attended to
its food, got up with it at night, and even when I was well enough to
take it with me again, she was hardly willing to give it up.

"All this watching and nursing was too much for Aunt Barbara; she has
never been well since. When her rheumatism keeps her awake at night, she
is often irritable and inclined to find fault the next day. When I feel
tempted to be out of patience with her, I have only to remember that it
was for me and my little baby she came here, and that for us she
wearied herself until her health gave way."

"Mother," said Hatty, in a whisper, "was I that little sickly baby that
Aunt Barbara was so patient with?"

"Yes, my darling," was Mrs. Lee's reply.

The many impertinent, hasty, impatient words that she had spoken to her
old aunt, returned to Hatty's mind, and she resolved to ask God to give
her strength to make amends for the past.

"It is a sad truth," said Mrs. Lee, "that old people have much less
patience shown towards them than little children have, yet they need it
quite as much. God has so arranged it, that those who are watched over
and taken care of when they are helpless babes, should in their turn
nurse and comfort the feeble old age of their parents. Remember, my
children, old age makes people in one way like infants; that is, it
leads them to be irritable and troublesome, and often helpless, and
these defects should be borne with tenderly, as your father or I would
soothe that dear baby on Hatty's lap. God has taught in his holy book
the greatest respect to the aged, and his eye sees with displeasure
even a rude look cast towards one who is grey-haired."

The children were all silent. Mrs. Lee saw that they were moved, and in
her heart she prayed that God would grant a blessing upon the earnest
words she had spoken, and save her dear ones from falling into the sin
so offensive to the Holy One of Israel.

IV.

When Hatty went to bed, on the evening of her return, she found Meg fast
asleep, and apparently as much at home as if she had always had a right
to talk of "our room," instead of being one of the children in the
nursery.

Hatty looked at the little brown face lying on the pillow, and the long
dark lashes hiding the mischievous eyes, and she felt that she loved her
little sister dearly, and would be willing to be put to a great deal of
inconvenience to be of service to her. When Hatty knelt that night in
the quiet closet her mother had given up to her u