me.
In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have
told. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I
am, there ye may be also."

Thus on, through the beautiful verses, until this:

"And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do."

"There, deary," said Winny's mother, "that will do. I want to stop there
and think about it. Whenever I get more than usual trouble in my heart
about Rick and Jim, I want to hear this chapter down to there,
'_Whatsoever_ ye shall ask,' and it gives me a lift, like, and then I
pray away."

Could you imagine how you should feel if you had learned to love the
Lord, and were as old as Tode was, and then should hear those words for
the first time?

The tears were following each other down his cheeks, and dropping on his
hand.

"Who does he mean?" he asked, eagerly. "Whose mansions be they that he's
getting ready?"

"Why, bless you, one of them is mine, and there'll be one ready for
everybody who loves _him_."

Tode's voice sank to a husky whisper.

"Do you think there's one getting ready for me?"

"There's no kind of doubt about it, not if you love the Lord Jesus. I
suppose as soon as ever you made up your mind to love him the Lord said,
'Now I must get a place ready for Tode, for he's decided that he wants
to come up here with me.'"

Wiser brains than Tode's would doubtless have smiled at the old lady's
original and perhaps untheological way of interpreting the truth; but he
drank it in, and drew nearer to the true meaning of it than perhaps he
would had it been learnedly explained.

"I never thought about it before in my life," he said, gravely. "And so
that's heaven? And there ain't any trouble there I heard Mr. Birge say
once in his preaching."

"Not a speck of trouble of any shape nor kind, nor nobody's wicked nor
cross, and no bottles there, Tode, not a bottle."

"How do you know?"

"'Cause it says so right out, sharp and plain. 'No drunkard shall
inherit the kingdom of heaven.' That's Bible words, and you and I know
that where there's bottles, and folks give them to their neighbors, why
there'll be drunkards."

Tode nodded his head in solemn assent. Yes, he knew that better perhaps
than his teacher. Then he asked:

"And what more about heaven?"

"Oh deary me! there's verses and verses about streets of gold, and
harps, and thrones, and singing.