I knelt, and folded my hands, and shut my eyes, and began
to recite the Te Deum in my head, trying to attend to it. I did attend
pretty well, but it was mere attention, till I felt slightly softened
at the verse--"Make them to be numbered with Thy saints in glory
everlasting." For my young mother was very good, and I always think
of her when the choir comes to that verse on Sundays.
"Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin." "It's too late
to ask that," thought I, with that half of my brain which was not
attending to the words of the Te Deum, "and yet there is a little bit
of the day left which will be dedicated either to good or evil."
I prayed the rest, "O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us. O
Lord, let Thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in Thee. O Lord,
in Thee have I trusted, let me never be confounded!" and with the last
verse there came from my heart a very passion of desire for strength
to do the will of GOD at the sacrifice of my own. I flung myself on
the floor with inarticulate prayers that were very fully to the point
now, and they summed themselves up again in the old words, "In Thee, O
Lord, have I trusted, let me never be confounded!"
When I raised my head I caught sight of the picture, and for an
instant felt a superstitious thrill.
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