"Thank you, mother; but Annis is so little that I'll have to do all the talking just the same."
"Well, dear, you can talk quite prettily, if you only forget to think about yourself. Try to forget little Fan Keith, and think of the messages she has to deliver, the questions she must ask, and you will find there is no trouble at all."
"O mother! please let somebody else go."
Fan had put down her book, gone to her mother's side, and was standing there looking pleadingly into her face.
Mrs. Keith bent down as she folded her note and pressed a loving kiss on the white forehead.
"My little girl will go to please mother and the dear Lord Jesus. There is no one else to go now, and the errands cannot wait for the boys to come home from school."
"Will it please Jesus, mother?"
"Yes, dear, because he bids you honor and obey your mother, and also to deny yourself when duty calls. You know one part of the errand at the store is to help you to the money for the poor heathen."
"Mother, I'd rather do 'most anything else for them; but I'll go to please you and the Lord Jesus. And I want Annis to go too. Will you, Annis?"
"I guess I will! I'd like to," the little one answered joyously.