Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/336

 ducing a growing life in us—its lisp developed into speech, its toddle quickened into race, its glance deepened into observation, its touch intensified into study; all these have served to widen our prospect, sweeten our tasks, soothe our pains, chasten our pleasures, enlarge our sympathies, fortify our faith. The dear one has been growing under our eyes; the mind as the repository of knowledge, the heart as the casket of love, the conscience as the oracle of the right, the soul as the shrine of the Spirit, the body as the vehicle of service—all these have been growing and expanding as the very fulfilment of our prayers. And with these, the father's heart and the mother's heart, bow they have felt or formed fresh hopes and fresh duties, fresh promises and fresh pledges! For all these, we render our whole-hearted thanks unto Thee.—Then, the other darlings who have come after him, feasting the eye, gladdening the heart, enchanting the soul—how they have repeated and multiplied, through their growing lives, all the marvels