Once a master said to a child:

"If thou wilt study diligently, learn, and do good unto others, thy
face shall be filled with light."

So the child studied busily, learned, and sought how she could do good
unto others. And every little while she ran to the glass to see if the
light was coming. But at each time she was disappointed. No light was
there. Try as faithfully as she would, and look as often as she would,
it was always the same.

I do not know if she doubted the master or not; but it is certain she
did not know what to make of it. She grieved, and day after day her
disappointment grew. At length she could bear it no longer, so she
went to the master and said:

"Dear master, I have been so diligent! I have tried to learn and to do
good unto others. Yet every time I have sought in my face the light
_which you promised_, it has not been there. No, not a single time."

Now the master listened intently, and watching her face as she spoke,
he said:

"Thou poor little one, in this moment, as thou hast spoken to me, thy
face has been so filled with light that thou wouldst not believe. And
dost thou know why? It is because every word thou hast spoken in this
moment has come from thy heart.

"Thou must learn _in the first days_ this lesson: When the thought and