"Girls, we ought to be very bright and happy this morning, else we should be very sad. If we have a part in this rejoicing, if it is our Saviour of whom we sing 'The Lord is risen indeed' then we have a right to be glad. If He who is risen is one whom we have rejected, then we have no call to rejoice; why should we care? Some of us have professed to be his friends, and the nearer we have been living to him, the more faithful to our vows we have been, the more precious He is to our hearts, the more we may rejoice in the truth of the resurrection. Whether we have hitherto been living for Christ or not, this is a good time to begin anew. 'Like as Christ was raised up from the dead, even so we also should walk in newness of life.' Let us put away old things that have been hindering us and serve in newness of spirit. Let this be a real true Easter to every one of us." There was more of that earnest talk and it seemed to sink into the hearts of those who heard it. I can only tell you how one acted upon the lessons of the day. The hardest lesson had been the whispered words which she overheard; but the tender pleading of Miss Winthrop had softened her and she walked homeward alone, having turned away from the fluttering group. She was thinking:
"The girls call me vain—and say I am like a peacock, and Miss Winthrop is sad over me, and all for the same reason. I don't like to have the girls talk about me, and I don't like to have Miss Winthrop sad; I wonder if I am such a giddy girl! I suppose it is true; I do think too much of dress. I suppose I might look nice without thinking so much about it and without showing that I do. Miss Winthrop talked about newness of life—I wish I could be made over all new. Then I wouldn't be Mary Brown. Yes, I might; I am Prinkie Brown now. I won't be called Prinkie any more. I'll be Mary, and I will live for something better than dress."
"Prinkie," called Mrs. Brown as the young girl came down stairs after putting away the new hat which had become less precious.
"Mamma, please do not call me that any more. And will you please not let any one else call me so? I hate the name and I am going to be Mary Brown after this."
Mary could not tell her mother that she had resolved to "walk in newness of life," for Mrs. Brown was not a religious woman, and the child felt that she would not understand her. But to her grandmother she said as she lingered in her room at evening:
"Grandmamma, this has been a true Easter to me!"
This was a year ago, and Mary Brown still wears new hats, from time to time, and still dresses as seems to befit the daughter of a man of wealth, but no one calls her "Prinkie." No one would think of comparing her to a peacock; for she walks in newness of life; every Sabbath is to her a glad Easter.
Faye Huntington.
