LITTLE ONES AT HOME. 125

 

I waited till the child was done,
Still listening as he prayed ;

And when he rose, I asked him why
That prayer he then had said.

“Why, sir,” said he, “this morning, when
My mother went away,
She wept, because she said she had
No bread for us to-day.

“She said we children now must starve,
Our father being dead ;
And then I told her not to cry,
For I could get some bread.

“‘Our Father,’ sir, the prayer begins,
Which made me think that he,
As we have no kind father here,
Would our kind Father be.

“ And then you know, sir, that the prayer
Asks God for bread each day ;
So in the corner, sir, I went,
And that’s what made me pray.”

I quickly left that wretched room,
And went with fleeting feet,

And very soon was back again

With food enough to eat.