IN
        the garden all the apple-trees
            were in blossom.

    They had hastened
          to bring forth flowers
         before they got green leaves,
           and in the yard
               all the ducklings
              walked up and down,
         and the cat too:
        it basked
               in the sun and
              licked the sunshine
                   from its own paws.

    And when one
          looked at the fields,
           how beautifully the corn
            stood and
             how green it shone,
         without comparison!

    and there was a twittering
           and a fluttering of
               all the little birds,
           as if the day
            were a great festival;
        and so it was,
           for it was Sunday.

    All the bells were ringing,
           and all the people
            went to church,
         looking cheerful,
           and dressed
               in their best clothes.

    There was a look of
         cheerfulness
            on everything.

    The day
        was so warm and beautiful
         that one
            might well have said:
         "God's kindness to us men
            is beyond all limits."

    But inside
           the church the pastor
        stood in the pulpit,
           and spoke
               very loudly and angrily.

    He said
         that all men were wicked,
           and God
            would punish them
                   for their sins,
         and that the wicked,
           when they died,
         would be cast into hell,
           to burn
               for ever and ever.

    He spoke very excitedly,
           saying that their evil propensities
            would not be destroyed,
         nor would the fire
              be extinguished,
           and they
            should never find rest.

    That was terrible to hear,
           and he said
               it in
                   such a tone of conviction;
        he described hell to them