Sometimes lately when my head has been so bad, I have thought, what if
I should be taken now. It would be grand to go home; but I have talked
with Mother W---- so much lately, and I do not feel I could go till I
have done something for Him who did so much for me. Pray for me,
Mother, that I may get better and do something. I want to go and tell
Mattie [a former companion in sin] and the girls, that what God has
done for me he will do for them.
I'll tell you what Doctor A---- says is the matter with me. She
examined me, tested my blood, and said it was not in the system from
disease of myself, but that sometime, when my throat was sore, I
inhaled the germs from some sick person, that the throat was just in
the condition for them to germinate, and now my throat and ear are
eaten out terribly. [Cigarette-smoking the probable cause ] She hasn't
said she couldn't cure me, but that it will take a year's solid and
continuous treatment, without any neglectfulness whatsoever.
Oh! isn't it true that if we sow to the flesh, we must reap corruption.
I know that I did, and am willing to suffer the pain and endure if I
can only tell others--yes--warn them. But I know that I can not do it
away from here until I can do it better here, so I want more courage to
do it better here.
Mania doesn't know much about my throat, only what Mother W---- wrote
her that tune.
Oh! this is an awfully long letter, so I must close it. I am nervous
and can't write well.
Pray for us, as we pray for you. Everybody sends you their love, and
God bless you.
Your daughter in faith, Lucy ----.
How I loved to receive her appreciative, newsy letters! but oh, how
they saddened me as I more than ever realized the truth of that
statement that "whatsoever we sow, that shall we also reap," Gal. 6:7.
But one more incident and story before we leave Eureka.
One day, on one of my house-to-house visits, and following considerable
disappointment, for so few were at home, or else the inmates did not
want to receive me, I at last received a response from a frail-looking
woman of about twenty-four years of age, who said, "I should very much
like to have a heart-to-heart talk with you, but this is no place for
it. Can you come to my private room in the ---- ---- lodging-house. Go
to room No. --, first floor at 1:30 tomorrow, where we can converse
undisturbed."
At the appointed time I was kindly received, and soon I was listening
to her troubles; but before rehearsing them she called my attention to
a framed diploma on her wall, a teacher's certificate.
"Have you taught school?" I inquired.
She simply answered, "Yes."
"Are you not taking great chances by having that where strangers can
see it?" I asked.
"No," she replied; "I do my own work, and have a patent lock, so that
none but my husband and me have access to this room."
I was still more at sea. Over the head of her bed hung a picture which
I never shall forget. Let me endeavor to describe it:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account