What joy was this for the affectionate little girl! Her heart was too full for utterance, and she stole softly out of the chamber, and skipped out into the field, and ascended a hill near by, just as the sun was dawning. Here she stood her hands clasped together, and her bosom swelling with many contending emotions of pain and hope. Presently the sun arose and streamed over her face, and Cornelia thought of the new life of her mother after her reviving sleep, and the anguish of her own feelings. But she could not long shut up the flood of feeling within her own heart, and she knelt down upon blooming flowers with which the hill was covered, and bowing her face to the fragrant sod, her tears were mingled with the dew of heaven.
After a few minutes silence, she lifted up her head, and rising from the ground, returned to her home, and the chamber of her mother. Never before had there been so sweet and calm a loveliness on the face of Cornelia. It was a reflection of the peace and tranquility of her soul, for she had held communion with her God!
FORGIVENESS.
A friend with whom I was conversing a few weeks since, told me of a beautiful example of this Christian grace, even in a little child. It has often dwelt in my memory since, and perhaps some of my little readers may be induced to cultivate the same spirit, if I repeat it to them.
Little Sarah was a sweet child of six summers. Gentle and affectionate in disposition, she soon won a large portion of that love which few hearts can withhold from the happy spirit of infancy. It has been said, "Childhood is ever lovely," and I would add, childhood is ever loved. Sarah was an attentive and careful reader of the word of God, at a very early age. There it was that she found the Divine promise, "Forgive, and thou shalt be forgiven." And she not only read this precept, but showed by her life of gentle forgiveness, that she had engraven it upon her heart.
She attended a small school which was kept near her home; and I am sorry that all who were her schoolmates had not the same kind spirit. There were some who were very rude and unkind and Sarah soon found many trials to encounter. Often would the gentle child return to her sweet home in tears to forget her sorrow in a mother's love. Yet every harsh and ungentle tone was forgiven by her, for she knew that forgiveness was of Heaven.