of
superstition; that of Mr. Andrewes was more enlightened. But with both
it was a matter of every-day life, from which no hope or fear, no
sorrow or joy, no plan, no word or deed, could be separated.

And however imperfectly, so it became with me. Like most children, I
had my own rather vivid idea of the day of judgment. The thought of
death was familiar to me. (It is seldom, I think, a painful one in
childhood.) I fully realized the couplet which concluded a certain
quaint old rhyme in honour of the four Evangelists which Nurse Bundle
had taught me to repeat in bed--

"If I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take."

I used to recite a similar one when I was dressed in the morning--

"If my soul depart to-day,
A place in Paradise I pray."

When I had had a particularly pleasant ride, or enjoyed myself much
during the day, I thanked GOD specially in my evening prayers. I
remember that whatever I wished for I prayed for, in the complete
belief that this was the readiest way to obtain it. And it would be
untruth to my childish experience not to add that I never remember to
have prayed in vain. I also picked up certain little quaint
superstitions from Nurse Bundle, some of which cling to me still.
Neither she nor I ever put anything on the top of a Bible, and we
sometimes sat long in comical and uncomfortable silence because
neither of us would "scare the angel that was passing over the house."
When the first notes of the organ stirred the swallows in the church
eaves to chirp aloud, I believed with Mrs. Bundle that they were
joining in the Te Deum. And when sunshine fell on me through the
church windows during service, I regarded it as "a blessing."

The other half of Mr. Andrewes' plan was not neglected. From him I
learnt (and it is lore to be thankful for) to use my eyes. He was a
good botanist, and his knowledge of the medicinal uses of wild herbs
ranked next to his piety to raise him in Mrs. Bundle's esteem. When
"lessons" were over, we often rode out together. As we rode through
the lanes, he taught me to distinguish the notes of the birds, to
observe what crops grow on certain soils, and at what seasons the
different plants flower and bear fruit. He made me see with my own
eyes, and hear with my own ears, for which I shall ever be grateful
to him. I fancy I can hear his voice now, saying in his curt cutting
fashion--

"How silly it sounds to hear anybody with a head on his should