And being admitted, she was very diligent in her attendance, and by
great perseverance became able to read a little in the New Testament;
and one with large print being given her, she prized it very highly,
and would frequently open it and read one of the chapters contained in
Christ's sermon on the mount, calling it "the blessed chapter."
But notwithstanding her great desire to learn, she did not allow her
studies to interfere with her religious engagements; and the time
for meeting with her class being fixed on one of the afternoons that
the school was taught, it was inconvenient to her; but as the school
commenced at three o'clock, and the meeting at four, the hour between
she generally spent at the school, staying as long as it would do,
and then going as quickly as she could, to be punctual to the time.
Sometimes she has been seen running, when she heard the clock strike
and found herself a little too late.
She was industrious and frugal, but liberated late in life, she barely
procured a subsistence; and for the last two or three years, being
nearly past labor, she was dependent on the benevolence of others: but
at no time, however destitute and tried, did she lose her confidence in
the power of Him "who provideth for the raven his food," often saying
at such seasons, "The Lord has been my helper, and I trust in Him."
And when any favor was conferred on her, she feelingly expressed her
gratitude, yet mostly with reference to the Great Supreme, for giving
her friends so kind.
At a certain time, a friend, being unusually thoughtful about her,
went to see how she was situated, taking with her a loaf of bread. She
found her unable to go out, and without provision; and querying with
her, "Zilpah, art thou here alone?" she replied, "No, I am never alone;
my Master is with me. When I awake in the night season he talks with
me. He has promised to take care of me, and He has done it; He has now
sent me that loaf of bread." At another time, she said to a person who
visited her, "How good the Lord is; I have always something to eat, for
if I take my last morsel, some one comes and brings me more before I
want again."
Her understanding failed, so that for several weeks before her death
she knew very little; but her conversation was innocent, sometimes
saying, "If it is the Lord's will to take me, I am willing to go, but I
must wait His time." And He was pleased to release her, after a short
confinement, without any apparent disease but the decline of nature,
about the seventy-ninth year of her age.
BELINDA LUCAS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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