_BESSIE'S REPENTANCE._
Mrs. Stanton would have come sooner, but her visitors were just leaving
when Maggie came in, and she did not quite understand at first how it
was. Miss Ellery, a young lady who had been standing by, rushed into
Mrs. Stanton's room after she carried Bessie in, and told her how the
little girl had been treated. Mrs. Stanton was very much displeased,
but just now she could think of nothing but the child's distress. She
shook all over, and the sobs and tears came faster and faster till
grandmamma was afraid she would be ill. She soothed and comforted and
petted in vain. Bessie still cried as if her heart would break. All she
could say was, "Oh, mamma, mamma! I want my own mamma!"
At last Mrs. Stanton said kindly but firmly, "Bessie, my child, you
_must_ be quiet. You will surely be sick. Grandmamma is very sorry for
you, but your head cannot hurt you so very much now."
"Oh, no!" sobbed the little girl, clinging about her grandmother's
neck, "it isn't that, grandmamma; I don't care much if she did pull my
hair; but oh, I was so wicked! I was in a passion again, and I was _so_
bad! I struck that man, I know I did. Jesus will be sorry, and he will
be angry with me too. He will think that I don't want to be his little
child any more, 'cause I was so very, very naughty. Oh! what shall I
do?"
"Tell Jesus that you are sorry, and ask him to forgive you, Bessie,"
said grandmamma, gently.
"Oh! I am 'fraid he can't," sobbed Bessie; "he must be so very angry.
I didn't think about him, and I didn't try one bit, grandmamma. I just
thought about what Miss Adams and that man did to me, and I was in such
a dreadful passion; I never was so bad before. Oh, I wish I could tell
my own mamma about it!"
All this was said with many sobs and tears and catchings of her breath,
and grandmamma wished that Miss Adams could see the distress she had
caused.
"Bessie," she said, "why did Jesus come down from heaven and die on the
cross?"
"So our Father in heaven could forgive us," answered the child more
quietly.
"And do you not think that his precious blood is enough to wash away
our great sins as well as those which we may think are smaller?"
"Yes, grandmamma."
"Now, no sin is small in the eyes of a just and holy God, Bessie; but
when he made such a great sacrifice for us, it was that he might be
able to forgive _every one_ of our sins against him, if we are truly
sorry for them. And he will surely do so, my darling, and help and love
us still, if we ask him for the sake of that dear Son."
"And will he listen to me _now_, grandmamma, just when I was so very
naughty?"
"Yes, he is always ready to hear us. No matter how much we have grieved
him, he will not turn away when we call upon him."
Bessie was silent for some minutes with her face hidden on her
grandmother's neck, and her sobs became less violent. At last she
whispered, "Grandmamma, do you think Jesus can love me just as much as
he did before?"
"Just as much, my precious one," said grandmamma, drawing her arms
close about Bessie, and pressing her lips on the little curly head.
Then Bessie raised her face and turned around in her grandmamma's lap.
A very pale little face it was, and very weak and tired she looked;
but she lay quite quiet now except for a long sob which still came
now and then. Maggie wondered why grandmamma bit her lip, and why her
eyebrows drew together in a frown, as if she were angry. She could not
be displeased with Bessie now, she thought.