American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Sunday schools -- United States -- Periodicals
The summer months passed away. Miss Vinton took leave of her little
class and went back to her own home. She said sadly, "They are so
ignorant! It was so little that I could do for them; and I am afraid
they will forget it all."
[Illustration: THE WIFE AND CHILDREN BEGAN TO BE ANXIOUS.]
Did they forget? One November morning the fisherman went out in his
boat as usual; later in the day the clouds gathered as for a storm,
and the wife and children began to be anxious. As the afternoon hours
waned the sky grew darker, and the wind howled about the little
cottage. It was already past the hour when the father might have been
expected, and poor Mrs. Byrnes soothed the fretful baby and turned her
eyes anxiously towards the window which looked seaward. The children
peered out into the gathering darkness, but no sail was in sight;
indeed it soon became so dark that they could not see far from the
house. Little Nell placed a lamp in the window and Bob replenished the
fire. Then he slipped away. A bit of the conversation which the younger
ones had carried on as they stood gazing out over the waters, had given
him an idea.
"Don't you know," said Nell, "how Miss Vinton said 'the sea is His and
He made it?'"
"Yes; and you know she told us the pretty story of how the people were
afraid and Jesus said to the waves, 'be still.' I liked that story!"
said the little brother.
"I wish He would say so to the waves now," returned Nell.
"Maybe He would if he were here," was the reply. "Maybe He would. I
wish he was here."
Bob hearing this remembered more of the teachings of the young lady of
whom they had all been so fond, and as soon as he could, he slipped
away and went up into the loft where the children slept. There in the
darkness and chill he knelt down and asked Jesus to make the winds and
waves "be still." Repeating this, his first prayer, again and again, he
at length arose with a calm in his heart. Going down stairs his mother
said: "Seems to me the wind does not blow quite so hard."
Bob smiled and whispered, "I shouldn't wonder if He heard! I didn't
know as he would hear _me_, but Miss Vinton said He would."
He piled on more fuel, saying aloud, "Father will be here soon, and we
must have it warm and have supper ready. Mother, don't you think we
ought to set the table?"
"O yes, I suppose so. But I thought if your father never comes home, we
would not want any supper," said the poor woman, in a despairing tone.
"I know; but don't you think the wind has gone down considerably?"
It seemed ages to the waiting group, but it was not more than an hour
when the voice of the fisherman was heard, and Bob throwing open the
door welcomed the father.
"I tell you," said the dripping man, "I began to think I should never
see the shore again! The storm was awful, but about an hour ago, it
began to let up a little. The clouds broke away too, and then I saw
Nell's light there, and I tell you we just steered for that!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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