American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Sunday schools -- United States -- Periodicals
hall, up the gallery stairs, still softly--the new shoes made no sound
on the carpet--through the door which stood ajar, quite to the singer's
side, there slipped this quiet little woman who had left her white
bonnet by Nettie, and stood with her golden head rippling with the
sunlight which fell upon it. There was a rustle in the choir gallery,
a soft stir over the church, the sort of sound which people make when
they are moved by some deep feeling which they hardly understand; there
was a smile on some faces, but it was the kind of smile which might
be given to a baby angel if it had strayed away from heaven to look
at something bright down here. The tenor singer would have drawn away
the small form from the soloist, but she put forth a protecting hand
and circled the child, and sang on, her voice taking sweeter tone, if
possible, and dying away in such tenderness as made the smiles on some
faces turn to tears, and made the echo linger with them of that last
tremulous "Come unto Me."
But little Sate, when she reached the choir gallery, saw something
which startled her out of her sweet resolute calm. Away on the side, up
there, where few people were, sat her own father; and rolling down his
cheeks were tears. Sate had never seen her father cry before. What was
the matter? Had she been naughty, and was it making him feel bad? She
stole a startled glance at the face of her teacher, whose arm was still
around her and had drawn her toward the seat into which she dropped,
when the song was over. No, _her_ face was quiet and sweet; not
grieved, as Sate was sure it would be, if she had been naughty. Neither
did the people look cross at her; many of them had bowed their heads in
prayer, but some were sitting erect, looking at her and smiling; surely
she had made no noise. Why should her father cry? She looked at him;
he had shaded his face with his hand. Was he crying still? Little Sate
thought it over, all in a moment of time, then suddenly she slipped
away from the encircling arm, moved softly across the intervening
space, into the side gallery, and was at her father's side, with her
small hand on his sleeve. He stooped and took her in his arms, and the
tears were still in his eyes; but he kissed her, and _kissed_ her, as
little Sate had never been kissed before; she nestled in his arms and
felt safe and comforted.
The prayer was over, the benediction given, and the worshipers moved
down the aisles. Sate rode comfortably in her father's arms, down
stairs, out into the hall, outside, in the sunshine, waiting for Nettie
and for her white sunbonnet. Presently Nettie came, hurried, flushed,
despite her judgment, anxious as to where the bonnet-less little
girl could have vanished. "Why, Sate," she began, but the rest of the
sentence died in astonished silence on her lips, for Sate held her
father's hand and looked content.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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