at the failure of their plan, and Theresa, when asked to explain herself, said: “I ran away because I want to see God, and because I must die before I see Him.” Another childish enterprise was the construction, in the garden, of a little hermitage, in which Theresa and her brother Roderick expected to live like hermits in the desert, spending their time in fasting and prayer. But this plan, like the other, proved a failure; for the baby hermitage was not “founded upon a rock,” and when the rain descended and the wind blew, it fell, and one morning the children arose to find it only a heap of stones.
In the pastimes and plays of children the atmosphere of the times is often clearly manifested. Of all the countries in Europe, Spain had retained the most religious zeal and enthusiasm. The constant presence of the Moors for so many centuries, and the difficulty of subduing the followers of Mahomet, had united the whole Spanish nation in a loyal, almost fanatical devotion to their Church. While in Germany, France, and England the Catholic
