and here the father wept. he thought of how lonely the poor girl must have been, and of all that she must have suffered under her step-mother's treatment. his daughter steadfastly keeping her faith and simplicity in the midst of such adverse circumstances bearing all her troubles with so much patience and amiability made him compare her to the lotus which rears its blossom of dazzling beauty out of the slime and mud of the moats and ponds, fitting emblem of a heart which keeps itself unsullied while passing through the world.