Another mother tells of a little daughter who has been “a doubting Thomas from her babyhood.” To her the personality of GOD was very real, but she refused to accept anything at first through the medium of another—even of her mother. A good many of her quaint sayings have been preserved—and her mother still remembers how disconcerting these often were in the course of a Bible lesson. She would suddenly break in with “_Why_ was GOD so cruel? I hate Him. Can’t you explain? I don’t think much of Him if He doesn’t let fathers and mothers know everything!” At the same time she was seldom willing to accept much on anyone’s judgment but her own. A little brother shared her lessons, and often sighed with impatience at her interruptions. “Oh, R——,” he would say, “I do wish you could get some trust!” When learning the Catechism this little girl refused to say, “Yes, verily, so I will.” “No,” she said, “I shan’t say that. I haven’t made up my mind whether I want to be good or not, and I _certainly_ shan’t say that.” So for about six months that question was never put to her, and at last one day she remarked, “I could say that now if you like!” [Sidenote: Relative Importance of Authorities.] In both these instances there can be little doubt that no one came in any way between the child and the Creator, but, on the other hand, a good many parents consider that there is for some years a difficulty in the minds of children as to the intervention of human beings between them and GOD, arising either from their habit of connecting their prayers and religious experiences mainly with their mother or nurse, or from a curious inability to realise the supremacy of the Almighty. An example of this latter difficulty may be given in the words of a little child in Yorkshire who was overheard to say to a companion, “Don’t do that or perhaps GOD will see you, and He’ll tell the Vicar.” [Sidenote: Children’s Prayers.] Much has been written by others about children’s prayers, but it is impossible to ignore what is to them the most real and important part of their religion. A lady living in Cheltenham says: “I think that children get a belief in prayer very early. My youngest girl the other day looked tired, so I said that she had better not come to the evening service. ‘Oh, but I must,’ she said, ‘I want to pray for Miss Beale.’” This was at the beginning of that well-known lady’s fatal illness. [Sidenote: Implicit Faith in Prayer.]