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dine at midday with Mother and Father. In the afternoon they go to The
Children's Service. They have tea in the drawing-room with Mother and
Father. Father and Mother are Calvinists.

In the evening, Father and Mother sit, one on either side of the hearth;
Father reading a weekly religious paper devoted to the creed of Calvin;
Mother reading another religious paper devoted to the creed of Calvin.
Throughout the day the children are never allowed to sing or hum any
tune that may be called profane. They are never allowed to hop, skip, or
jump. They are told that Jesus will not be pleased with them if they do.
They are not allowed to read secular books or look at pagan pictures. In
the afternoon, they are given Dore's Bible and an illustrated "Paradise
Lost" or "Pilgrim's Progress." In the evening, after tea (which carries
with it one piece of seed-cake as a special treat), they are seated,
with injunctions to silence, at the table, away from the fire, and set
to finding Bible texts from one given keyword. The one who finds most
texts gets a cake to go to bed with; the other gets nothing.

So Ethel and Johnnie are at work, from six in the evening until nine
o'clock, scratching through a small-type Bible for flavourless
aphorisms. Ethel is set to find six texts, and finds four of them, when
she perceives something funny in one of them. She shows it to Johnnie,
and they both giggle. Father looks up severely, and warns her. Then
Johnnie, not to be outdone, remembers something he has heard about at
school, and hunts through the Book of Kings to find it. He finds it. It
is funnier still; and he shows it to Ethel. She giggles again. Father
looks up reprovingly at her. She tries to maintain composure of face,
but just then Johnnie pinches her knee, so that she squeals with
long-pent-up laughter.

Father and Mother get up. Her Bible is taken from her. Her pencil and
paper are taken from her. She is made to stand on the hearthrug, with
her hands behind her, while Mother and Father lecture her on Blasphemy.
The bell is then rung, and Nurse is sent for. She is handed over to
Nurse, with pitiless instructions. Nurse then takes her to her room,
where she is undressed, put to bed, and severely slapped.

It is Sunday.... Over her little bed is a text in letters of flame:
"_Thou God seest me!_" After burning with indignation and humiliation
for some time, she falls at last to sleep, with an unspoken prayer of
thanksgiving to her H