“Have you felt this too?” cried Evadne.  “I thought I was the only one.”

Mrs. Everidge laughed.  “The only one in all the world to puzzle over its problems!  Oh, yes, the older we grow, the more we find that the great majority have the same feelings and perplexities as ourselves, although some may not understand their thought clearly enough to put it into words.”

“What is your favorite verse in all the Bible?” asked Evadne after a pause.

Mrs. Everidge laughed again, and Evadne thought she had never heard a laugh at once so merry and so sweet.

“You send me into a rose garden, dear child, and tell me to select the choicest bloom out of its wilderness of beauty.  How can I when every one has a different coloring and a fragrance all its own?  Two of my special favorites are in the Revelation,—­’To him that overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it.’  ’And they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.’

“That means a possession and a belonging.  It is the spiritual symbol which binds us to our heavenly lover for eternity just as the wedding ring is a pledge of fidelity for our earth time.  It is only as we see it so, that we get the full beauty of the religion of Jesus.  His church—­the inner circle of his chosen ’hidden ones’—­is his bride, and what can be more glorious than to be the bride of the King of kings?  The dear souls who only serve him with fear do not get the sweetness out of it at all.  How can they, when their lives are all duty?  ’Perfect love casteth out fear’ and there is no duty about it, for when we love, it is a joy to serve and give.  It hurts the Christ to have us content to be simply servants when he would lift us up to the higher plane of friendship, when he has put upon us the high honor of the dearest friend of all!  Earthly brides spend a vast deal of time and thought over their trousseau, so I think Christ’s bride should walk among men with a sweet aloofness while the spiritual garments are being fashioned in which she is to dwell with him.  The Bible says a great deal about dressing.  ’Let thy garments be always white’—­the sunshine color, the joy color—­for bye and bye we are to walk with him in white, you know.  Our spiritual wardrobe must be fitted and worn down here.  It is a terrible mistake to put off donning the wedding robes until we come to the feast.  And the wardrobe is very ample.  Christ would have his bride luxuriously appareled.  ‘Be clothed with humility.’  That is a fine, close-fitting suit for every day, but over it we are to wear the garment of praise and the warm, shining robe of charity.  Can you fancy anything more beautiful than a life clothed in such garments as these?  And to me the loveliest of all is charity.  The highest praise I ever heard given to a woman was that ‘she had such a tender way of making excuses for everybody.’