Prayers - Written at Vailim #248617

N every Samoan household the day I is closed with prayer and the singing of hymns. The omission of this sacred duty would indicate, not only a lack of religious training in the house chief, but a shameless dis regard of all that is reputable in Samoan social lyoe. No doubt, to many, the evening service is no more than a duty fulfilled. The child who says his prayer at his mother's knee can have no real conception of the meaning of the words he lisps so readily, yet he goes to his little bed with a sense of heavenly protection that he would miss were the prayer forgotten. The average Samoan is but a larger child in most things, andwould lay an uneasy head on his wooden pillow if he had not joined, even perfunctorily, in the evening service. Pvith my husband, prayer, the direct appeal, was a necessity. When he was happy he felt impelled to ofer thanks for that undeserved joy; when in sorrow, or pain, to call for strength to bear what must be borne.