"I say, no to that, mamma," she returned, laying her head in her mother's lap and taking into her own the hand that had been resting on it, to press it again and again to her lips with ardent affection, "for I shall not be satisfied with less than half a dozen."
Elsie gave them in quick succession, gathering her child in her arms and making her rest her fair head on the maternal bosom, and Rosie felt a warm tear fall on her cheek.
"Mamma!" she exclaimed in concerned surprise, "you are crying! What can be the matter? have I said or done anything to grieve you, dear heart?" reaching up an arm to clasp her mother's neck, while she scanned the loved features with earnest, tender scrutiny.
For a minute or more there was no reply. Then Elsie said, in moved tones, softly smoothing the hair back from Rosie's temples as she spoke, and gazing tenderly down into her eyes, "My heart is sad for you, my darling, because, while another year is rapidly drawing to a close, I have yet no reason to hope that you have sought a refuge within the fold of the good Shepherd who gives to his sheep eternal life; the dear Saviour who has been all these years inviting you to come to him and be saved."
"Mamma, I am very young yet," murmured Rosie, hanging her head and blushing.
"Old enough to have become a disciple of Jesus years ago," her mother said in sorrowful tones. "O my darling, give him the best years of your life; the whole of your life, whether it be long or short. Is he not worthy of it?"
"Yes, mamma; surely there can be only one answer to that and I do mean to—to try to turn over a new leaf with the coming of the new year. But, mamma, I know of a number of good Christians who didn't begin to be such till they were many years older than I am. There is grandpa for one."
"Yes, my child," sighed her mother, "but he has always deeply regretted having so long delayed beginning the Christian course—entering the service of the dear Master whom now he loves better than wife or child or any created being. There are many reasons, my darling, why delay is both dangerous and unwise as well as basely ungrateful."
"You allude to the uncertainty of life, mamma?"
"Yes, and of the continuance of health and reason. How many have been suddenly overtaken by fatal illness that at once robbed them of the power to think, so that if preparation for the solemn realities of another world had not been already made, the opportunity for so doing was forever lost!