"'I heard a boy call out to another just now, "Going home, Robert?" Are you the boy?'
"'No,' said Robert; 'Hal Carter screamed that out to me just as he came round the corner.'
"'Oh, you are the one he was talking to. Well, I'll ask you the same question. Are you going home?'
"'No,' said Robert again; 'I have just walked straight away from home.'
"'Yes; but are you going up there?' And the gentleman pointed up to the blue sky. 'That's the home I mean; I've just been reading about it; this river made me think of it. Where it says, you know, "And he showed me a pure river of water, clear as crystal." Then it goes on to describe the city with its "gates of pearl" and "streets of gold," the robes and crowns that the people wear, the harps on which they play, and, after this warm day, I couldn't help thinking that one of the pleasantest things about this home was the promise, "Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat." Aren't you going to that home, my boy?'"
"'I don't know,' Robert said, feeling very much astonished."
At this point the superintendent's bell rang, and Miss Perry had to hasten her story.
"I haven't time, boys, to tell you all the gentleman said, but, after that talk, Robert began to think about these things a great deal, and pretty soon he learned to read the Bible and to pray. That was more than fifty years ago. He is an old minister now; I have heard him preach a great many times; and he told me once he should always believe God put it into his heart to turn to the right that evening, instead of the left."
"Oh!" exclaimed Tip, just here; and Miss Perry stopped.
"Joe pinched me," said Tip, to explain his part of the noise.