out the possibility of educating children so
that they shall become good Christians without any violent transition.
That is what I should hope for from bringing them up 'in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord.'"

The younger minister looked puzzled, but presently answered, "Possibly we
may have called attention to some neglected truths; but, after all, I
fear we must go to the old school, if we want to get at the root of the
matter. I know there is an outward amiability about many young persons,
some young girls especially, that seems like genuine goodness; but I have
been disposed of late to lean toward your view, that these human
affections, as we see them in our children,--ours, I say, though I have
not the fearful responsibility of training any of my own,--are only a
kind of disguised and sinful selfishness."

The old minister groaned in spirit. His heart had been softened by the
sweet influences of children and grandchildren. He thought of a
half-sized grave in the burial-ground, and the fine, brave, noble-hearted
boy he laid in it thirty years before,--the sweet, cheerful child who had
made his home all sunshine until the day when he was brought into it, his
long curls dripping, his fresh lips purpled in death,--foolish dear
little blessed creature to throw himself into the deep water to save the
drowning boy, who clung about him and carried him under! Disguised
selfishness! And his granddaughter too, whose disguised selfishness was
the light of his household!

"Don't call it my view!" he said. "Abstractly, perhaps, all natures may
be considered vitiated; but practically, as I see it in life, the divine
grace keeps pace with the perverted instincts from infancy in many
natures. Besides, this perversion itself may often be disease, bad
habits transmitted, like drunkenness, or some hereditary misfortune, as
with this Elsie we were talking about."

The younger minister was completely mystified. At every step he made
towards the Doctor's recognized theological position, the Doctor took
just one step towards his. They would cross each other soon at this
rate, and might as well exchange pulpits,--as Colonel Sprowle once wished
they would, it may be remembered.

The Doctor, though a much clearer-headed man, was almost equally puzzled.
He turned the conversation again upon Elsie, and endeavored to make her
minister feel the importance of bringing every friendly influence to bear
upon her at this critical p