“By this time Tommy was six months old, and as full of pranks as a six-months-old kitten well could be. His education had begun the very moment he entered the Hartford postoffice, so it is not surprising that by the time he had spent half a year there he was really remarkable.
“There were piles of hay and straw, there were bags of grain, there were rakes and spades and wheelbarrows, there was a carriage, and there was a sleigh. Dixie climbed up one of the shafts of the sleigh and stretched out her paw to touch a bell.
“You mean to say,” he said in good Arabic to the leader of the gang who surrounded him and the grey-bearded man by his side, “that my life will he spared if I renounce Christianity and accept your faith?
Learning to love is a long lesson. It takes all of the longest life to learn it. The most inveterate obstacle in mastering the lesson is self, which persists with an energy which nothing but divine grace can overcome.