The gates ajar. By Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.

The Gates Ajar. 239
it surely can have done no harm for me to
take the comfort of my fancying till I am
there; and what a comfort it has been to me,
God only knows. I could scarcely have borne
some things without it."
" You are never afraid that anything proving a little different from what you expect
might -"
"Might disappoint me? No; I have settled that in my heart with God. I do not
think I shall be disappointed. The truth is,
he has obviously not opened the gates which
bar heaven from our sight, but he has as obviously not shut them; they stand ajar, with the
Bible and reason in the way, to keep them
from closing; surely we should look in as far
as we can, and surely, if we look with reverence, our eyes will be holden, that we may
not cheat ourselves with mirages. And, as
the little Swedish girl said, the first time she
saw the stars:'O father, if the wrong side
of heaven is so beautiful, what must the right
side be?'"
January.
I write little now, for I am living too much.
The days are stealing away and lessening one
by one, and still Faith plays about the room,