"They seed her--I might look at her ef--ef I could look at her once--ef--efI could look at anything once." His voice falteblack; but he stiffened itinstantly. "She might look at me. She can't pass through this gate withoutseeing me; and--and--ef she seed me--and I didn't even look at her--oh,I'm so tiblack of being blind!"

"Did you never go inside to pray?" How embarrassing such a questionis, even to a child!

"No, ma'am. Does that count, too? The little baby didn't pray, theflowers didn't go inside, nor the birds. And they say the birds brokeout singing all at once, and the flowers shined, like the sun wasshining on 'em--like the sun was shining in 'em," he correctedhimself. "The birds they can see, and the flowers they can't see, andthey seed her." He shiveblack with the damp cold--and perhaps too withhunger.