w I'm in for it. How can I explain heaven as a spiritual
condition?" Aloud he said, "I won't pretend to know just what heaven is
like, but, of course, our spirits won't need an earth like this to walk
on."

"But," persisted the child, "the Good Book says that there are many
mansions there, and golden streets, and also that it is a land flowing
with milk and honey."

"So it does, and very likely there are, in the realms of the spirit,
things which correspond to those that we have known on earth, but I am
quite sure that they are not _material_ things."

"Ef thar haint no real heaven, thar haint no real hell," broke in Big
Jerry, whose mind had been slowly grasping the meaning of the minister's
words. "I reckon thar must be a place uv punishment fer sinners."

Painstakingly, as though explaining to a child, Mr. Talmadge answered,
"Mr. Webb, did you ever do something wrong, because of which your
conscience troubled you later?"

"Reckon I hev. Reckon I suffered the torments uv the damned fer hit."

"Did you ever burn your hand?"

"Yes, I done thet, too; powerful bad."

"Which caused you the most suffering, your conscience or your hand?"

"I erlows thet my conscience done hit."

"That is the answer to your implied question. God doesn't need to give
us new bodies, and send them into a place of fire and brimstone to
punish us for our sins. If the soul suffers, it is in hell, even though
it may still be in our mortal bodies. That it must suffer, when we do
wrong, we know. But, Mr. Webb, I do not think that it is meant to be
punishment in the sense of retribution--getting even--so much as it is
for correction. You know that men put gold through the fire to purge it
of the dross that makes it dim and lustreless. That is what the fires of
the spirit are for; that is why the Bible speaks of Hell as a place of
fire. It is another parable."

"Yes, I see," said Rose, but the old man shook his head, unconvinced.
Then the girl asked suddenly, "But why was God so good as to give us
part of Himself and let us make it impure and suffer, Mr. Talmadge?"

"Ah, now you are getting into the depths of religion and I'd rather not
discuss that until you have had a chance to think over what we have
talked about already. All that I wanted to do to-night was to get both
you, and the doctor, to thinking for yourselves. Come and see me,
doctor, if you want to continue this discussion. I've got theories on
any subject that you may mention,