aid, bursting into tears.

"Well, dear aunty," said Elsie softly, "there is One who does feel for
you, and who is able to comfort you if you will only go to him. One who
loved you so well that he died to save you."

"No, no, Elsie! not me! He cannot care for me! He cannot love me, or he
would never have taken away my Ernest," she sobbed.

"Dear Aunt Adelaide," said Elsie's low, sweet voice, "we cannot always
tell what is best for us, and will make us happiest in the end.

"I remember once when I was a very little child, I was walking with mammy
in a part of my guardian's grounds where we seldom went. I was running on
before her, and I found a bush with some most beautiful red berries; they
looked delicious, and I hastily gathered some, and was just putting them
to my mouth when mammy, seeing what I was about, suddenly sprang forward,
snatched them out of my hand, threw them on the ground, and tramped upon
them; and then tearing up the bushes treated them in the same manner,
while I stood by crying and calling her a naughty, cross mammy, to take
my nice berries from me."

"Well," asked Adelaide, as the little girl paused in her narrative, "what
do you mean by your story? You haven't finished it, but, of course, the
berries were poisonous."

"Yes," said Elsie; "and mammy was wiser than I, and knew that what I so
earnestly coveted would do me great injury."

"And now for the application," said Adelaide, interrupting her; "you mean
that just as mammy was wiser than you, and took your treasure from you in
kindness, so God is wise and kind in taking mine from me; but ah! Elsie,
the analogy will not hold good; for my good, wise, kind Ernest could
never have harmed me as the poisonous berries would you. No, no, no, he
always did me good!" she cried with a passionate burst of grief.

Elsie waited until she grew calm again, and then said gently, "The Bible
says, dear aunty, that God 'does not willingly afflict nor grieve the
children of men.' Perhaps he saw that you loved your friend too well,
and would never give your heart to Jesus unless he took him away, and
so you could only live with him for a little while in this world. But
now he has taken him to heaven, I hope--for Lora told me Mr. St. Clair
was a Christian--and if you will only come to Jesus and take him for
your Saviour, you can look forward to spending a happy eternity there
with your friend.

"So, dear Aunt Adelaide, may we not believe that God, who is infin