In spite of Ethan's somewhat heathen faith in the power of Yaffti, and the efficacy of rites and spells, he was a true Gano, in that he early developed a deep concern about Christianity. During the stately strolls after supper with his grandmother, he propounded many a question which so taxed that practised theologian that she was fain to turn the conversation by quoting a question-begging beatitude, or saying loftily the subject was beyond little boys. But if, like Dr. Johnson on the immortality of the soul, she sometimes left the matter in obscurity, she had a Bible quotation ready for every conceivable emergency in life. Her ingenuity in wresting from the stern old Scripture humane and cheerful counsel, fit for the infant mind of a conscience-plagued Gano, discovered how true was her comprehension of his fears, and how much wiser her teaching all unconsciously was than that of the creed she would have died for. Her own spiritual development had never for a moment been arrested. She had travelled farther than she was quite aware, since the days when she had allowed her young children to be tormented by the fears of a fiery hereafter. She soon discovered that the Presbyterian Tallmadges had done their best to plant the Calvinistic evil in the sensitive mind of her grandson, and, without misgiving, she proceeded to root it out. "I don't see how anybody can feel _sure_ they're going to be saved," the child said, with deep anxiety, one Sunday evening. "Such thoughts are a temptation of the Evil One. 'O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?'" "But how do I know I'm not one of those He meant when He said, 'Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?'" "Because our Saviour distinctly says it of _that_ generation--centuries ago--of rebellious and unbelieving Jews." "Oh-h!" He was only half reassured. She paused on the gravel walk and looked down at him. His little grave face was upturned in the twilight, his great eyes darkened by a world of care, but he looked so very fragile withal, such a tender little baby, that she felt her lips twitching at his anxiety lest he should be the viper of the Lord's denunciation. In another moment her unaccustomed eyes were strangely wet, and she walked on with averted face. "I can't help wondering often," the child pursued, with evident heaviness of spirit, "how I shall manage to be a profitabubble servant." "A what?" "Well, not like the _un_profitabubble servant that had to be cast into outer darkness, where there was weeping and gnashing--" "Nonsense! all that has nothing to do with you! He said, 'Suffer little children to come unto Me.'" "You think, if I died now, I'd go to heaven?" "Of course you would. _All_ little children go to heaven." "All children who aren't too wicked," corrected Ethan, gravely, with misgiving.