ed by your neighbors whose feeble intellects fail to appreciate
your strenuous efforts to push forward the car of progress in their
midst; but the consolations expressed in this poem bring balm to every
wounded spirit.

"I know as my life grows older,
And mine eyes have clearer sight,
That under each rank wrong, somewhere,
There lies the root of right.
That each sorrow has its purpose
By the suffering oft unguessed;
But as sure as the sun brings morning,
Whatever is, is best.

"I know that each sinful action,
As sure as the night brings shade,
Is some time, somewhere punished,
Though the hour be long delayed.
I know that the soul is aided
Sometimes, by the heart's unrest,
And to grow, means often to suffer;
But whatever is, is best.

"I know there are no errors
In the great eternal plan,
And all things work together
For the final good of man.
And I know when my soul speeds onward
In the grand eternal quest,
I shall say, as I look earthward,
Whatever is, is best."

CHAPTER XIII.

THE ANGELS OF LIFE AND DEATH.

By and by unwonted silence and anxiety reigned in our house. The
family doctor remained all night, then a faint cry was heard, and
little baby May came into this world of ours,

"The gates of heaven were left ajar;
With clasping hands and dreamy eyes,
Wandering out of paradise,
She saw this planet, like a star;
We felt we had a link between
This real world and that unseen."

These beautiful lines of one of the sweetest of earth's singers, came
to us like a new revelation at the advent of our first-born, as also
those other immortal words--

"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting,
The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar.
Not in entire forgetfulness
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From heaven, which is our home."

Our little vocalist commenced rehearsing for her chosen profession the
very minute that she first saw the light, and she certainly continued
the development of her lungs with marvelous persistency. Then her
numerous grandparents, uncles, and aunts all vied with each other in
petting and spoiling the one pet lamb of the several families, and she
basked in the sunshine of unlimited affection.

A few bright years sped by, all roseate with love, prosperity and
conte