with thanksgiving. She feels no regret because of her vow. Her child
became a great blessing to many people, and the Lord gave her other sons
and daughters to cheer her heart.

By reading the story we find that "the child Samuel grew and was in
favor both with the Lord and also with men." Why was this? In answer to
his devoted mother's prayer, the Holy Spirit hovered over that child,
shielding him from the cruel darts and arrows of the enemy. He had been
taught the ways of the Lord from his cradle and his life was fully
consecrated to God.

A different scene comes before me now--a scene that brings a shudder.
Upon a ship sailing along the shores of France were a man and his wife
on their way to join a band of villainous people in India. Being on a
secret mission, they traveled slowly and carefully. It was a tedious and
dangerous journey. One stormy day, on the Bay of Biscay, a child was
born to them.

No loving welcome from the lips of a prayerful parent awaited this poor
little innocent child; instead, curses were his portion, and, by the
order of his mother, he was cast aside in a pile of rubbish to die. By
chance the father passed that way and, finding his child's poor little
perishing form, picked it up, took it to his wife, and commanded her to
see that it was cared for.

As the child grew and developed in this atmosphere of sin and
degradation, is it strange that he partook of his parents' nature and
developed even worse habits than they? Unless the proper home influence
is thrown around a child, he can not help suffering from the inherited
sins of his parents.