t little German town they laid the mortal
remains of Friedrich Heinz, to await the resurrection morning.

Tears rose to the eyes of many onlookers as Frida threw herself,
sobbing, on the grave of her father. Wilhelm and Elsie strove in vain to
raise her, but when Pastor Langen drew near and whispered the words,
"Look up, Frida; thy father is not here, he is with Jesus," a smile of
joy played on the child's face, and rising she dried her tears, and
putting her hand into that of Elsie she prepared to leave the "God's
acre," and the little party set off for their home in the Black Forest.

Darkness had fallen on all around ere they reached the Dorf, and strange
figures that the trees and bushes assumed appeared to the superstitious
mind of Elsie and some of the others as the embodiment of evil spirits,
and they wished themselves safe under the shelter of their little huts.

That night the little stranger child mingled her tears with her prayers,
and to Elsie's amazement she heard her ask her Father in heaven to take
greater care of her now than ever, because she had no longer a father on
earth to do it. Little did the kneeling child imagine that that simple
prayer was used by the Holy Spirit to touch the heart of the
wood-cutter's wife.

And from the lips of Elsie ere she fell asleep that night arose a cry to
the Father in heaven for help. True, it was but

"As an infant crying in the night,
An infant crying for the light,
And with no language but a cry."

But still there was a felt need, and a recognition that there was One
who could meet and satisfy it.

At all events Elsie Hoerstel clasped her blind babe to her heart that
night, and fell asleep with a feeling of rest and peace to which she had
long been a stranger.

Ah! God had a purpose for the little child and her brown Bible in that
little hut of which she as yet had no conception. Out of the mouths of
babes and sucklings He still perfects praise.

CHAPTER V.

THE WOODMEN'S PET.

"Lord, make me like the gentle dew,
That other hearts may prove,
E'en through Thy feeblest messenger,
Thy ministry of love."

Pastor Langen, ere leaving Dringenstadt, visited the hut in the Black
Forest where Frida had found a home.

His congregation, with two or three exceptions, was a poor one, and
his own means were small; yet he had contrived to collect a small
sum for Frida's maintenance, which he had put into the hands of the