“Please, I think I could say my lessons better in the Bible if I could find the verses father teaches me,” said May, with perfect honesty.
Miss Mary rang to obtain Susan’s assistance, and May asked her to find the Sermon on the Mount. May read out nearly the whole of the first chapter, with a peculiar tone and pronunciation, which she had learned from honest Adam, following the words with her finger.
“I rather think, my little maid, that you know the verses by heart,” observed Miss Mary.
“Oh, yes,” answered May, naïvely, “I could not read them without; but I will try and learn more before I next come.”
Miss Mary was, however, inclined to advise her not to make the attempt, as she would learn to pronounce the words with the accent which sounded so harsh to her ears.
“But, however pronounced, they are God’s words,” she thought to herself. “I should not prevent her learning even a verse from His book. She will soon gain the right pronunciation from educated people.”
The time passed as pleasantly with Miss Mary as with May herself.
At length Susan appeared to say that a fisher-lad, one of Dame Halliburt’s sons, had come to fetch the little girl.
“Who is it?” asked Miss Mary.
“Oh, it is sure to be brother Jacob, the rest have gone out with father,” answered May.