tly, "for
he is always near and able to help us, no matter what our trouble may be."

"Yes," said her father. "'Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will
deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me.' 'Then shall ye call upon me, and
ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall
seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.'
God looks at the heart, my children, and will not hear and answer us if we
approach him with lip service only, not really wanting what we are asking
for."

"Yes, papa," said Elsie; "but I do really want the new heart I ask him
for. So he will give it to me; won't he?"

"Yes, daughter, for he has said so, and his promises never fail."

"I want to go to mamma now," said Neddie, getting down from his father's
knee.

"Yes, run along," said the captain. "Our lesson has been long enough for
to-day, I think, daughters, and you are all at liberty to go. You, Grace,
are looking weary, and it would be well for both you and Elsie to take a
nap: Lucilla also, if she wishes," he added, with a kindly glance at her.

"Thank you, papa, but I do not care to," she answered, as the others
hastened away; "the breeze makes it very pleasant here on deck."

"Yes, and you can rest nicely in one of these steamer chairs." Then,
taking a keener look into her face, "But something seems to be troubling
you, dear child. Tell your father what it is, that he may help and comfort
you," he added, in very tender tones, taking her hands and drawing her to
a seat close at his side.

"Oh, papa, it is that I am--I am afraid I have been deceiving myself and
am not really a Christian," she said, with a half sob and hiding her face
on his shoulders. "There is so little, if any, of the fruit of the Spirit
in me--no gentleness, goodness, meekness--though I do love Jesus and long
to be like him."

"In that case, dear child, I am sure you are one of his," he answered low
and tenderly. "Love is put first in the list and I have seen, to my great
joy, a steady growth in you of longsuffering, gentleness, and meekness.
Jesus said, 'By their fruits ye shall know them,' and I think that, though
far from perfect, yet my dear eldest daughter does show by her life that
she is earnestly striving to bring forth in it the fruit of the Spirit.
'The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more
unto the perfect day.' We are not made perfect in a moment, but are to
grow in grace, bec