figures, and to hear only tones of prayerand that He does not also love to see the lambs leaping in the sunlight, and to hear the merry voices of the children, as they roll among the hay? Surely their innocent laughter is as sweet in His ears as the grandest anthem that ever rolled up from the "dim religious light" of some solemn cathedral?
And if I have written anything to add to those stories of innocent and healthy amusement that are laid up in books for the children I love so well, it is surely something I may hope to look back upon without shame and sorrow (as how much of life must then be recalled!) when my turn comes to walk through the valley of shadows.
This Easter sun will rise on you, dear child, "feeling your life in every limb," and eager to rush out into the fresh morning airand many an Easter-day will come and go, before it finds you feeble and gray-headed, creeping wearily out to bask once more in the sunlightbut it is good, even now, to think sometimes of that great morning when the "Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings."
Surely your gladness need not be the less for the thought that you will one day see a brighter dawn than thiswhen lovelier sights will meet your eyes than any waving trees or rippling waterswhen angel-hands shall undraw your curtains, and sweeter tones than ever loving Mother breathed shall wake you to a new and glorious dayand when all the sadness, and the sin, that darkened life on this little earth, shall be forgotten like the dreams of a night that is past!
Easter, 1876
