Chapter Eight - The End

by Sallie Chester
Edited by Amber Moeller

In the morning they had a great frolic in the little girls' bed; and while their fun was at its height they heard a sharp tap on the door.

"Come in." said Lizzie.

The door opened and Miss Ellen stepped in. She was smiling this morning. Miss Ellen could smile, Lizzie found out.

"I am very much obliged for the beautiful flowers you gave me," said she. "I shall have to press some of them and keep them to remember you by."

"Press the pink geranium, please," said Lizzie eagerly.

"I shall," said Miss Ellen, "for it is a lovely flower. I am very fond of geraniums, and that is a very pretty one. Did it come from your garden, Lizzie?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Lizzie.

"That was Lizzie's favorite one of all," said Gracie. "That's why she gave it up to you."

"Hush," said Lizzie, pinching Gracie's arm and hiding her blushes under the bedclothes.

"I am glad you told me," said Miss Ellen, "for now I shall think a great deal more of it. Lizzie, you are a good child."

Miss Ellen disappeared and the door closed after her. Then Lizzie's head popped into sight again.

"Everything goes to make me feel ashamed," said Lizzie, sighing, "The more they call me good, the badder I do feel myself to be."

That morning at prayers papa read the chapter in Romans that has these words in it: "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

"There is a lesson in these words for us to learn," said papa. "It is the lesson of love. There is nothing makes us love our friends do much as to have them treat us kindly when we do not deserve it; and if we could only remember God is treating us kindly all the time when we do not deserve it, I think we would love Him with our whole hearts every moment of the time.

"Christ died for us while we were sinners, and God, our Father, takes care of us while we are doing wrong and grieving Him. He doesn't take away the sunshine from us, or turn us out of our happy homes, because we are doing wrong. We should realize God's love to us just as much as if we could see His kind face looking at us in this room. If a friend whom we had injured were sitting here smiling at us kindly, we would be ashamed and sorry for what we had done. So we must try to see our heavenly Father's face, with love and sorrow in it, looking at us, when we have sinned against him; and we shall be sorry and ashamed that we shall beg Him to forgive us our sins."

This lesson was one that Gracie and Lizzie and Bobby learned through Miss Ellen's forgiveness, and one that they believed they should never forget in their whole lives.

Once that morning, when Lizzie was alone with her mamma, Mrs. Swallow gave her two little love-pats on her rosy cheeks and said, "I think Lizzie was the best helper yesterday, because she gave up the pink geranium."

"Lizzie," said mamma, "I believe that every good thing a child does keeps one wrinkle out of its mother's face. If you know any little girls who want their mammas to stay fresh and young, just tell them to be good; for it is worrying that makes wrinkles and crow-feet and gray hairs. Let any little girl who wants to lighten her mother's burdens be naughty as seldom as possible, and sorry when she is naughty; and she shall see how that will help her mamma."

THE END

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