One of these was a young girl, Anita, who had been arrested at the
request of her mother--yes, her own mother. "Why, what kind of
unnatural mother could she have been?" you ask. Not different from many
others with whom I have been brought in contact. The daughter implored
me to call on her mother and beg her not to consent to her being sent
to the reform school, the girl solemnly promising good behavior in the
future. How she clung to me as I tried to picture the merciful, loving
Savior. We knelt in prayer in her lonely, dismal cell, where she
followed me in a petition for God to save her soul and show her the
way. Anita appeared to be about seventeen years old; but her mother
with whom a few hours later I had an interview, and a most distressing
one, I assure you, told me that the girl was but fourteen, that she had
been so petted and spoilt from her babyhood up (parents and others,
please take note of this) as to be absolutely unmanageable, that she
was out at all hours of the night, in all sorts of places, with all
sorts of company.
The mother appeared to regard herself as a very much wronged, greatly
abused parent, and when I gently but firmly endeavored to place the
blame where it belonged, she all but ordered me out of her house. Her
conduct led me to the conclusion that her daughter would be better off
in the place to which she was about to be sent than under the
jurisdiction of such a parent.
Sad at heart, I returned to poor expectant Anita, remaining some time
to comfort her as best I knew how and promising to write to her and,
God willing, to visit her in her new home. The first promise was soon
fulfilled, and about one year later I had the pleasure of personally
hearing her expressions of gratitude. The discipline had been most
beneficial, and, besides, she was learning to be a good cook and
housekeeper--something that could never have happened in her mother's
home. A few years later, while I was holding a meeting in one of the
local churches, many came forward at the close to greet me. Among them
was a fine-looking young woman with a pretty baby in her arms. "Don't
you remember me, Mother Roberts?" she said. "I'm Anita." Soon she was
telling me of her marriage to a young farmer about eighteen months
previously. The next morning she came in her buggy to take me to enjoy
a few hours in her cozy home.
CHAPTER VII.
LEILA.
Leila was that beautiful girl, the first to welcome me as I crossed the
threshold of the home. She was a rather reserved, high-strung,
aristocratic-looking girl, who did not always take kindly to requests
made with regard to little household duties required from each member
of the family, health permitting, of course.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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