Another party, consisting of all the relatives, connections, and intimate friends residing in the vicinity, would be given the freedom of the house and grounds to enjoy themselves as they should please.
Circumstances were auspicious; all the preparations had been thoroughly well attended to; the day dawned bright and beautiful, and found every one in high health and spirits.
She whom all were seeking to honor and make the happiest of the happy, awoke with a heart full of love and gratitude for the unnumbered mercies and blessings of her lot in life. Her first act was to rise from her bed, and, kneeling beside it, pour out her thanksgivings and praises, mingled with confession of sins, petitions for herself and others, and a renewal of her oft-repeated consecration to His service.
She had scarce completed her morning toilet, singing the while in low, sweet strains, a song of praise, when a light tap at the door was followed by her father’s entrance.
He folded her in his arms, and holding her close to his heart, wished her, in moved tones, many happy returns of the day.
“I know not how to believe that you have seen fifty years,” he said, holding her off a little to gaze searchingly into her face,—still as sweet, and well-nigh as fair and smooth, as it had been thirty years before—“there are no silver threads in your hair, no lines on your forehead, or about your eyes or mouth; you are no less beautiful than you were in your early girlhood; my darling’s charms have only matured, not lessened.”
“Ah, papa,” she returned, shaking her head with an incredulous smile, “you always did see me through rose-colored glasses. I dare say any eyes but yours—so blinded by love—can readily perceive many traces left by the passing years.
“Yet, dear father, why should we regret it? Why care that we are both growing old, since each day as it passes brings us a step nearer to our heavenly home.”
“That is a delightful thought,” he responded, with a smile and a sigh; “a thought that more than reconciles me to the inevitable in my own case.”
“And surely in mine, too, papa, for you would not want to be in heaven without me,” she said, creeping closer into his embrace and half hiding her face on his breast.