looking up
suddenly, she said--"Uncle True, what does Samuel pray to God for?"

True stared. "Samuel!--pray!--I guess I don't know exactly what you're
saying."

"Why," said Gerty, holding up the image, "Willie says this little boy's
name is Samuel; and that he sits on his knees, and puts his hands on his
breast _so_, and looks up, because he's praying to God, that lives up in
the sky. I don't know what he means--_way_ up in the sky--do you?"

True took the image and looked at it attentively; scratched his head,
and said--"Well, I s'pose he's about right. This 'ere child is prayin',
sartain, though I didn't think on it afore. But I don't jist know what
he calls it a Samuel for. We'll ask him sometime."

"Well, what does he pray for, Uncle True?"

"Oh, he prays to make him good: it makes folks good to pray to God."

"Can God make folks good?"

"Yes. God is very great; He can do anything."

"How can He _hear_?"

"He hears and sees everything in the world."

"And does He live in the sky?"

"Yes," said True--"in heaven."

Many more questions Gerty asked, which True could not answer; many
questions that he had never asked himself. True had a humble, loving
heart, and a child-like faith; he had enjoyed but little religious
instruction, but he earnestly tried to live up to the light he had. True
had never inquired into the sources of belief, and he was not prepared
to answer the questions suggested by the inquisitive mind of little
Gerty. He answered her as well as he could, however; and, where he was
at fault, referred her to Willie, who, he told her, went to
Sunday-school, and knew a great deal about such things. All the
information that Gerty could gain amounted to the knowledge of these
facts: that God was in heaven; that His power was great; and that people
were made better by prayer. But her mind was so intent upon the subject,
that the thought even of sleeping in her new room could not efface it.
After she had gone to bed, with the white image hugged close to her
bosom, and True had taken away the lamp, she lay for a long time with
her eyes wide open. Just at the foot of the bed was the window. The sky
was bright with stars; and they revived her old wonder and curiosity as
to the Author of such distant and brilliant lights. As she gazed, there
darted through her mind the thought, "God lit them! Oh, how great He
must be! But a _child_ might pray to Him!" She rose from her little bed,
approached the window,