"I've always been thankful for that!" said Brand. "There was a girl at the Institution who lost her sight by burning, just that way, her skirt catching at the stove." "Now wouldn't that give you a pain?" murmured Pippin. "I know what burnin' feels like, just a mite of it. Not meanin' to interrupt, Mr. Brand; I'm just as interested!" "When I was ten years old, mother died, and father sent me to the Blind Institution. I was there many years, and there I learned all I know--except what I learned before or since!" Brand added with a whimsical smile. "That puts me in mind of the first--no, the second--day I was there. I was to see the Doctor, the head of the Institution--he was away the day I came--and I was left alone in his office to wait for him. I was always keen to see what kind of place I was in, so I was moving about the room, finding out in my own way, when the door opened and two men came in. One of them was tall--what say?" "Now! now!" cried Pippin. "How in the airthly did you know he was tall?" "His voice was high up! That's an easy one, Pippin. Why, _you_ would know that, with those good ears. He was speaking, and the first sound of that voice stays by me yet. A _master_ voice! I've never forgot the words either. 'The first lesson--the hard lesson--you have first to learn is--_to be blind_--to live in the world without light--to look upon your life as still a blessing and a trust, and to resolve to spend it well and cheerfully, in the service of your Maker and for the happiness of those about you.'"[1] [1] Dr. S.G. Howe to one of his blind pupils. He paused. Pippin sat spellbound, gazing at the face that was indeed now as the face of an angel. "The service of your Maker, and the happiness--" he murmured. "Say, that's great! It--it sounds like a song, don't it, Mr. Brand? Or--like Psalms, some way of it! I'd like to learn them words off by heart, sir, if no objection."