Rosa's Quest Part 13

"And to me, too," softly sobbed Mrs. Gray, "fer it's all come through her, the sweet lamb, and I've been a-threat'nin' to lick her. She was that patient when my ankle was twisted, that I'll never fergit it, no never! I can see now how she'd shake of fear when she'd come up to me, then run to poor old father fer a bit of comfort. I didn't know it then, but do now, that she was 'most a-starvin' fer the kind of love she didn't git. How she must have missed her ma! Oh, I've been so awful mean! I don't see how G.o.d can fergive me, but I know He has. I never knew'd before that the Saviour is fer sech as me. Tom used to try to tell me, and I wouldn't let him. He wuz good, and I wuzn't. And dear old father! How happy he and Tom must be tonight, but it'll be dreadfully lonesome with them all gone. I wish I could have Rosa back ag'in, though I'm awful glad she's to have sech a good home. And I made sech a fuss about a-keepin' her till spring. If it hadn't been fer her, I don't know how I'd ever got along when I couldn't walk. But G.o.d has fergive me now, and I feel like another woman."

"I'll go back with you, Mis' Gray," faltered Rosa, "if you want me to."

"No, my child, you promised to stay with me," interrupted the doctor, "but you may visit Mrs. Gray every week, and I shall see that she never wants for anything again."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dr. Dale and Rosa.]

"Ain't He a wonderful Saviour?" said Mrs. Gray, brightening up. "I can't see how 'tis, but I love them all over there on Burton street now, and I used to be that ugly they're all afraid of me, I know. Seems like I can hardly wait till mornin', I'm that anxious to git back to tell them all about it. They're all so poor, and have sech heavy loads. They need Him bad to help them, but they don't know He's promised to. And Billy Bruce, the poor laddie, I want to tell him how sorry I am fer a-tryin' to throw that piece of coal at him. His ma's drunk most of the time, and so's his pa. He used to come to me fer somethin' to eat, and I wouldn't give him a thing, but jest scold him and tell him to git out of the way, fer I didn't feed beggars. He ain't never had no chance yet, and I'm jest a-goin' to see what I can do fer him. He's got a good heart, and once he told me I'd never lick Rosa if he wuz only a little bigger. He'll run when he see me a-comin', but I'll put some peppermints in my pocket, and mebbe they'd help catch him."

"Oh, Mrs. Gray," said Esther, "I am so glad that you are going to help Billy. I saw him the other day, and feel sure that you can bring him around all right. I shall come over often to a.s.sist you, and I know that many will find the same dear Friend in whom you are rejoicing tonight.

"How wonderfully has the Lord's hand been guiding since first I saw Rosa that cold December day; and the end is not yet!"

For several minutes the little company sat in silence, each one buried in thoughts too deep and sacred to find expression in words.

Presently Rosa lifted her head from the doctor's shoulder, her l.u.s.trous eyes becoming more luminous than ever, as she said:

"Oh, how glad I am that I have found the way to the beautiful land!

Mother's there, and don't cough no more. Grandpa's there, and we're all going some day, 'cause Jesus paid the fare a long time ago!"

AFTERWORD.

One bitterly cold December day, while riding in a streetcar in a large city, a frail-looking little girl, bending beneath the weight of a huge package, entered the car, sitting directly in front of me. She was thinly, though neatly, clad. Her pale face was overshadowed by an expression of care far too old for her baby shoulders, while her eyes were large, dark, and pathetically wistful.

There was something irresistible about her whole appearance, impelling me to cross the aisle and sit down by her side.

She told me that her name was Rosa, and the conversation which followed, suggested the story, "ROSA'S QUEST."

I asked her if she knew anything about Jesus. To this she replied:

"Not much, ma'am, but it seems like I've heard just a little."

Of heaven and the way of salvation she was as ignorant as a child in the wilds of Africa. The sad expression of her face did not alter till I quoted John 3:16, then looking up with a smile she said:

"Ain't that pretty?"

For some time we talked, her hungry soul eagerly drinking in the old, old story, but to her so new.

Suddenly she left the car, and with a sense of deep depression, I saw her disappear amid a great, seething ma.s.s of humanity.

If she has not succ.u.mbed to the hards.h.i.+ps of poverty, she probably is still toiling on in that proud "Christian" city, and has any one taught her more of Jesus than she knew that day?

Who will be responsible for these lost souls, constantly coming into contact with those who profess to know the Lord?

Why is it that so many Christians view life from an inverted standpoint, attaching apparently vastly more importance to the few brief years spent upon this earth, than to the countless cycles of eternity? Why not view it normally, making our one business that of serving that blessed Christ?

Surely the saddest word in a Christian's vocabulary is indifference.

By-and-by many a one would doubtless gladly forfeit ten thousand years of heavenly bliss just to recall the wasted opportunities of this day.

It is an incomparable privilege to be a child of the King, and the only way in which one may prove his appreciation and loyalty is by the degree of consecration and quality of service rendered.

At the day of Christ's appearing there will be many an unrewarded Christian, saved eternally by the precious blood of G.o.d's sacrificial Lamb, but with no glittering starry crown to cast at those once-pierced and bleeding feet!

If the reading of this little story draws any nearer to the Lord, influencing them to become more diligent in their search for the lost, it shall accomplish that whereunto it is prayerfully sent.

MAN'S QUESTIONS; G.o.d'S ANSWERS

Am I accountable to G.o.d?

"Every one of us shall give account of himself to G.o.d" (Romans 14:12).

Has G.o.d seen all my ways?

"All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4:13).

Does He charge me with sin?

"The Scripture hath concluded all under sin" (Galatians 3:22).

"All have sinned" (Romans 3:23).

Will He punish sin?

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4).

"For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

Must I perish?

"G.o.d is not willing that any perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

How can I escape?

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved"

(Acts 16:31).

Is He _able_ to save me?

"He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto G.o.d by Him" (Hebrews 7:25).

Is He willing?