"'There, Jack,' said he, 'take this book, and keep it and read it, and may God bless you; it's all I've got.'
"And then he clasped my hand, and died in peace."
"'Is this all true?' said the trembling, astonished mother, hope whispering to her heart that the dying youth was her own Charles.
"'Yes, madam, every word of it.' And then, dragging from his ragged jacket a little book, much tattered and time-worn, he held it up, exclaiming, 'And here's the very book too.'
"She seized it, descried her own handwriting, and beheld the name of her son coupled with her own upon the fly leaf. She gazed, she read, she wept, she rejoiced. She seemed to hear a voice saying, 'Thy son liveth;' and from her heart she was ready to exclaim, 'Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.'
"'Will you part with that book, my honest fellow?' said she, anxious to possess the precious relic.
"'No, madam,' was the answer, 'not for any money—not for all the world. He gave it to me with his dying hand. I have more than once lost my all since I got it, without losing this treasure, the truths of which have, I hope, been blessed to my soul; and I will never part with it till I part with the breath out of my body.'
"The Bible," continued Mrs. Dermott, "has this transforming power, because holy men wrote it as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. God put into their hearts what they wrote, and he renders it effectual to our salvation. What other names do we sometimes give to the Bible?"
"The Scriptures, or Testaments," replied Walter, quickly.
"A testament is a will or writing, such as persons leave to tell what they wish to have done with their property after their death. How many Testaments are there in the Bible, Helen?"