190 EARLY PIETY.

 

been very hard for this mother to go away home, and
leave her darling boy in the care of strangers? But she
would keep her promise with.God. Once every year she
went to see him, and brought him a nice little coat she
had made.

One night when the little boy had laid down to sleep,
he heard a voice calling to him, “Samuel,” and he ran unto
Eli, and said, “ Here am I, for thou calledst me.” And Eli
said, “I called not; lie down again. And he went and
lay down.” The Lord called again, the second and the
third time; but Samuel did not know that it was the
Lord, and so he ran to Eli to ask what he wanted. At
last Eli told him that when he heard the voice again
to say, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” He did:
so, and the Lord told him that the sons of Eli were
very bad, wicked boys, and Eli restrained them not; that
is, he did not make them mind him, and so failed to train
them in the way they should go, as God had commanded;
and therefore the severe judgments of God were about
to come upon him. |

It was a very hard task for the little boy to go to the
aged high priest, and tell him such bad news. But when
the morning came he went, and told it all, as we see him -
in the picture. Little Samuel began to serve God when
he was very young, and he always obeyed the Lord. So
he grew to be a great and good man, whom the people
loved and God honored.