e my little girl by my side. How long have
you been up?"

"I can't tell exactly; because, you know, papa, there is no time-piece
in my room. But I wasn't long dressing; for I didn't want to lose a
minute of the time I might have out here with you."

"Did you do nothing but put on your clothes after leaving your bed?" he
asked, gravely.

"I washed my hands and face and smoothed my hair."

"And was that all?"

She glanced up at him in surprise at the deep gravity of his tone; then
suddenly comprehending what his questioning meant, hung her head, while
her cheek flushed hotly. "Yes, papa," she replied, in a low, abashed
tone.

"I am very, very sorry to hear it," he said. "If my little girl begins
the day without a prayer to God for help to do right, without thanking
Him for His kind care over her while she slept, she can hardly expect to
escape sins and sorrows which will make it anything but a happy day."

"Papa, I do 'most always say my prayers in the morning and at night; but
I didn't feel like doing it this time. Do you think people ought to pray
when they don't feel like it?"

"Yes; I think that is the very time when they most need to pray; they
need to ask God to take away the hardness of their hearts; the evil in
them that is hiding His love and their own needs; so that they have no
gratitude to express for all His great goodness and mercy to them, no
petitions to offer up for strength to resist temptation and to walk
steadily in His ways; no desire to confess their sins and plead for
pardon for Jesus' sake. Ah! that is certainly the time when we have most
urgent need to pray.

"Jesus taught that men (and in the Bible men stand for the whole human
race) 'ought always to pray and not to faint.' And we are commanded to
pray without ceasing."

"Papa, how can we do that?" she asked. "You know we have to be doing
other things sometimes."

"It does not mean that we are to be always on our knees," he said; "but
that we are to live so near to God, so loving Him, and so feeling our
constant dependence upon Him, that our hearts will be very often going
up to His throne in silent petition, praise or confession.

"And if we live in such union with Him we will highly prize the
privilege of drawing especially near to Him at certain seasons; we will
be glad to be alone with Him often, and will not forget or neglect to
retire to our closets night and morning for a little season of close
communion with our best and d