The first desire for spirituality that the writer can remember was occasioned when her mother sang to her the familiar hymn,—
I think, when I read that sweet story of old,
When Jesus was here among men,
How he called little children as lambs to his fold,
I should like to have been with him then.
The longing thus expressed became her own when a book of Bible stories was read aloud. The account of Jesus' love for little children, together with an accompanying picture showing them sitting at his feet, emphasized the desire to be one of the adoring, listening children.
