her father's step. It was quicker and lighter than
it had been for many a day."

"'I've got it, Lizzie. It's a place as a porter in a warehouse; and good
wages too. And see here,' he said, as he lighted a candle he had brought
with him, 'we'll have a light to-night, and a nice supper too.'

"'O father!' said Lizzie, as she looked on with bright eyes as her
father took out the parcels; 'how did you get all those things?'

"'The gentleman paid me something in advance. He said he knew people
that had been out of work so long needed something.'

"It was a pleasant evening; the candlelight seemed so bright to Lizzie's
eyes, that hadn't seen any for so long a time, and her father was so
cheerful. Yes, it was a pleasant evening; and they closed by reading the
103rd Psalm:--

_"'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy
name._

_"'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.'"_

* * * * *

Sister Mary took up her book and went into the house, while the children
gathered together on the steps to watch the sun that was now setting.

"Lizzie was a wonderfully good little girl, wasn't she," said Jack; "but
then she was sick. I never knew any good people that weren't either sick
or ugly."

"Why, Jack, there's sister Mary, and papa and mamma, and Miss Taylor,
and--"

"Oh, I mean children. All the children I read about are good, and get
ill, and die. I rather think Lizzie would have died if sister Mary had
gone on with her story."

"It _is_ so in books," said Belle; "they always die."

"People would not want to write about them if they lived," said Nannie.

"Why not?" said Jack; "I wish some one would write about me."

"If they wrote about you," said Belle, "they could call their work, 'A
warning to bad boys,' or, 'An ugly boy that wasn't good.'"

While they were talking so, Nannie was thinking very intently.

"What are you thinking about, Nannie?" said Belle.

"I was thinking about what Jack said--that all the good people were
either sick or ugly; I don't believe it's true. But if it is true, I
was thinking that perhaps it's like what Abraham told the rich man:
'Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things,
and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art
tormented.' So I thought that the ones that were sick and ugly here, but
loved Jesus, had received all their evil things, and would be well and