_Prayers Written At Vailima_ was transcribed from the 1916 Chatto & Windus edition by David Price, proofing by Stephen Booth. _A Lowden Sabbath Morn_ was transcribed from the 1898 Chatto & Windus edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org [Picture: Public domain cover] PRAYERS WRITTEN AT VAILIMA and A LOWDEN SABBATH MORN by Robert Louis Stevenson * * * * * PRAYERS WRITTEN AT VAILIMA BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MRS. STEVENSON [Picture: Decorative Chatto & Windus graphic] * * * * * LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS MDCCCCXVI INTRODUCTION IN _every Samoan household the day is closed with prayer and the singing of hymns_. _The omission of this sacred duty would indicate_, _not only a lack of religious training in the house chief_, _but a shameless disregard of all that is reputable in Samoan social life_. _No doubt_, _to many_, _the evening service is no more than a duty fulfilled_. _The child who says his prayer at his mother’s knee can have no real conception of the meaning of the words he lisps so readily_, _yet he goes to his little bed with a sense of heavenly protection that he would miss were the prayer forgotten_. _The average Samoan is but a larger child in most things_, _and_ _would lay an uneasy head on his wooden pillow if he had not joined_, _even perfunctorily_, _in the evening service_. _With my husband_, _prayer_, _the direct appeal_, _was a necessity_. _When he was happy he felt impelled to offer thanks for that undeserved joy_; _when in sorrow_, _or pain_, _to call for strength to bear what must be borne_.