really felt relieved when the meeting closed and she could return.

Upon entering her home she immediately asked her husband, "How is
Louise?" He answered that she had been very naughty and cross and that
he had been obliged to punish her. This news increased the mother's
fears. Feeling of the child's head, she found it hot and feverish.

As Louise continued to grow worse, at two o'clock in the morning Mrs.
Worthington thought it best to examine the child's throat; but when the
mother asked the little girl to open her mouth, she said, "Mama, I
can't."

"What!" exclaimed the mother, "you can not open your mouth! Why, child,
what is the matter with you?" Although Louise tried repeatedly to open
her mouth, she could force her teeth apart only about an eighth of an
inch, and only with great difficulty could she speak.

By this time Mr. Worthington had fully awakened to the fact that
something serious was troubling his child, and he sprang to her side. As
soon as possible they summoned a doctor. He found that the cut on her
hand had caused lockjaw, but said that there was no cause for alarm. The
parents, however, felt very anxious and called in several doctors for
consultation. They found that it was too late to do anything for the
child. "The course of this disease," said the doctors, "is usually very
rapid; and we are sorry that we can offer no hope."

When Mrs. Worthington heard the doctors' verdict, anguish such as she
had never experienced before filled her soul. Her thoughts went back to
the previous night. Oh! why had she not examined the child closely
then? In her distress she cried to the Lord, saying, "Dear Lord, what