It _is_ so in books," said Belle; "they always die."
+
+"People would not want to write about them if they lived," said Nannie.
+
+"Why not?" said Jack; "I wish some one would write about me."
+
+"If they wrote about you," said Belle, "they could call their work, 'A
+warning to bad boys,' or, 'An ugly boy that wasn't good.'"
+
+While they were talking so, Nannie was thinking very intently.
+
+"What are you thinking about, Nannie?" said Belle.
+
+"I was thinking about what Jack said--that all the good people were
+either sick or ugly; I don't believe it's true. But if it is true, I
+was thinking that perhaps it's like what Abraham told the rich man:
+'Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things,
+and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art
+tormented.' So I thought that the ones that were sick and ugly here, but
+loved Jesus, had received all their evil things, and would be well and
+beautiful there."
+
+"Maybe so," said Jack, more thoughtfully than before. Then stooping down
+and kissing Nannie, he said, "I know one good girl that isn't sick."
+
+The sun was just setting, leaving about half its great face to light the
+world.
+
+In Jack's heart the sun was just rising.
+
+Nannie's words kept sounding in his ears,--"Perhaps, perhaps they
+have received in this life their good things;" and those other words,
+"Therefore he is comforted, and thou art tormented."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+"THE LAMB IS THE LIGHT THEREOF."
+
+
+"Nannie, Nannie,--where's Nannie?" Jack called one pleasant summer
+morning.
+
+Just then Nannie's voice was heard singing, and she came into the
+kitchen, where Jack was.
+
+"Nannie, father has just gone down to Grannie Burt's, and he wants you
+to go there too. Mother is going now, and she says you may go with her
+if you'll make haste."
+
+Nannie was off in a minute for her sun-bonnet, and very soon was walking
+with her mother and Jack through the tree-bordered lane; very quietly now
+though, for she knows that grannie is dying, and she thinks to herself,
+"Grannie will be in heaven to-night," and the little face brightens as
+she thinks of the beauties of the heavenly city; "and grannie will see
+too--why, how happy she must be! I should think good people would love
+to die. It's like going to some beautiful world we've heard of." But as
+Nannie looked up at the trees, and the heavy white clouds above them,
+and then down at the green carpet of grass at her feet, she thought it
+would be _leaving_ a beautiful world too.
+
+Now they reach the little brown house, and Nannie begins to feel a
+little frightened. She creeps in timidly behind her mother, and sits
+down at the foot of the bed, while Jack sits down on the door-step. Soon
+grannie says feebly,--
+
+"Has Nannie come?"
+
+"Yes," said her mother; "Nannie's here."
+
+"Nannie, come where I can touch you."
+
+As Nannie comes nearer, grannie stretches out her hand, and laying it on
+her head, says in a low voice,--
+
+"God bless thee--God bless thee, my child! I have never seen you here,
+Nannie, but I shall know you in heaven. I shan't need to ask you to read
+to me there, for I shall see. But read to me here once more,
+Nannie--once more."
+
+Nannie lifts up for the last time grannie's worn Bible, and begins to
+read, as she has so often read before,--
+
+_"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth."_
+
+Very still it was in the chamber of death, while the little head bowed
+over the sacred book, and the tearful voice read of the glories of that
+land whither the wearied one was going. Fainter and fainter grew the
+breath; and as the child read the words, _"And the city hath no need of
+the sun or moon to lighten it, for the Lamb is the light thereof,"_ the
+lids closed over the sightless eyes here--but opened there, where the
+Lamb is the light. Grannie Burt was in heaven.
+
+  Long she listened for His footsteps,
+  Echoing from those streets of gold--
+  Now just within the pearly gates,
+  She is no longer old.
+
+  The pilgrim-staff is broken--
+  The worn-out garment fold
+  And lay away for ever,--
+  She is no longer old.
+
+  Farewell, farewell, our mother!
+  Our greatest joy is told,
+  As we fold the aged hands and say,
+  She is no longer old.
+
+Twice have the trees blossomed, and twice the autumn leaves fallen,
+since first we met our little friend Nannie. We have given but a few
+pages in the life of those few years; there have been many others--some,
+perhaps, in which the little girl forgot to ask for help in her trying,
+and therefore failed.
+
+It may seem hard to be trying on and on, never yielding to
+discouragement; but if you should see Nannie's bright eyes and happy
+face, you would not think so; and if you should ask Nannie if she was
+tired of trying, I think she would answer, _"Her ways are ways of
+pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."_
+
+We may perhaps hear of Nannie again, and of the success which always
+follows faithful effort. But whether we do or not, I can let you into
+the secret of her future life. Here it is in these words:--
+
+_"Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but the woman that feareth
+the Lord, she shall be praised."_
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NANNY MERRY***
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