me what o'clock it is," Lucy ran off as quickly as if she knew all about
it, and then she stood at the foot of the stairs and looked at the clock,
and wondered why one hand was still and the other moved, and how grown-up
people knew what time it was by just looking at their watches for half a
minute. Before she had found out any of these puzzling things, all at once
Lucy heard her mother's voice calling, "Lucy, Lucy," and she ran back to
her in a great hurry.

When asked why she had been so long, this poor, proud child made some
excuse. And then--I am ashamed to tell it, but it only shows what becomes
of pretending to know, instead of asking to be taught--she told her mother
what she guessed would be about the right time.

Her mother never thought she had been deceiving her; but Lucy went back to
her play with a very heavy heart, and a miserable feeling of how naughty
she had been, and how God knew all about it; and this was not the last time
that the wish to be thought clever--so clever as not to need to be taught
like other children, but to be able to find things out for herself--brought
her into sad trouble.

After having heard the story of Lucy and the clock, my children knew how
much I like them to ask questions, and were sure that I would answer them
if I could; and so Sharley asked me about something which she could not
understand.

"When God created the heaven and the earth, did He create the angels too?"
she said. "Were there angels in the beginning?"

Now the first part of Sharley's question I could not answer. I could only
say about it, "We do not know, because God has not told us."