IN GOD'S GARDEN
STORIES OF THE SAINTS
FOR LITTLE CHILDREN
BY AMY STEEDMAN
WITH SIXTEEN REPRODUCTIONS
FROM ITALIAN MASTERPIECES
LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK, Ltd.
35 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C., & EDINBURGH
TO MY MOTHER
ABOUT THIS BOOK
There is a garden which God has planted for Himself, more beautiful thanany earthly garden. The flowers that bloom there are the white souls ofHis saints, who have kept themselves pure and unspotted from the world.
In God's garden there is every kind of flower, each differing from theother in beauty. Some are tall and stately like the lilies, growingwhere all may see them in their dress of white and gold; some are halfconcealed like the violets, and known only by the fragrance of kinddeeds and gentle words which have helped to sweeten the lives of others;while some, again, are hidden from all earthly eyes, and only God knowstheir loveliness and beholds the secret places where they grow. Butknown or unknown, all have risen above the dark earth, looking everupward; and, although often bent and beaten down by many a cruel stormof temptation and sin, they have ever raised their heads again, turningtheir faces towards God; until at last they have been crowned with the perfect flower of holiness, and now blossom for ever in the HeavenlyGarden.
In this book you will not find the stories of all God's saints. I havegathered a few together, just as one gathers a little posy from a gardenfull of roses. But