MANY years ago a family came across the ocean to make a home in Canada. At that time there were only a few settlements, and people were often lonely.
This family had a Bible and read its words of comfort and often sang together, so the little girl, Regina, learned the songs although too young to understand all the words. One favorite hymn began:
“Alone, yet not alone am I
‘Though in this solitude so drear,
I feel my Saviour ever nigh,
He comes the Weary hours to cheer,”
Soon a sad time of great danger came; there was war between the colonies, in which the Indians joined, carrying away many children of the white people, taking them far into the deep forests where the men could not find them. Among those taken was Regina. She, and another little captive, were put in the care of an old Indian woman, sleeping in her wigwam, and given Indian names.
In the summer the children had some happy hours. They picked wild berries, which sometimes were their only food; then there were nuts to gather, and many kept to eat in the winter. But the cold winters were hard and very often there. was not enough food.
It was good the two little girls were together, they could talk to each other, so did not forget their own language, and Regina taught the verses and songs she had learned to the younger child.
The children lived nine years in this wild way. Then the governor of Canada secured many of the captives from the Indian camps and brought them all to one place; Regina and her young friend among them.
What do you suppose were the first words Regina said when she came among white people after all those years? She asked, “Have you got the book God gave?” She did not remember the word, Bible, nor even her own name or the name of her parents, but she remembered about God’s Book.
Word was sent to all the settlements for parents who had lost children to come to this place, and Regina’s mother came, hoping to see her lost child. But Regina did not know her. And nine years change any child, and it was not strange that among those poor, neglected girls with their ragged Indian clothes, the mother could see no one who looked like her own little girl. She was turning sadly away, when an officer asked if there were not some words which her child had early learned and might remember. The mother thought of the favorite hymn and she began to sing:
“Alone, yet not alone am I
Though in this solitude so drear
I feel my Saviour ever nigh,
He comes the weary hours to cheer.”
The voice and tune stirred Regina’s earliest memory, and suddenly, she ran forward and threw her arms about her mother. So at last there was a happy reunion. There was no one to claim the younger girl so she was given a home with Regina. We may be sure they all often sang the hymn which had been their cheer in such sad times.
There are still sorrows in this world and we too need to remember God’s Book and songs to cheer.
ML 07/04/1937