beds.

III--SPECULATIONS

The three children were sitting together in a bunch upon the rug in the
gloaming. Baby was talking so Daddy behind his newspaper pricked up his
ears, for the young lady was silent as a rule, and every glimpse of her
little mind was of interest. She was nursing the disreputable little
downy quilt which she called Wriggly and much preferred to any of her
dolls.

"I wonder if they will let Wriggly into heaven," she said.

The boys laughed. They generally laughed at what Baby said.

"If they won't I won't go in, either," she added.

"Nor me, neither, if they don't let in my Teddy-bear," said Dimples.

"I'll tell them it is a nice, clean, blue Wriggly," said Baby. "I love
my Wriggly." She cooed over it and hugged it.

"What about that, Daddy?" asked Laddie, in his earnest fashion. "Are
there toys in heaven, do you think?"

"Of course there are. Everything that can make children happy."

"As many toys as in Hamley's shop?" asked Dimples.

"More," said Daddy, stoutly.

"Oo!" from all three.

"Daddy, dear," said Laddie. "I've been wondering about the deluge."

"Yes, dear. What was it?"

"Well, the story about the Ark. All those animals were in the Ark, just
two of each, for forty days. Wasn't that so?"

"That is the story."

"Well, then, what did the carnivorous animals eat?"

One should be honest with children and not put them off with ridiculous
explanations. Their questions about such matters are generally much more
sensible than their parents' replies.

"Well, dear," said Daddy, weighing his words, "these stories are very,
very old. The Jews put them in the Bible, but they got them from the
people in Babylon, and the people in Babylon probably got them from some
one else away back in the beginning of things. If a story gets passed
down like that, one person adds a little and another adds a little, and
so you never get things quite as they happened. The Jews put it in the
Bible exactly as they heard it, but it had been going about for thousands
of years before then."

"So it was not true?"

"Yes, I think it was true. I think there was a great flood, and I think
that some people did escape, and that they saved their beasts, just as we
should try to save Nigger and the Monkstown cocks and hens if we were
flooded out. Then they were able to start again when the waters went
down, and they were naturally very grateful to God for their escape."

"What di