IN a small village among the mountains of Aveyron, one of the departments towards the south of France, there lived a little girl, who by some means had been led to feel a great love for the Bible, and had long wished to have a copy of that precious book as her own. But in that part of France the people were mostly Romanists, who did not read the Scriptures, and they were never visited by colporteurs, from whom the Bible might have been had. Now, this little girl had been told that she could get a Bible at Nimes for three francs, or about half-a-crown. But, then, Nimes was some seventy miles off from the village she lived in, and the poor child had no money and no means of getting so far; except upon her two little feet. What then was she to do to get a Bible? Well, she had two pet rabbits, and, though she liked them very much, she felt that a Bible was of more value to her, and so at last she made up her mind that, if possible, she would make an exchange. But then there was the journey to Nimes; how was she to get there? Seventy miles were a long, long way; and as she had no money at all, you know, but only the rabbits, of course she could not pay anything to be taken there. Well, she thought and thought how she should manage, and at last, after many a wistful look down the long, long road she actually resolved to set off on foot to Nimes; and one fine morning, with her basket on her arm, away she went trudging along, mile after mile, all alone, with no other companions than her two little rabbits. How many days it took her to go that weary journey I don’t know, nor can I tell where she slept at night; but cottagers are often very much kinder than the rich, and, no doubt, would give shelter to the lonely little pilgrim at night. One thing I do know, and am quite sure of, that He who had made her His own, and given her such an earnest desire to have His blessed Word, would watch over and care for the lonely child; and I am sure you will agree with me that it, would be hard to find a more beautiful sight than this dear little lamb of the flock going on such a journey only that she might get the Word of God. What a striking lesson to you, dear little reader, who, I dare say, have the Bible close at hand all day long, yet, perhaps, seldom even think of, or look into, it!
Well, this little pilgrim, plucking green meat by the way to feed her pets, and provided for herself by Him who feeds the birds of the air, got to Nimes at last. There she asked and asked till she found a shop where Bibles were sold, and then in she went straight, and, telling the bookseller what she wanted, offered her two rabbits in exchange. Her offer was accepted, and she got the treasure she had traveled so far to possess. And now there was all the long journey to go again, but she had got the Bible now, and, with that under her little arm, she trotted off so full of joy that the way seemed nothing to her, and when she was weary of her long walks she could sit down beneath a tree, or the shadow of a rock, and read her own dear book. Perhaps she sometimes thought of her lost pets, and the spots where she had stopped to pick green leaves for them would of course remind her of her loss; but then she would open her new book, and a verse from its treasures of Divine wisdom and love would comfort her, and so, “walking and talking with Jesus by the way,” she tripped along till she got back at last to her loved village-home among the mountains. And now, how do you think she used her Bible? Every day she read a verse at least from its pages, and the Word to her soul was like the showers on a thirsty hill, causing it to “ blossom and bud and bring forth fruit,” and send out “rivers of living water” to all around (John 7) — living streams which would
“Still gladden as they go,”
and give glory to God in “that day.”
Thus the Word of Christ dwelt in her richly. She could truly say, “I rejoice in Thy Word as one that findeth great spoil,” and “I have rejoiced in the way of Thy testimonies as much as in all riches” (Psa. 119). For had she not parted from all that she had to get God’s precious Word? You may depend upon it that He, the fruit of whose grace it was, would not forget “her labor of love” in that long journey to and fro of a hundred and forty long miles nor would He forget to bring glory to His own name and “magnify His Word” in the village of Aveyron by means of His dear little disciple and her much-loved Bible. Her Book was ever at hand, and the sayings of Jesus were always on her lips, to comfort them that were in any trouble.” I have no doubt that some will have to own in, that day that, under God, they owe their everlasting salvation to the Little Maid of Aveyron and the Bible of Nimes.
K.