"I've heard folks say it-I've seen it in a book myself-and I heard my father read something like it, out of the Bible, last Sunday-'Ask, and ye shall receive, ' and in another place, 'In everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God.' I might try it, anyway." But the voice that spoke was by no means a hopeful one, and there was anything but a hopeful look on the face of the little girl who slowly raised herself up from a mossy seat, where she had been quite hidden by the branches of a tall birch-tree, that hung so low as to dip themselves into the waters of the brook at the times when it ran fullest. It was a very pretty place, and a very strange place for any child to look anxious or discontented in. But the little girl looked as if she were both; and there was, besides, a great deal of weariness in her manner, as she leaned for a moment against a branch, and then stooped to let the water flow over a spray of crimson maple that she held in her hand. "I might try it, anyway," she repeated, as she left the place.