Page:Alerielorvoyaget00lach.djvu/68

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46
A Voyage to Other Worlds.

to have been almost everywhere. You expressed doubts, as you recollect, on the possibility of his having been at all the places that he said he had visited. I have no such doubts; certainly not now, nor even had I when I heard him give our little ones a geography lesson.

"I even, though I had some scruples at first, gave him a class for religious instruction, and shall never forget it. His reverence in speaking of sacred things, his eloquence, his tender illustrations of the love of God, were simply wonderful.

"But he soon made friends of the little ones, not only at work, but at play. His acrobatic skill is marvellous, and he very soon fascinated them by showing feats of skill and entering into their games.

"Here was a mystery to me that I could not at the time fathom. How could this strange being,—about whom some marvellous secret hung,—who appeared so profound, so learned, and so wise,—be so popular with the children? I could not solve the problem. I once ventured to ask him about it. He replied by a question: 'Is it not wisdom to mingle with the beautiful and the good, where we can find them—to make friends of innocence?'