“No. But there are a lot of things in the Bible that we never know
about till the time comes that we need them. I have found that out....
Listen!” For the president was speaking again.
“Ladies, I am glad to say that the text I hold in my hand is the last.
I will read it myself. Mrs. Haloran says: “I send this final word
from the Mosaic Law, and I beg that the First Church may take it as a
message from all its representatives in the mission field, and from Him
we serve:
“‘Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy....
At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down
upon it.” Deuteronomy xxiv. 14, 15.
Before Mrs. McArthur had ended the reading the treasurer was on her
feet.
“At last, ladies, in my judgment, we have got at the root of the
matter. You will find that this minister’s salary has not been paid
him; now mark my words! And his wife is smarting under a sense of
injustice that we should try to supply that deficiency with a barrel of
rags.”
“Well, I should like to know why it hasn’t been paid,” said a
well-groomed woman, with some severity. “What do we have a Board for
if it isn’t to attend to such things?”
“The Board,” explained the treasurer with alarming succinctness, “is
our agent for disbursing the funds of this church--and others. It
cannot honestly pay out what we have not paid in. If you really want
to know why this man’s salary has not been paid, I will read the
delinquent list of this church. Is there a call?”
There was none.
The president tapped. “Ladies, I have not finished the note. Mrs.
Haloran continues:
“‘I return the barrel as it was sent, with one exception. In it I found
a little half-worn suit with these words pinned to it:’”--a sad-eyed
woman in black, who had been listening with strained attention,
dropped her face in her hands--“‘It was my little boy’s that is gone.’
I cried over that little suit. I knew what it cost her to send it.
And I accept it as from a sister of the blood. May God bless her and
comfort her sad heart.’”
A tearful silence fell upon them then, for, however callous women’s
hearts may be, there is always one string that vibrates at the thought
of the little suit no longer needed.
“Ladies, I have here another letter from Mrs. Haloran, written the next
day. She says:
“MY DEAR MADAM:
“After a night of self-abasement I write to tell you how deeply I
regret my action of yesterday and how gladly I would recall it if I
could. I cannot yet bring myself to feel that I should have kept the
things, but this was an ignoble use to make of the blessed Word of
God, and I am filled with sorrow that I should have done it. I will
only say in palliation that my husband’s salary has been so long
overdue--’”
“That’s it!” exclaimed the treasurer. “I thought so!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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