"You see, Mr. Archibald," he said, "she is such a kind, patient teacher; and if ever I become a scholar, and of any use in the world, it will all, under God, be owing to her and Mr. Austin. Ay, and more than that I owe to them, for it was they who told me of the love of Jesus, and led me into the kingdom of God. Please tell Miss Warner I will be delighted to see her to-morrow."
And Archie, promising to do so, set off homewards, holding little Ruth by the hand. There was a sober, thoughtful look on his face, for Joe's words had set him thinking.
Did he, he asked himself, love the Lord Jesus, as Austin, Prissy, and Joe Smith did? And like them, was he helping on Christ's kingdom? It was not necessary in order to do so to become a minister or missionary; for Prissy had often spoken to him on that subject, and her life had proved to him that it is in little things as well as in great that God can be glorified.
And as Archie Warner walked home on that bright December day, he began to wish to be a Christian—at all events, some times, perhaps when school duties and pleasures did not so fully occupy him. And so he turned his thoughts to the pleasures of the hour, and forgot that it is written:
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God."
[CHAPTER XV.]
NEWS FROM A FAR COUNTRY.
"Well hath she learned to sympathize with every hope and fear;
Well hath she learned the sorrowing heart to brighten and to cheer."
CHRISTMAS had come at last! A good old-fashioned one it proved. Snow had fallen heavily for some days before, and now it lay inches deep on hill and dale. A sharp frost had set in, and the crystal-like icicles hung from the eaves of the house and branches of the leafless trees. Beautifully they glistened under the light of the moonbeams as they touched them with their silver light, and glistened on the white canopy of snow that lay thickly on the garden and grounds surrounding the Grove.
Austin and Prissy Warner stood for a few minutes alone at a window gazing at the fair scene.