“When I first came here,” she said, “Susy used to cry a great deal whenever she was hurt or punished.  When she was sick she was very hard to please.  When she sat down to learn to sew and to read and to write, she would break her thread in anger, or throw her book on the floor, or declare she never could learn.  But now she has left off crying when she is hurt, and tries to bear the pain quietly.  When she is sick she does not fret or complain, but takes her medicine without a word.  When she is sewing she does not twitch her thread into knots, and when she is writing she writes slowly and carefully.  I have rocked her to sleep a thousand times.  I have been shut up in a closet with her again and again, and I hope I have done her some good and taught her some useful lessons.”

“Indeed you have, Aunt Patience,” said Susy’s papa, “but Susy is not yet perfect.  We shall need you six years longer.”

And now the little angel Faith opened his golden book and began to read: 

“I have taught Susy that there is another world besides this, and have told her that it is her real home, and what a beautiful and happy one it is.  I have told her a great deal about Jesus and the holy angels.  I do not know much myself.  I am not very old, but if I stay here six years longer I shall grow wiser and I will teach Susy all I learn, and we will pray together every morning and every night, till at last she loves the Lord Jesus with all her heart and soul and mind and strength.”

Then Susy’s papa and mamma looked at each other and smiled, and they both said: 

“Oh, beautiful angel, never leave her!”

And the angel answered: 

“I will stay with her as long as she lives, and will never leave her till I leave her at the very door of heaven.”

Then the teachers began to put up their books, and Susy’s papa and mamma kissed her, and said: 

“We have had a great deal of comfort in our little daughter; and, with God’s blessing, we shall see her grow up a loving, patient, and obedient child—­full of joy and peace and rich in faith and good works.”

So they all bade each other good-night and went thankfully to bed.

The next entry in the journal notes a trait of character, or rather of temperament, which often excited the wonder and also the anxiety of her friends.  It caused her no little discomfort, but she could never withstand its power.

March 21st.—­I have been busy with a sewing fit and find the least interesting piece of work I can get hold of, as great a temptation as the most charming.  For if its charm does not absorb my time and thoughts, the eager haste to finish and get it out of the way, does.  This is my life.  I either am stupefied by ill-health or sorrow, so as to feel no interest in anything, or am absorbed in whatever business, work or pleasure I have on hand.