Katie Robertson : $b A girls story of factory life — John Shaqi
Katie Robertson : $b A girls story of factory lifeWinslow, Margaret E.
General
Katie Robertson : $b A girls story of factory life
Winslow, Margaret E.
Factories -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
But just then an idea, so painful that at first she turned away from
it, struck her, and a question that she did not want to answer suggested
itself to her mind. Had she a right to keep the money? Was it really
hers? Of course it was, said inclination; whose else could it be? She
had _found_ it, no one else; if she had not picked it up it would have
gone in with the rags to be boiled and ground up into paper again, or it
might have been swept away among the dust and waste paper, and no one
been the better or wiser. "Findings is keepings" was a familiar
school-boy proverb; was it the right principle or not?
Katie tried to persuade herself that it was. Nevertheless, she was glad
that, as she supposed, no one had seen her find the bill, and that her
mother as yet knew nothing about the finding. Also, she did not plan out
any more ways of spending the money.
Katie was so silent all teatime that her brothers continually rallied
her upon her preoccupation, and her mother, fearing she must be sick,
sent her to bed very early. To this the little girl did not object, as
she wanted to be alone to think over the question that was so
perplexing her brain.
Before getting into bed, our young friend opened her drawer, took out
the box, gazed lovingly at the bill for a time, then put it away, and
knelt to say her evening prayer. What was the matter to-night? For
almost the first time since she had known what prayer really was, she
could not pray. Her thoughts would not be controlled; they kept
wandering away to the finding of that bill. She wondered whether any one
had seen her find it, what use she should put it to, and if it were
really hers after all. She knew it was wrong to think of other things at
such a solemn moment, and felt guilty and condemned. Her conscience
troubled her; it seemed as though God were angry with her. So far the
finding of the money had not been a very happy event for its finder. It
often happens that secular things, the things we are interested in in
our daily lives, will come in between us and our prayers, and we cannot
get rid of them. Young Christians especially are greatly troubled in
this way, and have many weary fights in the attempt to control their
thoughts. They have an idea that prayer is such a sacred thing, and God
is so holy, that they must only talk to him about religion, and use
pretty much the same words which they hear in church, and when they
cannot do this, they either fall into the habit of _saying_ such words
formally without in the least thinking of their meaning, or else they
are wretched and self-condemned because of what are called "distractions
in prayer." But there is a more excellent way, even to take all the
things that really interest us directly to "our Father which art in
heaven," and tell him all about them. He encourages us to do so when he
says, "casting _all_ your care upon him," and "in everything by prayer
and supplication make your requests known unto God." If we are really
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account