{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_78888/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_78888","id":"gutenberg_78888","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78888","summary":null,"tags":["Bible stories, English -- Juvenile literature","Children's stories, English","Christian fiction, English -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.\n\n\n\n[Illustration: HARK, HARK, THE LARK\n FROM A PAINTING BY W. E. EVANS]\n\n\n\n                           SUNDAY\n\n                              SUNSHINE.\n\n\n                            EDITED BY\n\n                         CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\n                            AUTHOR OF\n\n  \"Something for Sunday,\" \"Mother-Meg,\" \"Dickie's Secret,\" etc.\n\n\n                          [Illustration]\n\n\n                              LONDON\n                        JOHN F. SHAW AND CO.\n                        48, PATERNOSTER ROW\n\n\n\n                          [Illustration]\n\n                             CONTENTS.\n\n  A Black Sheep.\n  A Charge.\n  A Dark Night.\n  A Decision.\n  A Favour.\n  A Lightened Load.\n       I.\n      II.\u2014Changed.\n  An Uninvited Guest.\n  At Bethany.\n  A Telegram.\n  A Wet Day.\n  Devotion.\n  God's Messages\u2014Lettice's Lark.\n  Gossip.\n  Grand-dad's Advice.\n  \"Hail, King of the Jews!\"\n  Her Sailor Boy.\n  Hindered.\n  Hira's Quest.\n      I.\u2014A Strange Visit.\n      II.\u2014Hira's Friend.\n      III.\u2014A Startling Question.\n      IV.\u2014A Sad Story.\n      V.\u2014Alone in the Storm.\n      VI.\u2014Father and Daughter.\n      VII.\u2014Sukhiya's Scheme.\n      VIII.\u2014The Old, Old Story.\n      IX.\u2014\"His Great Love.\"\n      X.\u2014Rest.\n      XI.\u2014\"Ask, and It Shall Be Given You.\"\n      XII.\u2014\"He Careth for You.\"\n      XIII.\u2014Hira's Quest Ended.\n      XIV.\u2014Believing and Confessing.\n      XV.\u2014Hunger and Thirst.\n      XVI.\u2014Home at Last.\n      XVII.\u2014Another Prodigal Son.\n      XVIII.\u2014The Father's House.\n      XIX.\u2014Sukhiya's Fall.\n      XX.\u2014Beh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l.\n      XXI.\u2014Brought Home.\n      XXII.\u2014\"She Only Touched The Hem of His Garment.\"\n  \"If Thou Hadst Known!\"\n  In the Prison.\n  \"I Love Him Still.\"\n  Jesus Looked round about upon all Things.\n  Jim.\n  Looking for Father's Boat.\n  Making the Best of a Bad Job.\n  \"Master, Rebuke Thy Disciples.\"\n  Memories.\n  \"Me Too.\"\n  Nellie's Card.\n  Nora's Message.\n  On the Moors.\n  Our Jack-a-Napes.\n      I.\n      II.\n      III.\n  Out of the Tombs.\n  \"Peter Followed Afar Off.\"\n  Pollie's New Mistress.\n  Pulling.\n  \"Punchinello.\"\n  Royalty and Loyalty.\n  Scripture Clock.\n  Smoothed Out.\n  So Much the More!\n  Sunday Lessons.\n  Sunset for Jamie.\n  The Alms-house Inmates.\n  The Call of Peter.\n  The First Day.\n  The Hill above Nazareth.\n  The New Governess.\n  The Ringleaders.\n  The Stay of the Family.\n  To-day.\n  Turned Out.\n  Twenty Times.\n  Under the Lych Gate.\n  \"What Doest thou here, Elijah?\"\n  When?\n  \"Will I?\"\n\n                          [Illustration]\n\n\n\n                   [Illustration: Illustrations.]\n\n  A blind beggar.\n  A \"boat from the French shore picked him up.\"\n  \"'Ain't you sold any more than that?'\"\n  \"All day she sat quiet and waited.\"\n  \"A soft hand rested on his shoulder.\"\n  \"Beatrice fidgeted her hoop backwards and forwards.\"\n  Big Bob and Little Bob were carrying Liz in a net between them.\n  Bring your work, and sit under the trees.\n  Dick bringing home the wood.\n  \"Eileen stood and waited under the lych gate.\"\n  Elijah in the wilderness.\n  \"Geraldine worked in a corner apart.\"\n  \"Gladys is the little teacher.\"\n  \"'Go out and stay by the church gate.'\"\n  \"Hail, King of the Jews!\"\n  \"He only moved his position nearer to the fire.\"\n  Her late Majesty distributing gifts to soldiers' children.\n  \"Hira would steal away to this quiet corner.\"\n  His mother clasped him in her arms.\n  \"'I don't believe I shall ever learn it!'\"\n  \"I never saw such a sweet baby,\" said Grannie.\n  \"Ivan drew out his little Bible.\"\n  \"'I will go with them myself,' said Geraldine.\"\n  Jesus and the angry Jews.\n  Jesus and the blind man.\n  Jesus and the man possessed with a devil.\n  Jesus at Bethany.\n  Jesus at Simon's house.\n  Jesus entering the Temple.\n  Jesus going up to Jerusalem.\n  Jesus viewing Jerusalem.\n  \"Jim drew the child nearer and admired her fish.\"\n  Joseph interpreting dreams.\n  Launching the boat.\n  \"Mary went out into the November mist.\"\n  Memories.\n  Milly getting her ticket.\n  \"Minette took Hans by the hand.\"\n  Nellie's card.\n  \"'Now I'll put him on his hat.'\"\n  \"'Oh, has it!' asked Tommy, looking up surprised.\"\n  Peace I leave with you.\n  Peter in the court of the palace.\n  \"Pollie hardly saw what flowers she gathered.\"\n  Pulling.\n  \"Rollo stood looking on.\"\n  Scripture clock.\n  \"She lay back exhausted.\"\n  \"She lay in her arms for her 'cuddle.'\"\n  \"She's in the passage, kneeling by the window.\"\n  \"She stooped and tied a ribbon round her dog.\"\n  \"She tossed the corn to the fowls.\"\n  \"'Sleep, lambkin, sleep,' she sang softly.\"\n  \"Taking the lamp she started back to the child.\"\n  The alms-house inmates.\n  The call of Peter.\n  \"'The \"Doris\" is to proceed to the Cape, Nellie.'\"\n  The fishing-boat.\n  \"The foam broke up white at the water's edge.\"\n  The new governess.\n  Tommy's grandfather.\n  \"Two laughing girls sat down to a cup of chocolate.\"\n  \"'What \"doesn't\" he say?' she responded lightly.\"\n  \"'What do you want?' Sandy growled.\"\n  When she got out into the fields better thoughts came.\n  \"'Why, see, child, it's all coming undone!'\"\n  \"'Why, you are reading a story book!'\"\n  \"'Yes; and it is all my fault,' sobbed the girl.\"\n\n                          [Illustration]\n\n\n\n                        SUNDAY SUNSHINE\n\n                    Edited by CATHARINE SHAW\n\n                          [Illustration]\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nBY LOUISE MARSTON.\n\nCHAPTER I.\u2014A STRANGE VISIT.\n\nTHE sun was just sinking to rest in a mass of soft white clouds which\nwere banked up against a clear blue sky\u2014streaks and waves of crimson\nmingled with tints of almost indescribable hues showed upon the white\nbackground with an intensity of beauty for those who had eyes to see it.\n\nThe earthly scene, from which the sun was just hiding itself, was very\ndifferent to the heavenly; \"that\" consisted of a few straggling mud\nhouses, which could not be called a village: they were too near to the\nlarge Indian city of which they had originally formed a part, but had\nby some means become separated.\n\nNear by was a muddy pond, which dried up in the dry, hot months, but\nnow afforded a cool, refreshing resting-place to a herd of buffaloes,\nwho wisely showed they knew the best place to be comfortable in. Except\nfor these ungainly animals, which could not be said to add any beauty\nto the scene, the place looked so silent and deserted that it was\ndifficult to believe it to be inhabited by any human being.\n\nSuddenly the dreary dinginess was brightened by a patch of bright red,\nwhich appeared on the roof of one of the desolate-looking mud houses.\nIt moved warily across the flat roof, and then subsided in a corner,\nwhere it became a \"very\" small patch, and kept very still.\n\nA closer inspection would have revealed the fact that this red patch\nwas a sari worn by a little Hindu girl. From between its folds, which\nwere often disturbed by the breeze, could be seen her face, very small\nand thin, surrounded by black hair, which apparently did not receive\nmuch attention. The sad, patient expression of the child's face could\nnot fail to be noticed, and though she sat as if gazing on the glorious\nsky before her, no sign of pleasure helped to dispel the sadness.\n\nIt was not to see the beauties of the sunset that she had crept up to\nthe roof, and sat there so still.\n\nIt mattered not to her whether the sun rose or set, except for the\nheat of its rays, for amidst the brightest glare of a tropical sun she\nremained in perfect darkness, for Hira was blind.\n\nShe had never thought of grieving over this sad fact, but quietly\naccepted it, as she did everything which came to her. Joy and happiness\nwere words which had no meaning for her, and therefore sorrow and\nsadness could not be known by contrast\u2014just as, never having seen the\nlight, she could hardly comprehend the dense darkness in which she\ndwelt.\n\nIf she had been asked whether she was happy, she would have been sorely\nperplexed how to answer, for she knew no more of happiness than she did\nof the world in which she lived.\n\nIf she could have analysed her thoughts and feelings and put them into\nwords, she might have said that what she liked best of all was to climb\non to the roof, and sit alone in the dark, and \"listen,\" for though she\nhad no eyes to see, she had ears which no sound escaped.\n\nShe loved silence too, and that could seldom be had in the courtyard\nand verandah below, where children cried, and women talked or\nquarrelled, and men scolded.\n\nSo, as soon as the sun went down, Hira would steal away to this quiet\ncorner, which she knew so well that she never feared as she groped her\nway to it.\n\nShe talked very little, this blind child, but she thought much, though\nit might be difficult to explain \"how,\" when she had so little to think\nabout.\n\nHer mother was dead, and her father had gone away years ago and never\ncome back; so she lived with her uncle and aunt, who had plenty of\nchildren of their own. She never missed the love which she had never\nknown, and it was only when she received an extra hard blow, dealt by\nsome impatient hand, or did not receive enough food to satisfy her\nhunger, that she would creep away to her corner on the roof, where her\ntears fell unseen and unknown. Even then she did not know that she was\nunhappy.\n\nAs she sat on that evening with her chin resting on her hands, suddenly\nshe gave a start, for an unusual sound had reached her quick ears.\n\nIt was not often she heard anything like this, and a more critical\nlistener than she might have been pleased to hear the clear, full tones\nof the manly voice which broke the stillness.\n\nHira was not left to enjoy her delight alone; it suddenly became\nevident that this was not such a deserted region as it appeared. A\nsmall crowd collected round the singer, and several women came on to\nthe roof, that they might hear from there. The words were very simple\nand oft repeated, and before the hymn was finished, two were clearly\nimprinted on the blind child's memory, words never to be forgotten, for\nthey were the name of Jesus Christ.\n\nThe hymn told how His work was to save souls, and because He had laid\ndown His life that He might be the Saviour, no sinner could ever come\nto Him and not receive salvation at His hand.\n\nClear and distinct the words rang out on the still evening air, and\nwere wafted afar on the breeze.\n\nThe singer's heart rejoiced, for a stranger in a strange land, as yet\nseparated by an unknown language from those into whose midst he had\ncome to dwell, he had found a means of telling the good news which he\nhad come so far to proclaim.\n\nBut he had another message to give before he went on his way, and, not\nnow in tones of persuasive sweetness, but as a command given by one in\nauthority rang out the words, not twice, but again and again, \"Prepare\nto meet thy God.\"\n\nThen the messenger went on his way, and the astonished listeners never\nasked him why or whence he came.\n\nFor a time, people talked of the mysterious stranger who had come and\ngone so quickly and sang with such a beautiful voice. Then they forgot.\n\nBut there was one who always remembered.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBlind Hira, wrapped in her red sari on the corner of the roof, heard\nthe words of the command, and, perhaps because she could not be so\neasily distracted by the things of earth, which were hidden from her,\nthey remained written on her memory and heart.\n\n\"Prepare to meet thy God.\" \"Prepare to meet thy God.\"\n\nThe words rang on and on, sometimes mixing with the words of the\nhymn, telling of One of whom she had never heard, and having heard,\nunderstood nothing, but yet whose name became so familiar, even Jesus\nChrist, the sinner's Saviour.\n\n\n\nGOD'S MESSAGES\u2014LETTICE'S LARK.\n\n\"LETTICE, go out and sit on the form in the shade till I am ready for\nchurch,\" said her mother.\n\n\"May I pick some moon-daisies for old Mrs. Robins? She does love them\nso.\"\n\n\"Very well, but do not make yourself dirty.\"\n\nSo Lettice set forth, and when she had filled her basket, she sat down\nto rest.\n\nHow quiet it all was! How soft the air blew, bringing on it the sound\nof the distant church bells; while from the field, a lark rose up\nsinging with all its might.\n\nLettice's eyes followed it far up into the blue sky, and her thoughts\nwent further than her eyes\u2014even into heaven, where angels and the\nredeemed were praising God.\n\nWhen she carried the marguerites into the sick chamber of old Mrs.\nRobins, her face brought a message, though the little girl was quite\nunconscious of it. As the invalid looked at the flowers that quiet\nSunday evening, she said over and over again to herself, \"God's little\nmessenger, that's what she was! She looked as if she'd been talking to\nHim.\"\n\n\n\nAN UNINVITED GUEST.\n\nONE day when the Lord Jesus was on this earth, He was invited to dinner\nby a rich man named Simon.\n\nPerhaps this rich man asked the Lord Jesus to dinner because he wished\nto see Him do some miracle\u2014something wonderful, which no one else could\ndo; or he may have imagined that people would think more of himself if\nhe had Jesus for a guest. At any rate, by what we read afterwards, I am\nafraid the Pharisee did not invite Jesus because he \"loved\" Him.\n\nBut there was somebody at that feast who did love Jesus, but she was\nnot invited!\n\nIn Eastern lands, the houses are not shut up like our houses, but\nbecause it is so warm, the dining-rooms are often open to the air on\none or two sides.\n\nWhen a great man makes a feast, people hear of it, and come round the\nhouse to look at what is going on.\n\nIn the city, there lived a poor sinful and sorrowful woman who had\nlearned to love the Lord Jesus; perhaps she had heard Him say those\nloving words: \"Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,\nand I will give you rest.\"\n\nWhen this sorrowful woman heard that Jesus was gone to dinner at the\nPharisee's house, she brought a little box made of alabaster, which was\nfilled with some very sweet-smelling ointment, and she made her way\ninto the open dining-hall, and when she saw where the Lord was sitting,\non a sort of couch close to the table, she came up and stood behind Him.\n\nAnd as she stood there and thought of all her sinfulness, and of all\nHis love and compassion, she began to weep, and her tears fell down\nover His feet as He reclined at the table.\n\nThen she wiped His feet with her hair and anointed them with the sweet\nointment.\n\nBut the Pharisee who had invited the Lord Jesus looked on with great\nanger. He thought if Jesus were a great teacher, He would not have\nallowed a woman from the city to come and wash His feet with her tears.\n\nBut Jesus knows all our hearts, and He could see that the poor woman\nloved Him so much that she would go away and try never to grieve Him\nany more.\n\nBy-and-by, He told Simon to look at this woman, and compare her love\nwith his.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJesus said words something like this: \"Simon, I was tired and dusty\nwhen I came in, but you did not give Me water to bathe My feet; but she\nhas washed My feet with her tears; you did not offer Me a kiss, but\nthis woman has not ceased to kiss My 'feet'; you did not anoint My head\nwith oil, but she has even anointed My 'feet' with precious ointment.\nShe has loved Me very much because I have forgiven her very much.\"\n\nAnd turning to the woman, Jesus said to her, \"Thy sins are\nforgiven; . . . go in peace.\"\n\nOh, the joy of hearing Jesus say those words! And we may have the joy\ntoo, if we come to Him with humble, loving heart, and tell Him that we\nare sorry.\n\nHe never turns anyone away who comes to Him; so, dear little children,\nlet us trust His loving heart, and though we know we are very unworthy,\ndo not let us stay away for that, for Jesus longs that we may be\nforgiven, and so be able to go away \"in peace.\"\n\n\n\nJIM.\n\nTHE \"Sailors' Arms\" had held out alluring hands to Jim Adams for many a\nlong day. His was the most familiar figure by its fireside in winter,\nand in fact, the \"Sailors' Arms\" saw more of Jim Adams when he was home\nfrom sea than the bare, dirty cottage where he lodged.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut one sunny summer afternoon, Jim turned out of the \"Sailors' Arms\"\nearlier than his wont.\n\nSomehow he had got thinking of the Lizzie who would have been his wife\nif she hadn't taken the fever and died. He mightn't have been the Jim\nAdams he was now if she had lived. Who cared for him? Nobody. Who\nrespected him? Nobody. Who would shed a tear if he never came back from\nsea? Nobody. They called him a drunken ne'er-do-weel, and they took a\ndrink from him and laughed at him almost openly, and the respectable\nmen and women drew away from him. It was a black picture that Jim drew\nof himself as he sat on the shingle and looked at the sea.\n\nA sound of voices and laughter came up to him, and he saw Bob Sheppard\nand his children coming over the sand. Big Bob and little Bob were\ncarrying small Liz in a net between them.\n\nJim watched them wistfully. He might have had a little laughing\ndaughter like that.\n\nThe two bearers deposited the child on the shingle, and Liz, after\nlooking round for something to do, came trotting straight towards Jim.\n\nJim held his breath. He didn't know what made him think of such a\nthing, but he decided that if she turned from him, there was no chance\nof his being different, but if she came past him without fear, he would\ntry to be more like the Jim that the dead Lizzie had known.\n\nLittle Liz stooped and picked up a piece of shining seaweed; she came\ntowards Jim and held it out. \"That's for you!\" she said in her baby\nvoice.\n\nJim took it. He looked at it, and folded it and put it in his pocket,\nand the child stood and watched him as he got slowly up and went away.\n\n[Illustration: Big Bob and little Bob were carrying Liz in a net\nbetween them.]\n\nThree days later, Jim Adams went to sea again, and Liz's bit of seaweed\nwent in his pocket. For three days he had been perfectly sober, and the\n\"Sailors' Arms\" had been feeling empty.\n\nBob Sheppard sailed with him, and sometimes he would look pitifully at\nhis neighbour's lowering, morose face. But Jim was such a well-known\ncharacter that Bob never once dreamed of his wanting a helping hand or\nof the wish to be different.\n\nBut wish as Jim would, he had no power to make himself different, and\nwhen the ship put in at the seaport near his village home, he went on\nshore and got drunk. He was sitting on deck next morning feeling more\nashamed and sorry than he ever remembered feeling before, and there was\na terrible depression at his heart. He could never be different, never\nbe good enough to meet Lizzie. He would not try any more. He even took\nout the little bit of seaweed that he had thought would be a talisman\nto help him, and was going to throw it into the sea, when a small voice\nbeside him said,\u2014\n\n\"Did you like my bit of seaweed? You never said you did.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJim started violently. There stood little Liz, hugging a great fish,\nand behind her was her mother, smiling at her. The two had come over as\na great treat to see Bob, and Liz had spied her old friend and sought\nhim out.\n\nJim felt almost too shy to speak to her, but Mrs. Sheppard was talking\nquietly to her husband, and Jim drew the child nearer and admired her\ngreat fish. The two grew quite friendly, and hope began to creep back\nto Jim's heart. Suddenly looking up, he found Mrs. Sheppard looking\ndown at him with a kindly expression in her eyes.\n\n\"My little Liz has taken quite a fancy to you,\" she said.\n\n\"I wish I was a better man,\" he said huskily. \"I did try, but it don't\nseem no use.\"\n\n\"The Lord Jesus would help you,\" she answered softly. \"He loves you and\ndied for you.\"\n\nA light came into Jim's bleared eyes.\n\n\"Lizzie used to talk like that,\" he said, \"but it's too late now; I'm\ntoo bad.\"\n\n\"It's never too late,\" cried Mrs. Sheppard warmly. \"Don't you remember\u2014\n\n   \"'The dying thief rejoiced to see\n       That fountain in his day;\n     And there may I, as vile as he,\n       Wash all my sins away.'\"\n\nBob called her just then, and she and Liz wished him good-bye. But\nbefore she parted from Bob, she said hesitatingly, \"You know Jim Adams,\nBob? Give him a kind word now and then; little Liz has taken such a\nfancy to him, and he looks lonely.\"\n\nBob looked down into little Liz's clear blue eyes thoughtfully. \"He\nwouldn't take a word from me,\" he said, \"but I'll think of it. You\nknow, we think of those at home when we're out on the quiet nights, and\nI will see,\" he added fondly.\n\nHe watched Jim curiously after that. He wondered what had made Lizzie\ntake to the man. She was a rather shy, particular little lady, and Jim\nwas not prepossessing in appearance.\n\nBob watched Jim a good deal that voyage.\n\nJim was usually morose and taciturn; now, silent as ever, he looked\ndifferent, less unkempt, less unhappy. But Bob did not find a chance of\nspeaking to him; their duties lay apart, and it seemed as if all things\ncombined to separate them.\n\nOne night a wild gale sprang up, and the ship, never very seaworthy in\nBob's eyes, strained and tossed, and was beaten hither and thither in\nan alarming manner. Signals were fired, for they were in sight of the\nFrench coast, and as the tardy morning dawned, they saw that a small\nboat was putting out to them.\n\nThe storm had subsided and the sea had gone down, but the wild waves\nhad done their work on the old ship and she was sinking fast, and but\none boat was coming out in answer to the signals of distress.\n\nJim Adams stood looking out over the heaving water. He had a lifebelt\non. He had just been at the pumps, and he knew the ship was doomed, and\nhe was facing death and eternity. Yes, he could face them calmly now.\nHe took out the bit of seaweed little Liz had given him\u2014his first ray\nof hope\u2014and he murmured over the verse Liz's mother had repeated. As he\nsaid the last line, he lifted his head with a look of triumph in his\neyes\u2014\n\n   \"And there may I, as vile as he,\n      Wash all my sins away.\"\n\nHe started as he felt someone stand beside him, and Bob Sheppard's\nvoice said, \"She's going fast.\"\n\nJim nodded. \"It's all right for me,\" he said gruffly. Then he added\nquickly, \"Where's your lifebelt, man? That boat will never reach in\ntime, and you've dear ones waiting at home.\"\n\nLittle Liz's fair face seemed to rise before Bob's eyes, but he knew\nnothing of the ring of pathos that came into his voice as he answered\nquietly, \"There aren't enough belts to go quite round.\"\n\nJim made a quick movement, and Bob cried out earnestly, \"No, no! Not\nyour belt, Jim Adams; I'm determined about that.\"\n\n\"So am I,\" answered Jim; \"I'll try for the boat. I've no one to shed\na tear if I go down, and you have wife and child. If it should be so,\ntell little Liz when she's growed up as she pointed the way to God to a\npoor lost sinner\u2014she and your missis.\"\n\nHe would take no denial, and he had but bound the life-preserver round\nBob, when there was a sudden cry from below, \"She's going!\"\n\nShe was, indeed. In the rush of the swirl of water as the ship sank,\nBob saw no more of Jim. He was not to wait for the boat after all, and\nBob was borne away on the crest of a wave.\n\nA spar touched his hand, and he grasped it. He would fight for the life\nJim had tried to give him while his strength held out. An hour later,\nthe boat from the French shore picked him up and bore him to land.\n\nAll his mates were saved but one, and the one that was missing was Jim.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIt was early morning when the ill-fated boat that carried Jim Adams and\nBob Sheppard sank into the seething water. The gale that had lulled\nsomewhat rose again, and a few hours later, a little fishing-smack came\nin to the hospitable shore where Bob and his companions were recovering\nfrom their experiences. And with them, cold and still and altogether\npeaceful, came all that was left of Jim Adams. The fishermen said they\nhad picked him up just alive, but in spite of all they could do, he had\ndied before they could reach home.\n\nAs Bob Sheppard stood looking down on the face of the man who had\ngiven his life for him, great tears welled up into his eyes and rolled\nunheeded down his rough face. What was he that Jim Adams should give\nhis chance of life for him? He remembered his wife's interest in Jim,\nand Jim's love for little Liz. Jim had given them back their dearest,\nand had died in the giving.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBob stooped down and took a piece of seaweed from the hand of the dead\nman. It was twisted firmly in the fingers, and Bob took it as a little\nremembrance. It was all that he could take to tell of that morning's\nwork. But he did not know that he was taking the bit of seaweed that\nLiz had given in the innocence of her childish heart that day when Jim\nhad left the \"Sailors' Arms\" and gone to think of his lost Lizzie on\nthe beach.\n\nBob did not guess that the seaweed that he folded in his pocket-book\nhad been the first ray of hope for a new life for Jim. But he\ndetermined that the life given back to him that day should be devoted\nmore wholly to following his Saviour.\n\nHe saw Jim laid to rest in the little French burying-place, and then he\ntook the first opportunity of going back to his home.\n\nHow warm was his welcome!\n\nAnd as he and his wife gathered round the fire that first evening, with\nsmall Bob at his elbow and Liz close clasped in his arms, he told them\nhow Jim had given his life for him.\n\nAh, Jim! You thought that no tears would be shed for you; you thought\nno one would care! No one at the \"Sailors' Arms\" gave you another\nthought. Other sailors, tied and bound by the curse of drink, occupied\nthe \"Sailors' Arms,\" but you were mourned and spoken of gently in one\nhome, the home where little Liz lived.\n\nAs Liz grew up, her mother often told her of Jim Adams, for the child\nhad no knowledge of what her little innocent gift of seaweed had done\nfor Jim, though she could well remember Jim's face and figure. And the\nstory had an effect on all her life, making her kind and thoughtful for\nthe sad and downtrodden, and ever ready to hold out a helping hand, or\ngive a cheering word to those who had few to care for them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nTURNED OUT.\n\nIT could not be true! George looked at his employer blankly; surely he\nhad misunderstood. But once more, the harsh words fell on his ears, and\nhe knew he had heard aright.\n\n\"Here are your wages, and I shall not need your services after next\nweek.\"\n\nGeorge took the pile of silver handed him and walked mechanically out\nof the office. Some of the men eyed him curiously as he passed, not a\nfew openly jeered, but George walked on, dragging his feet wearily.\n\nAt the corner he paused, then turned sharply away from the village\ntowards the desolate bare heaps of refuse which lay around, and walked\nrapidly on. How could he go home and face his mother with that story,\nthat mother so dependent on him, for whom he had toiled so long?\n\nMaking sure no one was within sight, he flung himself on the ground and\nmoaned aloud. Oh, why had they left their little country home and come\nto this drear spot? It was all dark to him, and there was no one to\ncomfort him then.\n\nAt last, he roused himself and turned back towards the village; the\nsun was setting in a red glow behind the church tower, and the rooks\nin the vicarage garden were flying homewards. All was at rest and in\npeace, but he alone. And why was it? What had he done that he should be\ndismissed? Ah! He knew, but the thought brought him no comfort yet.\n\n\"'Saint,'\" they had called him, \"'coward'\" too, because he had refused\nto join in their gambling and drinks, and had mocked him; ay, and\ncursed him too for the loving care he gave to his mother.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo he strode through the village angry and sad. Angry, for he thought\nGod had forsaken him, sad because his faith was dim, and he saw not the\nhand stretched out even then to shield.\n\nHe had passed the little gate which led from the vicarage garden, when\na cheery voice called to him, and he turned to see the vicar leaning\nover it. A glance at his face told the vicar he was in trouble, and\ndrawing him inside, he paced silently beside the lad while he told his\ntale.\n\nHe could do little then to comfort, but his sympathy helped George and\ntook the hardness out of his heart and voice.\n\nThen he hastened home and broke the news to his mother, never noticing\nin his trouble the glad bright light on her face.\n\nWhen he had finished, she took her son by the arm and led him to the\nwindow, where lay a strange, long envelope. George took it, wondering,\nthen read the letter almost with awe.\n\n\"Mother!\" he said, and clasped her in his arms. \"Then God has not\nforgotten.\"\n\nThe letter was from a strange lawyer, telling them that George's uncle\nhad died in Australia and had left \u00a3500 to George's dear mother.\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHER SAILOR BOY.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"I'D better go away, mother, and get over it as best I can!\"\n\n\"Away from 'me,' Benny?\"\n\n\"I shall be better away. It's no use trying here. I shall meet Mary\nevery day, and I can't stand it.\"\n\nThen the mother knew that what she had feared had come upon her. She\nonly held his hand and looked into his face.\n\n\"There's only one way that I know on, to get broken hearts healed,\" she\nsaid, falteringly; \"and that ain't going into foreign parts! There's a\nHealer as will do better for you nor that!\"\n\nThe young man would not pull his hand away, for might it not be the\nlast time she might hold it? But a slight movement on his part showed\nhis unwillingness, which she well understood.\n\n\"Come back to me when you are tired of it,\" she said gently and\ntenderly. \"If I'm alive, I shall be here waiting for you; and there's\nOne as is nearer than ever I could be.\"\n\nThen he packed his bundle; and with sore, wounded heart, and burning\nanger against the friend who had played him false, he went to sea.\n\nHis mother betook herself to her Refuge. She knew it would take time\nfor the wound to heal; she knew that it would be hard for him to meet\nevery day of his life the girl who had wronged him, and she let him go\nwithout further persuasion. Did she not know, too, that where she could\nnot help him, God could?\n\nPerhaps Ben had not guessed all it would cost him to leave his seaside\ncottage, and the fishing smacks, and the fisher folk.\n\nHe took train to the nearest seaport, and choosing a vessel that took\nhis fancy, he engaged himself for a long voyage, and was soon off.\n\nWhatever home-sickness he felt, he kept to himself. In the silent,\nstarry nights when he was on watch, there were thoughts that passed\nthrough his mind that no one would have guessed in the day while busy\nlife was round him.\n\nPerhaps he thought more of his mother's God than he had ever done\nbefore; perhaps he humbled himself to seek comfort from Him who\nhas so lovingly invited the weary and heavy laden to come to Him.\nBut the three years were lengthened to many more. He had not meant\nto stay longer, but a sailor who was his chum persuaded him to try\ngold-digging, and somehow\u2014Ben never knew how\u2014he stayed on and on,\nwriting to his mother that he was coming home \"soon,\" but putting off\nthe decision till ten long years had gone by.\n\nAt length, a letter reached him in a handwriting he knew long ago.\n\n   \"I that did you the greatest unkindness years ago, will do you a\nkindness now,\" it said. \"Your mother has aged a good bit lately. To my\nthinking, she won't be here so very long.\"\n\nThen Ben woke up. All at once he realised that years instead of months\nhad gone past. His mother's letters and her assurances of being well\nand thinking of him always had satisfied him. But now the world had\ngrown dark suddenly, and he rubbed his hands across his eyes, wondering\nhow everything was suddenly changed.\n\n\"I meant not to go back till I could take her a fortune,\" he said to\nhis mate, \"but I've mistook mother. She don't want a fortune, she wants\nto see me agin, and to know somethin' about me; that's better nor any\nfortune.\"\n\nWhen once Ben had made up his mind to do a thing, it did not take long\nfor him to begin it. The next morning saw him on his way home with much\nsuch a bundle as he had started with, but with a few nuggets hidden\namong his clothes. In the quiet nights of the homeward voyage, his real\nfortune came to him. It came in words which he had learned thirty years\nago at his mother's side\u2014\"Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call\nye upon Him while He is near.\"\n\nWhen his mother clasped him in her arms and looked in his face, she\nknew that the desire of her heart had been granted.\n\n\"The Lord's way is a right way,\" she said gently. \"Welcome home, my\nboy, welcome home!\"\n\n[Illustration: His mother clasped him in her arms.]\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER II.\u2014HIRA'S FRIEND.\n\nHIRA had a friend, though even that fact she did not attempt to put\ninto words, but merely accepted. She could not remember the time when\nSukhiya had not come to her uncle's house to sell butter and milk. She\nwas a kindhearted woman with an empty place in her heart which had been\nleft desolate, as one by one her ten children had pined away and died.\nThat had happened ten years ago now, but she still wept when she spoke\nof it. It was just after the tenth had gone the way of all the rest\nthat Hira was born, and her mother died.\n\nThe heart of the mother with no children went out to the child who had\nno mother, and whenever she went to the house to sell her milk, she\nused to ask after the little one, who looked so small and frail that\neven with the best of care it seemed unlikely that she would ever live\nto grow up. But in spite of the fact that none cared whether she did\nor not, as we know, Hira did live, and if her life had brought little\nhappiness to herself, at least it had been a comfort to the childless\nmother.\n\nIt may have been partly owing to the kind woman that her life lasted so\nlong, for many and many a time had a brimming saucer of milk or cream\nfound its way out of Sukhiya's basket and helped to feed the blind\nchild.\n\nHira had not always been blind, but when she was three years old, like\nso many other children in India, she had a severe attack of inflamed\neyes, and because no one took the trouble to see that they were\nproperly treated, Hira had to pay the penalty and spend her life in the\ndark.\n\nBefore this happened, and as the sad fact began to dawn upon Sukhiya\nthat she would never have other children than the ten who had been\nborn only to die, she sometimes cherished the secret hope that the\nmotherless child might be given to her. But now she had to give up any\nsuch ambition, for she knew her husband would never consent to her\ntaking charge of a blind child, from whom they could never expect to\ngain anything, and who might always be on their hands.\n\nNevertheless, she did what she could for the child, who often used\nto follow her from house to house, as she went on her rounds, and\nsometimes spend many hours in her little hut beside her.\n\nWhenever the child was missing, it was easily guessed where she was,\nand sooner or later she would be sure to be brought back. Although\nHira seldom talked to anyone else, she had always plenty to say to\nSukhiya, who never wearied of listening to the child's prattle. All her\nknowledge of the world in which she lived had come to her from this\nsource; even the red sari, which she wore on the roof that memorable\nevening, had been a present from this faithful friend.\n\nNow that Hira was growing up, she was not allowed as much liberty as\nshe had had as a very small child, but still she and Sukhiya found\nplenty of opportunities for meeting.\n\nAfter the evening of the strange Englishman's visit, the blind child\nwaited anxiously for the coming of her friend, who would be able to\nexplain the wonderful event, and answer the many questions which were\npuzzling her little brain. Several days passed, and when she did not\ncome, Hira determined to go in search of her. By asking her way, she\ncould easily find the house, as she had often done before; so, when no\none was looking, she slipped out of the door and was gone.\n\nSukhiya was lying on her bed, groaning with fever, but as soon as she\nheard the blind child's voice asking, \"Is there anyone here?\" she\nforgot all her aches and pains and was on her feet in a moment, opening\nthe door for the child, who for her meant all she knew of love and\nhappiness.\n\nA long story had to be told of the illness which had prevented Sukhiya\ngoing on her usual rounds, of the pain in her head which kept her from\nthinking, and the pain in her back which kept her from walking. In\ntime, however, all was explained, and then came Hira's turn, and this\nis the story which was told:\u2014\n\n\"I was sitting on the roof, trying to see some of the things you tell\nme about so often, and listening to all I could hear, but it was so\nstill, just like it is at night when everybody is asleep. All at once I\nheard something I have never heard before; how shall I tell you what it\nwas like? It was someone singing, only it didn't make my head ache, or\nwant to shut up my ears, like I do when they grind and sing. This time\nI wanted my ears to be open quite wide so that I might hear every bit,\nand when it stopped, I felt so sad, I almost cried.\"\n\n\"But who was it, child? And what did he sing?\" asked Sukhiya.\n\n\"How can I tell you?\" answered the child. \"The singer I could not see,\nand what he sang I could not understand; only two words he sang many,\nmany times, and so they are written on my heart. 'Jesus Christ' was the\nsound; perhaps they were English words, for I heard it said that he\nwas an English gentleman, but I want to know why he sang so many, many\ntimes those words, 'Jesus Christ.' Can you tell me what they mean? Or\nif not, can you find out?\"\n\n\"Jesus Christ? Yes, child, those are no new words. I have heard and\nknown them for many years, for that is the name of Him whom the English\nworship. It must have been an English gentleman who sang that day,\nbut it is strange he should have come into these parts, for I have\nnever seen one here, though I have in other places. It comes to me now\nthe very first time I heard that name. I had gone to a house to sell\nbutter, and while I was sitting there waiting, an English lady came in,\nfor there was a girl in the house she was teaching to read.\n\n\"That day she was out, so there was no lesson given, but the lady said,\n'I will tell you all a story.'\n\n\"So we gathered round, and then she told how one day a blind man was\nsitting by the roadside begging, and Jesus Christ came along. When the\nblind man knew who it was, he called after Him, and would not be quiet\nany way. By-and-by, he came up to where Jesus Christ was standing by,\nand as soon as He touched his eyes, he could see quite plainly.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh, Sukhiya,\" cried the child plaintively, \"why did you never tell me\nthis before? If Jesus Christ gave new eyes to a blind beggar, I am sure\nHe would to a poor little girl like me. How could you be so unkind as\nnever to tell me? And now perhaps He has gone a long way off.\"\n\nThe woman looked distressed at the child's grief as she answered, \"Why,\nlittle one, Jesus Christ is not here. How do I know where He is? That\nis the story the lady told. I expect it is only a story, and perhaps\nJesus Christ is only just a name, and not any real person.\"\n\nBut the child was not to be so easily satisfied. \"Promise me,\" she\nsaid, \"that you will find out where Jesus Christ lives, and then that\nyou will take me to Him. Just think if I had eyes like other people,\nand didn't have to sit in the dark all day and all night\u2014oh, how glad I\nwould be! Say, quick, that you will find out.\"\n\nSukhiya was willing to say anything to pacify the child, and she\npromised that as soon as she was well, and able to go about again, she\nwould find out all she could.\n\nThen Hira went back to her story, and said, \"But I haven't told you all\nabout that gentleman and what he said. When he had finished singing, he\ncalled out in a loud voice, so that all could hear, 'Prepare to meet\nthy God.'\n\n\"What did he mean? Is God going to come here, or is He going to send\nfor us to go where He is? And how does He want us to get ready? I have\nbeen thinking and thinking ever since, but I don't know any better, so\nI came to tell you, for you must find out for me.\n\n\"When I ask my aunt she says, 'It will be time enough for you to learn\nabout the gods when you are married.'\n\n\"But who will marry a blind girl?\"\n\nSukhiya looked puzzled as she said, \"Little one, why do you think about\nsuch things, such as never come into the thoughts of other children? It\nis enough for us to think of what we shall eat and wear, and how we are\nto get enough pice to keep us alive. It is for Brahmins and pundits to\nthink about God: don't trouble your little head any more, and I will\nbuy you a new doll to play with.\"\n\n\"But, I don't want a new doll,\" cried the child petulantly; \"I want to\nknow and understand, and there is nobody to tell me but you.\"\n\n\"And I am only a poor ignorant woman, who understands nothing but how\nto sell milk and butter, and count up pice. Yes, there is one other\nthing: I know how to weep, but maybe I have cried away all my tears,\nfor they do not come as they used to. Now, child, my head and back are\naching.\"\n\nAnd not feeling inclined for any more talk on deep subjects, the woman\nlay back on the bedstead on which she had been lying when the child\ncame in.\n\nHira said nothing, but sat on for a while in perfect silence, which\nwas only broken by an occasional groan from the woman as she turned\nrestlessly on her bed.\n\nPresently she stood up, \"I am going now,\" she said, \"and remember you\nhave promised to find out about Jesus Christ for me\u2014and oh, do be quick\nand take me to Him, for I am so tired of groping in the dark.\"\n\n\"Yes, child, I will remember, and as soon as this pain in my head and\nback gets better, I will find out all I can. Take care how you walk,\nand don't forget to turn the corner.\"\n\nThe child groped her way out at the door, as the woman muttered to\nherself, \"Poor little one, she is always thinking how she can get out\nof the dark, but I fear neither Jesus Christ nor anyone else can give\nher new eyes.\" Then the blind child was forgotten in the woes of a bad\nattack of fever.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nA WET DAY.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\nWHAT a day! The rain kept on steadily pouring down. Mrs. Rolle looked\nout on the rather dingy street in which she lived, and saw the settled\nlook of the weather, and she sighed. For she knew that people would \"do\nwithout\" to-day.\n\nAnd then the school children! Instead of their racing to her shop and\nstanding, to peep in at her glass door and perhaps enter and buy, they\nwould hurry by beneath their umbrellas (if they had any); and perhaps\nthey would run home another way and spend their pennies elsewhere!\n\nShe descended to her tiny back parlour and her solitary breakfast, and\nthough her bullfinch warbled a sweet song of praise, she failed to\nnotice him, but went on with her gloomy calculations of how near rent\nday was, and how little she might expect in to meet it.\n\nSo she pushed aside her plate and cup, and instead of tidily washing\nthem and putting them away, as she usually did, she went into her shop\nand sat down to wait for customers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAgain and again she counted her payments, again and again she thought\nof her bad trade, till her heart quite died within her.\n\nSuddenly she raised her head.\n\nShe had forgotten in her pressure of spirit to read her daily portion\nere she began her day's work. She put her hand slowly and hesitatingly\nbeneath the counter, and felt on the usual shelf for her Bible. Yes,\nthere it was, and to her surprise open in the darkness.\n\nNow she remembered she had been reading yesterday when a customer came\nin, and she had popped it beneath in a hurry. Her eyes fell upon the\nopen leaf, and as if the words were written for her and for no one\nelse, she read one startling line\u2014\n\n   \"My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, saith the Lord.\"\n\nHer heart leapt up with sudden rejoicing faith. \"It is 'His' goodness\nI am to be satisfied with!\" she murmured, while her eyes dimmed with\npenitent tears. \"Why am I wanting earthly things so ardently, and\nforgetting that what He sees best He will give?\"\n\nShe pressed her lips to the words, and closed her Bible. Then she sat\non, and in humble, gentle whispers she told the Lord all her cares\u2014all\nabout the rent day, all about the slack trade, all about the weary\ndropping rain.\n\nAll day she sat quiet and waited. \"My people shall be satisfied with\n'My' goodness,\" she repeated again and again.\n\nJust as she was shutting up the shop for the night, the postman passed\nacross the street. He thrust a dripping letter into her box, and passed\non.\n\nThe letter was from an old friend, whom she had supposed dead,\ninclosing a cheque which would keep her far from want for many a long\nday.\n\n\"I 'was' satisfied with His goodness,\" she said humbly, as she lay down\nin her bed, \"and I said, 'The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want!'\nIt was just like Him to send me this.\"\n\n\n\n\"What Doest thou here, Elijah?\"\n\nHERE is a man sitting in a very bare place, where there was no water\nand no food, and he was all tired out.\n\nNow, God knew all about Elijah: he was God's servant, and loved Him\nvery much, and God was taking care of him all the time.\n\nKing Ahab was a very wicked king, and his wife, Jezebel, was more\nwicked still. She hated Elijah, and made up her mind to kill him,\nbecause he had been sent by God to destroy the wicked priests of the\nidol Baal whom Jezebel worshipped.\n\nSo Jezebel sent word to Elijah that she would certainly kill him before\nto-morrow.\n\nNow, as I said, Elijah was a very good man, and had served God very\nfaithfully, but just now he was tired out.\n\nSo when Queen Jezebel sent him that message, Elijah forgot about God\ntaking care of him, and he ran away as fast as he could into the\nwilderness, and there, when he thought he was far enough off to be safe\nfrom Jezebel, he threw himself down on the ground and asked God that he\nmight be allowed to die.\n\nPoor Elijah! So as he sat there in the wilderness, so tired that he\nwished to die, his eyes closed, and he fell asleep.\n\nAs he lay and slept, God sent one of His angels to him, and the angel\ntouched him and told him to get up and eat.\n\nPerhaps Elijah's first thought was that there was nothing to eat there\nin the wilderness. But when he opened his eyes, to his astonishment he\nsaw by his side a cake of bread and a bottle of water!\n\nSo he ate and drank, and laid himself down again to sleep.\n\nBy-and-by, the angel came again and touched him, and said to him,\n\"Arise and eat; for the journey is too great for thee.\"\n\nSee how God cares for His children, and how He knows whether things are\ntoo hard for us.\n\nSo Elijah ate and drank again, and then being wonderfully strengthened\nand rested, he rose up and went a very long journey till he came to a\ncave in a mountain-side, where he stopped a little time, still fearing\nthat Jezebel would catch him and kill him.\n\nAnd then the word of the Lord came to him again, and said to him, \"What\ndoest thou here, Elijah?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen Elijah told the Lord how he had tried to serve Him, and how\nJezebel had killed numbers of the Lord's prophets, and that he feared\nhe was the only one who was left, and that soon she would kill him.\n\nThen the Lord told him to stand outside the cave while He passed by.\nAnd there was a great earthquake and storm, and then a very gentle\nvoice, and the Lord asked him again: \"What doest thou here, Elijah?\"\n\nAnd when Elijah told the Lord again that he feared Jezebel would kill\nhim, the Lord sent him to give two very important messages for Him, and\nassured him that He could take care of him, saying He had still seven\nthousand faithful ones who loved Him, who were being kept as safe as He\nwould keep Elijah.\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER III.\u2014A STARTLING QUESTION.\n\nFOR several days, Hira waited, not patiently, but most impatiently, for\nSukhiya to come and tell her what she wanted to know.\n\nShe would have gone again to seek her, but her last expedition had cost\nher a good beating, which she did not care to have repeated. Besides,\nif she was not careful, she would be so watched that she would have no\nopportunity of going out by herself. So she waited, counting the days,\nand at last Sukhiya came. It seemed that day as if it would never be\nsettled just how much butter was wanted, and then how much must be paid\nfor it. But at last, Sukhiya stood up ready to put her basket on her\nhead.\n\nNow Hira's time was come; she groped her way to a small passage by the\ndoor through which her friend would have to pass, so as to be ready\nto stop her there, where there would be no one to listen to what was\nsaid. As soon as Sukhiya saw the child, she put down her basket on the\nground, and sat down beside it, as if quite prepared to stay as long as\nshe was wanted, for time was no matter of great consideration.\n\n\"Tell me, Sukhiya,\" whispered the child eagerly, \"Where is Jesus\nChrist, and how can I find Him? And has He ever made any other blind\ngirl see? Tell me quickly.\"\n\n\"Stay, stay, child! What a hurry you are in! You make my head swim with\nso many questions, and I still weak from the fever; listen quietly,\nand you shall hear all. I went to a babu's house yesterday, where I\nsometimes go to sell, and as they are Christians, I thought they would\ntell me what you want to know. They laughed when I said that a blind\ngirl I knew wanted to go to Jesus Christ, to ask Him to give her new\neyes. I did not see anything to laugh at, but they seemed to think I\nwas not quite in my right senses. And then I got angry, and came away,\nso that is all I know.\"\n\n\"Oh, how unkind!\" cried the child in a tone of bitter disappointment.\n\"How cruel of them to laugh, and how silly of you to be angry and not\nto ask any more! But I 'will' find out; I will go myself and ask. I\nwonder they can laugh at a poor blind girl!\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the woman, glad to see a way of escape; \"that will be\na very good thing. I will take you some day, and you shall find out all\nyou want to know.\"\n\n\"Let us go to-day. Why should we not go now?\" cried the child\nimpatiently. \"Surely I have waited long enough.\"\n\nSukhiya considered a minute, and then, seeing no serious objection, she\nagreed, and so they started on their way\u2014the woman with a basket on her\nhead, followed by the small figure in a red sari.\n\nIt was not far to the Christian babu's house, and as the door was open,\nSukhiya walked straight in. The house was not very different to those\nin the midst of which it stood, but still, there was quite enough to\nshow that it was not inhabited by ordinary Hindus or Mahomedans.\n\nSeveral tables and chairs, none too clean and in some cases broken,\nstood here and there, while the walls were decorated with various\npictures and prints, in the midst of which was a text surrounded by\nChristmas cards.\n\nThe courtyard and verandah seemed quite empty and deserted, but as\nSukhiya called out, \"Is there anyone at home?\" a woman holding a baby\nin her arms came out of the inner room. She very well matched her\nhouse, being dressed in a style which was partly English and partly\nHindustani, not over clean or tidy. She looked weary and listless,\nas if life had not proved itself very attractive to her, and she had\nceased to take much interest in it. She sat down on the first seat she\ncame to, and Sukhiya, putting down her basket before her, sat down\nbeside it, Hira, who was holding on to the end of her chaddar, doing\nlikewise.\n\nSukhiya, who had little thought of her own business, but was thinking\nrather of the child beside her, and how to get her satisfied, came at\nonce to the point, and told the object of her visit.\n\n\"This is the blind girl I told you of,\" she said, \"who wants to know\nabout Jesus Christ, and whether He can make her see as He has done\nother people. So, as you are a Christian and know all about these\nthings, will you please tell her? For she won't be satisfied any way\ntill she knows, and I cannot tell her.\"\n\nMary Day\u00e1l looked up in surprise, and a gleam of interest lighted\nup her otherwise dull face. She was not accustomed to being asked\nquestions like this, and she hesitated a little before giving an\nanswer. Then she said, \"The little girl must be very ignorant not to\nknow that Jesus Christ is not here now. It is hundreds of years ago\nsince He gave sight to the blind.\"\n\n\"Is Jesus Christ dead?\" interrupted Hira. \"Then why does the English\ngentleman sing hymns about Him? What use is a dead person?\"\n\n\"But Jesus Christ is 'not' dead,\" answered Mary. \"He is alive in\nheaven, but not in this world, and He doesn't make blind people see any\nmore. You had better go to the hospital and have your eyes looked at;\nsomething might be done for you there.\"\n\nThe child's eager face clouded over; she had so hoped that she would be\nable to find Jesus Christ, and that He would just touch her eyes and\nshe would see. Now it was all of no use, for He was dead. How could it\nbe true that He was alive? If He was not anywhere, He must be dead, and\nthis woman was talking nonsense. She drew her red sari further over her\nface and said nothing more.\n\nAnd the two women began to talk to each other about such things as milk\nand butter.\n\nPresently Sukhiya took up her basket, and Hira stood up also, ready to\nfollow her. Suddenly a new thought seemed to strike her, and raising\nher sightless eyes to Mary's face, she asked earnestly, \"Have you got\nready to meet God?\"\n\nThe woman started at this unexpected question, and turning to Sukhiya,\nasked, \"Is this child in her right mind, that she asks such strange\nquestions?\"\n\nQuite indignant at such a thing being said of her little favourite,\nSukhiya answered quickly, \"In her right mind! Of course she is, but\nwhile we spend all our time thinking of bread, and money, and such\nthings, she, poor little one, sitting in the dark, thinks of God. It\nseems as if when the Almighty took away her eyes, He gave her a double\nshare of understanding, for there are few of us as wise as she.\"\n\nThen turning to the child, \"Come, little one,\" she said, \"there is\nnothing to be learnt here, that is certain.\" And the two went out.\n\nBut Hira, though she had gained nothing herself, left a message behind\nher. Mary Day\u00e1l sat on alone, for the baby had fallen asleep, and in\nthe silence came back again the blind child's question: \"Have you got\nready to meet God?\"\n\nThe questioner was only a little heathen girl, who knew nothing about\nthe true God, and the one of whom she had asked was a Christian, who\nhad been baptised and belonged to the Christian Church, and yet the\nunanswered question had made her feel uneasy, all the more so because\nit had come so unexpectedly.\n\nIf she had heard the words in church, as doubtless she often had done,\nthey would have been soon forgotten, but it was quite different when\nthis strange child, with her patient, eager face, and sightless eyes,\nstood before her and asked, as if she really wished to know, \"Have you\ngot ready to meet God?\"\n\nThe question brought others. When and where would she have to meet God?\nWhat did it mean to be ready? And how could she get ready?\n\nIn the depths of her heart, she knew that she had no wish to meet God.\nShe only knew Him from very far-off, and she had no desire to come\nnearer. She went to church when there was nothing to prevent, but very\noften there was, and when she was not too busy or too tired, she read\na chapter in the Bible; if that would make her ready to meet God, then\nshe was ready. But something seemed to whisper in her heart that God\nwould require more than that. Then the baby woke, and soon the other\nchildren came in from school, and there was no more time for thinking.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nNORA'S MESSAGE.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"NORA, ain't you ready?\" asked a querulous voice from the bed.\n\nThe child addressed was putting on a pair of heavy boots, while by her\nside on a box lay a rather tattered hat, and a shawl.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNora did not answer; she was a good-tempered little girl, and she took\nthings as they came, generally.\n\n\"It's hard to lie here and know it will be hours before you bring home\na bit of bread or tea,\" moaned the invalid.\n\n\"I'm bein' as quick as I can, mother,\" said the child, \"but these laces\nis so broken; I was near havin' a new pair yesterday\u2014\"\n\n\"You sure wasn't going to spend a penny when a bit of string would do?\"\nsharply suggested the invalid.\n\nNora laughed a little. \"Well, no, I didn't think of spendin' a penny,\nno more ner you would, mother!\" she answered. \"Not on that, leastways.\"\n\nHow often she had stood by the boys with trays of buns, and felt as if\nshe would give her whole basket of flowers 'almost' for one of those\nwarm, spongy, sugary, shiny dainties!\n\n\"Then how?\" asked her mother, raising herself on her elbow.\n\n\"I was crossin' over a wide place, one of them old fellers with laces\nwas crossin' too, and one of 'em fell off the wire in the mud\u2014\"\n\n\"And you didn't?\" inquired her mother.\n\n\"I could easy ha' had it\u2014nothin' easier,\" pursued the child, with a\nnod, \"but\u2014\"\n\n\"But what?\" asked the invalid, laying herself wearily back on her\npillow.\n\n\"But I thought of what teacher telled us\u2014and I couldn't! So I picked it\nup and give it to him.\"\n\n\"What did she tell you?\" asked the invalid a little curiously.\n\n\"She telled us that 'Jesus' noticed what we was doin', and I couldn't\nafter that!\"\n\nShe took up her basket and ran out, and the mother lay in her weariness\nand faintness, and pondered.\n\n\"Jesus notices what we're doing,\" she repeated again and again. \"Then\nif He notices, He knows all about us!\" she thought. \"He sees my pain,\nand how hungry and miserable I am. I wonder if He cares?\"\n\nThere was a little rap at the door. \"May I come in?\" said a gentle,\nbright voice. \"I thought you would like to see a friend this morning;\nand I've brought you a piece of toast we had on the table and a cup of\nhot tea in a bottle. Feel how warm it is wrapped in my cloak! I brought\nit because Jesus loves you! Is not that a nice comforting thought?\"\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Peace I leave with you,\n My peace I give unto you.]\n\n\n\nSo Much the More!\n\nSEE how loving Jesus looks! He never turned anyone away who wanted Him.\n\nWhen people are tired, we sometimes hear them say, \"Don't come and ask\nme; I'm too tired.\" But Jesus never did like that; He always was ready\nto help and bless.\n\nPerhaps you little children say in your hearts, \"Yes, but then that was\nso long ago, and Jesus is not on earth now. I wish He were, and that I\nwere there in the Holy Land, and could tell Him just what troubles me.\"\n\nAnd so you turn away with a sigh, and wish Jesus were here now.\n\nBut though you cannot see the Lord Jesus, He \"is\" near you all the\ntime. It is true that He left this earth and went back to heaven. But\nbecause He is God, He is here, close to us all the time, and is ready\nto help you the moment you speak to Him in your heart.\n\nYou see this picture? You would like to hear about it, I know, because\nthe Lord Jesus looks so kind, and the poor man seems so anxious to get\nto Him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJesus was close to the city of Jericho, and as He passed along, a\nnumber of people were with Him who had seen the wonderful things He did.\n\nJust outside the city, a blind man sat near the road, begging of\nthose who passed by. His ears were very quick, and he soon heard the\ntrampling of feet and guessed something unusual was going on.\n\nHe eagerly asked what it meant, and when they told him that Jesus of\nNazareth passeth by, he called out aloud, \"Jesus, Thou son of David,\nhave mercy on me!\"\n\nThe people who went before did not like the interruption, and told him\nto be quiet. But the blind man had heard of Jesus and knew He could\nmake him well, so he cried out louder than ever.\n\nThe dear Lord never refuses a cry of distress: He stood still, and\ncommanded the blind man to be brought to Him.\n\nSo the people ran to the blind man and said to him, \"Be of good cheer,\nrise; He calleth thee.\"\n\nSo the blind man was led to Jesus, and Jesus inquired what he wanted.\nAnd the blind man asked Him to do the most difficult thing in the\nworld, next to raising the dead; he asked that his blind eyes might be\nmade to see.\n\nBut nothing is difficult to the Lord Jesus. In a moment, Jesus had\ngiven him what he asked, and told him that his faith had saved him.\n\nAnd then the blind man did what all of us should do who have been to\nJesus and received a blessing or an answer to our prayers from Him\u2014we\nshould \"follow Him in the way, glorifying God.\"\n\nWe should try to please Jesus in all our daily work and play. When we\nthink how He has heard our prayer, or comforted us, or made us pleasant\nwhen we felt cross, or helped us to forgive somebody who had been\nunkind to us\u2014then we should say in our hearts,\u2014\n\n   \"Dear Lord Jesus, thank You.\"\n\nAnd so we should find our faces grow brighter and our lives happier,\nand we should be following Him in the way.\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSMOOTHED OUT.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"WHERE is Margaret?\" asked cook crossly.\n\n\"She's in the passage, kneeling by the window,\" said the housemaid.\n\n\"'What?'\" asked the cook emphatically.\n\n\"Writing letters!\" said Jenny.\n\nThe cook marched to the door with quick step, and stood looking at\nMargaret with wrath in her eyes.\n\n\"How often have I told you that I will not have you writing letters\nbefore your work is done!\" she exclaimed.\n\nMargaret turned round, and her face grew scarlet as she rose from her\nknees.\n\n\"No wonder you are ashamed!\" exclaimed cook. \"What with Jenny always\nwanting to go out, and you always wanting to be writing letters, and\nMartha neglecting her work like she does, I have enough of it. I shall\ntell mistress that I can't make anything of you, and that she had\nbetter get another girl!\"\n\nWith which words, she went into the kitchen and slammed the door.\n\nMargaret stood dumbfounded; then she looked down at her letter,\nand then angrily she crumpled the freshly written pages together,\nand stuffing them into her little blotter, she hurried back to the\nscullery, where a whole heap of washing-up awaited her.\n\nBoiling with anger, she plunged the plates into the tub, and dashed\naway at her work in a desperate fashion. All the time, she was\nconscious of that crumpled letter in her blotting-case. And that, worst\nof all, it was mail day, and there would be no time to write another.\n\nBurning tears scalded her cheeks and dropped into the tub, till she was\nforced to get out her handkerchief and wipe them away. Then she dashed\non again, the thought of having lost the mail making her half beside\nherself.\n\nJust at that moment, there came a sudden check; a cover of one of the\nbest vegetable dishes flew into two pieces in her cloth.\n\nHere was a disaster! Margaret hid her face in her hands.\n\nCook had almost given her her dismissal; she had broken one of the\nbest dishes, and she had spoilt the letter which was to have gone to\nher soldier brother by that afternoon's post! She put down the pieces\nof the cover without any noise now. She wrung out her dish-cloth and\nemptied away the water, and then slowly and sorrowfully she took her\nblotter and went upstairs to her room.\n\n\"What shall I do? What shall I do?\" she sobbed, as she threw herself on\nher knees by her bed.\n\nOh that her own mother were alive, or that she could lay her head on\nher faithful brother's shoulder and tell him all her grief!\n\nAnd if she did, what would he say? The thought quieted her. She ceased\nto cry so hopelessly, and her head sank on her arms.\n\n\"He would tell me to look to Jesus,\" she whispered to herself, \"and\nhe would say that He can straighten out the worst of life's tangles.\nOh, dear! Oh, dear! But how can I ask Him after my passion? And then\nthere's the mail\u2014and cook\u2014and the vegetable dish.\"\n\nIt did seem too many tangles to get straightened out. And yet\u2014\n\nHer head bowed lower and lower, and her heart went out to that loving\nSaviour who is near us when we call upon Him in truth.\n\nAfter a minute or two she rose, and the first thing she saw was cook,\nstanding in front of her with the broken dish in her hand and tears in\nher eyes.\n\n\"Oh, cook!\" sobbed Margaret, \"I was coming to tell you\u2014\"\n\n\"And I was coming to tell you,\" said cook gently, \"that I'm sorry I\nspoke quite so sharp to you. I know you try to be a good girl, but I\nwas vexed about the letter. We must make time in future for you not to\nbe so drove over it. Cheer up, and I'll make it right with mistress\nabout the dish!\"\n\nShe stooped and gave Margaret a kiss\u2014the first kiss she had ever given\nin that house.\n\n\"Where's your letter?\" she asked kindly.\n\nMargaret hesitated; then, still blinded by her tears, she drew it out\nof her case.\n\n\"I can't send it,\" she whispered; \"I'm ashamed to let him see it\u2014and\nI've never missed before!\"\n\nCook sat down and took the case on her knee. She smoothed the crumpled\nedges and pressed the letter out with her fingers, and then she\nexclaimed\u2014\n\n\"There's an iron hot on the stove; run down and iron it. There's just\ntime!\"\n\nSo Margaret flew down, and cook followed slowly.\n\n\"May I add just a line?\" she asked humbly.\n\n\"All right!\" said cook, who was bending over the fire.\n\nAnd Margaret added\u2014\n\n   \"Oh, Jack, I've been so cross, and things did seem so hard, but Jesus\nhas helped me, and I'm going to trust Him, as you wanted me to.\"\n\nWho can tell what joy that sentence gave to the young soldier fighting\nat the front?\n\nAfter that day, things grew better for Margaret. It was surprising how\ndifferent cook was, and how many little pleasures she seemed able to\nput in the busy kitchenmaid's life.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd Margaret on her part was different too. At first, she shyly tried\nto be ready to do willingly what was required of her. And by-and-by, a\nmutual understanding of love sprang up between her and the lonely cook.\n\nSometimes in the quiet night, cook would say to herself, \"Margaret has\nno mother, and I have no child; I'll be a mother to her.\"\n\nMargaret did not guess that for many a long day. But she often\nwondered, and thanked God in her heart many times a day, that in giving\nher His heavenly love, He had sent her cook's earthly love as well.\n\n\n\n\"WILL I?\"\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\nTHE letter had come that morning, and Mary had glanced at it as she sat\nat breakfast among her brothers and sisters, and had then stuffed it in\nher pocket, reserving it for the first quiet moment she could get.\n\n\"What does he say?\" asked her favourite brother, looking up quizzically\nin her face.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"What 'doesn't' he say?\" she responded lightly.\n\nThe fact was her eyes had caught a sentence which changed the whole\ncourse of her life. Instead of the long engagement which she had\nthought inevitable, here was her Jack proposing to be married within\nthree months.\n\n   \"You must think it well over,\" he said, in almost his first sentence,\n\"and weigh all the things there are against it, as well as for it.\"\n\nHow good Jack was, she thought, and then she stuffed the letter in her\npocket and tried to give her mind to helping the bacon and cutting the\nbread.\n\nIt seemed as if everybody wanted everything that morning. But at last,\nshe found herself with her duties done, able to shut her door and sit\ndown to think it well over, as Jack said.\n\nBut Mary did not sit there a moment. With the quiet came a habit, a\nholy habit, of using her solitude in talking to her Lord Jesus. She\nsank on her knees by her bed and whispered that she was ignorant what\nto do, uncertain what would be best, and asking Him to take \"the\ngovernment upon His shoulder,\" to be her Counsellor.\n\nThen softly she arose and went back to her seat at the window and read\nJack's letter over carefully.\n\n\"He wants it,\" she said thoughtfully, \"but he would not press me to do\nit without well considering it. He has had a new place in the country\noffered him\u2014a better position\u2014and he says that it will be very lonely\nfor him, and he asks me if I will be content to begin in a very small\nway. (Of course I will!) And he says that we cannot have the comforts\nand luxuries we may have had in our fathers' homes, but we can have\nhappiness and each other, even if we do have to work a little harder.\"\n\nShe looked down at her pretty hands, in which she confessed to take\nsome pride. \"But that is nonsense,\" she thought quickly; \"he says we\nshall have the upper half of a house, or perhaps a little one all\nto ourselves; and he promises to help me as much as he can, and not\nto shirk the hard things (dear Jack!) and he thinks there is every\nprospect in this new opening of improvement year by year.\"\n\n\"I know what I should like, if mother and father think it prudent,\" she\nsaid, \"and they will help me to decide rightly.\"\n\nSo there was a long consultation that evening in the library, and Mary\nlearned afresh what the tenderness of the parents' love is. Perhaps\nit helped her to understand a little more of the love and care of the\ngreat Heavenly Father.\n\nThe letter to Jack went off before post time and it was entirely to his\nsatisfaction.\n\n   \"I am not above work, you know, Jack,\" she said, \"and I will make\nyour money go as far as ever I can. We will go without what we cannot\nafford; and mother thinks we shall do very well, and be very happy; so\nthere!\"\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Bring your work, and sit under the trees.]\n\nA CHARGE.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\nWHAT a long time it seemed! What a long fortnight to take care of all\nthose children, with responsibility from morning to night!\n\nLettice waved the last good-bye to her brother and his wife, as they\ndrove away from the door, and then turned round to survey the scene.\n\nRoland and Ralph, her twin nephews, stood looking at her earnestly.\nLittle Ivy nestled up against her with tears in her eyes, and\nMarjory\u2014ah! That was the difficulty\u2014what would her headstrong niece\nMarjory say and do?\n\n\"Come into the garden, auntie,\" called Ralph; \"Roland and I are going\nto catch butterflies, and we want you to sit on the form and watch us.\"\n\n\"Yes, and I am going to pick flowers for you,\" said Ivy, winking away\nher tears, as she tried not to think of her parents gone away for all\nthat time.\n\n\"Very well,\" said Lettice, \"but what is Marjory going to do?\"\n\n\"'I' don't need looking after, thank you,\" said Marjory disdainfully.\n\"I have plenty to do, and can take care of myself. Father said I could\u2014\"\n\nAunt Lettice raised her eyes inquiringly. There was a gentle look in\nthem in which the firmness was almost hidden.\n\n\"At least\u2014\" said Marjory, hesitating a little.\n\n\"At least?\" echoed Aunt Lettice. Then she paused for an instant, while\nher heart sent up a swift prayer.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Marjory,\" she said, \"I want you to be my great help\u2014will you?\"\n\nMarjory was silent. She stooped and tied a ribbon round her dog. She\nhad meant to declare war to the knife with her auntie\u2014but\u2014\n\n\"Come along,\" said Lettice brightly, \"we will try to have a very happy\ntime. What a lovely day! Bring your work, and come and sit under those\nshady trees. We can watch the twins from there; and see, Ivy is already\npicking flowers. The fortnight will soon pass away.\"\n\nWhen Lettice went to bed that night, as she passed Marjory's door a\nvoice called to her\u2014\n\n\"Good-night, auntie!\"\n\nThen, as she bent over Marjory's bed, she heard her whisper, \"Thank you\nfor being so patient; I 'will' try to help you!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER IV.\u2014A SAD STORY.\n\nMARY DAY\u00c1L had had a sad, weary life, not marked by any special joys,\nbut clouded by many sorrows. The daughter of Christian parents, she had\ntaken it for granted that she was a Christian also, and never thought\nof being anything else. She had been sent to school as soon as she\nwas old enough, and had there learnt English, and many other things,\nwhich had been soon forgotten. When she was seventeen, her parents had\narranged for her marriage.\n\nHer married life had not been a very happy one. Her husband had a knack\nof getting out of work, and they were never sure of any certain income.\nSometimes he earned good wages, and they lived in comfort, but those\ndays did not last long.\n\nVery soon, through no fault of his, so he said, he was sent away; then\nthere was nothing to live on, so what could they do but go into debt?\nAnd so they did.\n\nThey had had eight children, but out of those, only four were living:\nReuben, the eldest, a boy of ten; Julius, seven years old; Maggie, six;\nand baby Rose.\n\nThe three eldest went to school, which was a great comfort to their\nmother. At the time of Hira's visit, the father of the family had\nsome employment, though, as he considered, far beneath a man of his\ncapabilities; so these were not some of the darkest days.\n\nStill, they were quite dark enough, for there was a heavy debt on\nwhich they had to pay so much interest that they had little left to\npay their daily expenses. And as Mary sat nursing her baby in the\nempty, quiet house, she used to think and wonder what could be done to\nbring in more money and ease her of this heavy load which weighed so\nupon her. Indeed, the one thought which filled her mind and absorbed\nall her attention was this: How can I provide food and clothes for\nmy family? No wonder that she looked dull and listless, that she was\ncross and impatient with her children, and anything but an attractive,\naffectionate wife to her husband.\n\nMark Day\u00e1l was one who might have been a different man under different\ncircumstances. From his earliest days, he had been allowed to do just\nas he liked. When he was ten years old, his father died, which made\nmatters still worse, for it was he who ruled his mother, and not his\nmother who ruled him. Some kind friends paid for his education, and\nfinding that he was a clever, bright boy, quite expected to see the\nreward of their kindness in his becoming a good, useful man. But they\nwere sorely disappointed; the boy began to think himself far more\nclever than he really was, and thought everything was so easy that he\nneed not take pains about anything, and so he became careless and lazy.\n\nWhen he was twenty years old, though he had little or nothing to\nsupport a wife (that was a \"small\" matter), he married; the result\nhas already been told. Now he was a hard, disappointed man, blaming\neverybody else for his want of success in life, but never thinking of\nblaming himself.\n\nSuch was the household to which blind Hira came to ask how she could\nfind new eyes, that she might see, and what the command meant, \"Prepare\nto meet thy God.\" Mary did not know it at the time, but the visit of\nthe blind child was the beginning of what will never end. The question\nasked had made her \"think,\" and thinking, when it is about what is\ngood, will surely bring good results, as it did in this case.\n\nFor the first time in her life, the thought of coming into contact with\nGod had claimed her attention, and though it was not a thought which\nbrought her any pleasure, she could not get rid of it.\n\n                       \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\u2014ALONE IN THE STORM.\n\nTHE days of which we write were hard times for all, except those who\nlived in plenty, and of such there were few.\n\nIn many parts of India, famine was raging, and even where it was not\nactually present, it had its effect, and prices were so high that those\nto whom the question of rupees, annas, and pice was always a serious\nproblem, were now sorely perplexed as to how to provide the necessities\nof life. Amongst those were Mary Day\u00e1l's family, as well as that in\nwhich Hira found a home. For the latter especially, life was anything\nbut smooth, and many and bitter were the complaints of those who had to\nwork, and of those who had to eat. The one who suffered most was Mira,\nand again was she reminded that it was her father's place to provide\nfor her, but where that father was, no one knew.\n\nHira was a good deal to blame for what she had to suffer, and it was\nhardly to be wondered at that nobody cared to deny themselves for\nthe sake of a child, who did so little to make herself loved. Except\nSukhiya, whose mother's heart was touched by the child's sad, forlorn\ncondition, no one had a good word for Hira. Though generally very\nsilent, when once started, she could pour out torrents of abuse,\nwithout any regard as to who was the victim. There was not much she\n\"could\" do, and even that little she refused, or did very grudgingly.\n\nPoor little Hira was like a plant grown in utterly uncongenial soil;\nthere was more \"good\" in her than in anyone else in the house, but her\ncircumstances only served to develop the bad and extinguish the good.\nSuddenly there came a great change in her life, and this was how it\nhappened.\n\nOne day everything had gone wrong. Money was scarce, and therefore food\nalso, and each one blamed somebody else. Hira was told that there was\nno food for her, and if she wanted any, she had better go out and beg\nfor it. The child said little, but in her heart, she made up her mind\nshe would go and seek her living elsewhere. Why should she stay in this\nhouse to be starved and abused, when Sukhiya loved her and would feed\nher on milk and ghi? So to Sukhiya she determined to go.\n\nIt did not seem a very difficult matter, as she had often been there\nbefore, and found her way quite easily. She waited till evening, for\nthough the light and darkness made no difference to her, she would be\nless likely to be seen by others.\n\nShe could not see, poor child, and so she did not know that heavy black\nclouds had gathered round, and a great storm was pending.\n\nJust after she had started, a terrific clap of thunder made her start,\nfor Hira, so susceptible to sound, had a natural terror of thunder.\nSoon heavy rain began to fall, and in two or three minutes, the red\nsari was soaked through. In her fear and confusion, the blind child\nmissed turning the corner which would have led her to Sukhiya's house,\nand then she was hopelessly lost.\n\nIt would not have been a serious matter at any ordinary time, for she\ncould easily have asked her way, and would have been soon guided safely\nhome, but at this hour and in the midst of the storm which was raging,\nthere was no one to see the small red figure, from whom the water was\nnow pouring, nor to hear the piteous words:\n\n\"Is there anyone about? Is there anyone near?\"\n\nIndeed, none could have heard if they had been there, for the torrents\nof rain and roaring thunder drowned every other sound.\n\nFor some time the child pressed on, driven by terror, and feeling that\nanything must be better than the place where she now was. At last, she\ncould go no further; not only was the rain streaming down upon her, but\na torrent of water was rushing down the narrow lane through which she\nwas trying to force her way, and threatening to carry her off her feet.\nGroping her way by the walls of the houses, she came to some steps,\nand climbing up these, she was at any rate safe from the rushing water\nbelow. She sat down and tried to think, but this was no easy matter in\nthe noise and confusion round her.\n\nThen she began to do what she always did when she was troubled and\ndistressed, the only thing she could do\u2014she began to cry, a piteous\nwailing cry. It was hopeless to think that anyone would hear it, but at\nany rate it was better than doing nothing. Gradually the storm, having\nspent itself, began to subside, and still Hira went on wailing and\nweeping.\n\nSuddenly the door behind her was opened, and a voice asked into the\ndarkness, \"Is there anyone there?\"\n\nHira only wailed the louder. Then a hand was stretched out and the\nspeaker was able to gain some idea as to who it was who was in such\ndistress. She recrossed the large courtyard, and entering the house,\nwent into a room where a man was sitting reading.\n\n\"Father,\" she said, \"it is a child crying; it seems to be a little\ngirl, and she is soaked through with the rain. I have come to fetch a\nlight, and then I will bring her in, and we will try and find out who\nshe is, and why she is crying alone in the dark.\"\n\nThe man looked up from his book with a face full of interest, and\nrising from his seat, said, \"Yes, child, and I will come with you and\ncarry the light.\"\n\n\"Oh, no, father! Indeed you must not. See how the water has collected\nin the courtyard, and only yesterday you had high fever. I will be back\ndirectly.\"\n\nAnd, taking the lamp in her hand, the daughter started back to the\nchild before her father had time to speak again.\n\nHira's cries were now pitched in a lower key, but as the noise of the\nstorm still continued, it was difficult for the speaker to make her\nvoice heard.\n\n\"Poor little girl,\" she said as clearly as she could, \"why are you\nsitting here alone in the rain? Come inside, and I will give you a dry\nsari, and you shall tell me why you are crying.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nStill Hira said nothing, but cried the louder. Her new friend was\nsorely puzzled; it was still raining heavily, and she herself would\nsoon be as wet as the child, and yet she could not go back and leave\nher there.\n\nAgain she tried. \"Don't be afraid of me, little one,\" she said kindly.\n\"I only want to take you in out of the dark and rain, and you shall go\naway as soon as you want to.\"\n\nThen Hira's cries ceased, and the plaintive answer came: \"I am blind,\nand I have lost my way, and I don't know where I am nor who you are.\"\n\nIf anything more had been needed to touch the heart of Hira's would-be\nhelper, surely this was enough, and without saying anything more, she\nset down the lamp, and taking the dripping child in her arms, lifted\nher through the door.\n\nShe could scarcely attempt to carry her across the flooded courtyard,\nbut having brought her so far, with loving words of encouragement, the\nchild became willing to be led into the dry, comfortable dwelling.\n\nThey were met on the verandah by the master of the house and an old\nservant, who had no eyes for the strange child, but was full of concern\nfor her young mistress, whom she pressed to come inside at once and\nchange her wet clothes.\n\n\"She is blind, father,\" whispered the daughter, \"and has lost her way;\nno wonder she cried so piteously.\"\n\nThen tender hands quickly changed the wet red sari for a dry white one,\nand Hira was transformed. Then came the question: What was to be done\nnext? Gladly would the father and daughter have fed and sheltered the\ndesolate child, who had been found weeping at their door, but until\nthey knew from whence, and why she had come, and what her future would\nbe, they shrank from doing anything which would cut her off from those\nto whom she belonged. Being Christians, how could they feed a child who\nwas a Hindu?\n\nThe great difficulty was that the little girl could not be persuaded to\ngive any account of herself. After having told that she was blind and\nlost, she would say nothing more; only in reply to the question, \"Had\nshe a father and mother?\" she shook her head. As to the whereabouts of\nher home, she would tell nothing.\n\nOne thing soon became quite certain\u2014she must stay where she was for the\nnight.\n\nThe old servant Anandi wished to take charge of her, but Shushila\nhaving found her, claimed the right to keep her, and took her to sleep\nin her room. Rest did not come to either very quickly; evidently the\nblind child had received a great shock, and seemed nervous and restless.\n\n\"I wonder if she would like to be sung to?\" thought Shushila.\n\nAnd without saying anything, she began to sing what came first to her\nmind, the very same hymn which Hira had listened to on the roof.\n\nShe was little prepared for the look of joyful surprise which suddenly\nlighted up the blind girl's face.\n\nShe listened quietly till the hymn was finished, and then asked with\nalmost breathless eagerness, \"Tell me, do you know Him, the Jesus\nChrist you have been singing about?\"\n\n\"Yes, little one,\" was the answer, \"I do know Jesus Christ. He is my\nbest and dearest Friend.\"\n\n\"Then you know where He lives, and you will take me to Him and ask Him\nto give me new eyes? That cruel woman said that He was dead, but I\ndidn't believe He was. Say, will you take me to-morrow?\"\n\nShushila did not speak at once; she was thinking how she could make\nthis child, who knew so little, understand that He, whom she wished to\nseek, was even then close beside her, ready to give her, if not new\neyes, what was of infinitely greater value.\n\nAt last she spoke. \"No, little one, Jesus Christ is not dead, and He\nwill never, never die, and I need not take you to Him, because He is\nhere already, nearer to you than I am.\"\n\n\"Then ask Him to give me new eyes. I was so frightened all alone in the\ndark, and the rain and thunder made such a noise, but if Jesus Christ\nmakes me see like other people, I shall never be frightened again.\"\n\nShushila drew the trembling child closer to her, as she said, \"Dear\nlittle one, only be patient, and I will tell you about Jesus Christ,\nand how much He loves you, and how He will give you what is even better\nthan eyes.\"\n\n\"But,\" interrupted the child, \"if Jesus Christ is here, why does He not\ngive me new eyes now? He did not tell that other man that he must wait,\nor that He would give him something else instead. You have told me a\nlie, and Jesus Christ is not really here; perhaps that other woman told\nme truly and He is really dead.\"\n\nThen Shushila knelt down by the bed on which the child had thrown\nherself in her grief and disappointment, and prayed softly,\u2014\n\n   \"Lord Jesus, we know that Thou art here, and that Thou seest us though\nwe cannot see Thee. We thank Thee that Thou didst take care of this\npoor little one in the storm, and didst bring her safely here. She is\nvery tired and weary. Wilt Thou give her rest? Amen.\"\n\nHira said no more. And as Shushila knelt on beside her, softly singing,\nshe gradually lay still, and the watcher knew that for the present she\nwas at rest.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nDEVOTION.\n\n\"YOU 'darling!'\" exclaimed the young mother rapturously.\n\n\"You 'darling!'\" echoed grandmother in the same tone.\n\nWhile the father, just passing the window and seeing his sweet little\ndaughter held up to be admired, stopped and admired her too.\n\n\"Does she not look rosy from her sleep?\" said Anora. \"Why, she has been\nasleep this two hours.\"\n\n\"I've been sitting here a great deal too long,\" said grannie, with a\nstart. \"What will grandfather say? He'll tell me I'm a bit silly over\nthat baby, and so I am!\" She gave a pleasant little laugh as she rose\nand gathered her basket handles together preparatory to setting forth.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Well, father's as bad himself,\" smiled Anora, nodding and chirping to\nthe baby, while smile after smile broke over the little one's face in\nresponse.\n\n\"I never saw such a sweet baby!\" said grannie emphatically. \"But I must\ngo to see after grandfather's dinner. He'll be short of something nice,\nunless I mind.\"\n\nShe had a good kiss of her grandchild, and then, poking her vegetables\nfurther into her basket, she hurried off to her cottage.\n\nThat evening, when the baby was asleep, and Jacques was sitting by the\nfire resting after his day's work, Anora put her hand into his and\nlooked into his face thoughtfully.\n\n\"Well, dear?\" he said kindly.\n\n\"I'm so afraid we are getting to love her too well\u2014\"\n\nThere was no need to ask whom she meant, and to Jacques' surprise,\nthere was a sound of tears in her usually cheerful voice.\n\nHe looked up quickly. \"I never thought of that,\" he said at length.\n\n\"No more did I. But when mother went out this afternoon, somehow it\ncame over me\u2014What would life be without baby? And then\u2014\"\n\nJacques shook his head and they both looked towards the cradle.\n\n\"We do want to love God best of all, don't we?\" she murmured.\n\n\"But He has sent us our child.\"\n\n\"I tell you what!\" said Anora, suddenly brightening up. \"I've thought\nof something! If we thank God for her every time we think how sweet and\ndear she is, I do believe that will save us from making an idol of her.\nI'll run in and tell grannie. I know she'll do it!\"\n\n\n\nOut of the Tombs.\n\nONE day the Lord Jesus was sailing over the lake of Galilee, and a\ngreat storm of wind came down between the mountains, and made the waves\nbeat into the ship so that it nearly sank.\n\nThe Lord was tired with all His loving work among the people, and He\nfell asleep in the hinder part of the ship.\n\nWhen the storm came on, the disciples woke Him up in a great hurry,\nasking Him if He did not care that they were in danger.\n\nNow, Jesus always cares. Perhaps He was asleep during that storm that\nthey might learn to trust Him more.\n\nSo at their despairing cry, He arose and told the wind and the waves to\nbe still. And immediately there was a great calm.\n\nSo Jesus said to them, \"How is it that you have so little faith?\"\n\nAnd the disciples felt a great surprise and awe come over them, because\nthe Master whom they loved could have power over even the wind and the\nwaves.\n\nBut Jesus wanted to show them that there are other things over which He\nhas power besides the storm and the tempest.\n\nSo when they came out of the ship, as they were passing through the\nrocky country by the sea, a very strange and unhappy man met them.\n\nThe disciples were very frightened, for they knew that this poor man\nlived in the tombs and was possessed with a devil, so that no man could\nlive with him, or do anything to make him happy. He had often been put\nin a safe place by his friends, but he was so strong that he had burst\nopen the door and broken the chains that bound him, and day and night\nhe was crying and cutting himself with stones.\n\nBut Jesus has power even over a man such as that.\n\nWhen he who was possessed with the devil saw the Lord coming up from\nthe lake, he ran to meet Him and bowed himself to the ground and\nworshipped Him, crying with a loud voice, \"What have I to do with Thee,\nJesus, Thou Son of the most high God?\"\n\nFor Jesus had said to the devil that possessed him, \"Come out of the\nman, thou unclean spirit.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo the devils were obliged to come out of the poor man, and by-and-by,\nwhen the people of that country came to see what had been done to him,\nthey found him sitting with clothes on, and in his right mind, close to\nJesus, and happy in His presence and His love.\n\nNow, what do we learn, little children, from these two stories of the\ngreat power of the Lord Jesus?\n\nIs it not that there is \"nothing\" too hard for Him to do?\n\nThat if there is a great storm in our lives, if things seem too hard\nfor us to manage, Jesus is ready, and at our first call, He will arise\nand rebuke the storm, and smooth the difficulty, and bring us straight\nto land.\n\nAnd if our sins and Satan's power, and our tempers and our temptations,\nseem to make us dwell in the tombs (as it were), if Jesus comes near,\nwe may be delivered. And we can be found sitting near Him listening to\nHis voice, and delivered for ever from Satan our great enemy.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER VI.\u2014FATHER AND DAUGHTER.\n\nIT was no ordinary home to which Hira's feet had been guided when she\nwas lost in the storm. R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh, the master of the house, was one\nwho, brought up and educated as a Hindu, had been led to seek for One\nworthy of his heart's homage and obedience, and finding Christ to be\nthat One, had left all to follow Him.\n\nNever for one moment had he regretted that decision, but as in every\nnew circumstance and time of need he proved his chosen Master to be\nall-sufficient, he longed more and more that others might share in the\nblessing which he had gained, and rejoice in the same great salvation.\n\nFor some years, he had spent his life going about from village to\nvillage teaching and preaching, but about a year ago, a severe attack\nof fever had made it necessary for him to lead a less wearing kind of\nlife. So having taken this house, he sought to shed a light in the\ndarkness surrounding him. His only daughter, Shushila, whose greatest\njoy and delight was to be with her father and share his work, was his\nfaithful attendant and companion. Surely it could have been none other\nthan the Good Shepherd Himself who had guided the steps of the lost\nchild to those who were so well fitted to teach her what she so longed\nto know and understand!\n\nThe next morning, Hira was burning and tossing with fever, which was\nnot to be wondered at, after the exposure and shock of the night\nbefore. The father and daughter took counsel together, and sought for\nthat wisdom which is promised to those who lack, that they might know\nwhat was the right thing to do in this difficult case.\n\n\"Oh, father, I would just love to keep her always and teach her about\nthe Lord Jesus!\" said Shushila, whose whole heart went out towards the\nhelpless child who had been thrown so unexpectedly on her hands.\n\n\"And so you shall,\" answered her father, \"if she really has been sent\nto us, as it seems likely, and there is no one who has the right to\ntake her from us. But it may be that even now others are anxiously\nlooking for her, and it seems only right that we should seek to let\nthem know that she is safe.\"\n\nThen Anandi, who had been standing near, proposed that she should go\nout and make inquiries as to whether a blind child was missing from\nany house. This was thought to be an excellent plan, as if the child\nbelonged to the neighbourhood, and any consternation was felt at her\ndisappearance, the news would certainly spread. So Anandi set forth on\nher errand, doing her day's shopping at the same time.\n\nWherever she went, she asked the same question, \"Do you know of any\nblind child living in these parts?\"\u2014Always receiving the same answer.\nNo one knew of any such child.\n\nThe old woman had the wisdom to add, \"If you should hear of any child\nhaving been lost, you can just tell them to come and inquire of us.\"\n\nShe returned home having learnt nothing, but those who had sent her\nfelt more contented having done what they could.\n\nLater in the day, Shushila remembered that she had promised to send\nsome broth to a child who was ill, and Anandi went to take it. It was\nMary Day\u00e1l's child, and through her illness, Shushila had found an\nentrance into this house, and appeared as an angel of mercy to the\nheavily laden mother who dragged out her weary existence there.\n\nAnandi had given the broth, inquired after the sick child, and was just\ngoing out at the door, when she turned back and said, \"Have you ever\nheard of a blind child living in these parts, a little girl who wears a\nred sari?\"\n\nMary looked up with some interest. There flashed before her sight the\nvision of the small, red figure, the earnest face with its sightless\neyes, and once more, the oft-remembered words sounded afresh in her\nears, \"Have you got ready to meet God?\"\n\nIn a moment it came and went, and without any pause she answered, \"Yes,\na blind girl in a red sari came here one day. She came with a woman who\ncomes to sell butter, and asked me such strange questions for a child,\nthat I thought she was not quite right in her head. Why do you ask?\nWhat do you want to know about her?\"\n\nThen Anandi told the story of the voice crying at the door, and how\nher young mistress had brought in the lost child and put her to sleep\nin her own bed, and would gladly keep her altogether, if she could be\nquite sure that no one else wanted her.\n\nWhen she had told all, Mary Day\u00e1l remarked, \"There is one person who\ncould tell you all about her, and that is the woman who comes to\nsell butter. She has no children of her own\u2014they have all died, poor\nthing\u2014and she seems to love this blind child as if she belonged to her.\nHira, I remember she called her.\"\n\nHere at last was some light, though to know who could tell was of\nlittle use unless she could be found, and that was no easy matter, for\nall that Mary knew was that she lived some little distance off.\n\nHaving received the promise that if she came there to sell milk, she\nshould be at once sent on, Anandi went home to give time information\nshe had gained. Mary Day\u00e1l went back to her sick child, and as she sat\nand watched beside her, she thought again of the blind girl. She felt\nglad to think that she was with one who was so well able to tell her\nwhat she wanted to know. She had often thought with shame of how this\nchild had come to ask her about Him of whom she ought to have been so\nglad to speak, and had learnt nothing. Now as she heard of her being\nsheltered by Shushila's loving care, she thought to herself,\u2014\n\n\"Perhaps God sent her to me first, and because I could not, or would\nnot, help her, He led her Himself to one who can.\"\n\nThen the burden which had pressed so heavily on her heart pressed so\nsorely that she buried her face in her hands and murmured,\u2014\n\n  \"O God, make me ready to meet Thee; for I am surely no better than that\nlittle heathen blind girl.\"\n\nIf only she had understood, how she would have rejoiced to know that,\nfirst by the message sent through the lips of Him, and then by this\nhunger in her heart, her heavenly Father was drawing His child home to\nHimself. One day she would hear the words, \"I have loved thee with an\neverlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee,\"\nand know them to be true.\n\n                       \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\u2014SUKHIYA'S SCHEME.\n\nTHERE was not much rest for Sukhiya during the night of the storm;\neven after the worst violence had spent itself, the rain continued to\nstream through the roof. And when a dry place had been found for the\nbutter and milk still left for sale, and another sheltered spot for her\nhusband, who being an old man must be kept as dry as possible, there\nwas none left for the mistress of the house, who had to be contented to\ndo the best she could, and hope to be dry again some time.\n\nTowards morning, the rain ceased and Sukhiya was roused early out of a\ndeep sleep by someone knocking at the door.\n\nNo answer came to her inquiry, \"Who is there?\"\n\nSo she got up off the wet bedstead on which she had been lying, and\nwent to the door.\n\n\"Is Hira here?\" asked a voice, which she quickly recognised as that of\none of the blind girl's cousins.\n\nIn a moment, Sukhiya was thoroughly awake, and the door quickly opened.\n\n\"What do you ask, Is Hira here?\" she said, in a voice of some concern.\n\"How could that be? Does she ever pass the night here? Whenever she\ncomes, I always bring her back, and nowadays she seldom comes.\"\n\n\"Then how can we tell where she is?\" remarked the boy in a voice which\nsounded as if he at any rate did not much care. \"She is not in our\nhouse, and if she is not here, where can she be?\"\n\nA great dread seized the heart of Sukhiya; she knew that her little\nfavourite had been becoming more and more unhappy in her uncle's house,\nand not long ago had said in a determined voice, \"Some time I will run\naway.\"\n\nMaybe this was what she had done. But where could she have gone, if she\nhad not come to her, and where could she have been during the storm?\n\nThe ghi-seller was a shrewd woman, and as she stood at the door in the\nearly morning, facing the boy who had come to tell her that the blind\nchild was lost, she at once made up her mind on one point\u2014if Hira had\nrun away from her uncle's house, she should never go back there again,\nif she could help it. So she answered in a tone of indifference, \"Tell\nyour father that I have not seen the child for several days, for she\nhas quite given up ever coming to my house.\" Then she asked, \"Since\nwhen has she been missing?\"\n\nThe boy answered, \"She hasn't eaten anything since the morning, and no\none has seen anything of her since just before the storm.\"\n\n\"Well, what can I do?\" said Sukhiya again. \"Those to whom she belongs\nare the right ones to look for her if she is lost, and they will know\nbest why the child has run away.\"\n\nThen the boy, finding no more to be gained, went back to give the\nanswer to the question he had been sent to ask.\n\nAlthough Sukhiya had appeared to be so indifferent, she was far from\nfeeling so. And in spite of having implied that it was not her business\nto look for the lost child, she at once began to think how she could\nbest do it.\n\nShe would have liked to have set off at once, but the cow must be\nmilked, and as she did not wish Hira's uncle to know that she was\nmaking any efforts to find the child, she could not do better than make\nher inquiries as she went on her rounds.\n\nSo from house to house went Sukhiya with her basket on her head and a\nheavy burden on her heart, which grew heavier and heavier as the day\nwore on, and still there was no trace of the lost child. She longed to\ngo to the uncle's house and ask whether she had returned, but then that\nmight spoil her little scheme.\n\nLittle rest was found that night either. And the next morning, the\npoor woman began her day's work with a heavy heart, for with Hira, she\nseemed to have lost all her interest in life.\n\nThe first day she had kept to her own neighbourhood, not thinking it\nlikely that the blind child could have strayed far away. The next day\nshe went a greater distance, and so came at length to Mary Day\u00e1l's\nhouse.\n\nThe woman's sad, hopeless face reminded Mary at once of Anandi and the\nblind child, and she asked, \"Do you know anything of the blind child\nyou brought here one day? Is she safe and well?\"\n\nThe simple question was too much for the sore heart of the anxious\nwoman, and, bursting into tears, she answered, \"She is lost, the poor\nhelpless little one; there was no one to love and care for her, though\nI would have done it if I could. But she is gone, and how will I ever\nsee her again?\"\n\n\"I think I can tell you where she is,\" said Mary, glad to be able to\ncomfort the sorrowful woman.\n\nAs Sukhiya listened to what Anandi had said, she felt certain it must\nbe Hira who had been found on the doorstep. Was not the red sari she\nwore the very one she had given to her?\n\nThe children had gone to school, and Mary could not leave her home to\nshow the way, but there was little fear that Sukhiya would not find\nthe house which contained her lost treasure. So having received full\ndirections, she set off to seek it.\n\nHira was still burning with fever, which had risen so high that she\ntook little notice of anything or anyone near her, only sometimes\nmuttering such words as \"I don't know where I am; I must be lost. If\nJesus Christ would come and give me eyes, but He won't. He must be\ndead.\"\n\nShushila, who dearly loved to tend anyone who was ill, sat by her side,\nputting wet cloths on her head, and speaking now and then in a soft,\ngentle voice, which seemed to soothe the restless child.\n\nSukhiya found the door open and walked in. Besides what she had heard\nfrom Mary Day\u00e1l of Shushila's goodness, her own eyes told her that\nhowever Hira had found her way to this spot, she had certainly found\nrefuge in a peaceful, happy home, and if she could only stay there\nalways, it would be well for her. So she quickly made up her mind to\ntry and bring this about.\n\n\"Do you want any butter or milk to-day?\" she asked, setting down her\nbasket.\n\nAnandi soon appeared to answer the call. And seeing the woman, asked at\nonce, \"Have you come about the blind child?\"\n\n\"What blind child?\" was the answer in a most indifferent tone.\n\nThen Anandi told what she knew, and Sukhiya listened, but said nothing\ntill the story was finished.\n\n\"There is a blind child I have seen about sometimes; if I were to see\nher, I should know whether it is the same.\"\n\nSo Sukhiya was taken to where Hira lay, just at that time in a heavy\nsleep. Shushila was sitting near, and as soon as the woman caught sight\nof her sweet, gentle face, she still more fully made up her mind that,\neven though these people were Christians, Hira could find no better\nhome.\n\nShe tried to conceal her anxiety at the child's illness, and when\nShushila called her out of the room and asked what she knew of the\nchild and her relatives, she answered, \"What can I tell more than that\nshe has neither father nor mother, nor anyone else to care for her? For\nmany a day she has been half starved, and now it has come to this.\"\n\n\"Then you think,\" said Shushila, \"that I may keep her and that no one\nwill want to take her away from me?\"\n\n\"Who is there to take her away? Have not I said that she has neither\nfather nor mother, nor anyone who cares whether she is alive or dead?\nGreat will be your reward if you take this helpless little one and feed\nand clothe her.\"\n\nShushila was much relieved by the woman's words, but she thought it\nright to say, \"If you should hear of anyone inquiring for her, you will\ntell them where she is, and that she is being well cared for.\"\n\n\"Who is there to ask?\" was the reply. \"Certainly I will tell if I\nshould meet any such person. But surely you are needing some butter or\nmilk, and you will find none better than mine.\"\n\nAnandi was called to make a small purchase, and Sukhiya determined that\nit should not be the last, for how else would she be able to see the\nchild in whose interests she had been working?\n\nAlthough the woman felt glad for the child's sake, she felt sad for her\nown. What more would Hira care for her, poor ignorant creature, now she\nhad a friend with a beautiful face and soft, sweet voice, to care for\nher? It was true that the blind eyes could see neither the beauty of\nthe one nor the lack of it in herself, but something would surely tell\nher the difference. Anyway, she would be no longer needed, and Sukhiya\nfelt as if she had lost yet another child.\n\nHowever, there was still one more thing to be done before her work for\nHira was complete. A few days later, she arrived at the blind child's\nold home, and having put down her basket on the ground began to cry and\nwail piteously.\n\nThe whole household gathered around and begged to know what was the\nmatter.\n\nIt was a long time before Sukhiya's distress would allow her to speak,\nand then she sobbed out, \"Alas! Alas! All my children have died, and\nnow this helpless little one I loved as my own is gone too; it matters\nnothing to you, but my heart is made desolate.\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\" was the general exclamation. \"Have you heard any\nnews of Hira? What has happened to her?\"\n\nSukhiya shed a few more tears, and then, with a quivering voice,\nexplained, \"She got lost that night you turned her out in that heavy\nrain, and only a thin, worn sari to cover her. Was it any wonder\nthat she should get fever and die?\" And again the woman's cries and\nlamentations broke forth.\n\nThen an angry voice asked, \"Who says we turned her out? She went away\nherself; and it is you who are to blame that she was lost in the rain,\nfor it was you who taught her to go wandering from house to house,\nwhich was most improper for a girl of her age. Now you can go and never\ncome here again accusing innocent people of what you are to blame for\nyourself.\"\n\nSukhiya was only too thankful to find that she was not to be\ncross-examined on the story which she had made up. And taking up her\nbasket quickly, departed. And for many days nothing was seen of the\nghi-seller in Hira's old home.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nA BLACK SHEEP.\n\nBY MABEL MACKINTOSH.\n\nARTHUR NEAL was the black sheep of the school. The biggest among\nthe little boys, there was no sort of possible mischief in which\nhe did not entangle himself, no sort of naughtiness or laziness or\ndon't-carishness in which he was not foremost. They had scolded him,\nkept him in, deprived him of extra pleasures, caned him; but nothing\nseemed to affect him. He had once overheard the head master call him\nincorrigible and a black sheep; he rather gloried in it, and his mother\nand father in India grieved over the bad accounts of their boy, and\nwrote lectures and good advice and pleadings, and Arthur only laughed.\nIndia was a long way off, and nobody loved him and he loved nobody.\n\nBut the term was over and holidays had come, and Arthur was to go to\nScotland to his cousins' home, for the head master had positively\nrefused to keep him for the holidays. Arthur was well pleased. Here was\na new field for his mischievous energies! Wouldn't he lead Ivan and\nArchie a life? Wouldn't he teach them a thing or two?\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe was very quiet that first day in Glasgow; he was taking in his\nsurroundings. His aunt thought he had been belied; it had cost her\nmuch to invite this little ne'er-do-well to meet her boys, and yet she\nprayed that this uncared-for little soul might find a blessing. Was he\nto go on to rack and ruin for want of a helping hand?\n\nIvan and Archie watched him curiously, too, the first day. They were\nin a difficulty. In the summer, both of them had given themselves to\nChrist to be His soldiers and servants, and since then, they had read\ntogether a chapter from their little Bibles directly after tea. What\nshould they do now? Should they put it off and read separately at\nanother time, or should they read aloud as usual, and let their new\ncousin laugh if he liked? It was a hard struggle, this first taking up\nthe reproach of their Master, but the two boys conquered. When the tea\nwas cleared, they sat down in the glowing firelight, and Ivan drew out\nhis little Bible.\n\n\"We always read together,\" he said a little brusquely, for it was a\nvery big effort to him.\n\nArthur said nothing. He was too surprised, too flabbergasted, to make\nany resistance. Had he had a minute to think, he would have retired\nwith a sneer. But already Ivan had begun, and he sat still.\n\nIt began with the story of the lost sheep, and the shepherd seeking\nover the mountains until he found it. It rushed into Arthur's mind that\nhe was called a black sheep, and it seemed as if the story was all\nwritten for him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe did not hear the other stories in the chapter; he was too intent\non this one. He hardly noticed when his cousins rose and left him. He\nonly moved his position nearer to the fire, and sat staring into it. He\nknew enough of Bible teaching to know the meaning of the shepherd. He\nhad heard often enough of the love of Jesus, but he had never thought\nof Jesus loving \"him,\" wanting to find \"him,\" the black sheep of the\nschool.\n\nBut still, if Jesus wanted to find him, how was it all done? How could\nhe know he was found, he was such a naughty boy? How could he become a\nwhite sheep safe in the fold? He puzzled and puzzled over it for three\ndays. And then, when he lay in his little bed on the third night, his\nauntie came to him and solved his problem for him.\n\nShe sat down beside him and laid her soft hand on his. And then in the\ndim light, she saw his eyes were full of tears.\n\n\"What is it, dear?\" she said gently.\n\n\"I didn't know you loved me,\" Arthur answered.\n\n\"Didn't you, poor lonely boy?\" she answered. \"I love you and Jesus\nloves you.\"\n\nArthur sighed deeply. \"I'm such a naughty boy, a black sheep,\" he said;\n\"but the boys were reading about the shepherd looking for the sheep.\nWould He look for me?\"\n\n\"'The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me,'\" said auntie\nsoftly. \"He loved you so that He gave His own life to find you.\"\n\n\"How shall I be found?\" asked Arthur.\n\n\"If you were a little lost sheep lying on the dark mountain, and you\nheard the shepherd calling you, what would you do?\"\n\n\"I would call to him, 'Here I am.'\"\n\nAuntie knelt down by the little bed, and, still holding Arthur's hand,\nshe spoke to the Good Shepherd.\n\n   \"Dear Lord Jesus,\" she said, \"Arthur has heard you calling, and he says\nhe is here. Take him and make him Thy lamb, and wash his sins in Thy\nprecious blood.\"\n\n\"And thank you for loving me, auntie!\"\n\n\n\nNELLIE'S CARD.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"SIT down, just a little while, Sister!\" coaxed Nellie. \"You haven't\nsat down all the afternoon, for I've been watching you!\"\n\nSister Ruth smiled.\n\n\"Well! Just a little while, Nellie,\" she said sitting down beside her.\n\"Why did you want me to, particularly?\"\n\n\"'Cause you look tired; and besides, I wanted you to talk to me.\"\n\n\"What a lot of Christmas cards!\" said the nurse, glancing at the little\ntable on which Nellie had arranged all her treasures in front of her.\n\n\"Yes,\" she said softly, \"everybody, almost, that loves me has sent me\none!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"What a rich little girl!\"\n\nShe smiled a happy little smile; and then as the nurse laid her hand\ngently on hers, she looked up with an earnest glance.\n\n\"I know you're sorry for me,\" she said. \"I feel it every time you come\nnear.\"\n\n\"Indeed I am.\"\n\n\"Do you know, when I first came here, Sister, I was not\u2014I didn't feel\nas I do now.\"\n\n\"You were so very ill,\" asked Sister Ruth, \"and in such pain?\"\n\n\"No-o,\" said Nellie reflectively, \"it wasn't only that.\"\n\n\"Well?\" asked Sister Ruth. A weary craving in her own heart made her\nlong, somehow, to know what made Nellie's face so peaceful.\n\n\"At first I couldn't 'bear' it,\" said the child slowly, \"and then all\nseemed dark and miserable.\"\n\n\"Poor little Nellie!\"\n\n\"Then, on Christmas Eve, somebody sent me this.\"\n\nShe put her little hand out towards a card which rested in the very\ncentre of all the rest. \"That changed everything.\"\n\nThe nurse bent forward where she pointed, and read\u2014\"'Come unto Me all\nye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'\"\n\nSister Ruth was startled; startled at the child's look of heavenly\npeace, as she went on\u2014\n\n\"I thought at first, when my foot had to be taken off, that all the joy\nhad gone out of my life; as if nothing was any good any more. I thought\nhow it would be when I got home, to be limping about on crutches; how\nit would feel to be unlike everybody else for always!\"\n\n\"And how could that card make any difference?\" asked Sister Ruth\nincredulously, and the longing in her eyes grew greater.\n\nThis child had lost all that made life dear to her\u2014deep down in her\nheart she knew that she too had done the same.\n\n\"It did!\" said the child with a flash of light in her eyes. \"The words\nwere so plain, and I was so sad! When I thought of my foot, I knew how\nheavy laden I was\u2014and so\u2014\"\n\n\"And so?\" asked Sister Ruth.\n\n\"I just told Jesus I was glad to come if He'd have me! And after that,\nthe black darkness rolled away, and I've felt quite different.\"\n\nThe nurse bent and kissed the little hand that lay near her, almost\nreverently, while she turned away to hide her tears.\n\n\"Does He cure all sorrows, do you think, Nellie?\" she asked softly.\n\n\"I expect He does; if the people are heavy laden, and come. I'm sure He\ndoes\u2014oh, yes, dear Sister! I know He does!\"\n\n\n\n[Illustration: When she got out into the fields\n better thoughts came.]\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA DECISION.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"WAIT for me at the stile, Mary: I'll be sure to come!\" Charlie had\nsaid.\n\n\"How early you are going, Mary!\" called her father a little\ncomplainingly after breakfast the next morning.\n\n\"Not earlier than usual, father.\"\n\n\"It don't take you an hour to get to town. What makes you start so\nsoon?\"\n\n\"I like going along by the hedges and picking the wild flowers,\" said\nMary, while the slightest tinge of pink reddened her cheeks to a deeper\nshade.\n\n\"Oh, well!\" said her father crossly. \"I don't see the sense of it.\nYou're always picking flowers, or sauntering along, or something\u2014\"\n\n\"Oh, I don't saunter,\" said Mary reproachfully. \"I never saunter\u2014\" She\ntook up her basket of eggs and went out abruptly, calling Fox sharply,\nsettling her sun-bonnet on her head with a determined little shake that\nspoke volumes.\n\nBut when she got out into the quiet fields, better thoughts came, and\nall the irritation passed from her step. If father was unreasonable,\nshe herself had not been blameless.\n\n\"Look here, Charlie,\" she said, directly he came up, \"this mustn't go\non any more. If I don't take care, I shall get to be an untruthful\ngirl! Here, for the sake of meeting you, I've been and told father that\nI like to pick wild flowers, and that I started early for that! So I\ndo, but\u2014\"\n\nCharlie stood silent, and Fox, who had listened eagerly to the\nconversation, hung his tail.\n\n\"If we speak, he'll put an end to it,\" said Charlie slowly.\n\n\"Yes\u2014at least, I think so\u2014and yet, Charlie\u2014\"\n\nThe young fellow came closer to the stile, and he looked in her face.\n\"I wouldn't be the one to ask you to do wrong,\" he said very gravely.\n\"I've not been easy myself over it. Suppose we go back at once\u2014\"\n\n\"Now?\" said Mary. She remembered her haughty departure and her father's\nblack looks, and her heart almost failed her.\n\n\"If it's 'right,'\" he said tenderly. It was that tenderness of\nCharlie's that had won her.\n\n\"I'll do it,\" she said, \"and we shall be 'helped,' Charlie!\"\n\nAnd so they were.\n\nMary ran into the cottage and put her arms round her father's neck:\n\"Oh, I'm so sorry I said that about the flowers!\" she said, hiding her\nface. \"Father, it was partly to meet Charlie. And Charlie has come back\nto ask you if we may.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nA FAVOUR.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"KOTCHED!\" exclaimed Roland, with a chuckle, stopping at the kitchen\ndoor.\n\n\"What?\" asked Kathleen, looking up. \"'Kotched' over what?\"\n\n\"Why, you are reading a story book, while you are pretending to cook my\ndinner! I've kotched you!\"\n\n\"Have you, indeed?\" said his sister, springing up and chasing him.\n\"I've a good mind to threaten that you shan't have a bit of my golden\npudding!\"\n\n\"Your 'what?'\" asked Roland.\n\n\"Golden pudding. Look here, Rol, I want you to do me a favour\u2014\"\n\n\"I'm not workin'\" said Roland, backing.\n\n\"Oh, yes, you are! No one can work like you when you've a mind.\"\n\n\"But you see I haven't a mind\u2014\"\n\nHe had reached the front door and managed to escape, and Kathleen\nslowly turned back to the kitchen with a more sober face.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRoland went down the road whistling, and somehow his whistling fell\ninto a tune like this\u2014\n\n\"I believe that girl's been at it pretty nearly all day! I wonder\nwhat she wanted of me? How pretty she looked in that apron, and what\na nuisance it must be to have to see to things in the house when you\nwant to be out and about! I wonder if Kathleen does ever want to be out\nand about? I declare I'll take her to the football match on Saturday;\nI never thought of that. I wonder what she did want of me? Not that I\ncare! I can't be called upon to do odds and ends for her all the time.\nBy-the-by, I wish I'd asked her to see to those buttons for me\u2014what\na nuisance I forgot! I wonder what she did want me to do? Nothing of\nimportance, I dare say.\"\n\nSo Roland called in to see a friend, and forgot all about Kathleen and\nher wants.\n\nKathleen seemed to have forgotten all about them too, he thought,\nwhen he came in again. She was sitting very quietly at the table, and\neverything was prepared with the utmost nicety.\n\nRoland did not feel easy; he still wondered what the favour had been\nthat Kathleen had asked. Some \"girls' tripe,\" he thought.\n\nIf he could have seen a letter in the pillar-box opposite, he would\nperhaps have ceased to wonder.\n\n   \"Darling Nettie,\u2014I have never missed sending you a present for\nyour birthday before, but I simply could not get out to-day\u2014nor\nyesterday\u2014nor the day before. You know we are single-handed just now,\nand mother is upstairs ill, and I have to keep everything going. You\nwill not think I have forgotten you? I meant to send you a bottle of\nscent; perhaps I shall be able next week.\"\n\nThat little note had not been written without tears of disappointment.\nAnd the only thing that made Kathleen able to meet Roland with a bright\nface was a line she read on her wall as she closed her letter\u2014\n\n   \"'My times are in 'Thy' hand!'\"\n\nAnd she went on bravely.\n\n\n\n\"If Thou Hadst Known!\"\n\nPERHAPS you ask, dear children, \"Who is that standing there looking so\nsorrowful? And what is He doing?\"\n\nWell, I will tell you.\n\nI have heard that as travellers approach the city of Jerusalem, it is\nhidden from them by the hills which surround it. But at one point, when\nyou least expect it, the view of the city bursts upon you, and you see\nall at once that which you have been travelling many weary miles to\ncatch a sight of.\n\nPerhaps that is how heaven will seem to us when we die. We may be\ntravellers towards it, and our feet may be tired with the rough way,\nand all at once, we shall open our eyes and find that the toilsome\njourney is over, and we are there!\n\nBe that as it may, this picture shows us the Lord Jesus when the view\nof Jerusalem burst upon His view.\n\nHe had been travelling many long miles to reach it, and He well knew\nthat there He was going to offer up His precious life as a ransom for\nall.\n\nBut to Jesus that view of the city was not all joy. St. Luke tells us\nthat when He beheld the city, He wept over it.\n\nWhy did He weep? Ah, that is the question. Why did the Son of God,\nhaving been doing works of love and pity for three years, and now going\nup to Jerusalem to obtain eternal salvation for us, why should He weep?\n\nLittle children, Jesus cried because He knew that very few in that\nbeautiful city would come to Him to be saved.\n\nHe cried because the people there would not believe in Him, or accept\nHim as their Saviour.\n\nSo when He wept, He said, \"If thou hadst known, even thou . . . in this\nthy day, the things which belong to thy peace! but now they are hid\nfrom thine eyes.\"\n\nI think that this story of the Lord Jesus weeping over Jerusalem should\nmake our hearts very soft and tender.\n\nWe should think to ourselves, \"Jesus is very sorry when we do not love\nHim, and come to Him to be saved from our sins. I would not like to\nmake Jesus sorry, who suffered so much for me; so I will just tell Him\nthat I love Him, and that will make Him glad.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd so it will, children. And the very thought of doing a little thing\nto make the Lord Jesus glad will make us happy too, and we shall be\nmore cheerful over our lessons, and more bright in our play, than we\nshould have been otherwise.\n\nJesus said to Peter, \"Lovest thou Me?\" Shall we not answer gladly,\n\"Thou knowest all things; Thou 'knowest' that I love Thee\"?\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\u2014THE OLD, OLD STORY.\n\nAFTER several days' fight with fever, Hira began to recover.\n\nThough she could see nothing of her surroundings, she knew quite well\nthat she was in a different world to that in which her life had been\npassed hitherto.\n\nShe heard no harsh, scolding voices, no complaining and quarrelling\nabout money, but she seemed to be in an abode of peace and love; even\nSukhiya's house, her old refuge, was nothing compared to this.\n\nIf she had learnt of heaven, she would certainly have thought she was\nthere, and that Shushila, with her sweet voice and gentle touch, was\none of the angels who ministered to her. But what did she know of\nheaven?\n\nAs she grew better, she began to wonder what could happen next. Would\nher uncle come and fetch her away, or would she stay always in this\nlovely, peaceful spot, where everyone was kind and good to her?\n\nIt all seemed like a dream: the terrible storm with the thunder, which\nhad struck such terror to her heart, the noise and confusion, in the\nmidst of which, she had felt so utterly helpless to think of anything.\nThen loving hands had lifted her out of the storm and noise into peace\nand quiet, and there she was still; but what would happen next?\n\nShe did not care to see her uncle and aunt again, but if only Sukhiya\nwould come and speak to her, and tell her where she was! She had a kind\nof vague feeling that during the dream from which she was awakening,\nSukhiya really had come, but perhaps it was only part of the dream.\n\nPresently she grew tired of thinking and trying to understand, so she\nput out her hand, and asked, \"Is anyone there?\"\n\nImmediately, the voice she had learnt to know and love answered, \"Yes,\nlittle one, I am here; is there anything you want?\"\n\n\"I want to know where I am and where I am going to?\" said the child\nfeebly.\n\nThen Shushila answered, \"You were lost in the storm, Hira, and God, who\ntakes care of little girls, brought you here, and if you like to be\nwith me and my father, we will keep you always, so that you will never\nbe lost again. Will you be my little sister, and stay with me?\"\n\nHira did not speak at once. Then she said, \"Tell me about God, for I\ndon't know anything, and there was no one who could tell me. Did you\nsee Him when He brought me here?\"\n\nIt was Shushila's turn to pause now. Where should she begin to tell\nthis child, who knew nothing, but was so eager to learn, of the\nglorious truths which were so precious to her? While she was thinking\nwhat she should say, the blind child spoke again.\n\n\"But tell me first, who is Jesus Christ? And if He is alive and here,\nwhy does He not give me eyes? I thought it was a dream, but now I\nremember that you told me that He was here.\"\n\nThen Shushila answered, \"Hira, I will tell you all about Jesus Christ,\nbut it is a long story, and I am afraid so much talking will make your\nhead ache. Will you not wait a few days till you are quite well?\"\n\nThe blind child laughed, as if the very thought amused her, as she\nsaid, \"How can it make my head ache to hear you talk? When I had fever\nin my uncle's house, there was noise and talking all the time, and no\none thought they must be quiet.\"\n\nSo Shushila said no more, but began to tell her story.\n\n\"Long, long ago Jesus Christ lived in heaven with God. We cannot tell\nwhat heaven is like, because we have never seen it, but we know that\nthere is no sorrow nor crying there, nor pain nor sickness of any kind.\nNo one ever dies, and, what is best of all, there is no sin there. That\ncould not be, because heaven is God's house, and sin cannot be where\nGod is.\n\n\"But the Lord did not stay in heaven. He knew that in this world in\nwhich we live there is sin, and sorrow, and crying; and so, when God\nsaid He would send Him down from heaven to come here, Jesus Christ was\nvery, very glad to come.\n\n\"He might have come as a very rich man, or as a great king, but He\nchose instead to be quite poor, and live amongst poor people.\"\n\n\"Was He as poor as my uncle?\" interrupted Hira.\n\n\"Yes, I expect He was poorer, because He had no house at all,\" said\nShushila; \"but though He had no money to give away, He helped everybody\nwho came to Him, and He could help as no one else could, because He\ncould do what no one else could. They all came to Him\u2014the blind and\nlame, lepers, and sick people\u2014and whatever was the matter with them, He\nhealed them all, and even when they were dead, made them live again.\nBut it was not to heal the sick, not even to make the dead alive, that\nJesus Christ left His beautiful home in heaven and came into our world.\nHe came to do something very much greater than that.\"\n\n\"But what could be more than making blind people see, and dead people\nalive?\" asked Hira eagerly. \"Tell me, for I cannot understand.\"\n\nThen Shushila answered, \"There is something, Hira, even worse than\nbeing blind, or lame, or ill, or even than being dead. The worst thing\nof all is to be sinful. Sin is the very worst of all diseases, worse\neven than leprosy. It is sin which makes all the sorrow and sadness\nthat there is in the world. Some day I will show you that it is sin\nwhich has made you so unhappy, and not being blind. Jesus Christ came\ninto the world not to keep us from being blind, and lame, and ill,\nbecause that does not matter so very much, but He came to keep us from\nsin, to make us holy like He Himself is holy, and like God is holy.\"\n\n\"But I would like best of all to be able to see,\" interrupted the\nlistener, \"and if Jesus Christ can give me eyes, why 'doesn't' He?\"\n\n\"Listen, child, and I will tell you more, and by-and-by, you will\nunderstand,\" said Shushila, and then she continued, \"God wants us to\nknow Him and be like Him, and then He will be able to have us in His\nhouse to dwell with Him; but sin is like a black curtain which comes\nbetween us and God, and hides Him from us, and it makes us so unclean\nthat we cannot possibly go to live with God unless we get rid of it.\"\n\n\"Then is that what the gentleman meant when he told us to get ready to\nmeet God?\" asked Hira.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Shushila, \"that is just it.\"\n\n\"But what has that to do with making people see, and walk? And what\nhave we to do to get ready?\" questioned the child eagerly.\n\nAgain the speaker paused, there was so much to tell and the listener\nknew so little.\n\nThen she continued, \"Hira, that is why the Lord Jesus came down from\nheaven, that He might make us fit to meet God. We cannot make ourselves\nclean and holy, and there is no one in all the world who can do it for\nus, because all are alike, and there is not anyone who is not sinful;\nbut Jesus Christ is holy, just as God is holy, and so He can make us\nholy too.\n\n\"Jesus Christ became a man like us that He might make us like God; He\ncame down 'from' heaven that He might lift us up 'to' heaven.\n\n\"Now, little one, you are tired, and I must not talk to you any more.\nEvery day I will tell you something more about the dear Lord Jesus, and\nall that He has done for us, and it will make you so happy to think\nthat He loves you and cares for you, though you are only a little blind\ngirl.\"\n\nHira's answer was to cling close to her friend as she bent over her and\nwhisper, \"Perhaps if I had not been blind, you would not have brought\nme into your house and taken care of me, so I think I am glad that I am\nblind, and I don't mind a bit being in the dark if you are with me.\"\n\nJust then Shushila was called away, and she went with a light heart,\nrejoicing to think how the child to whom she was ministering would one\nday learn to know One who could bring light into the very darkest spot,\nand whose companionship can make the hardest lot shine with glory.\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWHEN?\n\nBY MABEL MACKINTOSH.\n\n\"YOU always want to talk about those sort of things, mother,\" said Jim\nHarris, hitching his shoulder away from the hand that lay on it. \"You'd\ntake all the heart out of a fellow if you could, talking of dying and\nanother world, and such-like. I'm young and I ain't a-going to die yet.\nWhen I see death coming, I'll prepare, maybe.\"\n\nHe had shaken off her hand, but he glanced into the face that still\nbent over him, and his heart softened. It was his last night at home.\nTo-morrow he would be on the wide sea. The wind was howling round the\nhouse, and the waves broke heavily and monotonously on the beach. \"I\ndon't want to be rough with you, mother,\" he said, pulling her down for\na kiss; \"you shouldn't vex me the last night, but you knows I loves\nyou, if I am a bit hasty.\"\n\nHe rose up and went out into the night. There was a moon between the\nscudding clouds, and the foam broke up white at the water's edge. He\nlooked at it all and at the few boats lying at anchor, or on the shore.\n\n\"To-morrow I shall be out there,\" he thought. \"I'll go back to mother;\nit's her last night of me.\"\n\nThe next day he had gone.\n\nIt was not an eventful voyage. Day succeeded day, and his conversation\nwith his mother was forgotten till one evening when he and his\nfavourite mate, Ben Davis, turned in.\n\n\"Jim,\" said Ben, \"I don't believe as I shall last long.\"\n\n\"What!\" said Jim, aghast and staring. \"You're playing, Ben.\"\n\n\"No,\" said Ben slowly, \"I ain't; I've not been well all the voyage,\nand captain, he's tried all he knows; he thinks I'm better, but he's\nmistook. My father, he went just like me.\"\n\nJim sat down and looked blankly at him.\n\nAll suddenly, his own words came back to him. \"I'm young; when I see\ndeath coming, I'll prepare.\"\n\nDeath was coming, not to him, but to Ben!\n\n\"Ben,\" he said hoarsely, \"are you ready?\"\n\nThere was a long, long pause, and then Ben answered.\n\n\"No, lad,\" he said.\n\nThere was no sleep for Jim that night. He might have seen death coming\nfor him, and yet it was Ben who was to die. Jim lay and tossed and\nturned. All his mother's words came back to him that night. He had\nnever sought Christ's salvation for himself, and yet he was torn with\nanxiety that Ben should be saved!\n\nEarly next morning, he turned over his few possessions and found his\nlong-forgotten Bible. Ben was leaning dejectedly over the ship's side,\nand he went to him and slipped the Bible into his hand. Ben glanced at\nit, and then his eyes sought Jim's.\n\n\"Jim,\" he said, \"I'm no reader; tell me the way.\"\n\nIt was a strange scene\u2014the man who was to die listening to the old,\nold story told by the lips of one who hitherto had had no care for it.\nJim's mother's teaching was bearing fruit; her boy knew the way of\nsalvation well enough.\n\n\"Jim,\" said Ben slowly, \"do you believe all that?\"\n\nJim's face was hidden. \"My mother does,\" he said huskily.\n\nBen opened the little Bible. \"Can't you show me one place where it puts\nit plain?\"\n\nJim took it and turned over the pages, and his eyes fell on an\nunderlined text. He remembered his mother marking it the day she gave\nthe book to him.\n\n   \"'God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that\nwhosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting\nlife.'\"\n\n\"That's good,\" said Ben, with a long breath.\n\nThree days later, when the evening sun was lighting up the sea with a\ncrimson glow, Ben died. His last look was for Jim, his last word was,\n\"I'm ready, lad.\"\n\nAnd as Jim knelt beside him, looking down at the peaceful dead face,\nhis heart went out in one great cry to Ben's Saviour,\u2014\n\n   \"God be merciful to me a sinner!\"\n\nA great peace filled his heart, and it seemed to him that he could\nalmost follow Ben up the sunset path into that holy, happy land where\nhe had gone to be with Christ.\n\nThat very night, he sat down and wrote to his mother, telling her how\nher words and her teaching had been the means used for Ben's salvation,\nand that when he came home again, she might talk about heaven and dying\nas much as she liked.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nPULLING.\n\n\"I NEVER do what I don't want to!\" exclaimed Poll. \"I just 'don't.'\"\n\n\"Oh! Well,\" said Ellen, \"that's not my motto, is it, grandma?\"\n\nGrandma smiled. \"I've seen a deal of life,\" she said thoughtfully, \"and\nI could just tell you what I've found.\"\n\nEllen sat down by her affectionately, and leant her arm on her knee.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The people that have the strongest wills 'do' the most!\" said grandma.\n\n\"I told you so!\" exclaimed Poll. \"That's what I always say.\"\n\n\"But they have the most trouble with themselves, and with other people\ntoo,\" said grandma.\n\n\"How?\" asked Poll.\n\n\"They're for ever knocking themselves against the fence,\" said\ngrandmas, smiling.\n\n\"The fence!\"\n\n\"Yes, and oh! What a job it is to get 'em to come into the shed!\"\n\n\"The shed!\" again echoed Poll.\n\n\"The shed where their food is! In my young days,\" said grandma, \"I had\nan invalid father, and he was that gentle and patient. One day he said\nto me after I had had a self-willed fit, 'Mary, will you go out and get\nthe calf in?'\n\n\"'Why, father,' I said, 'you know what a plague she is! She'll keep\nme ages pulling and pulling, and she'll knock against the fence, and\nshe'll bang into the posts of the shed, and I shall be as hot and as\nuncomfortable as possible. I wish you'd send Bill out to get the calf\nin.'\n\n\"And so father smiled a bit, and he said, 'If you don't take care,\nMary, you'll be as bad as the calf that doesn't know no better! Break\nyour self-will now, my dear, and you'll be a happier girl ever after.'\n\n\"Well, I went out and got the calf in, but all the time, she was\npulling this way and that way, for all that her nice food was waiting\nin the shed for her.\n\n\"I assure you, my dears, I did not forget his object lesson. And the\nmore I saw of life, the more I saw that the self-willed people need a\ndeal of discipline before they come out into tractable obedient folks.\"\n\nPoll stood listening thoughtfully. There was \"plenty of stuff in her,\"\npeople were always saying, and she felt rather proud of it. But what\nif she should let that \"plenty of stuff\" cover over every other good\nquality?\n\nShe looked at the sweet patient face of her grandmother.\n\n\"And 'you' were like that calf,\" she said at last, incredulously.\n\n\"Exactly, my dear!\" said grandma.\n\n\"And how did you get into\u2014what you are now, grandma?\" asked Poll, a\nlittle wistfully.\n\n\"By being watchful, and asking God to make me what would please Him.\"\n\nPoll did not say anything, but as she went about her business, her\nproud heart humbled itself to say,\u2014\n\n   \"Teach me to do Thy will!\"\n\nAnd by-and-by, it came to be much easier than she had thought it ever\ncould be.\n\n\n\nMEMORIES.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"NOW, Milly! If you'll get through the work quickly, you and I will\nhave a treat.\"\n\n\"Oh, what?\" exclaimed Milly, looking up from her sweeping.\n\n\"Not but what there's heaps to do,\" added her elder sister cheerily;\n\"but you and I can well do it, if we take one thing at a time. You\nshall have the dinner things to wash, and the hearth to clean, and the\nkitchen to sweep, and I will go up stairs and clean the bedrooms; we\nmust have it all bright against mother comes back, mustn't we?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes,\" assented Milly. It was so pleasant working under May's\ncheery direction. She felt as if she could do wonders.\n\nMay gathered the pail and broom and floor-cloth which she required for\nher share of the work, and disappeared through the little red door that\nled upstairs.\n\nThen Milly looked round. Which should she do first? She was now\nsweeping up the kitchen, but May had spoken of that as the last thing.\nAfter an instant's thought, she decided that she had better finish what\nshe was about, and then go to the dinner things. What a lot there were:\nshould she ever get done, and what was the treat if she did?\n\nShe could hear May's spirited scrubbing overhead, and this nerved her\nto work away bravely. When at length, after an hour, her sister came\ndown, a tidy smiling little girl stood by the clean hearth, and all was\ndone.\n\n\"Why, you've scrubbed the table!\" said May approvingly. \"Now for the\ntreat!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe undid a long-shaped parcel and drew forth a large book. \"This\nwas one of father's greatest treasures,\" she said; \"it is a book in\nwhich he used to draw all the things that happened. Father could draw\nbeautifully, you know.\"\n\nShe sat down on a settee, and Milly edged up close to her, and laid her\nhead on her sister's shoulder.\n\n\"That is a picture of the first house father and mother lived in, and I\nremember father telling us how he made a little trapdoor in the ceiling\nof the kitchen so that he could talk to mother if she was upstairs\nputting the baby to bed.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" said Milly. \"How funny! Did any one ever fall through?\"\n\n\"No; it was made like a box upstairs, and I can remember mother peeping\ndown and asking father something. And once, he had a joke and passed me\nup to mother through it! See, there is the picture of that!\"\n\n\"Did he love us very much?\" asked Milly, to whom her father was little\nelse but a loved name.\n\n\"Love us!\" echoed May, her dark eyes softening and glistening. \"I've\noften understood more about God through thinking of father's love.\"\n\nOne day, little Mary was tiresome, and I had put her in the corner; and\nshe sent word she was sorry. I was vexed with her, and I said, \"I'd\ncome presently.\"\n\n\"'Oh, don't keep her waiting for forgiveness,' said dear father\ntenderly; 'think how ready to pardon God is!' I never forgot that,\nMilly!\"\n\n\"I wish I could remember him,\" said Milly wistfully.\n\n\"You'll see him some day in the Home above!\" said May, kissing her.\n\"But I never forget him\u2014never!\"\n\n\n\nAT BETHANY.\n\nTHERE seems to have been one home where the Lord Jesus loved to visit.\n\nWe hear a great deal about the people who lived in this home, perhaps\nmore about them than any other of the friends of the Lord Jesus.\n\nTheir names were Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.\n\n\"Oh, yes,\" you say, eagerly, \"Lazarus was raised from the dead!\"\n\nAnd someone else remembers, \"Yes, it was Mary who poured the precious\nointment over the Lord Jesus only the week before He was crucified.\"\n\n\"Yes, and Martha served them at the feast,\" someone else remarks.\n\nAll these things are true, but our picture is not about either one of\nthem.\n\nOne day the Lord Jesus was going about healing the sick and teaching\npeople of His heavenly Father, and in His journey, He came to the\nvillage of Bethany, where Martha and Mary and Lazarus lived.\n\nNow, you must imagine Martha as a very industrious, energetic woman.\n\nWhen she saw Jesus and the disciples coming, I dare say she ran out to\nmeet them, and invited them into her house to have something to eat.\n\nShe bustled about and spread the table; she told her servants what to\nbring to set before the large company who had suddenly come to her; and\nwith joyful alacrity, she hurried to put before them whatever she could\nthink of to make them welcome.\n\nSuddenly her eyes fell upon her only sister, Mary. She was not bustling\nabout and getting the dinner ready; she was sitting near Jesus eagerly\nlistening to His words, and satisfied to be in His presence.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPoor Martha! She loved to hurry about and make Jesus welcome, but to\nhave Mary sit idle and enjoy to hear Him talk was more than she could\nbear.\n\nSo she got quite cross and vexed. She felt that it was too hard, and\nshe ran to Jesus and asked Him how it was He did not care that Mary had\nleft her all the work to do alone, and begged Him to bid her come and\nhelp her.\n\nAnd then, Jesus turned to her and said those words which have been a\nlesson to busy, bustling people all these hundreds of years: \"Martha,\nMartha, you are too much troubled over these many things; only one\nthing is 'needful,' and Mary has chosen that good part which shall\nnever be taken away from her.\"\n\nDo you ask, children, what that one thing is?\n\nIt is learning of Jesus and hearing His voice.\n\nEven if everything else is lost to us, if we have the Lord Jesus, we\ncan be happy.\n\nPeople who have everything that this world can give are often very\nmiserable. But even the most wretched, ill, or poor person in the\nworld, who has heard the voice of \"Jesus,\" has the \"one thing\" which\nwill make him happy here, and give him endless joy and glory by-and-by.\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSCRIPTURE CLOCK.\n\nCHOOSE A WORD FROM THE BIBLE, SUCH AS LOVE, AND WRITE IT NEATLY IN THE\nDIVISION OVER FIGURE I, WITH THE PLACE WHERE IT IS TO BE FOUND IN THE\nSPACE BETWEEN THE OUTER CIRCLES. THEN FIND A TEXT OF TWO WORDS, ONE\nOF WHICH IS LOVE, AS \"HIS LOVE,\" (ISA. 63. 9), AND WRITE IT IN THE\nDIVISION OVER FIGURE II. NEXT, ONE WITH THREE WORDS, AS \"WALK IN LOVE\"\n(EPH. 5. 2), AND SO ON TILL YOU HAVE A TEXT CONTAINING TWELVE WORDS, AS\n\"LOVE NOT THE WORLD NEITHER THE THINGS THAT ARE IN THE WORLD\" (1 JOHN\n2. 15).\n\nWORDS SUGGESTED:\u2014Faith, Peace, Jesus, Father, Trust, Believe, Forgive,\nLook, Seed, Sins, Blood, Glory, Everlasting.\n\n\n\nTHE NEW GOVERNESS.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"I AM certain I shan't like her.\"\n\n\"Oh, Miss Doris!\"\n\n\"Quite certain. I heard mother talking about her to Mrs. Foster this\nafternoon; and I am certain she's the kind that I don't like.\"\n\n\"What kind?\" asked the nurse, as she brushed out Doris' long curls.\n\n\"Oh, I don't know,\" said Doris carelessly; \"it's a dreadful pity mother\nkeeps on having governesses! They're always a plague, and there is not\none in a hundred that\u2014\"\n\nHer cousin Lilian looked up from the corner where she was sitting\nburied in a book. The book had been forgotten while Doris was speaking;\ninstead of the printed words, a picture had come up before her eyes.\n\nA far-off land, a wide shaded verandah, an invalid couch, a figure\nstretched upon it; sweet eyes resting on her face, an arm round her\nneck, gentle words of parting counsel\u2014they came back now\u2014\n\n\"Lilian! If the life is very different in England, and it must be,\nseek to please your Heavenly Lord, rather than yourself. Try to make\nother people happy, whether it is your aunt, or your cousins, or the\ngoverness who has such a lonely, trying life.\"\n\nShe remembered it all vividly, and how she had promised within her\nheart that she would.\n\nNow she had come to England and these things seemed like a dream.\n\nDirectly she arrived, Doris had told her of the new governess, and then\nher mother's words had flashed across her. She was not inclined to want\na governess any more than Doris, but what if she were lonely and Lilian\nshould forget her mother's words!\n\nHer earnest eyes looked across the nursery now, and Doris stopped in\nher tirade suddenly. Lilian was a funny girl, she thought, and one\nnever could say anything spiteful before her!\n\nEverybody in the house knew that Doris did not \"get on\" with the\ngovernesses. The nurse gave good advice, the parlourmaid thought it was\nrather a joke; and the cook said governesses always held their heads so\nhigh that she was not surprised.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo the governess came one morning just before lunch, and the little\ngirls came to the schoolroom as the bell rang. It would be difficult to\nsay which of the three dreaded the interview most!\n\n\"I will say grace and then we shall get more sociable,\" said Miss Smith\nwith tremulous lips.\n\n\"We don't say grace,\" said Doris.\n\n\"Not, dear?\"\n\n\"No\u2014and I don't care about it, please.\"\n\nOver Lilian's cheeks spread a burning blush, she could hardly raise her\neyes to Miss Smith's face, which had turned very pale. Could she speak\nout? What was seemly and right for her to do?\n\nBefore Miss Smith had time to answer, the little girl said very gently\nbut distinctly: \"Please do, Miss Smith; I always do at home\u2014and here\u2014I\ncouldn't be happy without\u2014\"\n\nShe knew months afterwards that that had been the one drop of comfort\nto the new governess on that first hard day.\n\n\n\nON THE MOORS.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"SLEEP, lambkin, sleep!\" she sang softly, as she rocked the cradle to\nand fro in the shade of the doorway of her little cottage on the border\nof the moor.\n\nThe September sunshine shone brightly without, and far away she could\nhear the tinkle of the sheep-bells, while she dreamily pictured to\nherself her husband walking among his flock, leading them to the\ngreenest grass, tending them with love and care such as only a shepherd\nknows.\n\n\"I'm glad he's a shepherd!\" thought the young wife. \"It is so nice to\nthink he's something like the Lord in that!\"\n\nA shadow fell across the sunshine of the door, and she looked up to see\nher husband stagger into the cottage and guide himself uncertainly to\nthe nearest chair.\n\n\"Alec!\" she said, springing to his side. Was he ill, was he dying? What\ncould it be?\n\nHe leant his head upon her bosom, but was dumb. Something in his action\ntold her it was grief and not illness which had struck her husband.\n\n\"What is it, Alec?\" she asked, bracing herself to be strong to bear for\nhis sake. \"Can't you tell me?\"\n\n\"I telled ye lang syne that I'd hed a son that had gone awa' to\nAmerikay\u2014and had got lost! He's come\u2014back\u2014Jeannie!\"\n\nShe guessed it all in those few broken words.\n\nShe knew without telling that he had come back dishonoured.\n\n\"Where is he?\" she whispered.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn that moment's pause, she had seen her own baby a man, wandering away\nin a far country, having spent all he had\u2014ruined, hopeless, forsaken.\n\nShe had pictured him turning towards his father's home on the moors;\nshe had seen him crossing the ocean and making his weary way home!\n\nShould she have pity, or should she turn away?\n\n\"Where is he?\" she whispered, with her eyes fixed on the cot where her\ninnocent babe slept.\n\n\"In the wood juist beyond\u2014\"\n\nWhen the poor wanderer looked up as he heard a rustle on the path, he\nsaw a gentle face gazing down upon him, and two hands held out to him.\n\n\"Come home!\" she said tenderly. \"And I'll nurse you and love you for\nChrist's sake. He gave His life for you!\"\n\n\"I've come to die,\" he groaned. \"Can you have such as me?\"\n\nFor answer, she raised him from the bank, and together they slowly made\ntheir way to the cottage, and straight into the little room she called\nher parlour.\n\nThere she laid him upon the little sofa and bidding him rest, she went\nto her husband.\n\n\"Jeannie?\" he said, raising his eyes to her face.\n\n\"Yes,\" she answered simply, \"I shall take him as my own, and some day\u2014\"\n\n\"Some day?\" he asked with a groan.\n\n\"There'll be joy in the presence of the angels of God over a sinner\nthat repents. I know it will be so.\n\n\"Cheer up, Alec, and trust the Good Shepherd who is seeking His lost\nsheep!\"\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Her late Majesty distributing gifts to the Soldiers'\nchildren.]\n\n\n\nROYALTY AND LOYALTY.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nGLADYS pushed away her lessons impatiently, and laid her\nhead down on the table.\n\n\"Why, Gladys,\" said her governess, \"so tired as all that?\"\n\n\"I hate learning, and I hate French, and I'm so vexed at this tiresome\ncough that I'm sick of everything.\"\n\n\"Yes, it is disappointing!\"\n\n\"And I wanted to go out to-day ever so much; this afternoon father was\ngoing to take me to see the Queen when she went for a drive, and I\n'did' want to see the dear Queen.\"\n\n\"I am so sorry,\" said her governess gently. Then she added brightly,\n\"Did you see the picture in this week's 'Illustrated News' of our Queen\ndistributing Christmas gifts to the soldiers' children?\"\n\n\"No,\" said Gladys, raising her head.\n\n\"Well, here it is\u2014see what a sweet picture! Should not you have liked\nto be there?\"\n\n\"Oh! Should I not!\" Gladys looked at it long and earnestly. She thought\nshe would almost like to be a soldier's child for such a privilege as\nthat. But then\u2014oh, the poor soldiers!\n\nShe sat for a good while silent, and her next remark was not of the\nsoldiers, for whom her childish heart bled, but of scenes long past.\n\n\"I wonder what sort of a 'girl' the Queen was when she was my age,\" she\nsaid thoughtfully, \"to have been such a good and true woman all these\nyears.\"\n\n\"I can tell you that, for I was reading yesterday what her governess\nsaid about her. It was just this, Gladys; she told her governess in the\nsweetest way, when looking out on life and all its responsibilities, 'I\nwill be good!'\"\n\n\"Did she?\" asked Gladys earnestly, her face flushing with a new thought.\n\n\"Indeed she did, and she has kept her promise nobly, Gladys; and when\nnow she sympathises with the sorrowful and rejoices with the happy, and\nwins love and admiration of her people by all her acts, we follow her\nexultingly, and thank God for such a sweet and such a noble woman as\nour beloved Queen!\"\n\nGladys smiled through two bright tears, and she said na\u00efvely, \"I\nmustn't fret about my cough after that!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nPOLLIE'S NEW MISTRESS.\n\n\"I'M sure I shall be miserable, mother, and I shan't stop. I'll let her\nget settled in, and then I'll go away to Miss Edith. She always wanted\nme to be with her, she said so when she went away. I shall be miserable\nhere, and then the baby will be miserable.\" And with that, Pollie burst\ninto tears, and hugged the baby so tight that he cried too.\n\n\"Miserable!\" echoed her mother. \"What nonsense, girl! The master did\nright to marry again, and bring home a mother to his child, and a good\none, too, as he writes. What are we, plain people too, to bring up his\nson in a gardener's cottage? Not but what we would bring him up as good\nas we knew. And the master's been considerate and good to us; he'll not\npart us from the boy, for you're to be nurse in the grand house and\nhave the charge of him. As for going to Miss Edith, why, she's married.\"\n\n\"I know that,\" sobbed Pollie, still holding the baby tight, \"but I know\nI shan't like it, and the new mistress will be cross if the baby loves\nme, and of course he loves me.\"\n\n\"You're a silly girl,\" said her mother. \"Give me the child to dress,\nand go and get the flowers to deck the rooms, and then make yourself\nneat. We must be ready for them in two hours. Are the master and his\nlady to come and find us not ready?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPollie went slowly away down the garden. How sweet and peaceful the\nflowers looked! How little they knew that the master and a new wife\nwere coming home that day, and that Pollie's heart was sore at the\nthought of the change and that she had determined to leave her precious\ncharge rather than endure it.\n\nBut God knew. Somehow Pollie's thoughts went straight from the flowers\nto God, and her eyes filled with tears. God knew what was best for the\nbaby, God knew what was best for her, and what was best for the master\nwho had been so sorely bereaved a year ago.\n\nPollie hardly saw what flowers she gathered into her muslin apron.\nThere was a battle in her heart, a battle between right and wrong,\na battle between being a good girl to her new mistress and being a\nnaughty girl and going away to serve Miss Edith.\n\nBut the right conquered, and before Pollie went back to her mother, she\nhad looked up through the leafy trees and asked God to help her to be a\ngood girl and to do right.\n\nTwo hours later, the flowers were all arranged, the baby wore his best\nfrock and his blue ribbons, and Pollie and her mother stood in the hall\nto welcome the master home, for the rest of the servants were not to\ncome till the new mistress had settled in.\n\nThen there was the sound of carriage wheels, and the master, tall and\nhandsome, leaped out, and behind him came \u2014Pollie's head seemed to\nswim, and she held the baby tighter that she might not drop him\u2014behind\nthe master came her dear Miss Edith.\n\nPollie knew now that God had been planning happiness for them all, even\nwhile she had been encouraging that discontented spirit!\n\nHow joyfully she held the baby out to its father and new mother, and\nwhat a happy smile lighted her eyes as she hurried to help her mother\nprepare the travellers' meal!\n\nAnd often in after-days, when things seemed to be dark, she remembered\nhow good God had been, and that He was always the same.\n\n\n\nTHE CALL OF PETER.\n\nWHEN the Lord was on earth, He did so many kind and loving things, and\nmade so many people well who were sick that the multitude followed Him\nabout everywhere, so that sometimes Jesus and His disciples had not\neven time to eat.\n\nOne day, when He was by the Lake of Gennesaret (which is sometimes\ncalled the Sea of Galilee), the people pressed so close to Him that,\nseeing two ships drawn up on the shore, He entered one of these and\nasked the owner to put his ship a little way out from the land, so that\nHe might speak to the multitude where they could all hear. The boats\nwere empty, for the fishermen were gone out of them and were washing\ntheir nets in the lake.\n\nThe one that the Lord Jesus entered belonged to Simon Peter, whose\nwife's mother had been healed by Jesus a very short time before.\nPeter loved Jesus very much, but he had not yet been chosen to be His\ndisciple.\n\nSo when the Lord had done talking to the people, He told Simon to\nlaunch the ship out into deep water, and let down their nets to catch\nsome fishes.\n\nBut Simon told Him that they had been up working hard all night, but it\nhad all been for nothing, as they had not caught any fish.\n\nBut Simon did not stop there; he added what has been a comfort to\nhundreds and thousands of people since then\u2014\"Nevertheless, at Thy word\nI will let down the net.\"\n\nDo you think they caught nothing this time?\n\nAh, if you do, you have not thought what it is to be in the boat with\nJesus!\n\nWhen He commands, He also makes it possible to obey. You will find that\nout, children, the more you love Him and trust Him.\n\nSo they let down the net, and now they enclosed such an immense number\nof fishes that their net began to break, and they were obliged to\nbeckon to their partners, who were in the other ship, to come and help\nthem.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo they filled both the ships full, so that they began to sink.\n\nThen Simon Peter fell down at the feet of Jesus and told Him that he\nwas too sinful to be near Him.\n\nBut Jesus comforted him with the loving words which are so often\nrepeated in the Bible for all who are afraid\u2014\"Fear not.\"\n\nThen Jesus told Peter that he should be a fisher of men, that he should\nbe used by God to draw people into the kingdom of heaven.\n\nAnd when Peter and his partners, James and John, heard that, and saw\nthe wonderful miracle that Jesus had performed, they left everything\nand followed Him, and became very soon His three chief disciples who\nwere chosen above all the rest to be close to Him.\n\n\n\nMaking the Best of a Bad Job.\n\n\"I SAY, girls, I have got a holiday on Friday. Couldn't we make up a\nskating party, start early for the lake, take lunch and eat it at the\ncottage, and come home here for high tea? What do you all say? Shall\nwe, father?\"\n\n\"Splendid!\" cried Rose and Flora and Liz.\n\n\"I am quite pleased if the girls can manage it,\" said their father.\n\n\"Well, ask a nice set,\" said Gerald. \"It's time I was off to the\nstation.\" He disappeared from the breakfast table, but after two or\nthree minutes, he reappeared and tossed a note across to Lizzie.\n\n\"Take that to Jess Bristowe,\" he said; \"I want her to come.\"\n\n\"You'll lose that train,\" grumbled Lizzie. \"Why don't you deliver your\nown notes? I don't want to.\"\n\nBut Gerald hardly heard her; he had risked the train to write the note,\nand he had to run for it.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I do hate being asked to do his errands,\" went on Lizzie, giving the\nobnoxious note a toss. \"Whom shall we ask, Rose? It's rather a jolly\nplan!\"\n\nSo the talk drifted into other things, the girls wrote notes, made a\nlist of needed provisions, and hunted up their skates. Lizzie told\nherself she supposed she must go with the tiresome note sometime, but\nshe shouldn't trouble when, and consequently she forgot all about it.\n\nFriday morning broke clear and bright, and promised an ideal day.\n\nBreakfast was over, and Rose and Flora were trying to persuade their\nfather to accompany them, when Gerald suddenly asked Lizzie what answer\nJess had sent.\n\nLizzie gasped. \"I never went,\" she said slowly.\n\n\"Then I shan't go,\" cried Gerald, his face flushing. \"I never thought\nyou would fail me.\"\n\n\"Can't we ask her now?\" asked Lizzie lamely.\n\n\"At the last minute!\" cried Gerald. \"I told her I meant to have a\nparty, and she must come, and a poor compliment she would think it!\nWell, you'll have to go alone.\" He went off into the study and stood\nmoodily looking into the fire. The day would be spoilt without Jess.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA soft hand rested on his shoulder and Rose's voice said, \"Gerald!\"\n\n\"It's no good your coming persuading,\" he said roughly; but Rose knew\nit was disappointment made him rough.\n\n\"I think,\" she said gently, \"that if I went down to Jess at once and\nexplained how it was, she would quite understand, and she is not one to\ntake offence, and she would so enjoy the day. I should have plenty of\ntime. May I, Gerald?\"\n\n\"It will tire you so,\" objected Gerald. \"You'll be wet and cold before\nwe start.\"\n\n\"Oh, no!\" said Rose hopefully. \"I'll bring Jess back with me, and if\nyou have a cup of chocolate ready for us, we shall start warm.\"\n\n\"All right!\" said Gerald briskly, for to make chocolate for Jess was an\nalluring prospect. \"You are a good girl, Rose!\"\n\nIt \"was\" a rather cold, long walk, but Rose went cheerily. And\nby-and-by, two laughing girls sat down to a cup of chocolate presided\nover by a smiling young man. And after that, the skating party went as\nmerrily as marriage bells.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER IX.\u2014\"HIS GREAT LOVE.\"\n\nAS the days passed and no one came to claim the blind child, R\u00e1mp\u00e1l\nSingh and his daughter felt assured that she had been sent to them by\nGod, and that in caring for this helpless little one, they were indeed\nserving Him to whom they belonged. They were not long in discovering\nthat Hira was no ordinary child, and blind though she was, it was\npossible that God had some special work for her to do, for which they\nwere to prepare her.\n\nThe little girl was very loath to speak of her past life. But from the\nlittle they were able to gather from her, it was very plain that there\nhad been no one who really loved her, and therefore no one who would\nmourn her loss, and this seemed to justify her remaining where she was.\n\nIt was a great day in Hira's experience when she first went to church.\n\nNaturally there was much which she could not understand, but the\nassurance that they were in God's house, and speaking to Him, made a\ngreat impression on her, while the singing thrilled her to the very\ndepths of her heart.\n\nA few days later, Shushila was going to see Mary Day\u00e1l and inquire\nafter her sick child, and took Hira with her.\n\nThe child had no idea that she was going to the same house where she\nhad been taken by Sukhiya, but Mary knew her at once, though the red\nsari had been exchanged for a blue one.\n\nA great change was coming over Mary Day\u00e1l, the beginning of which had\nbeen the question asked by the blind child.\n\nSoon after that, her youngest child had been taken ill, and Shushila,\nalways ready to minister to anyone who was in need, had seized this\nopportunity of making the acquaintance of one whose sad, weary face had\nalready won her sympathy.\n\nIt did not take long for Mary to discover that her new friend was one\nwho knew God and lived in fellowship with Him. Here was a living proof\nthat it is possible to meet with God and walk with Him, even amid the\nscenes of a most commonplace earthly life. And again and again the\nquestion repeated itself in her heart, \"How can I get ready to meet\nGod?\"\n\nOnce more, the blind child was to bring her a message.\n\nHira's quick ear soon recognised the voice, which she had heard before,\nand while Shushila was talking, she had quite made up her mind that\nthis must be the same house to which she had come with Sukhiya. What\ncould be more likely? For did she not now belong to Christians, and was\nsoon to become one herself?\n\nAs Mary sat quietly by herself, the old scene came back to her, and she\nalmost thought with pity of the poor ignorant child who had come to ask\nwhere Jesus Christ lived. Now she knew so much that maybe she could\nteach the one of whom she had come that day to learn. She gave a start\nwhen suddenly Shushila drew her towards her, and said\u2014\n\n\"This is my new little sister God sent to me in the storm.\"\n\nMary Day\u00e1l spoke kindly to the child, but said nothing of the former\nmeeting; perhaps she felt a little ashamed of it. But Hira had nothing\nto be ashamed of, so she said boldly, \"I have been here before. I came\nto ask about Jesus Christ, for I knew nothing then, but now I know a\ngreat deal, and some day I am going to have new eyes and see quite\nwell. I do not mind waiting a little while, now I live with my dear\nsister Shushila.\"\n\nThen she paused, thinking someone else would speak, but when no one\ndid, she went on, \"You never told me that day whether you had got ready\nto meet God, but of course you must have done, because you are not an\nignorant little girl like I was. I do not think I am quite ready even\nyet, but I am going to be.\"\n\nStill, there was no answer. Mary did not know what to say, and Shushila\nwas hoping that the child's words would go home to the heart of the\nwoman for whom she was longing and praying that she might learn to know\nand love God.\n\nThen suddenly, Mary's lips were unsealed; the longing of her heart\ncould not keep silent any longer, and she said wistfully, \"Child, it\nis easy for you to get ready; it is no fault of yours that you are not\nso already, for there has been no one to tell you about God. But it is\nquite different with me. All my life I have known of God, but my mind\nhas been filled with other things.\"\n\nHira looked puzzled. Then she said, \"But cannot Jesus Christ make\npeople even as bad as you ready? I should think He could, but then I\ndon't know much. Why don't you ask my sister Shushila?\"\n\nBut Shushila felt that the simplicity of the child's words and faith\nmight give God's message more effectually than she could, so instead\nof explaining herself, she said, \"Hira, what makes you think the Lord\nJesus can make us ready? And how does He do it?\"\n\nThe child hesitated a minute, and then she said\u2014\n\n\"Sister, I only know what you tell me: you say that to be ready means\nto get rid of sin, and that God hates sin so much, and yet loves us so\nthat He sent His only Son all the way from heaven to save us.\"\n\nShushila saw that Mary was listening intently to the child's words, so\nagain she asked, \"But tell me, Hira, what did the Lord Jesus do to get\nrid of our sin?\"\n\nSoftly the blind child answered, \"He took them all on Himself, a great,\ngreat load, and then He put them right away, but He had to die to do\nit. He must want us to be ready very much when He tried so hard to put\nour sin away.\"\n\n\"But,\" said Mary sadly, \"it is the sin in my own heart I want to get\nrid of; every day I get cross and impatient, and feel ashamed for God\nto see me.\"\n\nHira knew of no remedy for this difficulty.\n\nAnd Shushila saw it was the time for her to speak, and so she said,\n\"We cannot be ready to meet God as long as we are keeping sin in our\nhearts, but the Lord Jesus will save us from that too.\n\n\"We cannot keep sin out of our hearts, but if we let the Lord Jesus\ncome in, He can keep out the crossness and impatience. I think what we\nneed is to believe more in the 'great love' and the 'great power' of\nour dear Lord.\n\n\"He would do so much more for us if we would only let Him. Shall we\nkneel down and ask Him now?\"\n\nSo they knelt together\u2014one who had known of God and His great salvation\nall her life, but had never received it for herself; another to whom\nhad suddenly come the glorious news of a Divine Saviour, which had\nbeen received gladly and fully; and lastly the blind child, into whose\ndarkness had shone the bright rays of the heavenly light, which would\ngo on shining brighter and brighter.\n\nSurely there was still Another present, though unseen, with pierced\nhands filled with blessings to be poured out on those who sought them.\n\nThen Shushila prayed:\n\n   \"Dear Lord Jesus, we come to Thee to tell Thee that we want to be made\nholy as Thou art holy, so holy that we shall be ready to meet God. We\ncannot get rid of the sins which we have committed, nor of the sins in\nour own hearts, so we come to Thee, because Thou art our Saviour, who\nhast died to save us. Wilt Thou come Thyself into our hearts and turn\nout all which does not please Thee? Amen.\"\n\n\"Amen,\" said Mary too, and she meant it, for there came to her a vision\nof what it would be to have a heart at peace and rest in the midst of\nthe many trials and perplexities around her. And she realised, for the\nfirst time, that in order to obtain this rest, she must let the Great\nRest-Giver come in.\n\nWhen they were seated again, Hira said, \"Sister, won't you sing the\nhymn about the hill?\"\n\nAnd Shushila sang\u2014\n\n   \"There is a green hill far away,\n      Without a city wall,\n    Where the dear Lord was crucified,\n      Who died to save us all.\n\n   \"We may not know, we cannot tell,\n      What pains He had to bear,\n    But this we know, it was for us\n      He hung and suffered there.\n\n   \"He died that we might be forgiven,\n      He died to make us good,\n    That we might go at last to heaven,\n      Saved by His precious blood.\n\n   \"There was none other good enough\n      To pay the price of sin,\n    He only could unlock the gate\n      Of heaven, and let us in.\n\n   \"Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved,\n      And we must love Him too,\n    And trust in His redeeming blood,\n      And try His works to do.\"\n\nIt was a very simple hymn, which even a little child could understand,\nand yet it told the great facts of redemption, which one of the\nlisteners had heard again and again, but never grasped; it told her\nonce again what she so much needed to know.\n\n\"Would you mind singing that last verse once more?\" she asked, as\nShushila finished the hymn.\n\nOnce more the words were sung\u2014\n\n   \"Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved,\n      And we must love Him too,\n    And trust in His redeeming blood,\n      And try His works to do.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" said Mary; her heart was too full to say any more, and\nShushila, seeing this, took Hira's hand and led her away.\n\nThen Mary was left alone, except for the sleeping baby on the bedstead\nnear by.\n\n   \"Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved,\n      And we must love 'Him too.'\"\n\nShe knew the words were true, but had she loved this One, who had loved\nher to the death? Had she tried His works to do?\n\nHer own heart told her plainly, \"No.\" She had thought before of her\nsins of crossness and impatience, but now she saw plainly that all\nher life had been wrong, because she had shut out of it the only One\nwho could give her the power to live it. It was true that the Son of\nGod had died for her on the cross, but never once had she thanked Him\nfor all He had suffered for her. It was true that He was alive for\nevermore, ready to save her to the uttermost, but never till now had\nshe cared to be saved.\n\nIt had all been put before her\u2014this mighty loving Saviour, the great\nsalvation which He had given His life to win, the forgiveness and rest\nwhich He promised to all who came to Him, and at last, a place in His\nFather's house, which He Himself was getting ready. But she had been so\ntaken up with her own affairs, her poverty, her husband, and children,\nthe debt which weighed so heavily, that she had had no eyes to see\nGod's great gifts, no heart to care for His unsearchable riches.\n\nShe knew now that if her heart had been at rest, if she had had the\npresence of this Divine Helper and Keeper, she would have been a far\nbetter wife and mother, and not so burdened by her own cares and\nsorrows; which, instead of keeping her away from God, made her need of\nHim the greater.\n\nShe knew now how great that need was; she could no longer live on earth\nwithout God, neither was she fit to meet Him and find a dwelling-place\nwith Him; whichever way she looked, it was all dark, unless she could\nfind the true Light.\n\nIf she had only understood, it was shining all around her, but as yet\nher eyes were shut to its brightness.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nA DARK NIGHT.\n\n[Illustration] THE parks were almost deserted when Nurse Clarice passed\nthrough the gates and slowly made her way to a seat beneath the trees.\nShe had just come from \"a case\" and was quite tired out.\n\n\"Mother,\" she had said, as she put down her parcel, \"don't you tell\nanyone that I've come home till to-morrow morning! I'll get half an\nhour's air, and then I'll lay my head on my pillow.\"\n\nHer mother looked up anxiously from her work, and shook her head at her\ngirl's tired face.\n\n\"Oh, well!\" said Clarice, in reply to the shake. \"You know in such a\ntime of epidemic it can't be helped. I shall get rested by-and-by.\"\n\nBut though she had spoken so hopefully to her mother, when she walked\nthrough the twilight streets, all at once she began to think of the\nmany things that worried her, and not least, that thin, tired mother\nwho sat in the little dull house she had just left.\n\nAs she sat on the seat in the park, she felt as if life were too full\nfor her to bear.\n\nShe so longed for rest, and somehow it so seldom came. She supposed\nthere was nothing for it but for her to conjure up such patience as she\ncould, and go on again.\n\nAs she looked up across to the sunset sky, which was rapidly darkening,\na little thin line of the new moon was just visible.\n\nWith a start of surprise, she smiled to herself as the words came to\nher remembrance: \"Neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord\nshall be thine everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.\"\n\nAlready she was rested, for Clarice knew the secret of finding in God\nher comfort, and she rose up and made her way back to her mother's home.\n\n\"Now for bed!\" she said, as she knocked at the shabby door. \"And I am\neven too tired to talk to mother. Poor mother! I believe I've been more\nthan half an hour.\"\n\nBut before she got in, a telegram had come for her, and the mother\nworked with a more wearied look.\n\n\"Come at once to No. \u2014, Park Gate.\"\n\n\"Oh, nurse!\" said a young girl, meeting Clarice in the hall when she\nentered, \"I am so glad to see you! My mother is so dreadfully ill! Will\nyou come up at once?\"\n\n\"If you wish, miss. But would you let me take off my cloak first?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes! Come into this little room,\" she said, leading the way. \"I\nhave had this got ready for you.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut when they crossed the threshold, the girl's face changed from the\nforced calm which she had been trying to assume, and she covered it\nwith her hands.\n\n\"Is she so bad, miss?\" asked Clarice, while she quickly laid aside her\nbonnet and took her cap from the tray of her little box.\n\n\"Yes, and it is all my fault,\" sobbed the girl hopelessly, yielding\nto the sympathy in Clarice's eyes. \"It was like this. Yesterday\u2014only\nyesterday\u2014she wished me not to go to a concert with some friends. I\nhad promised, and she was very upset that I would persist in going.\nI ought not\u2014I know that\u2014she never denies me anything that she thinks\nfor my good; but I would not heed, and ran up to dress in a hurry. She\ndid not approve of the people I was going with, and did not wish me to\nappear in public with them. And she hurried upstairs to my room to try\nto persuade me to give it up.\n\n\"I was vexed that she should do what I knew was bad for her, and spoke\ncrossly while I threw on my things. And after she had said all she\ncould, she turned away with a very white face. I would not heed, but\ndrove off in the brougham as if I had not a care.\n\n\"How I felt when I remembered her look, and that her heart was weak,\nI cannot tell you. I didn't enjoy myself one bit. When I came home,\nit was to find her very ill, and to-day they tell me her life is in\ndanger.\"\n\n\"I am ready now, miss,\" said Clarice, pausing, however, to put her\nhand gently on the girl's arm. \"Miss, there's a Refuge for us in time\nof trouble, if we will go to Him for it,\" she said earnestly; \"and\nforgiveness for what's past too.\"\n\nThe girl looked at her almost startled, but then, comprehending, her\neyes fell; but she gave the nurse's hand a squeeze.\n\n\"Thank you,\" she murmured, and led the way to a spacious room, where\nthe invalid lay attended by her anxious maid.\n\nClarice put aside her weariness \"till another time,\" she said to\nherself. And then came a resting, comforting thought, \"'They that wait\nupon the Lord shall renew their strength.'\"\n\nFor more than a week, the invalid's life hung in the balance, and her\ndaughter and Clarice, assisted by the maid, waited upon her with tender\ncare.\n\nEvery day, when Madge's sad eyes were raised to the nurse's with\nanxious inquiry, Clarice would say, \"Take heart, miss. Remember you can\ngo to God in time of trouble!\"\n\nAnd Madge would go to her room and once again ask that her precious\nmother might be spared to her.\n\nThen came a day when Clarice could say cheeringly, \"I think there's a\nlittle improvement, miss; and now we must thank God!\"\n\nAnd so it went on, till the mother was sitting up in her room and\nneeded the busy nurse no longer.\n\nAltogether, it was a happy time to Clarice, for we cannot try to do\nGod's work without a quick reward, even in this present time.\n\nWhen she was putting her last things into her little box at the end of\nthree weeks, there was a light tap at the door.\n\n\"Good-bye, dear nurse,\" said a sweet voice. \"You have done more for me\nthan anyone ever did before! I hope I shall be a 'comfort' to mother\nnow, instead of a self-willed plague! But oh! If God had not forgiven\nmy waywardness, how should I be feeling now?\"\n\n\n\n\"Peter Followed Afar Off.\"\n\nDO you think, if Peter had kept close to the Lord Jesus, he would have\ndenied Him?\n\nBut Peter, though he loved Jesus dearly, followed Him afar off. And\nthere is no surer way of getting into sin and difficulties than\nforgetting to keep close to Jesus.\n\nNow, listen to the story of how poor Peter, who did love Jesus, came to\ndeny that he ever knew Him.\n\nThe Lord knew all about Peter, and how he was apt to trust in his own\nstrength and energy and courage; and just before that dreadful night\nwhen all the disciples forsook Him and fled, Jesus had warned Peter\nthat Satan was very anxious to make him do wrong, and if possible to\nseparate him from Himself altogether.\n\nPeter trusted so much in his own strength and courage that he could\nhardly believe that the warning was needed.\n\nHe told the Lord that he was ready to go with Him to prison or to death!\n\nBut Jesus warned him again that before the cock should crow the next\nmorning, Peter would have denied that he knew Him.\n\nThen Jesus and His disciples went to the Mount of Olives. And there,\nJudas, the wicked disciple, betrayed Him to a band of soldiers. And\nJesus was taken away by them to the high priest's palace, and all the\ndisciples forsook Him and fled. Jesus knew all that would happen to\nHim, and He gave Himself up willingly for our sakes; but that does not\nmake it any less wicked of the men who used Him so cruelly.\n\nThere seem to have been two of His disciples who, after running away at\nfirst, loved Jesus so much that they followed Him to the palace to see\nwhat would become of Him.\n\nJohn, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was known to the high priest, and\nhe seems to have gone right into the palace. And when he saw Peter\nstanding outside, he spoke to the servant and she let Peter enter.\n\nSo the night being cold, and Peter having followed \"afar off,\" he\nturned aside near the door, and seeing a fire lighted in the court\nround which the servants were gathered, he sat down among them and\nwarmed himself.\n\nOh, foolish Peter, not to have pressed in close after his Master! Would\nhe have denied Him then, if he had seen those dear and holy eyes upon\nhim? I think not.\n\nBut being afar off, and being confident in his own strength, when\na servant-maid charged him with belonging to Jesus, he denied Him,\nsaying, \"Woman, I know Him not.\"\n\nAnd so, as he stood and warmed himself, Peter did, at three different\ntimes, tell one and another that he did not know Jesus.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAt last the cock crew, and the dear Lord, from the place where He was\nbeing examined, turned round and looked upon Peter.\n\nAnd Peter remembered how Jesus had warned him, and he went out and wept\nbitterly. Oh, can you not imagine how sorrowful he was?\n\nPerhaps you ask: Was Peter ever forgiven for his sin? Oh yes, indeed.\nJesus is full of love and compassion, and when He rose from the\ngrave, He sent a special message to Peter to come and see Him. And\nafterwards, He talked to him many times, and gave him some of the\nsweetest directions to serve Him which the Bible contains. Peter was\nHis faithful servant till his life's end.\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER X.\u2014REST.\n\nTHAT night, Mary Day\u00e1l was so overwhelmed by a new trial and anxiety\nthat for a time the craving in her heart for spiritual blessing was\nforgotten.\n\nAt the usual time of returning from his work, her husband did not\nappear. That was nothing remarkable, for he was often late. But when\nhour after hour passed and still he did not come, her heart began to\ngrow heavy. The eldest boy, Reuben, was sent to inquire at different\nhouses where he might possibly have gone, but nowhere was any news to\nbe heard.\n\nOne by one the children dropped asleep, but there was no rest for the\nanxious wife. It was true that her husband had not been the kindest or\nbest of men, but now that he was gone, she knew not where, everything\nchanged; the faults had all been hers, and she had driven him away by\nher constant grumblings and complainings. Was it any wonder that he had\nnot cared to stay in a house with an untidy, cross wife, and children\nwho were always clamouring for more than he could give them? There\ncould be no doubt that his patience and courage had been worn-out, and\nnow he had gone away to seek for peace and comfort elsewhere. Who could\nblame him if he had?\n\nThen the darkness around the poor weary woman grew denser, till her\nheart ached with the sorrow pressing upon her.\n\n\"Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved.\"\n\nClearly came back to her the words of the hymn she had heard sung so\nlately, though it seemed long, long ago.\n\nThough her husband had left her, yet she was not altogether alone, for\nnothing could change this divine love, which had proved itself stronger\nthan death.\n\nIf it was true that that love went out still to the most sinful and\nneedy, then who could claim it more than she?\n\nOh for eyes to see the blessed form of Him who had called the weary\nand heavy laden to come to Him! Oh for ears to catch His words of\nforgiveness and comfort!\n\nMary Day\u00e1l had been brought up to say her prayers when she was a child,\nand she had never entirely given up doing so, only very often she was\ntoo tired, and the children made too much noise. But she had never\nknown what it was really to \"pray,\" to seek God because her heart cried\nout after Him, to ask Him for what He alone could give, what she felt\nshe \"must\" have.\n\nBut now in her sorrow and desolation, there rose in her heart a great\ndesire to come into contact with One who could do for her what no one\nelse could.\n\nThe voice of the Son of God said \"Come,\" and she heard it and came.\n\nIf she had been asked, she could hardly have told what it was which\nhad so changed her that night of sorrow; she might have said that the\nburden of sin had grown light because for the first time she \"knew\"\nwhat she had before only \"heard\"\u2014that Christ had put it away by the\nsacrifice of Himself; or she might have said that the burden of\nloneliness had been lightened by finding the presence of One who had\npromised never to leave or forsake her.\n\nShe had been like a child lost in a dreary forest, faint with hunger\nbut having no food to eat, surrounded by dangers from which there was\nno one to protect her. Now she was like a child in its father's house,\nsatisfied with that father's love and sure of his protection and care.\n\nAgain and again she had said and heard the words, \"Our Father which art\nin heaven,\" but never till that night had she known the joy of having\na Father in heaven. The darkness had passed away before the bright\nshining of heavenly light, and in that light, the form of everything\nwas changed.\n\nShe had still to face the grinding poverty which had made her life a\nweariness to her; what was worse still, she had to face it alone if her\nhusband did not return. There were four children to be fed and clothed,\nand a debt to be paid, and it might be, no money to do it with. And\nyet, in spite of all, Mary Day\u00e1l felt more light-hearted than she had\never done in her life, for she knew that henceforth these burdens would\nnot have to be borne alone\u2014that the great Burden-Bearer would be with\nher.\n\nIt was long before she went to sleep that night. But as she was saying\nover to herself the words, \"Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved,\" gradually\nall things faded into unconsciousness.\n\nShe woke the next morning with a sense of loss, and yet of gain, and it\ntook her some little time to distinguish one from the other. Gradually\nit all came clearly back to her: she had found God, but her husband was\nmissing. She realised then how hard it would have been to begin this\nnew day with this added burden if it had not been for the rest in her\nheart.\n\nThe children soon found that in some way, which they could not\nunderstand, their mother was different. Never before had they known her\nso patient and gentle; they thought it must be because their father was\nnot there. They were all sent to school as usual, and then Mary, taking\nthe baby in her arms, locked up the house, and went to ask advice of\nher new friends R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh and his daughter.\n\nBoth listened to her story with all the interest, and sympathy she\ncould desire. And when it was finished, R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh proposed that he\nshould go to the office in which Mark Day\u00e1l had been employed, and\nascertain whether he had been there the day before. Knowing something\nof the man's history, he thought it was very possible that he had been\ndismissed, as so often happened, and rather than tell his wife the\nnews, had gone off and left her; but of this, he \"said\" nothing.\n\nAs soon as her father had left the house, Shushila began more freely to\nexpress her sympathy with the anxious wife.\n\nGreat was her surprise and joy when Mary looked at her with a smile,\nthough there were tears in her eyes, and said, \"Shushila, whatever\nhappens, the darkest part of my life is over. With the love of Christ\nin my heart, I can bear anything.\"\n\nNeither had noticed that Hira was near by, but now she came eagerly\nforward and asked, \"Do you mean that you have got ready to meet God?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Mary gladly; \"I never wanted to meet God before, but now I\nlong to, because I know He is my heavenly Father.\"\n\n\"But tell me,\" said the child, \"how did you get ready? What did you do?\"\n\nMary paused a moment, and then she said, \"Little one, once a man full\nof leprosy came to the Lord Jesus, and He put His hand on him, and\nsaid, 'I will; be thou clean,' and all his leprosy was gone. I was full\nof sin, but last night, the Lord Jesus came and put His hand on me, and\nsaid, 'Be clean,' and so I know He has put away my sin, and I am not\nafraid to meet God any more.\"\n\nHira gave a little sigh as she said, \"Perhaps the Lord Jesus comes more\nto big people than He does to little girls, because to me, He seems\nsuch a long, long way off. If He would speak only one word, then I\nshould know that He had come.\"\n\n\"And that is just how I know, little one,\" said Mary. \"I did not hear\nHis voice in my ear, but I heard it quite plainly in my heart; if you\nlisten, you will hear it too.\"\n\nHira looked perplexed, but she did not speak again. And very soon, she\ngot up and groped her way to another part of the house, leaving the two\nfriends alone.\n\n\nGOSSIP.\n\n\"FATHER, you'll let me take something down for the Harvest Festival!\nSomething nice from the grounds, you know, and some flowers and fruit.\nI should like to help to decorate the church.\"\n\n\"Certainly, my dear,\" answered Mr. Granville, \"I had thought of it\nmyself when the curate spoke of the Festival. I will give Haydon orders\nabout it.\"\n\n\"I will go with them myself,\" said Geraldine importantly, \"and I can\narrange where they go.\"\n\n\"Remember, dear, that you will be one of the youngest there,\" said her\nfather gently.\n\nGeraldine did not reply, unless a little toss of her head could be\nregarded as one.\n\nThe following Saturday was the morning appointed for all offerings\nto reach the church. And on the Friday evening, Mr. Granville asked\nGeraldine if Haydon had provided such flowers and green stuff as she\nwanted.\n\nGeraldine reddened; \"I don't think I shall trouble about it,\" she said.\n\"Miss Whyte is seeing after it all, and I'm not going to be at Miss\nWhyte's beck and call.\"\n\n\"Why not?\" asked her father, curiously.\n\n\"I don't like her.\"\n\nGeraldine would say no more, but her father went on, \"I should wish\nthe flowers to go just the same, my child, and if you 'do' go to help,\nremember that in all church work, we are working for our Lord and\nMaster, not for men.\"\n\n\"If the flowers go, so shall I,\" said Geraldine to herself, and she\nwent.\n\nThe vestry presented a very busy scene, and Geraldine and her flowers\nwere met with a hearty welcome, and Miss Whyte asked her pleasantly\nif she had any special wish about them, and though Geraldine answered\nproperly enough, there was something aggressive in her tone that sent\nthe colour to Miss Whyte's face. She had guessed for some time that\nGeraldine disliked her.\n\nSo Geraldine worked in a corner apart, for she could not feel friendly\nto anyone. Her father's words rankled.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMiss Whyte was busily decorating a pillar when her eyes fell on the\nproud little face in the corner. It seemed such a pity for two who were\ndecorating God's house to be at enmity. She jumped lightly from her\nchair and went round to Geraldine.\n\n\"Geraldine! Have I done anything to vex you?\"\n\n\"You had no business to say I couldn't draw a bit.\"\n\n\"When did I say so?\" gasped out Miss Whyte.\n\n\"The girls told me you said so at the Prize-giving at school.\"\n\n\"My dear!\" said Miss Whyte. \"I said 'I had no idea that Geraldine\ndrew.' Somebody has made mischief. Let us be friends; it seems so sad\nto have a difference and to be working together in God's house.\"\n\nGeraldine lifted her frank eyes, \"I am sorry; it is my fault for\nlistening to such stories. May I come and help you? It is so dull\nalone.\"\n\nAnd so there was peace in the church.\n\nSunday by Sunday, long after the harvest thanksgiving had passed away,\nas Geraldine sat in the church, she would glance over to that little\ncorner where she had sat alone, and the remembrance of it helped her\nall her life to try to be one of God's blessed Peacemakers.\n\n[Illustration: \"I will go with them myself,\" said Geraldine.]\n\n\n\n\"I LOVE HIM STILL.\"\n\n\"AND what has happened, then, Mrs. Lloyd?\"\n\nThe silver-haired clergyman had just finished his reading, and had\npaused, his fingers still in the place that opened of itself at the\nstory of the cross, to hear some fragments of Mrs. Lloyd's story. The\nwhite face in its clean frilled cap was scarcely less white than the\npillow on which it lay. But the expression was peaceful, though the\nwrinkles on the fine brow told of trials long and painful.\n\nA week ago Mrs. Lloyd had been brought, badly burned, to a kindly\nneighbour's, and little hope was entertained from the first of her\nrecovery.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNo one knew how the accident had happened; the baby was safe, that they\nall knew. And though Mrs. Lloyd was reticent and scarcely answered any\nquestions the doctors and nurses put to her as they dressed her burns,\nit had oozed out among the neighbours that Jim Lloyd had been seen to\nenter the cottage not long before the place had been found in flames,\nand that he was drunk at the time.\n\nBut now Mrs. Lloyd's tongue was loosened; she was alone with the vicar\nshe had known and loved from her youth, and she must tell him all, that\nhe might comfort Jim.\n\nJim was her one care. Such a brave, strong fellow he had been when\nshe first met him and loved him years ago. But the demon of drink had\nseized on him, and had pushed him far on the downward path.\n\n\"Well, sir,\" continued the dying woman, slightly raising herself on her\nelbow in her earnestness, \"you must not be hard on Jim, but help him\nto live right, for the baby's sake. Tell him, sir, as I'm sure he did\nnot mean it, and that I forgive him and love him still. Be sure you say\nthat, sir. I love him still.\"\n\nShe lay back exhausted by the effort she had made, but after a moment\nshe went on\u2014\n\n\"I was out washing in the back yard, sir, for I had not heard his step.\nHis dinner was all ready for him on the stove, and baby was asleep in\nthe cradle. I don't know how long he'd been home, when I noticed a\nqueer smell, but I didn't think much of it, 'cause there's often bits\nof rag and such-like burnt by the neighbours. But in a few moments, I\nnoticed smoke coming out of the back kitchen door, and I knew it was\nall wrong.\n\n\"The first thing I saw as I got to the door was a great blaze. The\nclothes-horse was full of blouses I'd just starched, and they were just\none great flame. I made a rush for the cradle, but I never saw Jim\nuntil I fell over him, and then I suppose my clothes caught fire, but\nI didn't notice them. I felt I must save Jim even before the baby, for\nshe was ready, the little darling, and my Jim wasn't. So I just pulled\nhim out by his legs, and then I ran back for baby. I thought maybe\nshe'd be safe, for I just prayed God to spare her if only I could pull\nout Jim. And there she was sitting up in her cradle, and laughing at\nthe 'pitty fire.' I suppose the neighbours saw the smoke, for when I\ngot outside again, they were holding out their hands for the baby, and\nsome were looking after Jim, and then I didn't know any more until I\ngot here. But you'll tell Jim I loved him still, and best of all that\nGod loves him too?\" And the faint voice ceased for ever.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER XI.\u2014\"ASK, AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN YOU.\"\n\nTHERE was much to talk of, for though Shushila was much younger in\nyears than Mary Day\u00e1l, she had been learning in God's school for\nseveral years, while the other had only just enrolled her name as a\nscholar.\n\nWhile the talk was still going on, R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh returned. He had found\nwhat he had expected. Mark Day\u00e1l had been dismissed the day before, and\nthat was evidently the reason of his disappearance.\n\n\"He will probably go and get work elsewhere, and will then write and\ntell you of his whereabouts,\" added he, anxious to give some comfort.\n\nThen he proposed that they should commit the matter into the hands of\ntheir heavenly Father, and ask Him to guide and keep the one who had\ngone, as well as those who were left.\n\nMary Day\u00e1l never forgot that prayer, for it taught her what true prayer\nreally means, and her heart rejoiced as she realised that, having\nbecome a child of God through faith in Christ Jesus, a key had been put\ninto her hand, with which she could unlock the storehouse of heavenly\nriches.\n\nIf she had lost her husband, she had found a Father; and the grief and\nanxiety caused by the loss, only increased the joy of the gain.\n\nIt was only after she returned to her desolate house that she began\nfully to realise what it really meant to be left with four children to\nfeed and clothe, and no means, as far as she could see, to provide for\nthem. Whichever way she looked, she could see no light. Her parents\nlived so far away that it would cost a great deal to get to them, and\nthey were quite unable to support a family. Besides, how could she bear\nto tell them that her husband had gone and left her? Whatever happened,\nshe would be loyal to him, and shield him all she could.\n\nIf there was anyone to blame, it was she, for not being more patient\nand gentle, and she determined that if her husband returned, he should\nnever hear a word of reproach from her lips.\n\nOf course he \"would\" return, she told herself again and again, or if\nnot, he would send for her and the children. He never intended to\ndesert them, but only to seek employment to enable him to provide for\nthem. As soon as he succeeded, he would surely write.\n\nThen there came over her a great desire that her husband should be one\nwith her in her newly found happiness, that he too should be ready to\nmeet God. Gradually all other needs seemed to be lost sight of in this\ngreat cry of her heart.\n\nAnd why should it not be granted? The mighty Hand which had been\nstretched out to save her could reach her husband also, wherever he\nmight be. The first treasure which she would seek to obtain by this\nnewly found key should be the salvation of her husband, and never would\nshe cease seeking until she knew she had obtained it.\n\nSo, as she had committed herself into the hands of this almighty\nFriend, she committed her husband also, and prayed that wherever\nhis wanderings might lead him, or whatever his disappointments or\ndifficulties might he, he might at last be guided, as she had been, if\nnot by easy means, then through sorrow and suffering, to the cross of\nChrist, there to find pardon and salvation.\n\nThen Mary began to think of the present, and consider her earthly lot.\nSomething must be done, and besides herself there was none to do it, so\nit was quite plain that she \"must\" find some work; but what was it to\nbe?\n\nBesides learning her lessons in school, and, after her marriage,\nlooking after her house and children, which her conscience told her had\nbeen very badly done, she had never tried to do anything.\n\nIt was true that sometimes in her days of greatest poverty, when her\nhusband was out of work, she had thought of trying to get employment as\na Zenana teacher, but though she knew of others who did this in order\nto obtain the salary, her own heart told her that it should not be so,\nand that only those who knew God themselves were fitted to teach others\nabout Him.\n\nIt was different now. Having found salvation herself, it would be\na joy and privilege to tell others about it; only who, knowing her\ncircumstances, would be able to understand that she was not seeking her\nown good only?\n\nAgain, she remembered her newly found key. Did not her heavenly Father\nknow all her needs and difficulties, as well as the change in her heart?\n\nIf He would call her to take a share in His work, and count her worthy,\nit would not matter what others thought. And so again, Mary prayed that\nGod Himself would lead and direct her, and make it quite plain what\nwork He would have her do.\n\nBy-and-by, the children returned from school full of questions about\ntheir father, whose sudden disappearance sorely perplexed them all. The\nmother tried her best to satisfy them, by saying she believed he had\ngone away to find work, and very soon they would hear from him.\n\nReuben, the eldest, listened gravely to all his mother said, and did\nnot join in the questions of the others.\n\nThough only ten years old, in many ways he seemed older, being a\nsteady, studious boy, more fond of learning than of playing. From this\ntime, he seemed suddenly to grow older still, and to realise that he\nmust be the helper and comforter of his mother, so in this also the\ndeserted wife found comfort in her sorrow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nA TELEGRAM.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"SHE'S dyin'! That's what the telegram's put, and I'm goin' down by the\nnext train.\"\n\nThere was a pause, for Milly had had a hard struggle, and how to find\nthe four and eight-pence for the fare she knew not. But the kind\nneighbour came to her aid. She searched deep in a drawer, and brought\nout an old stocking foot, and from this, she counted out five precious\nshillings.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I'll pay you, if I work my fingers to the bone,\" said Milly\ngratefully; and then she made her way, just as she was, to the station.\n\nMeantime, down in a country village, far away from the din of London,\nMilly's sister lay and watched from her little window.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Go out,\" she whispered to her pretty, tidy children, \"and stay by the\nchurch gate; and when you see your aunt, bring her to the door, but no\nfurther. I haven't seen her for twelve years!\"\n\nThe invalid lay on a neat bed beneath the window of the front room.\n\nAnd when Milly came, her eyes rested on a face which had once been like\nhers, but was not so any longer, for peace and joy shone on the wasted\nfeatures, instead of hard care.\n\n\"Agnes!\" she said, and came forward and knelt by the bed, burying her\nface in her hands.\n\n\"I could not find your address! I've tried over and over,\" whispered\nAgnes. \"Look up, Milly, and kiss me; our time may not be long together.\"\n\nSo Milly got up and kissed her over and over again, stroking her thin\nhand fondly.\n\nBoth remembered that they had parted in anger twelve years before, and\nMilly had said she \"would never see her, never, till her dying day!\"\n\nAh! Words too true, as words are sometimes, which we fain would not\nhave spoken!\n\n\"Will you forgive me?\" said Milly brokenly.\n\n\"And will you forgive me?\" asked Agnes. \"I know what it is to be\nforgiven myself, by Him who loved me and died for me; and since then,\nI've never ceased to seek for you that you might be happy too, whether\nfor life or death.\"\n\n\"Life!\" groaned Milly. \"That's but a hard, poor thing to me.\"\n\n\"Ah! But if you have my Saviour, it will all be different,\" whispered\nAgnes faintly. \"You'll take care of the children\u2014and there's a little\nannuity for you besides. God's been very good to me! I felt sure He\nwould send you in time.\"\n\nAnd it was in time. Before Agnes went \"Home,\" Milly had time to go back\nto London and pack up her few belongings.\n\nShe bid good-bye to her kind neighbour, and thanked her over again\nfor enabling her to travel down to see her dear sister. And then she\nreturned to the sweet country home, and nursed Agnes and settled down\nto the care of the children, which she was to undertake henceforth.\n\n\"What you have been to me,\" whispered Agnes on the last day, \"and what\nthe Lord has done for me, words cannot say. To think He should let me\n'know' that you have come to trust Him! That is worth all the rest.\"\n\n\"I am lost in wonder to think of His love,\" said Milly.\n\n\n\nHira's Quest.\n\nCHAPTER XII.\u2014\"HE CARETH FOR YOU.\"\n\nAS soon as Mary Day\u00e1l had left, R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh and his daughter began to\nthink what means they could take for helping her, for they believed in\n\"doing\" as well as \"praying.\"\n\n\"Shall I go and see my uncle,\" suggested Shushila, \"and see what he\nadvises? He knows Mark Day\u00e1l and his wife, and will know better than\nanyone else what is the best thing to do.\"\n\nR\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh quite approved, and so, accompanied by the faithful\nAnandi, Shushila started for the house of her uncle Harn\u00e1th Singh, who\nwas the pastor of the Hindust\u00e1ni Church in this city.\n\nIt did not require much argument to enlist his sympathy with Mary Day\u00e1l\nand her family, and greatly did he rejoice to hear that one of his\nflock had received such great spiritual blessing. He advised waiting a\nfew days to see whether the runaway husband would return, or send his\nwife any news of his intention. But in the meantime, he would be making\nall inquiries with regard to finding means of help.\n\nWhen Komela, Shushila's aunt, joined her husband and niece, she was\nable at once to throw some light on the subject.\n\n\"It was only yesterday,\" she said, \"that Miss Elsemere came to ask me\nif I knew of any truly Christian woman who could take charge of a small\nschool she is opening for Hindu girls. She said, 'It must be one who\nwill do this work for \"Christ's sake,\" and not merely for the sake of\na salary. I \"cannot\" ask anyone to take a share in our Lord's work who\ndoes not really love Him and wish to serve Him.'\"\n\nShushila hastened to reassure her aunt on this point, and they all\nagreed that nothing would be so likely to strengthen the faith and warm\nthe love of one who had so lately found Christ herself as to teach\nothers about Him.\n\n\"Whether her husband returns or not, it will be well for her to have\nthis work to do,\" said Harn\u00e1th Singh; \"so the best thing will be to let\nMiss Elsemere hear of her at once, then she can go and see her.\"\n\n\"I am so glad,\" said Shushila, with a beaming face; \"it seems as if\nGod knew of the need which was coming and had prepared the supply\nbeforehand. It will be a proof to Mrs. Day\u00e1l of what she may expect now\nthat she has learned to know God and trust in Him.\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed,\" answered her aunt, \"she will soon find what a difference\nit makes when we give up ourselves and all that concerns us into God's\nkeeping, and know that our heavenly Father cares for us. But now tell\nme about your little blind Hira; I have heard nothing of her for some\ndays.\"\n\n\"She is a strange child,\" answered Shushila, \"and very difficult to\nunderstand. She is at the same time 'so' naughty and 'yet' so 'good.'\"\n\n\"How do you mean?\" asked Komela.\n\n\"I mean,\" was the answer, \"that in some ways she is more naughty than\nmost children. She will not do anything unless she chooses, and as\nfor telling lies, she thinks nothing of it. But at the same time, she\nloves to hear about God and our Lord Jesus, and though she has been\nlearning such a little while, it is quite wonderful how much she knows\nand remembers. I cannot understand what has come over her to-day; she\nhas been sitting in the quietest corner of the house, and even when I\ncalled her to eat, she would not come, so I just left her alone.\"\n\n\"The more I hear of her,\" said Komela, \"the more it seems to me that\nGod Himself sent her to you, and that He has a work for you to do in\ntraining her, and then some special work for her to do. You will need\nmuch love and patience to accomplish your task, but I feel sure that it\nwill not be in vain.\"\n\n\"I just love to have her,\" said Shushila warmly, \"in spite of her\nnaughtiness. I love her dearly, and her love for me quite makes up for\nany trouble I have. Most of all, I want you to pray that she may truly\nreceive Christ into her heart, for until she does, I cannot think that\nit is right for her to be called by His name. I do not think she wants\nit either, for she seems quite to understand that there must be a great\nchange in her before she can be a Christian.\"\n\n\"Would that all knew as much as this blind child!\" said Komela\nearnestly. \"Then there would not be so many bearing Christ's name and\nyet bringing dishonour on Him.\"\n\nThe day after this conversation, as Mary Day\u00e1l was busy in her house,\nthere came a knock at her door.\n\nFor a moment, her heart beat faster; could it be that her husband had\nreturned? Quickly, she went to unfasten the chain, and then saw that\nit was not her husband, but an English lady, who was standing there\nwaiting for admittance.\n\nMary knew Miss Elsemere very well by sight, and had met her more than\nonce. But this was the first time she had come to her house.\n\nShe was at once asked in, one of the broken chairs dusted for her, and\nthen Mary waited to hear what was the cause of this unexpected visit.\n\nShe very soon felt at ease with her visitor, who spoke so kindly, and\nsympathised so warmly in her husband's absence, though she never said a\nword which implied that she knew why he had gone, or that he was in any\nway to blame.\n\nVery soon she introduced the subject which was in her mind. She was\njust about to open a school for Hindu children, and wanted someone to\ntake charge of it. Having heard of Mrs. Day\u00e1l, she had come to ask her\nabout it.\n\nFor a moment, Mary was almost too much overcome to answer. Had the\nanswer to her prayer come so quickly as this? It seemed almost too good\nto be true. Her heart was too full to say much, and if Miss Elsemere\nhad not already heard her story, especially the spiritual part, she\nmight almost have doubted whether this very silent, grave woman would\nbe a suitable teacher for bright little girls.\n\nWhen all arrangements had been made and she was just leaving, a little\nglimpse was given her into the heart of the one who, she trusted, had\nbeen chosen of God to be a fellow-worker with her in His service.\n\nWith tears in her eyes, Mary Day\u00e1l said earnestly, \"It seems to me that\nit was God Himself who put it into your heart to ask me to do this\nwork, and if so, He will help me to do it, though it may be difficult\nat first.\"\n\nMiss Elsemere pressed her hand warmly as she answered, \"We may be quite\nsure that God never gives us anything to do in our own strengths; in\nall our times of need, His word to us is, 'My grace is sufficient for\nthee.' I am sure you will find it so.\"\n\nAs soon as she was alone, Mary Day\u00e1l gave thanks for the light which\nhad shone upon her path. Glad as she was to know that her children\nwould be provided for, she was most glad to have this proof of her\nheavenly Father's care, and of His readiness to hear and answer His\nchildren's prayer.\n\nThen there came to her mind that other petition, offered at the same\ntime, that her husband might not only be brought back to her, but also\nbe made ready to meet God.\n\nIf one had been granted, then why not the other also? So with\nstrengthened faith, the wife determined that she would not grow weary,\nthough she might have to wait many days to see the desire of her heart\ngranted.\n\nBut there was something else for her to do besides pray; the prospect\nof so soon beginning to teach others about God made her realise how\nvery little she knew herself.\n\nThe Bible, which had been for many days so little read and never\nstudied, was now often in her hands, and as she sought for food to feed\nothers, she was fed herself.\n\n\"It is a perfectly 'new' book,\" she said one day to Shushila. \"I used\nto read the words, but they did not mean much to me; now it is just as\nif God Himself is speaking to me, and the words go right into my heart.\nI would rather give up anything than this book, though I have had it\nall these years, and cared little for it.\"\n\nShushila answered earnestly, \"Is not that because it contains God's\nmessage to His children? As long as we do not know Him, we do not care\nto listen, but as soon as we know our heavenly Father and love Him, we\nlisten to hear what He will say to us.\"\n\n\"If only I had known all this before!\" said Mary with a sigh. \"What a\ndifference it would have made to my life! Now I feel that it has been\nwasted and spoiled.\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed,\" answered Shushila, \"you have missed what alone makes our\nlives worth living. But do not be too sad; now you have given your life\nto God, He will make it new again according to His will; and after all,\n'this' life is only just beginning\u2014our real, perfect life we shall live\nwith God.\"\n\nThat evening, the three younger children had gone to sleep, Mary was\nreading, and Reuben preparing his lessons for the next day.\n\nSuddenly the boy looked up from his books. \"Mother, tell me what it\nall means. Why has my father gone away like this? And why do you read\nso much and seem so different? It seems to me as if something has\nhappened, and yet I do not know what.\"\n\nMary smiled at her boy's perplexity as she answered, \"Yes, something\nvery wonderful has happened, Reuben, but I do not know whether you will\nunderstand if I tell you.\"\n\n\"Why, mother, of course I will; you forget how old I am,\" said the boy\nwith an air of importance; \"please tell me.\"\n\nThen the mother answered, \"Reuben, this is what has happened: I have\nbeen trying to live my life without God, but lately my heart became so\nhungry that I could not stay away from Him any longer. The Lord Jesus\nhas put away my sin and so brought me to God.\"\n\nThe boy looked surprised, for he had not expected such an answer. It\nseemed so strange to hear of heavenly things from the lips of one who\nhad always been so taken up with the things of earth.\n\nHe had himself learnt much in school, but his mother was the last\nperson to whom he would have thought of speaking of what was in his\nheart. His class in Sunday-school had at one time been taught by\nthe pastor's son, Harn\u00e1m Singh, and young though he was, he had not\nforgotten his teacher's earnest words; and this fact remained clearly\nimpressed on his mind, that to belong to Christ and serve Him was the\ngreatest honour to which anyone could attain.\n\nWhen the teacher had had to be separated from his class, he had given\nto each of the boys a card, on which was printed the words, \"If any man\nwill serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My\nservant be.\"\n\nThis card Reuben kept among his special treasures, and as often as he\nlooked at it, he would say to himself, \"When I am a man, I am going to\nserve Christ.\"\n\nHe had not yet learnt that \"any man\" means anyone, even a boy of ten\nyears old. He felt glad as he listened to his mother's words, and after\na while, said thoughtfully, \"It will not matter so much that my father\nhas gone away if God has come; He will take care of us.\"\n\nThe mother then told her son how that care had already been shown, but\nshe added, \"Although God is with us and caring for us, yet we must ask\nHim to bring your father back, for we want him too.\"\n\nAlready the faithful wife had forgotten all her husband's failings, and\nonly longed for his return.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nThe Alms-house Inmates.\n\nCHRISTMAS EVE was terribly cold, the snow fell fast, and the wind\nhowled round the alms-houses, making the inmates shiver and draw nearer\nto their firesides. In the first house lived old Mrs. Lunn, or Beckie\nas she was commonly called, and when the wind blew more fiercely, she\nspread her old wrinkled hands to the blaze and said reverently,\u2014\n\n   \"I thank Thee, Lord, for all my comforts. Here I have a home and fire\nand many kind friends, while there are others who are hungry and alone.\n\n\"I wonder,\" added the old woman, \"how Nancy is next door; she'll\nfeel the cold terribly, and she always is in pain, so she can't help\ngrumbling a wee bit.\"\n\nNancy was lying on her bed in the next house, while every bone in her\nold worn-out body ached. Yet when the bells rang out over the snow, she\ncrossed her hands and whispered,\u2014\n\n   \"Let me be in heaven next year, dear Lord, and free from pain.\"\n\nIn number three lived Mrs. Peck, a little, nimble, bright old lady, who\nhopped about on one leg, as bright as a button.\n\n\"To-morrow is Christmas Day,\" she said. \"Well, we'll all get something\nwarm from the Squire's lady for sure; may mine be a petticoat, which I\nneed sorely, then I'll be very thankful.\"\n\nAway at the end of the row, and opposite to the men's houses, a couch\nwas drawn to the window, and a frail, delicate woman gasped her life\naway.\n\n   \"On Christmas Day\u2014to meet them all again! Oh, I am ready, dear Lord,\nquite ready.\"\n\nAnd when the Squire's lady bent over and whispered, \"Mary, can you\nhear me?\" the dying woman murmured, \"Yes, the angels with their harps\nringing over the snow.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen Christmas Day dawned, all the earth was white and beautiful. The\nold alms people, men and women, walked up to the Manor House, when each\none received a present.\n\n\"There is one parcel over, ma'am,\" said the maid, when all the old\nfolks had departed.\n\n\"Ah! Yes,\" replied the lady; \"that was for Mary, but she needs no\npresent now, her eyes have seen the King.\"\n\nBy Beckie's fireside sat Nancy, wrapped up warm and comfortable in a\nnew Scotch plaid, and Mrs. Peck was there also, holding her petticoat\nunder her arm.\n\n\"It's a wonderful thing, is prayer,\" she was saying. \"I just asked God\nto let the Squire's lady give it me, and sure enough, I have it\u2014you\nsee.\"\n\n\n\nThe Hill above Nazareth.\n\nLOOK at those angry men! You ask, \"Whom are they angry with, and what\nhas he done?\"\n\nThat is the dear Lord Jesus.\n\nNow I will try to tell you why the Jews were angry with Him, and what\nthey wanted to do to Him that day.\n\nJesus had been baptised in Jordan, and had been led by the Holy Spirit\ninto the wilderness to be tempted by Satan for more than a month.\n\nSo you see Jesus knows what temptations mean, and He can feel for us.\n\nWell, when Satan had finished all the temptations, Jesus came back to\nNazareth, the town where He had been brought up, and when the Sabbath\nday came, He went, as He usually did, to the synagogue to worship God.\n\nHe stood up to read the Bible to the Jews, and then He explained to\nthem how God had sent Him to be the Messiah they were looking for, and\nhow He would bind up broken hearts and make all sorrowful people joyful.\n\nThe Jews listened to Him with great wonder, and some of them could\nnot believe that one who had been brought up in their own town could\npossibly be the Christ.\n\nThen the Lord told them that strangers and Gentiles would believe on\nHim, if the Jews would not; and after that, they grew very angry and\ntook hold of Him, and thrust Him out of the synagogue and led Him up to\nthe brow of the hill on which the town was built, that they might cast\nHim down from there.\n\nHow sad that they should want to kill the blessed Lord, who had just\ntold them that He would be their Saviour and their Messiah!\n\nYou notice in the picture that Jesus did not resist them or seem angry\nwith their cruelty. He was ever patient and loving.\n\nThe Bible does not say \"how\" He escaped out of their hands. It says:\n\"But He, passing through the midst of them, went His way, and came\ndown to Capernaum,\" and began healing the sick and doing kind things\ndirectly to those who needed His help.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nVery soon, people began saying all round the country what wonderful\nthings He did.\n\nOne day, He entered into Simon Peter's house, and there He found the\nmother of Peter's wife very ill with a bad fever. They had all seen\nthe wonderful things that Jesus could do, so they begged Him to heal\nher. So Jesus told the fever to leave her, and she felt quite well all\nat once, and got up and waited on the Lord Jesus, and did her work as\nusual.\n\nSoon the heat of the day began to subside, and all the people who had\nsick people in their houses brought them to Jesus, and the dear loving\nSaviour laid His hands on every one of them and healed them all.\n\nLet us, like those people at Capernaum, bring all our troubles and\nsorrows to Jesus; let us kneel down and tell Him what we want most, and\nbelieve that He is able and willing to help us, and we shall know that\nHe draws near to us and gives us the blessing which we most need.\n\n\n\nThe Stay of the Family.\n\n\"THE 'Doris' is to proceed to the Cape, Nellie, at once!\"\n\n\"'What,' mother?\"\n\n\"To the Cape at once!\" repeated her mother slowly.\n\n\"Oh, mother! I thought Jim was going to cruise about in the Channel.\"\n\nShe bent over to see the words for herself, and her pretty placid\ncountenance fell. The world would be changed for her if brother Jim\nwere gone out of their life.\n\nHitherto he had been the one to see after their mother since father's\ndeath. His advice had been what had been acted on, his loving wishes\nhad ruled the little home.\n\n[Illustration: \"The 'Doris' is to proceed to the Cape, Nellie, at\nonce!\"]\n\nNellie drew her fallen work back to her lap, but there was no more\ncheerful gossip with her mother, no more remarks as to what Molly and\nPollie were learning at school, and how George was getting on at his\nnew place\u2014instead came down over her a blank feeling of dismay. Who\nwould take the responsibility of the home if Jim were gone?\n\nThen her thoughts went back to what she had been thinking of and\npraying about lately\u2014how she could be more of a comfort to her invalid\nmother. Was this the opportunity come which she had longed for? But how\ndifferent from anything she had planned!\n\nThen she looked up and put her hand gently on her mother's arm.\n\n\"We shall all try to take care of you when brother is gone,\" she\nfaltered with quivering lips. \"I hoped he'd have come backwards and\nforwards as he had been doing; but if he goes\u2014\" Nellie knelt down\nhastily by her mother's side and put her head on her shoulder with an\nunwonted caress\u2014\"If he goes, there's always Jesus left,\" she whispered,\n\"and He will never leave us and never forsake us, mother.\"\n\nAnd while Jim was at the war, that was how Nellie became the stay of\nthe family.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\u2014HIRA'S QUEST ENDED.\n\nWHILE Mary Day\u00e1l was rejoicing in her newly found peace and happiness,\nHira's heart was daily growing sadder. At the time Mary told her that\nif she listened, she would hear the voice of the Lord Jesus speaking\nto her, she made up her mind that she would begin to listen with all\nher might. If she could not \"see,\" at least she could hear, better than\nmost.\n\nSo she crept away to the quietest corner she could find, and after\nsaying,\u2014\n\n   \"Please, Lord Jesus, speak to me\u2014\"\n\nsat still and waited for the answer. But though she waited long and\nrefused to eat food, which she was always so ready for, or to sit by\nher dear sister Shushila, yet hour after hour passed, and still no\nvoice came.\n\nAgain and again she cried,\u2014\n\n   \"Please, Lord Jesus, speak to me like you did to Rose's mother.\"\n\nBut there was no answer.\n\nThen she began to grow angry. She had been deceived by everybody; there\nwas no Jesus Christ at all. How could anyone know if they had never\nseen Him? It must be a lie to say anyone had heard His voice. If He\nwere alive and close by her, as Shushila said, why did He not give her\neyes, or at least answer her when she spoke to Him?\n\nSo she groped her way to where Shushila was sitting, and before her new\nsister knew that she was anywhere near, she was suddenly aroused by\nhearing an indignant voice say, \"It is very wicked of you all to tell\nlies to a poor little blind girl who cannot see for herself. It is not\ntrue that Jesus Christ is alive; I do not believe He ever was. He does\nnot make blind people see, and He does not speak so that we can hear\nHis voice. I have been listening and listening, but no voice came.\n\n\"I am not going to get ready to meet God, because there is no one to\nmake me ready. I will just go on being as naughty as I want to be, and\nif you do not like to have a naughty girl to live with you, I will go\nand beg. That is what my aunt always told me to do.\"\n\nShushila listened with astonishment to this outburst of childish wrath.\nBut by the time it was over, the child, who was trembling with anger\nand excitement, felt two loving arms round her, and she was gently led\nto a seat.\n\nShushila did not speak at once, for it required some thought and prayer\nto know what to say. But she tenderly soothed and calmed the child she\nheld so closely to her.\n\nPresently she said, \"Little sister, do you remember the night you came\nhere? How you sat on the doorstep in the dark and storm, trembling with\nfear of the thunder and lightning? Then I came to you, and though you\ncould not see me, nor hear my voice, yet you let me lift you in my arms\nand bring you into the house. You trusted me, even though you could\nneither hear nor see me.\n\n\"You are afraid now, not of storm and tempest, but of meeting God. You\nare afraid of your own heart, which is so full of all kinds of sin and\nnaughtiness; and just as I lifted you in my arms and saved you from the\nrain and storm, so the Lord Jesus will surely save you from the fear\nand sin which are troubling you so much. Cannot you 'trust' Him, even\nthough you cannot see or hear Him, just as you trusted me that night?\nIt will grieve Him so if you do not, and He has loved us so dearly.\"\n\n\"But Rose's mother said she heard His voice,\" said Hira in a subdued\ntone.\n\n\"Yes, dear, so will you some day, just as you hear my voice every day,\nnow you are in the house beside me and there is no noise of rain and\nstorm. But you did not hear it when you were sitting outside on the\ndoorstep, and did not know who was speaking to you.\"\n\n\"I think I will go away again,\" said Hira.\n\nAnd as Shushila unclasped her arms, she groped her way back to her old\nplace.\n\nThen she knelt down as Shushila had taught her, and said,\u2014\n\n   \"Lord Jesus, I want to see you very much, but I am blind, and I want\nto hear your voice, but you do not speak to me; but most of all, I want\nto be ready to meet God, and to be made good, because I am so bad.\nShushila says you are quite sure to do this, even though you do not\ngive me eyes, or speak to me in a loud voice, because she says you love\nus so. Please, Lord Jesus, here I am.\"\n\nThen into the dark, sinful heart of the blind girl, a light shone\u2014the\nlight of the divine love poured out in death on the cross for the very\nweakest and most unworthy.\n\nAs of old, the Son of God took the children in His arms and blessed\nthem, so, as the risen and exalted Son of God, He drew the blind child\nto Himself, and Hira's quest was ended as she found the Saviour.\n\nIn the distance, she heard Shushila softly singing\u2014\n\n   \"Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved,\n      And we must love Him too,\n    And trust in His redeeming blood,\n      And try His works to do.\"\n\nAnd as she listened, she knew what Mary Day\u00e1l meant when she said she\nheard the Lord Jesus speak to her.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nTWENTY TIMES.\n\n\"COME near, Lizzie, and hear what I have to say!\"\n\n\"I can hear!\" called Lizzie at the top of her voice.\n\nAnd the hens clucked, and the little kid \"baa'd,\" and Snap barked, but\nLizzie came no nearer. She tossed the corn to the fowls, and took no\nfurther notice of her mother waiting there.\n\n\"Lizzie!\" called her mother, coming out of the doorway. \"Lizzie, come\nat once!\"\n\n\"What is it?\" asked Lizzie very coolly.\n\nHer mother advanced out into the sunshine and came slowly up to\nher. \"Lizzie, you grieve me very much. I like you to play and enjoy\nyourself, but when it comes to not attending when I call you\u2014\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe took the basket out of the little girl's hand, and led her gently\ninto the house.\n\n\"What are you going to do with me?\" asked Lizzie, raising her blue eyes\nwonderingly.\n\n\"I'm going to make you remember.\"\n\n\"But I haven't finished feeding the fowls.\"\n\nNo answer.\n\n\"Mother!\"\n\nNo answer.\n\n\"Can't I put the little kid away?\"\n\nHer mother was getting out pencil and paper, which she laid on the\ntable in front of the little girl. And then she drew a chair forward\nand put her gently into it.\n\nLizzie was awed by these proceedings. She was conscious that lately she\nhad been taking advantage of her mother's frail health to do as she\nchose.\n\nHer mother's thin fingers were tracing some words in large writing\nacross one of the sheets of her copy-book, which, to Lizzie's\nastonishment, she had torn out for the purpose.\n\nTorn out a leaf of her copy-book! The occasion must indeed be great.\nThen five words stood before her in rather trembling, but plain,\nround-hand\u2014\n\n\"I must obey my mother.\"\n\n\"Write that twenty times before you move, Lizzie,\" said mother, \"and\nwhen it is done, come up and show it to me.\"\n\nSlowly she left the room, and Lizzie saw her going out to shut up the\ngoat, and then watched her stoop and pick up the puppy and put him in\nhis kennel. Fancy mother doing that!\n\n\"Twenty times!\" How \"could\" she write all that? was her next thought.\n\nAt first, she decided she would not even try to do it. Then she heard\nher mother come back through the scullery and go up the stairs very\nwearily.\n\nLizzie's heart smote her. She remembered with dismay all those thoughts\nof independence and restiveness which she had been cherishing.\n\nThe sounds ceased, and perfect silence reigned. What was mother doing?\nBut she might not go to see till the twenty lines were done!\n\nTears filled the blue eyes at last.\n\n\"Oh, mother, mother,\" she sobbed, \"I do love you! Come down and kiss\nme!\"\n\nPerhaps her sobs were heard; there was a little movement above, and\npresently the face Lizzie loved best in the world was close to hers,\nand two arms were about her, and mother was whispering words of\nforgiveness and \"beginning again!\"\n\n\"Lizzie,\" she said, \"if I were to let you go on being self-willed, what\nan unhappy girl you would grow up, and how wrong it would be of me! I\nlove you too well, my darling.\"\n\nAnd Lizzie wrote those twenty lines with dimmed eyes. But she did\n\"begin again\" in good earnest, and turned out to be mother's greatest\ncomfort.\n\n\n\nHINDERED.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"I DON'T believe I shall ever learn it!\" Hugh thought hopelessly. \"It's\njust one of those lessons that 'won't' get into your head.\"\n\n\"I say,\" began his next door neighbour, in a whisper, \"did you see my\nkite go up last night?\"\n\n\"Oh, bother!\" exclaimed Hugh. \"I'd almost got a line, and now I've lost\nit!\"\n\n\"No, but did you?\" persisted his neighbour.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHugh frowned, and put his fingers in his ears. Harry was always trying\nto distract him, and the consequence was, down he went in his class.\n\nNo, the lesson would not get learned. Instead of the tiresome lines of\npoetry, which he hated, came a string of thoughts like these:\u2014\n\n\"Harry does it on purpose; of course, Harry is clever, he can carry\nanything before him. My master always sets me the hardest pieces he can\nfind! I've had a headache all the morning, and Harry always bothers\nmore when he sees I've got a headache.\"\n\nThe preparation hour was over, and Hugh put his books into his satchel\nwith a hopeless feeling that if he had conquered that tiresome poetry,\nhe would have been able to fly \"his\" kite that evening. But now it was\nquite useless: there would be such a chatter at home, that with his\nheadache, he would never do it!\n\nSo he entered the dining-room at home with clouded brow and heavy\nheart. His eyes fell on his little invalid sister, lying on her pillow\nin the corner.\n\nShe saw in a moment that something had gone wrong, and beckoned him to\nher side.\n\n\"Put my pillow straight, Hughie!\" she said, gently.\n\nHe bent to do it, and then kissed the little white face.\n\n\"Has it been so tiresome?\" she asked wistfully.\n\n\"The old story!\" he said, bitterly. \"Headache and stupidity. It's no\nuse, Angel!\"\n\n\"There's another 'old story' besides that one,\" she whispered, with a\nslight nod of her little head.\n\nHe shook his, as much as to say he was willing to be comforted, but\u2014\n\nYes, she understood that, but it did not daunt her. She stroked his\nboyish hand with her thin fingers, and went on softly\u2014\"A lesson I had\nto learn seemed very hard this morning\u2014\"\n\nHe looked at her suddenly. Angel learning a lesson?\n\nBut she went on\u2014\"And I felt I could not! And then\u2014then I remembered to\ntell Jesus about it, and He said, 'I'll help you, Angel; I've set it,\nand I won't let it be too hard!'\"\n\nHer eyes were full of tears, and his watered in sympathy.\n\n\"And then?\" he asked.\n\n\"Then I felt I could go on learning it\u2014if 'He' had set it!\"\n\nHe squeezed her hand, thinking\u2014how could he put Harry and his headache\ninto one of the lessons Jesus was teaching? Then he raised his head.\n\n\"I see,\" he said, more brightly. \"Angel, after tea, may I come and read\nmy poetry over to you, line by line!\"\n\nAnd then the rest came rushing in, but the little comforter had had her\nchance\u2014and had taken it!\n\n\n\n[Illustration: A Schoolboy's Message.\n \"Oh, has it?\" asked Tommy, looking up surprised.]\n\nTHE FIRST DAY.\n\n\"WELL, Tommy, where are you off to?\"\n\n\"To 'school!'\" said Tommy impressively, with surprise in his tone. He\nthought everyone knew that this was his first day at school, and that\nhe had in his pocket a bright penny which grandfather had given him in\nhonour of the day.\n\n\"Oh, I see!\" said the big boy, smiling down upon him and taking his\nhand. \"So you have a new suit and a new slate. How kind your mother is!\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Tommy, as if that were a very ordinary affair, \"and\ngrandfather has given me this,\" letting the penny peep out of his\npocket just a little bit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh!\" said the big boy. \"Someone else kind too, eh?\"\n\n\"Grandfather's going away by train to the country to-day,\" pursued\nthe child; \"he's going to where 'he' was a little boy, and lived at\na windmill, and went to school, like me, and he said he should be\nthinking about me all day!\"\n\n\"I'm not as old as grandfather,\" said the big boy, \"and so it's no\nwonder that I remember the first day 'I' went to school, is it? And\nyou know I had no kind mother like you have, Tommy, and it was 'your'\ngrandfather that gave me a kind word as I went past his cottage, that's\ndone the good ever since.\"\n\n\"Oh! Has it?\" asked Tommy, looking up surprised.\n\n\"Yes. He told me to remember that the Lord Jesus was close to me all\nthe time, and would be better to me in everything than even father and\nmother! I've never forgotten it\u2014never!\"\n\nThey hurried along hand in hand, the little boy skipping over the\nground with eagerness; while the big boy, who was a true missionary at\nheart, wondered if the tiny seed he had tried to sow would bear fruit\nsome day.\n\nBut he remembered that we have to sow in faith, like Tommy's\ngrandfather did in his case; so he ran along by the little boy,\nbrightly planning to meet him after school to hear how he had got on.\n\nTommy never did forget that kind little word, and often when he would\nhave been over-pressed by difficulty, or evil, he suddenly thought,\n\"The Lord Jesus is close to me!\" and took courage.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\u2014BELIEVING AND CONFESSING.\n\nALTHOUGH Hira fully made up her mind that henceforth she was going to\n\"try His works to do\" who had so loved her, yet she found it was not\nalways easy to leave off doing those very different works which she had\nbeen doing all her life.\n\nIt was not easy always to ask, \"What would the Lord Jesus like me to\ndo?\" for one who had been accustomed to ask, \"What would 'I' like to\ndo?\"\n\nShushila looked on and prayed much as she saw daily battles being\nfought, in which her little charge was sometimes defeated and sometimes\nvictorious.\n\nShe understood that every contest was a clear proof that a new\nprinciple had been introduced into the child's life which was trying to\nsubdue the old one.\n\nThere could be no doubt that, though still weak and faulty, Hira was\nreally a new child in Christ Jesus.\n\nShushila began to wonder how she could best explain to the little girl\nthe next step to be taken, so as to make her baptism a very real and\nlasting blessing to her.\n\nSo one day she read to her the story of the woman who touched the hem\nof Christ's garment and was made whole. And as she finished, she asked,\n\"Hira, why do you think the Lord Jesus asked who it was who had touched\nHim? Because He must have known.\"\n\nHira considered a minute, and then she said, \"Perhaps it was because\nHe wanted her to say 'Thank you,' just like you teach me to say 'Thank\nyou' when you give me anything.\"\n\nShushila smiled as she answered, \"Yes, I think that was one reason, and\nbesides that, I think He wanted her to let all those other people know\nhow good He had been to her. When we were in church to-day, I thought\nthat perhaps if the Lord Jesus had been there, as He was that day, He\nmight have asked, 'Where is that little girl whom I have made ready to\nmeet God?'\"\n\n\"But, sister, if He had, I would have said directly, 'Here I am.'\"\n\nThen Shushila explained how the Lord Jesus had appointed a way by which\nHis followers could confess Him before men, and let it be known that\nthey belong to Him.\n\nHira listened gladly, then she said, \"I am so glad, because I would not\nlike anyone to think that I am a little heathen girl when I am not, and\nreally belong to the Lord Jesus. Please let me be baptised very soon.\"\n\nShushila did not answer at once, then she said, \"Hira, I want very\nmuch that you should be, but supposing after you have been called by\nthe name of Christ and received into His Church you tell lies and get\ninto those naughty tempers, those who see you will say, 'Is that what\nChristians do? Hira is no better than heathen girls'; and so the name\nof our Lord Jesus will be dishonoured.\"\n\nThe little girl looked very sad and grave, then she said, \"Sister, do\nlet me be baptised, and I will ask the Lord Jesus to put His hand on my\nlips so that the lies will not be able to come out, and another on my\nheart to keep the naughty tempers away.\"\n\n\"Yes, Hira,\" was the answer, \"He surely will if you trust Him, for that\nis just what He came down from heaven and gave His life on the cross\nfor. You have learnt that verse, 'Thou shalt call His name Jesus: for\nHe shall save His people from their sins.' You are one of His people,\nand these are your two special sins, so I am sure He will save you from\nthem; it is just what He came to do.\"\n\nHira gave a little sigh as she said, \"I wish I could be cured like that\nleper was you told me about, his leprosy went away all at once. I wish\nmy naughtiness would go like that.\"\n\nShushila could not help sympathising with the child's wish. \"Do not you\nthink, little sister,\" she asked, \"that if you want to tell a lie, or\nto be angry, and you do not because you want to please the Lord Jesus,\nthat is one way of showing that you love him, and that He is really\nable to save you? Those who are in no danger do not need to be saved,\ndo they? You are going to be made a soldier of the Lord Jesus, and\nsoldiers always have to fight.\"\n\n\"But you do not have to fight,\" said Hira.\n\nShushila smiled. \"Yes, indeed I do,\" she answered; \"sometimes I have to\nfight very hard not to be impatient with a little girl who will not do\nas she is told.\"\n\nAt this point someone came in, and so the conversation ended.\n\nA few Sundays later, Hira had her wish and was baptised. It was a day\nnever to be forgotten in her experience, for it was the \"visible\" line\nwhich separated the old life from the new, darkness from light.\n\nBesides R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh and his daughter, there were two others among\nthose who were present who watched the ceremony with strong feelings of\ninterest.\n\nOf these, one was Mary Day\u00e1l, who had been much interested in the blind\nchild ever since she came into their midst.\n\nAs she saw her openly confessing her faith in the Lord Jesus, and being\nreceived into His church, there was some regret mixed with her joy. She\nthought to herself, \"Hira is a precious jewel which the Lord gave 'me'\nthe opportunity of seeking and finding for Him, but I was unfitted for\nthe work, and so He has given the honour to another.\"\n\nAs she thought of this, she determined that she would with all her\nheart seek for other jewels which should adorn her Master's crown.\n\nThe other spectator was of a very different appearance, and had very\ndifferent feelings. Soon after the service began, there crept into the\nchurch a poor woman, who looked as if she was little accustomed to\nenter such places. Without looking for a seat, she sat down in a corner\non the ground. No one noticed her except those who were sitting close\nby, and while the last prayer was being read, she got up and went out.\nThen Mary Day\u00e1l saw her and recognised Sukhiya.\n\nHer fears had been to some extent realised. It was quite true that\nHira, in the days of her comfort and prosperity, did not feel the need\nof her old friend as she had done when she was her only friend.\n\nThis was quite as much the woman's fault as the child's; for, partly\nbecause she thought she was no longer needed, and partly because she\nfeared to let it be seen on what familiar terms she had been with\nthe blind girl, she kept out of her way, and except when she came\noccasionally to sell her milk and butter, Hira saw nothing of her.\n\nStill, it had occurred to her that she would like her old friend to be\npresent at her baptism, and so she had begged her to come.\n\nSukhiya had promised, and that is why she was there; but to her, it\nwas a time almost as sad as when her last child died. It was the final\nsevering of the link which had bound her to the child who had filled\nthe empty place in her heart, and been the one bright spot in her sad\nlife.\n\nNow Hira was a Christian, and to Sukhiya's mind that meant that\nhenceforth she lived in another world to her own.\n\nIt was very true that every time the child had had an opportunity she\nhad pleaded with her, \"Sukhiya, do believe on the Lord Jesus, and let\nHim make you ready to go to heaven, for I do want you to come too.\"\n\nBut she had always shaken her head and said, \"Child, I am too old\nand stupid to understand these new things. All my sense has gone in\nweeping. I will go on selling butter and milk a little longer, and then\nmy days will end.\"\n\nHira grieved over the indifference of her old friend, for one of the\nfirst lessons taught her was that, having come to Christ herself, she\nshould now seek to bring others; and who so likely to be the first as\nthe one who had done so much for her in the darkest days of her life?\n\nAfter leaving the church, Sukhiya went to her home, and that day no\nfood was cooked, and no milk and butter sold, for the poor woman cared\nnothing for those things.\n\nAll that day she sat and wept. The next, she went out with her basket\nas usual, and her husband found his food cooked, and from that time,\nall went on as before, only that Sukhiya never talked of the blind\nchild, and went to see her even less frequently than before.\n\nThere had been some discussion as to whether Hira's name should be\nchanged at her baptism. It was Harn\u00e1th Singh's custom to let each\nconvert choose for himself or herself, and child though she was, Hira\nwas quite capable of knowing her own mind.\n\nWhen she was told what was the meaning of her name, she said, \"Then,\nplease, let me keep it always, for I like to be a jewel belonging to\nthe Lord Jesus; and some day, He will make me as shining and beautiful\nas a real diamond.\"\n\nSo Hira she remained.\n\n\n\nA LIGHTENED LOAD.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\"IT'S so fearfully cold to-day, Mary! I do not seem to be able to get a\nbit of warmth!\"\n\nMary looked at the fire, warm still, but dying down on the hearth. How\nfast the wood did die down, she thought, with a sigh. How many little\nthings there were to do even to keep moderate comfort round her mother.\n\n\"I'll get some more wood, mother,\" she said patiently.\n\n\"Yes, do,\" said the invalid, not thinking much of the tired legs of her\nlittle nurse, nor noticing the pale cheeks which lately had grown so\nthin.\n\nMary put away the cups she had been washing, and took off her apron.\n\n\"Is there any wood outside?\" asked her mother.\n\n\"Only a stick or two,\" said Mary. \"It does burn away so fast!\"\n\n\"I wish there were, I'm that cold, Mary! Be quick, child, and get some,\nwill you?\"\n\nShe cowered over the red embers, and Mary, thus urged, put on her hat\nand went out into the November mist.\n\nShe would not have disliked this if her legs had not ached so much, and\nif she had not felt so faint and hungry. She had been cleaning up all\nthe morning; and then she had cooked mother's gruel. But the invalid\nhad never asked her if she had had anything to eat.\n\nPoor little Mary!\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe took a piece of cord in her hand and slowly left the cottage door.\nShe knew she would have a good way to go, for she and her mother,\nbefore she became ill, had picked up every scrap of wood that they\ncould find near the house.\n\n\"I wish mother would get into bed; she would not feel the cold there,\"\nshe thought, and then she ran back to suggest this.\n\n\"Oh, no, any dear; I'd a deal rather sit by the fire,\" said the\ninvalid. \"Only you be quick with the wood.\"\n\nThus bidden, Mary started once more. She walked and ran, walked and\nran, till she had reached a spot in the forest where the wood began to\nlie about, and there she halted out of breath.\n\nThe autumn grass was strewn with leaves and bits of the branches\nblown off by the wind; and instead of gathering them up eagerly and\nreturning, the little burdened girl sat down on the damp leaves and hid\nher face in her hands.\n\nIt was so hard\u2014so hard! And she was so tired, and mother only thought\nof how bad she felt herself, and never guessed how tired and dispirited\nlittle Mary was.\n\nWas there no help? Had she only to wipe away her tears and get up and\ngo on again?\n\nMary sobbed hopelessly for a few minutes, and then a thought came over\nher, which, to her surprise, brought a sense of relief and comfort. How\ncould it be? She was as hungry, as tired, as hopeless as before, and\nyet\u2014\n\nThe words were, \"Jesus wept.\"\n\nShe had a tiny text-book given her when for a few months she had lived\nin the town and had gone to Sunday-school, which contained a selection\nof the shortest texts in the Bible. Mary had promised her teacher she\nwould read it, and occasionally she glanced in it to keep her word.\n\nTo-day, her eyes had lighted upon those two short words, and she had\nwondered, and closed the book.\n\nNow they came over her with a sense of sweetness.\n\n\"Jesus wept\"? That meant then that when He was on earth, He had been\nsorrowful like her! Was He? That was a nice thought, because then He\nwould know something of how sad and lonely she felt.\n\n\"Jesus wept\"! Then He felt for her, she was sure He did; for she\nremembered her teacher had told her that the Saviour knew all that was\npassing on this earth, even though He is in heaven.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMary sat very still, while she thought of all this; and as she thought\nof it, she felt, without knowing how, that she had had an interview\nwith the King of Glory, and that earth was a changed place.\n\nThen her eyes fell upon the scattered wood, and she quickly gathered a\nlarge bundle, tied it together, and set off homewards.\n\nShe had not taken many steps before she heard a voice, and turned to\nfind a neighbour calling to her to stop.\n\n\"Mary, I'll help you along with that bundle. Why, see, child, it's all\ncoming undone! Lucky for you I overtook you. Why, child, what a pale\nface you have! I guess you've thought a goodish bit more of your mother\nthan you have of yourself by the looks of you! I'll help you home with\nthat wood.\"\n\n                       \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\u2014CHANGED.\n\nSO, helped by the kind neighbour, Mary brought the wood into the shed,\nand, carrying a few sticks in her hand, she entered the cottage once\nmore.\n\nHad a change come over her own heart only, or was there something\ndifferent in her mother's too?\n\nWas it only the unexpected bright blaze of the firelight that made\nMary's blue eyes shine?\n\n\"See, Mary! Dick brought home this wood all of his own accord, and I've\ngot nice and warm; and I've made a cup of tea ready against you came\nin. Why, child, how pale you look!\"\n\nMary's blue eyes, which had been shining in the firelight, were shining\nin tears now, the solicitude was so unexpected\u2014and so sweet.\n\n\"Thank you, mother,\" she said gratefully; \"but where is Dick?\"\n\n\"Dick's gone out again to fetch in some more. Come right along and have\na cup of this steaming tea. It will put some life into you, child!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMary took the tea, and stood by the fire warming herself and looking\ndown on her mother.\n\n\"Are you better, then, mother?\" she asked quietly.\n\n\"I don't know as I am, my dear. But while you were out in the forest,\nand I sat thinkin' by those few embers, I kind of dreamed that I heard\nsomeone a-knockin' at the door. It was different from our neighbour's\nknock, and somehow I knew it wasn't her; and I sez, 'Come in, Lord,'\nafore I thought as this ain't no place to ask Him into.\"\n\nMary looked up startled, while her mother went on\u2014\n\n\"And He said some words like these, which it seems to me as I've heard\nlong ago, 'Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My\nvoice, and open the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with\nMe.\"\n\n\"How nice!\" whispered Mary. Had her mother seen a vision of Jesus too?\nThat Saviour who wept with the sorrowful, would He come in and sup with\nthose who welcomed Him?\n\nShe bent and kissed her mother's forehead.\n\n\"So I seemed to wake from my dream, and I said, 'Lord Jesus, if you are\nknocking at my heart, I'm willing.'\"\n\nMary's eyes shone again.\n\n\"I have not thought of these things as much as I ought,\" she went on\nmusingly, \"but there was a time when I did. Perhaps this illness, Mary,\nhas been sent to lead me back to Him. If so, I'm glad on it!\"\n\nThat night when Mary went to bed, she knelt down in the moonlight and\nlooked up to her pitiful Saviour, and thanked Him for letting her feel\nHis sympathy, and for bearing her through so wonderfully.\n\nWhen she came down the next morning, Dick had already lighted the fire\nand set on the kettle.\n\n\"Why, Dick!\" she exclaimed.\n\n\"Do you like it?\" smiled her brother.\n\n\"Oh, Dick, you can't think how a little thing is a help. Thank you so\nmuch.\"\n\nSo they set about getting the breakfast together, and it took half the\ntime, of course, to Mary's great satisfaction.\n\nThey did all very quietly so as not to wake their mother in the next\nroom. And when they sat down, Mary whispered, \"Do you know, Dick, who\nit was, I think, that told you to help me?\"\n\nDick shook his head. \"Nobody did,\" he said, stuffing a piece of bread\ninto his mouth.\n\n\"Ah, but I know better,\" said Mary, smiling; \"and, Dick, I like to tell\nyou, because He'll help you too\u2014it was Jesus our Saviour, Dick!\"\n\n\n\nIN THE PRISON.\n\nYOU have most of you heard the story of Joseph: how his jealous\nbrothers sold him for a slave, and how he was carried away from his\nloving father to a country, a long way off, called Egypt.\n\nYes, you smile and say you have heard all about Joseph: how God was\nwith him and made him ruler over the land, and how his father and his\nbrothers all came down to Egypt, and how he forgave his brothers and\ngave them nice fields for their flocks, and made them as happy as ever\nhe could.\n\nBut there is one thing which I wonder whether you have ever heard about\nJoseph.\n\nYou ask what that can be, because you have read the history in Genesis\nso many times.\n\nThis picture tells you what it is.\n\nIn the 105th Psalm and the 17th and 18th verses we read: \"He sent a man\nbefore them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: whose feet they\nhurt with fetters: he was laid in iron.\"\n\nNow, I think this verse is a great comfort to people who are in any\ntrouble.\n\nPerhaps you ask\u2014Why? Because it tells me that though it was hundreds of\nyears after when God told David to write that psalm, yet \"God\" had not\nforgotten that His faithful Joseph had been laid in iron and had his\nfeet hurt with fetters.\n\nSo it seems to me that there are numbers of places in the Bible which\nshow us that God is watching over us all at all times; that whether our\ntroubles are very great or very small, He notices them, and remembers\nthem, and sends us deliverance out of them.\n\nJoseph was cast into prison and bound by his angry master, though he\nhad done nothing wrong, yet God soon delivered him from the chains and\nfetters.\n\nWe read that the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and made\nthe keeper of the prison kind to Joseph, so that he began to trust him\nand gave him charge of the other prisoners, and whatever Joseph thought\nbest to be done, they did.\n\nJoseph was in the prison for quite two years, but God was watching over\nhim, and at the end of that time caused Pharaoh the king to have a\nwonderful dream; and he sent for Joseph to explain it to him.\n\nPerhaps you remember how Joseph had told Pharaoh's butler and baker the\nmeanings of their dreams when they were in the prison with him? At any\nrate, when Pharaoh had his dream, the chief butler suddenly remembered\nhow he had promised when he was set free to speak to the king about\nJoseph.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo he asked Pharaoh to send for him, which he did. And God told Joseph\nall about the dream, and Pharaoh was so astonished and delighted that\nhe released Joseph from prison, and made him a great ruler in the land\nof Egypt.\n\nSee what it is to be \"God's\" servant!\n\n\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER XV.\u2014HUNGER AND THIRST.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nMANY days had passed without bringing any news of Mark Day\u00e1l, but still\nhis wife watched and prayed, believing that sooner or later she would\nsee the answer to her second petition, as she had done to the first.\n\nIn the meantime, the school had been opened and Mary installed as\nteacher. At first, it hardly seemed as if this could be work for God,\nteaching the alphabet to children who at first seemed to make no\nprogress, and only wished to play and tear their books.\n\nWhen it came to the Scripture lesson, it was not much better; either\nthey \"could\" not or \"would\" not remember, and every day the same thing\nhad to be repeated.\n\nBut as time went on, a change came. The teacher found that if \"some\"\nof her pupils were dull and stupid, \"all\" were not, and as she saw\ntheir faces beginning to brighten with interest, and their eagerness to\nanswer the questions put to them, her courage began to rise.\n\nPerhaps one great secret of the change was this: Miss Elsemere came\nto the school one day, and seeing the teacher looking very depressed,\nand hearing her words of discouragement, she said as she was leaving,\n\"Shall I tell you what has often helped me very much in my work? When\nI have had to teach those who seemed careless and indifferent, I have\nprayed,\u2014\n\n   \"'Lord, help me to love these children as Thou dost love them; give me\nlove like Thine.'\n\n\"And you know love makes everything easy.\"\n\nHaving proved the help of prayer in other difficulties, Mary was quite\nready to try it in this also. She was not disappointed, and as she\nbegan to love her little pupils, she wondered how she could ever have\nthought them dull and unlovable.\n\nBut it was not only in her new work that Mary Day\u00e1l found that knowing\nChrist, and seeking to follow Him, had not changed the world in which\nshe lived, though it had entirely changed her relationship towards it.\nLike Hira, she too proved that a soldier must fight, and many a hard\nbattle she had to engage in.\n\nLike Hira, too, she turned to Shushila for help and guidance. Doubtless\nthey both felt, without saying so, that one who lived so near to God\nmust know His will and be able to help others to do it.\n\nOne day Shushila found her friend looking more than usually downcast,\nand without waiting to hear the cause, asked, \"What new trouble is it,\nMary, which is making you look so sad to-day? Have the children been\nmore troublesome than usual?\"\n\n\"Oh, no, it is not the children; I think they get better every day. It\nis myself I am troubled about, for I seem to get worse daily. I thought\nthat when I let the Lord Jesus come into my heart, He would turn all\nthe evil straight out, and I would find it quite easy to be good; but\nit is not so. I have been doing my own works so long that it is almost\nimpossible to leave them off and do only His works, though I do want\nto.\"\n\n\"That is just what Hira says,\" answered Shushila, \"and I am sure all\nthe followers of the Lord Jesus have to learn the same lesson. We have\nto find out our own utter weakness before we can prove the greatness of\nHis power. It is not enough to commit ourselves to Him; we must also\nbelieve that He is able to 'keep' that which we commit.\n\n\"It often seems to me that many of our difficulties arise from this,\nthat we so little know and comprehend the unspeakable 'love' and\n'power' of our dear Lord. We are so inclined to think of Him as being\nlike ourselves.\"\n\nMary did not speak, so Shushila spoke again.\n\n\"I have learnt so many new lessons since Hira came to live with us.\nShe can do so little for herself, poor little one, and yet she is so\nanxious to that, she often gets into trouble.\n\n\"Only to-day she wanted to take a message to my father alone. I let her\ngo, but she fell and hurt herself; presently she came to my side, and\nslipping her hand in mine, said, 'Sister, you take me.' I thought, 'Is\nnot that just how it often is with us and the Lord Jesus?' We try to go\nour way alone, and do what we have to do without Him. If we would only\nin the beginning, put our hand in His and say, 'Lord, do Thou take me,'\nHe would indeed fulfil His promise and keep us from falling.\"\n\nMary's face brightened as she said, \"I am sure it was the Lord Himself\nwho sent you to me this afternoon, for it just seemed as if I had come\nto such a difficult place that I could not go on any farther. Now I see\nthat it does not so much matter if the place is difficult, if the Lord\nJesus leads me over it.\"\n\nThen after a pause, she said again, \"It seems as if I have so much to\nlearn, because all my life I have been doing things and seeing others\ndo them which I did not think were really sins, but now I see they must\nbe for those who are called by the name of Christ and profess to follow\nHim.\"\n\n\"What sort of things do you mean?\" asked Shushila.\n\nMary paused a minute, and then answered, \"I feel almost ashamed to tell\nyou, because you are so good, but I have never thought it any harm to\ntell a lie sometimes, if it seemed necessary, or to go into debt. And\nas for grumbling and complaining if things did not go right, or getting\nangry if others did not please me, why, I have done it constantly, and\nnever thought I was sinning against God.\"\n\n\"But what makes you think that these are sins now?\" asked Shushila.\n\nMary smiled as she said, \"Knowing you for one thing, for I see quite\nplainly that you do not do them, and if they are not right for you,\nthey cannot be for me either. Then, too, I read so much in the Bible\nwhich I never noticed before about being holy. I cannot think now how I\ncould ever have thought that I could be a Christian and yet do just as\nI like.\"\n\nShushila took up a Bible which was lying on the table, and opening it,\nread, \"'The great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for\nus, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself\na people for His own possession, zealous of good works.' Whatever we\nor others may think it means to be a Christian, that tells us quite\nplainly what the Lord Jesus means by it, and why He gave Himself for\nus\u2014not just to take us to heaven that we may be happy there, but 'to\nredeem us from all iniquity, and to make us a people for His own\npossession.'\"\n\n\"But that must mean after we get to heaven,\" said Mary.\n\n\"I do not think it can mean that,\" answered Shushila, \"because listen\nto what is written, 'For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing\nsalvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying\nungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, and righteously,\nand godly \"in this present world,\" looking for the blessed hope and\nappearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who\ngave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and\npurify unto Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good\nworks.' You see, it says quite plainly what we are to be in 'this\npresent world,' not at any future time.\"\n\n\"But surely there are very few who do this,\" said Mary, with a sigh.\n\n\"Then all the more reason that 'we' should,\" was the answer. \"Does it\nnot seem very sad that the dear Lord should not see the accomplishment\nof His purpose? We may be quite sure that nothing less will satisfy Him\nthan that for which He gave Himself. 'He died to make us good.' Does\nnot the thought make us long to be so?\"\n\nShushila found it was now time for her to return home, but she left a\nbright ray of light behind her. And as Mary thought over what had been\nsaid, she began to realise that what the Son of God had given Himself\nto accomplish, must be possible.\n\nThen there came to her mind a text she had often repeated in her\nchildhood, but little understood the meaning of, \"Blessed are they that\nhunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.\"\n\nWith all her heart, she thanked God for the hunger and thirst of her\nown heart, which brought with it the blessed assurance of future\nsatisfaction.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nTHE RINGLEADERS.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"THAT'S our master!\" said Jim.\n\n\"It isn't! He ain't a bit like that.\"\n\n\"You do it better, then!\" said Jim.\n\n\"All right,\" said Ned, \"so I will.\"\n\nHe took the chalk, and, with his companion jeering at him all the time,\nhe rubbed out the first attempt and accomplished a second, much to his\nown satisfaction.\n\n\"Now I'll put him on his hat,\" exclaimed Jim, \"and then we'll walk away\nand watch to see the old bird coming along. Won't he just be mad?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThere was a lot of loose wood piled up in the corner of their\nplayground, which afforded delight to the boys at all times. Sometimes\nit served for a lion's den, at another for a castle, at another for a\npalace most rare and beautiful.\n\nTo-day, as the two hastened towards it, their imagination made it into\na cave in which fierce robbers lurked, and they stealthily made their\nway behind some of the slanting pieces, and crouched down to watch for\ntheir victim.\n\nIt seemed a long ten minutes, and their patience was almost exhausted.\nThey could hear the other boys racing and tearing and shouting in the\nfield on the other side of the wall; and they almost thought of giving\nit up and joining the more lively game beyond.\n\nJust as they had reached this conclusion, and were whispering it to\neach other, the head master came out into the empty playground. He\nglanced round, and then slowly began to pace up and down in the shade,\nhis head bent and his hands clasped behind him.\n\n\"He's up to mischief,\" said Jim.\n\n\"No, he ain't; that's the way he walks mostly when he's thinkin'. He's\nnot a bad sort,\" said Ned.\n\n\"N-o-o,\" assented Jim; \"if you don't come across 'im too much. Hush\u2014\"\n\nThe master turned their way, and walked straight to where their sketch\nstood out boldly in the sun. The master came to a stand in front of it,\nand still he kept his quiet hands clasped behind him. Then he walked\nbriskly towards the wood pile.\n\nJim and Ned shook in their shoes, or would have if they had had them.\nBut Ned bethought himself that he had done no wrong. And when the\nmaster peeped down beneath the boards, his eyes met a candid pair of\nbrown ones that somehow touched his heart with a sort of tender stab.\n\n\"Hullo!\" he said. \"What are you two doing here?\"\n\nJim was covered with confusion, and could think of no ready answer.\n\nBut Ned, still looking into his master's face, added na\u00efvely, \"We was\nwaitin' for someone, sir\u2014\"\n\n\"I suppose it is meant for me,\" said the master, smiling slightly.\n\"Nobody else wears a hat quite like mine. Was it meant for a\ncompliment?\"\n\nHe sat down on one of the logs, and took Ned's soiled little hand in\nhis. \"You are the two boys who love to be called pickles! I was wanting\nto ask you both if you'd be my right-hand boys. I once had one such as\nyou,\" he said, glancing at Ned, \"and I wish I had him now, pickles and\nall!\"\n\nAfter that, the head master had no firmer friends than Jim and Ned,\nand somehow, when the ringleaders in mischief turned good, the rest\nfollowed.\n\nThe master never forgot that pair of brown eyes, and years afterwards,\nNed became his greatest comfort, as his love that day had been Ned's\ngreatest help.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\u2014HOME AT LAST.\n\nMONTH after month glided quietly on, till a year had elapsed since Mark\nDay\u00e1l left his home.\n\nHis children had almost forgotten the time when they had a father\u2014all\nexcept Reuben, who had grown a tall, manly boy, and was the chief help\nand support of his mother.\n\nThose who spoke of the missing man shook their heads and whispered\nmysteriously that there must have been more in his disappearance than\nthey had imagined; if he were living, he would surely have sent some\nnews of himself before this.\n\nMary heard nothing of these hints and suspicions, and it was well for\nher she did not. In spite of her faith that God would hear and answer\nher prayer, her heart sometimes failed her, and she grew weary of the\nlong waiting and watching.\n\nIt was true that this year of sorrow and anxiety had also been one of\ngreat blessing; that was evident to all.\n\nThe family had been obliged to move into a smaller house, at a lower\nrent, but it was kept so much more clean and tidy that no one could\nregret the change. Mary herself in her busy life, teaching her school\nand looking after her own children, could hardly be recognised as\nthe untidy, discontented woman who had done so little in past days.\nThe children too, though it needed more than a year to correct the\nnegligence and bad management of former years, were learning to be\nobedient and less self-willed.\n\nThe heavy burden of debt under which it would have been almost\nimpossible for the lonely wife to have made her way had been taken off\nher by the united efforts of several kind friends on condition that\nnothing should ever induce her to go into debt again.\n\nTo this Mary readily agreed, especially when it was pointed out to her\nthat \"Owe no man anything\" is one of the commands of God's Word, and\ncannot be broken by His own obedient children.\n\nHarn\u00e1th Singh had undertaken the education of Reuben, while another\nfriend had shown the same kindness to Julius, the second boy. And thus\nthe burden had been lightened, and with great care, it was possible for\nMary to provide for the needs of her family.\n\nThe school had prospered under her charge, and as she listened to the\nchildren joining eagerly in Christian hymns and repeating texts so\nwillingly, and realised that only a year ago they had not even heard\nthe name of Christ, she thanked God for having given her the honour\nand privilege of making known His great salvation to these little ones\noutside the fold.\n\nIf it had not been for the cloud which always rested on her heart and\nlife on account of her husband, Mary Day\u00e1l would have counted herself a\nmuch-favoured and happy woman.\n\nOne day she was returning home from school, when, just as she reached\nher door, a postman came up, \"Can you tell me anything of a Mrs.\nDay\u00e1l?\" he asked. \"Here is a letter with that name, but the address\ndoes not seem to be right, for I cannot find it anywhere.\"\n\n\"I am Mrs. Day\u00e1l,\" said Mary, her heart beginning to beat. Could it be\nthat news had come at last?\n\nShe held out her hand for the letter and recognised her husband's\nhandwriting at once.\n\nThe postman, relieved at having found the rightful owner, went on his\nrounds, while Mary turned into her house, and with eager hands opened\nthe much-longed-for letter.\n\nHer hands trembled so that she could hardly read it, and the letters\nseemed to dance before her eyes. Gradually she became calmer and was\nable to read what was written.\n\n   \"MY DEAR WIFE,\n\n   \"I am almost ashamed to write the word because I feel I no longer\ndeserve to call myself your husband, and that is one reason why I am\nwriting this letter instead of coming myself. Another reason is that I\ncannot come to be a burden on you. After these many days of silence, my\nown fault I know, the other day I heard news of you and my children,\nand from what I heard, I know that my going away did you no harm, but\nrather good.\n\n   \"I am told that my wife has become so good and industrious that I\nshould hardly know her, and my children so well-behaved and obedient\nthat they are favourites with all. I might tell you that I am changed\ntoo; but how will you trust me when I have so often deceived you? I\nshrink from coming to the home which 'you' have made for yourself and\nthe children. I would rather make a home to which I could fetch you,\nbut that may take time, and there is much I want to tell you.\n\n   \"First of all, I ask you to forgive me for forsaking you as I did, and\nI leave it for you to decide whether I shall return.\n\n                   \"Your affectionate husband,\n\n                                       \"MARK DAY\u00c1L.\"\n\nBy the time Mary had finished her letter, she could hardly see for\ntears, but they were tears of joy, not of sorrow. Was not this letter\na proof that her prayer had been answered? What but the grace of God\ncould have transformed her husband so as to make him write a letter\nlike this?\u2014He who had always been so quick to blame her, but never\nhimself.\n\nNo time must be lost in sending an answer. And though writing materials\nwere not abundant or often used in this house, a sheet of paper was\nfound, and the few words necessary quickly written.\n\n   \"MY DEAR HUSBAND,\n\n   \"Come home as quickly as you can. I forgive you all; please forgive me\ntoo. The new house is very near the old one.\n\n                 \"Your loving wife,\n\n                            \"MARY DAY\u00c1L.\"\n\nJust as the letter was finished, Reuben came in and was at once\ndespatched to buy a stamp and post the letter.\n\n\"It is to your father; he is coming home,\" was all the explanation\ngiven to the astonished boy as he was hurried off on his errand.\n\nIt was difficult for Mary to give her mind to her work the next day.\nHowever much she tried to keep her attention to what she was teaching,\nshe constantly found herself wondering by what train her husband would\narrive, and would she be there to receive him.\n\nHappily for her, Miss Elsemere paid a visit to the school that day,\nwhich relieved her for a time and also gave her an opportunity to say,\n\"I am expecting my husband home to-morrow.\"\n\nMiss Elsemere knew enough of the teacher's story to understand how much\nthat one sentence meant, and her heart went out in loving sympathy to\nthe wife who had borne her grief so bravely.\n\n\"Then you must have a holiday,\" she said at once; \"so do not think of\ncoming to school, and I will arrange for someone to take your place.\"\n\nThis removed a great difficulty, and as Mary saw her pupils depart and\nstarted for home, she felt she was now free to give herself up to the\nthought of meeting her husband and hearing all he had to tell her.\n\n\"How much 'I' shall have to tell,\" she thought to herself; \"and even if\nhe has not yet come back to God, surely when he hears of all the Lord's\ngoodness to me and the children, it will touch his heart and bring him\nback.\"\n\nBut something seemed to tell her that her husband, like herself,\nwas already \"a new creature in Christ Jesus.\" Had not this been her\nconstant prayer all through the year? And why should she not believe\nthat it had been heard and answered?\n\nVery little sleep came to Mary Day\u00e1l that night. And when it was still\nscarcely morning, she was awake and active, for it might be that the\ntraveller would arrive by some very early train.\n\nWhen school-time came, the children begged that they might have a\nholiday as well as their mother, and so all the family waited in\nreadiness to welcome the father home.\n\nIt proved to be a long wait, and when four o'clock came and still no\narrival, Mary's heart began to sink. Perhaps the letter had not been\nreceived, or she had not said enough to show that he would be welcomed\nback.\n\nSuddenly the door opened, and the long-expected wanderer was present in\ntheir midst.\n\nIn a moment, Mary saw how much her husband must have suffered during\nthose days of absence; he looked so thin and ill, and at least ten\nyears older than when he went away. But the change in his words and\nmanner was even greater than that in his appearance, and again came the\nthought, \"What but the grace of God can have accomplished this?\"\n\nThe children, who had forgotten so much of the past and felt no fear of\nthis quiet, gentle man, clustered round him, while baby Rose very soon\nheld out her arms, and claimed the place of honour.\n\nIt was just as well that the little ones were so ready to talk, for\ntheir parents found their hearts too full to say very much at present,\nand each was longing to hear the story the other had to tell, but as\nyet there was no opportunity.\n\nFor some months, Mary had made it a custom to gather her children round\nher after the evening meal, and read and pray with them.\n\nAs the time drew near, she began to wonder what she should do. She felt\ntoo shy to pray before her husband, and yet she could not be quite sure\nthat he would be willing to take her place if she asked him.\n\nReuben solved the problem. It was always his part to fetch his mother\nthe Bible; this evening, he hesitated a moment, and then handing it to\nhis father, said, \"Will you read to-night, father?\"\n\nMark Day\u00e1l took the book with a look of surprise and pleasure, and\nafter turning over the leaves, began to read Psalm ciii.\n\nThen they knelt down, and as Mary heard her husband pray, she knew\nwithout the shadow of a doubt that her own prayer had been answered.\nThese were not the words of one going his own way and seeking to do\nhis own will, but rather the reconciled and forgiven son telling out\nthe gratitude of his heart to the loving Father who had so wonderfully\ncared for and guided His children.\n\nAs Mark's prayer ended, Mary's heart was too full to remain silent, and\nshe added her petition and thanksgiving to that of her husband, and so\nit came to pass that each learnt of the change in the other, and of the\nblessing received, as they knelt at the feet of Him who had done so\nmuch for them.\n\nAs they rose from their knees, Maggie whispered, \"Sometimes we sing a\nhymn; would you like to hear us, father?\"\n\nA ready consent was given, and after a little discussion, \"mother's\nmost favourite one\" was chosen. And so the first message which Mark\nDay\u00e1l heard from his children's lips was the one which had gone home\nwith such power to the heart of his wife. As they heard together the\nwords\u2014\n\n   \"Oh, dearly, dearly, has He loved,\n      And we must love Him too,\n    And trust in His redeeming blood,\n      And try His works to do\u2014\"\n\neach determined afresh that, because of that great redeeming love which\nhad done so much for them, they would, with all their hearts, and to\ntheir life's end, \"try His works to do.\"\n\n\n\nLOOKING FOR FATHER'S BOAT.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"COME along, Hans!\" said his sister, pushing back the bowl which had\nheld his porridge. \"What a time you have been!\"\n\nHans looked rather discomfited. He glanced at his spoon, and then at\nthe empty bowl, taken so far away, and finally deciding that it was\nvery unpleasant to be spoken to so roughly, he began to cry.\n\n\"Hullo!\" exclaimed his sister sharply. \"What's that for? You leave off,\nor you'll get a slap, I tell you!\"\n\nShe paused abruptly, for slowly and painfully their invalid mother was\nmaking her way into the kitchen, and Minette had not intended her to\nhear such talk as that.\n\nThe mother bent over her little boy, and kissed his forehead, and then\nstood smoothing his hair with her thin white fingers. Minette often\nthought how white they were for a working woman.\n\nShe did not speak, but her presence soothed both her children\u2014the\neldest and the youngest. Hans left off his sobs, and Minette busied\nherself in finding her bonnet and a fish basket, preparatory to going\ndown to meet her father's boat.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Run outside, Hans,\" said their mother's gentle voice, \"and Minette\nwill come in a minute.\"\n\nThe girl moved towards the door, but a gesture from her mother stopped\nher.\n\nThe child ran out, and their mother sat down by the fire and beckoned\nher daughter to her side.\n\n\"What is it, dear?\" she asked, raising her eyes anxiously to the\nclouded face above her.\n\n\"Nothing,\" answered Minette, abruptly.\n\n\"Nothing, when you treat your good little brother so?\" asked her\nmother. \"What if I were not here, Minette?\"\n\nMinette felt a great inward pang, but she replied gruffly, \"You're\nalways fancying things, mother! One can't be sweet all the time\u2014at\nleast, I can't\u2014and Hans has been half an hour over his porridge, and\nyou said he must not go till it was done.\"\n\n\"Well?\" asked her mother, gently.\n\n\"Well! I wanted to go quickly,\" said Minette, frowning, \"and Hans\nalways spoils everything. You're so faddy with him, mother! It would\nnot have hurt him to go a little short for once\u2014\"\n\n\"I think he would often go short if it were left to you, dear,\" said\nher mother, patiently. She ceased to look up, for her eyes were\nfilling, and she could not.\n\n\"May I go?\" asked Minette, edging towards the door.\n\n\"Yes, dear,\" answered her mother. \"Someday, you will understand how\npatient we have to be with the little ones\u2014\"\n\nAnd then Minette took Hans by the hand, and they went to the shore,\nwhile the wind blew in their faces and moaned round the boats.\n\nThe fishing boats were long in coming, and Minette had time to think\nover her mother's words. Surely \"she\" had had patience shown her all\nthose twenty years she had lived in that little cottage! Could she not\nbear with her little brother?\n\n\"Poor mother,\" she thought, with fresh tenderness, \"poor, dear, mother!\nHow hard it must be to be so ill, and to know that she'll have to leave\nlittle Hans to\u2014such as me! But when I go back, I will kiss her and tell\nher I'm sorry, and that I'll never behave so again\u2014never!\"\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Eileen stood and waited under the lych gate.]\n\nUnder the Lych Gate.\n\n[Illustration] THERE were voices in the doctor's hall, and Eileen\nLanyon sprang from her seat and opened the drawing-room door to peep\nout. Was it her father at last?\n\nBut no! A tall, awkward boy stood there facing the old housekeeper.\nThere was a pitiful ring in his voice, though it was angry too.\n\n\"I tell you it'll be too late!\" he said. \"Can't ye tell me where I'll\nfind the doctor? My mother's dying! The doctor might save her.\"\n\n\"I don't know!\" said the housekeeper's voice. \"I can't say what I don't\nknow, I s'pose.\"\n\n\"Then it will be too late!\" The boy turned away, and the housekeeper\nwent back to her kitchen grumbling. \"It's all nonsense about dying,\"\nshe muttered; \"it's all dying if their little finger aches. They'll\nkill the doctor between 'em.\"\n\nEileen shut the drawing-room door and pondered. Where was her father?\nWhy, he had said he would finish putting up the Christmas motto in the\nchurch at five o'clock! Like a flash, she was across the hall and had\nflung open the front door. But the boy was gone. Nothing but the white\nsnow and the dark, bare trees lay between her and the road. It was\ngetting dark, and only the red sunset still lingered in the west, but\nEileen's resolution was taken. She would go down to the church herself\nand tell her father. She could still hear Dick Donovan's despairing\n\"Too late!\"\n\nIn three minutes, Eileen was dressed and on her way. Such a little girl\nto be out alone on that snowy Christmas Eve! However, the loneliness\ndid not daunt Eileen.\n\nBut the church was still and dark. Evidently her father had not come\nyet. Eileen stood and waited under the lych gate. How lonely it was!\nHow still! Eileen's heart seemed to stand still as the trees creaked in\nthe breeze. Once she turned to rush home, but then the thought of Mrs.\nDonovan checked her, and she looked up into the quiet sky. After all,\nChrist, whose birthday they would celebrate to-morrow, was near her. No\nharm could happen to her, and He could keep Mrs. Donovan alive till her\nfather could come.\n\nSo busy was she with this thought that she did not hear her father's\nstep till he spoke her name: \"Why Eileen!\"\n\nShe sprang into his arms and poured out her story, and the doctor went\nat once.\n\nLate that night, when the Christmas bells were pealing joyfully, the\ndoctor bent over Eileen's bed.\n\n\"Mrs. Donovan is saved,\" he whispered. \"Half an hour later and I should\nhave been too late.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\"ME TOO.\"\n\nTHE glory of the setting sun streamed across the wide sea, and one long\nray crept through a port-hole in a ship and lit up a tiny cabin.\n\nIn the narrow berth, a young seaman lay dying, and he spoke to the\nsailor who knelt beside him.\n\n\"The sun's setting,\" he said. \"I'd have liked to die at home, but it\ndoesn't matter now\u2014I'm nearly home, John. Ask Sandy Miller to see me\nbefore I go.\"\n\nJohn rose obediently and passed out of the little cabin, but he felt\nit was on a fruitless errand, and he wished George had been satisfied\nto die without asking for Sandy. George had been no favourite with the\nelderly Scotchman, and if Sandy had an enemy\u2014well, the enemy was apt to\nhave an unpleasant time, and George had had no peace since the day when\nhe had openly confessed before the men that he was a Christian.\n\nAnd now George was dying\u2014they had hoped to reach England before the end\ncame, but the disease had come with a gallop, and he would not see home\nagain. He had always been John's \"prot\u00e9g\u00e9,\" but John was astonished now\nto see how the other sailors rallied round George. They nursed him,\nwatched by him, read his little Bible to him, and vied with each other\nin serving him; and yet he was the youngest and most insignificant on\nboard, and he had dared to speak to each of his Saviour.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSandy alone never visited the lad, Sandy alone never asked of his\nwelfare, and now George had begged for him to be fetched.\n\nSandy leant on a rail watching the setting sun. He started as John\ntouched him.\n\n\"What do you want?\" Sandy growled.\n\n\"George is dying, and he wants to see you,\" said John briefly.\n\nSandy's face turned to a dull red. \"Let him die,\" he shouted hoarsely.\n\"How dare you come to me with his messages? Let him die, and the sooner\nthe better; there'll be one less to ask if you're saved. Saved, indeed!\nI wish I had thrown him overboard before he asked me.\"\n\nHe flung off John's hand and turned his back.\n\nWell might he wish that he had thrown George overboard before the lad\nspoke about his soul's salvation, for not one minute's peace had Sandy\nhad since.\n\nJohn went away, and Sandy leaned on his rail and watched the sinking\nsun. A sort of hush came over the ship, and he knew that George was\ndead. And if he were, where was he gone, and what made him happy to go\ninto that unknown world?\n\nSandy shivered as his eyes followed the pathway of crimson that\nstretched away to the far-off sun. What a long way away heaven was! And\nhow could one be sure of going there?\n\nThen like a whisper of the sea wind came back to his memory the words\nGeorge had said that day he spoke to Sandy: \"This Man receiveth\nsinners.\"\n\nAnd Sandy's proud heart bowed itself.\n\n\"Me too, Lord,\" he whispered. \"I have been a sinner and a rebel all\nthese many years, but if I'm not too bad, take me and make me clean.\"\n\nAnd somehow a sweet assurance that Christ Jesus had accepted him came\nto his heart.\n\nSandy did not keep his change of heart to himself. That very night, he\ntold his mates that he was a Christian like George now. And when he had\ndone speaking, one by one his mates rose up and shook his rough hand.\n\n\"George has done us all good,\" they said.\n\n\n\n\"MASTER, REBUKE THY DISCIPLES.\"\n\nWHEN the time was getting very close for the Lord Jesus to be\ncrucified\u2014that He might die for our sins instead of us\u2014He went up to\nJerusalem, willingly going among the Jews who, He knew, would take Him\nand kill Him. He did all this because He loved us so very much.\n\nAs He got near to the city, He sent on two of His disciples to find a\ncolt for Him to ride on.\n\nJesus knew everything beforehand, and He told them just where the colt\nwas tied and what they should say to the man to whom it belonged.\n\nThis man must have loved Jesus, for directly the disciples said \"The\nLord hath need of him,\" he let the colt go at once.\n\nNo one had ever ridden that colt before, but Jesus, the Lord of Glory,\ndid not have any trouble with him. They put their garments on him for a\nsaddle, and Jesus sat on him, and so they went along towards the city.\n\nThe people who had been healed, and who had seen some of the wonderful\nthings Jesus had done, began to rejoice very much as they saw Him\nriding there so gentle and lowly, and with such tender compassion in\nHis face.\n\nThey ran before Him, casting down their clothes for Him to ride over.\nOthers cut down branches of trees and strewed them along the path;\nwhile even the children ran along by His side shouting, \"Hosanna!\nBlessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.\"\n\nAnd the whole multitude, as they went down the hill from the Mount of\nOlives, began to praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works\nwhich they had seen.\n\nBut some of the Jews were very displeased indeed, and they asked Jesus\nto stop His disciples.\n\nBut Jesus told them that if the disciples were to hold their peace the\nvery stones would cry out for joy.\n\nAnd why do you think that was? Because He was coming to save us.\n\n \"He knew how wicked men had been;   | So out of pity Jesus said\n  He knew that God must punish sin;  | He'd bear the punishment instead.\"\n\nDo you feel, children, that you wish you were good, or that you are\nsorry that you did something that was naughty, perhaps to-day, or\nyesterday, or a long time ago?\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWell then, think of His love in dying for you, and be comforted.\n\nYou can say to yourself: \"Jesus came to save even me. He lived on this\nearth for thirty-three years, and at last died on the cross that I\nmight be forgiven and made God's happy, holy child.\"\n\nThere is a very short little prayer that you can pray every day:\n\n   \"Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.\"\n\nThat little prayer has made little children, and old people too, so\nhappy. For if we ask God from our hearts to wash us in our Saviour's\nprecious blood, we shall be whiter than snow, and we \"shall\" be ready\nto go and be with Him in heaven.\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\u2014ANOTHER PRODIGAL SON.\n\nWHEN the children, in spite of the excitement of the day, had at last\nfallen asleep\u2014all except Reuben, who had his lessons to prepare for the\nnext day\u2014Mark Day\u00e1l proposed to his wife that they should go and sit on\nthe roof, where they could talk together without disturbing anyone, or\nbeing overheard, and Mary was only too glad to comply.\n\nThe first question to be settled was, which was to be the first to\nrelate the story of the past year.\n\nThe wife insisted that Mark must have his turn first, because, she\nsaid, \"You can see that we are all quite well and have not suffered,\nbut when I look at you, I know that you must have gone through much\ntrouble and distress, and I long to hear all about it.\"\n\nMark could not deny his wife's words, and consented to tell his story\nfirst, which shall be related as he told it.\n\n\"I expect you soon guessed why it was that I went away\u2014that once more I\nhad lost my employment and felt ashamed to come home and confess it.\n\n\"I was angry with my master, and spoke rudely to him, so he dismissed\nme at once, saying that he already had had no intention of keeping me.\n\n\"I felt still more angry then, and I thought, What would be the use\nof going home to be scolded by you and hear the children crying for\nfood? You had had trouble enough with me, now I would see how you would\nget on without me. So I determined to go away. I had no intention of\nstaying away so long, or of sending no news. I thought I should soon\nfind work elsewhere, and then I would send you word where I was and\nwhat I was doing.\n\n\"But the time never seemed to come when I could give a good report of\nmyself. If I found work, I lost it again sooner than ever. I just lived\nfrom hand to mouth, and every day my condition seemed to get worse.\n\n\"I could not write and tell you this, so I thought I had better not\nwrite at all. Then I began to think it would be better if I never\nwrote. It was much better that you should have no husband than a bad\none, and that the children should have no father than such a one as I\nwas.\n\n\"I knew that you had good friends in Harn\u00e1th Singh and his brother, and\nthat they would never let you starve; indeed, they would find it far\neasier to help you when I was out of the way.\n\n\"So the time passed on, and more and more I became weary of my life and\nweary of myself. I did not always stay at the same place; again and\nagain I persuaded some kind person to pay my fare to another town, on\nthe plea that if I could only get there, I was sure of obtaining work.\nBut it was not often that my hopes were realised.\n\n\"In this way month after month passed by, till at last I felt as I\nthink one must do who has fallen into some deep pit.\n\n\"I was sinking, sinking lower and lower; below me was ever dense\ndarkness and above me appeared no gleam of light.\n\n\"I little thought that my very depth of need was to bring me\ndeliverance.\n\n\"During all those days of want and misery, I had very seldom been\ninside a church.\n\n\"At first, I did not care whether I went or not, for I had hard\nthoughts against God, and considered that He had favoured me less than\nothers, and less than I deserved.\n\n\"Later on, if I had wanted to go, I should have felt ashamed. My\nclothes were so old and ragged, and, as you know, I had always liked to\n'look' tidy and respectable, whatever I might be.\n\n\"That particular Sunday I was going to tell you about, I felt more than\nusually wretched and miserable. I was really ill, although I did not\nknow it, and if I was ill in body, I was still more so in mind.\n\n\"Then I heard the church bells begin to ring, and suddenly it came into\nmy mind, 'I will go into the church to-day.' I know now that it was God\nwho sent that thought to me.\n\n\"I never considered how I looked, I had got past caring about that;\nbesides, no one would know me. So I started in the direction the sound\nof the bells seemed to come from, for this was a strange place to me,\nand I had never seen the church. When I tried to walk, I found how weak\nI was, but though I had to stop and rest every now and then, still I\nkept on\u2014something seemed to say that I 'must' get to that church.\n\n\"At last I arrived, but the service had begun, so I just slipped into a\nseat at the back, where I thought no one would see me. At first I was\ntoo tired to take much notice of anything, and though someone was kind\nenough to offer me a prayer-book, I felt too weak to stand up and join\nin the service. Suddenly I found my attention drawn to what was going\non; before that I had only been thinking about myself and my own misery.\n\n\"A young man from the congregation was reading the Second Lesson, and\nas he read, I could not help listening, every word sounded so real. It\nwas not that he was reading any thing new and strange; it was only the\nstory of the Prodigal Son, of which I had learnt every word by heart\nwhen I was a boy at school.\n\n\"But somehow as I listened that Sunday morning, it seemed as if I was\nhearing my own story, as if I was that very prodigal son myself.\n\n\"I could just see that poor fellow in his rags and hunger, having come\nto the end of everything, and he was a perfect picture of myself. As\nI heard the words, 'Father, I have sinned against Heaven and in thy\nsight,' I just caught another sight of myself which I had never seen\nbefore. I was no longer the poor, unfortunate, ill-used man, to be\npitied and helped, but I was a guilty sinner before God, bearing a name\nwhich I had no right to, and bringing dishonour on Him whom it ought to\nhave been my greatest delight to honour and obey.\n\n\"My life, so full of sin and failure, passed before me, and in my\nshame and sorrow of heart, I forgot to think of my physical weakness\nand misery. Surely it was God who drew me to that church that Sunday\nmorning and then met me there.\n\n\"It would have been well for me if I had said then and there, 'I will\narise and go to my Father'; but though I heard the words, I did not\nmake them my own. Surely I was the son in the far-off country, but I\nhad no strength to turn my steps towards the Father's house.\n\n\"I don't remember anything of the rest of the service; I had heard my\nmessage, and nothing else mattered to me.\n\n\"The closing hymn had been sung, the last prayer read; then the\ncongregation began to disperse, but still I sat on. I seemed to have no\nstrength left to get up and go away.\n\n\"By-and-by, someone came and touched my arm and said, 'Brother, I fear\nyou are ill. Can I do anything to help you?'\n\n\"I lifted my head and saw that it was the young man who had read the\nSecond Lesson, which had so much impressed me, who was standing by my\nside.\n\n\"'Yes, I am ill,' I answered with some difficulty; and then I could say\nno more, I was too faint and dizzy.\n\n\"I hardly know what happened next; I heard voices which seemed to me\nfar away in the distance, then I felt a strong arm put round me, and I\nwas led out of the church. After that came a perfect blank, of which I\ncan tell nothing.\n\n\"One day I came back to life and found myself lying on a bed in a\nstrange house. At first I thought I was quite alone. But after a while,\nI heard a sound as of someone moving about, and presently a man came in\nsight.\n\n\"I was still more puzzled, for I knew I had never seen him before, and\nhad no idea as to who he was. He did not notice that I was watching him\ntill he came to my side with a cup of soup, then he looked very pleased\nand surprised.\n\n\"I drank the soup without a word, for I felt too weak to talk, though I\nlonged to ask where I was and what had happened.\n\n\"Then I fell asleep, and was awaked by the sound of voices. And when I\nopened my eyes, I saw standing by my bedside, not only the man who had\ngiven me the soup, but also the young man who had read the lesson in\nchurch.\n\n\"I soon found that he must be a doctor, for he felt my pulse and asked\nmany questions about me. He evidently thought me much better and seemed\nvery pleased. Then, turning to the other man, he said, 'You will be\nwilling for him to go to the hospital now? He is so much better that it\nwill be quite easy.'\n\n\"'Why should he go to the hospital,' was the answer, 'now that he is\ngetting well? In a few days, there will be nothing wrong with him.'\n\n\"'You are an obstinate man, Sath Guru D\u00e0s,' said the young doctor, 'and\nevidently determined to have your own way, so I suppose I must let you\nkeep your patient. You have done a good deal towards saving his life,\nso it is only right you should.'\n\n\"I said nothing, but I wondered more than ever what it could all mean.\n\n\"When the doctor had left, I called the other man, whose name I found\nwas Sath Guru D\u00e0s, to my side and asked him to tell me what it all\nmeant, and how I came to be there.\n\n\"Then he said, 'When you came into church last Sunday, I saw you, and\nI thought to myself, \"That is some brother in trouble.\" I watched you\nall through the service, and felt sure that you must be very ill and\nweak. When the congregation left and you still sat on in your place, I\nasked the young doctor who was here just now to come and speak to you.\nHe said you were very ill, and as my house was close by, we brought you\nhere, and here you have stayed.'\n\n\"'Why did you not take me to the hospital?' I asked.\n\n\"After a pause my new friend answered, 'That I can hardly tell myself,\nonly I think the Lord must have put it into my heart to bring you here\nand care for you myself. Perhaps some day we may understand why it was.'\n\n\"Then I said, 'If you had known what a worthless fellow I am, you would\nnever have taken me in.'\n\n\"There was a tone of rebuke in his voice as he said, 'Brother, you are\nworth so much that the dear Lord came down from heaven and gave His\nlife on the cross for you; that which cost Him so much can never be\nworthless to His followers.'\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nSUNDAY LESSONS.\n\n[Illustration: Gladys is the little teacher.]\n\n IT is peaceful Sunday morning,   |  'Tis the story of the shepherd,\n   Stillness in the air,          |     Who his lambs doth guide,\n Only all the birds are making    |  In the pastures green and happy\n   Music everywhere.              |     By the waterside.\n                                  |\n In the nursery too are voices,   |  Gladys is the little teacher,\n   Earnest, low and sweet,        |     Bob the scholar small,\n As the children to each other    |  And the Shepherd is the Saviour,\n   Holy words repeat.             |     Who has loved us all.\n\n\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\u2014THE FATHER'S HOUSE.\n\n[Illustration] \"AFTER that I did not answer, but I lay and thought. Of\ncourse I knew all about the life and death of Christ; indeed, I know it\nso well that it had become like an old story to me. I had never doubted\nthat Christ gave His life to save the world, but this man seemed to single\nme out as if it had been only for me that the great sacrifice was made.\n\n\"Then there came back to me the words I had heard read in the church,\nand how I had felt myself to be the prodigal son who had wandered far\naway from the Father's house.\n\n\"I was too weak to think it all out, but this much I knew and\nunderstood, that I had sinned against Heaven and in God's sight; and\nnow here was another great fact, heard from the lips of the man who\nhad taken me, a needy stranger, into his own house: 'The dear Lord\ncame down from heaven and gave His life on the cross for you.' If it\nwas true I was a great sinner, it was true also that there was a great\nSaviour.\n\n\"From that day, I began to improve rapidly. The young doctor came to\nsee me regularly, and Sath Guru D\u00e0s never seemed to weary of attending\nto me.\n\n\"I used to look at that man and wonder what made him so different to\nother men. I could see that he had not had much education, for it was\nwith difficulty that he could spell out the words of his Bible, which\nhe seemed to love to read. Another thing I noticed was that he seemed\nto do nothing without praying about it first; I got to know that when\nhe went away and left me, as he did sometimes quite suddenly, it was\nthat he might go into a little room alone and pray. And so I began to\nunderstand that this man, who in himself was neither clever, nor great,\nnor better than others, possessed a wonderful power, because he lived\nhis life with God and in constant touch with Him.\n\n\"One day I overheard him as he was praying say,\u2014\n\n   \"'O Lord, reveal Thyself unto this poor, sad heart, that he may know\nwhat a Saviour he has in Thee, and let him go away from here to live a\nnew life in Thy strength.'\n\n\"I cannot tell you how it touched me to hear this stranger praying for\nme so earnestly, and my own heart said,\u2014\n\n   \"'O Lord, reveal Thyself to me.'\n\n\"I believe that was the first time I had ever 'really' prayed.\n\n\"I found that my new friend was a colporteur, and as soon as I was well\nenough to be left, he began to go his rounds with his books to sell.\n\n\"One evening he said to me, 'Brother, do you feel well enough to read a\nlittle? I am but a poor reader myself, but I love to be read to.'\n\n\"Of course I said I was quite willing, and asked what I should read.\n\n\"He brought me a New Testament in Hindi, and pointing to Luke xv. said,\n'Will you read that, brother?'\n\n\"I felt quite startled when I saw what it was. It seemed almost as if\nhe must have known what had been in my mind during those days.\n\n\"I began to read, but as I read on, it became more and more difficult.\nThe words almost seemed to choke me, and my voice trembled again and\nagain.\n\n\"As I read the sentence 'He arose and came to his father,' Sath Guru\nD\u00e0s suddenly put his hand on mine, and said in a voice almost of\nentreaty, 'Brother, will you?'\n\n\"I was wholly taken by surprise. What did this stranger know about\nme, that he should understand that I was like the son in the far-off\ncountry? It was true that 'I' knew, but how should 'he?'\n\n\"I determined then that I would hide nothing from this true friend, who\nhad done so much to save my life, and was now praying for my salvation.\nSo I said, 'Brother, I will tell you all, and you shall judge whether I\nam fit to be received into the Father's house.'\n\n\"He answered, 'Brother, it is not a question of your fitness, but of\nthe Father's love; but tell me all.'\n\n\"Then I told him the story of my life, and you may be sure that I did\nnot try to make myself out any better than I was.\n\n\"When I finished, he said, 'Brother, one thing I am quite sure of\u2014that\nyou are just the very one the Lord Jesus spoke of when He said, \"The\nSon of Man is come to seek and to find that which was lost.\" You are so\naltogether lost that none but He \"could\" find you. He has followed you\ninto the \"far country,\" and now, don't you hear His voice calling you\nhome to the Father's house?'\n\n\"I could not deny his words. Surely it was nothing less than a divine\nhand which had been leading me on step by step till I stood at the very\nthreshold of God's kingdom.\n\n\"I could not turn back, and so I arose and came to my Father.\n\n\"I need not tell you that I was not turned away; that, as I had seen I\nwas like the son in the parable, so I found that the loving, forgiving\nfather who ran and fell on his son's neck and kissed him was a picture\nof God Himself.\n\n\"I found, too, that the son wandering in the far-off country, ragged\nand hungry and weary, was just a new man altogether when he came into\nthe father's house and was clothed and fed and loved. It was indeed\ntrue 'old things had passed away, and all things had become new.'\"\n\n\"Thank God!\" said Mary earnestly as she listened to her husband's\nwords. And then, after a pause, she asked, \"And did you find out who\nyour friend was, and why he had been so good to you, a stranger?\"\n\n\"There was not much to find out,\" was the answer. \"He was only a\npoor ignorant man, as this world would call him, who had only been a\nChristian for a few years, but I feel sure he is a prince in God's\nkingdom, and will have a seat very near his Master in the coming glory.\nIt was for the love of that same Master, he took me in and served me so\nfaithfully. And when I expressed my wonder at his goodness to me, he\nonly said, 'Brother, it was for the dear Lord's sake. What am I here in\nthis world for unless it be to do His work? It is what He himself would\nhave done, only far more; and what right have we to be called by His\nname if we do not follow in His steps?'\n\n\"The next day he said to me, 'Brother, what are you going to do now?'\n\n\"I had not made any plans or thought what I would do; indeed, my heart\nwas so full of joy and thanksgiving that my sins had been forgiven\nand I received by the Father, that I had not thought much of earthly\nthings. But my friend's words made me think, and of course I knew that\nI could not continue where and as I was.\n\n\"So we talked things over, and as I shrank from coming back to be a\nburden to you, we decided that I should wait a few days and gain a\nlittle more strength, for I was still very weak. What astonished me\nvery much was to see the joy of both Sath Guru D\u00e0s and the young doctor\nover the change which had been wrought in me. If their own brother had\nbeen raised from the dead, I do not think they could have been more\nglad.\n\n\"But I must not tell you any more, for mine has been a long story; and\nnow tell me yours.\"\n\nSo Mary told what had befallen her, which we already know. And as\nshe finished, her husband exclaimed, \"Now I see it all as plain\nas daylight; you were praying hard, in the dark, as it were, not\neven knowing whether I was dead or alive, and God was listening and\nanswering, and leading me step by step on the path which was to bring\nme home to Himself.\"\n\nThen together the husband and wife afresh prayed for forgiveness for\nall the sins of the past, especially for the great sin of forgetting\nHim who had so manifested His love for them. Together they gave thanks\nfor the great salvation which had become theirs, and gave themselves\nanew to be His for ever who had endured the cross for their sakes.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nJesus Looked round about upon all Things.\n\nAFTER the Lord had been brought in triumph into Jerusalem, and after\nthe multitudes had done crying out, \"Hosanna to the Son of David!\"\nJesus entered into the Temple. And it tells us in the Gospel of Mark\nthat \"He looked round about upon all things.\"\n\nNow it seems to me, children, that this is what we should think the\nLord Jesus is doing now.\n\nHe comes into the temple of our hearts, or He comes into our homes,\ninto every room that we live in, and He looks round about upon all\nthings.\n\nWhat does He see?\n\nHere in this picture of the Temple of God, when He was upon earth, He\nsaw many things which He did not like at all.\n\nThe people who had offerings to bring to God, had got careless about\nthe holiness of God's House, and they began to buy and sell the\nofferings within the Temple. The people bargained and cheated, and\nbought and sold, without thinking that God was dwelling there, and that\nHis House was not to be made into a market.\n\nThen some people wanted their money changed, and so tables were set up\nwhere the money was spread out, and those who were buying went to them\nto get change to pay for their purchases.\n\nAt length, things got to such a pass that the Jews even kept their\noxen and sheep inside the Temple to be ready to be bought by those who\nwished to make God an offering for their sins.\n\nThink what confusion, and dirt, and disorder must have been all about.\n\nSo the Lord Jesus was very grieved, and the next day, He came and\nturned them all out, and told the Jews that God's Temple was meant to\nbe a House of Prayer, but that they had made it a den of thieves.\n\nNow, before we finish this little story, I want us to look into our\nhearts and just think what the Lord Jesus sees there, when He comes and\nlooks round about upon all things.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhat does He see? Does He see a heart with lots of naughty things in\nit? A heart which does not mind telling an untruth? A heart that would\nnot mind cheating in a game? A heart which does not mind thinking a\nnaughty thought, or doing a naughty act?\n\nOh, if He can see any of those things in the temple of our hearts, let\nus ask Him to turn them all out, and make it clean and fit for Him to\nvisit and stay in.\n\nPerhaps, instead of that sad list of things, Jesus can see a heart that\nloves Him.\n\nPerhaps He can see a heart that goes, every time it gets soiled by sin,\nto His precious cleansing blood to be washed white.\n\nIf He does, then Jesus is glad to look into that loving, washed heart,\nand He says, \"I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that\nis of a humble and contrite heart, to revive the heart of the contrite\nones, and to revive the spirit of the humble.\"\n\nThis is what Jesus will do for you, and for me.\n\n\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\u2014SUKHIYA'S FALL.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIT was one day, a few weeks after Mark Day\u00e1l's return to his family,\nthat Sukhiya was sitting in her house alone.\n\nIt was a hot, sultry evening, and there seemed to be no air to breathe\nin the tiny courtyard and still smaller verandah of her poor abode.\n\nThe evening meal had been cooked and put on one side for when it was\nwanted, and, having nothing more to do, Sukhiya decided that she would\ngo on the roof, where it might be a little cooler than it was below.\n\nIt was a poor, rickety ladder to climb, but that was nothing to one who\nwas accustomed to have most things broken and rickety. The roof, too,\nlooked anything but safe, but Sukhiya never gave that a thought, for\nhad she not sat on that same roof many and many a time during the past\nyears and nothing had ever befallen her? So she sat and fanned herself,\nand gradually the sun went down and darkness gathered round her.\n\nSuddenly she heard a sound below. Maybe her husband had come back and\nwanted his evening meal, or worse still, it might be one of the many\nmonkeys of the neighbourhood, who had come to help himself to some of\nher bread. Anyway, she must not sit fanning herself any longer, but go\nquickly to see what was happening.\n\nAlas, poor Sukhiya! She tried to go too quickly, and in her haste\nand the darkness, she never saw how near her foot was to the sloping\nedge of the roof. There was a cry of distress, a heavy thud, and a\nmotionless figure lay in the middle of the small courtyard below.\n\nHappily it was not a monkey, but Sukhiya's husband, whose coming in had\ndisturbed her and brought about this catastrophe.\n\nHe was a poor, helpless old man at the best of times, and as he saw his\nwife lying at his feet unable to move or lift herself up, he was very\nperplexed.\n\nGradually it occurred to him that if he could do nothing himself, at\nleast he could call someone who could.\n\nWhen it was once started, it did not take long for the news to spread.\nAnd in a very short time, the small courtyard was crowded. They lifted\nthe injured woman, regardless of her groans, on to a bedstead, and felt\nher limbs to see what bones were broken.\n\nEach one had some different remedy to suggest, and some of the wiser\nones advised taking her to the hospital, but as others protested\nagainst it, nothing was done.\n\nPresently Sukhiya left off groaning for a minute, and with some\ndifficulty gasped out, \"Bring Hira\u2014I want to see Hira.\"\n\nThen there followed a discussion as to where Hira was to be found, and\nan old woman, who said she knew the house, volunteered to go and bring\nher.\n\n\"Tell her,\" gasped the injured woman, \"that Sukhiya is dying; then she\nwill surely come.\"\n\nSo the old woman started on her errand. She had some distance to go and\nshe could not walk very fast, for her back was bent nearly double, and\nit was only with the help of a stick that she could walk at all.\n\nWhen at last she reached the house, it was some time before she\nsucceeded in making anyone hear. R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh and his daughter were\nnot at home, Anandi was ill, and Hira was absorbed in her book, which\nShushila was teaching her to read with her fingers.\n\nWhen the old woman came in, she was so tired with her long walk that\nshe had to wait a little to recover herself. Then she explained,\n\"Sukhiya the ghi-seller sent me; she has fallen off the roof. She says\nshe is dying, and wants the blind girl who lives here to come and see\nher.\"\n\nHira needed no persuading, and was ready to go at once, but Anandi was\nnot so sure. What would her master and mistress say if they returned\nand found that the blind girl had gone out alone with a stranger who\nwas quite unfit to protect her? If she could have gone herself, it\nwould have been quite easy, but that was impossible, for she had no\nstrength to walk so far.\n\nIn the meantime, Hira had thrown a large shawl round her, and was ready\nto start. What could Anandi say? So she let her go, but with many\nmisgivings and entreaties to return as soon as she possibly could.\n\nWhen the old woman and her charge arrived, the crowd was still there,\nindeed it had increased, for as they looked at the face of the\nsuffering woman, they knew that what she said was true; she was indeed\ndying.\n\nThey had tried their best to help her; one had brought oil to rub her\nwith, but she groaned so when she was touched that not much could be\ndone in that way. Another, who said he knew how to set bones, tried to\nshow his skill, but Sukhiya's screams soon put an end to his attempts.\nA doctor was brought and ordered some medicine for her to drink, which\nsomeone was busy preparing.\n\nIn the midst of it all, Hira arrived, and the crowd divided to let her\npass. The past year had wrought a great change in the blind girl's\nappearance. She had grown so much taller, and instead of being unwashed\nand uncared-for, as in the days of old, everything betokened the touch\nof loving hands. In her spotless sari, she formed a great contrast to\nthe dirty, squalid group into the midst of which she came.\n\nThere was no need for anyone to lead her to the spot where Sukhiya lay.\nThe groans of the dying woman were a quite sufficient guide.\n\nSukhiya tried to raise herself as she saw the girl coming to her side,\nbut only fell back with a heavier groan, as she moaned, \"All my bones\nare broken; that terrible fall has killed me, but I had to see you once\nmore. Come close, for my eyes are getting dim and I can hardly see you.\"\n\nHira stretched out her hands to find a place by her old friend's side,\nand then sat down on the edge of the bedstead. She could not see the\nlook of death creeping over the face she had never seen, and knowing\nhow little the expression, \"I am killed,\" often means, she wondered\nwhether the case was really quite so hopeless.\n\nHow she wished that Shushila, or even Anandi, had been there with her!\n\nShe too had heard of the hospital and what wonders were sometimes\naccomplished there, so she also thought that if only the sufferer could\nbe carried there, even if her bones were broken, she might live and not\ndie.\n\nBut as soon as Sukhiya heard the word \"hospital\" she only groaned\nagain and said, \"What is the use of a hospital when I am all broken to\npieces? I tell you, child, I am killed, and now that I have seen you I\nam quite ready to die and escape from this pain and misery.\"\n\nAt the words \"I am quite ready to die,\" Hira started. Supposing it was\ntrue that her old friend's life was ending, was she ready to die, still\nmore, was she ready to meet God? If there was nothing to be done to\nrestore her to life, at least she might try to prepare her for death;\nfor she knew that of all the crowd assembled there she alone knew that\nsecret.\n\nBending over the stricken form beside her, she said softly, \"Sukhiya,\nyou say you are ready to die, but are you quite sure? We must get rid\nof sin before we can meet God.\"\n\n\"Child,\" gasped the woman, \"what do I know about sin? I have always\ntold you I have no understanding for such things. And now I can only\nthink of this awful pain, and long to get out of it.\"\n\nPoor Hira, it seemed so easy and simple to her that the dying woman\nshould stretch out her hand to the One mighty to save, and find life as\nshe met death. But what could she say when the one for whose salvation\nshe so longed seemed to care nothing about it herself?\n\n\"Shall I sing you a hymn?\" she asked, thinking of nothing else to say\nor do, and Sukhiya always liked to hear her sing.\n\n\"Yes, child, sing,\" said the voice, growing feebler every moment.\n\nA hush fell on the crowd, and not a sound was heard as the blind girl\nsang in a clear, sweet voice the same words that had first told her of\nJesus Christ and His great salvation.\n\nSukhiya had left off groaning; she had hardly strength even for that.\nBut the eyes, which were fast closing to the things of earth, rested\nlovingly on the face of the blind girl.\n\n\"You are never hungry now, little one, and no one ever beats you or\nmakes you cry,\" she whispered.\n\n\"Oh, no, Sukhiya dear; everybody is so good to me, and I am always\nhappy,\" answered Hira, wondering what she meant.\n\n\"I would have taken care of you and kept you, but what could I do? I\ncould not even keep my own children; they all went one by one. Now I am\ngoing too.\" Slowly came the words, and then Sukhiya lay still.\n\nHira bent fondly over her. \"Sukhiya, Jesus Christ is here; take hold of\nHim, and He will save you.\"\n\n\"Jesus Christ, save my soul!\" The words were so low that only Hira\ncould catch them, but surely there was One standing by whom they saw\nnot, whose ear can catch the faintest whisper, and who never fails to\nsee the least spark of faith.\n\nThere was silence for a few seconds, then someone said, \"She is dead,\"\nand straightway rose a wail of grief and mourning.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nOUR JACK-A-NAPES.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n[Illustration] THAT morning, as Sailor Jem had been busy on the shore\npreparing for his fishing expedition, his son Jack had come sauntering\nalong the sands with his baskets of fish.\n\n\"Ain't you sold any more than that?\" asked his father in surprise.\n\nJack hated to be blamed (who does not?), and he answered rather\nroughly, \"I've sold all I could; it ain't my fault that the folks won't\nbuy.\"\n\n\"Have you been up to the Vicarage?\" asked his father.\n\n\"No; the baskets was that heavy I couldn't get as far. I thought when I\nhad sold some, they'd be a bit lighter.\"\n\n\"And they will have been looking out for you all the morning!\" said his\nfather vexedly. \"The cook always likes some fresh fish for lunch, and\nyou'll be too late! Run off as fast as you can!\"\n\n\"I'm not agoin' to run,\" grumbled Jack beneath his breath. \"It's a mile\nif it's a inch, and it'll take me a good hour, and all for nothing,\nperhaps.\"\n\n\"Go at once!\" thundered his father. And then he turned to his boat and\nwent on splicing a rope, his face grave and his heart as heavy as a\npiece of lead.\n\n[Illustration: \"Ain't you sold any more than that?\" asked his father.]\n\nWhen Jack was at length out of sight, an old man, who had been watching\nthem both, turned to Jem with a quiet sympathy in his look as he said,\n\"'Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord\u2014' We mustn't get\ntoo disheartened, my son!\"\n\n\"No\u2014no!\" said Jem. \"But sometimes one gets so disappointed, father! The\nyoungster ain't doin' quite as I like. He's lazy, he is. You may work\nfor 'em night and day, and after all, if it don't go exactly as they\nconsider it should, then they go and think you're hard on 'em! That's\nwhat I find.\"\n\n\"Yes, Jem, that's so; but I got to learn, as I grew older, that it's a\ngood thing as the Lord's patience don't run out as soon as ours, for if\nit did the rope wouldn't be long enough to pull us to shore!\"\n\n\"I'll think of that, father.\" And then he went home to his dinner, and\nto wish his wife good-bye.\n\n                       \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\"YOU'LL get that net done, I reckon, before I come home again, Minnie?\"\n\n\"That depends how long ye're gone,\" his wife answered with a smile,\nwhich in her young days had caught her James's fancy more than anything\nelse about her.\n\nHe laughed now in a good-humoured sort of way, as he turned over the\nnet and measured it with his eyes.\n\n\"And see to that young Jack-a-Napes of yours, and make him a good boy.\"\n\nHis wife put down her netting needle and looked at him. \"Do you really\nmean that?\" she asked gently.\n\n\"Of course I do! One can't get a bit of peace with him, first this,\nthen that\u2014you make him mind, wife! That's what I mean.\"\n\n\"I can make him mind,\" she said very seriously, \"but as to making him\ngood\u2014\"\n\nHe stooped and kissed her good-bye. Perhaps he did not guess what a\npang of pain he had given her.\n\n\"I'm off,\" he said cheerily.\n\nBut she detained him by an earnest gesture. \"Jem,\" she said, \"he's your\n'Jack-a-Napes' as much as mine! We must both pray for him that God may\nmake him all we would have him\u2014it's only He can.\"\n\nThe father nodded, and then, the last moment having come, he made a\nbolt for it, and went clattering down the little steps to the shore,\nwhile she stood watching till she saw him get into his boat and start\nwith the others for his two or three days' fishing.\n\nShe did not know why her husband's mind had been specially full of\nyoung \"Jack-a-Napes\" as he had called their only boy, but she wished he\nhad not spoken of it at the moment of their parting.\n\nJack made his way slowly back from the Vicarage. He had been too late,\nafter all. When he sauntered into the cottage, his baskets were heavier\nthan he liked, and his pockets were lighter.\n\n\"Why, Jack!\" said his mother peeping into the basket.\n\nFor answer, Jack sat down and burst into tears.\n\n\"Aren't you well?\" asked his mother.\n\nJack shook his head, and then sobbed out that father was cross, and he\nwasn't going to sell fish any more if people wouldn't buy, and if he\nwas to be scolded when he did his best.\n\nHis mother looked at him for a few moments without speaking, and then\nshe placed his food near him, and went on with her netting.\n\nJack wiped his eyes and ate his dinner in silence. He could not quite\nmake his mother out.\n\n\"Jack,\" she said, when he had finished, \"take one of those baskets and\ngo out again and see what you can do. 'If a man will not work, neither\nshall he eat,' is the Bible rule. And I'm not going to have you idle\nall the morning, and then think you'll play and eat as usual.\"\n\nJack slowly went forth again, but he found most people supplied, and he\nhad hard work to get even some of his fish sold.\n\nMeanwhile, his mother prayed over her netting. She had been young and\ntroublesome herself, she knew; and every day, even now, she saw how\nmuch patience God had with her!\n\n                       \u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nSO when Jack brought his empty basket at last, and laid the money down\non the table, she kissed him, and said a cheery word or two.\n\n\"Jack, I see you have done your best to make up for this morning! Now,\nhave your tea, and then you may go down to see the boats in. There's a\nhigh sea on, and they'll have a job to beach them. I'm glad in that way\nthat your father won't be in to-night. He's safer out there.\"\n\nJack lifted his face to give her a kiss.\n\n\"Thank you, mother,\" he said, more gratefully than was his wont.\n\nAnd he was off like a shot to the only landing place where, in rough\nweather, the boats could be brought up, and there he stood among the\nmen, ready to catch the rope that was thrown, or to do any little\nservice with all his might.\n\n\"I hope it won't be like this when father lands to-morrow,\" said Jack\nto himself. \"Poor father! I wish I hadn't been so rough to him to-day.\nBut I never can hold my tongue! Perhaps some day, when I get older\u2014\"\n\nAnd then some of his grandfather's words had come back to\nhim\u2014\"Jack-a-Napes, there's nothing like serving Christ for getting rid\nof the devil! That's the best way, my boy!\"\n\nThe next day, however, the wind had risen to a gale, and the waves\ndashed against the cliff with the noise of thunder.\n\nJack did not say much. But he started out bright and early with the\nremainder of his fish, and often he cast a glance over the sea and at\nthe scudding clouds, longing that the wind might abate before the other\nfishing boats were expected.\n\nPerhaps he had never spent such an unhappy day. He remembered how he\nhad wished in his anger yesterday that father never would come back;\nand the thought seemed to burn into him like fire.\n\nThe moment he could get off, he ran down to the beach, and there he\nstood for many long hours, sheltering from the wind behind a big rock,\nand watching the sea line with large anxious eyes. What if father never\ncame back?\n\nIt began to grow dusk, but still he watched. Suddenly in his despair,\nhe thought of praying! He dropped on his knees behind the great rock,\nand though his voice was drowned by the thunder of the waves, he felt\nsure God heard his broken words.\n\n   \"Please, heavenly Father, forgive me, and make me a good boy to father,\nand bring him safe home, for Jesus' sake.\"\n\nHe rose feeling wonderfully comforted, and then he saw a stir among the\nsailors, and on the crest of a wave fast coming in was his father's\nboat!\n\n\"Thank the Lord!\" said grandfather's voice close to him. \"For hearing\nour prayers and bringing him home, Jack-a-Napes!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\"PUNCHINELLO.\"\n\nA TRUE STORY.\n\nGWENDOLINE hugged her doll rapturously, and, looking up in her mother's\nface, exclaimed, \"I love Punchinello better than 'anything' in the\nworld!\"\n\nSo saying, she put him down to go and learn her evening text.\n\nTo-night it was, \"Little children, keep yourselves from idols.\"\n\n\"What does 'idols' mean, mother?\"\n\n\"Anything in our hearts that we put in the place God ought to have; or\nanything that we love more than we do Him,\" said her mother softly.\n\nIn her own mind, she was learning the text too, and as she gazed at her\nlittle daughter afresh, she was asking that she might love her heavenly\nFather more\u2014much more\u2014and her fatherless little girl next.\n\nGwendoline, unconscious of her mother's thoughts, learned her text, and\nthen went to bed, returning only for her good-night kiss.\n\n\"Mother,\" said she, as she lay in her arms for her \"cuddle,\" as she\ncalled it, \"mother, is God sad if we have an idol?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Why, yes, Gwenny, He is, for He loved us so much as to give His Son to\ndie for us.\"\n\n\"Then\u2014\" with a slight sob\u2014\"I mustn't love Punchinello 'best' any more.\"\n\n\"No, darling; and He loves you so much, it will not be hard to love\nHim.\"\n\n\"I will, I do,\" said the child softly. \"And, mother, please may I give\nPunchinello to the little lame Mary, and that will 'help' me not to\nlove him too much.\"\n\nSo next day, Gwendoline took her dear Punchinello to little lame Mary,\nand added a great brightness and joy to the life of the sick child.\n\nAs she put the doll into Mary's hand, Gwendoline whispered, \"It is\nbecause Jesus loves me I give you that, and also to help me remember to\nlove 'Him' best; so you'll remember too, won't you?\"\n\nMary did remember, every time she played with her dear dolly.\n\nAnd little Gwenny went home and remembered too.\n\nSo years passed on, and Gwendoline learned to love Jesus Christ and God\nmuch best, and was content to leave her nice home and go and teach the\nheathen of His great love.\n\nAnd her mother had her prayer answered, and she too learned to love God\nbest, and was willing to spare her child to do God's great work.\n\nAnd so their prayer was answered.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER XX.\u2014BEH\u00c1RI L\u00c1L.\n\nDURING the time Rita was singing, a boy who was passing down the lane\nhad been attracted by the unusual sound. And then, seeing the crowd\ngathered, had joined in, and standing on the outskirts listened to\nthe hymn being sung. At first, he could not see the singer, but by\ngradually forcing his way, he at last came in sight of her.\n\nIf anyone had been watching him, they would have seen him give a\nviolent start. He might have seen a ghost, and indeed he thought he\nhad, for as he looked at the scene before him he felt quite certain\nthat the blind girl, arrayed in her clean white sari, sitting by the\nside of the dying woman, was none other than his cousin Hira, who had\ndied a year ago.\n\nHad he not been present when Sukhiya had come in and announced her\ndeath, with bitter cries and reproaches?\n\nAnyway, she was sitting there before him\u2014whether in real flesh and\nblood or not, he could not tell. He had heard of strange things\nhappening at the time of death, and even he could see that the woman\nlying there was dying, so maybe the girl who had been so loved by her,\nthough by no one else, had appeared to comfort her at that hour.\n\nStill, being a plain, matter-of-fact boy, he hardly thought this\nlikely, and was much more inclined to believe that Hira really had\nnever died; so he determined to wait and see what would happen next.\n\nAs soon as Hira knew that her old friend was dead, she began to think\nof returning home, for she remembered Anandi's parting injunction not\nto stay a minute longer than she could possibly help.\n\nThen the difficulty arose\u2014how was she to get back? The old woman, whose\nlegs were still aching, did not volunteer to take another walk, and\nthere was no one else who knew the house.\n\nHere Beh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l (Hira's cousin) saw his opportunity, and determined\nto have a little fun out of the strange event. So coming forward, he\noffered the girl to see her safely home.\n\nTo Hira's quick ear, the voice had a familiar sound, but when or where\nshe had heard it, she could not remember. And being only too glad to\nfind anyone who was willing to be her escort, she was quite ready to\ntrust herself to the boy's guidance.\n\nBut Beh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l had no intention of taking his cousin to R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh's\nhouse. If he had told the truth, he had not the least idea where it\nwas; rather he meant to take her to his own home, and give those there\na good fright by showing them a ghost. What fun it would be to see\ntheir consternation!\n\nSo the two started on their way. Hira's mind was too full of the scene\nshe had just left, to think of which way she was going, so she the more\neasily fell into the trap laid for her.\n\nThe boy thought it best to keep silent, lest his voice should betray\nhim. So nothing was said till they reached the house, and Beh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l\nknocked with the chain on the door.\n\n\"Where are the steps?\" asked Hira in a bewildered voice, as she felt\nfor the familiar entrance and did not find it.\n\n\"Just wait a minute till they bring a light; it is so dark I can hardly\nsee where we are,\" answered the boy. \"Perhaps I have brought you to the\nwrong door. Don't be troubled; I will see you safely home.\"\n\nAfter a further knocking and waiting, the door was opened.\n\nBeh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l had taken care to have a good grasp of Hira's arm. And\nbefore she had time to think, she was inside the courtyard. Then\nfollowed a scene of great confusion.\n\n\"I have brought someone to see you,\" said the boy.\n\nAnd his mother, catching sight of the blind girl, whom she had thought\nof as dead for more than a year, uttered a loud scream.\n\nBy this time, she knew that she had been led astray, that she had not\nbeen brought to R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh's house, but to some strange place.\n\nThen, as she began to distinguish the voices, it flashed upon her what\nit all meant; the familiar voice was that of her cousin, and he had\nbrought her to her uncle's house. But why her appearance should have\ncaused such consternation she could not imagine. Now her heart sank\nwithin her! Suppose they should refuse to let her go, and she had to go\nback to the old life of poverty and misery? Gradually the clamour of\nvoices grew less, and she was able to make herself heard.\n\n\"Why have you been so cruel as to bring me here,\" she asked, \"where\nno one wants me? You promised to take me home, and this is my home no\nlonger. I am a Christian and live with Christians. Take me back to\nthem; they will all be looking for me.\"\n\n\"Tell us first,\" answered the aunt angrily, \"who made up all that fine\nstory that we had turned you out into the storm and you had died of\ncold and wet? Fine Christians those who have taught you to lie like\nthat, though certainly you did not need much teaching.\"\n\nThen Hira began to get angry too, for she understood nothing of the\nstory of her death. \"I never said I was dead,\" she said in a shrill,\nexcited voice. \"I never said you turned me out; I never said anything\nabout you, and it was you who taught me to lie. Now I am a Christian, I\nknow better, and I never tell lies. But take me home\u2014do take me home;\nthey will all be wondering where I am.\"\n\n\"And where is your home but here, where your father left you? And\nwhat will he say when he comes back and hears that you have become a\nChristian? Far better that he should hear that you are dead, as we all\nthought.\"\n\n\"But I 'won't' stay here,\" cried Hira, stamping her feet angrily; \"if\nyou try to keep me, I will run away again; you cannot make me stay if I\ndon't want to. How can a Christian live with Hindus? Oh, do let me go!\"\n\n\"How do 'we' know where your Christian friends live?\" asked Beh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l.\n\"So how can we take you there? They are no friends of ours, these new\nfriends of yours, who steal other people's children.\"\n\nHearing this, Hira became more angry than ever, and uttered many bitter\nwords of anger and scorn. If it had not been for her tall figure and\nclean, tidy clothes, it might have been the very same child who had\ndisappeared a year ago.\n\n\"A fine Christian you are!\" said her aunt contemptuously. \"And nice\nfriends those must be who have taught you to come back and abuse your\nrelations like this. We have heard quite enough of you for now, so you\nhad better be quiet and go to sleep.\"\n\nHira's only answer was to sit down on the ground and weep bitterly.\n\nNo one took any more notice of her, and when she was exhausted with\ncrying, she lay down where she was, but no sleep came to her.\n\nGradually the rest of the household left off talking, and settled\nthemselves for the night. And in the silence that followed, Hira had a\ngood opportunity for thinking over what had passed and what was likely\nto happen next.\n\nHer anger had begun to subside, and in its place a feeling of shame\nbegets to steal over her. Again, she seemed to hear the words of her\naunt, \"A fine Christian you are, and nice friends those must be.\"\n\nHow often she had been told that it was useless to bear the name of\nChrist unless she also had His spirit and did as He would do! Now she\nhad proved to her heathen relations that the so-called Christian Hira\nwas no different to, no better than, the Hindu Hira.\n\nAgain she wept bitterly, but this time they were not tears of rage and\nbitterness, but of shame and sorrow.\n\nShe felt so lonely and desolate, for she was not only separated from\nher earthly friends, but how could she believe that her heavenly Friend\ncould be near her when she had so sinned against Him?\n\n   \"Please, Lord Jesus, forgive me for being so naughty and keep me from\ngetting angry any more. And oh, do take me home again,\" she whispered.\n\nAnd so from that heathen home went up the first prayer which had ever\nbeen offered in it.\n\nWe may be quite sure that it was answered, and in spite of her sorrow\nand loneliness, a sense of quietness and peace stole into the child's\nheart. She knew she was alone no longer, that there was One beside her\nable to take care of her under all circumstances, and to save her from\nthe greatest dangers.\n\nThen she began to wonder what she could do to atone for the wrong she\nhad done. And finally made up her mind that as soon as her aunt woke,\nshe would ask her to forgive her. Then, she thought, she will see that\nif Christians do naughty things, they are sorry for it afterwards.\nAfter that, with a mind at rest, she fell asleep.\n\nThe next morning she woke with a start, roused by the sound of voices.\nFor a moment, she could not think where she was. How did she come to be\nlying on the hard ground? And who were those people who were talking so\nloudly around her?\n\nThen it all came back to her: Sukhiya's death, her being brought to\nher uncle's house, the stormy scene which had followed, her prayer for\nforgiveness, and her determination to confess her fault to her aunt.\n\nAgain from her heart went up a cry for divine help.\n\n   \"Please, Lord Jesus, keep me good and tell me what to say.\"\n\nThen she listened to what was being said, and found that Beh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l\nwas being scolded for bringing her there. Suddenly the voices became\nmore subdued and she could only just catch the mention of rupees, and\nunderstood nothing of what it meant.\n\nAs soon as the discussion had come to an end, she got up from the place\nwhere she had been lying, and groping her way along, called her aunt by\nname.\n\nThe response she received was not encouraging. But Hira never lacked\ncourage, and she said bravely, \"Please, aunt, forgive me for being so\nangry last night; I know it was very naughty. And please send me home.\"\n\nA sudden silence fell on the group, for all were surprised to hear the\nfiery Hira speaking words of such gentleness. It was probably the first\ntime in their lives that they had ever heard anyone confess themselves\nin the wrong, or ask for forgiveness.\n\nThe aunt hardly knew how to grant it, never having done so before,\nso she only looked at the blind girl with astonishment. And, after a\npause, said, \"Let you go home! Why shouldn't we? We have no money to\nbuy you fine clothes like those; and what would you say to our food\nnow, I wonder? Besides, how can Hindus and Christians live together?\"\n\n\"Then you will send me back?\" cried Hira joyfully.\n\n\"And where are we to send you?\" asked the uncle, who was standing by.\n\"'You' cannot find the way, and 'we' don't know it.\"\n\nHere was a difficulty Hira had not thought of. She shrank from being\nentrusted to Beh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l's care, but what else could be done? So she\nsaid, \"Let Beh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l go with me, and we will ask and ask until we find\nthe house. Everyone knows R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh and his daughter, because they\nare so good.\"\n\nBut Beh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l thought differently. \"No indeed,\" he exclaimed on\nhearing the proposal; \"I was abused enough last night for bringing you\nhere; I am not going to take you anywhere else.\"\n\nIt was difficult for Hira not to give an angry and reproachful answer.\nBut, remembering her late repentance, she held back the words which\nwere so ready to come, and said nothing.\n\nIn the meantime, her uncle and aunt whispered together, after which the\nlatter said quite kindly, \"Wait patiently a little while, and all will\nbe settled rightly. Your uncle is going out, and will, maybe, find out\nwhere these people live.\"\n\nSo Hira had to be as patient as she knew how. In a little while, the\nmen of the household went out, and she and her aunt were left alone.\nThen she was glad she had not gone away at once when she wanted to, for\nin the talk which followed, she was able to tell all which had befallen\nher.\n\nAnd for the first time in her life, the one who had never heard the\ngood news of salvation, listened to the sweet story as it was told by\nher blind niece.\n\nShe listened attentively, and at the end said, with a sigh, \"Your words\nare very good, Hira, and as I listen, I forget everything else and feel\nglad; but they are not for me. It is a good thing for you that you have\nbecome a Christian, for by doing so you have got food to eat and good\nclothes to wear; but what can I do? I must just go on as I am.\"\n\n\"But it was not to get clothes and food that I became a Christian,\"\ncried the girl eagerly; \"it was to get my sins put away and be ready to\nmeet God; and the Lord Jesus will do just the same for you if you ask\nHim.\"\n\n\"No, no, child,\" was the answer. \"What time have I to learn these new\nthings? All my time goes in thinking of food and pice. I will go the\nsame way as my forefathers have gone, and what I don't know, God does.\"\n\nHira was sorely disappointed with this indifferent answer, and wondered\nthat anyone should hear such good news without being glad.\n\nJust then a woman came in with flour to sell, so there was no more\nopportunity for talking. The new-comer was full of the story of\nSukhiya's accident and death, which Hira, so taken up with her\nown experiences, had forgotten to mention. She too expressed her\nastonishment at the appearance of the blind girl, whom all had thought\nto be dead.\n\nThis led to Hira's asking for an explanation. And she heard of the\nfalse story which her old friend had invented on her behalf, and how\nshe had thought and planned for her good.\n\n\n\n\"Hail, King of the Jews!\"\n\nWHEN the chief priests of the Jews had determined to kill the Lord\nJesus, after examining Him for many hours on that dreadful night in\nwhich He had been betrayed by Judas and forsaken by His disciples, as\nthey did not like to put Him to death themselves, they took Him when\nthe morning dawned to Pilate, the Roman governor, for they thought he\nwould do what they wished.\n\nThe Jews and the high priest had asked the Lord Jesus whether He really\nwas the Christ, the Son of God; and Jesus, to leave them without\nexcuse, told them plainly that He was, and that hereafter they would\nsee Him sitting in heaven and coming back to earth in the clouds.\n\nAt this, they were fearfully angry, and tore their clothes, and led Him\naway to Pilate, in the hopes that Pilate would at once order Him to be\nput to death.\n\nSo Pilate examined Jesus and put to Him many questions. But the dear\nLord, who could have asked His Father to send thousands of angels to be\nwith Him, stood before Pilate and answered nothing.\n\nPilate was very much afraid to do anything to the Lord Jesus. His wife\nsent to him when he was sitting on the judgment-seat, telling him of a\ndream she had had, and begging him to have nothing to do with Jesus,\nbecause He had done nothing wrong.\n\nBut the Jews kept on clamouring that Jesus should be crucified, and\nPilate was more afraid of the Jews than he was of displeasing God. So\nat last, he ordered the dear Lord to be scourged, and then told the\nsoldiers they could take Him away to be crucified.\n\nSo they led Him into a great hall, and there they gathered together all\nthe rest of the soldiers, and began to mock at the dear Lord whom we\nlove so much.\n\nThey clothed Him with a purple robe and plaited a crown of long sharp\nthorns and put it on His loving head, and then they began to bow to Him\nand call Him in mockery the King of the Jews.\n\nJesus did not mind being called the King of the Jews, because He came\nto be their King; He was only sorry they would not love Him or have Him\nfor their King.\n\nBut oh, how it must have cut Him to the heart in all His pain to have\nthem mock Him, and beat Him on the head, and spit upon Him, and pretend\nto worship Him!\n\nIf our hearts are filled with grief that He could have suffered so\nmuch, should it not make us love Him more than ever, and hate the sins\nwhich He died on purpose to put away?\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWe may not know, we cannot tell,    |  There was no other good enough\n  What pains He had to bear,        |    To pay the price of sin,\nBut we believe it was for us        |  He only could unlock the gate\n  He hung and suffered there.       |    Of heaven, and let us in.\n                                    |\nHe died that we might be forgiven,  |  Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved,\n  He died to make us good,          |    And we must love Him too,\nThat we might go at last to heaven, |  And trust in His redeeming blood,\n  Saved by His precious blood.      |    And try His works to do.\n\n\n\nGRAND-DAD'S ADVICE.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\nROLLO had said only that morning that he wished Clare's brat were at\nthe bottom of the sea!\n\nAnd he had wished it just then, for all night long Clare had been\nwalking up and down her room, while the baby had moaned and cried\nceaselessly.\n\nBut now here was Clare coming down over the beach, with white face and\neyes heavy with unshed tears; and surely she looked as if something\nwere the matter as she came up and showed the babe to grandfather.\n\nRollo's heart smote him; beneath his rough boyish exterior he had a\ntender spot, and that was for his sister Clare who had brought him up\nsince he was a toddling child.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"What is it, my dear?\" asked grandfather in his sympathetic, cheery\ntones, looking in the little face as he spoke.\n\n\"I can't think,\" said Clare despairingly. \"The neighbours say I shall\nlose him. There was a white dove flew against the window this morning\u2014\"\n\n\"I wouldn't trouble over that,\" he said gently, \"but think what's best\nto be done for the little 'un. I should take him indoors, and give him\na warm bath and keep him wrapped up a bit. And then\u2014\"\n\n\"Then?\" asked Clare, raising her heavy eyes.\n\n\"Then I should tell the Lord all about it, and ask Him to bless what\nyou've done, and make the little 'un better in His own time.\"\n\n\"I wish I could trust Him like you do, grand-dad,\" she said tearfully,\nas she turned and made her way back to the cottage with her treasure.\n\nRollo stood looking on.\n\nWhat if his cruel thought that morning were to deprive Clare of her\nbaby?\n\n\"Grand-dad,\" he said, moving closer, \"if you was to wish a wrong thing\nin your heart and then be ever so sorry you had, what would you do?\"\n\n\"I'd run quick and ask the Lord to forgive it; and I'd make what amends\nI could, if so be I'd hurt anyone.\"\n\nRollo ran after his sister.\n\n\"Clare,\" he said, \"I'm ever so sorry I was nasty about the baby\u2014and\nindeed, I've asked God to forgive me, and to make him better\u2014\"\n\n\"Dear old Rollo!\" she said, but she felt comforted.\n\n\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\u2014BROUGHT HOME.\n\n[Illustration] WHEN R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh and his daughter returned home on the\nnight of Sukhiya's death, they heard, with some consternation, that\nHira had gone out alone with a strange old woman.\n\nThey had no heart to reproach Anandi for letting her go, for the old\nservant was so distressed herself that they could not add to her grief.\n\nAs no one had the least idea where the ghi-seller lived, it was\nimpossible to go in search of the missing girl, so they could only wait\nand pray, hoping that she would soon return.\n\nAs night closed in and still she did not come, R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh started out\nin hopes of hearing some news. But as he took the opposite direction\nand went away from, instead of towards, Sukhiya's home, he naturally\nheard nothing, and returned as much in the dark as ever.\n\nThe night was passed by the whole household in great anxiety, for who\ncould tell that the story was a true one? It was more than possible\nthat Sukhiya's accident had been invented as a means of enticing the\nblind girl away from her Christian friends.\n\nAs soon as morning dawned, the search was begun in good earnest. In\nspite of her weakness, Anandi persisted in taking her part, for she\nbitterly reproached herself for having let the girl go, and longed to\ndo all in her power to bring her back.\n\nOn her way, she met Reuben Day\u00e1l, who was more than ready to help those\nwho had been such good friends to his family in time of need.\n\n\"I know Sukhiya quite well,\" he said cheerily, \"and will soon find out\nwhether she really fell off the roof or not. If she did, everybody will\nknow it.\"\n\nThe boy was not at all sure of the house, but he went in the right\ndirection. And the first person he met told him that it was quite true\nthat the ghi-seller had fallen off the roof, that she had died soon\nafter, and even now preparations were being made for her funeral.\n\nReuben was delighted to think that he was to be the one to restore Hira\nto her friends, and hurried on to the house, which had been pointed out\nto him.\n\nHere a new difficulty arose. There were several amongst those gathered\nto take part in the funeral who bore witness to the fact that a blind\ngirl had been there the night before, but none could tell what had\nbecome of her. All they knew was that a boy in the crowd had offered to\nsee her home, and she had left with him.\n\nReuben was sorely disappointed that he was again thrown off the track.\nStill, he determined not to give up, for it was plain that Hira could\nnot be very far-off.\n\nAs he was standing outside, wondering where he should go next, a man\nand boy passed him; they were talking very earnestly, and he thought he\ncaught the name of R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh. This might be a clue, so he followed\nthem, and as they turned a corner, he caught them up and asked eagerly,\n\"Have you heard anything of a blind girl who was here last night, in\nthe ghi-seller's house?\"\n\nReuben was a sharp boy, and he knew from the look of warning which the\nman gave to his son that he did know something, whether he said so or\nnot.\n\n\"What blind girl are you asking after? And what should we know about\nher?\" was the evasive answer given.\n\n\"Tell us what she is like,\" said Beh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l, \"for there are many blind\ngirls, and we might tell you of the wrong one.\"\n\nReuben gave a few particulars of Hira's appearance, which the father\nand son gravely listened to.\n\nAnd at the end, the man asked, \"And who may 'you' be, that you should\nbe looking for this girl? Perhaps you are her brother?\"\n\n\"Oh, no, I am not,\" answered Reuben; \"I am no relation at all. But\nR\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh and his daughter have been very kind to my mother, and as\nthey are in great trouble about this lost girl, I am trying to find\nher.\"\n\n\"And who is R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh? And where does he live?\" asked the man\ncarelessly.\n\nReuben was delighted at the opportunity, and eagerly exclaimed, \"Shall\nI take you to his house? Then you can tell him all you know.\"\n\n\"What do I know about this girl?\" was the answer. \"But you can show me\nthe house; it will do no harm.\"\n\nSo Reuben led the way while the others followed.\n\nWhen they arrived, R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh had just returned after another vain\nsearch.\n\nReuben introduced his two companions by saying, \"I think this man knows\nsomething about Hira, so I have brought him to you.\"\n\nBeh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l was ready to contradict this statement, but his father\nstopped him.\n\nThen began a conversation, from which R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh gathered, with some\ndifficulty, for he could get no direct answer, that the man \"could\"\ngive some information, but he was determined to gain something for\nhimself by doing so. It was quite evident that if a sufficient reward\nwas offered, Hira would very soon be produced.\n\nThis was a perplexing turn for things to take, for, anxious as R\u00e1mp\u00e1l\nSingh was to rescue the blind girl and bring her home again, he\nhesitated at taking such means. Besides, if it should be proved that\nthe man was any relation, and so had a claim on the girl, having once\nobtained money on this account, he might try to do so again and again.\n\nBefore there had been time to settle this knotty point, suddenly\nShushila and Anandi appeared in sight, bringing Hira with them.\n\nThe man's face fell, and Beh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l gave an exclamation of surprise.\nBut neither of them revealed the fact that this was the blind girl of\nwhom they could have given some information if they had chosen.\n\nR\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh said gravely, \"I see my daughter has found the missing\nchild, so we need not trouble you any more.\"\n\nAnd the father and son quietly walked away.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nTO-DAY.\n\n\"THERE!\" cried Mrs. Rosendale, stopping short in her walk. \"I have\nnever given poor Mrs. Lee that money after all! How stupid of me!\"\n\n\"You gave her the parcel,\" said Beatrice; \"won't that do for to-day?\"\n\nMrs. Rosendale sighed. She was very, very tired\u2014almost too tired to\ncontemplate another twenty minutes' walk through the snow, and yet the\nmoney she had taken for Mrs. Lee was urgently needed.\n\nShe hesitated still, and Beatrice fidgeted her hoop backwards and\nforwards. She knew her mother was weary and that she might offer to go\nby herself, but it was dull to go alone.\n\n\"Can't they wait till to-morrow?\" she said grudgingly. \"You are always\ndoing things for them.\"\n\n\"He that 'seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his compassion\nfrom him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?'\" said Mrs. Rosendale\nthoughtfully. \"We know their need, Beatrice. Yes, I must go.\" She\nturned round resolutely and set off at a brisk pace.\n\n\"I 'spose I can go,\" said Beatrice, lagging a step or so behind. \"You\ngo home, mother. Mrs. Lee ought to be very grateful to you, wearing\nyourself out like this.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I shouldn't like you to go grudgingly, dear,\" said Mrs. Rosendale,\npausing and looking into the clouded little face, \"for to help these\npoor ones is to serve the Lord Jesus.\"\n\n\"I said I'd go,\" repeated Beatrice.\n\nShe could not quite conjure up a smile, it did seem such an unnecessary\nbother to go back, but she held out her hand for the money, and\nstrolled slowly away.\n\nShe had not intended to do more than pop the money into Mrs. Lee's hand\nand return at once; but such a mite of a boy opened the door and told\nher to come to mother 'cause baby was a-dying that she felt obliged to\nstep inside. And once in, she stood fascinated.\n\nSuch a poor bare room, such a tiny fire, such a pale, sorrowful mother,\nsuch a tiny, pinched baby lying with closed eyes on her lap.\n\n\"Mother sent you this,\" said Beatrice in a whisper.\n\nMrs. Lee's eyes brightened. \"The doctor has just been, miss, and he\nsaid as how we might still save the baby with proper nourishment.\nWill you tell your dear mother, and say I can't thank her enough? The\nmoney's just come in time, please God.\"\n\nBeatrice went home to find warm shoes and hot cocoa awaiting her, and\nshe delivered her message, but she said little of all she had seen.\n\nThe next day, thought snow was falling fast, she volunteered to go\nagain and see how the baby did. And an hour later, she came flying into\nher mother's room.\n\n\"Mother, it's better! It's got its eyes open and smiled at me!\" Then\nshe flung her arms round her mother's neck, and her eyes filled with\nsudden tears. \"Oh, mother darling, if you hadn't persisted in going\nyesterday, it might have been dead.\"\n\n\"I thought 'you' went, my child.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Beatrice slowly, \"but I hated going. Now I am so very, very\nglad. Mrs. Lee said God must have sent us just at the right minute.\"\n\n\n\nHIRA'S QUEST.\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\u2014\"SHE ONLY TOUCHED THE HEM OF HIS GARMENT.\"\n\nHIRA had much to tell of all which had befallen her from the time when\nshe left her home under the protection of the old woman.\n\nThe child had a natural gift for telling stories, and as she related\nher adventures, the whole household listened with the keenest interest.\n\nAs she described Sukhiya's death, she felt as if she were living\nthrough the scene, and what had been for a time banished from her mind\nby other things, now came back with intense reality.\n\n\"I never knew she loved me so much,\" said the girl tearfully, \"but I\nsee it all now, and that she told that lie\u2014that believing me to be\ndead, no one might try to get me back again. If only she had believed\non the Lord Jesus and had been made ready to meet God, I would not\nmind, because then I would have been sure of seeing her again; but now\nshe has gone, and I will never see her any more. Poor Sukhiya!\"\n\n\"But how do you know that she did not trust the Lord Jesus, and that He\ndid not make her ready to meet God?\" asked R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh.\n\nThe girl's face brightened. \"Oh! Do you think He did? She did not seem\nto care, and there was such a little while.\"\n\n\"And how long did it take the Lord Jesus to cleanse the man who was\nfull of leprosy, or to heal the woman who touched the hem of His\ngarment? Sukhiya said, 'Lord Jesus, save my soul,' but that woman did\nnot say one word, and yet she was healed. It takes us a long time to do\na very little thing, but the Lord can do a great work in a very little\ntime.\"\n\n\"Then you really think,\" said Hira joyfully, \"that I shall see my dear\nold Sukhiya again, and be able to tell her that I did really love her?\"\n\n\"I know this,\" was the answer, \"that the love of our Lord is just as\ntender and forgiving and His power is just as great as it was before He\ndied on the cross, and if Sukhiya asked Him from her heart to save her,\nthat He never said her nay.\"\n\n\"Then I 'will' believe that Sukhiya has gone to be with God, and that\nI shall meet her there. And I am very glad now that I got lost again,\nthough I was so frightened at the time.\"\n\nAs she continued her story, she told how, after her uncle and cousin\nhad gone out, and her aunt was bargaining with the flour-seller, she\nwent and sat close by the door and began to sing, because, she said,\n\"I knew I could not see if anyone I knew passed by, and my aunt would\nhave been angry if I had sat with the door open, or on the doorstep, so\nthat I could be seen. But I thought, 'If I sit and sing, someone who is\nlooking for me may hear my voice and know that I am here.'\"\n\n\"It must have been God who put that thought into your heart,\" said\nShushila, \"for that is just how we found you. We did not know where to\ngo and look for you, but all at once, I heard the sound of singing, and\nwhen I came a little nearer, I said, 'It is surely Hira's voice.' And\nwhen I pushed the door open, there you were.\"\n\n\"And was your aunt willing to let you go?\" asked R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh.\n\n\"No, indeed she was not,\" said Shushila. \"She said Hira must wait till\nher uncle returned, to say what was to be done. I think she really\nwanted to let her go, but was afraid what her husband would say.\"\n\nThen Hira spoke. \"So I said I was very hungry, and I asked her to give\nme something to eat. She said quite angrily, 'Do you think I am going\nto feed a Christian?'\n\n\"So I asked, 'How can I live here if you will not feed me?'\n\n\"Then we came away and she did not try to stop us, only we heard her\ntalking very loud as we walked away down the lane. Oh, I am glad that\nI have come back, for I was so afraid they would keep me, and that I\nshould get angry again.\"\n\nThere was no need for Shushila and her father to say that they were\nvery glad too. But there was fear mixed with their joy, for now that\nHira's relatives had discovered where she lived, and were evidently\nanxious to make something out of her, it was hardly likely that they\nwould be left in peace.\n\nHowever, as the days passed by and nothing more was heard or seen of\nBeh\u00e1ri L\u00e1l and his father, the fear was soon forgotten, and except for\nthe remembrance of Sukhiya and the closing scene of her life, Hira's\nadventure passed from the minds of all.\n\nIt was only a few days later that Mary Day\u00e1l came to R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh's\nhouse to ask for some advice from her friend.\n\nShushila and her father were not at home, but Hira, recognising the\nvoice, cried eagerly, \"Please don't go away. I am here, and I want you\nto listen to something.\"\n\nMary, who always had a warm place in her heart for the blind child, was\nquite willing to spend a little time with her.\n\nWhen she had been seated, Hira said, \"You must not try to 'see'\nanything, you must only listen.\"\n\nThen a voice began to read, rather slowly and hesitatingly, but quite\nclearly, \"'In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I\nwould have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.'\"\n\nIt was difficult not to look round and see the reader, but Mary obeyed\nher orders. After several verses had been read, Hira came to her\nfriend's side, and with a beaming face asked,\u2014\n\n\"Do you know who was reading? It was I, but you didn't know that blind\npeople could read before, did you?\"\n\nMary expressed quite enough surprise and pleasure to satisfy the\ndelighted child, who was then quite willing to fetch her book and show\nits wonders.\n\nSuddenly she exclaimed, \"And, oh, I want to tell you something I never\nknew before. Shushila says that when the Lord Jesus said those words,\n'I will come again, and receive you unto Myself,' He meant just exactly\nwhat He said, and that He is really and truly coming back again,\nperhaps very soon. Are you not glad?\"\n\nThere was a thrill of joy in Mary's voice as she answered, \"Yes,\nindeed, child. Why should we not be glad to see our dear Lord whom we\nlove so much?\"\n\n\"But it will be best of all for me,\" cried the child again, \"because\nwhen Jesus comes, I shall have my new eyes and not be blind any more.\nAnd shan't I be just like that blind man? Because the first person he\never saw was the Lord Jesus, and so He will be the first that I shall\nsee. It used to make me angry that I did not have my new eyes all at\nonce, but now I think I am rather glad, because it makes me want the\nLord Jesus to come all the more, and Shushila says it must make Him sad\nif we do not want Him to come.\"\n\n\"I am afraid,\" said Mary sadly, \"there are a great many who do not care\nabout His coming.\"\n\nThen said Hira thoughtfully, \"That must be either because they do\nnot know and love Him, or else, that they are not ready to meet Him.\nShushila says we cannot be glad unless we are ready, and now I know\nwhat she meant when she said the Lord Jesus would give me something\nbetter than new eyes. He has given me a new heart, and some day I shall\nhave the new eyes too.\"\n\nThere was silence, and then Mary spoke again. \"When I first heard that\nthe Lord Jesus was coming back, I felt very glad, but sometimes I feel\nafraid, because I think I shall be ashamed that I am not more fit to\nmeet Him.\"\n\nNeither of the two speakers had noticed that Shushila and her father\nhad come in, and they started as R\u00e1mp\u00e1l Singh said earnestly, \"We know\nthat when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him\nas He is. There will be no need to be ashamed when we are like our own\nblessed Lord.\"\n\nNo one spoke till Shushila said joyously, \"Oh, how happy and how good\nwe ought to be, for whether we have much or little in this world, we\nhave 'everything' in Jesus Christ our Lord; and when we look forward to\nwhat we are going to 'be' and to 'have,' no words seem enough to thank\nand praise God for all His wonderful love and goodness.\"\n\n\"And,\" responded her father, \"the very least we can do is to seek to\nwalk worthily of this high calling, and so to be to the praise of His\nglory.\"\n\nThus, we leave them. The father and daughter seeking to raise others\nto the same height of spiritual life and happiness to which they have\nthemselves been brought.\n\nThe husband and wife starting life afresh, with an almighty hand to\nuphold them as they run together the heavenly race. And Hira, the blind\nchild, whose eyes had been opened already to see the things \"which are\nunseen and eternal,\" looks forward with joy to the time when in the day\nof perfect vision she will see \"the King in His beauty.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSUNSET FOR JAMIE.\n\nBY CATHARINE SHAW.\n\n\"WHAT'S father doing now?\" asked a little invalid, raising his head\never so slightly from his pillow.\n\n\"I don't rightly know, Jamie; but I see it's near sundown, and he and\nthe sheep will be making their way home.\"\n\nThe little boy's eyes brightened. \"I'm glad of that,\" he said, with a\nweary little sigh. \"I'm always glad when sunset comes, and then again\nI'm always glad when sunrise comes. Isn't that funny?\"\n\n\"Not that I know of,\" said the busy mother, darning in and out over a\nbig hole in her eldest boy's stocking. She thought she was glad too\nwhen the sunset came, and the day's work was nearly over; and then when\nthe light came once more, she was glad that the new day was there, with\nits new duties and new strength to do them.\n\nPerhaps something else in her thought was reflected in the child's\neyes; for she put down her work and stroked his hair tenderly.\n\n\"There's the same Shepherd to lead His little lamb towards Home at\nsunset as there is to lead him to the pastures at sunrise, Jamie. He\nloves you, and will not give you more to bear than He will give you\nstrength for.\"\n\nJamie's eyes watered in sympathy with hers. He knew that his mother had\nlearned the lesson herself, or she would not have said it.\n\n\"And what is father doing 'now?'\" he asked, when she took up her\ndarning again.\n\n\"He is getting near home, I should think; and the sheep and lambs are\nhurrying a little to reach the fold before nightfall. And father is\nthinking of his Jamie, and praying that his pain may be better\u2014\"\n\nJamie nodded ever so little; he was sure of all that too.\n\n\"You can tell him that I think it is\u2014a little,\" he whispered; \"that\nwill make him eat his supper better\u2014\"\n\nThen there was a stir in the yard, and the sheep-dog came barking up\nthe path. And in a moment, a kind, weather-beaten face peeped in, and a\ncheery voice, which was music to Jamie's heart, said\u2014\n\n\"And how's my little laddie to-night? Here's father come back, and all\nthe sheep are in the fold, Jamie!\"\n\n\n\n                       [Illustration: END.]","title":"Sunday sunshine","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":67334}