the music, but she heard not the word--_the Word_ in which she was
to believe.

"Now I can fly, mother--I can fly with all the other happy children
into the presence of the Almighty. I would fain fly; but, if you weep
as you are weeping now, I might be lost to you--and yet I would go so
gladly. May I not fly? And you will come to me soon--will you not,
dear mother?"

"Oh, stay! stay!" entreated the mother. "Only one moment more--only
once more I should wish to look at thee, and kiss thee, and press thee
in my arms."

And she kissed and fondled the child. Then her name was called from
above--called in a plaintive voice. What might this mean?

"Hearest thou?" asked the child. "It is my father who calls thee."

And in a few moments deep sighs were heard, as of weeping children.

"They are my sisters," said the child. "Mother, you surely have not
forgotten them?"

And then she remembered those she had left behind. A great terror came
upon her. She looked out into the night, and above her dim forms were
flitting past. She seemed to recognize a few more of these. They
floated through the Hall of Death towards the dark curtain, and there
they vanished. Would her husband and her daughter thus flit past? No,
their sighs and lamentations still sounded from above:--and she had
been nearly forgetting them for the sake of him who was dead!

"Mother, now the bells of heaven are ringing," said the child.
"Mother, now the sun is going to rise."

And an overpowering light streamed in upon her. The child had
vanished, and she was borne upwards. It became cold round about her,
and she lifted up her head, and saw that she was lying in the
churchyard, on the grave of her child.

But the Lord had been a stay unto her feet, in a dream, and a light to
her spirit; and she bowed her knees and prayed for forgiveness that
she had wished to keep back a soul from its immortal flight, and that
she had forgotten her duties towards the living who were left to her.

And when she had spoken those words, it was as if her heart were
lightened. Then the sun burst forth, and over her head a little bird
sang out, and the church bells sounded for early service. Everything
was holy around her, and her heart was chastened. She acknowledged the
goodness of God, she acknowledged the duties she had to perform, and
eagerly she went home. She bent over her husband, who still slept; her
warm devoted kiss awakened him, and heart-felt words of love came fro