CHAPTER VII

THE FAREWELL—THE RETURN HOME.

And true it was that angels still Good little Samuel led; Were with him in his happy play, And round his little bed. They kept his heart so kind and true, They made his eye so mild; For dearly do the angels love A gentle little child. FLOWERS FOR CHILDREN.

“PERHAPS Eli met Hannah at the door of the tabernacle, and she may have said to him,

“‘Eli, I bring you a precious offering. It is my only child. It was sweet to have him with me, for he was gentle and obedient, and he made my house cheerful and happy. But I promised my little Samuel to the Lord, and now I have come to perform my vow.’

“Then Eli would say,

“‘Thou hast done well, my daughter. The Lord bless thee, and repay thee, because thou hast fulfilled the vows which thy lips did make unto him.’

“At last Hannah had to leave her little boy. It must have been hard for Samuel to have his mother go away from him. At night her voice would not sing him to sleep. When he wakened in the darkness, and said, ‘My mother!’ she would not be there to answer him. No more would he sit upon her lap, in the evening hour, to hear beautiful stories of the patriarchs and saints, and of the great Messiah that was to come.

“But if he said, ‘Do not go, my mother!’ she told him that she would love him still, and come again to see him; and that Eli would be a dear father unto him.

“Perhaps when she went away she said,

“‘O, Eli, be very kind to my little boy! He is only a tender babe. His little bed has always been near my own. Shall he not sleep near you at night, so that if he is ill you may attend to him?’

“And the good old priest told Hannah to be comforted; for he would love and take care of her boy, and teach him to be good.

“Then Hannah kissed and blessed Samuel, and returned to her own home.

“But, O, how much she thought of him on her way back to her house! She thought of him when she saw flowers such as he had picked for her on his way to Shiloh, and which she had put in her bosom; and when the tree came in sight under which he had slept, and when she saw, gushing from the hill, the spring of whose water she had given Samuel to drink, and with which she had wetted his soft, warm hair, and cooled his sweet; rosy face. But Hannah heard God’s voice telling her not to grieve for Samuel; for that he was to be a great and holy prophet, who should do much good in the world, and serve the Lord from youth to old age. Then Hannah listened to the voice of God, and was comforted.”