ageous, to repeat her words to
Mr. Winthrop. Once outside, I found the glorious expansion of sky and
horizon very grateful after the narrow limits of the little cottage. At
luncheon Mr. Winthrop asked if I had paid my visit yet to Mill Road. I
acknowledged, with a slight crimsoning of cheek, that I had conveyed to
Mrs. Larkum a small sum of money.

"No doubt she will have a crape weeper as long as the widow Blake's."

"I did not think you noticed the trivialities of women's attire so
minutely."

"I do not as a rule; but in the case of your intimate friends, it is
natural I should endeavor to discover their especial charms."

"Mrs. Larkum said she was going to lay out the money I gave her chiefly
in flour and coals. I suggested flannel would be much better also to buy
than crape. She said she had no need to put on mourning; she already wore
it in her heart."

"She is a very sensible woman," my guardian replied.

Then I described, as minutely as I could and with all the pathos I could
command, the grim surroundings of this poor family--the grandfather, with
his serene, sightless face and strangely deep trust in Providence; the
clean, but faded, worn garments they all had on--not one of them,
apparently, possessed of a decent suit of clothes; and then their horror
of help from the town. Mrs. Flaxman wiped her eyes sympathetically when I
repeated the grateful words my gift had evoked, and said with trembling
voice: "It just seems as if the Lord sent you there, Medoline."

"Do you think the Ruler of this vast universe has leisure or inclination
to turn his gaze on such trivialities? No doubt suns and systems are
still being sent out completed on their limitless circles. To conceive
their Creator turning from such high efforts to send Medoline with a ten
dollar bill to the Larkums, to my mind borders on profanity," Mr.
Winthrop said, with evident disgust.

"The infinitely great and infinitely small alike receive His care.
Perhaps it required stronger power from God to make you give me the money
and then to make me willing to carry it to them, than it does to create a
whole cluster of suns and planets. I think our wills limit God's power
more than anything he ever created, except Satan and his angels."

"You are quite a full-fledged theologian, little one. I am surprised you
do not engage more heartily in home mission work."

"I must first learn to show more patience at home."

He did not make any reply; but as we