there was such a thing as zeal, and then she set it on fire. What she
had begun in life she finished in her death. Evan attended her funeral
services, and the walls were hung with Bible texts of her selection. The
most wonderful texts! All about Christian work, and about being in
earnest, because the time was short. Evan says he began to understand,
then, that the service of Christ was first, best, and always.

"Wasn't it a singular Providence that led him under the influence of
that young girl during the closing weeks of her life? Only think, he has
been doing her work ever since,--doing it, possibly, in ways that she
could not compass. That is one reason why I am so much interested in
those boys. It seems to me as though they were her boys. Did I tell you
that her heart went out especially after the neglected? I learned about
the boys through Mr. Ried. He was but a child when his sister died, and
yet she succeeded in so enthusing him with her ideas that he is all the
time trying to carry out her plans. She had some wonderful ones. This
idea of inviting the boys, socially, I had from her. Do you see how
plainly she is working yet, though she has been in heaven so long?"

"Do you think," asked Gracie Dennis, a timid, gentle sound to her voice,
"that all Christians ought to put religion 'first, best, and always,' as
your husband said? I fancied that some were set apart to do a special
work."

"We are all set apart, dear, don't you think? Given to Him to use as
He will. The trouble is that so many of us take back the gifts, and use
our time and our tongues as though they were our own."

"Our _tongues_!" repeated Gracie, amazement in her voice.