and then very reluctantly he quitted her side. Poor Effie, thus left
without sympathy, crept away to her own little room, and sat down, not
merely to weep, but to enter into a regular self-examination. The truths
she thus discovered were exceedingly humiliating, but the child began to
feel that she needed humbling, and she did not shrink from the task. I
do not know but Effie's self-condemnation was greater than the fault
really called for, but it certainly was of great use to her, and made
her humbler, and gentler, and more forgiving than she ever was before.

Effie did not see her father or Harry again that night, but when her
mother came to see if she was warm in her little bed, she whispered in
her ear, 'Oh, I have so many faults: and my heart is full of false gods.
I am afraid I never really loved my Heavenly Father.'

'Yet, Effie, a great many children, and some grown people, would
consider this neglect of yours to-day a very small thing.'

'Oh, mother! I know it is not small, though I never thought it was so
very wicked before.'

'And what makes you think it is wicked now?'

'Because it has led me to do so many wicked things. In the first place,
it was wrong to read immediately after breakfast, for then is the time
that you desire me to work.'

'Well, do you see any bad effect that the neglect of this rule may have
on your future life?'

'I suppose I should make a very useless woman, if I should grow up in