CHAPTER VII.

ANOTHER SUNDAY EVENING.





During all this time Connie made no very perceptible progress--in the
recovery of her bodily powers, I mean, for her heart and mind advanced
remarkably. We held our Sunday-evening assemblies in her room pretty
regularly, my occasional absence in the exercise of my duties alone
interfering with them. In connection with one of these, I will show how
I came at length to make up my mind as to what I would endeavour to
keep before me as my object in the training of little Theodora, always
remembering that my preparation might be used for a very different end
from what I purposed. If my intention was right, the fact that it might be
turned aside would not trouble me.

We had spoken a good deal together about the infancy and childhood of
Jesus, about the shepherds, and the wise men, and the star in the east, and
the children of Bethlehem. I encouraged the thoughts of all the children to
rest and brood upon the fragments that are given us, and, believing that
the imagination is one of the most powerful of all the faculties for aiding
the growth of truth in the mind, I would ask them questions as to what they
thought he might have said or done in ordinary family occurrences, thus