“Do you like my dress？” she asked a

passing stranger. “My mommy made it just for me.” She said with a tear in her eye.

“Well， I think its very pretty， so tell me little one， why are you crying？”

With a quiver in her voice， the little girl answered， “After Mommy made me this dress， she had to go away.”

“Well， now，” said the lady， “with a little girl like you waiting for her， Im sure shell be right back.”

“No， Maam， you dont understand，” said the child through her tears， “my daddy said shes up in heaven now with Grandfather.”

Finally the woman realized what the child meant， and why she was crying. Kneeling down she gently cradled the child in her arms and together they cried for the person that was gone.

Then suddenly the little girl did something that the woman thought was a bit strange. She stopped crying， stepped back from the woman and began to sing. She sang so softly that it was almost a whisper. It was the sweetest sound the woman had ever heard， almost like the song of a very small bird.

After the child stopped singing， she explained to the lady， “My mommy used to sing that song to me before she went away， and she made me promise to sing it whenever I started crying and it would make me stop.”

“See，” she exclaimed， “it did， and now my eyes are dry！”

As the woman turned to go， the little girl grabbed her sleeve， “Maam， can you stay just a minute？ I want to show you something.”

“Of course，” she answered， “what do you want me to see？”

Pointing to a spot on her dress， she said， “Right here is where my mommy kissed my dress， and here，” pointing to another spot， “and here is another kiss， and here， and here. Mommy said that she put those kisses on my dress so that I would forget my sadness.”

Then the lady realized that she wasnt just looking

at a dress， no， she was looking at a mother …

She knew that she was going away and would not be there to kiss away the hurts that she knew her daughter would get， so she took all the love she had for her beautiful little girl and put them into this dress， which her child now so proudly wore.

She no longer saw a little girl in a simple dress. She saw a child wrapped … in her mothers love.

“你喜歡我的連衣裙嗎？”她問一位走過她身邊的陌生人，“我媽媽專門為我做的?！彼难劾锖鴾I珠。

“嗯，我認為你的裙子很漂亮，那么告訴我，小姑娘，你為什么在哭呢？”

小姑娘聲音有些顫抖，回答道：“媽媽給我做完這條裙子后，就不得不離開了?！?/p>

“哦，是這樣，”那位女士說，“有你這樣一個小女孩等著她，我肯定她很快就會回來的?！?/p>

“不，女士，您不明白，”女孩噙著淚水說，“我爸爸說她現(xiàn)在和爺爺一起在天堂里?！?/p>

女士終于明白了孩子的意思，也明白了她為什么在哭泣。她跪下，溫柔地把女孩摟在懷里，她們一起為離去的人哭泣。

然后小女孩做了件讓女士感到有點奇怪的事。她停止了哭泣，從女士懷抱中向后退了一步，開始唱歌。她唱得如此輕柔，幾乎是在低語。這是女士聽到過的最甜美的聲音，幾乎就像一只小鳥在吟唱。

小女孩唱完之后，向女士解釋說：“我媽媽離開前常常給我唱這首歌，她讓我答應她我一哭就唱這首歌，這樣我就不哭了。”

“您瞧，”她驚呼道，“真管用，現(xiàn)在我的眼睛里沒有眼淚了！”

女士轉(zhuǎn)身要走時，小女孩抓住她的衣袖：“女士，您能再停留一小會兒嗎？我想給您看點東西?！?/p>

“當然可以，”她回答道，“你想要我看什么呢？”

小女孩指著裙子上的一處，說：“就在這里，我媽媽親了我的裙子，還有這里，”她指著另外一處，“這里有另外一個吻，還有這里、這里……媽媽說她把這些吻都留在我的連衣裙上，這樣我就會忘掉不開心的事情?！?/p>

那時，女士意識到她不僅僅是在看一條連衣裙，不是的，她是在凝視一位母親……

這位母親知道她將離去，無法隨時守候在女兒身邊，吻去她知道的女兒會遇到的種種傷心事，所以她將所有對她美麗小女兒的愛都傾注在這條連衣裙上，現(xiàn)在，女兒如此驕傲地把它穿在身上。

她看到的不再是身穿一條簡單連衣裙的小女孩。她看到的是一個……被媽媽的愛包裹著的孩子。

Word Study

quiver /?kw?v?（r）/ n. 微顫；抖動

kneel /ni：l/ v. 跪；跪著；跪下

cradle /?kre?dl/ v. 輕輕抱著

whisper /?w?sp?（r）/ n. 耳語（聲）；低語（聲）；私語（聲）

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

sleeve /sli：v/ n. 袖子

Dan rolled up his sleeves and washed his hands.