The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1900, Page 3

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

3

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The Lord will Provide.

Old Mrs. Steele lived by herself in a tiny cot-
tage. She had been a widow many years, and
was now growing old and infirm, yet she was
thankful that she could get about and do her
household work. In younger days Mrs. Steele

had worked hard, and now she was too feeble |

for rough work she was glad to earn a little
by knitting socks and warm cuffs and com-
forters, which the neighboring farmers were
very willing to buy of her. She was sucha
cheery, happy old woman that many were
wont to visit her who would not

otherwise have done so, and
they learned happy lessons of
content from her lips.

One winter the frost was very
severe; everything was hard
and cold, and Mrs. Steele felt
her rheumatism a great deal.
She had a nice supply of wood,
which was a comfort, and the
squire had sent in a load of coal
only the week before, so that
the old woman was able to have
a good fire, for which she was
grateful.

‘Tis just like the dear Lord,”’
she said. ‘‘He put it into the
squire’s heart to supply my
need. Bless Him for all His
goodness to me.”’

The frost grew stronger, and
the roads were so slippery that
Mrs. Steele dared not go out
for fear of falling, and no one
came to see her all that week.
It was true she had plenty of
firing, but people seemed to for-
get that the lonely old woman
needed food as well as warmth.
Saturday came, the last crust
had been eaten the night before,
and now there was nothing in
the house but a little tea.

“JT will fetch a little water
from the well,’’ she said to her-
self, ‘‘and make a cup of tea,
and the dear Lord will send me food at the
right time.’’

She opened the door and went over the
frozen ground. Happily she had taken the
precaution to fill the bucket with water the
night before, but that was thickly frozen
over, so she returned to the house for a ham-
mer to break the ice.

“This is, indeed, breakfast under diflficul-
ties,”? she said, cheerily, as she hammered
away at the ice till she broke a hole large
enough to admit her jug. Then returning
with the water, she filled her kettle and put
ition to boil, making a cup of weak tea, with-
out either milk or sugar, and having drunk it,
she sat down patiently to her knitting.

Some time after a neighbor stepped in.

“How are you to-day? Almost frozen?

Ah, I am glad to see you comfortable with a
nice fire in your room.”’

‘‘Yes, Mrs. Coster, the Lord is very good
to me; He never forgets His poor old child.’’ |

‘How have you managed to live all this
week? I declare I never thought of it till this
minute. You couldn’t get out to get food;
how did you manage?”

“J had a loaf the beginning of the week,
and that lasted me till yesterday,” said the
old woman, calmly.

their errands.
bread by John, it would be as much as the
squire’s gift as if he brought it himself,

‘‘And you have had nothing to-day! I wish

and means; He can provide for His children,
even if He has to rain it from heaven.”’

‘‘He hasn’t rained it for you yet. More

likely the food will come through human

hands.”’
‘“Maybe. Kings mostly send servants on

If the squire sent a loaf of

wouldn’t it?”
Mrs. Coster did not reply. ‘There was a
knock at the door, and the minister’s daughter

[had brought something with me, but I never | entered.

Ye that heepeth

thee will not

slumber.

thought but what you’d have visitors. You
shall have something soon, though. Vl go
back and send Willie with some bread, at any
rate. But tell me, didn’t you almost de-
spair?”’
(No, no; Icouldn’t despair. Ihave Christ,
aud He knows my needs. Why, my dear, He
feeds the sparrows, and do you think He would
forget me? Thad something to eat yesterday,
and now He sends you. He never fails.’”
‘Well, I never! I should have been in an
awful way if I’d gone to bed without anything
to eat in the house for breakfast, and no means
etting it, either.”’
aly seas the children of Israel went to bed
like that for forty years, and yet they never
failed of a breakfast when morning came. Nor
shall I. ‘The Lord is not tied down to ways

‘sWe have been so concerned
about you, Mrs. Steele, fearing
that you were feeling the cold.
Mamma has sent you this pot
of soup; and here is a tin of
preserved milk and some tea.’’

“The Lord has provided!’’
exclaimed the old woman, grate-
fully, as the girl ran away.

‘“‘And I will send the bread
direetly,’’ said Mrs. Coster, who
had been a surprised spectator.

“Thank you, and thank the
Lord. He has sent me more
than I expected—not only
breakfeast, but dinner, too.
He never fails.”’

Willie soon came with the
bread, and the old woman sat
down to her warm, nourishing
meal with a grateful heart.

——.»s>-oaP o> om

Seeking Jesus.

An Indian boy lived in the
far West. He heard that at the
Indian school at Carlisle, Pa.,
he could learn to read and find
the way to Jesus. He had no
money to ride in the cars. He
walked all the way. He was
often hungry and very weary.
When he reached the Allegheny
mountains, covered with snow,
his moccasins were completely
worn out, and his feet sore and numb. He
traded his blanket for a pair of shoes, and
walked on. Ragged and covered with dirt,
he came to the school and asked if he could
learn to read the Bible and find the way to
Jesus. He had walked for six weeks, and
had come over fifteen hundred miles. The
teachers were very glad to keep him and tell
him of Jesus.

You need not travel far to find Jesus. You
haye the Gospel in the parish school and in
the church. Wherever the Gospel is taught,
there Jesus comes to you. You find Him by
pelieving the Gospel. Have you found Him?

—_—- Pore _

Every affliction in the Christian’s life is but
a forget-me-not from God’s hands. — Walther.