.

"Then there were four blessings--no, five; but I can't remember the
fifth. The Ammal gave me a box for my doll, and you gave me some sweets;
and I found some nice rags in your waste-paper basket"--grubbing in
rag-bags and waste-paper baskets is one of the joys of life; rags are so
useful when you have a large family of dolls who are always wearing out
their clothes--"and I have some cakes in my own box now. There are four
blessings. But I forget the fifth."

I advised her to leave it, and begin, for the Imp was patiently waiting
her turn. She, good child, suggested the missing fifth must be the
soap--the Ammal had given each of them a piece the size of a walnut.
Yes, that was it apparently, for the Elf, contented, began--

"O loving Lord Jesus! I have done three wrong things to-day" (then
followed the details and prayer for forgiveness). "Lord, give L. grace
to do what I want her to do; and when she does not do it, Lord, give me
grace to be patient with her. I thank Thee for causing me to forgive
those little children who would not play the game I liked. Oh make them
good, and make me also good; and next time we play together give me
grace to play patiently with them. And oh, forgive all the bad things I
have done to-day; and I thank Thee very much for all the good things I
have done, for I did them by Thy grace." Praise for mercies followed in
order: the cardboard box, the lump of sugar-candy, the spoils from the
waste-paper basket, those sticky honey-cakes--which, to my disquietude,
I then understood were secreted in her seeley box--and that precious bit
of soap. Then--and this is never omitted--a fervently expressed desire
for safe preservation for herself and her friends from "the bites of
snakes and scorpions, and all other noxious creatures, through the
darkness of the night, and when I wake may I find myself at Thy holy
feet. Amen."

No matter how sleepy she is, these last phrases, which are quite of her
own devising, are always included in the tail-end of her prayer. She
would not feel at all safe on her mat, spread on the ground out of doors
in hot weather, unless she had so fortified herself from all attacks of
the reptile world. And when, one day, we discovered a nest of some few
dozen scorpions within six yards of her mat, not one of which had ever
disturbed her or any of her "friends," we really did feel that funny
little prayer had power in it after all.

You cannot interrupt in the middle of those