"I think she's always praying," said Helen, half fondly, half sadly; "and it seems to help her along wonderfully. I wish I were like that, Lizzie. I do get so fretted."
"You can always begin, Nelly," said Clarice, quietly.
She took her crimson-covered Bible from under her pillow, and opened it, finding what she wanted so easily that it was plain the book was no strange volume to her.
"'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth, and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.' That means, I suppose, the kingdom of heaven shall be opened. The Lord Jesus is the door, you know. Then in another place He says, that if two or three agree together about a thing they ask for, it shall be done for them. So Guy and I have agreed to ask for this."
"Did you ever hear anything like that?" whispered Lizzie to Helen, while Clarice was putting away the little Bible. "I have read those words often enough, but never thought they meant that. Who taught her?"
"I don't know. She is always reading her Bible, when she has time. Clarice, Liz wants to know who taught you to pray."
"It is all in the Bible," Clarice answered, taking up her work again. "You just read, and do it the best way you can, and then you find out more and more."
"But the Bible is so difficult to understand, Clarice."
"Parts of it are difficult; and then, you know, we are very ignorant. But a good deal of it is very plain; and those are the very bits that concern us most. Now what I read just now is plain enough, and I think way is, to go and do that, and then read a bit more."
"And there are such pretty stories in it," cried little Agnes, eagerly. "About little Samuel, whose mother made him a little coat every year, and God spoke to him in the Tabernacle, and he said, 'Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.' And poor Joseph that was put in the pit; and David with the sling that killed the big, enormous giant. I know David was like Guy. Oh, Clarice tells me lots of stories, and teaches me what they mean, too."