“Tenderly loved and wisely guarded, the first moons of the baby’s life waxed and waned, and at last a golden year of its life was completed. The idea of God, once conceived in the child’s mind, grew daily into a more distinct impression. Her guardian angel never let that first, best impression become dim, and the good mother was a co-worker with the angel.
“‘Mamma, read,’ said little Amy, one day. She was just beginning to repeat a few small words. The best book in the world was lying on the table, close by the mother’s side, and she turned to it and let her eyes rest upon the open page. Then a strange thing happened. Both the angel and the evil spirit drew near to the child. Tender interest and holy love were on the face of the angel; anger, hate, and fierce determination on the countenance of the fiend. The angel knew that every sentence from the holy book that entered the child’s mind and fixed itself in her memory would remain there, a link in the chain by which her spirit might be joined to heaven; and the fiend knew that just in the degree that her mind was filled with the holy precepts and divine narratives of the Bible would she pass harmless through the trials and temptations of her future life and rise superior to the powers of darkness. And so the angel bent with the tenderest solicitude over the child, while the evil spirit strove to disturb her mind or awaken in it some evil passion. But the influence of good was strongest, and as the mother read the little one leaned her head and listened with fixed attention. Thus she read:—‘Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.’ The evil spirit could not abide in the presence of this word of truth, as it entered the mind of an innocent little child, and so retired to a distance, almost writhing in hatred and pain. The mother read on:—‘When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda, for out of thee shall come a governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently at what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child, and when ye have found him, bring me word, that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed; and lo! the star which they saw in the east went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child, with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him; and when they had opened their treasures they presented unto him gifts,—gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.’”
Florence had triumphed; for Madeline was listening to this story of the Nativity with deep attention. And so she kept on, repeating from memory the whole chapter.
“And now,” continued Florence, “not a day passed in which that innocent little one did not ask her mother to read; and the mother read to her, at least once every day, some story from the Bible, so that, as she grew older, her memory was full of precious histories, in the thought of which her guardian angel could be present with her. She loved to hear of little Samuel; of Joseph, who was sold into Egypt by his brethren; and of the blessed Saviour, who went about doing good.
“And the child grew, and grew, until babyhood was passed and the sweetness of infancy gave place to a more earnest life. But always the day opened or closed with some lesson from the holy book; and, when that was read, the angel drew very near to the child, while the fiend shrunk afar off. No matter how many selfish feelings the evil spirit had been successful in awakening through the day, thus grieving the watching angel; when the Bible was read her power was gone, and she shrunk away in fear from its divine brightness.
“And, still as the child grew, her mother taught her to pity the poor, the sick, and the suffering, and to find pleasure in doing kind offices instead of only desiring to have good things for herself. In all these teachings the angel was very near, helping the mother, and overcoming the fiend’s influence, which was ever active. Often it happened that the fiend would approach the child in an unguarded moment, and fill her mind with selfish thoughts or stir her heart with an evil passion. For a little while she would have power over her; but the angel had a dwelling-place in the child’s mind, and, entering, would subdue the enemy and cast her out. What was that dwelling-place, Madeline?”
Miss Harper looked lovingly into the face of her earnestly-listening pupil.
“I don’t know,” was answered.
“Shall I tell you?”
“Oh, yes. I wish to know.”