Nineteen hundred? A forecast and a storyFarningham, Marianne
General
Nineteen hundred? A forecast and a story
Farningham, Marianne
Christian life -- Fiction; England -- Social conditions -- Fiction; Reformers -- Fiction
“Oh, Fanny, I wish I had been with you! I love the country so much. You
went by tram, I suppose?”
“Yes; and then I walked a long way. I think it was the beautiful fields
that made me feel queer.”
“Queer? How do you mean, Fanny?”
“They made me sorry I am so bad, and they made me feel as if I want to
be better.”
“Yes; that is just how they make me feel. Some day, Fanny, not on Sunday
though—perhaps next Saturday afternoon, if you can spare the time—I
should like so much to go into the country with you. Would you be
willing?”
“Yes; I should like it ever so much.”
“Then we will go together, if nothing happens to prevent. I was glad to
see you listening to the Salvation Army. Did you ever go to
Sunday-school?”
“Yes; when I was a little thing I used to go sometimes. There is a
Mission-school, you know, just round the corner, where me and the others
went.”
“And why did you leave?”
“Oh, we didn’t like the teacher for one thing; and, for another, it was
hot and close; and I like to walk about the streets much better. I wish
I hadn’t left, though, now.”
“You can go back again; I am sure they would be glad to see you. Why do
you wish you had not left?”
“Because, perhaps, if I had stayed I should have known more. I want to
know things. I know nothing. I could not even understand what the
Salvation man said.” She paused a moment, and then her eyes suddenly
flashed into the grave, kind face before her, and she said impetuously,
“Oh, do tell me if it is all real—religion, I mean, and God, and Jesus
Christ, and heaven, and all that they talk so much about!”
“Oh, yes, Fanny! It is quite real. I am more sure of that than ever.”
“Then please will you tell me all about it?”
The lady thus appealed to had surprised herself by the dogmatic manner
in which she had asserted the reality of the Christian faith. The truth
was that she had often doubted, and sometimes been inclined to believe
nothing; yet now that a soul looked to her for light all the doubts
seemed strangely to vanish, and all the old lessons came back to her, as
she told the story of the Christ, and His beautiful life, and the great
kingdom which He came to set up. It was longer than a sermon, but Fanny
listened, with her eyes on the face that kindled with joyous
earnestness, and it never occurred to her to yawn or feel tired.
“And I am sure,” she said at last, “that if only we do what He wants us
to do, and are not selfish and wicked, but are true and kind, that is
the best way to be happy. And He will show us all the rest.”
And then a warm impulse moved her, and she put her arm suddenly around
Fan’s waist and drew her to her knees, and spoke softly to the Father in
heaven for both of them, and asked the living, loving Saviour to reveal
His grace to the girl by her side. It was done in the most natural
manner, and only occupied one or two minutes; but when they arose, Fan
was secured as a loyal disciple for ever.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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