had a merciful Father in Heaven, who looked upon them as his children,
and cared for them. But when Hannele came home, and lighted the little
lamp, and I saw her tiny face, where for a long time I had seen no smile,
but only pain and grief, now beaming with joy, when I saw the nuts and
the other good things which she had brought, and saw her pleasure in
them, my belief in thee, O Lord, and in the kind Father returned, and I
ceased not to be grateful to the end. If now, in the glory of thy
magnificence, I know bliss unutterable, I owe it to that woman, and to
the fact that she was good enough to throw the nuts into Hannele's
apron.'

"Peter nodded affirmatively. Then he bowed before the Saviour and said:
'The little gift of the condemned soul has indeed borne better fruit than
I imagined; yet when I tell you what a great sinner she was on
earth. . . .'

"'I know,' the Son of God interrupted him. 'Before we decide upon the
fate of this woman, let us hear what the child did with the rest of the
nuts, for we know that she did not eat them all. Now my little angel,
what became of the last of them? Speak on. Gladly will I listen to you.'

"Hannele began anew: 'After they had buried mother, they sent me into the
country among the mountains, for they said it was not the duty of the
city to care for me, but that of the village parish, where my parents
were born. So I was taken there. The six nuts that I had saved I took
with me to play with. This I most enjoyed doing in the spring, alone on
the little strip of grass behind the Poor-house, in which I was the only
child. Besides me there were but three old women 'being fed to death,' as
the peasants used to say. Two of my companions were blind, and the third
was dull-witted and gazed ever straight before her. Not one of them
noticed anything that happened around them, but my heart used to grow
light when everything about me budded, and sprouted, and burst into
bloom. My body was always aching but my pains could not lessen my
enjoyment of the spring. Wherever I looked, men were sowing and planting.
It was the first time that I had ever seen it, and the wish came over me
to confide something to the good earth that would take root, and sprout,
and grow green and high for me.

"'So I stuck four of my nuts into the ground. I put them as far apart in
the small space as I could, so that if big trees came from my seeds they
might not stand in one another's way, but might all enjoy the