The Poorhouse Waif and His Divine Teacher: A True StoryByrum, Isabel C. (Isabel Coston)
Religion
The Poorhouse Waif and His Divine Teacher: A True Story
Byrum, Isabel C. (Isabel Coston)
Christian life -- Fiction; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
"I'm sure that you are mistaken when you say that I will not stand. I know
that I am very ignorant about what is in the Bible, but if you will just
give me ten years, I will prove to you that God, who has brought me through
all my past difficulties, and in spite of all my ignorance has directed me
always in the right way, will never fail to teach me the next best thing to
do."
After Edwin's speech it was decided that it would be all right for him to
attend the meetings, but that they could not accept his name even on
probation.
It was with a sad heart the following day that Edwin went about his work
upon the farm. He could not understand why the brethren had doubted his
ability to stand nor their reason for not allowing him the same privilege
that was given to others, simply because he was ignorant and his conversion
had not required so long a time as they were in the habit of allowing their
more enlightened members. "God surely knew what he was doing," he reasoned,
"and I believe that my life is as precious to him as that of any other man,
though he may know a great deal more than I do."
All day long he was burdened and sad, and when night came, instead of
resorting to the summer-kitchen as had been his habit for so long, he went
to his room immediately after the evening chores were done. Falling upon
his knees and taking from his pocket his little red Testament, he opened it
and laid it upon the chair before him. Then as tears blinded his eyes, he
buried his face in his hands and, bending reverently over the little
volume, made his request known to God.
"O God!" he cried, not caring by whom he was heard, "you who have been so
faithful to me in the past, in helping me out of all my difficulties, help
me now! I have learned that this little book is to make me know what you
want me to do, so help me to be able to read what is in it."
To Edwin this task was no greater for him than others had been that he had
mastered, and with perfect faith, believing that God would open his
understanding sufficiently for him to comprehend the meaning of all that he
needed to know, he began the work of learning what he should have known
many years before.
With his finger Edwin carefully traced in several words the outline of the
letters, until suddenly a few of the characters that he had learned from
the school-teacher when, in his early childhood days, he was sent to school
as protector of his younger cousins, returned to his mind, and although
they had been meaningless then and had been long since forgotten, they
corresponded perfectly with those before him. Thus he continued to labor
long into the night, and during the days and evenings that followed,
whenever there was a moment to spare, a moment that he could feel was his
own, he endeavored to locate the same letters in other words. But although
he could locate several of the letters, he did not know their names.
Later on, after the corn-husking was done, Mr.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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