Anna did not feel any more devotional for the thought that Aunt Dorinda was criticising her; but she tried to collect herself and to think of nothing but the solemn duty in which she was engaged; and she succeeded better than she expected.
"Why don't you pray in your own words?" was Aunt Dorinda's first question.
"Because, aunt, I think that the words in the book are better than any I could use. And besides," added Anna, rather, timidly; "if I were to try to pray in my own words before others, I am afraid I should be thinking more of the words and of how to express myself than of the sense."
"Do you think then that all those who pray in their own words before others are thinking more of the words than of the sense?" asked Aunt Dorinda, sharply.
"No, aunt, not at all. I was only speaking of myself. And I don't see either why I should use my own words when I have such good and suitable words all ready for me."
"I am afraid you have no proper spirit of devotion," said Aunt Dorinda, severely. "I am afraid you have never learned to pray in the true spirit of prayer."
Anna was too much hurt to reply, and perhaps it was as well she did not do so. She went to her room feeling tired, discouraged and unhappy. Was it really tree that she had never learned to pray, and had none of the true spirit of devotion? Had all her enjoyments in the Church services and in her private devotions been a delusion? Had she done wrong, after all, in performing the duty which it had been so hard for her to undertake? And if she had been wrong so far, how was she to set herself right?
"Oh, how I do wish mamma was at home!" said she, sighing. "She would tell me what I ought to do. And how am I to get on with Aunt Dorinda, all alone, for a week?"
Anna took up her little book of texts for every day in the year. It had been given her by her Sunday-school teacher with the advice that she should learn the text for every day, and keep it in mind as a topic for meditation. She opened to the day of the month, and her eyes fell on the words:
"All things work together for good to them that love God."