human
O, yes, ma'am, I always say them; I should be afraid to go to sleep if I did not.
gpt
We have a great deal to thank God for, Martha. Every day He cares for us, and it is the least we can do to thank Him. Do you thank Him for what you have, or only ask to have more?
human
I guess I ask most for the things I want. I forget about thanking, only I mean it.
gpt
Yes, and God sees that you mean it, but He expects you to tell Him so. Now if I were to give you a great many things every day, and you did not thank me but were all the time thinking of other things you desired to have, I should call you ungrateful and not give you any more. Don't you see how it is? Now when you are praying, be sure to ask not to be allowed to forget pleasing God, by doing every thing as if He were here looking at you. Are you warm enough child?
human
O yes, ma'am, Miss Ruth came up and tucked me in nicely, and--
gpt
And what?
human
She kissed me and said 'good night.'
gpt
And I must follow Miss Ruth's example, I suppose. Be a good girl, Martha, and Miss Ruth and I will be your friends.
human
I need have no fears; Ruth could never be anything but kind, although people so often misunderstand her and think her stern. She will never let generosity carry away her sense of justice; and after all that is the better way, thought Agnes, as she descended to the sitting room. Guy was home that night. As Agnes entered the room he laid down his book with the remark:
gpt
I say, Agnes, brother Snowden is considered the salt of the earth among you church people, isn't he?
human
I suppose he is a good man; I don't know much about him. Why do you ask?
gpt
Well, only that it strikes me _that_ kind of salt would not make very strong pickle.
human
How you talk, said Ruth,
gpt
You know nothing about his Christian life.
human
O, that is it, he has two lives has he? Well, I admit that I know nothing about his _Christian_ life. But I do know about his business life, if that is a separate and distinct thing. When a Christian comes to me and asks me to undertake a case that is simply trickery and fraud, then I want to know how he can separate himself from his profession of religion. I thought religion had to run through one's life, instead of hinging and unhinging it when one chose. I know one thing, that some of your church members dabble in puddles so dirty that I would not touch them with the tip of my finger, and this Snowden is one of them.
gpt
I would not judge the many by one,
human
No, that is a wholesale way of speaking, said her sister, positively.
gpt
And you may not have understood the man, Guy; and you know you are rather hasty.
human
See here, Ruth, don't you begin to take sides with that fellow. Agnes is bound to defend him, because he is a goat of the same fold. But you may be glad you slipped out, backslid is the word I believe, for it is no honor to have the association of such a contemptible specimen of mankind.
gpt
You are wrong, Guy, Ruth is a church member, the same as I. And while neither of us can endorse what is done by every member of the church, we know there are good, earnest Christians there, and it is not for us to sit in judgment upon any.
human
Bravo! he exclaimed.
gpt
This is most animating. It is a pity you were not a man, you would make a capital advocate. But excuse me, I forget, we have ladies in the profession. If you have no objection to reading with me, I shall be proud to present to the bar such an able pleader.