Such an innocent face was hers, such a willing little worker the matron
said she had proved herself to be, and there were at home earnest,
respectable loved ones, longing to hear good news of her, so there
was indeed every cause to give her the chance she asked. We talk of
"by chance" when we might better say "by God's guidance." It was thus
unexpectedly that two days before our "girl's" discharge, I met a
friend who spoke of going away that week to a beautiful mountain home.
"Have you all the servants you need?" I asked. "All but one," she
answered. "I have that one for you," I said, and in a few brief words I
told her the pitiful story that was to be a secret, known only to the
employer. So our "girl" went straight to the very best place she could
have found, with a lady who is herself an earnest Christian worker.
Cheering words, busy occupation and beautiful surroundings will chase
away the memory of cruel wrong and dreary imprisonment. Here is a
letter from the one who employed her.
"My dear Mrs. Booth:--I should have written you before in regard to
your girl, but have been so busy since coming here that I have not
found time. I want to tell you I am delighted with her and she will
prove a most valuable girl. She is capable, willing and so cheerful
with it all. She works in such an intelligent manner that it is truly
remarkable. She plods right along and does not have to be followed up
after she is started at something. She certainly has had good training
in the 'big hotel' she talks about having worked in."
Here is the girl's side of the story.
"My dear Friend:--I received your kind letter last night and I hasten
to reply. I like my place very much. It is a delightful place! I wrote
to Mrs. ---- last week. She was so kind to me while I was in her care
that I feel it is a small thing for me to write her once in a while.
Mrs. Booth, I do wish you could come to this beautiful spot and rest
here, for I know what your labors are for us. I brought my Day Book
with me and read it and pray often for God's guidance and blessing.
Hoping you are well but not tired, I remain obediently yours," etc.
So as we again turn back to prison to seek yet others still within
those gloomy walls, our hearts whisper, "Yes, it does pay, it is all
worth while." And why should this work be any other than a great and
lasting success? Have we not the right to talk confidently about it,
and to glory in it, when we know and acknowledge the source of power,
and the cause of the far-reaching influence? The wire used to carry
the current from the dynamo has nothing to boast of, the pipes that
bring the water from the hills to the city, need not feel diffident
in the praise of the water supply or its life-giving results! So we
who are privileged to be God's messengers, who can sometimes prove the
connecting link between the human and divine, can glory in the blessed
results without a thought of self-intruding, for the work is not human
but Divine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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