When Alice left the children, they went sauntering along the road towards
home. Very slowly they walked, and not joyously and hopefully, as little
children do who think of their father's house as the brightest and
dearest spot in the whole world.
It was a long distance from the brown cottage of their friend; but the
freshness of the evening made it delightful to be out, and they had been
resting so many hours that they were not weary. Besides, the twinkling
stars came out in the sky, and there was shining above them the calm,
bright moon; and altogether it was so serene and lovely, that they almost
wished they could be always walking in some pleasant path that should
have no unpleasant thing at the end--such as they felt their home to be.
Presently they came to a bend in the road, and a few steps from the
corner was a low-roofed house, a ruinous-looking place, with rags stuffed
in the broken window-panes. There were green fields around it, and tall
trees gracefully waving near it; but the old house spoiled the landscape
by its slovenly, shabby appearance.
A dim light was burning in the room nearest the children; and as they
approached, they could see their father and mother sitting at a table,
eating their coarse supper of bread and cold salt pork.
Lolly thought what a pleasant table Alice had by the brook-side, and the
scent of the violets seemed even now to reach her, and the music of the
waters was in her ears, and the bright, happy face of her little playmate
came freshly before her, making the dingy room where her parents sat,
with the gloom of the dim light and the tattered dusty furniture, still
more uninviting and cheerless.
Lolly lingered outside the door, while Maddie entered. She sat down upon
the step, and called to mind all that Alice had said to them that day.
She was younger than Maddie by a year or two, but her soul was older--that
is, it was more thoughtful and earnest; and instead of dwelling always on
the things of earth, she had a wistful longing for something higher and
better, which Alice's words had begun to satisfy.
The cool breeze played upon her cheek, and the sound of the air, as it
rustled the leaves, and the breath of the flower-scented meadows fell
soothingly upon her senses; and as she looked up into the starry sky,
with its myriads of gleaming lights, and recalled the story, she felt
within herself that indeed she was a little princess as well as Alice,
and that far above all the glory of the heavens her Father was awaiting
her return to the heavenly palace.
"Maddie and I mustn't forget these things," said she to herself; "but
must try to get ready for our better home."
So much was Lolly thinking of the things she had heard in the story, that
she might have sat there in the dew all night, but that her mother called
her to eat her supper and go to bed.
Maddie was already fast asleep upon a trundle-bed, that was pushed under
the great bed by day, and drawn out at night; for there were only the two
rooms in the house, and they had to make the most of all the space.
Lolly had never felt the house so small and close as on this night; for
her soul was swelling with such large free thoughts, that the four narrow
walls of the bedroom seemed to press in upon her and almost to stop her
breath.
She could not go to bed until she had opened the window and looked up
once more into the bright sky; and as she did so, she said very
earnestly, "O my Father!"
She did not know any prayers. She had never been taught to call upon
God. Most that she had ever heard of the other life was through Alice's
story that day; and her heart was so glad of the knowledge, that it
already began to go out towards her heavenly home and her gracious
Father.
As she spoke these words, there came such a happy feeling to her spirit--a
feeling that she was not alone, but that she was watched over and
protected; and with a sense of security and safety, such as she had never
before known, she lay down beside her sister, and was soon sweetly
slumbering.