He found the word for her, and she read with difficulty, 'Trouble, distress, great affliction.'
'Do they all mean tribulation?' she asked.
'Tribulation means all of them,' was the answer.
'And can children have tribulation, Mr. Roper?'
'What do you think?'
'I must have it if I'm to get to heaven,' she said emphatically; and then she left him, and the young man repeated her words to himself with a sigh and a smile, as he replaced the book in its resting-place.

Little Betty is lonely being the "odd" one . . . her older siblings are paired up and so are her younger brothers. As Betty seeks the companionship of older people, she slowly begins to turn their hearts toward God. All the while she longs for "tribulation", having learned that she "must have it if I'm to get to heaven".