this dear mother's hands and looked in her face, and
her heart soared away to the Father in thanks and joy. They sat down by
the roadside under the shade of the trees,--while the river ran softly
by, and everything was hushed out of sympathy and kindness,--and
questioned each other of all that had been and was to be. And the little
Pilgrim told all the little news of home, and of the brothers and sisters
and the children that had been born, and of those whose faces were turned
towards this better country; and the mother smiled and listened and would
have heard all over and over, although many things she already knew. "But
why should I tell you, for did not you watch over us and see all we did,
and were not you near us always?" the little Pilgrim said.

"How could that be?" said the mother; "for we are not like our Lord, to
be everywhere. We come and go where we are sent. But sometimes we knew,
and sometimes saw, and always loved. And whenever our hearts were sick
for news it was but to go to him, and he told us everything. And now, my
little one, you are as we are, and have seen the Lord. And this has been
given us, to teach our child once more, and show you the heavenly
language, that you may understand all, both the little and the great."

Then the Pilgrim lifted her head from her mother's bosom, and looked in
her face with eyes full of longing. "You said 'we,'" she said.

The mother did nothing but smile; then lifted her eyes and looked along
the beautiful path of the river to where some one was coming to join
them. And the little Pilgrim cried out again, in wonder and joy; and
presently found herself seated between them, her father and her mother,
the two who had loved her most in the other days. They looked more
beautiful than the angels and all the great persons whom she had seen;
for still they were hers and she was theirs more than all the angels and
all the blessed could be. And thus she learned that though the new may
take the place of the old, and many things may blossom out of it like
flowers, yet that the old is never done away. And then they sat together,
telling of everything that had befallen, and all the little tender things
that were of no import, and all the great changes and noble ways, and the
wonders of heaven above--and the earth beneath, for all, were open to
them, both great and small; and when they had satisfied their souls with
these, her father and mother began to teach her the other language