appertaining to the life of the human soul. That life, in all its
high activities, burns still in the soul of your lost darling, and
he will grow, in the world of angelic spirits to which our Father
has removed him, up to the full stature of an angel, a glorified
form of intelligence and wisdom. He cannot linger in feeble
babyhood; in the innocence of simple ignorance; but must advance
with the heavenly cycles of changing and renewing states."

"And this is all the comfort you bring to my yearning heart?" said
the mother. "My darling, if all you say be true, is lost to me
forever."

"He was not yours, but God's." The friend spoke softly, yet with a
firm utterance.

"He was mine to love," replied the bereaved one.

"And your love would confer upon its precious object the richest
blessings. Dear friend! Lift your thoughts a little way above the
clouds that sorrow has gathered around your heart, and let
perception come into an atmosphere radiant with light from the Sun
of Truth. Think of your child as destined to become, in the better
world to which God has removed him, a wise and loving angel. Picture
to your imagination the higher happiness, springing from higher
capacities and higher uses, which must crown the angelic life. Doing
this, and loving your lost darling, I know that you cannot ask for
him a perpetual babyhood in heaven."

"I will ask nothing for him but what 'Our Father' pleaseth to give,"
said the mother, in calmer tones. "My love is selfish, I know. I