she?" said Jessie, surprised. "She never said anything to me
about it, then."

"Well, hadn't we best be getting on with the lesson?" asked
grandfather; "time is passing, and we haven't hardly begun yet."

Jessie settled back in her chair, and leaning her head against her
grandfather, listened quietly while the old man talked reverently to
her of her Father in heaven.

"Is He mother's 'our Father,' too, granp?" she asked at last.

"Yes, child, mother's and father's."

"Then He'll take care of her, won't He, and see that she doesn't cry
too much for me?"

"Yes. He soothes all the sorrows and wipes away all the tears of
them that love and trust Him. Now shall we read a hymn?
I like the hymns dearly, don't you, little maid?"

"Oh yes, I love them," said Jessie, sitting up and clasping her hands
eagerly. "Let's sing it, granp, shall we?"

"Go on, then. You take the lead."

"What's the lead, granp?" she asked anxiously.

"You start the tune. You begin and I'll join in."

But Jessie grew suddenly shy. "No, I--I can't," she said nervously,
sliding her soft little hand into her grandfather's rough one as it
lay on his knee. "You begin, granp, please--no, let's begin
together, and we'll sing 'Safe in the arms of Jesus,' shall we?
I know all of that."

So together rose the old voice and the young one, the first quavering
and thin, the other tremulous and childlike, and floated out on the
still warm summer air. Mrs. Dawson, reluctant to disturb them,
waited in the kitchen with the tea-tray until they had ended, and the
tears stood in her eyes as she listened.

"Bless them!" she murmured tenderly, "bless them both."

When the last notes had died away, and grandfather had closed the
books and laid them one on top of the other, and their first
Sunday-school might fairly be said to be closed, Jessie, looking up,
saw her grandmother standing in the doorway, holding a snowy
tablecloth in her hand.

"Tea-time!" cried Jessie delightedly, springing to her feet.
"I'll carry away the books, granp, and help granny to bring out the
tea-things. Now don't you move, you sit there and rest, we will do
it all by ourselves."

So the old man, well pleased, sat on and watched his little
granddaughter. There was nothing she loved better than to be busy,
helping some one.

Such a tea it was, too, that she helped to bring out. First came
granny with the tray, with the old-fashioned blue and white tea-set,
Jessie's mug