"Rebuked by the faith of the little girl, the missionary and the miserable sinner knelt down together. He prayed as he never prayed before; he entreated and interceded, in tones so tender and fervent that it melted the desperate man, who cried for mercy. And mercy came. He bowed in penitence before the Lord and lay down that night on his pallet of straw a pardoned soul.
"Relief came to that dwelling. The wife was lifted from her dirty couch, and her home was made comfortable. On Sunday, the reformed man took the hand of his little girl and entered the infant cla.s.s to learn something about the Savior "who saves to the uttermost." He entered upon a new life. His reform was thorough. He found good employment, for when sober he was an excellent workman; and next to his Savior, he blesses G.o.d for the faith of his little girl, who believed in a Savior able to save to the uttermost all that come unto G.o.d by him."
A WONDERFUL CHILDREN"S MEETING
[Ill.u.s.tration: She had not talked long until nearly every child in the room was in tears.]
Several years ago, when residing at G----, we became acquainted with Sister W---- who was especially fond of children. Her own were grown, and desiring to make a home for some homeless child, she went to the county farm, where there were several, in search of one. Among the children there she found a beautiful, little, bright-eyed girl, about nine years old, named Ida. Her heart went out to her at once and she expressed to the lady in charge her desire to take Ida, and her willingness to care for her as she would if she were her own child.
But the matron said "Oh, you have no idea what a terrible child she is!
We can do nothing with her, she is stubborn and has an awful temper and it is impossible to control her. We are intending to send her to the Girl"s Reform School."
Sister W---- who was an earnest Christian, was surprised but not discouraged. She could not bear the thought of such a little child being sent to such a place and so she said to the matron: "Well, I"d like to take her with me and see if I cannot help her to be good."
"Well," said the matron, "you can try her if you want to, but you will be glad to bring her back again."
Acting upon this permission, Sister W---- talked with Ida and easily gained her consent to go with her. Not many days had pa.s.sed before she found that there was considerable reason for what the matron had said.
Ida was hard to control and at times became terribly angry without cause; but Sister W---- prayed for her and dealt patiently and tenderly with her and told her how Jesus loved her, and would help her to be good if she would only give him her heart. Her prayers and loving labor were not in vain and it was not very long until little Ida was converted. The change was so great that all who were with her could plainly see that Jesus had indeed given her a new heart.
Soon after this we had charge of a children"s meeting held in a mission hall in G----. Among the children gathered there were many of the worst boys in town. Little Ida was present. We knew how much Jesus had done for her and felt led of the Spirit to ask her to lead the meeting. She looked up at us much surprised but her little heart was full of the love of G.o.d and she consented to do the best she could. Words cannot describe what followed. In tears, Ida told, in her own touching way, how Jesus had saved her--just what a naughty girl she had been before she was converted but how Jesus had "taken the angry all away" and given her a new heart so that she loved everybody and loved to do what was right.
Then she pled with them to give their hearts to G.o.d, and told them how Jesus died on the cross for them, and how He loved them and wanted to save them.
She had not talked long until nearly every child in the room was in tears, and how shall we describe that touching scene? We had an altar service. Ida knelt with those who were seeking and prayed for them and told them how to find Jesus; and right there many were converted and gave bright, clear testimonies that their sins were forgiven and Jesus had given them new hearts. Thus did G.o.d that day honor a little girl"s testimony and exhortation and fulfill His own work, "A little child shall lead them."
Very often do we call to mind that scene, and we find it one of the sweetest of the memories of years of evangelistic work.
--Editor.
"THEY ARE NOT STRANGERS, MAMA"
Not long ago I stood by the death-bed of a little girl. From her birth she had been afraid of death. Every fiber of her body and soul recoiled from the thought of it, "Don"t let me die," she said; "don"t let me die.
Hold me fast Oh, I can"t go!"
"Jennie" I said, "You have two little brothers in the other world, and there are thousands of tenderhearted people over there, who will love you and take care of you."
But she cried out again despairingly: "Don"t let me go; they are strangers over there." She was a little country girl, strong limbed, fleet of foot, tanned in the face; she was raised on the frontier, the fields were her home. In vain we tried to reconcile her to the death that was inevitable.
"Hold me fast," she cried; "don"t let me go." But even as she was pleading, her little hands relaxed their clinging hold from my waist, and lifted themselves eagerly aloft; lifted themselves with such straining effort, that they lifted the wasted little body from its reclining position among the pillows. Her face was turned upward, but it was her eyes that told the story. They were filled with the light of Divine recognition. They saw something plainly that we could not see; and they grew brighter and brighter, and her little hand quivered in eagerness to go, where strange portals had opened upon her astonished vision. But even in that supreme moment she did not forget to leave a word of comfort for those who would gladly have died in her place: "Mama," she was saying, "Mama, they are not strangers. I"m not afraid." And every instant the light burned more gloriously in her blue eyes till at last it seemed as if her soul leaped forth upon its radiant waves; and in that moment her trembling form relapsed among its pillows and she was gone.
--_Chicago Woman"s World_
JESSIE FINDING JESUS
A little girl in a wretched tenement in New York stood by her mother"s death-bed, and heard her last words: "Jessie, find Jesus."
When her mother was buried, her father took to drink, and Jessie was left to such care as a poor neighbor could give her. One day she wandered off unnoticed, with a little basket in her hand, and tugged through one street after another, not knowing where she went. She had started out to find Jesus. At last she stopped from utter weariness, in front of a saloon. A young man staggered out of the door, and almost stumbled over her. He uttered pa.s.sionately the name of Him whom she was seeking. "Where is He?" she inquired eagerly. He looked at her in amazement.
"What did you say?" he asked.
"Will you please tell me where Jesus Christ is? for I _must_ find Him"--this time with great earnestness.
The young man looked at her curiously for a minute without speaking, and then his face sobered; and he said in a broken, husky voice, hopelessly: "I don"t know, child; I don"t know where he is."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
At length the little girl"s wanderings brought her to the park. A woman evidently a Jewess, was leaning against the railing, looking disconsolately at the green gra.s.s and the trees.
Jessie went up to her timidly. "Perhaps she can tell me where He is,"
was the child"s thought. In a low, hesitating voice, she asked the woman: "Do you know Jesus Christ?"
The Jewess turned fiercely to face her questioner and in a tone of suppressed pa.s.sion, exclaimed: "Jesus Christ is dead!" Poor Jessie trudged on, but soon a rude boy jostled against her, and s.n.a.t.c.hing her basket from her hand, threw it into the street.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
Crying, she ran to pick it up. The horses of a pa.s.sing street car trampled her under their feet--and she knew no more till she found herself stretched on a hospital bed.
When the doctors came that night, they knew she could not live until morning. In the middle of the night, after she had been lying very still for a long time, apparently asleep, she suddenly opened her eyes and the nurse, bending over her, heard her whisper, while her face lighted up with a smile that had some of heaven"s own gladness in it: "Oh, Jesus, I have found you at last!"
Then the tiny lips were hushed, but the questioning spirit had received an answer.
--Selected.
"I"LL NEVER STEAL AGAIN--IF FATHER KILLS ME FOR IT"
A friend of mine, seeking for objects of charity, got into the room of a tenement house. It was vacant. He saw a ladder pushed through the ceiling. Thinking that perhaps some poor creature had crept up there, he climbed the ladder, drew himself up through the hole and found himself under the rafters. There was no light but that which came through a bull"s-eye in the place of a tile. Soon he saw a heap of chips and shavings, and on them a boy about ten years old.
"Boy, what are you doing there?"
"Hush! don"t tell anybody--please, sir."
"What are you doing here?"
"Don"t tell anybody, sir; I"m hiding."
"What are you hiding from?"
"Don"t tell anybody, if you please, sir."
"Where"s your mother?"
"Mother is dead."