nd feeling a
duty toward his servant, he had followed the coffin to the church and
to the grave, and had borne the expenses of her burial. His friends
wondered at such consideration for one so far beneath him.

"Daddy," whispered the beautiful spirit, "I am to bring you across,
and master, too. God sent me. And, daddy, there are millions of
children who could bring their parents over quickly, if they had only
let them be born. It was you and mother, daddy, who gave me life,
baptism and Heaven. Had I lived only a minute, it would have been
worth it. And, daddy, mother is coming soon, and I am waiting for you
both."

Then the beautiful child touched and supported them, and lo! they were
wafted across The Chasm of Neglected Duties: Michael, because he
followed the command and made his marriage a Holy Sacrament to fulfil
the law of God; Orville, because he had shown mercy and recognition of
his servant's claim upon him.

Without understanding why, Orville found himself repeating over and
over again the words: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain
mercy." Michael heard him and turned to say: "Yes, master, and
'Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God'! How well it
was for us that we had the heart of a child to plead our cause when we
came to The Chasm of Neglected Duties."

V.

"Michael," said Orville, after a long and tiresome climb over a steep
part of the Road, "these rocks are sharp and treacherous, and I have
toiled hard and have made but very little progress."

"I know, master," said Michael, "but these rocks are the little faults
of our lives. Such rocks cover the mountain at this spot and are
constantly growing more numerous, yet one meets only one's own. The
Plain is not far away now. We are just reaching it, and these stones
are the only way to it."

"What Plain is it, Michael?" asked Orville.

"It is called, master," said Michael, "The Plain of Sinful Things. It
is between us and the foot of the Cross."

"Is it hard to pass over, Michael?" again asked Orville.

"It is very hard to most men, sir," said Michael. "No one knows how
hard who has not been on it; and yet when one has been over, one
remembers nothing, for all is forgotten when The Flaming Cross is
reached."

They stood now at the top of the stones, and on the edge of the vast
Plain, which lay white and scorching before them. Multitudes, as far
as the eye could see, were upon it. They struggled painfully along;
bu