failed! Forgive me," she said to Sorrow, "and when you are weary and
need rest, come to our cottage."

Sorrow gave her a sad but heavenly smile, and the sisters departed to
the next abode.

"Did you ever see them before?" asked the children of their grandparents
after the sisters had gone.

"Often: they have been going round the world for ages," answered
their grandparents.

"But Joy looks so young, grandpa."

"That's because she has naught to do with trouble. She belongs to the
bright side. She carries good tidings and pleasure to all; while Sorrow,
her sister, administers the woes."

"But Joy is good not to leave her sister."

"She cannot," said the grandparent.

"Cannot! Why?"

"Because Providence has so ordered it that Joy and Sorrow go hand in
hand,--pleasure and pain. No two forces in nature which are alike are
coupled. Day and night, sunshine and shadow, pleasure and pain, forever."

"But I should like to have Joy stay with us," said Helen, the youngest,
to her grandparent.