The Angel Children | Page 4

read, that she might know about God.
[Illustration: GENEVIEVE READING THE BIBLE TO HEPSA.]
On the next day she took some of her books, and, with some of her
prettiest playthings for a present to Hepsa, she went in search of the
house down the lane, on the other side of the village.
She found a gentler pupil than on the day before; and Hepsa's hair was
laid smoothly upon her forehead, her face clean, and though there were
some tatters in her dress, Genevieve did not much mind them.
The baby was in his cradle, fast asleep, and Genevieve went and knelt
down by the side of it, and looked at it carefully, as though she was
afraid of awaking it, and then whispered to Hepsa her admiration of the
little hands, which lay cunningly upon the quilt, and said how much she
wanted to kiss him; would he wake, she wondered, if she just kissed his
cheek, and didn't make any noise? Hepsa told her no; so she kissed him;
and then, after looking at him to see how sweetly he slept,--now

frowning, and now smiling in his dreams,--she went away with Hepsa,
and they talked a great while together, telling each other what the other
didn't know. Genevieve was often shocked and grieved at Hepsa's
undutiful remarks about her father, mother and brother; and when she
felt they didn't love Hepsa, as her own dear father and mother loved her,
still she could not understand why Hepsa did not love them better. She
was often a good deal perplexed to know what she should say to the
strange child; but of one thing she felt always certain, that her new
companion needed to have her heart cleansed and purified before she
could be loved well. She felt a strong love for Hepsa, and longed to
teach her more of God, and show her how to read, that she might teach
herself.
Hepsa was amazed when her friend took out the playthings from the
bag and gave them to her; no one had before shown her such kindness;
and Genevieve thought in her heart she was just as happy giving those
things to Hepsa, as when they were given to her.
Poor Hepsa had never been to school, and so she didn't even know the
alphabet; but Genevieve sat down patiently to teach her, and found
truly that much patience was necessary to accomplish the work she had
undertaken. Hepsa would soon grow discouraged when she found so
much to learn, and saw her little teacher reading so readily; and her
mother would often scold when she saw Hepsa with a book in her hand,
declaring it was foolish nonsense; but, as time went on, and the first
difficulties were overcome, and her mother began to find Hepsa
growing very gentle, and Tom had less occasion to plague his sister,
they all felt that the books Hepsa had studied, and the little girl who
came so often to see her, were kind friends, and love began to bind
them all together. Hepsa no longer wore torn clothes; Genevieve's
mother had given her some neat dresses, and Genevieve had given her
needles and thread, and taught her to sew, and now many a rent was
carefully mended, and even Tom began to look neater than formerly.
She was careful too to keep the room nicely, and one day was amply
rewarded for this, when Tom came in before she had had time to do it,
and complained of its being dirty. "Tom begins to like a clean room,"
she said to herself with joy, and received his few harsh words as though

they had been those of love. The baby too was always clean, for she
knew Genevieve always depended upon kissing him.
Hepsa's father was not a good man; he was unkind to his poor wife and
children; so it was no wonder Tom had gone on, following the example
constantly placed before him; but he was a child yet, and when he saw
how Hepsa began to love him, that she grieved without being angry
when he was unkind to her, it could not but touch his heart. He was half
ashamed, too, when she saved for him some of the good things
Genevieve had brought her. At first, 't is true, he thought little about it,
but when often, after he had been so ugly to her, she came just the same,
and offered him half of her orange, or a part of her nuts, he began to
feel that he was a naughty boy, and that Hepsa was better than she used
to be.
It was very natural he should ask her the reason of this, and very natural,
too, that she should answer in this way: