"Now you puzzle me," answered Mattie. "But let me think. You know it's not the book I mean; it's the poem. Now I have it. If I know that poem by heart, and I live forever, then the poem will live forever. There!"
"Then the book's the body, and the poem the soul," said Mr. Fuller.
"One of the souls; for some things have many souls. I have two, at least."
Mr. Fuller felt instinctively, with the big forehead and the tiny body of the child before him, that they were getting on rather dangerous ground. But he must answer.
"Two souls! That must be something like what King David felt, when he asked God to join his heart into one. But do you like this poem?" he hastened to add. "May I read it to you?"
"Oh, yes; please do. I am never tired of hearing it. It will sound quite new if you read it."
So Mr. Fuller read slowly—"As Jesus went into Jericho town." And from the way Mattie listened, he knew what he must bring her next—not a camellia, but a poem. Still, how sad it was that a little child should not love flowers!
"When were you in the country last, Miss Kitely?"
"I never was in the country that I know of. My name is Mattie."
"Wouldn't you like to go, Mattie?"