Bessie in the City

by Joanna H. Mathews

"All!" said the colonel. "Yes. Is it not enough? I feared you would be quite tired of me and my story."

"Oh, no!" said Lily. "I wish you would tell us stories all day. I should never be tired."

"I should then," said Colonel Rush, smiling. "And it is nearly time for you to go home, now."

"Colonel Rush," said Gracie, "isn't your story what is called an allegory?"

"Yes," he answered. "Did you understand it, Bessie?"

"Most all of it," answered Bessie. "You meant that even little children can do something for Jesus if they are kind and good, and he wont care if it is only a little thing, if they do it 'cause they love him."

"You are right, my darling."

"And when the boy went in the wrong road after the butterfly, you meant that we must not do wrong even when we thought it was for a good purpose," said Maggie. "Mamma told me that the other day."

"And the Elder Brother means Jesus," said Lily.