A LITTLE GIRL'S FAITH.
ONE time a little girl lived in a house where there was a trapdoor in the middle of the floor, which they lifted up when they wished to go down cellar.
Under this door there was a flight of stairs, but the cellar was very dark.
One day this door was left open, and the little girl came and looked down into the cellar.
All was dark there, and no one was to be seen.
So she called and said,—
"Father, are you down in the cellar?"
"Yes, daughter, I am here. Come down here with me."
"Why, father, I can't see you."
"I know it, daughter, but I can see you, and I am certainly here. Now you come to the edge of the floor, and jump right down, and I will take you."
"I dare not do it, father; I am afraid I'll fall."
"But I will catch you when you fall."
"But I can't see you, father."
"I know it, but I can see you, and I will surely catch you."
Then the little girl hesitated a little, but her father said, "Come," and so she stepped over the edge, and down she went, right into her father's arms. The next day he was down there again, and as the door was open, he heard her call,—
"Father!"
"Yes, my child."
"Father, I'm coming!" and almost before he could get ready to receive her, down she came into his arms again.
"And that is like faith, isn't it, papa?
I must believe, even if I do not see God, and cast myself into his arms if he tells me to, and do just as he says."
—Selected
