-and the child fell on her face at the dead man's feet.

Throughout that dreary night of agony, Edna lay on the bed where her
grandfather's body had been placed, holding one of the stiffened
hands folded in both hers, and pressed against her lips. She neither
wept nor moaned, the shock was too terrible to admit of noisy grief;
but completely stunned, she lay mute and desolate.

For the first time in her life she could not pray; she wanted to
turn away from the thought of God and heaven, for it seemed that she
had nothing left to pray for. That silver-haired, wrinkled old man
was the only father she had ever known; he had cradled her in his
sinewy arms, and slept clasping her to his heart; had taught her to
walk, and surrounded her with his warm, pitying love, making a home
of peace and blessedness for her young life. Giving him, in return,
the whole wealth of her affection, he had become the centre of all
her hopes, joys and aspirations; now what remained? Bitter,
rebellious feelings hardened her heart when she remembered that even
while she was kneeling, thanking God for his preservation from
illness, he had already passed away; nay, his sanctified spirit
probably poised its wings close to the Eternal Throne, and listened
to the prayer which she sent up to God for his welfare and happiness
and protection while on earth. The souls of our dead need not the
aid of Sandalphon to interpret the whispers that rise tremulously
from the world of sin and wrestling, that float up among the stars,
through the gates of pearl, down the golden streets of the New
Jerusalem. So we all trust, and prate of our faith, and deceive
ourselves with the fond hope that we are resigned to the Heavenly
Will; and we go on with a show of Christian reliance, while the
morning sun smiles in gladness and plenty, and the hymn of happy