again, a handsome young
woman seemed to come forth from between the brands, and the locks of her
hair floated out and turned into boys and girls, of various ages, from
babyhood to youth; all looking somewhat like him and also like the
fair young woman. But the brand rolled over, and they all vanished in a
little puff of smoke.

Aunt Kindly sat at the table reading the Bible. I don't know why she
read the Gospels, for she knew them all four by heart, and could repeat
them from end to end. But Sunday night, when none of the neighbors were
there, and she and Nathan were all alone, she took her mother's great
squared Bible and read therein. This night she had been reading,
in chapter xxxi. of Proverbs, the character of a noble woman; and,
finishing the account, turned and read the 28th verse a second time,--

_"Her children rise up and call her blessed."_

I do not know why she read _that_ verse, nor what she thought of it; but
she repeated it to herself three or four times,--

_"Her children rise up and call her blessed."_

As she was taking up the venerable old volume to lay it away for the
night, it opened by accident at Luke xiv., and her eye fell on verses
12, 13--

_"But when thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends not
thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen nor thy rich neighbor, lest they also
call thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a
feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and thou shalt be
blessed; for they cannot recompense thee."_

She sat a moment recollecting that Jesus said,--

_"Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of
such is the kingdom of heaven;"_ and had also denounced woe on all such
as cause these little ones to offend, and declared that in heaven their
angels continually behold the face of the Father.

After a few minutes she turned to Nathan, who had replaced the brands
in hopes to bring back the vision by his "faculty divine," and
said,--"Brother, I wonder if it would not be better to make a little
change in our way of keeping Christmas. It is a good thing to call
together the family once a year,--our brothers and sisters and nephews
and nieces,--we all of us love the children so much, and have a good
time. I would not give that up. The dinner is very well; but the evening
goes off a little heavy; that whist playing, we both dislike it; so much
talk about such trifles. What if we should have a C