Failure In Duty
LADY who had been remarkable
for her thoughtlessness, requested
a professedly-pious lady to accompany
her that day, to visit another
lady who was also professedly
pious. The afternoon passed away,
and the subject of religion was not
mentioned probably for fear of offending
the gay friend who had proposed the visit.
As the two neighbors walked toward home,
the first mentioned remarked that she had
lost the afternoon; for nothing would have
induced her to leave home, but the
expectation of hearing something about
religion.
"But," she added, "I came to the conclusion
that there is nothing in religion, or
that my neighbors do not possess it, for, if
they did, they would speak to me about my
soul." She said she had been greatly
alarmed about herself for several days; but
had concluded that afternoon that if
religion was not worth talking about, it
was not worth thinking of. "Never," said
that pious neighbor, " shall I forget that
look of despair and reproach. I felt that I
had murdered a soul by my neglect."