The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1906, Page 44

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44.

$200.00. Being now free and earning wages, she
paid back half the amount.

At eighteen, she married a colored man by the
name of Ferguson. She became mother of two
children; but her husband and children soon died,
and thus again she was left alone in the world. She
now turned her attention to baking and selling
sweet-cakes, in which she excelled, having among
her customers many first-class citizens. Her place
of business was near the City Hall in New York.

Katy being a child of sorrow, was thus trained
by the Master for an important work. She saw
around her poor and neglected children. These she
gathered on Sunday to her humble home on Warren
Street, and she taught them the way of life, giving
also each one a sweet-cake as a token of her love.
This woman could not read; but she had an ex-
cellent knowledge of the Bible and of the way of
salvation. This she got chiefly from the Rev. Dr.
Mason and the sainted Isabella Graham.

When the younger Dr. Mason was ministering
in his new church, on Murray Street, his attention
was called to the work of this poor colored woman.
The next Sunday he called on Katy while her school
was in session. “What are you about here, Katy?”
said the Doctor. “Keeping school on Sunday?”
Katy was alarmed at the question, taking it as a
rebuke from her pastor. But he did not leave her
long in trouble. “This must not be, Katy,” said he.
“You must not be allowed to do all this work
alone.”

The next Sunday Katy’s mission school was
moved to the basement of the Murray Street church
and its work was much enlarged.

Many ministers and laymen traced their early
religious impressions to the teaching they received
in that Sunday school, founded by this simple col-
ored woman, who was born a slave, who could not
read, and who pursued a humble calling. She died
in faith and in peace, about the age of seventy-five.
Her last words were, “All’s well.” It is proper to
add that in her declining years, and while suffering
with the dreadful disease of cholera, Katy never
lacked attention and the comforts of life. Friends
remembered her and furnished the necessary means.
Arthur Tappan, the merchant philanthropist, had
her likeness taken, and kept it suspended in his
office.

Tf a poor, illiterate colored woman could do so
much for Christ, should it not encourage others in
better position to work for the Savior and the spread
of His kingdom?

———o---

The Lutheran Pioneer.

Footprints.

“What is that, father?” asked Benny.

“Tt is a footprint, my son, and is a sign that
some one came into our front garden last night.”

“Tt must be,” replied Benny, “for there could
not be a footprint unless somebody had been there
to make it.”

“That is true, Benny; and now show me some
of the footprints of the Creator.”

“T don’t understand you, father,” Benny said.

“Well, who made all these beautiful flowers,
these splendid trees, the clouds up in the sky, the
great round earth with its mountains and valleys
and lakes and rivers? Who set the sun flaming in
the heavens, and the bright moon, and the glitter-
ing stars?”

“Oh, God, to be sure.”

“Then all these things are but footprints of the
Creator; they are the sign that there is a Creator.
See this plant that I hold — man could never have
made it! See all the glistening grass, hear all the
chirping birds — man did not nor could not make
them! «God made them, and they are all ‘footprints’
reminding us of the power, and wisdom, and good-
ness of God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven
and earth. Do you understand?” -

“Yes, father, I understand very well now, and
I thank you for teaching me that lesson. It makes
me think of a Bible passage which we recently
learned in school :

“<Q Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In
wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is
full of Thy riches.” (Ps. 104, 24.)”

A Gift of Love.

One day an Indian asked the late Bishop
Whipple to give him two one-dollar bills for a two-
dollar note.

The Bishop asked, “Why ?”

The Indian replied, “One dollar for me to give
to Jesus, and one dollar for my wife to give.”

When asked if it was all the money he had,
he replied, “Yes.”

The Bishop was about to tell him, “It is too
much,” when an Indian clergyman, who was stand-
ing near, whispered, “It might be too much for a
white man to give, but not too much for an Indian
who has, this year, heard for the first time of
Jesus.”