I cannot well describe my astonishment and grief of heart, on being
installed in my new and otherwise happy, delightful home, to find
wanting a _family altar_. I had indeed the comfort of knowing that in my
own distant home the "absent child" was never for once forgotten, when
the dear circle gathered for family worship.

So certain was the belief which my parents entertained that an
indispensable portion was to be obtained for each child in going in unto
the King of kings, that in case of a mere temporary sickness, if at all
consistent, family prayer was had in the room of the invalid. Not even a
blessing was invoked at the morning meal till every child was found in
the right seat. In case of a delinquency, perhaps not a word of rebuke
was uttered, but that silent, _patient waiting_, was rebuke enough for
even the most tardy.

It was felt, I believe, by each member of the family, that there was
meaning in the every-day, earnest petition, "May we all be found
_actually_ and _habitually_ ready for death, our great and last change."
My father did not pray as an old lady is said to have done each day,
"that God would bless her descendants as long as grass should grow or
water should run." But there was something in his prayers equivalent to
this. He did seldom omit to pray that God would bless his children and
his children's children to the latest generation.

Oh how often, while absent, did my mind revert to that assembled group
at home! Nothing, I believe, serves to bind the hearts of children so
closely to their parents and to each other as this taking messages for
each other to the court of heaven. Never before did I realize that each
brother and sister were to me a second self.