saving a little boy, old Marie who had fallen dead under a sunstroke,
and lame Pierre was there and Jeanne and still another Jeanne.

Then the poet rose to do them honor, and said unto them:

"Sit down in my place, it is meet that you should be near God."

And God smiled because he knew in advance what their answer would be.

"Our happiness is service. This puts us close to God. Do you not serve
your father and mother? Do they not serve Him who serves us?"

And suddenly he saw that the table had grown larger and that new
guests were seated about it. They were the father and mother of his
mother and father, and the generations that had gone before them.

Evening fell. The older of the people slumbered. Love held the poet
and his sweetheart. But God to whom they had done honor, took up his
way again like the poor on the great highways, those who have only a
morsel of bread in their wallet, and whom the magistrates arrest at
the town gates, and throw into prison, since they know not how to
write their name.




CHARITY CHILDREN


One day the souls of the charity children cried out to God. It was on