Little Alice's Palace; or, The Sunny Heart

								

about, as she walked amid his beautiful creation; and she learned to be a
neat, tidy little girl, instead of the dirty, miserable creature that sat
crying in the dirt by the roadside when she first saw her friend.  The
lady taught her to look upon herself as greatly beloved by her Father,
and after that she was not miserable any more."
"Did you ever see the little princess?" asked Lolly, raising her head
from Alice's lap and looking earnestly at her.
"Yes, indeed.  Every day since the lady came to her," said Alice.  "She
lives in the same cottage now; but it has grown to be a beautiful place;
for God's flowers are all about it, and God's sun streams in at the
window, and all over the mossy roof, like a golden flood,--and God
himself is always with her to keep her from harm and from being lonely or
sad."  And as Alice said this, the tears glistened in her blue eyes, as
the dew-drops sparkle through the sunlight in the violets.
"We'll go and see her now," continued she; "and I'll show you two other
little exiled princesses."  And she took Lolly and Maddie down by the
brook-side, and bade them look in her great mirror; and there they saw
themselves and Alice--all children of the great King.
"Ah, now I know!" said Maddie, clapping her hands.  "You are the little
princess, Alice, and Miss Mason is the good lady.  Is she so nice as all
that?"
"Just as nice, dear Maddie," replied Alice; "and if you and Lolly will
go with me to the Sunday-school, she'll tell us a great many more
beautiful stories, to help us on our way to our heavenly home.
"But come.  It is nearly time for us to go now.  Mother will be looking
for me.  Good-bye."
And the little girl with the sunny heart bounded into the cottage with a
smile and a kiss for her mother.

CHAPTER V.

When Alice left the children, they went sauntering along the road towards
home.  Very slowly they walked, and not joyously and hopefully, as little
children do who think of their father's house as the brightest and
dearest spot in the whole world.
It was a long distance from the brown cottage of their friend; but the
freshness of the evening made it delightful to be out, and they had been
resting so many hours that they were not weary.  Besides, the twinkling
stars came out in the sky, and there was shining above them the calm,
bright moon; and altogether it was so serene and lovely, that they almost
wished they could be always walking in some pleasant path that should
have no unpleasant thing at the end--such as they felt their home to be.
Presently they came to a bend in the road, and a few steps from the
corner was a low-roofed house, a ruinous-looking place, with rags stuffed
in the broken window-panes.  There were green fields around it, and tall
trees gracefully waving near it; but the old house spoiled the landscape
by its slovenly, shabby appearance.
A dim light was burning in the room nearest the children; and as they