Katherine Merritte Yates

“ However, Jimmie kept bravely on, climbing the steps of every house on both sides of the street for the whole length of the block, but to no purpose; no one seemed to own the rabbit, and at last Jimmie sat down on the steps of his own home, still hugging the homeless rabbit and thinking that he would rest for a few minutes and then try the next block.
"I am not tired," said Jimmie sturdily to himself, as he stroked the rabbit lovingly. "God's child can't be tired, for He said so, and the little bunny isn't lost, either. Nothing can be lost, in God's world, and I ought to know it. ”

“ Oh, I can't bear it, Ronald, I can't! Why must I stay always and always in the dark, when other people can see the sun and the flowers and the sea and all the beautiful things? What did I do, Ronald? I wasn't a bad girl; I tried to be good, and I said my prayers to God every night, and what does He punish me this way for? The minister says He took my sight away to make me love Him and depend upon Him more, but how can I love Him, Ronald, when He did such a dreadful thing to me? How can I?" The little girl broke down, sobbing hysterically. ”

“ Love is the opposite of hate, and I do love everybody, everybody there is, and mortal mind can't make me think any different." Marie was doing her work out loud, and was doing it well and with zeal.
"And what's the opposite of being afraid?" asked Bertha, clutching her sister's hand tighter, as she saw a red cap appear around the corner of the fence.
Marie bent over and kissed the little one. "It's trust, dearie. Trust in God, that he won't let anything hurt you. Just keep saying to yourself that you do trust God, and are not afraid. Isn't that right, Frances?" ”

“ You have caught the true idea,—the truth itself. Little one, you have the understanding, your eyes will surely be opened. Now we will go straight to God and tell Him that we know that all good is ours. ”

“ Caroline looked up, patting the pretty teacher's hand, softly. "How did you know it?" she asked, seriously.
The teacher hesitated. "Why, I hardly know," she said, "only you both seem to be strong and loving, and always to have your wits about you. That is the reason I chose you instead of some of the older girls. By the way, you used to be such a timid little girl, Caroline," she added, as if just remembering." What has made the difference?"
"Christian Science," said Caroline, softly, and Mabelle nodded her head several times, in approval. ”

“ Some never knew about it, and some began going through the swamp again just for the excitement of fighting the dwarfs, and wading in the muddy pools, and playing on the islands; and the hedge grew up between, and it was lost sight of, and no one knew where it was. We are breaking down the hedge now, though," she added, happily. "See, each of us breaks off a branch wherever he can, and it is growing thinner and thinner, and by-and-by it will be all broken down and then everyone can see the high-road and will come up out of the swamp." ”

“ I said that I hadn't been bad and so Mamma wouldn't want to punish me, and then Bridget said that probably Mamma took them just to warn me not to be bad. I said that wouldn't be a sensible way to do at all; and then she said that maybe Mamma took them so that I would love her more and think of her more; that probably she was jealous of the beads and was afraid that I would care more for them than I did for her, and that very likely she had burned them up so that I wouldn't ever see them again. And then I believed her! ”

“ Now, Bunny, don't you worry, for you have a nice home, and God knows just where it is, and where you are, so you needn't ever think you're lost." He hid his face for a moment in the soft fur. "We're glad we know Christian Science, aren't we, Bunny?" he whispered, "for then we know we are always safe, and never tired or afraid." ”

“ The story is but the symbol of a greater truth lying behind and inspiring it, just as man, as we seem to see him, is but the imperfect symbol of the perfect man which is, the only man, the man which we should learn to recognize despite the appearance which he seems to show to us. ”

“ It is yellow like the center of the daisy, only it has a shiny gloss, like varnish, all over the petals; and a cowslip is just like it only bigger. You see, I do remember."
The lady was idly wondering what sort of a new game this might be, and the sweet childish voice went on:
"This is a wild rose. Oh, Ronald, isn't it sweet! I could tell it by its fragrance without even touching it. Now listen; a wild rose is colored a lovely soft pink, with a little yellow sun in the center, that sends out tiny, yellow rays all around. I can feel them with my fingers. ”

“ Once, when I was a very little girl, only six years old, just before things began to get dim, Mamma gave me a lovely string of coral beads,—these, you see,—and I liked them better than anything I had ever had, and Mamma let me wear them all the time. One day in winter I was sitting on the rug before the fire playing with my kitten, and I took off my beads for Kitty to run after, and by and by I laid them out in a circle on the rug and began to count them, and I grew sleepy and went sound asleep. ”

“ When Will had climbed over the fence again, Dicky's tears began to fall so that he could hardly see as he stumbled around in the long grass. "I didn't want to lose that ball," he sobbed. Then suddenly he remembered something that he had heard his papa say not long ago. "I use Christian Science for everything, all day, and every day, and it always helps me." That was what he had said.
Dicky brushed his tears away. "I wonder if I could use it to find this ball," he thought. Then he climbed up on the fence and covered his eyes with his hand as he had seen Mamma do. ”

“ Many long talks the lady and the little girl had together; the child listening eagerly to teaching concerning our God who is only kind and loving, and who never tortures His children, not even "for their own good," since He knows that the good is theirs without need of torture. The children of earth torture themselves, that is all. Then there were long periods of silent prayer and communion with God, and the realization that "All that God has created is Good." ”

“ I think we have to use common sense in Science, and not go into danger just to show off. You know that Jesus wouldn't throw himself down from the high place, but said 'thou shalt not tempt.'"
"But suppose we had to go across the field," said Mattie, stubbornly.
"That would be very different," said Walter. "If we had to do it, and there wasn't any other way, we would climb over and go right straight across, and work in Science, to know that God was protecting us, all the way; but when there isn't any reason for going that way, I don't think it would be right. What do you think, Helen?" ”

“ Errors always get to fighting among themselves, and destroy everything that they try to do. They are nothing, and they can do nothing."
And so Marjorie and the Dream and the loving woman walked on, along the high-road, and more and more happy children joined them on the way. ”

“ The lady pressed her lips to the moist little forehead, rocking her gently to and fro.
"I—I'm sorry to bother you so," the little girl said, her voice catching piteously. "I don't know why you should care about it at all, but you do,—I could tell by your kiss."
"I care because I love you, dearie."
"But you don't know me. How can you love me when you don't know me?" The girl sat up and turned a tear wet, inquiring face toward the lady.
"I love everyone, dearie." The lady patted the small brown hand gently.
"Everyone? Ronald and Mamma and everybody there is?" ”

“ If anything had happened to you, it would have been all my fault."
"Not all your fault," he said, patting her shoulder, lovingly. "I ought to have been so sure of the truth that your thought couldn't hurt me; but you were helping mortal mind instead of me, and you should help your only brother, instead of an old fibber and knownothing like that," and he gave her ear a little tweak. ”

“ They don't want to take the trouble to look."
As the three walked along the road, they could see, through the thin top of the hedge, much that was going on in the swamp; and again and again the loving woman stopped to call to some one who had fallen into one of the pools of Ill Health or Sorrow, or was being tormented by the dwarfs. Sometimes those called to, would pay no attention at all, or would argue that there was no road there, and would even laugh, jeeringly. Others would listen, and ask questions, but would make no effort ”

“ And I've got to know that everything that isn't good isn't true. It isn't good to lose balls, nice new balls that you haven't played with more than ten minutes, and to feel bad about it. If God takes care of me, He must take care of all my things. God couldn't lose anything," and Dicky almost laughed at the idea of God losing things. "Of course He couldn't," he cried, "and if He can't, I can't. Just as if I could do something that God can't!"
Dicky did laugh now, and jumped down from the fence, and then he laughed harder than ever ”

“ Yes, because I separate between the real selfhood of everyone—the selfhood which God made,—and the evil which tempts people to do wrong and leads them into sin. I know that the evil is no part of their real being ”

“ If you leave even a whiff of the little last column of mist, as soon as your back is turned, it will seem to get solid once more."
"And if I get rid of them this way, won't they ever attack any one any more?" ”

“ Margie looked back at the door and then up at the man. He was coming very near her, and was staring at her very hard indeed. His clothes were shabby and he had a big black beard, and the basket with the black cover was such a great large one. Margie remembered all the stories she had been told about little girls being stolen away from their homes, and she started to spring to her feet. Then suddenly she remembered what Mamma had told her that morning. "All of God's children love each other." ”

“ When I waked up, the first thing I thought of was my lovely corals, and I reached out for them and they were gone. Oh, you don't know how badly I felt! I looked all over the rug and under the chairs and the sofa and everywhere, but I couldn't find them at all. Then I went out to Bridget and asked if she had seen them, and she said that Mamma had picked them up from the rug and that probably she had taken them away from me to punish me for something. ”

“ It was just knowing the truth, that it was not lost at all, and now I shall always know that God takes care of everything, and that Christian Science does help about everything, all day and every day. ”

“ That wouldn't do at all. Christian Science is the only thing that really cures."
Placing the kitten back on its cushion, she ran to the kitchen door. "Katie," she called, "never mind about the catnip tea. We don't want it."
"It's all made, Miss Jessie," said Katie, lifting a steaming cup in one hand and a saucer of milk in the other. "We'll put some in the milk and she'll drink it, I guess."
Jessie glanced back at the little kitten, which wes mewing very pitifully, but stood her ground, sturdily. "No," she said, "Mamma will treat her in Christian Science when she comes home." ”

“ How Walter was Treed AVE you the bags for the nuts, Mattie?"
"Yes, and Helen has the luncheon basket. What are you going to do with that long pole, Walter?"
"I'm going to use it to knock down nuts. I'm not a very good climber, we don't have much chance to climb, in the city. The country boys out here make me feel awfully ashamed; but I'm learning how, and next year I'll be as good as any of them. I'm not afraid, now, only I get sort of dizzy and shaky when I get up high." ”

“ Mabelle keeps good time, but she doesn't know as many pieces or as pretty ones as the other girls. She hardly plays anything but exercises, and Bertha plays some beautiful marches and things."
"Yes, I know it, and I just can't think what made Teacher choose Mabelle to play the piano, and then have little Caroline Peck to lead the drills."
"Caroline isn't so young as Mabelle."
"No, but she's so small, and she isn't so straight and soldier-like as Nell Smith. I think that Bertha ought to play the piano, and Nell lead the drill." ”

“ The Skates and Charley UT, Uncle Fred, it isn't the least bit of use for you to do it. You could offer me ten pairs of skates if I would stand eighty-five per cent in arithmetic examination, and it wouldn't make the least scrap of difference. I don't know fractions and I never will, and it's no use to try," and Charley threw his book half-way across the table and sent his tablet and pencil after it, in disgust.
"That's too bad," said Uncle Fred, soberly. "I always thought that you were as smart as other boys of your age. ”

“ The boys dropped their snow-balls and came out from behind the fence. "What's the matter?" called Fred, as the girls approached.
"We're not afraid any more," explained little Bertha eagerly, before the others could speak, "because we know you don't want to hurt us or make us angry." ”