iped a
tear from her eye, and took me in her arms, and said: "Some call it
conscience, but I call it the voice of God in the human soul. If you
listen to it and obey it, then it will speak clearer and clearer, and
always guide you right. But if you do not listen to it, or disobey it,
then it will fade out, little by little, and leave you in the dark
without a guide. Your life, my child, depends on heeding that little
voice."'

"And here are some poems which teach us to be gentle and kind to the
dumb animals who depend upon us for life and look to us for mercy. The
poet Cowper says:--

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[Illustration]
BOY AND DOG
By Blume
[End illustration]

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"'I would not enter on my list of friends,
Though graced with polished manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility, the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.'

"Coleridge in a great poem, 'The Ancient Mariner,'
which I will read to you when you are a little older, says:--

"'He prayeth well who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.

"'He prayeth best who loveth best
All things, both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.'

"And here are two verses whose author I do not know:--

"'Maker of earth, and sea, and sky,
Creation's Sovereign Lord and King;
Who hung the starry worlds on high
And formed alike the sparrow's wing:
Bless the dumb creatures of Thy care,
And listen to their voiceless prayer.

"'All-Father! who on Mercy's throne
Hear'st Thy dumb creatures' faintest moan,--
Thy love be ours, and ours shall be
Returned in deeds to these and Thee.'

"There is a poem by John Ruskin which speaks of that
good time coming when cruelty shall cease and terrible
wars shall be no more."

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A SONG OF PEACE.

"'Put off, put off your mail, ye kings, and beat your brands to dust;
A surer grasp your hands must know, your hearts a better trust.
Nay, bend aback the lance's point, and break the helmet bar,
A noise is in the morning winds, but not the note of war!

"'Among the grassy mountain paths the glittering troops increase;
They come! they come! how fair their feet--they come that publish peace.
Yea, Victory, fair Victory, our enemies are ours,
And all the clouds are clasped in light, and all the earth with flowers.

"'Ah! still depressed and dim with dew, but wait a little while,
And radiant with the deathles