emember that in dealing with me as a child my father would never
take forgetfulness of his orders as any excuse for disobedience; and
though it seemed hard then, I have since thought he was right, because
the forgetfulness is almost always the result of not having deemed the
matter of sufficient importance to duly charge the memory with it.

"In the Bible God both warns us against forgetting and bids us remember:

"'Remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them.'

"'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

"'Beware lest thou forget the Lord.'

"'The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget
God.'

"You see that God does not accept forgetfulness as a sufficient excuse,
or any excuse for sin."

"Then you won't, of course," muttered Lulu, carefully avoiding looking
into the kind face bending over her; "how am I to be punished? I don't
feel as if anybody has a _right_ to punish me but papa," she added, with
a flash of indignant anger.

"I heartily wish he were here to attend to it," was the response, in a
kindly pitying tone. "But since, unfortunately, he is not, and my
father, too, is absent, the unpleasant duty devolves upon me. I have not
had time to fully consider the matter, but have no thought of being very
severe with you; and perhaps if you knew all the anxiety and sore
distress suffered on your account this evening--particularly by your
mamma and little sister--you would be sufficiently punished already."

"Did Mamma Vi care?" Lulu asked, in a half-incredulous tone.

"My child, she was almost distracted," Elsie said. "She loves you for
both your own and your father's sake. Besides, as she repeated again and
again, she was sorely distressed on his account, knowing his love for
you to be so great that to lose you would well-nigh break his heart."

A flash of joy illumined Lulu's face at this new testimony to her
father's love for her, but passed away as suddenly as it came.

"I do feel punished in hearing that you were all so troubled about me,
Grandma Elsie," she said, "and I mean to be very, very careful not to
cause such anxiety again. Please tell Mamma Vi I am sorry to have given
her pain; but she shouldn't care anything about such a naughty girl."

"That, my child, she cannot help," Elsie said; "she loves your father
far too well not to love you for his sake."

After a little more kindly admonitory talk she went away, leaving a
tender, motherly kiss upon the li