GOING to school I think must have seemed to Susie almost like living in a new world. The first seven years of her life had been lonely ones, for Susie had not any brothers or sisters of her own to play with, and as she was often fretful and self-willed the neighbors' children soon got tired of trying to amuse her, and after calling her "a cross little thing," a remark which as you know Susie could not hear was not likely to trouble her much, though I have no doubt she would not only see but understand the unkind look that so often goes with harsh or ungentle words, went off to seek more lively playmates, leaving the afflicted child to amuse herself as best she could.
Have you, dear little friends, ever watched a fountain playing? I think most of you have, and I am sure when the sun shone on its pure, bright waters, seeming to turn them almost into a many-colored rainbow, you smiled and thought it a very pretty sight.
But now I want to say just a word or two about another fountain. One that does not send forth sweet waters. Angry looks, sullen tempers, unkind or untruthful words spring from the fountain I am now thinking of. Have any of you guessed its name? Ah, most, perhaps all, of you know. The heart is this fountain; your heart and mine. Let me give you just one short passage from the prophet Jeremiah. You will remember he was one of God's faithful servants who lived and wrote rather more than six hundred years before Christ. He was sent with very solemn messages to the Jews, who were God's earthly people. They did not like to hear what God had to say about their sins, so they got angry with His messenger and shut him up in prison. But the message was from God, and Jeremiah had no choice but to give it even to those who would not listen to or believe it.
Very sad and solemn words are those in which God bade him write the history of the human heart. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." (Jer. 17:9, 109The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. (Jeremiah 17:9‑10).)
If we bear in mind that a child who is deaf and dumb has the same sinful heart, the same evil nature you and I have, we shall not be surprised to hear that our little Susie sometimes got into trouble by her naughty ways.
But Nellie, who thinks there is no one in the world so kind as her own darling mother, will be sure to remind me that I have not told you yet even if Susie had to leave her mother to go to school. "Did I forget?" No, Nellie, I have not forgotten. But as my story is going to be about Susie, not about her mother, it will, I think, be enough to say that though Susie cried a little and clung to her mother's dress when she found she was going to be left among strangers she was soon comforted, and though at first she was very shy, after a few days began in her own quiet way to make friends with one or two of the girls who were about the same age as herself.
But we all know that going to school means a great deal besides getting to know all the girls, or having merry games out in the playground, and pleasant chats round the schoolroom fire on rainy days. Lessons, some of them long and hard ones, have to be learned. But before I tell you about Susie's lessons I should first of all like to introduce you to one at least of her teachers.
Carrie, as she is called by all her friends, is deaf, dumb and blind. But before I write another word I seem almost to hear a chorus of voices, some of them very far away ones, for this little book will, I trust, find its way into scattered homes in Canada and New Zealand, besides many other places, saying, "We thought you were going to tell us about one of Susie's teachers, and we cannot understand how poor Carrie, who you say is deaf, dumb and blind, could be of any use as a teacher of others?”
Well, I know it seems wonderful, so wonderful that had I not promised to tell you an all-true story, I could hardly expect you would believe what you have just read.
But it is a fact, and as I know Carrie quite well, I am sure you will be interested in hearing her history.
It is rather more than forty years since Carrie, who is still living, became a pupil in a school for deaf and dumb children at one of our south coast watering-places. I am not going to tell you its name, for I have no doubt many of you will go there for your seaside holiday, and I am sure you would all want to see Carrie after reading her story. I am afraid if I gave you her address she would get almost too many visits.
When Carrie first went to school she was a little girl of between ten and eleven years of age. She was not blind then or even dumb. But a very severe attack of scarlet fever had deprived her entirely of hearing, so that she was quite deaf, and in a short time, perhaps partly from not being able to hear her own voice, and partly from being so much with those who were only able to speak to each other on their fingers, she seemed to forget the use of words and became almost dumb, though I believe she did not altogether lose her sight till she had been at school for some years.
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CHILDREN IN SCHOOL.
Carrie's cheerful, obliging disposition soon made her a favorite with both teachers and scholars, for though she was fond of play and enjoyed to the utmost any little treat or amusement in which she was allowed to take part, few things giving her greater pleasure than to pick up shells and seaweeds when, as was often the case on half-holidays, the children were taken by their teachers to the shingly beach-she took great pains with her lessons, and got on so well that, after being three or four years at school, a class of young children was often placed under her care, and in due time she was promoted to the post of a regular teacher.
From quite a child the Holy Spirit had shown Carrie that she was a sinner, and the thought of her sins very often made her unhappy. Sometimes she would cry as if her heart would break, and make up her mind to be good. All her resolutions ended in failure and disappointment. She thought, I have no doubt, that she was seeking Jesus; but she did not then know that a loving Savior was seeking her. Very great indeed was her joy when she was enabled to trust simply in the work of Christ for salvation. She could not keep the glad tidings to herself, but began (in her silent language) to tell her scholars about Jesus in such a simple, earnest way that several of them longed to know for themselves the secret of her joy. And I am sure that those among them who really went to Him for pardon and peace tasted the sweetness of His love and found in Him a precious Savior.
It must have been a great trial to Carrie when her sight failed entirely, leaving her blind as well as deaf and dumb. But her faith in the love and care of God, though much tried, was kept firm and bright. A blind gentleman taught her to read the raised or embossed type in which the Bible and many other books have been prepared for the use of those who cannot see, and as her quickness of touch enabled her to understand when those who had learned the manual alphabet took her hand and made the letters and signs on it, she was able to go on with her teaching.
From the very first day that our little Susie was received into the school, Carrie became much attached to her, and in many-ways showed that she was her loving friend as well as her patient teacher. And Susie returned the love of her sightless friend, often giving up a game of play to act as her guide, and proving herself as reliable and careful as she was willing. I think Susie had learned the secret of all true service, "Love to a Person." And, dear young believer, shall not the thought of the One whom we serve wake up precious memories in your heart and mine as we repeat with adoring gladness "We love him, because he first loved us"? (1 John 4:1919We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19).)