The Angel Children | Page 6

had accomplished! And, as the words came upon Genevieve,
her heart trembled for fear, and had it not been for the remembrance of
those kind tones of Christ, poor Genevieve would have shrieked aloud.
What should she do? Rapidly she recalled every act of her life; but
nowhere in it could she find one act worthy to be brought before the
great bright angel. Alas! she had neither founded colleges nor hospitals;
she had never toiled in heathen lands, nor prophesied, nor delivered
slaves from bondage. Alas! must she lose those gardens when still so
near?
The angel's glance fell upon Genevieve, and she drooped down in fear;
but what was her surprise when the angel came down from the cloud,
and raising her up, said, in tones of loving cadence,
"Look, little one, thy work was accepted long ago!" and, looking as he
bade her, she saw Hepsa at her side, to whom, so long ago, she had
spoken of heaven, when she had found her a dirty, ignorant girl.
"You have worked well," said the angel tenderly. "Go now into the

garden, and ere long I will come to put you into the Christ's arms."
So Hepsa and Genevieve together walked through the gates, and the
angels who would be their teachers went with them; but I cannot tell
you of the beauty and glory of those scenes. I only beg you too to work
well, that the angel may speak as lovingly to you.

THE GARDEN OF GOD;
OR,
THE BABY'S FIRST SMILE.
In a very lovely little cottage, around which grew sweet-briers and
rose-trees, and up whose windows climbed honeysuckles and
jessamines, lived a mother with her baby.
The mother was a young woman, with golden hair, kind blue eyes, and
fair white skin. There was always a look of love in her eye, and in the
gentle tones of her voice the most soothing tenderness. People said the
baby looked like her; but he cried so much that his face was continually
distorted, and so the resemblance was not of any use to him.
Now there was a great deal of discussion about the baby's looks, as to
which he most resembled, his father or mother; some decided in favor
of his father, who was a tall man, with black hair, and black eyes, and
large, sharp features. It was a difficult question to answer, inasmuch as
the baby had yet but a very few hairs on his head, and his features were
not easily distinguishable; and as each person's decision affected only
his own opinion, there was a great deal of discussion and comparing of
the poor baby's little face with those of his parents, and, through dint of
being often shown them, the father and mother began to find the most
remarkable resemblance to each other in their little child.
Well, one day he had been crying very hard, and his poor mother was
nearly worn sick with trying to quiet him. She had walked all over the
house, shown him everything on the tables, taken up books and shaken

them before his eyes, carried him to the windows and cried "See there!
see there!" with fresh tones of love and pity, without his seeming to be
in the least edified by it all. She tossed him before the looking-glass;
but he did not seem to be comforted by the glimpse of himself, done up
in a blanket, which he caught; until, at last, after putting everything into
every place in which it didn't belong, and trying to make him look at
things he didn't care to see, she resolutely put him in the cradle, rocked
him with his head moving now on this and now on that side of the
pillow, until he fell fast asleep.
He had no sooner closed his eyes to sleep than he left his baby's body
in the cradle, and ran straight off to the gardens of God in heaven,
towards that place where dwell the angel-children who are yet to go
down and live upon the earth. As he came near the tall flowers, whose
golden petals were spread, and in whose cups lay sweet dew, he
clapped his hands with joy, and a bright smile lay on his lips, which
before had been distorted with grief.
Not far from him there rose a bright fountain, which, falling, dashed its
water gently down into a broad, silvery basin beneath. In the midst of
the falling spray a large bird, with long, blue plumage, played, now
diving beneath the water, and now catching the drops as they fell from
the fountain. Then came other birds, some in gay scarlet plumage, with
white feathers about their necks and at the tips of their wings and tails;
they, too, played