That night my mother took me in her lap, and told me that the old major had gone to heaven. I had heard of heaven before. It was where I came from, and the twins, away back in the early days. Heaven was a nice place, and now, as the major's home, it acquired a new charm. But there was one drawback.
"Shan't I ever see him again, mother?" I asked.
"Never again, Rhoda."
"But, mother, it's a children's place," I urged, anxiously. "And the major is old, quite old. He won't like it there, mother."
"The major has gone to heaven to be a little child again," my mother said, with a sob.
Then she put a blue velvet box in my hand. Inside there was the littlest watch in the world, and on the back of the watch there was a star in blue stones. It was the last thing which the old major bought before he went to heaven.
IV
THE FIRESIDE GOD