"Oh, how I should like it! Ah, I do hope I shall not be so bad that you will have to leave me behind." "No, I hope not.

I want to take you; to share the pleasure of my dear eldest daughter will double it to me, and if neither bad conduct on your part, nor anything else happens to prevent, you shall go with me." "Oh, thank you, dear papa!" she exclaimed, her cheeks glowing and her eyes sparkling with delight, "you are so good to me that I just hate myself for ever doing anything to vex or grieve you." "My dear child," he said with emotion, "be more watchful, careful, and prayerful; fight more earnestly and determinately the good fight of faith, ever looking to God for help, for only so may you hope to gain the victory at last, and to be able to say, 'in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.'" "I will try, papa," she said, tears starting to her eyes, "but oh, it is such a hard fight for anybody with a temper like mine.

Please help me all you can by praying for me, and punishing me too, whenever you see that I need it." "I will do all I can for you, my darling, in every way," he replied, "but as I have often told you, the hardest part of the conflict must inevitably be your own.
"Cling close to Jesus, and cry to him every day and every hour for help, for only by his all-powerful assistance can we hope to win holiness and heaven at last." "I will try, papa, I will indeed," she said.

"I am, oh, so glad and thankful that he will let me cling to him and that he promises his help to those who ask him for it." "Yes, he says, 'In me is thine help,' and having his help what can harm us?
since he is the Lord who made heaven and earth." Again a few moments of silence; then Lulu said, "Papa, you have often told me I inherit my temper from you, and though I could never believe it if anybody else had told me, I have to believe you because I know you always speak the truth; but how did you ever conquer it so completely ?" "By determined effort, at the same time looking to God for help," he replied; "and only by the same means can I even now keep it under control." "And you think I can learn to control mine if I use the same means ?" "I do; God, our kind heavenly Father, is as able and as willing to help you as me." "Yes," she said thoughtfully, "and if I don't choose to try hard enough, at the same time praying earnestly for help, I deserve to be punished by my earthly father; and I do really hope he always will punish me till he has taught me to be as patient and self-controlled as he is," she added, nestling closer to him and slipping a hand into his.

"Papa, I often wonder why I wasn't made as patient and sweet-tempered as Gracie.