o to God?"
"You ask me a difficult question, my little boy," said I. "Is it,
sir?" said the child, "I am not afraid to die, and I know I shall
die." "Well, child, I should not be afraid to change states with you;
for if such as you do not go to God, I do not know what will become of
such as myself; and from what I know of you, I firmly believe that
you will, and all like you; but you know what I used to tell you at
school." "Yes, sir, I do; you used to tell me that I should pray to
God to assist me to do to others as I would that they should do to
me, as the hymn says; and mother knows that I always said my prayers,
night and morning; and I used to pray for father and mother, master
and governess, and every body else." "Yes, my little man, this is part
of our duty; we should pray for every one; and, I think, if God sees
it needful, he will answer our prayers, especially when they come from
the heart." Here the child attempted to speak, but could not, but
waved his hand, in token of gratitude for my having called; and I can
truly say, that I never saw so much confidence, resignation, and true
dependence on the divine will, manifested by any grown person, on a
death-bed, much less by a child under the tender age of seven years. I
bade the child adieu, and was much impressed with what I had seen. The
next day the mother called on me, and informed me that the child had
quitted his tenement of clay; and that just before his departure had
said to her, and those around him, that the souls of children never
die; it was only the body that died; that he had been told at school,
while they were saying the pictures, that the soul went to God, who
gave it. The mother said that these were the last words the child
was known to utter. She then repeated the request about the children
singing a hymn over his grave, and named the hymn she wished to
have sung. The time arrived for the funeral, and the parents of the
children who were to sing the hymn made them very neat and clean, and
sent them to school. I sent them to the house whence the funeral was
to proceed, and the undertaker sent word that he could not be troubled
with such little creatures, and that unless I attended myself the
children could not go. I told him that I was confident that the
children would be no trouble to him, if he only told them to follow
the mourners two and two, and that it was unnecessary for any one to
interfere with them further than shewing them the way bac