to her friend, and asked her what she did to make her hive so
gainful. And this was what the old wife said; it sounds rather
strange to us, but if there is anything irreverent in it, it is the
word and not the meaning; 'I go,' she said, 'to the priest, and get
a little round Godamighty, and put it in the hive, and then all goes
well; the bees thrive, and there is plenty of honey; they always
come, and stay, and work, when _that_ is there."

"A little round--something awful! what _did_ she mean?" asked Mrs.
Scherman.

"She meant a consecrated wafer,--the Sacrament. We don't need to put
the wafer in; but if we let _Him_ in, you see,--just say to Him it
is his house, to do with as He likes,--He takes the responsibility,
and brings in all the rest."

Nobody saw, under the knitting of Desire Ledwith's brows, and the
close setting of her eyes, the tenderness with which they suddenly
moistened, and the earnestness with which they gleamed. Nobody knew
how she thought to herself inwardly, in the same spasmodic fashion
that she used for speech,--

"They Mig up their parlors with upholstery, and put rose-colored
paper on their walls, and call them _their_ houses; and shut the
little round awfulness and goodness out! We've all been doing it!
And there's no place left for what might come in."

Mrs. Scherman broke the hush that followed what Miss Hapsie said.
Not hastily, or impertinently; but when it seemed as if it might be
a little hard to come down into the picture-books and the pleasant
easiness again.

"Let's make a Noah's Ark picture-book,--you and I," she said to
Desire. "Give us all your animals,--there's a whole Natural History
full over there, all painted with splendid daubs of colors; the
children did that, I know, when they _were_ children. Come; we'll
have everything in, from an elephant to a bumble-bee!"

"We did not mean to use those, Mrs. Scherman," said Desire. "We did
not think they were good enough. They are _so_ daubed up."

"They're perfectly beautiful. Exactly what the young ones will like.
Just divide round, and help. We'll wind up with the most wonderful
book of all; the book they'll all cry for, and that will have to be
given always, directly after the Castor Oil."

It took them more than an hour to do that, all working hard; and a
wonderful thing it was truly, when it was done. Mrs. Scherman and
Desire Ledwith directed all the putting together, and the grouping
was something astonishing.

The