longed to have a son and had prayed so earnestly to
God for this great gift.

There was no doubt about the baby's name. He was called "Samuel,"
which means "God has heard."

[Illustration: "Samuel answered, Speak; for Thy servant heareth."
1 Sam. iii. 10.]

For had not God listened to his mother's prayers and given her her
heart's desire?

[Illustration: The time came that she should take him to Eli.]

Hannah held her baby close in her arms. He was her very own, and yet
he belonged also to God. She had promised, if her prayer was heard,
that she would lend him to God, to serve Him in His Holy Temple.

Only for a little while could she keep the baby all to herself. The
months passed and then the years, and Samuel grew old enough to run
about and take care of himself, needing no longer to be carried in his
mother's arms. Then the time came that she should take him to Eli, the
priest of God, and leave him to be brought up in the Temple and taught
to be a servant of God.

Perhaps at first Samuel cried for his mother, for he was only a very
little boy, and must have felt strange and lonely without her; but he
very soon grew happy again, and learnt to love the old priest and the
new life. It was his mother who suffered most. She missed him so
sorely, and mothers do not forget as quickly as children do. But
although she had lent him to God, he was still hers too; and every
year she went back to see him, and through the long months in between,
her fingers were busy making him a little coat of a beautiful blue
stuff, sewed with a border of exquisite embroidery, blue and purple
and scarlet, that was like a wreath of pomegranates. Just as certain
as his birthday came round his mother came and brought with her his
little coat, and as he grew bigger every year the coat was bigger too.

Now, as soon as Samuel was old enough he went with Eli, the old
priest, into God's house to learn how to help in God's service. Just
as we sometimes see now a very little boy helping the priest at God's
altar, so Samuel was like a little server as he helped Eli, and he too
wore a linen surplice, or ephod as it was called.

Although he was such a little boy, Samuel already showed that he was
straightforward, brave, and obedient, a boy who could be trusted. He
did his work faithfully, and when Eli began to grow feeble and his
sight became dim, the little server was ready with his clear sight and
eager footsteps to be both eyes and feet to the