A POOR little ragged girl applied for admission into the Industrial School at G—, and was received. Here she learned to read and sew, and was rather a promising pupil.
One day she refused to read the Bible, saying, “My mother bade me not to read it.”
The teacher then said, “Tell your mother the Bible will do you no harm, but will make you wise unto salvation; and the rules of the school, which must be observed, require that every scholar able to read should read the word of God.”
The mother, unwilling to deprive her child of the industrial training she was receiving, and herself of the fruits of that industry, at length consented, and her little girl read the Bible daily, and committed portions of it to memory.
With maternal anxiety for the welfare of her child, she resolved to keep a strict watch on what she learned, and counteract at home any influences of the school. For this purpose she made her, evening after evening, repeat the lessons she was taught, and questioned her regarding them. She was both surprised and disappointed.
One day she heard of Christ’s conversation with the woman of Samaria; another, of His discourse with Nicodemus; another, of His love for the family of Bethany, of His sympathy with Mary and Martha, on the death of their brother Lazarus, and of His raising him from the dead; again she heard of the full and free forgiveness of the repentant sinner, while the proud and self-righteous Pharisee is reproved; and so on. There was nothing against the Virgin, the Pope, or the “true church” in all this. She had never heard these things before; they had all the charms of novelty, and, with a power peculiar to the Scriptures, commended themselves to her mind and heart.
After some time, the little girl was regularly absent from school. What had become of her? One evening a gentle knock was heard at the teacher’s dwelling; the door was opened, and there stood with anxious countenance the little pupil. After a kind recognition, she said, “Please, ma’am, would you lend me a Bible?”
“What do you want with a Bible?” asked the teacher.
“I want,” said the little girl, “to read it to my mother. She is sick now and I cannot go to school. I used to tell her all my lessons every day. I have told them over and over, and now she wants the Book of which she has heard so much.”
The Bible was willingly given; The teacher visited the woman, and, often found her little pupil reading the word of God to her dying mother.
The woman departed, giving bright evidence that she received and rested on Christ, and Him alone, for her salvation.
Soon after, the health of the little motherless girl began to decline. Her form was more slight, her step, less elastic, and her spirit less buoyant than those of her companions.
Unable to keep pace with them, she returned from school alone—yet not alone, for she had been brought to know Him who has said “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”
Though her outward man was perishing, she grew in the knowledge of Christ from day to day, and in a very little while her spirit departed to be with the Lord.
Thus the mother and daughter bear witness that the word of God makes wise unto salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus.
ML 03/22/1903