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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/77715-0.txt b/77715-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ea09ae --- /dev/null +++ b/77715-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2846 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77715 *** + +Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed. + + + +[Illustration] + + + + THE STORY + + OF + + Mary Jones and Her Bible. + + + _BY MISS MARY EMILY ROPES._ + + + NEW EDITION. + + + [Illustration] + + + _CHRISTIAN WITNESS COMPANY_ + + 151 WASHINGTON STREET, CHICAGO. ILL. + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1892 + AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY + + + + PREFATORY NOTE. + + THE narrative which follows has been carefully founded upon facts +obtained from the most trustworthy material—written and verbal—at the +disposal of the writer. Since its publication in 1882 the little book +has been extremely popular: versions in various languages have been +issued, and an American edition has been prepared. It need only be +added that the text of this edition has been read by the accomplished +authoress, that some statistical information has been added, and that a +considerable number of the illustrations are new. + + + + INTRODUCTION. + + BY REV. EDWARD W. GILMAN, D. D., + + SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY. + + [Illustration] + +NOT a long story this, but one full of pathos, of a little girl in +North Wales, a hundred years ago, who hoarded her pennies for six long +years that she might save enough to buy a Bible, and who then walked +twenty-five miles, from Llanfihangel to Bala, in her bare feet, to +procure the treasure which she had so long desired to own. We mark the +record of her desire and faith: "Oh if I had but a Bible of my own!" +"I must have a Bible of my own, if I save up for it for ten years." +"I shall never rest until I have a Bible of my own." "Though I have +waited so long, the time will come when I shall have my Bible." "Dear +Lord, let the time come quickly." The fulfilment of her cherished wish +rounds out the record of a personal incident and leads us to share the +maiden's joy that at last she became the owner of a Bible in her own +tongue. + +But the pathos of the story is less important than its connection with +a great movement which has to do with the enlightenment and welfare of +all nations in all coming time. + +"Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth." It may be only a +spark, but in one moment it becomes a blaze, and if rightly used, its +radiance and warmth yield a perpetual blessing. Mary Jones could not +prepare her weekly lesson for the Sunday school because in her father's +house there was neither Bible nor Testament. Every Saturday she walked +to a farm-house two miles away, because there only could she see a copy +of the sacred volume. Her parents were poor weavers, but even if they +had been well-to-do, Bibles in Welsh were not only costly, but rare, +and no one had yet conceived the idea of making the book so portable +and so cheap that a copy of God's Word might be found in every dwelling. + +But when the story of Mary Jones became known through the Rev. +Mr. Charles, of Bala, who supplied her need, when it suggested to +God-fearing men the possible condition of thousands of youth in other +cottages in Wales, when it revealed to lovers of the Bible the intense +desire for the book felt by those who had never had it in their homes, +Christian sympathy was bound to make some response. Something must +be done. What could be done? Might not some association be formed to +print and distribute the Scriptures in Wales? "And if for Wales," said +the Rev. John Hughes, one of the Secretaries of the Religious Tract +Society, "why not for the world?" + +The problem was solved; and so out of the needs and savings and prayers +of Mary Jones came in 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society, an +organization catholic in its membership, based on reverence and love +for the Holy Scriptures, considerate of the wants of the humble and +needy, concentrating its efforts on one definite object, and with a +wide and far-reaching enthusiasm for the human race extending its +beneficence to all nations, whether Christian, Mohammedan, or pagan. No +wonder that the Committee of the Society cherish among their archives +the identical Bible which Mary Jones bought in 1800, with her autograph +attesting the fact of its purchase when she was sixteen years old. + +The key-note of this first movement to supply the world with the Holy +Scriptures was sympathy "with the cry that was ascending all over Wales +for the Word of God;" but mingled with this tender regard for those who +craved the book must have been pity for those who had never even heard +of it, and a desire to share with them the blessings which the Bible +brings to mankind. + +A few years ago a little boy in Connecticut, seven years of age, was +sick and nigh to death. He belonged to a "Sunbeam Circle," and had +his "mission box" in which his little contributions were treasured up +for the foreign field. At his request his mother opened the box that +he might see how much there was for "the poor heathen children," and +noticing a piece of newspaper among the pennies, she asked, "Why, +Miller, what is this? You don't want this in." "Oh yes, I do, mamma. +They are beautiful verses about God, and I want the heathen to have +them too; I know they will like them." "The Scriptures principally +teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires +of man;" and why shouldn't the heathen have them too? If for Wales, why +not for the whole world? It is interesting to note that in after years +Mary Jones was a constant contributor to the British Bible Society, +practising through life the self-denial she had learned in her youth, +and that on one occasion when a collection was made at Bryncrug for the +"China Million Testament Fund," a gold piece neatly wrapped up between +half-pence, and thus hidden until the money came to be counted, was +her expression of sympathy for the poor heathen. Mary was fortunate in +securing one copy of ten thousand which were printed in Oxford in 1799, +for they were all disposed of before one quarter of the country was +supplied. Since then the British Bible Society has printed more than +two and a half millions of volumes of Scripture for Wales alone, and +about fifty times as many for the world besides. + +If a union of Churchmen and Dissenters in one society was a good +thing in England, why not in other parts of the world? The idea met +with favor in Europe and led to the formation of Bible Societies in +Germany, Prussia, and France; but nowhere was it taken up with greater +promptness and ardor than in America. British laws had denied to the +colonies the privilege of printing the Bible, so that when Mary Jones +was born, in 1784, one edition, and one only, of the authorized version +had ever been printed on this side of the Atlantic. When we consider +that the colonists were thus dependent on the king's printers for their +supplies, that the Revolutionary War had for a long time caused a +suspension of traffic, and that the country lacked facilities for the +production of large editions of the Bible, we can readily believe that +the experience of Mary Jones was often repeated here, especially in the +new settlements which were being made in the interior. + +The necessities of our land were as urgent as those of Wales, and +following the example of England, local Bible Societies in great +numbers began to be formed. Philadelphia took the lead in 1808, and was +soon followed by Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. +Societies were organized as far south as Charleston, Beaufort, and +Savannah. Such men as Jedediah Morse of Charleston and Elias Boudinot +of New Jersey were earnest promoters of the movement. The interest of +these societies was enlisted in efforts to reach the inhabitants of +the great valley of the Mississippi. In 1812 Samuel J. Mills travelled +from Boston to Pittsburgh, and from there to New Orleans, exploring +the country on both sides of the Ohio and the Mississippi and noting +the needs and opportunities of the field. Again he went over the same +route, distributing Bibles and tracts. + +A region so extended was too vast for the local societies, and to +promote harmony, efficiency, and economy they united, in 1816, to form +the American Bible Society. It was patterned after that in London, +on the same broad, catholic principle, with the same avowed object, +with the same world-wide aim. Responsible for a territory vastly more +extended than Great Britain, it pledged itself from the first to extend +its influence as far as possible to other lands, Christian, Mohammedan, +and pagan. Among its earliest publications were Scriptures for the +Indians of North America and the Spaniards of South America and Mexico. +It has enrolled thousands of auxiliary societies, and with their aid +has carried through four general efforts to visit every family in the +United States with the offer of the Holy Scriptures. As the nation +has acquired new territory in the South and West it has pushed on to +provide the Scriptures for the people of Texas and the great States +of the interior and the Pacific. In nominally Christian lands it has +been a pioneer of missions, preparing the way by the distribution of +the Scriptures for the founding of churches and the establishment of +evangelical institutions. As American missionaries have made their way +to pagan nations, reducing rude languages to writing and enriching them +with new versions of the Bible, it has stood by their side, giving +liberally to make their work effective and circulate the printed book. +Its Arabic Bible, in the sacred language of a hundred and twenty +millions of men, has found circulation in regions as remote as Western +Africa and the eastern shores of China. It has its agents resident +in the Turkish Empire, in Persia, China, and Japan, in Mexico and +Cuba and the various republics of South America, and under their care +more than three hundred colporteurs devote their lives to the work of +distributing the printed Bible. + +Confidently relying on the providence of God, sustained by +contributions and legacies and prayers, aided by the willing +cooperation of unpaid workers, joining hand in hand with other +Societies that look for the evangelization of the world, considerate +always for the oppressed and ignorant, the needy and the blind, the +prisoner and the immigrant, the mariner and the soldier, the American +Bible Society seeks to hasten the time when the open Book shall be +found in every household in the land and in the world, and all men +shall rejoice in the glad tidings which it brings. And its friends may +well join with their brethren in Great Britain in honoring the memory +of the humble Welsh maiden whose quenchless love for God's Word was so +helpful at the outset of these heaven-blessed charities. + + + + PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL + EDITION. + + THIS little book tells how one of the least of seeds has grown to be +greatest of trees. It was the earnest desire of the late Mr. William +Coles, of Dorking, who was through life a warm and liberal friend of +the British and Foreign Bible Society, to learn all he could about its +birth. At his suggestion the trustees of the College at Bala generously +presented Mary Jones's Bible to the Library of the Bible House in +London, where it may now be seen. He was very anxious that the story +should be re-told in a way likely to interest the young; and though he +did not live to see this volume published, he did from his deathbed see +and approve the draft submitted to him. A few days before his death he +wrote as follows: "The sketch came to me as a glorious finish to my +aspirations. I may never see the book, but from the bright Happy Land—I +shall be with Christ and know all." + + It must not be forgotten that others besides Mr. Charles helped to +found the Bible Society. The Rev. Thomas Jones, curate of Creaton, +deserves specially to be mentioned. He was the "clergyman in Wales" +who is referred to in Owen's "History of the Society" (vol. i. p. 3), +as having interested himself for more than twelve years in calling +attention to the dearth of the Word of God in Wales. Let due honour be +done to him, and to others like him; but, above all, let Him be praised +who disposed His servants to establish an organization for distributing +the bread of life to the hungry multitudes of mankind. + + THE BIBLE HOUSE, + + _1st December,_ 1882. + + + + CONTENTS. + +CHAP. + + I.—AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN + + II.—THE ONE GREAT NEED + + III.—COMING TO THE LIGHT + + IV.—TWO MILES TO A BIBLE + + V.—FAITHFUL IN THAT WHICH IS LEAST + + VI.—ON THE WAY + + VII.—TEARS THAT PREVAIL + +VIII.—THE WORK BEGUN + + IX.—YOUTHFUL PROMISE FULFILLED + + X.—HER WORKS DO FOLLOW HER + + + + THE STORY OF MARY JONES + + AND HER BIBLE. + + + +[Illustration: A GLIMPSE OF CADER IDRIS.] + +CHAPTER I. + +AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN. + + O Shepherd of all the flock of God, + Watch over Thy lambs and feed them; + For Thou alone, through the rugged paths, + In the way of life canst lead them. + +IT would be hard to find a lovelier, more picturesque spot than the +valley on the south-west side of Cader Idris, where nestles the little +village of Llanfihangel-y-Pennant. Above it towers the majestic +mountain with its dark crags, its rocky precipices, and its steep +ascents; while stretching away in the distance to the westward, lie +the bold shore and glistening waters of Cardigan Bay, where the white +breakers come rolling in and dash into foam, only to gather afresh, and +return undaunted to the charge. + +The mountain, and the outline of the bay, and the wonderful +picturesqueness of the valley, are still much as they were a hundred +years ago. Still the eye of the traveller gazes in wonder at their wild +beauty, as other eyes of other travellers did in times gone by. But +while Nature's great landmarks remain, or undergo a change so gradual +as to be almost imperceptible, man, the tenant of God's earth, is born, +lives his brief life, and passes away, leaving only too often hardly +even a memory behind him. + +And now as, in thought, we stand upon the lower slopes of Cader Idris, +and look across the little village of Llanfihangel, we find ourselves +wondering what kind of people have occupied those rude grey cottages +for the last century; what were their simple histories, what their +habits, their toils and struggles, sorrows and pleasures. + +To those then who share our interest in the place and neighbourhood, +and in events connected with them, we would tell the simple tale which +gives Llanfihangel a place among the justly celebrated and honoured +spots of our beloved country; since from its soil sprang a shoot which, +growing apace, soon spread forth great branches throughout the earth, +becoming indeed a tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the +nations. + +In the year 1792, nearly a hundred years ago, the night shadows had +fallen around the little village of Llanfihangel. The season was late +autumn, and a cold wind was moaning and sighing among the trees, +stripping them of their changed garments, lately so green and gay, +whirling them round in eddies and laying them in shivering heaps along +the narrow valley. + +Wan and watery, the moon, encompassed by peaked masses of cloud that +looked like another ghostly Cader Idris in the sky, had risen, and now +cast a faint light across a line of jutting crags, bringing into relief +their sharp ragged edges against the dark background of rolling vapour. + +In pleasant contrast to the night with its threatening gloom, a warm +light shone through the windows of one of the cottages that formed the +village. The light was caused by the blaze of a fire of dried driftwood +on the stone hearth, while in a rude wooden stand a rushlight burned, +throwing its somewhat uncertain brightness upon a loom where sat a +weaver at work. A bench, two or three stools, a rude cupboard, and a +kitchen-table—these, with the loom, were all the furniture. + +[Illustration: A WELSH COTTAGE.] + +Standing in the centre of the room was a middle-aged woman, dressed in +a cloak and the tall conical Welsh hat worn by many of the peasants to +this day. + +"I am sorry you cannot go, Jacob," said she. "You'll be missed at the +meeting. But the same Lord Almighty who gives us the meetings for the +good of our souls, sent you that wheezing of the chest, for the trying +of your body and spirit, and we must needs have patience till He sees +fit to take it away again." + +"Yes, wife, and I'm thankful that I needn't sit idle, but can still ply +my trade," replied Jacob Jones. "There's many a deal worse off. But +what are you waiting for, Molly? You'll be late for the exercises; it +must be gone six o'clock." + +"I'm waiting for that child, and she's gone for the lantern," responded +Mary Jones, whom her husband generally called Molly, to distinguish her +from their daughter who was also Mary. + +Jacob smiled. "The lantern! Yes," said he; "you'll need it this dark +night. 'Twas a good thought of yours, wife, to let Mary take it regular +as you do, for the child wouldn't be allowed to attend those meetings +otherwise. And she does seem so eager after everything of the kind." + +"Yes, she knows already pretty nearly all that you and I can teach her +of the Bible, as we learnt it, don't she, Jacob? She's only eight now, +but I remember when she was but a wee child she would sit on your knee +for hours on a Sunday, and hear tell of Abraham and Joseph, and David +and Daniel. There never was a girl like our Mary for Bible stories, or +any stories, for the matter of that, bless her! But here she is! You've +been a long time getting that lantern, child, and we must hurry or we +shall be late." + +Little Mary raised a pair of bright dark eyes to her mother's face. + +"Yes, mother," she replied, "I was long because I ran to borrow +neighbour Williams's lantern. The latch of ours won't hold, and there's +such a wind to-night, that I knew we should have the light blown out." + +"There's a moon," said Mrs. Jones, "and I could have done without a +lantern." + +"Yes, but then you know, mother, I should have had to stay at home," +responded Mary, "and I do so love to go." + +"You needn't tell me that, child," laughed Molly. "Then come along, +Mary; good-bye, Jacob." + +"Good-bye, father dear! I wish you could come too!" cried Mary, running +back to give Jacob a last kiss. + +"Go your way, child, and mind you remember all you can to tell old +father when you come home." + +Then the cottage door opened, and Mary and her mother sallied out into +the cold windy night. + +The moon had disappeared now behind a thick dark cloud, and little +Mary's borrowed lantern was very acceptable. Carefully she held it, +so that the light fell upon the way they had to traverse, a way which +would have been difficult if not dangerous, without its friendly aid. + +"'Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,'" said +Mrs. Jones, as she took her little daughter's hand in hers. + +"Yes, mother, I was just thinking of that," replied the child. "I wish +I knew ever so many verses like this one." + +"How glad I should be if your father and I could teach you more; but +it's years since we learned, and we've got no Bible, and our memories +are not as good as they used to be," sighed the mother. + +A walk of some length, and over a rough road, brought them at last to +the little meeting-house where the church members belonging to the +Methodist body were in the habit of attending. + +They were rather late, and the exercises had begun, but kind farmer +Evans made room for them on his bench, and found for Mrs. Jones the +place in the psalm-book from which the little company had been singing. +Mary was the only child there, but her face was so grave, and her +manner so solemn and reverent, that no one looking at her could have +felt that she was out of place; and the church members who met there +from time to time, had come to look upon this little girl as one of +their number, and welcomed her accordingly. + +When the meeting was over, and Mary, having relighted her lantern, was +ready to accompany her mother home, farmer Evans put his great broad +hand upon the child's shoulder, saying: + +"Well, my little maid! You're rather young for these meetings, but the +Lord has need of lambs as well as sheep, and He is well pleased when +the lambs learn to hear His voice early, even in their tender years." + +Then with a gentle fatherly caress the good old man released the child, +and turned away, carrying with him the remembrance of that earnest +intelligent face, happy in its intentness, joyful in its solemnity, +having in its expression a promise of future excellence and power for +good. + +"Why haven't we a Bible of our own, mother?" asked Mary as she trotted +homeward, lantern in hand. + +"Because Bibles are scarce, child, and we're too poor to pay the price +of one. A weaver's is an honest trade, Mary, but we don't get rich +by it, and we think ourselves happy if we can keep the wolf from the +door, and have clothes to cover us. Still, precious as the Word of God +would be in our hands, more precious are its teachings and its truths +in our hearts. I tell you, my little girl, they who have learned the +love of God, have learned the greatest truth that even the Bible can +teach them; and those who are trusting the Saviour for their pardon and +peace, and for eternal life at last, can wait patiently for a fuller +knowledge of His word and will." + +"I suppose you can wait, mother, because you've waited so long that +you're used to it," replied the child; "but it's harder for me. Every +time I hear something read out of the Bible, I long to hear more, and +when I can read it will be harder still." + +Mrs. Jones was about to answer, when she stumbled over a stone, and +fell, though fortunately without hurting herself. Mary's thoughts were +so full of what she had been saying, that she had become careless in +the management of the lantern, and her mother not seeing the stone, had +struck her foot against it. + +"Ah, child! It's the present duties after all that we must look after +most," said Molly, as she got slowly up; "and even a fall may teach us +a lesson, Mary. The very Word of God itself, which is a lamp to our +feet, and a light to our path, can't save us from many a tumble if we +don't use it aright, and let the light shine on our daily life, helping +us in its smallest duties and cares. Remember this, my little Mary." + +And little Mary did remember this, and her after life proved that she +had taken the lesson to heart—a simple lesson, taught by a simple, +unlearned handmaid of the Lord, but a lesson which the child treasured +up in her very heart of hearts. + +[Illustration: Chained Bibles.] + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE ONE GREAT NEED. + + For this I know, whate'er of earthly good + Fall to the portion of immortal man, + Still unfulfill'd in him is God's great plan. + And Heaven's richest gift misunderstood, + Until the Word of Life—exhaustless store + Of light and truth—be his for evermore. + +[Illustration] IN the homes of the poor, where the time of the elder +members of the family is precious, they being the bread-winners of the +household, the little ones learn to be useful very early. How often we +have known girls of six to take the entire charge of a younger brother +and sister, while many children of that age run errands, do simple +shopping, and make themselves of very real and substantial use. + +Such was the case in the family of Jacob Jones. Jacob and Molly were +engaged in weaving the woollen cloth, so much of which used to be +made in Wales. Thus many of the household duties devolved upon Mary; +and at an age when children of richer parents are amusing themselves +with their dolls or picture-books, our little maid was sweeping, and +dusting, and scrubbing, and digging and weeding. + +It was Mary who fed the few hens, and looked for their eggs, so often +laid in queer, wrong places, rather than in the nest. + +It was Mary who took care of the hive, and who never feared the +bees; and it was Mary again, who, when more active duties were done, +would draw a low stool towards the hearth in winter or outside the +cottage door in summer, and try to make or mend her own little simple +garments, singing to herself the while in Welsh, a verse or two of the +old-fashioned metrical version of the Psalms, or repeating texts which +she had picked up and retained in her quick, eager little brain. + +In the long, light summer evenings, it was her delight to sit where +she could see the majestic form of Cader Idris with its varying lights +and shadows, as the sun sank lower and lower in the horizon. And in +her childish imagination, this mountain was made to play many a part, +as she recalled the stories which her parents had told her, and the +chapters she had heard read at chapel. + +Now, Cader Idris was the mountain in the land of Moriah whither the +patriarch was sent on his painful mission; and Mary would fix her great +dark eyes upon the rocky steeps before her, until she fancied she could +see the venerable Abraham and his son toiling up towards the appointed +place of sacrifice, the lad bearing the wood for the burnt-offering. + +More and more vividly the whole scene would grow upon the child's +fancy, until the picture seemed to be almost a reality, and she could +imagine that she heard the patriarch's voice borne faintly to her ear +by the breeze that fanned her cheek—a voice that replied pathetically +to his son's question, in the words, "My son, the Lord will provide +Himself a lamb for the burnt-offering." + +Then the scene would change; night was drawing near, and Cader Idris +assuming softer outlines, was the mountain where the Saviour went to +pray. + +Leaving the thronging multitude who had been dwelling upon His every +word—leaving even His disciples whom He so loved, there was Jesus—alone +save for the Eternal Father's presence—praying, and refreshing thus His +weary spirit, after the work and trials and sorrows of the day. + +"If I'd only lived in those days," sighed little Mary, sometimes, "how +I should have loved Him! And He'd have taught me, perhaps, as He did +those two who walked such a long way with Him, without knowing that it +was Jesus; only I think 'I' should have known Him, just through love." + +Nor was it only the mountain with which Mary associated scenes from +sacred history or Gospel narration. The long, narrow valley in the +upper end of which Llanfihangel was situated, ran down to the sea at no +great distance by a place called Towyn. And when the child happened to +be near, she would steal a few moments to sit down on the shore, and +gaze across the blue-green waters of Cardigan Bay, and dream of the Sea +of Galilee, and of the Saviour who walked upon its waters—who stilled +their raging with a word, and who even sometimes chose to make His +pulpit of a boat, and preach thus to the congregation that stood upon +the shore and clustered to the very edge of the water, so that they +might not lose a word of the precious things that He spoke. It will be +seen, therefore, that upon Mary's mind a deep and lasting impression +was made by all that she had heard; and child though she might be in +years, there were not wanting in her evidences of an earnest, energetic +nature, an intelligent brain, and a warm, loving heart. + +It is by the first leaves put forth by the seedling that we discern +the nature, and know the name of the plant; and so in childhood, the +character and talents can often be detected in the early beauty of +their first unfolding and development. + +One afternoon, when Jacob and his wife were seated at their looms, and +Mary was sewing a patch into an almost worn-out garment of her own, a +little tap at the dour was followed by the entrance of Mrs. Evans, the +good farmer's wife, a kind, motherly, and in some respects superior +woman, who was looked up to and beloved by many of the Llanfihangel +villagers. + +"Good day to you, neighbours!" she said, cheerily, her comely face all +aglow. "Jacob, how is your chest feeling? Bad, I'm afraid, as I haven't +seen you out of late. Molly, you're looking hearty as usual, and my +little Mary, too—Toddles, as I used to call you when you were not much +more than a baby, and running round on your sturdy pins as fast as many +a bigger child. Don't I remember you then! A mere baby as I said, and +yet you'd keep a deal stiller than any mouse if your father there would +make up a story you could understand, more particular if it was out +of the Bible. Daniel and the Lions, or David and the Giant, or Peter +in the Prison—these were the favourites then. Yes, and the history of +Joseph and his brethren, only you used to cry when the naughty brothers +put Joseph in the pit, and went home and told Jacob that wicked lie +that almost broke the old man's heart." + +"She's as fond of anything of that sort now as she was then," said +Jacob Jones, pausing in his work; "or rather she's fonder than ever, +ma'am. I only wish we were able to give her a bit of schooling. It +seems hard, for the child is willing enough, and it's high time she +was learning something. Why, Mrs. Evans, she can't read yet, and she's +eight years old!" + +Mary looked up, her face flushing, her eyes filled with tears. + +"Oh! If I only could learn!" she cried, eagerly. "I'm such a big girl, +and it's so dreadful not to know how to read. If I could, I would read +all the lovely stories myself, and not trouble any one to tell them." + +"You forget, Mary, we've no Bible," said Molly Jones, "and we can't +afford to buy one either, so dear and scarce they are." + +"Yes," replied Mrs. Evans, "it's a great want in our country; my +husband was telling me only the other day that the scarcity of Welsh +Bibles is getting to be spoken of everywhere. Even those who can afford +to pay for them get them with difficulty, and only by bespeaking them; +and poor people can't get them at all. But we hope the Society for +Christian Knowledge in London may print some more soon; it won't be +before they're wanted. + +"But with all this talk, Mrs. Jones," continued the farmer's wife, "I +am forgetting my errand in coming here, and that was to ask if you'd +any new-laid eggs. I've a large order sent me, and our hens are laying +badly, so that I can't make up the number. I've been collecting a few +here and there, but I haven't enough yet." + +"Mary knows more about the hens and eggs than I do," said Molly, +looking at her little daughter, who had not put a stitch into her patch +while the talk about Bibles had been going on, and whose cheeks and +eyes showed in their deepened colour and light how much interested she +had been in what had been said. + +But now the child started half guiltily from her low seat, saying, +"I'll get what we have to show you, Mrs. Evans." + +Presently she came in with a little basket containing about a dozen +eggs. The farmer's wife put them into her bag, then patting Mary's pink +cheeks rose to take her leave, after paying for the eggs. + +"And remember this, little maid," she said kindly, when after saying +good-bye to Jacob and Molly, she was taking leave of Mary at the door. +"Remember this, my dear little girl; as soon as you know how to read +(if by that time you still have no Bible) you shall come to the farm +when you like, and read and study ours—that is, if you can manage to +get so far." + +"It's only two miles, that's nothing!" said sturdy Mary, with a glance +down at her strong little bare feet. "I'd walk further than that for +such a pleasure, ma'am." Then she added with a less joyful ring in her +voice, "At least I would, if ever I 'did' learn to read." + +"Never mind, little woman! The likes of you wasn't made to sit in the +dark always," replied Mrs. Evans in her cheery, comfortable tones. +"The Lord made the want, and He'll satisfy it; be very sure of that. +Remember, Mary, when the multitude that waited on the Saviour were +hungry, the Lord did not send them away empty, though no one saw how +they were to be fed; and He'll take care you get the bread of life +too, for all it seems so unlikely now. Good-bye, and God bless you, my +child!" And good Mrs. Evans, with a parting nod to the weaver and his +wife, and another to Mary, went out, and got into her little pony-cart, +which was waiting for her in the road, under the care of one of the +farm-boys. + +Mary stood at the door and watched their visitor till she was out of +sight. Then, before she closed it, she clasped her small brown hands +against her breast, and her thoughts formed themselves into a prayer +something like this: + + "Dear Lord, who gavest bread to the hungry folk in the old time, and +didst teach and bless even the poorest, please let me learn, and not +grow up in darkness." + +Then she shut the door and came and sat down, resolving in her childish +heart that if God heard and answered her prayer, and she learned to +read His Word, she would do what she could, all her life long, to help +others as she herself had been helped. + +How our little Mary kept her resolution will be seen in the remaining +chapters of this simple narrative. + +[Illustration: _Tail-piece from Coverdale's New Test., 1538,_ +_in the Library of the Bible Society._] + + + +[Illustration: LLAN-Y-CIL BAY, BALA LAKE.] + +CHAPTER III. + +COMING TO THE LIGHT. + + O thou who out of the darkness + Reachest thy trembling hand, + Whose ears are open to welcome + Glad news of a better land; + Not always shalt thou be groping, + Night's shadows are well-nigh past: + The heart that for light is yearning + Attains to that light at last. + +TWO years had passed away since Mrs. Evans's visit, as recorded in the +preceding chapter, and still little Mary's prayer seemed as far as ever +from being answered. + +With the industry and patience of more mature years the child went +about her daily duties, and her mother depended upon her for many +things which do not generally form part of a child's occupations. Mary +had less time for dreaming now, and though Cader Idris was still the +spot with which her imagination associated Bible scenes and pictures, +she had little leisure for anything but her everyday duties. She still +accompanied her mother to the meetings, and from so continually coming +into contact with older people, rather than with children of her own +age, the child had grown more and more grave and earnest in face and +manner, and would have been called an old-fashioned girl if she had +lived in a place where any difference was known between old fashions +and new. + +It was about this time that Jacob Jones came home one evening from +Abergynolwyn—a village two miles away from Llanfihangel—where he had +been disposing of the woollen cloth which he and Molly had been making +during the past months. + +Jacob had been away the greater part of the day, yet he did not seem +tired. His eye was bright, and his lips wore a smile as he entered the +cottage and sat down in his accustomed place in the chimney corner. + +Mary, whose observant eye rarely failed to note the least change in her +father's face and manner, sprang towards him, and stood before him, +regarding his bright face searchingly. + +"What is it, father?" she said, her own dark eyes flashing back the +light in his. "Something pleasant has happened, or you wouldn't look +like that!" + +"What a sharp little girl it is!" replied Jacob, fondly, drawing the +child nearer and seating her upon his knee. "What a very sharp little +woman to find out that her old dad has something to tell!" + +"And is it something that concerns me, father?" asked Mary, stroking +Jacob's face caressingly. + +"It 'is' something that concerns you most of all, my chick, and us +through you." + +"What can it be?" murmured Mary, with a quick, impatient little sigh. + +"What is it, father?" asked Mrs. Jones. "We both want to know." + +"Well," replied Jacob, "what would you say, Molly dear, to our little +daughter here becoming quite a learned woman, perhaps knowing how to +read, and write, and cipher, and all a deal better than her parents +ever did before her?" + +"Oh, father!" + +The exclamation came from Mary, who in her excitement had slipped from +Jacob's knee, and now stood facing him, breathless with suspense, her +hands closely clasped. + +Jacob looked at her a moment without speaking; then he said tenderly: + +"Yes, child, there 'is' a school to be opened at Abergynolwyn, and a +master is chosen already; and as my little Mary thinks nought of a two +miles' walk, she shall go, and learn all she can." + +"Oh, father!" + +"Well," rejoined Jacob, now laughing outright, "how many 'Oh fathers!' +are we going to have? But I thought you'd be glad, my girl, and I was +not wrong. You are pleased, dear, aren't you?" + +There was a pause; then Mary's reply came, low spoken, but with such +deep content in its tones. + +"Pleased, father? Yes, indeed, for now I shall learn to read the Bible." + +Then a thought struck her, and a shadow came across the happy face as +she said: + +"But, mother, perhaps you won't be able to spare me?" + +"Spare you? Yes, I will, child, though I can't deny as how it will be +difficult for me to do without my little right hand and help. But for +your good, my girl, I would do harder things than that." + +"Dear, good mother!" cried Mary, putting an arm about Molly's neck and +kissing her. "But I don't want you to work too hard and tire yourself. +I'll get up an hour or two earlier, and do all I can before I start +for school." Then as the child sat down again to her work, her heart, +in its joyfulness, sent up a song of thanksgiving to the Lord who had +heard her prayer, and opened the way for her to learn, that she might +not grow up in darkness. + +Presently Jacob went on: + +"I went to see the room where the school is to be held, and who should +come in while I was there but Mr. Charles of Bala. I'd often heard of +him before, but I'd never seen him, and I was glad to set eyes on him +for once." + +"What may he have looked like, Jacob?" asked Molly. + +"Well, Molly, I never was a very good one for drawing a portrait, but +I should say he was between forty and fifty years old, with a fine big +forehead which doesn't look as though it had unfurnished apartments to +let behind it, but quite the opposite, as though he had done a sight +of thinking, and meant to do a great deal more. Still his face isn't +anything so 'very' special till he smiles, but when he does it's like +sunshine, and goes to your heart, and warms you right through. Now I've +seen him, and heard him speak, I can understand how he does so much +good. I hear he's going about from place to place opening schools for +the poor children, who would grow up ignorant otherwise." + +[Illustration: THE REV. THOMAS CHARLES, OF BALA. + (_From the painting in the Bible House._)] + +"Like me," murmured Mary, under her breath. + +"And who's the master that's to be set over the school at +Abergynolwyn?" asked Molly. + +"I heard tell that his name is John Ellis," replied Jacob; "a good man, +and right for the work, so they say; and I hope it'll prove so." + +"And how soon is the school to open, Jacob?" asked his wife. + +"In about three weeks, I believe," answered Jacob. "And now, Mary my +girl, if you can bring yourself to think of such a thing as supper, +after what I've been telling you, suppose you get some ready, for I +haven't broke my fast since noon." + +The following three weeks passed more slowly for little Mary Jones +than any three months she could remember before. Such childishness +as there was in her seemed to show itself in impatience; and we must +confess that her home duties at this time were not so cheerfully or +so punctually performed as usual, owing to the fact that her thoughts +were far away, her heart being set on the thing she had longed for so +earnestly. + +"If 'this' is the way it's going to be, Jacob," said Molly to her +husband one evening, "I shall wish there had never been a thought of +school at Abergynolwyn. The child's so off her head that she goes about +like one in a dream; what it'll be when that school begins, I daren't +think." + +"Don't you fret, wife," replied Jacob smiling. "It'll all come right. +Don't you see that her poor little busy brain has been longing to grow, +and now that there's a chance of its being fed, she's all agog. But +you'll find, when she once gets started, she'll go on all right with +her home work as well. She's but ten years old, Molly, after all, and +for my own part, I'm not sorry to see there's a bit of the child left +in her, even if it shows itself this way, such a little old woman as +she's always been!" + +But this longest three weeks that Mary ever spent came to an end at +last, and Mary began to go to school, thus commencing a new era in her +life. + +Fairly hungering and thirsting after knowledge, the child found her +lessons an unmixed delight. What other children call drudgery was to +her only pleasure, and her eagerness was so great that she was almost +always at the top of her class; and in an incredibly short space of +time she began to read and write. + +The master, who had a quick eye for observing the character and talents +of his pupils, soon remarked Mary's peculiarities, and encouraged her +in her pursuit of such knowledge as was taught in the school; and +the little girl repaid her master's kindness by the most unwearied +diligence and attention. + +Nor while the brain was being fed did the heart grow cold, or the +practical powers decline. Molly Jones had now no fault to find with +Mary's performance of her home duties. The child rose early, and did +her work before breakfast; and after her return from school in the +afternoon she again helped her mother, only reserving for herself time +enough to prepare her lessons for the next day. + +At school she was a general favourite, and never seemed to be regarded +with jealousy by her companions, this being due probably to her genial +disposition, and the kind way in which she was willing to help others +whenever she could. + +One morning a little girl was seen to be crying sadly when she reached +the schoolhouse, and on being questioned as to what was the matter, she +said that on the way there, a big dog had snatched at the little paper +bag in which she was bringing her dinner to eat during recess, and had +carried it off, and so she should have to go hungry all day. + +Some of the scholars laughed at the child for her carelessness, and +some called her a coward, for not running after the dog and getting +back her dinner; but Mary stole up to the little one's side, and +whispered something in her ear, and dried the wet eyes, and kissed the +flushed cheeks, and presently the child was smiling and happy again. + +But when dinner-time came, Mary and the little dinnerless maiden sat +close together in a corner, and more than half of Mary's provisions +found their way to the smaller child's mouth. + +The other scholars looked on, feeling somewhat ashamed, no doubt, that +none but Mary Jones had thought of doing so kind and neighbourly an +action, at the cost of a little self-denial. But the lesson was not +lost upon them, and from that day Mary's influence made itself felt in +the school for good. + +In her studies she progressed steadily, and this again gave opportunity +for the development of the helpful qualities by which, from her +earliest childhood, she had been distinguished. + +On one occasion, for instance, she was just getting ready to set off +on her two miles journey home, when she spied in a corner of the now +deserted schoolroom a little boy with a book open before him, and a +smeared slate and blunt pencil by its side. The poor little fellow's +tears were falling over his unfinished task, and evidently he was in +the last stage of childish despondency. He had dawdled away his time +during the school hours, or had not listened when the lesson had been +explained, and now school discipline required that he should stay +behind when the rest had gone, and attend to the work which he had +neglected. + +Mary had a headache that day, and was longing to get home; but the +sight of that tearful, sad little face in the corner banished all +thought of self, and as the voices of the other children died away in +the distance, she crossed the room, and leaned over the small student's +shoulder. + +"What is it, Robbie dear?" said she in her old-fashioned way and +tender, low-toned voice. "Oh, I see, you've got to do that sum! I +mayn't do it for you, you know, because that would be a sort of +cheating, but I can tell you how to do it yourself, and I think I can +make it plain." + +So saying, Mary fetched her little bit of wet rag, and washed the +slate, and then got an old knife and sharpened the pencil. + +"Now," said she, smiling cheerily, "see, I'll put down the sum as it is +in the book." And she wrote on the slate in clear, if not very elegant +figures, the sum in question. + +Thus encouraged, Robbie gave his mind to his task, and with a little +help it was soon done, and Mary with a light heart, which made up for +her heavy head, trotted home, very glad that what she was herself +learning could be a benefit to others. + +Not long after the commencement of the day school, a Sunday school +also was opened, and the very first Sunday that children were taught +there, behold our little friend as clean and fresh as soap and water +could make her, and with bright eyes and eager face, showing the keen +interest she felt, and her great desire to learn. + +That evening, after service in the little meeting-house, as the +farmer's wife, good Mrs. Evans, was just going to get into her +pony-cart to drive home, she felt a light touch on her arm, while a +sweet voice she knew said, "Please, ma'am, might I speak to you a +moment?" + +"Surely, my child," replied the good woman, turning her beaming face on +little Mary, "what have you got to say to me?" + +"Two years ago, please ma'am, you were so kind as to promise that when +I'd learned to read I should come to the farm and read your Bible." + +"I did, I remember it well," answered Mrs. Evans. "Well, child, do you +know how to read?" + +"Yes, ma'am," responded Mary; "and now I've joined the Sunday school, +and shall have Bible lessons to prepare, and if you'd be so kind as to +let me come up to the farm one day in the week—perhaps Saturday, when +I've a half-holiday—I could never thank you enough." + +"There's no need for thanks, little woman, come and welcome! I shall +expect you next Saturday; and may the Lord make His Word a great +blessing to you!" + +Mrs. Evans held Mary's hand one moment with a cordial pressure; then +she got into her cart, and the pony started off quickly towards home, +as though he knew that old Farmer Evans was laid up with rheumatism, +and that his wife wished to get back to him as soon as possible. + +[Illustration: A Bit of Bala Lake.] + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +TWO MILES TO A BIBLE. + + 'Tis written, man shall not live alone, + By the perishing bread of earth; + Thou givest the soul a richer food + To nourish the heavenly birth. + And yet to our fields of golden grain + Thou bringest the harvest morn; + Thine op'ning hand is the life of all, + For Thou preparest them corn. + +[Illustration] MR. EVANS'S farm was a curious old-fashioned place. The +house was a large, rambling building, with many queer ups and downs, +and with oddly-shaped windows in all sorts of unexpected places. And +yet there was an aspect of homely comfort about the house not always to +be found in far finer and more imposing-looking residences. At the back +were the out-buildings—the sheds and cow-houses, the poultry-pen, the +stables and pig-sties; while stretching away beyond these again were +the home paddock, the drying-ground, and a small enclosed field, which +went by the name of Hospital Meadow, on account of its being used for +disabled animals that needed a rest. + +With the farmer himself we made acquaintance two years ago at the +meeting, when he spoke so kindly to Mary; and he was still the same +good, honest, industrious, God-fearing man, never forgetting in the +claims and anxieties of his work, what he owed to the Giver of all, +who sends His rain for the watering of the seed, and His sun for the +ripening of the harvest. + +Nor did he—as too many farmers are in the habit of doing—repine at +Providence, and find fault with God's dealings if the rain came down +upon the hay before it was safely carried, or if an early autumn gale +laid his wheat even with the earth from which it sprang, ere the sickle +could be put into it. Nor did he complain and grumble even when disease +showed itself among the breed of small but active cattle of which he +was justly proud, and carried off besides some of his fine sheep, +destined for the famous Welsh mutton which sometimes is to be found on +English tables. + +In short, he was contented with what the Lord sent, and said with Job, +when a misfortune occurred, "Shall we receive good at the hands of the +Lord, and shall we not receive evil?" + +Of Mrs. Evans we have already spoken, and if we add here that she was a +true helpmeet to her husband, in matters both temporal and spiritual, +that is all we need say in her praise. + +This worthy couple had three children. The eldest was already grown +up; she was a fine girl, and a great comfort and help to her mother. +The younger children were boys, who went to a grammar school in a town +a mile or two away: they were manly, high-spirited little fellows, +well-trained, and as honest and true as their parents. + +Such, then, was the family into which our little Mary was welcomed with +all love and kindness. She was shy and timid the first time, for the +farm-house was a much finer place than any home she had hitherto seen; +and there was an atmosphere of warmth, and there were delicious signs +of plenty, which were unknown in Jacob Jones's poor little cottage, +where everything was upon the most frugal, not to say meagre, scale. + +But Mary's shyness did not last long; indeed it disappeared wholly soon +after she had crossed the threshold, where she was met by Mrs. Evans +with a hearty welcome and a motherly kiss. + +"Come in, little one," said the good woman, drawing her into the cosy, +old-fashioned kitchen, where a kettle was singing on the hob, and an +enticing fragrance of currant shortcake, baking for an early tea, +scented the air. + +"There, get warm, dear," said Mrs. Evans, "and then you shall go to the +parlour, and study the Bible. And have you got a pencil and scrap of +paper to take notes if you want them?" + +"Yes, thank you, ma'am, I brought them with me," replied Mary. + +For a few minutes she sat there, basking in the pleasant, cheery glow +of the fire-light; then she was admitted to the parlour, where, on the +table in the centre of the room, and covered reverently with a clean +white cloth, was the precious book. + +It must not be thought from the care thus taken of it that the Bible +was never used. On the contrary, it was always read at prayers night +and morning; and the farmer, whenever he had a spare half-hour, liked +nothing better than to study the sacred book, and seek to understand +its teachings. + +"There's no need to tell you to be careful of our Bible, and to turn +over the leaves gently, Mary, I'm sure," said Mrs. Evans; "you would do +that anyway, I know. And now, my child, I'll leave you and the Bible +together. When you've learned your lesson for Sunday school, and read +all you want, come back into the kitchen and have some tea before you +go." + +Then the good farmer's wife went away, leaving Mary alone with a Bible +for the first time in her life. + +Presently the child raised the napkin, and, folding it neatly, laid it +on one side. + +Then, with trembling hands, she opened the book, opened it at the +fifth chapter of John, and her eyes caught these words, "Search the +scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are +they which testify of Me." + +"I will! I will!" she cried, feeling as if the words were spoken +directly to her by some Divine voice. "I will search and learn all I +can. Oh, if I had but a Bible of my own!" And this wish, this sigh for +the rare and coveted treasure, was the key-note to a grand chorus of +glorious harmony which, years after, spread in volume, until it rolled +in waves of sound over the whole earth. Yes, that yearning in a poor +child's heart was destined to be a means of light and knowledge to +millions of souls in the future. Thus verily has God often chosen the +weak things of the world to carry out His great designs, and work His +will. And here, once more, is an instance of the small beginnings which +have great results—results whose importance is not to be calculated on +this side of eternity. + +When Mary had finished studying the Scripture lesson for the morrow, +and had enjoyed a plentiful meal in the cosy kitchen, she said good-bye +to her kind friends, and set off on her homeward journey, her mind full +of the one great longing, out of which a resolution was slowly shaping +itself. + +It was formed at last. + +"I 'must' have a Bible of my own!" she said aloud, in the earnestness +of her purpose. "I must have one, if I save up for it for ten years!" +And by the time this was settled in her mind the child had reached her +home. + +Christmas had come, and with it some holidays for Mary and the other +scholars who attended the school at Abergynolwyn; but our little +heroine would only have been sorry for the cessation of lessons, had +it not been that during the holidays she had determined to commence +carrying out her plan of earning something towards the purchase of a +Bible. + +Without neglecting her home duties, she managed to undertake little +jobs of work, for which the neighbours were glad to give her a trifle. +Now it was to mind a baby while the mother was at the wash-tub. Now to +pick up sticks and brushwood in the woods for fuel; or to help to mend +and patch the poor garments of the family for a worn, weary mother, who +was thankful to give a small sum for this timely welcome help. + +And every halfpenny, every farthing (and farthings were no unusual fee +among such poor people as those of whom we are telling) was put into a +rough little money-box which Jacob made for the purpose, with a hole in +the lid. The box was kept in a cupboard, on a shelf where Mary could +reach it, and it was a real and heartfelt joy to her when she could +bring her day's earnings—some little copper coins, perhaps—and drop +them in, longing for the time to come when they would have swelled to +the requisite sum—a large sum unfortunately—for buying a Bible. + +It was about this time that good Mrs. Evans, knowing the child's +earnest wish, and wanting to encourage and help her, made her the +present of a fine cock and two hens. + +"Nay, nay, my dear, don't thank me," said she, when Mary was trying to +tell her how grateful she was; "I've done it, first to help you along +with that Bible you've set your heart on, and then, too, because I love +you, and like to give you pleasure. So now, my child, when the hens +begin to lay, which will be early in the spring, you can sell your +eggs, for these will be your very own to do what you like with, and you +can put the money to any use you please. I think I know what you'll do +with it," added Mrs. Evans, with a smile. + +But the first piece of silver that Mary had the satisfaction of +dropping into her box was earned before she had any eggs to sell, and +in quite a different way from the sums which she had hitherto received. +She was walking one evening along the road from Towyn, whither she had +been sent on an errand for her father, when her foot struck against +some object lying in the road; and, stooping to pick it up, she found +it was a large leather purse. Wondering whose it could be, the child +went on, until, while still within half a mile from home, she met a +man walking slowly, and evidently searching for something. He looked +up as Mary approached, and she recognized him as Farmer Greaves, a +brother-in-law of Mrs. Evans. + +"Ah! Good evening, Mary Jones," said he; "I've had such a loss! Coming +home from market I dropped my purse, and—" + +"I've just found a purse, sir," said Mary; "is this it?" + +"You've found a purse?" exclaimed the farmer, eagerly. "Yes, indeed, +my dear, that is mine, and I'm very much obliged to you. No, stay a +moment," he called after her, for Mary was already trudging off again. +"I should like to give you a trifle for your hon—I mean just some +trifle by way of thanks." + +As he spoke, his finger and thumb closed on a bright shilling, which +surely would not have been too much to give to a poor child who had +found a heavy purse. But he thought better (or worse) of it, and took +out instead a sixpence and handed it to Mary, who took it with very +heartfelt thanks, and ran home as quickly as possible to drop her +silver treasure safely into the box, where it was destined to keep its +poorer brethren company for many a long year. + +But the Christmas holidays were soon over, and then it was difficult +for Mary to keep up with her daily lessons, and her Sunday school +tasks, the latter involving the weekly visits to the farm-house for +the study of the Bible. What with these and her home duties, sometimes +weeks passed without her having time to earn a penny towards the +purchase of the sacred treasure. + +Sometimes, too, she was rather late in reaching home on the Saturday +evenings, and now and again Molly was uneasy about her. For Mary would +come by short cuts over the hills, along ways which, however safe in +the daytime, were rough and unpleasant, if not dangerous, after dark; +and in these long winter evenings the daylight vanished very early. + +It was on one of these occasions that Molly and Jacob Jones were +sitting and waiting for their daughter. + +The old clock had already struck eight. She had never been so late as +this before. + +"Our Molly ought to be home, Jacob," said Molly, breaking a silence +disturbed only by the noise of Jacob's busy loom. "It's got as dark +as dark, and there's no moon to-night. The way's a rugged one, if she +comes the short cut across the hill, and she's not one to choose a +long road if she can find a shorter, bless her! She's more than after +her time. I hope no harm's come to the child," and Molly walked to the +window and looked out. + +"Don't be fretting yourself, Molly," replied Jacob, pausing in his +work; "Mary's out on a good errand, and He who put the love of good +things in her heart will take care of her in her going out and in her +coming in, from henceforth, even for evermore." + +Jacob spoke solemnly, but with a tone of conviction that comforted +his wife, as words of his had often done before; and just then a +light step bounded up to the door, the latch was lifted, and Mary's +lithe young figure entered the cottage, her dark eyes shining with +intelligence, her cheeks flushed with exercise, a look of eager +animation overspreading the whole of her bright face and seeming to +diffuse a radiance round the cottage, while it shone reflected in the +countenances of Jacob and Molly. + +"Well, child, what have you learned to-day?" questioned Jacob. "Have +you studied your lesson for the Sunday school?" + +"Ay, father, that I have, and a beautiful lesson it was," responded the +child. "It was the lesson and Mr. Evans together that kept me so late." + +"How so, Mary?" asked Molly. "We've been right down uneasy about you, +fearing lest something had happened to you." + +"You needn't have been so, mother dear," replied the little girl, with +something of her father's quiet assurance. "God knew what I was about, +and He would not let any harm come to me. Oh, father, the more I read +about Him the more I want to know, and I shall never rest until I've a +Bible of my own. But to-day I've brought home a big bit of the farmer's +Bible with me." + +"What do you mean, Mary? How could you do such a thing?" questioned +Molly in amazement. + +"Only in my head, mother dear, of course," replied the child; then in a +lower voice she added, "'and my heart.'" + +"And what is the bit?" asked Jacob. + +"It's the seventh chapter of Matthew," said Mary. "Our Sunday lesson +was from the first verse to the end of the twelfth verse. But it was so +easy and so beautiful that I went on and on, till I'd learned the whole +chapter. And just as I had finished, Mr. Evans came in and asked me if +I understood it all; and when I said there were some bits that puzzled +me, he was so kind and explained them. If you like, mother and father, +I'll repeat you the chapter." + +So Jacob pushed away his work, and took his old seat in the chimney +corner, and Molly began some knitting, while Mary sat down on a stool +at her father's feet, and beginning at the first verse, repeated the +whole chapter without a single mistake, without a moment's hesitation, +and with a tone and emphasis which showed her comprehension of the +truths so beautifully taught, and her sympathy with them. + +"Mark my words, wife," said Jacob that night, when Mary had gone to +bed, "that child will do a work for the Lord before she dies. See you +not how He Himself is leading and guiding His lamb into green pastures +and beside still waters? Why, Molly, when she repeated that verse, +'Ask, and ye shall receive,' I saw her eyes shine, and her cheeks glow +again, and I knew she was thinking of the Bible that she's set her +heart on, and which I doubt not she's praying for often enough when we +know nothing about it. And the Lord He will give it her some day. Of +that I'm moral certain. Yes, Molly, our Mary will have her Bible!" + +[Illustration: _"The Word of the Lord endureth for ever."_ + _From a Bible in the Society's Library (C. Barker, 1585)._] + + + +CHAPTER V. + +FAITHFUL IN THAT WHICH IS LEAST. + + Since this one talent Thou hast granted me, + I give Thee thanks, and joy, in blessing Thee + That I am worthy any. + I would not hide or bury it, but rather + Use it for Thee and Thine, O Lord and Father + And make one talent many. + +[Illustration] WE may be sure that various were the influences +tending to mould the character of Mary Jones during the years of her +school-life, confirming in her the wonderful steadfastness of purpose +and earnestness of spirit for which she was remarkable, as well as +fostering the tender and loving nature that made her beloved by all +with whom she had to do. + +Her master, John Ellis (who afterwards was stationed at Barmouth), +seems to have been a conscientious and able teacher, and we may infer +that he took no small part in the development of the mind and heart of +a pupil who must always have been an object of special interest from +her great intelligence and eagerness to learn. + +But as the years passed, the time came for John Ellis to change his +sphere of labour. He did so, and his place was taken by a man, a sketch +of whose story may perhaps not inappropriately be given here, as that +of the teacher under whom Mary Jones was being Instructed at the time +when a great event occurred in her history, an event the recounting of +which we leave for the next chapter. + +The successor to John Ellis was Lewis Williams, a man who from a low +station in life, and from absolute ignorance, rose to a position of +considerable influence and popularity, from an utterly heedless and +godless life, to be a God-fearing and noble-minded Christian. + +He was a man of small size, and from all that we can learn of his +intellect and talents we can hardly think that they were of any +high order. But what he lacked in mental gifts, he made up in iron +resolution, in a perseverance which was absolutely sublime in its +determination not to be baffled. + +He was born in Pennal in the year 1774; his parents were poor, but of +them nothing further is known. + +Like other boys at that time, and in that neighbourhood, he was wild +and reckless, breaking the Sabbath continually, and otherwise drawing +upon himself the censure of those with whom he was acquainted. + +But when he was about eighteen years old, he chanced on one occasion to +be at a prayer-meeting, when a Mr. Jones, of Mathafarn, was reading and +expounding the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. + +The word of God, thus made known to Lewis Williams in perhaps a fresh +and striking manner, was the means of carrying home to his hitherto +hard heart the conviction of sin; and a change was from that time +observed in him, which gradually deepened, until none could longer +doubt that he had become an earnest and consistent Christian. + +On the occasion of his requesting to be admitted to membership in a +little Methodist church at Cwmllinian, he was asked (probably as one +of the test questions), "If Jesus Christ asked you to do some work for +Him, would you do it?" His answer gives us the key to his success: "Oh +yes; 'whatever' Jesus required of me I would do 'at once.'" + +Such was the commencement of the religious life of this most singular +man. + +Some years after, when in service at a place called Trychiad, near +Llanegryn, he could not but notice the ignorance of the boys in the +neighbourhood, and, burning with zeal to perform some direct and +special work for his Heavenly Master, he resolved to establish there a +Sunday school, and a week-night school besides, if possible, in order +to teach the lads to read. + +This would have been praiseworthy, but still nothing remarkable in +the way of an undertaking, had Lewis Williams received any sort of +education himself. But as he had never enjoyed a day's schooling in his +life, and could hardly read a word correctly, the thought of teaching +others seemed, to say the least, rather a wild idea. + +But how often the old proverb has been proved true that where there +is a will there is a way; and once more was this verified in the +experience of Lewis Williams. + +Owing to the young man's untiring energy and courage, his school was +opened in a short time, and he began the work of instruction, teaching, +we are told, the alphabet to the lowest class by setting it to the tune +of "The March of the Men of Harlech." + +Dr. Moffat, we know, tried the same plan of melody lessons forty years +later, with a number of Bechuana children, teaching them their letters +to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne" with wonderful facility and success. + +But Lewis Williams, if he set up for a schoolmaster at all, could +hardly confine his instructions to the lowest class in the school; yet +in undertaking the teaching of the older boys, he was coming face to +face with an obstacle which might well have seemed insurmountable to +any one whose will was less strong or courage less undaunted. + +The master could not read, or at least he could neither read fluently +nor correctly, yet he had bound himself to teach reading to the lads in +his school. + +Painfully mindful of his deficiencies, he used, before commencing his +Sunday school exercises or his evening classes, to pay a visit to a +good woman, Betty Evans by name, who had learned to read well. Under +her tuition, he prepared the lessons he was going to give that day or +the next, so that in reality the master of that flourishing little +school was only beforehand with his scholars by a few hours. + +At other times he would invite a number of scholars from an endowed +high school in the neighbourhood, to come for reading and argument. + +With quiet tact and careful foresight, he would arrange that the +subject taken for reading and discussion should include the lesson +which he would shortly have to give. + +While the reading and talk went on, he listened with rapt attention. +The discussions as to the meaning or pronunciation of the more +difficult words were all clear gain to him, as familiarizing his mind +with what he desired to know. + +But none of these youths meeting thus had an inkling that the man who +invited them, who spoke so discreetly, and listened so attentively, was +himself a learner, and dependent upon them for the proper construction +of phrases, or for the correct pronunciation of words occurring in his +next day's or week's lessons. + +The school duties were always commenced with prayer, and as the master +had a restless, unruly set of lads to do with, he invented a somewhat +peculiar way of securing their attention for the devotions in which he +led them. + +Familiar with military exercises through former experiences in the +militia, he would put the restless boys through a series of these, and +when they came to "stand at ease," and "attention!" he would at once, +but very briefly and simply, engage in prayer. + +While Lewis Williams was thus hard at work at Llanegryn, seeking to win +hearts to the Saviour, and train minds to serve Him, it happened that +Mr. Charles of Bala, intending to preside at a members' meeting to be +held at Abergynolwyn, arrived at Bryncrug the evening before, and spent +the night at the house of John Jones, the schoolmaster of that place. + +In the course of conversation with his host, Mr. Charles asked him if +he knew of a suitable person to undertake the charge of one of his +recently established schools in the neighbourhood. John Jones replied +that he had heard of a young man at Llanegryn, who taught the children +both on week-nights and Sundays; "but," added the schoolmaster; "as I +hear that he himself cannot read, can hardly understand how he is able +to instruct others." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Mr. Charles. "How can any one teach what he +does not himself know?" + +"Still, they say he does so," replied John Jones. + +Mr. Charles at once expressed a wish to see this mysterious instructor +of youth, who was reported as imparting to others what he did not +himself possess. The next day, accordingly, summoned by John Jones, +our young schoolmaster made his appearance. His rustic garb, and the +simplicity of his manner, gave the impression of his being anything but +a pedagogue, whatever might have been said of him. + +"Well, my young friend," said Mr. Charles, in the genial pleasant way +that was natural to him, and that at once inspired with confidence all +with whom he had to do, "they tell me you keep a school at Llanegryn +yonder, on Sundays and week-nights, for the purpose of teaching +children to read. Have you many scholars?" + +"Yes, sir, far more than I am able to teach," replied Lewis Williams. + +"And do they learn a little by your teaching?" asked Mr. Charles, as +kindly as ever, but with a quaint smile lurking round his mouth. + +"I think some of them learn, sir," responded the young teacher, very +modestly, and with an overwhelming sense of his own ignorance—a +consciousness that showed itself painfully both in his voice and manner. + +"Do you understand any English?" questioned Mr. Charles. + +"Only a stray word or two, sir, which I picked up when serving in the +militia." + +"Do you read Welsh fluently?" + +"No, sir, I can read but little, but I am doing my very best to learn." + +"Were you at a school before beginning to teach?" asked Mr. Charles, +more and more interested in the young man who stood so meekly before +him. + +"No, sir. I never had a day's schooling in my life." + +"And your parents did not teach you to read while you were at home?" + +"No, sir, my parents could not read a word for themselves." + +Mr. Charles opened his Bible at the first chapter of the Epistle to the +Hebrews, and asked Lewis Williams to read the opening verses. + +Slowly, hesitatingly, and with several mistakes, the young man +complied, stumbling with difficulty through the first verse. + +"That will do, my lad," said Mr. Charles; "but how you are able to +teach others to read, passes my comprehension. Tell me now by what plan +you instruct the children." + +Then the poor young teacher described the methods to which he had +recourse for receiving and imparting instruction; he gave an account +of his musical A B C; the lessons given to himself by Betty Evans; the +readings and discussions of the grammar school boys; and the scholars +playing at "little soldiers." + +As Lewis Williams proceeded with his confessions (for such they +appeared to him), Mr. Charles, with the discernment which seems to have +been one of his characteristics, had penetrated through the roughness +and uncouthness of the narrator to the real force of character and +earnestness of the man. He saw that this humble follower of the +Saviour had earnestly endeavoured to improve his one talent, and work +with it in the Master's service, and that he only needed help in the +development of his capacity, to render him a most valuable servant of +Christ. He recommended him therefore to place himself for a time under +the tuition of John Jones, and thus fit himself for efficient teaching +in his turn. + +During the following three months, Lewis Williams followed the advice +of Mr. Charles; and this was all the schooling that he ever had. + +His self-culture did not, however, cease with the help gained from John +Jones. Every hour he could spare was devoted to study, in order to fit +himself for one of the schoolmasters' places under Mr. Charles' special +control and management. And we are told that in order to perfect +himself further in reading, he used to visit neighbouring churches, to +study the delivery and reading of the ministers presiding there. + +His earnest desire was gratified at last, for in the year 1799—that +is, when he was about twenty-five years of age—he was engaged by Mr. +Charles as a paid teacher in one of his schools. He was removed to +Abergynolwyn a year later, and here, among his pupils, was our young +friend Mary Jones. + +In his subsequent years of work he was the means of establishing many +new schools, and of reviving others which were losing their vitality; +and at length, he even became a preacher, so great was his zeal in his +Master's service, and so anxious was he that all should know the truth +and join in the work of the Lord. + +He died in his eighty-eighth year, followed by the sincere gratitude +and deep love of the many whom he had benefited. + +Our story now returns to Mary Jones, who at the time that Lewis +Williams became schoolmaster at Abergynolwyn, was nearly sixteen years +old. + +She was an active, healthy maiden, full of life and energy, as earnest +and as diligent as ever. Nor had her purpose faltered for one moment +as regarded the purchase of a Bible. Through six long years she had +hoarded every penny, denying herself the little indulgences which the +poverty of her life must have made doubly attractive to one so young. +She had continued her visits to the farm-house, and while she there +studied her Bible lessons for school, her desire to possess God's Holy +Book for herself grew almost to a passion. + +What joy it would be, she often thought, if every day she could read +and commit to memory portions of Scripture, storing her mind and heart +with immortal truths. "But the time will come," she had added, "when I +shall have my Bible. Yes, though I have waited so long, the time will +come." Then on her knees beside her little bed she had prayed aloud,— + + "Dear Lord, let the time come quickly!" + +As may be supposed, Mary was the great pride and delight of her +parents. She was more useful, more her mother's right hand than ever; +and her father, as he looked into her clear, honest, intelligent dark +eyes, and heard her recite her lesson for school, or recount for his +benefit all the explanations to which she had that day listened, +thanked the Lord in his heart, for his brave, God-fearing child, and +prayed that she might grow up to be a blessing to all with whom she +might have to do in the future. + +[Illustration: _"If a man love me, he will keep my words."_ + _Tail-piece from Coverdale's New Test. (1538) in the Society's Library._] + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ON THE WAY. + + A strong, brave heart, and a purpose true, + Are better than wealth untold, + Planting a garden in barren ways, + And turning their dust to gold. + +[Illustration] "O MOTHER! O father! Only think! Mrs. Evans has just +paid me for that work I did for her, and it is more than I expected; +and now I find I have enough to buy a Bible. I'm so happy I don't know +what to do." + +Mary had just come from the farm-house, and now as she bounded in with +the joyful news, Jacob stopped his loom, and held out both hands. + +"Is it really so, Mary? After six years' saving! Nay then, God be +thanked, child, who first put the wish into your heart, and then gave +you patience to wait and work to get the thing you wanted. Bless you, +my little maid," and Jacob laid a hand solemnly upon his daughter's +head, adding in a lower tone, "and she shall be blest!" + +"But tell me, father dear," said Mary after a little pause, "where +am I to buy the Bible? There are no Bibles to be had here or at +Abergynolwyn." + +"I cannot tell you, Mary, but our preacher, William Huw, will know," +replied Jacob; "you will do well to go to him to-morrow, and ask how +you're to get the book." + +Acting upon her father's suggestion, Mary accordingly went the next +day to Llechwedd to William Huw, and to him she put the question so +all-important to her. But he replied that not a copy could be obtained +(even of the Welsh version published the year before) nearer than of +Mr. Charles of Bala; and he added that he feared lest all the Bibles +received by Mr. Charles from London had been sold or promised months +ago. + +This was discouraging news, and Mary went home, cast down indeed, but +not in despair. There was still, she reflected, a chance that one copy +of the Scriptures yet remained in Mr. Charles's possession; and if so, +that Bible should be hers. + +The long distance—over twenty-five miles—the unknown road, the +far-famed, but to her, strange minister, who was to grant her the boon +she craved—all this, if it a little frightened her, did not for one +moment threaten to change her purpose. + +Even Jacob and Molly, who at first, on account of the distance, +objected to her walking to Bala for the purchase of her Bible, ceased +to oppose their will to hers; "for," said good Jacob to his wife, "if +it's the Lord answering our prayers and leading the child, as we prayed +He might, it would ill become us to go against His wisdom." + +And so our little Mary had her way, and having received permission for +her journey, she went to a neighbour living near, and telling her of +her proposed expedition, asked if she would lend her a wallet to carry +home the treasure should she obtain it. + +The neighbour, mindful of Mary's many little acts of thoughtful +kindness towards herself and her children, and glad of any way in which +she could show her grateful feeling and sympathy, put the wallet into +the girl's hand, and bade her good-bye with a hearty "God speed you!" + +The next morning, a fresh, breezy day in spring, in the year 1800, +Mary rose almost as soon as it was light, and washed and dressed with +unusual care; for was not this to be a day of days—the day for which +she had waited for years, and which must, she thought, make her the +happiest of girls, or bring to her such grief and disappointment as she +had never yet known? + +Her one pair of shoes—far too precious a possession to be worn on a +twenty-five mile walk—Mary placed in her wallet, intending to put them +on as soon as she reached the town. + +Early as was the hour, Molly and Jacob were both up to give Mary her +breakfast of hot milk and bread, and have family prayer, offering a +special petition for God's blessing on their child's undertaking, and +for His protection and care during her journey. + +This fortified and comforted Mary, and, kissing her parents, she +went out into the dawn of that lovely day—a day which lived in her +remembrance till the last hour of her long and useful life. + +She set out at a good pace—not too quick, for that would have wearied +her ere a quarter of her journey could be accomplished, but an even, +steady walk, her bare brown feet treading lightly but firmly along +the road, her head erect, her clear eyes glistening, her cheek with a +healthy flush under the brown skin. So she went—the bonniest, blithest +maiden on that sweet spring morning in all the country round. + +[Illustration: CADER IDRIS.] + +Never before had everything about her looked to Mary as it looked on +that memorable morning. The dear old mountain seemed to gaze down +protectingly upon her. The very sun, as it came up on the eastern +horizon, appeared to have a smile specially for her. The larks soared +from the meadow till their trilling died away in the sky, like a +tuneful prayer sent up to God. The rabbits peeped out at her from leafy +nooks and holes, and even a squirrel, as it ran up a tree, stopped +to glance familiarly at our little maiden, as much as to say, "Good +morning, Mary; good luck to you!" And the girl's heart was attuned to +the blithe loveliness of nature, full of thankfulness for the past and +of hope for the future. + +And now, leaving our heroine bravely wending her way towards Bala, we +will Just record briefly the history of that good and earnest man on +whom the child's hopes and expectations were this day fixed, and who +therefore, in Mary's eyes, must be the greatest and most important +person—for the time—in the world. + +But apart from the ideas and opinions of a simple girl, Thomas Charles +of Bala was in reality a person of great influence and high standing +in Wales, and had been instrumental in the organization and execution +of much important and excellent work, in places where ignorance and +darkness had hitherto prevailed. Hence the name (by which he often +went) of "the Apostolic Charles of Bala." + +He was now about fifty years of age, and had spent twenty years in +going about among the wildest parts of Wales, preaching the Word of +Life, forming schools, and using his great and varied talents wholly in +the service of his Master. + +At the age of eighteen he had given himself to the Saviour, and his +first work for the Lord was in his own home, where he was the means of +instituting family worship and exerting an influence for good none the +less powerful that it was loving and gentle. + +His education was begun at Carmarthen, and continued at Oxford, and +we learn that the Rev. John Newton was a kind and good friend to +him during a part of his student life, and that on one occasion his +vacation was spent at the house of this excellent man. + +The Rev. Thomas Charles became an ordained minister of the Church of +England in due course, but owing to the faithful and outspoken style of +his preaching, many of his own denomination took offence and would not +receive him; so he seceded from the Church of England and joined the +Welsh Calvinistic Methodists; but his greatest work hitherto had been +the establishment of Day and Sunday Schools in Wales. The organization +of these, the selection of paid teachers, the periodical visiting and +examination of the various schools, made Mr. Charles's life a very +busy one. But as he toiled on, he could see that his labour was not +in vain. Wherever he went, carrying the good news, proving it in his +life, spending all he was and all he had in the service of Christ,—the +darkness that hung over the people lifted, and the true light began to +shine. + +The ignorance and immorality gave place to a desire for knowledge +and holiness, and the soil that was barren and stony became the +planting-place of sweet flowers and pleasant fruits. + +Such, in brief, was the man—and such his work up to the time of Mary +Jones's journey to Bala. + +About the middle of the day Mary stopped to rest and to eat some food +which her mother had provided for her. Under a tree in a grassy hollow +not far from the road, she half reclined, protected from the sun by +the tender green of the spring foliage, and cooling her hot dusty feet +in the soft damp grass that spread like a velvet carpet all over the +hollow. + +Ere long too she spied a little stream, trickling down a hill on its +way to the sea, and here she drank, and washed her face and hands and +feet, and was refreshed. + +Half an hour's quiet rested her thoroughly, then she jumped up, slung +her wallet over her shoulder again, and recommenced her journey. + +The rest of the way, along a dusty road for the most part, and under a +warm sun, was fatiguing enough; but the little maiden plodded patiently +on, though her feet were blistered and cut with the stones, and her +head ached and her limbs were very weary. + +Once a kind cottager, as she passed, gave her a drink of butter-milk, +and a farmer's little daughter, as Mary neared her destination, offered +her a share of the supper she was eating as she sat in the porch in the +cool of the evening; but these were all the adventures or incidents in +Mary's journey till she got to Bala. + +On arriving there, she followed out the instructions that had been +given her by William Huw, and went to the house of David Edwards, a +much respected Methodist preacher at Bala. + +This good man received her most kindly, questioned her as to her motive +in coming so far, but ended by telling her that owing to Mr. Charles's +early and regular habits (one secret of the large amount of work which +he accomplished), it was now too late in the day to see him. + +"But," added the kind old man, seeing his young visitor's +disappointment, "you shall sleep here to-night, and we will go to Mr. +Charles's as soon as I see light in his study-window to-morrow morning, +so that you may accomplish your errand in good time, and be able to +reach home before night." + +With grateful thanks Mary accepted the hospitality offered her, and +after a simple supper, she was shown into the little prophet's chamber +where she was to sleep. + +There, after repeating a chapter of the Bible, and offering an earnest +prayer, she lay down, her mind and body alike resting, her faith sure +that her journey would not be in vain, but that He who had led her +safely thus far, would give her her heart's desire. + +And the curtains of night fell softly about the good preacher's humble +dwelling, shadowing the sleepers there; and the rest of those sleepers +was sweet, and their safety assured, for watching over them was the +God of the night and the day—the God whom they loved and trusted, and +underneath them were the Everlasting Arms. + +[Illustration: A CORNER OF BALA LAKE.] + + + +[Illustration: BALA.] + +CHAPTER VII. + +TEARS THAT PREVAIL. + + Often tears of joy and sorrow meet; + Marah's bitter waters turn'd to sweet. + +BALA is even now a quiet little town, situated near the end of Bala +Lake, on the north side of a wide, cultivated valley. A hundred years +ago, it was more quiet and rural still. The scenery is pastoral in its +character, hilly rather than mountainous, but well wooded and watered. +The town is a favourite resort of people fond of shooting and fishing. +Altogether it is a pretty, cheerful, healthy spot, but wanting in the +imposing grandeur and rugged beauty of many other parts of North Wales. + +Such, then, was the place to which our little heroine's weary feet had +brought her on the preceding evening, and such was the home—for the +greater part of his life—of Thomas Charles of Bala. + +Mary's deep, dreamless sleep was not broken until her host knocked at +her door at early dawning. + +"Wake up, Mary Jones, my child! Mr. Charles is an early riser, and will +soon be at work. The dawn is breaking; get up, dear!" + +Mary started up, rubbing her eyes. The time had really come, then, and +in a few minutes she would know what was to be the result of her long +waiting. + +[Illustration: BALA LAKE.] + +Her heart beat quicker as she washed and dressed, but her excitement +calmed when she sat down for a minute or two on the side of her bed, +and repeated the 23rd Psalm. + +The sweet words of the royal singer were the first that occurred to +her, and now, as she murmured "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not +want," she felt as though she were of a truth being watched over and +cared for by a loving Shepherd, and being led by Him. + +She was soon ready, and David Edwards and his guest proceeded together +to Mr. Charles's house. + +"There's a light in his study," said the good old preacher. "Our +apostle is at his desk already. There are not many like him, Mary; +always at work for the Master. The world would be better had we more +such men." + +Mary did not reply, but she listened intently as David Edwards knocked +at the door. There was no answer, only the tread of a foot across the +floor above, and the next moment the door opened, and Mr. Charles +himself stood before them. + +"Good morning, friend Edwards! And what brings you here so early? Come +in, do," said the genial, hearty voice, which so many knew, and had +cause to love. Then, as David Edwards entered, Mr. Charles noticed the +little figure behind him in the doorway. + +A rather timid shrinking little figure it was now, for Mary's courage +was fast ebbing away, and she felt shy and frightened. + +A few words of explanation passed between the old preacher and Mr. +Charles; then Mary was invited to enter the study. + +"Now, my child," said Mr. Charles, "don't be afraid, but tell me all +about yourself, where you live, and what your name is, and what you +want." + +At this Mary took courage and answered all Mr. Charles's questions, +her voice (which at first was low and tremulous) strengthening as her +courage returned. She told him all about her home and her parents, her +longing when quite a child for a Bible of her own, then of the long +years during which she had saved up her little earnings towards the +purchase of a Bible—the sum being now complete. + +Then Mr. Charles examined her as to her Scripture knowledge, and +was delighted with the girl's intelligent replies, which showed how +earnestly and thoroughly she had studied the Book she loved so well. + +"But how, my child," said he, "did you get to know the Bible as you do, +when you did not own one for yourself?" + +Then Mary told him of the visits to the farm-house, and how, through +the kindness of the farmer and his wife, she had been able to study her +Sunday school lessons, and commit portions of Scripture to memory. + +As she informed Mr. Charles of all that had taken place, and he began +to realize how brave, and patient, and earnest, and hopeful she had +been through all these years of waiting, and how far she had now come +to obtain possession of the coveted treasure, his bright face became +overshadowed, and, turning to David Edwards, he said, sadly, "I am +indeed grieved that this dear girl should have come all the way from +Llanfihangel to buy a Bible, and that I should be unable to supply her +with one. The consignment of Welsh Bibles that I received from London +last year was all sold out months ago, excepting a few copies which I +have kept for friends whom I must not disappoint. Unfortunately the +Society which has hitherto supplied Wales with the Scriptures declines +to print any more, and where to get Welsh Bibles to satisfy our +country's need I know not." + +Until now, Mary had been looking up into Mr. Charles's face, with her +great, dark eyes full of hope and confidence; but as he spoke these +words to David Edwards, and she noticed his overclouded face, and began +to understand the full import of his words, the room seemed to her to +darken suddenly, and, dropping into the nearest seat, she buried her +face in her hands, and sobbed as, perhaps, few girls of her age had +ever sobbed before. + +It was all over, then, she said to herself—all of no use—the prayers, +the longing, the waiting, the working, the saving for six long years, +the weary tramp with bare feet, the near prospect of her hopes being +fulfilled, all, all in vain! And to a mind so stocked with Bible texts +as hers, the language of the Psalmist seemed the natural outburst for +so great a grief, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He in anger +shut up His tender mercies?" All in vain—all of no use! And the poor +little head, lately so erect, drooped lower and lower, and the sunburnt +hands, roughened by work and exposure, could not hide the great hot +tears that rolled down, chasing each other over cheeks out of which the +accustomed rosy tint had fled, and falling unheeded through her fingers. + +There were a few moments during which only Mary's sobs broke the +silence; but those sobs had appealed to Mr. Charles's heart with a +pathos which he was wholly unable to resist. + +With his own voice broken and unsteady, he said, as he rose from his +seat, and laid a hand on the drooping head of the girl before him: "My +dear child, I see you 'must' have a Bible, difficult as it is for me to +spare you one. It is impossible, yes, simply impossible, to refuse you." + +In the sudden revulsion of feeling that followed these words, Mary +could not speak; but she glanced up with such a face of mingled rain +and sunshine—such a rainbow smile—such a look of inexpressible joy and +thankfulness in her brimming eyes, that the responsive tears gushed to +the eyes—both Mr. Charles and David Edwards. + +Mr. Charles turned away for a moment to a book-cupboard that stood +behind him, and opening it, he drew forth a Bible. + +Then, laying a hand once more on Mary's head, with the other he placed +the Bible in her grasp, and, looking down the while into the earnest, +glistening eyes upturned to him, he said: + +"If you, my dear girl, are glad to receive this Bible, truly glad am I +to be able to give it to you. Read it carefully, study it diligently, +treasure up the sacred words in your memory, and act up to its +teachings." + +And then, as Mary, quite overcome with delight and thankfulness, began +once more to sob, but softly, and with sweet, happy tears, Mr. Charles +turned to the old preacher, and said, huskily, "David Edwards, is not +such a sight as this enough to melt the hardest heart? A girl, so +young, so poor, so intelligent, so familiar with Scripture, compelled +to walk all the distance from Llanfihangel to Bala (about fifty miles +there and back) to get a Bible! From this day I can never rest until I +find out some means of supplying the pressing wants of my country that +cries out for the Word of God." + +[Illustration: MR. CHARLES'S HOUSE AT BALA.] + +Half an hour later, Mary Jones, having shared David Edwards's frugal +breakfast, set off on her homeward journey. + +The day was somewhat cloudy, but the child did not notice it; her +heart was full of sunshine. The wind blew strongly, but a great calm +was in her soul, and her young face was so full of happiness that the +simple folk she met on the way could not but notice her as she tripped +blithely on, her bare feet seeming hardly to press the ground, her eyes +shining with deep content, while the wallet containing her newly-found +treasure was no longer slung across her back, but clasped close to her +bosom. + +The sun rose and burst through the clouds, glorifying all the +landscape; and onward steadily went Mary, her heart, like the lark's +song, full of thanksgiving, and her voice breaking out now and again +into melody, to which the words of some old hymn or of a well-known and +much-loved text set themselves, without an effort on the girl's part. + +On, still on, she went, heeding not the length and weariness of the +way; and the afternoon came, and the sun set in the western heavens +with a glory that made Mary think of the home prepared above for God's +children; that heaven with its walls of jasper, and its gates of pearl, +and its streets of gold, and its light that needs nor sun nor moon, but +streams from the Life-giving Presence of God Himself. + +That evening Jacob and his wife were seated waiting for supper and +for Mary. What news would the child bring? How had she sped? Had she +received her Bible? These were some of the questions which the anxious +parents asked themselves, listening the while for their daughter's +return after the fatigues and possible dangers of her fifty miles' walk. + +But the worthy couple were not long kept in suspense. + +Presently the light step which they knew so well, approached the +cottage; the latch was lifted, and Mary entered, weary, foot-sore, +dusty and travel-stained indeed, but with happiness dimpling her cheeks +and flashing in her eyes. And Jacob held out both arms to his darling, +and as he clasped her to his heart, he murmured in the words of the +prophet of old, "Is it well with the child?" And Mary, from the depths +of a satisfied heart, answered solemnly, but with gladness, "It is +well." + +We sometimes see—and particularly in the case of young people—that +great eagerness for the possession of some coveted article is followed +by indifference when the treasure is safely in their hands. It was not +so, however, with Mary Jones. The Bible for which she had toiled, and +waited, and prayed, and wept, became each day more precious to her. The +Word of the Lord was indeed nigh unto her, even in her mouth and in her +heart. + +Chapter after chapter was learned by heart, and the study of the Sunday +school lessons became her greatest privilege and delight. + +If a question were asked by the teacher, which other girls could not +answer, Mary was always appealed to, and was invariably ready with a +thoughtful, intelligent reply, while in committing to memory not only +chapters, but whole books of the Bible, she was unrivalled both in the +school and neighbourhood. + +Nor was this all. For though to love, and read, and learn the Bible are +good things, this is not the sum of what is required by Him who has +said "If ye love Me, 'keep' My commandments." + +Mary's study of the Word of God did not prevent the more than ever +faithful discharge of all her duties. Her mother, who had at one time +feared that Mary's desire for book learning, and longing to possess +a Bible of her own, might lead her to the neglect of her practical +duties, was surprised and delighted to see that, although there was a +change indeed in the girl, it was a change for the better. + +The holy truths that sank into her heart were but the precious seed +in good ground, which brings forth fruit an hundredfold; and the more +entire the consecration of that young heart to the Lord, the sweeter +became even the commonest duties of life, because they were done for +Him. + +Not very long after Mary's visit to Bala, she had the great pleasure +of seeing again the kind friend with whom, in her memory, her beloved +Bible would now always be associated. + +Mr. Charles, in the course of his periodical visits to the various +villages where his circulating schools were established, came to +Abergynolwyn, to inspect the school there under the charge of Lewis +Williams, and by examining the children personally, to assure himself +of their progress. + +Among the bright young faces upturned to him, his observant eye soon +caught sight of one countenance that he had cause to remember with +special and with deep interest; and the interest deepened still more, +when he found that from her alone all his most difficult questions +received replies, and that her intelligence was only surpassed by the +childlike humility which is one mark of the true Christian. + +We may be very sure that Mr. Charles did not miss this opportunity of +saying a few kind words to his young friend; and that Mary in her turn +treasured them up, and remembered them through the many years and the +various events of her after life. + +[Illustration] + + + +[Illustration: BALA LAKE.] + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE WORK BEGUN. + + Henceforward, then, the olive-leaf plucked off, + Carried to every nation, + Shall promise be of re-awakening life, + Our sinful world's salvation. + +WE have seen that the incident recorded in the last chapter made a +deep impression upon the mind and heart of Mr. Charles. The thought of +that bare-footed child, her weary journey, her eagerness to spend her +six years' savings in the purchase of a Bible; then her bitter tears +of disappointment, and her sweet tears of joy—all these came back to +his recollection again and again, came blended with the memory of the +ignorance and darkness of too many of his countrymen, and with the cry +that was ascending all over Wales for the Word of God. + +The girl's story was only an illustration of the terrible sense of +spiritual death that prevailed during this famine of Bibles; and none +could know so well as this good man—whose influence was, from the +nature of his work, very widely diffused—how deep a want lay at the +root of the people's degradation and impiety, against which he seemed, +with all his earnest striving, to be making such slow progress. What +wonder, then, that the question how to secure the publication of +sufficient copies of God's Word for Wales, occupied his mind almost +without cessation? + +In the winter of 1802, Mr. Charles visited London, full of his one +great thought and purpose, though not as yet seeing how it was to be +accomplished. + +It was while revolving the matter in his mind one morning, that the +idea occurred to him of a Society for the diffusion of the Scriptures, +a society having for its sole object the publication and distribution +of God's Holy Word. + +Consulting with some of his friends who belonged to the Committee of +the Religious Tract Society, he received the warmest sympathy and +encouragement, and was introduced at their next meeting, where he spoke +most feelingly and eloquently about Wales and its poverty in Bibles, +bringing forward the story which forms the subject of our little +book, and which gave point and pathos to his appeal on behalf of his +countrymen. + +Nor was the appeal without effect. A thrill of sympathy with a people +that so longed and thirsted for the Word of God, ran through the +assembled meeting. An earnest desire took possession of Mr. Charles's +hearers to do something towards supplying the great need which he so +touchingly advocated; and the hearts of many were further stirred, +and their sympathies quickened, when one of the secretaries of the +Committee, the Reverend Joseph Hughes, rose, and in reply to Mr. +Charles's appeal for Bibles for Wales, exclaimed enthusiastically: "Mr. +Charles, surely a society might be formed for the purpose; and if for +Wales, why not for the world?" + +This noble Christian sentiment found an echo in the hearts of many +among the audience, and the secretary was instructed to prepare a +letter inviting Christians everywhere, and of all denominations, to +unite in forming a society having for its object the diffusion of God's +Word over the whole earth. + +Two years passed in making known the purpose of the Committee, and in +necessary preliminaries, but in the month of March, 1804, the British +and Foreign Bible Society was actually established, and at its first +meeting the sum of £700 was subscribed. + +Unfortunately Mr. Charles was unable to be present at this meeting. +He was hard at work at home in Wales, but he heard the news with +the greatest joy; and it was owing to his exertions and to those of +his friends, as well as to the efforts of other Christian workers +who deeply felt the great need of the people at this time, that the +contributions in Wales amounted to nearly £1,900; most of this sum +consisting of the subscriptions and donations of the lower and poorer +classes. + +In the foundation of the Bible Society all denominations met, and were +brought thus into sympathy by a common cause, and an earnest wish to +serve one common Master. Hence we see representatives of all Christian +Churches working together for the good and enlightenment of the world. + +Meanwhile, wherever Mr. Charles was at work, wherever his influence +extended, there was awakened the longing, and thence arose the +petition, for the Word of Life; and wherever he told the story, either +on Welsh or English platforms, of the little maiden of Llanfihangel, +the simple narrative never failed to carry home some lessons to the +heart of each hearer. + +[Illustration: MONUMENT TO MR. CHARLES AT BALA.] + +Great was the joy and thankfulness of this single-minded and +hard-working minister of Christ, when he learnt that the first +resolution of the Committee of the Bible Society was to bring out an +edition of the Welsh Bible for the use of Welsh Sunday schools; and his +delight was greater still when the first consignment of these Bibles +reached Bala in 1806. + +Among the most useful workers in the early years of the Bible Society +was the Reverend John Owen, who soon became one of its secretaries, and +proved a most earnest and able promoter of the glorious enterprise. + +Associated also with this time of the great Society's childhood are +the honoured names of Steinkopff, of Wilberforce, and of Josiah Pratt; +while in Wales, among its earliest supporters, were Dr. Warren, Bishop +of Bangor, and Dr. Burgess, Bishop of St. David's, who united cordially +with Mr. Charles and others in the good work. As to Mr. Charles +himself, he evinced the deepest interest in the new spheres of labour +and usefulness opening in all directions,—an interest which showed +itself in many practical ways up to the time of his death. + +But in following the operations of the Bible Society, we must not +forget our friend Mary Jones, who during this time had passed from +early girlhood to womanhood. + +On leaving school, she worked as a weaver, and we conclude that she was +still living with her parents. + +Of one thing we may be sure: that her precious Bible was as dear to her +as ever, and that she was intensely interested in the founding of the +Bible Society, and in the news of the first edition of Welsh Bibles +having been received at Bala. + +But in addition to her weaving, and the household help she gave her +mother, who was not so well or strong as formerly, Mary had developed a +talent for dressmaking, which stood her in good stead when she wished +to earn a little extra money. + +All who could afford it came to her to cut out and make their dresses, +and though Mary never wasted a moment, she sometimes found it quite +difficult to do during the day all that she had planned. + +As for Jacob, he was more and more a martyr to asthma, and when the +winter winds and fogs came his sufferings were very great, though they +never exceeded the quiet patience and fortitude with which he bore his +affliction—bore it, as he said, "for the dear Lord's sake," who had +borne so much for him. + +Occasionally Mr. Charles would visit Abergynolwyn, and every now and +then Llanfihangel, and at such times he and Mary Jones met again, and +she would learn from him how the Society in London was going on—that +great London which was a strange, distant, untried world to her, such +vague ideas had she of its size and its distance from the little, +quiet, secluded place where she lived. + +And so, up in London, the great tree of life went on spreading, and +growing, while the root from which it had sprung remained in Wales +unperceived almost beneath the soil. And thus we see in this life that +God has need of the high and the lowly, the great and the small, the +gold and the baser metal; and "out" of all, and "through" all, and "in" +all, He works His wondrous way, and permits His creatures to join, as +it were, with Him in the turning of the world from darkness to His +marvellous light. + +[Illustration: _Manet._ _"It remains."_ + (_From a Bible in the Society's Library._)] + + + +[Illustration: LLAN-Y-CIL CHURCH. + (_The Burial-place of the Rev. Thomas Charles._)] + +CHAPTER IX. + +YOUTHFUL PROMISE FULFILLED. + + Nurtured and nursed of Heaven, the blossom bloom'd, + Until an open flower + With buds around it, gazed upon the sun, + Or drank the shower; + Nor did forget, in this the blooming time, + The fragrance due + To Him who gives to Nature all her wealth, + To flowers their hue. + +WHEN next we glance at our heroine of Llanfihangel, she is Mary Jones +no longer. A great change has come over her surroundings, and her +school work and her old home life with her parents are things of the +past. For she has married a weaver, Thomas Lewis by name, and is living +at the village of Bryncrug, near Towyn, not very far from Llanfihangel. +But the difference in circumstances has not changed the character of +Mary, save as the advancing summer may be said to change the fruit by +ripening it. + +So dutiful and devoted a daughter as Mary had ever proved herself, +would hardly have left her parents while she could minister to the +wants of their declining years, work for them, and be their great joy +and comfort. So it is only reasonable to suppose that ere she married, +both good old Jacob and his wife had been laid to rest, and that Mary, +in casting in her lot with Thomas Lewis, whom possibly she had known +for many years, would be neglecting no duty that could be required from +a loving daughter. + +But here, at Bryncrug, with a husband and children of her own, and the +care of a home for which she alone was responsible, with new duties, +and fresh cares, Mary's love for her Bible had grown, not diminished. + +Other things had changed—companionships, home influences, claims, +interests—but the Sacred Word remained to her unaltered, except that +every day it grew more into her heart, and became more one with her +life, yielding her, in answer to careful study, and earnest prayer for +God's Spirit of enlightenment, deep meanings of truth and sweetness +which had hitherto been unperceived. + +If Mary's life was a busy one during the years spent at Llanfihangel, +doubly so was her life here at Bryncrug. But the same quiet energy +and steadfastness of purpose for which she had ever been remarkable +still pervaded all that she did, making every duty, however humble and +homely, a service for Christ, while by her consistent Christian walk +and example she influenced for good all that were about her. + +[Illustration: BRYNCRUG, NORTH WALES.] + +If a neighbour's child wished to have a Sunday school lesson explained, +she invariably came to Mary, who could always spare a few minutes to +give the instruction that had been so precious to her in her youthful +days. And her intimate knowledge of the Bible gave her a very clear +way of explaining its truths, while her insight into character, and +her sympathetic nature, made her a wise counsellor and an acceptable +teacher. + +If, again, a friend wanted a hint or two in the making of a new dress, +or advice as to the management of her bee-hives, Mary was always the +authority appealed to, as being the most capable, as well as the +kindest of neighbours, and ever ready to lend a helping hand, or speak +a helpful word. + +Thus in Bryncrug she was winning for herself the love and confidence of +her fellow-creatures, and showing forth in life and character the glory +of that Saviour whose faithful handmaid she tried to be. + +We have just alluded to the fact of her being an authority in the +management of bees, and she was justly considered so, as her success +with her own bee-hives sufficiently proved. + +That success was simply remarkable, both as to the large number of +hives, and their profitable results. + +The attracting power and influence which Mary seemed to exercise over +people appeared to extend even to her bees; but, be this as it might, +we are told that whenever she approached the hives, her reception by +her winged subjects was nothing less than royal, such was the loyalty +and enthusiasm of these sensible, busy little honey-makers. + +The air would be thick with buzzing swarms, and presently they would +alight upon her by hundreds, covering her from head to foot, walking +over her, but never attempting to sting, or showing any feeling but +one of absolute confidence and friendliness. She would even catch a +handful of them as though they had been so many flies—but softly, so +as not to hurt them—and they never misunderstood her, or offered her +the slightest injury. In short, there seemed to be a sort of tacit +agreement between Mary and her bees, and they were apparently proud and +pleased that a part of what they were the means of earning should go +towards the support of God's work in the world. For Mary divided the +proceeds thus: + +The money brought by the sale of the honey was used for the family and +household expenses, but the proceeds of the wax were divided among the +societies which, poor as she was, Mary delighted to assist. + +Among these, foremost in her estimation stood the British and Foreign +Bible Society, with the establishment of which she had been so closely +connected, and she was never happier than when she could spare what for +her was a large sum, to help in sending the Word of God—so precious to +her own heart—over the world. + +Mary was also much interested in the Calvinistic Methodist Missionary +Society—a Society founded by the denomination to which she had, for +so many years, belonged; and many a secret self-denial could have +borne witness to her generosity in giving of her substance for the +furtherance of the Gospel. + +On one occasion we are told that, when a collection was made at +Bryncrug for the "China Million Testament Fund," in the year 1854, +a ten shilling gold piece was found in the collection plate, neatly +wrapped up between half-pence, and thus hidden until the money came to +be counted. + +This was Mary's gift, the outcome of a loving, generous heart touched +by God's love and the spiritual wants of her fellow-creatures. + +Mary was sitting at her cottage door one day, when a neighbour, Betsy +Davies, came up. "Good day, Mary," said she; "may I come and sit with +you for an hour this afternoon? I've a dress I must alter for my eldest +girl, and I don't see how to begin, so I thought may be you'd be good +enough to show me." + +"Yes, that I will, with pleasure," replied Mary. "My children are all +at school, and my husband has gone to Towyn, so I have a quiet hour or +two before me. Let me see your work, Betsy." + +Betsy Davies laid the garment over Mary; knee, and Mary's eyes, quick +and intelligent as ever, saw in a moment or two what was needed. + +"That's not a difficult job," said she pleasantly, "nor yet a long one. +Just unpick that seam, Betsy, and I'll pin it for you as it ought to +be; then if you let down the tuck in the skirt, you'll have it long +enough, and as for the rent in the stuff, I think I've got some thread +about the right colour with which you can darn it up. I will show you, +my dear, how I darn my little Mary's dresses when she tears them, as +she does very often, playing with her brothers. Yours can be mended +just in the same way, and you'll see the place will hardly show at all." + +When the two women had settled down to their work, Betsy said, "I wish +you'd tell me, Mary, how you manage to get on as you do. You can't be +rich people, your husband being only a weaver like mine and like most +of the others here, and yet you never get into debt, and you always +seem to have enough for yourselves, and what's more wonderful still, +you've enough to give away something too; I must say I can't understand +it!" + +"I don't think there's anything very hard to understand," said Mary, +smiling. "If by great care and a little self-denial we can contribute +something of our substance to help on God's work, it is surely the +greatest joy we can have." + +"Yes, that's all very well," replied Betsy, "but I never have anything +to contribute; and yet I haven't as many children as you, and so my +family and housekeeping doesn't cost so much." + +"It's like this, Betsy dear," said Mary, "we ask ourselves—I mean my +husband, and my children, and I, all of us—'What can we do without?' +And one and another is willing to give up some little indulgence, +and so we save the money. This we put into a box which we call the +treasury, and whenever we add anything to what we keep there, we think +of the widow who cast into the treasury of the temple her two mites, +and of our Lord's kind, tender words about her." + +"But what sort of things can you give up?" asked Betsy. "We poor folk, +it seems to me, don't have any more than just the necessaries of life, +and one can't give up eating and drinking, or go without clothes to our +backs." + +"Yet I think if you consider a bit, you'll see there are some trifles +which are not really needful, though they may be pleasant," replied +Mary. "Now for instance, Thomas had always been used to a pipe and a +bit of tobacco in an evening after his work was done; but when we were +all wondering what we could give up for our dear Lord's sake, he said, +'Well, wife, I'll give up my smoke in the evenings.' And I tell you, +Betsy, the tears came into my eyes when I heard that, knowing that my +husband's words meant a real sacrifice. Then our eldest son, wishing to +imitate his father, cried out, 'And I've still got that Christmas box +my master gave me last winter, and I'll give that.' And Sally, she gave +up the thought of a new hat ribbon I'd promised her, and she sponged +and ironed her old one instead, and wore it, feeling prouder than if it +had been new. And as for little Benny, he was all one day picking up +sticks in the wood to earn a penny, and that was his gift." + +"And you yourself?" asked Betsy, with interest. + +"Oh, I have the wax that my bees make; and the money that I got by +selling that went into the treasury, as well as any other small sum I +did not actually need. And this I must say, Betsy, we have never really +suffered for the want of anything we have given to God; and He repays +us with such happiness and content as He alone can give." + +"That I can well believe," rejoined Betsy, "for I never hear you +grumble, or see you look cross or discontented like the rest of the +neighbours, and as I do myself only too often. Well, Mary," she +continued, "I mean to try your plan, though it will come very hard at +first, as I'm not used to that sort of saving." + +"I think I got used to it when I was a child, putting away my little +mites of money towards buying a Bible," rejoined Mary. "For six years I +put by all my little earnings, and since then it has come natural." + +"You did get your Bible, then?" + +"Yes, indeed; this is the very one," and rising from her seat Mary took +the much prized volume from the little table in the cottage, and put it +into her visitor's hands. + +Betsy looked at it, inside and out, then handed it back saying, "I +really believe, Mary, that this Bible is one of the reasons why you +are so different from all the rest of us. You've read and studied and +learnt so much of it, that your thoughts and words and life are full of +it." + +And Mary turned her bright dark eyes, now full of happy tears, upon her +companion, and answered in a broken voice— + +"O Betsy dear, if there is a little, even a little truth in what you +kindly say of me, I thank God that in His great mercy and love He +suffers me, poor and weak and simple as I am, to show forth in my small +way His glory, and the truth of His blessed Word." + +[Illustration: _Nunquam Frustra._ _"Never in Vain."_ + (_From a Bible in the Society's Library._)] + + + +[Illustration: RUINS OF MARY JONES'S COTTAGE.] + +CHAPTER X. + +HER WORKS DO FOLLOW HER. + + O mighty tree, o'ershadowing all the earth, + In loneliest wilds thy seedling had its birth. + +NOW our narrative nears its close. The last glimpse of our friend Mary +shows us an aged woman clad in the curious old Welsh dress. + +She holds in one hand a staff for the support of her trembling limbs, +once so active and nimble; while with the other she clasps to her side +her beloved Bible, the companion of so many years, the consoler and +comforter, the guide and teacher of her life. + +[Illustration: MARY JONES IN HER LATER YEARS.] + +How much of joy or of sorrow, of trial or of what the world calls +success, had fallen to Mary's lot during her long life of eighty-two +years, we know not. We learn that she had eight children, several of +whom may have died in early life. One son, we believe, is living now +[1882], having made his home in America. + +Little as we know, however, of Mary's actual experiences, it was +impossible that during her married life she should not have learned +what deep sorrow meant, as it is almost certain that she survived +several of her children, and quite certain that her husband too died +before she did. + +Still, since we are taught that God's children do not sorrow as those +without hope, so we are sure that the childlike, trusting spirit of +this handmaid of the Lord was as ready to suffer as to do the will of +the Divine Master, and that however deep the affliction, there was +no bitterness in the grief, no despair in the tears that watered the +graves of loved ones gone before. + +Feeble and tottering was now our once bright, bonny, blithe maiden, but +it was only physically that Mary was altered. She was still the same +brave, simple-hearted, earnest, faithful follower of Christ. Time with +its changes, in parting her from most of those whom she loved on earth, +had not separated her from the love of Jesus, or taken away her delight +in the Word of the Lord that endureth for ever. + +Indeed she loved her Bible better even than of old, for she understood +it more fully, and had proved its truth beyond all doubting, again and +again, in her daily life for so many years. + +Can we doubt, then, that when the summons came, and she heard the voice +which she had known and loved from childhood, saying to her "Come up +higher!" she had no fears, no shrinking, but felt that surely since +goodness and mercy had followed her all the days of her life, she +should dwell in the house of the Lord—that house above, not made with +hands—for ever. + +Mary Jones died December the 28th, 1866, at the good old age of +eighty-two. We have no particulars of her last moments, save that on +her deathbed she bequeathed her precious Bible to the Rev. Robert +Griffiths, who in his turn bequeathed it to Mr. Rees. + +This Bible, which is now in the possession of the British and Foreign +Bible Society, is a thick octavo, of the edition published by the +Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, in 1799—the last +edition of the Welsh Bible previous to the establishment of the Bible +Society. + +The volume contains, in addition to the actual text of the now +recognized and authorized Scripture, John Cannes' marginal references, +the Apocrypha, the Book of Common Prayer, a metrical version of the +Psalms by Edmund Prys, and various Church tables. It also contains, +in Mary Jones's handwriting—in perhaps the first English that she +had learned—a note that she bought it in the year 1800, when she was +sixteen years old. + +[Illustration] + +So, full of days, and like Dorcas of old, of good works, Mary Jones +passed away from earth to the rest that remaineth for the people of +God, a sheaf of ripe corn safely garnered at last in the heavenly +granary. + +[Illustration: GRAVE OF MARY JONES. + _Probably the year of the death of Mary Jones should have been given as_ + _1866, as on p. 144, since she was born in 1784._] + +She was buried in the little churchyard at Bryncrug, and a stone has +been raised to her memory by those who loved to recall the influence of +her beautiful life, and the important if humble part she had taken in +the founding of the great work of the British and Foreign Bible Society. + +As it is only by a view of the mighty-stemmed, wide-spreading oak +that we can judge of the acorn's potency, its wealth of hidden and +concentrated power, so we can hardly appreciate the great importance of +the simple narrative which here stands recorded, unless we cast a brief +glance over some of the details of the glorious work that arose from +the small beginnings which form the subject of our story. + +It is an undeniable fact that the idea of the establishment of the +British and Foreign Bible Society laid fast hold of the public mind +in Great Britain—a hold which extended with marvellous rapidity, as +will be seen when we say that while during the first year the money +expended in the operations of the Committee amounted to 691_l._; in +the eleventh year its expenditure had grown to 81,000_l._, swelling in +the fifty-first year to 149,000_l._, while in 1890 the sum reached the +enormous proportions of nearly 228,000_l._ + +[Illustration: FAC-SIMILE OF WRITING ON THE BIBLE.] + +During the first three years following the establishment of the +Society, it circulated 81,000 Bibles and Testaments, while in the +year 1890 its distribution of Bibles, Testaments, and single books of +Scripture, amounted to 3,792,263. + +When the Society was founded, the Bible existed in less than fifty +languages. Since then, by its agency, versions have been published in +no less than 291 languages. + +But these figures bewilder the mind, and it may be more interesting to +see how the books have been distributed. + +When from any fresh place the request comes for a supply of the +Scriptures, special inquiries are instituted and all possible +information obtained. The most accurate and trustworthy is supplied +by missionaries labouring in the country whence the petition has been +sent. It is the missionaries, too, who are for the most part the best +qualified to translate the Divine Word, and the most ready to undertake +this difficult but honourable task. When the translation is complete, +the Society prints and sends over, free of cost, as many copies as are +necessary for the mission work. + +The thankful eagerness with which the Scriptures have been received by +the South Sea Islanders, has been as pathetic as it was surprising. The +natives would put down their names, months in advance, in the mission +list, to bespeak a copy, willingly giving a dollar, or even two, for a +Bible, showing thus their anxiety to possess the Scriptures. + +Frequently it has been the case, as in Madagascar, that the deadly +power of persecution has silenced the voice of the teacher. But +persecution was of no avail. "The Lord gave the word, and great was the +company of the preachers!" Here a book, and there a chapter, and there +again a verse—mute yet eloquent teachers, carrying the Gospel of our +Divine Lord into the very heart of the cruel idol-lands. + +Thus, while the martyrs fell in their Master's work, and the few +godly men that remained were ready to wail with Elijah of old, "Lo +I, even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away," the +silent messengers were passing from hand to hand, the great work was +going forward unseen, and the kingdom of God came once more, not with +observation, but with a quiet, all-pervading power, turning chaos into +order, and darkness into light. + +It is a matter for deep thankfulness that in some countries—for +instance Russia, where missionaries are not allowed to work—the Bible +is welcomed by the people. Some touching incidents are recorded of the +war with Turkey, showing clearly with what eagerness and gratitude the +Scriptures were received. + +An agent for the Bible Society residing at Warsaw, used to visit the +infirmaries, accompanied by his daughters, and everywhere joy greeted +their approach. + + "We often saw the poor soldiers sitting at the window," this gentleman + writes, "waiting for us, and saluting us at a great distance; and the + moment we entered the passage, we were hemmed in by a crowd of men + that had not been supplied with Bibles. Even those who were struggling + between life and death, and had apparently lost all interest in + surrounding matters, would try and stretch out a hand to obtain a copy + of the Scriptures; and when my daughters stooped down to them, asking + 'Shall I read a few words to you?' a smile would often light up their + countenances, and they would whisper,—'Yes, read, dear sister, and + leave us the copy as a remembrance in case we recover.'" + +During this war, too, the colporteurs of the Society followed the +army on to the battlefields, selling thus about 15,000 volumes of the +Scriptures, the soldiers buying copies to send home to loved ones whom +they might never see again. + +Then again, at the great fair of Nijni Novgorod, where the merchant +and trade world of Russia assemble yearly for business transactions of +every description, the Society has a stall, and at the fair of 1889 +nearly 8,000 copies were sold. + +As further proof of the power of the Bible and of its influence even +where unaided by missionary zeal and enterprise, we give the following +touching narrative. + +A native of a little town on the shores of the Adriatic was obliged to +leave home and go to Naples. There he was led to a knowledge of the +truth through a Waldensian minister, and having embraced it, he joined +the Church over which the minister presided. Afterwards, he removed +to Florence, and thence he sent a Bible to a friend of his at home, +accompanied by a letter containing these words: + + "This book has greatly benefited my soul; read it, and it will bring a + blessing to yours." + +That man took his friend's advice, read the book, and finding in it the +truths his soul needed, gathered his friends and acquaintances around +him to read it with them. + +We must not detail the many obstacles thrown in his way by the enemies +of the Gospel, but need only say that notwithstanding these, numbers +continued to come and hear the reading of God's word, and that when, a +few months later, the pastor of the Naples church went there, he found +a number of people who believed the Gospel, and were ready to make a +profession of their faith at whatever cost. They proved as good as +their word, and a short time afterwards Signor Pons of Naples returned +there to celebrate the Lord's Supper. He thus narrates the scene:— + + "The event which took place at — last week, is one which I can never + cease to remember—one of those consolations which rarely fall to the + lot of God's servants, but which more than compensate for the toils + and privations of a lifetime. I found our friends awaiting me with the + greatest eagerness, and hardly had I come among them when I was asked, + 'This time we shall celebrate the Supper of the Lord, shall we not, + sir?' + + "I did my best to set before them the solemnity of this step, but all + my objections seemed only to quicken their ardour. + + "Several days were spent conversing, until, deeming that the time had + arrived for administering the Lord's Supper to them, I proceeded to + examine the candidates as to their knowledge of divine things. Thirty + came forward, and most of these gave full satisfaction. + + "The scene at the Lord's Supper was most moving. As I prayed before + partaking, sobs burst from every part of the room, and not a cheek was + dry. + + "At the end of the service, one of the communicants rose and said, + 'I can neither read nor write, but, by the grace of God, I feel that + whereas before I wallowed in the mire and was blind, I am now in a + glorious hall, illuminated by the blessed light of day. I can say no + more.'" + +Nardini, the colporteur at Padua, tells an interesting story, which +further illustrates the reforming and life-giving power of the Bible +under the blessing of Almighty God. We will let him relate it himself. + + "Having heard," he says, "that in a village not far from Vicenza a + knife-grinder had died, giving a most encouraging testimony to the + truths of the Gospel, I went to the place, to learn precisely the facts + of the case. + + "I found that his name was Batista, and that being unmarried, he had + for several years lived with his brothers. He was converted to the Lord + solely by means of a Bible which he had bought, it is supposed, from + some passing colporteur. Before the time of his conversion, in 1872, + he had been a very profane and immoral man, but afterwards his conduct + became blameless, and he urged all whom he knew to believe the Gospel. + In the evenings, especially in winter and on the Lord's day, he invited + others to join him in reading the Bible and talking of its precious + truths. Batista died in July, 1877, (at the age of forty) with his + Bible under his pillow. His life and death produced a deep impression + on his neighbours, and his memory is fragrant in the village. As the + result of his labours, two men who were dyers by trade have come firmly + to believe the Gospel. He himself was never in a Protestant church in + his life, nor did he even know a minister as member of one." + +To the subject of colportage a brief space may not inappropriately +here be given, as a means of good, the importance of which it would be +impossible to over-estimate. + +As probably every one knows, a colporteur is a man who carries +something on his back. He may really be called a creation of the Bible +Society, and though not so conspicuous as the missionary, he does a +right noble work. + +One of these godly and earnest men sold in Holland during about forty +years of labour among the people, 139,000 copies of the Scriptures; +and when he lay dying, his room was visited by numbers who wished for +the privilege of hearing the brave old Christian's testimony to the +truth, and of seeing how firm—even now at the last—was his faith in the +Word of the Lord, which nearly all his life long he had been trying to +circulate among the people. + +One important work done by the colporteur is not to be accomplished by +any other agency. He takes the Bible to those regions most remote from +the great centres—to wild, thinly-populated neighbourhoods where the +hum and bustle of traffic and mart, the cry of the crowded city, never +penetrate. + +For instance, in Norway, many of the peasants' homes are forty or +fifty miles from any book-shop, and the people would never obtain the +Scriptures, were it not for these devoted men, who toil up and down the +mountains, and follow the fiords into the very midst of the country, +carrying over land and by water the Word of Life. + +Then again, the colporteurs are often the means of overcoming in the +people's minds their unwillingness to purchase the Scriptures, and to +listen to the truth. + +They are earnest faithful Christians who love the Bible, and in telling +what it has done for them, they bear testimony to what it can do for +others. Often too they are men of wonderful memory and ready wit, +and they can frequently arrest the attention of the careless by the +quotation of some suitable passage, or startle the lethargic soul from +its death-like stupor by the trumpet-blast of inspired warning. + +We record the following instance, showing that the work of the +colporteur is not confined to the mere porterage and sale of books. As +it is taken from a German colporteur's journal, we give it in his own +(translated) words: + + "One day, just after the dinner hour, I entered the house of a + carpenter. When I found that he was taking his afternoon nap, my first + thought was not to disturb him. But I could not feel easy in leaving + him, so after a moment's hesitation I went up to where he lay, awoke + him, and said 'Will you buy a Bible?' + + "'I am a Catholic,' he replied, 'and do not want one;' and he turned + round to sleep again. + + "'That is what you say,' I answered, 'but God says "Awake, thou that + sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light?"' + The man started and sat up. + + "'I woke you purposely,' I continued, 'without caring whether you liked + it or not; and in like manner, God, through His Word, is awaking you + from your spiritual sleep.' + + "'But we are forbidden to read that book of yours,' he said. + + "'Nay,' I rejoined, 'what right has a priest to forbid what God + commands? Obey Him rather than man.' + + "The man was silent. At last he said, 'A thing I had long forgotten + comes to my memory. Twenty-five years ago I was working as a journeyman + in Hamburg, and a friend of mine used every night, when we reached our + lodgings, to read his Bible; and he told me just what you have been + saying, to obey God rather than man. I can hear his warning voice now; + and perhaps you have been sent to revive the impression before it is + too late. Yes, I will read it. Death may soon come. Only the other + day a ladder fell with me on it, and it was a miracle that I was not + killed; but it may have been God's will I should be spared to awake as + you have urged me to do.' With that he bought a Bible, with the words, + 'Ah, I wish I had done this long ago!'" + +Another striking story is told of one of the colporteurs in Bohemia. + +He was coming to the end of a long day's work, sorely discouraged by +the rebuffs with which he had met. There remained in the small town but +one cluster of houses unvisited, and he was disposed to pass these by, +especially as he knew one of them to be occupied by a gentleman who +was an open enemy and mocker of the Bible. But his conscience was not +easy. His instructions bade him, except for sufficient reason, call at +every house; and besides this, to-day the words had been haunting him, +"Behold, I stand at the door and knock." In a humble sense those words +described his own calling; and he felt he must be true to it. "Up, +faint heart, and knock!" he said to himself; "who knows but thy fears +shall be removed!" + +So he plucked up courage to go to the door of this very man; and when +it was opened, and the master of the house appeared, he could think of +nothing to say but just this "Behold, I stand at the door and knock!" + +The owner was taken aback, as the stranger added in a hurried, +entreating tone: "I am not a common hawker; to-day Jesus Himself is +standing at the door of your heart. You may turn 'me' away, but oh, do +not reject 'Him.' Only believe His Word; I bring it to you. He will not +cast you out." He paused, afraid at his own boldness, but not a word of +rebuke followed. + +The gentleman called his wife and daughter saying—"We must not let this +good man go; let him sup with us." + +He was led into the sitting-room, where they listened eagerly to him as +he poured out freely all that was in his heart; and when they sat down +to the evening meal, they looked to him to give thanks. + +As to what the Society is doing at home, these pages are too brief to +give any sort of record of the great work that is going on. There is +hardly a school, or a hospital, or an asylum that has not been helped +by it again and again, while out of it (just as from the ever-rooting +boughs of the banyan-tree new growths arise) numbers of branch Bible +Societies have sprung, each a centre of usefulness and of union in its +own sphere. + +And—speaking of union and sympathy in a common cause—it has been +suggested, and with perfect truth, that even if the Bible Society had +never circulated a single copy of the Scriptures, it would yet have +done a noble work in affording a meeting-ground for Christian people +of all ranks and stations, and of every denomination. For whatever the +differences of opinion on some points, believers can unite as brothers +in honouring God's Word, and speeding it forward over the whole earth. + +Of the reality and genuineness of this sympathy and union, the great +work done is perhaps the best testimony that could be offered. Happy, +nay, thrice blest are all those who have a share in it. + +And by these we do not mean only such as can give largely, or serve +the Society in great and conspicuous ways. Let no one say that what he +can give is but as a drop in the bucket, and therefore of no value. +It is by the tiny rills that like a thread of silver wind adown the +hill-side—by the silent night dews, by the softly-falling rains, by +the quiet springs that swell among the peaty uplands—it is by "these" +that the river is formed, by these that it is fed and sustained in +its mighty flow, in the force and depth of the current that bears +great ships on its bosom, down, down to the ocean. Not a drop is lost, +nothing is valueless; all goes to make up an inestimably precious whole. + +And now, in conclusion, dear friends young and old, if but one heart +is moved by the perusal of these pages to more earnest work for the +Master, to self-denial and loving service in the spread of His truth, +to a more eager study of God's Word, and a greater zeal in circulating +and making it known among others—then indeed this little story of the +poor Welsh girl and her Bible will not have been written in vain. + +[Illustration: THE CASE IN THE BIBLE HOUSE.] + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77715 *** diff --git a/77715-h/77715-h.htm b/77715-h/77715-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e8adf7 --- /dev/null +++ b/77715-h/77715-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3307 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + The Story of Mary Jones and Her Bible │ Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/image001.jpg" type="image/cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size:12.0pt; + font-family:"Verdana"; +} + +p {text-indent: 2em;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +h2 {font-size: 1.17em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} + +.w100 { + width: auto + } + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +.container{ + display:flex; + } + +.container img{ + width: 295px; + height: 200px; +} + +.container p{ + margin:0; +} + +p.t1 {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 125%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t2 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t3 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t3b { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center + } + +p.t4 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center + } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.poem { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + padding: 20px 0; + text-align: left; + width: 475px; + } + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77715 ***</div> +<p> + + +<p>Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image001" style="max-width: 33.8125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image001.jpg" alt="image001"> +</figure> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image002" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image002.jpg" alt="image002"> +</figure> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h1>THE STORY<br> +<br> +OF<br> +<br> +MARY JONES AND HER BIBLE.</h1> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t1"> +<em>BY MISS MARY EMILY ROPES.</em><br> +<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +NEW EDITION.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image003" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image003.jpg" alt="image003"> +</figure> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +<em>CHRISTIAN WITNESS COMPANY</em><br> +</p> + +<p class="t4"> +151 WASHINGTON STREET, CHICAGO. ILL.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t4"> +COPYRIGHT, 1892<br> +AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +PREFATORY NOTE.<br> +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + THE narrative which follows has been carefully founded upon facts +obtained from the most trustworthy material—written and verbal—at the +disposal of the writer. Since its publication in 1882 the little book +has been extremely popular: versions in various languages have been +issued, and an American edition has been prepared. It need only be +added that the text of this edition has been read by the accomplished +authoress, that some statistical information has been added, and that a +considerable number of the illustrations are new.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +INTRODUCTION.<br> +</p> + +<p class="t3"> +BY REV. EDWARD W. GILMAN, D. D.,<br> +</p> + +<p class="t4"> +SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image004" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image004.jpg" alt="image004"> +</figure> + +<p>NOT a long story this, but one full of pathos, of a little girl in +North Wales, a hundred years ago, who hoarded her pennies for six long +years that she might save enough to buy a Bible, and who then walked +twenty-five miles, from Llanfihangel to Bala, in her bare feet, to +procure the treasure which she had so long desired to own. We mark the +record of her desire and faith: "Oh if I had but a Bible of my own!" +"I must have a Bible of my own, if I save up for it for ten years." +"I shall never rest until I have a Bible of my own." "Though I have +waited so long, the time will come when I shall have my Bible." "Dear +Lord, let the time come quickly." The fulfilment of her cherished wish +rounds out the record of a personal incident and leads us to share the +maiden's joy that at last she became the owner of a Bible in her own +tongue.</p> + +<p>But the pathos of the story is less important than its connection with +a great movement which has to do with the enlightenment and welfare of +all nations in all coming time.</p> + +<p>"Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth." It may be only a +spark, but in one moment it becomes a blaze, and if rightly used, its +radiance and warmth yield a perpetual blessing. Mary Jones could not +prepare her weekly lesson for the Sunday school because in her father's +house there was neither Bible nor Testament. Every Saturday she walked +to a farm-house two miles away, because there only could she see a copy +of the sacred volume. Her parents were poor weavers, but even if they +had been well-to-do, Bibles in Welsh were not only costly, but rare, +and no one had yet conceived the idea of making the book so portable +and so cheap that a copy of God's Word might be found in every dwelling.</p> + +<p>But when the story of Mary Jones became known through the Rev. +Mr. Charles, of Bala, who supplied her need, when it suggested to +God-fearing men the possible condition of thousands of youth in other +cottages in Wales, when it revealed to lovers of the Bible the intense +desire for the book felt by those who had never had it in their homes, +Christian sympathy was bound to make some response. Something must +be done. What could be done? Might not some association be formed to +print and distribute the Scriptures in Wales? "And if for Wales," said +the Rev. John Hughes, one of the Secretaries of the Religious Tract +Society, "why not for the world?"</p> + +<p>The problem was solved; and so out of the needs and savings and prayers +of Mary Jones came in 1804 the British and Foreign Bible Society, an +organization catholic in its membership, based on reverence and love +for the Holy Scriptures, considerate of the wants of the humble and +needy, concentrating its efforts on one definite object, and with a +wide and far-reaching enthusiasm for the human race extending its +beneficence to all nations, whether Christian, Mohammedan, or pagan. No +wonder that the Committee of the Society cherish among their archives +the identical Bible which Mary Jones bought in 1800, with her autograph +attesting the fact of its purchase when she was sixteen years old.</p> + +<p>The key-note of this first movement to supply the world with the Holy +Scriptures was sympathy "with the cry that was ascending all over Wales +for the Word of God;" but mingled with this tender regard for those who +craved the book must have been pity for those who had never even heard +of it, and a desire to share with them the blessings which the Bible +brings to mankind.</p> + +<p>A few years ago a little boy in Connecticut, seven years of age, was +sick and nigh to death. He belonged to a "Sunbeam Circle," and had +his "mission box" in which his little contributions were treasured up +for the foreign field. At his request his mother opened the box that +he might see how much there was for "the poor heathen children," and +noticing a piece of newspaper among the pennies, she asked, "Why, +Miller, what is this? You don't want this in." "Oh yes, I do, mamma. +They are beautiful verses about God, and I want the heathen to have +them too; I know they will like them." "The Scriptures principally +teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires +of man;" and why shouldn't the heathen have them too? If for Wales, why +not for the whole world? It is interesting to note that in after years +Mary Jones was a constant contributor to the British Bible Society, +practising through life the self-denial she had learned in her youth, +and that on one occasion when a collection was made at Bryncrug for the +"China Million Testament Fund," a gold piece neatly wrapped up between +half-pence, and thus hidden until the money came to be counted, was +her expression of sympathy for the poor heathen. Mary was fortunate in +securing one copy of ten thousand which were printed in Oxford in 1799, +for they were all disposed of before one quarter of the country was +supplied. Since then the British Bible Society has printed more than +two and a half millions of volumes of Scripture for Wales alone, and +about fifty times as many for the world besides.</p> + +<p>If a union of Churchmen and Dissenters in one society was a good +thing in England, why not in other parts of the world? The idea met +with favor in Europe and led to the formation of Bible Societies in +Germany, Prussia, and France; but nowhere was it taken up with greater +promptness and ardor than in America. British laws had denied to the +colonies the privilege of printing the Bible, so that when Mary Jones +was born, in 1784, one edition, and one only, of the authorized version +had ever been printed on this side of the Atlantic. When we consider +that the colonists were thus dependent on the king's printers for their +supplies, that the Revolutionary War had for a long time caused a +suspension of traffic, and that the country lacked facilities for the +production of large editions of the Bible, we can readily believe that +the experience of Mary Jones was often repeated here, especially in the +new settlements which were being made in the interior.</p> + +<p>The necessities of our land were as urgent as those of Wales, and +following the example of England, local Bible Societies in great +numbers began to be formed. Philadelphia took the lead in 1808, and was +soon followed by Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. +Societies were organized as far south as Charleston, Beaufort, and +Savannah. Such men as Jedediah Morse of Charleston and Elias Boudinot +of New Jersey were earnest promoters of the movement. The interest of +these societies was enlisted in efforts to reach the inhabitants of +the great valley of the Mississippi. In 1812 Samuel J. Mills travelled +from Boston to Pittsburgh, and from there to New Orleans, exploring +the country on both sides of the Ohio and the Mississippi and noting +the needs and opportunities of the field. Again he went over the same +route, distributing Bibles and tracts.</p> + +<p>A region so extended was too vast for the local societies, and to +promote harmony, efficiency, and economy they united, in 1816, to form +the American Bible Society. It was patterned after that in London, +on the same broad, catholic principle, with the same avowed object, +with the same world-wide aim. Responsible for a territory vastly more +extended than Great Britain, it pledged itself from the first to extend +its influence as far as possible to other lands, Christian, Mohammedan, +and pagan. Among its earliest publications were Scriptures for the +Indians of North America and the Spaniards of South America and Mexico. +It has enrolled thousands of auxiliary societies, and with their aid +has carried through four general efforts to visit every family in the +United States with the offer of the Holy Scriptures. As the nation +has acquired new territory in the South and West it has pushed on to +provide the Scriptures for the people of Texas and the great States +of the interior and the Pacific. In nominally Christian lands it has +been a pioneer of missions, preparing the way by the distribution of +the Scriptures for the founding of churches and the establishment of +evangelical institutions. As American missionaries have made their way +to pagan nations, reducing rude languages to writing and enriching them +with new versions of the Bible, it has stood by their side, giving +liberally to make their work effective and circulate the printed book. +Its Arabic Bible, in the sacred language of a hundred and twenty +millions of men, has found circulation in regions as remote as Western +Africa and the eastern shores of China. It has its agents resident +in the Turkish Empire, in Persia, China, and Japan, in Mexico and +Cuba and the various republics of South America, and under their care +more than three hundred colporteurs devote their lives to the work of +distributing the printed Bible.</p> + +<p>Confidently relying on the providence of God, sustained by +contributions and legacies and prayers, aided by the willing +cooperation of unpaid workers, joining hand in hand with other +Societies that look for the evangelization of the world, considerate +always for the oppressed and ignorant, the needy and the blind, the +prisoner and the immigrant, the mariner and the soldier, the American +Bible Society seeks to hasten the time when the open Book shall be +found in every household in the land and in the world, and all men +shall rejoice in the glad tidings which it brings. And its friends may +well join with their brethren in Great Britain in honoring the memory +of the humble Welsh maiden whose quenchless love for God's Word was so +helpful at the outset of these heaven-blessed charities.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL<br> +EDITION.<br> +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + THIS little book tells how one of the least of seeds has grown to be +greatest of trees. It was the earnest desire of the late Mr. William +Coles, of Dorking, who was through life a warm and liberal friend of +the British and Foreign Bible Society, to learn all he could about its +birth. At his suggestion the trustees of the College at Bala generously +presented Mary Jones's Bible to the Library of the Bible House in +London, where it may now be seen. He was very anxious that the story +should be re-told in a way likely to interest the young; and though he +did not live to see this volume published, he did from his deathbed see +and approve the draft submitted to him. A few days before his death he +wrote as follows: "The sketch came to me as a glorious finish to my +aspirations. I may never see the book, but from the bright Happy Land—I +shall be with Christ and know all."<br> + <br> + It must not be forgotten that others besides Mr. Charles helped to +found the Bible Society. The Rev. Thomas Jones, curate of Creaton, +deserves specially to be mentioned. He was the "clergyman in Wales" +who is referred to in Owen's "History of the Society" (vol. i. p. 3), +as having interested himself for more than twelve years in calling +attention to the dearth of the Word of God in Wales. Let due honour be +done to him, and to others like him; but, above all, let Him be praised +who disposed His servants to establish an organization for distributing +the bread of life to the hungry multitudes of mankind.<br> + <br> + THE BIBLE HOUSE,<br> + <br> + + <em>1st December,</em> 1882.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +CONTENTS.<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>CHAP.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_1">I.—AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_2">II.—THE ONE GREAT NEED</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_3">III.—COMING TO THE LIGHT</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_4">IV.—TWO MILES TO A BIBLE</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_5">V.—FAITHFUL IN THAT WHICH IS LEAST</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_6">VI.—ON THE WAY</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_7">VII.—TEARS THAT PREVAIL</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_8">VIII.—THE WORK BEGUN</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_9">IX.—YOUTHFUL PROMISE FULFILLED</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_10">X.—HER WORKS DO FOLLOW HER</a></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t2"> +<b>THE STORY OF MARY JONES</b><br> +<br> +<b>AND HER BIBLE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image005" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image005.jpg" alt="image005"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>A GLIMPSE OF CADER IDRIS.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<h2><a id="Chapter_1">CHAPTER I.</a></h2> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +O Shepherd of all the flock of God,<br> +Watch over Thy lambs and feed them;<br> +For Thou alone, through the rugged paths,<br> +In the way of life canst lead them.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>IT would be hard to find a lovelier, more picturesque spot than the +valley on the south-west side of Cader Idris, where nestles the little +village of Llanfihangel-y-Pennant. Above it towers the majestic +mountain with its dark crags, its rocky precipices, and its steep +ascents; while stretching away in the distance to the westward, lie +the bold shore and glistening waters of Cardigan Bay, where the white +breakers come rolling in and dash into foam, only to gather afresh, and +return undaunted to the charge.</p> + +<p>The mountain, and the outline of the bay, and the wonderful +picturesqueness of the valley, are still much as they were a hundred +years ago. Still the eye of the traveller gazes in wonder at their wild +beauty, as other eyes of other travellers did in times gone by. But +while Nature's great landmarks remain, or undergo a change so gradual +as to be almost imperceptible, man, the tenant of God's earth, is born, +lives his brief life, and passes away, leaving only too often hardly +even a memory behind him.</p> + +<p>And now as, in thought, we stand upon the lower slopes of Cader Idris, +and look across the little village of Llanfihangel, we find ourselves +wondering what kind of people have occupied those rude grey cottages +for the last century; what were their simple histories, what their +habits, their toils and struggles, sorrows and pleasures.</p> + +<p>To those then who share our interest in the place and neighbourhood, +and in events connected with them, we would tell the simple tale which +gives Llanfihangel a place among the justly celebrated and honoured +spots of our beloved country; since from its soil sprang a shoot which, +growing apace, soon spread forth great branches throughout the earth, +becoming indeed a tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the +nations.</p> + +<p>In the year 1792, nearly a hundred years ago, the night shadows had +fallen around the little village of Llanfihangel. The season was late +autumn, and a cold wind was moaning and sighing among the trees, +stripping them of their changed garments, lately so green and gay, +whirling them round in eddies and laying them in shivering heaps along +the narrow valley.</p> + +<p>Wan and watery, the moon, encompassed by peaked masses of cloud that +looked like another ghostly Cader Idris in the sky, had risen, and now +cast a faint light across a line of jutting crags, bringing into relief +their sharp ragged edges against the dark background of rolling vapour.</p> + +<p>In pleasant contrast to the night with its threatening gloom, a warm +light shone through the windows of one of the cottages that formed the +village. The light was caused by the blaze of a fire of dried driftwood +on the stone hearth, while in a rude wooden stand a rushlight burned, +throwing its somewhat uncertain brightness upon a loom where sat a +weaver at work. A bench, two or three stools, a rude cupboard, and a +kitchen-table—these, with the loom, were all the furniture.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image006" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image006.jpg" alt="image006"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>A WELSH COTTAGE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Standing in the centre of the room was a middle-aged woman, dressed in +a cloak and the tall conical Welsh hat worn by many of the peasants to +this day.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry you cannot go, Jacob," said she. "You'll be missed at the +meeting. But the same Lord Almighty who gives us the meetings for the +good of our souls, sent you that wheezing of the chest, for the trying +of your body and spirit, and we must needs have patience till He sees +fit to take it away again."</p> + +<p>"Yes, wife, and I'm thankful that I needn't sit idle, but can still ply +my trade," replied Jacob Jones. "There's many a deal worse off. But +what are you waiting for, Molly? You'll be late for the exercises; it +must be gone six o'clock."</p> + +<p>"I'm waiting for that child, and she's gone for the lantern," responded +Mary Jones, whom her husband generally called Molly, to distinguish her +from their daughter who was also Mary.</p> + +<p>Jacob smiled. "The lantern! Yes," said he; "you'll need it this dark +night. 'Twas a good thought of yours, wife, to let Mary take it regular +as you do, for the child wouldn't be allowed to attend those meetings +otherwise. And she does seem so eager after everything of the kind."</p> + +<p>"Yes, she knows already pretty nearly all that you and I can teach her +of the Bible, as we learnt it, don't she, Jacob? She's only eight now, +but I remember when she was but a wee child she would sit on your knee +for hours on a Sunday, and hear tell of Abraham and Joseph, and David +and Daniel. There never was a girl like our Mary for Bible stories, or +any stories, for the matter of that, bless her! But here she is! You've +been a long time getting that lantern, child, and we must hurry or we +shall be late."</p> + +<p>Little Mary raised a pair of bright dark eyes to her mother's face.</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother," she replied, "I was long because I ran to borrow +neighbour Williams's lantern. The latch of ours won't hold, and there's +such a wind to-night, that I knew we should have the light blown out."</p> + +<p>"There's a moon," said Mrs. Jones, "and I could have done without a +lantern."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but then you know, mother, I should have had to stay at home," +responded Mary, "and I do so love to go."</p> + +<p>"You needn't tell me that, child," laughed Molly. "Then come along, +Mary; good-bye, Jacob."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, father dear! I wish you could come too!" cried Mary, running +back to give Jacob a last kiss.</p> + +<p>"Go your way, child, and mind you remember all you can to tell old +father when you come home."</p> + +<p>Then the cottage door opened, and Mary and her mother sallied out into +the cold windy night.</p> + +<p>The moon had disappeared now behind a thick dark cloud, and little +Mary's borrowed lantern was very acceptable. Carefully she held it, +so that the light fell upon the way they had to traverse, a way which +would have been difficult if not dangerous, without its friendly aid.</p> + +<p>"'Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,'" said +Mrs. Jones, as she took her little daughter's hand in hers.</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother, I was just thinking of that," replied the child. "I wish +I knew ever so many verses like this one."</p> + +<p>"How glad I should be if your father and I could teach you more; but +it's years since we learned, and we've got no Bible, and our memories +are not as good as they used to be," sighed the mother.</p> + +<p>A walk of some length, and over a rough road, brought them at last to +the little meeting-house where the church members belonging to the +Methodist body were in the habit of attending.</p> + +<p>They were rather late, and the exercises had begun, but kind farmer +Evans made room for them on his bench, and found for Mrs. Jones the +place in the psalm-book from which the little company had been singing. +Mary was the only child there, but her face was so grave, and her +manner so solemn and reverent, that no one looking at her could have +felt that she was out of place; and the church members who met there +from time to time, had come to look upon this little girl as one of +their number, and welcomed her accordingly.</p> + +<p>When the meeting was over, and Mary, having relighted her lantern, was +ready to accompany her mother home, farmer Evans put his great broad +hand upon the child's shoulder, saying:</p> + +<p>"Well, my little maid! You're rather young for these meetings, but the +Lord has need of lambs as well as sheep, and He is well pleased when +the lambs learn to hear His voice early, even in their tender years."</p> + +<p>Then with a gentle fatherly caress the good old man released the child, +and turned away, carrying with him the remembrance of that earnest +intelligent face, happy in its intentness, joyful in its solemnity, +having in its expression a promise of future excellence and power for +good.</p> + +<p>"Why haven't we a Bible of our own, mother?" asked Mary as she trotted +homeward, lantern in hand.</p> + +<p>"Because Bibles are scarce, child, and we're too poor to pay the price +of one. A weaver's is an honest trade, Mary, but we don't get rich +by it, and we think ourselves happy if we can keep the wolf from the +door, and have clothes to cover us. Still, precious as the Word of God +would be in our hands, more precious are its teachings and its truths +in our hearts. I tell you, my little girl, they who have learned the +love of God, have learned the greatest truth that even the Bible can +teach them; and those who are trusting the Saviour for their pardon and +peace, and for eternal life at last, can wait patiently for a fuller +knowledge of His word and will."</p> + +<p>"I suppose you can wait, mother, because you've waited so long that +you're used to it," replied the child; "but it's harder for me. Every +time I hear something read out of the Bible, I long to hear more, and +when I can read it will be harder still."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Jones was about to answer, when she stumbled over a stone, and +fell, though fortunately without hurting herself. Mary's thoughts were +so full of what she had been saying, that she had become careless in +the management of the lantern, and her mother not seeing the stone, had +struck her foot against it.</p> + +<p>"Ah, child! It's the present duties after all that we must look after +most," said Molly, as she got slowly up; "and even a fall may teach us +a lesson, Mary. The very Word of God itself, which is a lamp to our +feet, and a light to our path, can't save us from many a tumble if we +don't use it aright, and let the light shine on our daily life, helping +us in its smallest duties and cares. Remember this, my little Mary."</p> + +<p>And little Mary did remember this, and her after life proved that she +had taken the lesson to heart—a simple lesson, taught by a simple, +unlearned handmaid of the Lord, but a lesson which the child treasured +up in her very heart of hearts.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image007" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image007.jpg" alt="image007"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>Chained Bibles.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h2><a id="Chapter_2">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>THE ONE GREAT NEED.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +For this I know, whate'er of earthly good<br> +Fall to the portion of immortal man,<br> +Still unfulfill'd in him is God's great plan.<br> +And Heaven's richest gift misunderstood,<br> +Until the Word of Life—exhaustless store<br> +Of light and truth—be his for evermore.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<div class="container"> +<figure id="image008"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image008.jpg" alt="image008"> +</figure> +<p> +<br> + IN the homes of the poor, where the time of the elder +members of the family is precious, they being the bread-winners of the +household, the little ones learn to be useful very early. How often we +have known girls of six to take the entire charge of a younger brother +and sister, while many children of that age run errands, do simple +shopping, and make themselves of very real and substantial use.<br> +<br> + Such was the case in the family of Jacob Jones. Jacob and Molly were +engaged in weaving the woollen cloth, so much of which used to be +made in Wales. Thus many of the household duties devolved upon Mary; +and at an age when children of richer parents are amusing themselves +with their dolls or picture-books, our little maid was sweeping, and +dusting, and scrubbing, and digging and weeding.<br> +<br> + It was Mary who fed the few hens, and looked for their eggs, so often +laid in queer, wrong places, rather than in the nest.</p> +</div> + +<p>It was Mary who took care of the hive, and who never feared the +bees; and it was Mary again, who, when more active duties were done, +would draw a low stool towards the hearth in winter or outside the +cottage door in summer, and try to make or mend her own little simple +garments, singing to herself the while in Welsh, a verse or two of the +old-fashioned metrical version of the Psalms, or repeating texts which +she had picked up and retained in her quick, eager little brain.</p> + +<p>In the long, light summer evenings, it was her delight to sit where +she could see the majestic form of Cader Idris with its varying lights +and shadows, as the sun sank lower and lower in the horizon. And in +her childish imagination, this mountain was made to play many a part, +as she recalled the stories which her parents had told her, and the +chapters she had heard read at chapel.</p> + +<p>Now, Cader Idris was the mountain in the land of Moriah whither the +patriarch was sent on his painful mission; and Mary would fix her great +dark eyes upon the rocky steeps before her, until she fancied she could +see the venerable Abraham and his son toiling up towards the appointed +place of sacrifice, the lad bearing the wood for the burnt-offering.</p> + +<p>More and more vividly the whole scene would grow upon the child's +fancy, until the picture seemed to be almost a reality, and she could +imagine that she heard the patriarch's voice borne faintly to her ear +by the breeze that fanned her cheek—a voice that replied pathetically +to his son's question, in the words, "My son, the Lord will provide +Himself a lamb for the burnt-offering."</p> + +<p>Then the scene would change; night was drawing near, and Cader Idris +assuming softer outlines, was the mountain where the Saviour went to +pray.</p> + +<p>Leaving the thronging multitude who had been dwelling upon His every +word—leaving even His disciples whom He so loved, there was Jesus—alone +save for the Eternal Father's presence—praying, and refreshing thus His +weary spirit, after the work and trials and sorrows of the day.</p> + +<p>"If I'd only lived in those days," sighed little Mary, sometimes, "how +I should have loved Him! And He'd have taught me, perhaps, as He did +those two who walked such a long way with Him, without knowing that it +was Jesus; only I think 'I' should have known Him, just through love."</p> + +<p>Nor was it only the mountain with which Mary associated scenes from +sacred history or Gospel narration. The long, narrow valley in the +upper end of which Llanfihangel was situated, ran down to the sea at no +great distance by a place called Towyn. And when the child happened to +be near, she would steal a few moments to sit down on the shore, and +gaze across the blue-green waters of Cardigan Bay, and dream of the Sea +of Galilee, and of the Saviour who walked upon its waters—who stilled +their raging with a word, and who even sometimes chose to make His +pulpit of a boat, and preach thus to the congregation that stood upon +the shore and clustered to the very edge of the water, so that they +might not lose a word of the precious things that He spoke. It will be +seen, therefore, that upon Mary's mind a deep and lasting impression +was made by all that she had heard; and child though she might be in +years, there were not wanting in her evidences of an earnest, energetic +nature, an intelligent brain, and a warm, loving heart.</p> + +<p>It is by the first leaves put forth by the seedling that we discern +the nature, and know the name of the plant; and so in childhood, the +character and talents can often be detected in the early beauty of +their first unfolding and development.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, when Jacob and his wife were seated at their looms, and +Mary was sewing a patch into an almost worn-out garment of her own, a +little tap at the dour was followed by the entrance of Mrs. Evans, the +good farmer's wife, a kind, motherly, and in some respects superior +woman, who was looked up to and beloved by many of the Llanfihangel +villagers.</p> + +<p>"Good day to you, neighbours!" she said, cheerily, her comely face all +aglow. "Jacob, how is your chest feeling? Bad, I'm afraid, as I haven't +seen you out of late. Molly, you're looking hearty as usual, and my +little Mary, too—Toddles, as I used to call you when you were not much +more than a baby, and running round on your sturdy pins as fast as many +a bigger child. Don't I remember you then! A mere baby as I said, and +yet you'd keep a deal stiller than any mouse if your father there would +make up a story you could understand, more particular if it was out +of the Bible. Daniel and the Lions, or David and the Giant, or Peter +in the Prison—these were the favourites then. Yes, and the history of +Joseph and his brethren, only you used to cry when the naughty brothers +put Joseph in the pit, and went home and told Jacob that wicked lie +that almost broke the old man's heart."</p> + +<p>"She's as fond of anything of that sort now as she was then," said +Jacob Jones, pausing in his work; "or rather she's fonder than ever, +ma'am. I only wish we were able to give her a bit of schooling. It +seems hard, for the child is willing enough, and it's high time she +was learning something. Why, Mrs. Evans, she can't read yet, and she's +eight years old!"</p> + +<p>Mary looked up, her face flushing, her eyes filled with tears.</p> + +<p>"Oh! If I only could learn!" she cried, eagerly. "I'm such a big girl, +and it's so dreadful not to know how to read. If I could, I would read +all the lovely stories myself, and not trouble any one to tell them."</p> + +<p>"You forget, Mary, we've no Bible," said Molly Jones, "and we can't +afford to buy one either, so dear and scarce they are."</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Mrs. Evans, "it's a great want in our country; my +husband was telling me only the other day that the scarcity of Welsh +Bibles is getting to be spoken of everywhere. Even those who can afford +to pay for them get them with difficulty, and only by bespeaking them; +and poor people can't get them at all. But we hope the Society for +Christian Knowledge in London may print some more soon; it won't be +before they're wanted.</p> + +<p>"But with all this talk, Mrs. Jones," continued the farmer's wife, "I +am forgetting my errand in coming here, and that was to ask if you'd +any new-laid eggs. I've a large order sent me, and our hens are laying +badly, so that I can't make up the number. I've been collecting a few +here and there, but I haven't enough yet."</p> + +<p>"Mary knows more about the hens and eggs than I do," said Molly, +looking at her little daughter, who had not put a stitch into her patch +while the talk about Bibles had been going on, and whose cheeks and +eyes showed in their deepened colour and light how much interested she +had been in what had been said.</p> + +<p>But now the child started half guiltily from her low seat, saying, +"I'll get what we have to show you, Mrs. Evans."</p> + +<p>Presently she came in with a little basket containing about a dozen +eggs. The farmer's wife put them into her bag, then patting Mary's pink +cheeks rose to take her leave, after paying for the eggs.</p> + +<p>"And remember this, little maid," she said kindly, when after saying +good-bye to Jacob and Molly, she was taking leave of Mary at the door. +"Remember this, my dear little girl; as soon as you know how to read +(if by that time you still have no Bible) you shall come to the farm +when you like, and read and study ours—that is, if you can manage to +get so far."</p> + +<p>"It's only two miles, that's nothing!" said sturdy Mary, with a glance +down at her strong little bare feet. "I'd walk further than that for +such a pleasure, ma'am." Then she added with a less joyful ring in her +voice, "At least I would, if ever I 'did' learn to read."</p> + +<p>"Never mind, little woman! The likes of you wasn't made to sit in the +dark always," replied Mrs. Evans in her cheery, comfortable tones. +"The Lord made the want, and He'll satisfy it; be very sure of that. +Remember, Mary, when the multitude that waited on the Saviour were +hungry, the Lord did not send them away empty, though no one saw how +they were to be fed; and He'll take care you get the bread of life +too, for all it seems so unlikely now. Good-bye, and God bless you, my +child!" And good Mrs. Evans, with a parting nod to the weaver and his +wife, and another to Mary, went out, and got into her little pony-cart, +which was waiting for her in the road, under the care of one of the +farm-boys.</p> + +<p>Mary stood at the door and watched their visitor till she was out of +sight. Then, before she closed it, she clasped her small brown hands +against her breast, and her thoughts formed themselves into a prayer +something like this:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "Dear Lord, who gavest bread to the hungry folk in the old time, and +didst teach and bless even the poorest, please let me learn, and not +grow up in darkness."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Then she shut the door and came and sat down, resolving in her childish +heart that if God heard and answered her prayer, and she learned to +read His Word, she would do what she could, all her life long, to help +others as she herself had been helped.</p> + +<p>How our little Mary kept her resolution will be seen in the remaining +chapters of this simple narrative.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image009" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image009.jpg" alt="image009"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b><em>Tail-piece from Coverdale's New Test., 1538,</em></b><br> +<b><em>in the Library of the Bible Society.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image010" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image010.jpg" alt="image010"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>LLAN-Y-CIL BAY, BALA LAKE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<h2><a id="Chapter_3">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>COMING TO THE LIGHT.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +O thou who out of the darkness<br> + Reachest thy trembling hand,<br> +Whose ears are open to welcome<br> + Glad news of a better land;<br> +Not always shalt thou be groping,<br> + Night's shadows are well-nigh past:<br> +The heart that for light is yearning<br> + Attains to that light at last.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>TWO years had passed away since Mrs. Evans's visit, as recorded in the +preceding chapter, and still little Mary's prayer seemed as far as ever +from being answered.</p> + +<p>With the industry and patience of more mature years the child went +about her daily duties, and her mother depended upon her for many +things which do not generally form part of a child's occupations. Mary +had less time for dreaming now, and though Cader Idris was still the +spot with which her imagination associated Bible scenes and pictures, +she had little leisure for anything but her everyday duties. She still +accompanied her mother to the meetings, and from so continually coming +into contact with older people, rather than with children of her own +age, the child had grown more and more grave and earnest in face and +manner, and would have been called an old-fashioned girl if she had +lived in a place where any difference was known between old fashions +and new.</p> + +<p>It was about this time that Jacob Jones came home one evening from +Abergynolwyn—a village two miles away from Llanfihangel—where he had +been disposing of the woollen cloth which he and Molly had been making +during the past months.</p> + +<p>Jacob had been away the greater part of the day, yet he did not seem +tired. His eye was bright, and his lips wore a smile as he entered the +cottage and sat down in his accustomed place in the chimney corner.</p> + +<p>Mary, whose observant eye rarely failed to note the least change in her +father's face and manner, sprang towards him, and stood before him, +regarding his bright face searchingly.</p> + +<p>"What is it, father?" she said, her own dark eyes flashing back the +light in his. "Something pleasant has happened, or you wouldn't look +like that!"</p> + +<p>"What a sharp little girl it is!" replied Jacob, fondly, drawing the +child nearer and seating her upon his knee. "What a very sharp little +woman to find out that her old dad has something to tell!"</p> + +<p>"And is it something that concerns me, father?" asked Mary, stroking +Jacob's face caressingly.</p> + +<p>"It 'is' something that concerns you most of all, my chick, and us +through you."</p> + +<p>"What can it be?" murmured Mary, with a quick, impatient little sigh.</p> + +<p>"What is it, father?" asked Mrs. Jones. "We both want to know."</p> + +<p>"Well," replied Jacob, "what would you say, Molly dear, to our little +daughter here becoming quite a learned woman, perhaps knowing how to +read, and write, and cipher, and all a deal better than her parents +ever did before her?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, father!"</p> + +<p>The exclamation came from Mary, who in her excitement had slipped from +Jacob's knee, and now stood facing him, breathless with suspense, her +hands closely clasped.</p> + +<p>Jacob looked at her a moment without speaking; then he said tenderly:</p> + +<p>"Yes, child, there 'is' a school to be opened at Abergynolwyn, and a +master is chosen already; and as my little Mary thinks nought of a two +miles' walk, she shall go, and learn all she can."</p> + +<p>"Oh, father!"</p> + +<p>"Well," rejoined Jacob, now laughing outright, "how many 'Oh fathers!' +are we going to have? But I thought you'd be glad, my girl, and I was +not wrong. You are pleased, dear, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>There was a pause; then Mary's reply came, low spoken, but with such +deep content in its tones.</p> + +<p>"Pleased, father? Yes, indeed, for now I shall learn to read the Bible."</p> + +<p>Then a thought struck her, and a shadow came across the happy face as +she said:</p> + +<p>"But, mother, perhaps you won't be able to spare me?"</p> + +<p>"Spare you? Yes, I will, child, though I can't deny as how it will be +difficult for me to do without my little right hand and help. But for +your good, my girl, I would do harder things than that."</p> + +<p>"Dear, good mother!" cried Mary, putting an arm about Molly's neck and +kissing her. "But I don't want you to work too hard and tire yourself. +I'll get up an hour or two earlier, and do all I can before I start +for school." Then as the child sat down again to her work, her heart, +in its joyfulness, sent up a song of thanksgiving to the Lord who had +heard her prayer, and opened the way for her to learn, that she might +not grow up in darkness.</p> + +<p>Presently Jacob went on:</p> + +<p>"I went to see the room where the school is to be held, and who should +come in while I was there but Mr. Charles of Bala. I'd often heard of +him before, but I'd never seen him, and I was glad to set eyes on him +for once."</p> + +<p>"What may he have looked like, Jacob?" asked Molly.</p> + +<p>"Well, Molly, I never was a very good one for drawing a portrait, but +I should say he was between forty and fifty years old, with a fine big +forehead which doesn't look as though it had unfurnished apartments to +let behind it, but quite the opposite, as though he had done a sight +of thinking, and meant to do a great deal more. Still his face isn't +anything so 'very' special till he smiles, but when he does it's like +sunshine, and goes to your heart, and warms you right through. Now I've +seen him, and heard him speak, I can understand how he does so much +good. I hear he's going about from place to place opening schools for +the poor children, who would grow up ignorant otherwise."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image011" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image011.jpg" alt="image011"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>THE REV. THOMAS CHARLES, OF BALA.</b><br> +<b>(<em>From the painting in the Bible House.</em>)</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"Like me," murmured Mary, under her breath.</p> + +<p>"And who's the master that's to be set over the school at +Abergynolwyn?" asked Molly.</p> + +<p>"I heard tell that his name is John Ellis," replied Jacob; "a good man, +and right for the work, so they say; and I hope it'll prove so."</p> + +<p>"And how soon is the school to open, Jacob?" asked his wife.</p> + +<p>"In about three weeks, I believe," answered Jacob. "And now, Mary my +girl, if you can bring yourself to think of such a thing as supper, +after what I've been telling you, suppose you get some ready, for I +haven't broke my fast since noon."</p> + +<p>The following three weeks passed more slowly for little Mary Jones +than any three months she could remember before. Such childishness +as there was in her seemed to show itself in impatience; and we must +confess that her home duties at this time were not so cheerfully or +so punctually performed as usual, owing to the fact that her thoughts +were far away, her heart being set on the thing she had longed for so +earnestly.</p> + +<p>"If 'this' is the way it's going to be, Jacob," said Molly to her +husband one evening, "I shall wish there had never been a thought of +school at Abergynolwyn. The child's so off her head that she goes about +like one in a dream; what it'll be when that school begins, I daren't +think."</p> + +<p>"Don't you fret, wife," replied Jacob smiling. "It'll all come right. +Don't you see that her poor little busy brain has been longing to grow, +and now that there's a chance of its being fed, she's all agog. But +you'll find, when she once gets started, she'll go on all right with +her home work as well. She's but ten years old, Molly, after all, and +for my own part, I'm not sorry to see there's a bit of the child left +in her, even if it shows itself this way, such a little old woman as +she's always been!"</p> + +<p>But this longest three weeks that Mary ever spent came to an end at +last, and Mary began to go to school, thus commencing a new era in her +life.</p> + +<p>Fairly hungering and thirsting after knowledge, the child found her +lessons an unmixed delight. What other children call drudgery was to +her only pleasure, and her eagerness was so great that she was almost +always at the top of her class; and in an incredibly short space of +time she began to read and write.</p> + +<p>The master, who had a quick eye for observing the character and talents +of his pupils, soon remarked Mary's peculiarities, and encouraged her +in her pursuit of such knowledge as was taught in the school; and +the little girl repaid her master's kindness by the most unwearied +diligence and attention.</p> + +<p>Nor while the brain was being fed did the heart grow cold, or the +practical powers decline. Molly Jones had now no fault to find with +Mary's performance of her home duties. The child rose early, and did +her work before breakfast; and after her return from school in the +afternoon she again helped her mother, only reserving for herself time +enough to prepare her lessons for the next day.</p> + +<p>At school she was a general favourite, and never seemed to be regarded +with jealousy by her companions, this being due probably to her genial +disposition, and the kind way in which she was willing to help others +whenever she could.</p> + +<p>One morning a little girl was seen to be crying sadly when she reached +the schoolhouse, and on being questioned as to what was the matter, she +said that on the way there, a big dog had snatched at the little paper +bag in which she was bringing her dinner to eat during recess, and had +carried it off, and so she should have to go hungry all day.</p> + +<p>Some of the scholars laughed at the child for her carelessness, and +some called her a coward, for not running after the dog and getting +back her dinner; but Mary stole up to the little one's side, and +whispered something in her ear, and dried the wet eyes, and kissed the +flushed cheeks, and presently the child was smiling and happy again.</p> + +<p>But when dinner-time came, Mary and the little dinnerless maiden sat +close together in a corner, and more than half of Mary's provisions +found their way to the smaller child's mouth.</p> + +<p>The other scholars looked on, feeling somewhat ashamed, no doubt, that +none but Mary Jones had thought of doing so kind and neighbourly an +action, at the cost of a little self-denial. But the lesson was not +lost upon them, and from that day Mary's influence made itself felt in +the school for good.</p> + +<p>In her studies she progressed steadily, and this again gave opportunity +for the development of the helpful qualities by which, from her +earliest childhood, she had been distinguished.</p> + +<p>On one occasion, for instance, she was just getting ready to set off +on her two miles journey home, when she spied in a corner of the now +deserted schoolroom a little boy with a book open before him, and a +smeared slate and blunt pencil by its side. The poor little fellow's +tears were falling over his unfinished task, and evidently he was in +the last stage of childish despondency. He had dawdled away his time +during the school hours, or had not listened when the lesson had been +explained, and now school discipline required that he should stay +behind when the rest had gone, and attend to the work which he had +neglected.</p> + +<p>Mary had a headache that day, and was longing to get home; but the +sight of that tearful, sad little face in the corner banished all +thought of self, and as the voices of the other children died away in +the distance, she crossed the room, and leaned over the small student's +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"What is it, Robbie dear?" said she in her old-fashioned way and +tender, low-toned voice. "Oh, I see, you've got to do that sum! I +mayn't do it for you, you know, because that would be a sort of +cheating, but I can tell you how to do it yourself, and I think I can +make it plain."</p> + +<p>So saying, Mary fetched her little bit of wet rag, and washed the +slate, and then got an old knife and sharpened the pencil.</p> + +<p>"Now," said she, smiling cheerily, "see, I'll put down the sum as it is +in the book." And she wrote on the slate in clear, if not very elegant +figures, the sum in question.</p> + +<p>Thus encouraged, Robbie gave his mind to his task, and with a little +help it was soon done, and Mary with a light heart, which made up for +her heavy head, trotted home, very glad that what she was herself +learning could be a benefit to others.</p> + +<p>Not long after the commencement of the day school, a Sunday school +also was opened, and the very first Sunday that children were taught +there, behold our little friend as clean and fresh as soap and water +could make her, and with bright eyes and eager face, showing the keen +interest she felt, and her great desire to learn.</p> + +<p>That evening, after service in the little meeting-house, as the +farmer's wife, good Mrs. Evans, was just going to get into her +pony-cart to drive home, she felt a light touch on her arm, while a +sweet voice she knew said, "Please, ma'am, might I speak to you a +moment?"</p> + +<p>"Surely, my child," replied the good woman, turning her beaming face on +little Mary, "what have you got to say to me?"</p> + +<p>"Two years ago, please ma'am, you were so kind as to promise that when +I'd learned to read I should come to the farm and read your Bible."</p> + +<p>"I did, I remember it well," answered Mrs. Evans. "Well, child, do you +know how to read?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'am," responded Mary; "and now I've joined the Sunday school, +and shall have Bible lessons to prepare, and if you'd be so kind as to +let me come up to the farm one day in the week—perhaps Saturday, when +I've a half-holiday—I could never thank you enough."</p> + +<p>"There's no need for thanks, little woman, come and welcome! I shall +expect you next Saturday; and may the Lord make His Word a great +blessing to you!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Evans held Mary's hand one moment with a cordial pressure; then +she got into her cart, and the pony started off quickly towards home, +as though he knew that old Farmer Evans was laid up with rheumatism, +and that his wife wished to get back to him as soon as possible.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image012" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image012.jpg" alt="image012"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>A Bit of Bala Lake.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h2><a id="Chapter_4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>TWO MILES TO A BIBLE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +'Tis written, man shall not live alone,<br> + By the perishing bread of earth;<br> +Thou givest the soul a richer food<br> + To nourish the heavenly birth.<br> +And yet to our fields of golden grain<br> + Thou bringest the harvest morn;<br> +Thine op'ning hand is the life of all,<br> + For Thou preparest them corn.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<div class="container"> +<figure id="image013"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image013.jpg" alt="image013"> +</figure> +<p> +<br> + MR. EVANS'S farm was a curious old-fashioned place. The +house was a large, rambling building, with many queer ups and downs, +and with oddly-shaped windows in all sorts of unexpected places. And +yet there was an aspect of homely comfort about the house not always to +be found in far finer and more imposing-looking residences. At the back +were the out-buildings—the sheds and cow-houses, the poultry-pen, the +stables and pig-sties; while stretching away beyond these again were +the home paddock, the drying-ground, and a small enclosed field, which +went by the name of Hospital Meadow, on account of its being used for +disabled animals that needed a rest.<br> +<br> + With the farmer himself we made acquaintance two years ago at the +meeting, when he spoke so kindly to Mary; and he was still the same +good, honest, industrious, God-fearing man, never forgetting in the +claims and anxieties of his work, what he owed to the Giver of all, +who sends His rain for the watering of the seed, and His sun for the +ripening of the harvest.</p> +</div> + +<p>Nor did he—as too many farmers are in the habit of doing—repine at +Providence, and find fault with God's dealings if the rain came down +upon the hay before it was safely carried, or if an early autumn gale +laid his wheat even with the earth from which it sprang, ere the sickle +could be put into it. Nor did he complain and grumble even when disease +showed itself among the breed of small but active cattle of which he +was justly proud, and carried off besides some of his fine sheep, +destined for the famous Welsh mutton which sometimes is to be found on +English tables.</p> + +<p>In short, he was contented with what the Lord sent, and said with Job, +when a misfortune occurred, "Shall we receive good at the hands of the +Lord, and shall we not receive evil?"</p> + +<p>Of Mrs. Evans we have already spoken, and if we add here that she was a +true helpmeet to her husband, in matters both temporal and spiritual, +that is all we need say in her praise.</p> + +<p>This worthy couple had three children. The eldest was already grown +up; she was a fine girl, and a great comfort and help to her mother. +The younger children were boys, who went to a grammar school in a town +a mile or two away: they were manly, high-spirited little fellows, +well-trained, and as honest and true as their parents.</p> + +<p>Such, then, was the family into which our little Mary was welcomed with +all love and kindness. She was shy and timid the first time, for the +farm-house was a much finer place than any home she had hitherto seen; +and there was an atmosphere of warmth, and there were delicious signs +of plenty, which were unknown in Jacob Jones's poor little cottage, +where everything was upon the most frugal, not to say meagre, scale.</p> + +<p>But Mary's shyness did not last long; indeed it disappeared wholly soon +after she had crossed the threshold, where she was met by Mrs. Evans +with a hearty welcome and a motherly kiss.</p> + +<p>"Come in, little one," said the good woman, drawing her into the cosy, +old-fashioned kitchen, where a kettle was singing on the hob, and an +enticing fragrance of currant shortcake, baking for an early tea, +scented the air.</p> + +<p>"There, get warm, dear," said Mrs. Evans, "and then you shall go to the +parlour, and study the Bible. And have you got a pencil and scrap of +paper to take notes if you want them?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, thank you, ma'am, I brought them with me," replied Mary.</p> + +<p>For a few minutes she sat there, basking in the pleasant, cheery glow +of the fire-light; then she was admitted to the parlour, where, on the +table in the centre of the room, and covered reverently with a clean +white cloth, was the precious book.</p> + +<p>It must not be thought from the care thus taken of it that the Bible +was never used. On the contrary, it was always read at prayers night +and morning; and the farmer, whenever he had a spare half-hour, liked +nothing better than to study the sacred book, and seek to understand +its teachings.</p> + +<p>"There's no need to tell you to be careful of our Bible, and to turn +over the leaves gently, Mary, I'm sure," said Mrs. Evans; "you would do +that anyway, I know. And now, my child, I'll leave you and the Bible +together. When you've learned your lesson for Sunday school, and read +all you want, come back into the kitchen and have some tea before you +go."</p> + +<p>Then the good farmer's wife went away, leaving Mary alone with a Bible +for the first time in her life.</p> + +<p>Presently the child raised the napkin, and, folding it neatly, laid it +on one side.</p> + +<p>Then, with trembling hands, she opened the book, opened it at the +fifth chapter of John, and her eyes caught these words, "Search the +scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are +they which testify of Me."</p> + +<p>"I will! I will!" she cried, feeling as if the words were spoken +directly to her by some Divine voice. "I will search and learn all I +can. Oh, if I had but a Bible of my own!" And this wish, this sigh for +the rare and coveted treasure, was the key-note to a grand chorus of +glorious harmony which, years after, spread in volume, until it rolled +in waves of sound over the whole earth. Yes, that yearning in a poor +child's heart was destined to be a means of light and knowledge to +millions of souls in the future. Thus verily has God often chosen the +weak things of the world to carry out His great designs, and work His +will. And here, once more, is an instance of the small beginnings which +have great results—results whose importance is not to be calculated on +this side of eternity.</p> + +<p>When Mary had finished studying the Scripture lesson for the morrow, +and had enjoyed a plentiful meal in the cosy kitchen, she said good-bye +to her kind friends, and set off on her homeward journey, her mind full +of the one great longing, out of which a resolution was slowly shaping +itself.</p> + +<p>It was formed at last.</p> + +<p>"I 'must' have a Bible of my own!" she said aloud, in the earnestness +of her purpose. "I must have one, if I save up for it for ten years!" +And by the time this was settled in her mind the child had reached her +home.</p> + +<p>Christmas had come, and with it some holidays for Mary and the other +scholars who attended the school at Abergynolwyn; but our little +heroine would only have been sorry for the cessation of lessons, had +it not been that during the holidays she had determined to commence +carrying out her plan of earning something towards the purchase of a +Bible.</p> + +<p>Without neglecting her home duties, she managed to undertake little +jobs of work, for which the neighbours were glad to give her a trifle. +Now it was to mind a baby while the mother was at the wash-tub. Now to +pick up sticks and brushwood in the woods for fuel; or to help to mend +and patch the poor garments of the family for a worn, weary mother, who +was thankful to give a small sum for this timely welcome help.</p> + +<p>And every halfpenny, every farthing (and farthings were no unusual fee +among such poor people as those of whom we are telling) was put into a +rough little money-box which Jacob made for the purpose, with a hole in +the lid. The box was kept in a cupboard, on a shelf where Mary could +reach it, and it was a real and heartfelt joy to her when she could +bring her day's earnings—some little copper coins, perhaps—and drop +them in, longing for the time to come when they would have swelled to +the requisite sum—a large sum unfortunately—for buying a Bible.</p> + +<p>It was about this time that good Mrs. Evans, knowing the child's +earnest wish, and wanting to encourage and help her, made her the +present of a fine cock and two hens.</p> + +<p>"Nay, nay, my dear, don't thank me," said she, when Mary was trying to +tell her how grateful she was; "I've done it, first to help you along +with that Bible you've set your heart on, and then, too, because I love +you, and like to give you pleasure. So now, my child, when the hens +begin to lay, which will be early in the spring, you can sell your +eggs, for these will be your very own to do what you like with, and you +can put the money to any use you please. I think I know what you'll do +with it," added Mrs. Evans, with a smile.</p> + +<p>But the first piece of silver that Mary had the satisfaction of +dropping into her box was earned before she had any eggs to sell, and +in quite a different way from the sums which she had hitherto received. +She was walking one evening along the road from Towyn, whither she had +been sent on an errand for her father, when her foot struck against +some object lying in the road; and, stooping to pick it up, she found +it was a large leather purse. Wondering whose it could be, the child +went on, until, while still within half a mile from home, she met a +man walking slowly, and evidently searching for something. He looked +up as Mary approached, and she recognized him as Farmer Greaves, a +brother-in-law of Mrs. Evans.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Good evening, Mary Jones," said he; "I've had such a loss! Coming +home from market I dropped my purse, and—"</p> + +<p>"I've just found a purse, sir," said Mary; "is this it?"</p> + +<p>"You've found a purse?" exclaimed the farmer, eagerly. "Yes, indeed, +my dear, that is mine, and I'm very much obliged to you. No, stay a +moment," he called after her, for Mary was already trudging off again. +"I should like to give you a trifle for your hon—I mean just some +trifle by way of thanks."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, his finger and thumb closed on a bright shilling, which +surely would not have been too much to give to a poor child who had +found a heavy purse. But he thought better (or worse) of it, and took +out instead a sixpence and handed it to Mary, who took it with very +heartfelt thanks, and ran home as quickly as possible to drop her +silver treasure safely into the box, where it was destined to keep its +poorer brethren company for many a long year.</p> + +<p>But the Christmas holidays were soon over, and then it was difficult +for Mary to keep up with her daily lessons, and her Sunday school +tasks, the latter involving the weekly visits to the farm-house for +the study of the Bible. What with these and her home duties, sometimes +weeks passed without her having time to earn a penny towards the +purchase of the sacred treasure.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, too, she was rather late in reaching home on the Saturday +evenings, and now and again Molly was uneasy about her. For Mary would +come by short cuts over the hills, along ways which, however safe in +the daytime, were rough and unpleasant, if not dangerous, after dark; +and in these long winter evenings the daylight vanished very early.</p> + +<p>It was on one of these occasions that Molly and Jacob Jones were +sitting and waiting for their daughter.</p> + +<p>The old clock had already struck eight. She had never been so late as +this before.</p> + +<p>"Our Molly ought to be home, Jacob," said Molly, breaking a silence +disturbed only by the noise of Jacob's busy loom. "It's got as dark +as dark, and there's no moon to-night. The way's a rugged one, if she +comes the short cut across the hill, and she's not one to choose a +long road if she can find a shorter, bless her! She's more than after +her time. I hope no harm's come to the child," and Molly walked to the +window and looked out.</p> + +<p>"Don't be fretting yourself, Molly," replied Jacob, pausing in his +work; "Mary's out on a good errand, and He who put the love of good +things in her heart will take care of her in her going out and in her +coming in, from henceforth, even for evermore."</p> + +<p>Jacob spoke solemnly, but with a tone of conviction that comforted +his wife, as words of his had often done before; and just then a +light step bounded up to the door, the latch was lifted, and Mary's +lithe young figure entered the cottage, her dark eyes shining with +intelligence, her cheeks flushed with exercise, a look of eager +animation overspreading the whole of her bright face and seeming to +diffuse a radiance round the cottage, while it shone reflected in the +countenances of Jacob and Molly.</p> + +<p>"Well, child, what have you learned to-day?" questioned Jacob. "Have +you studied your lesson for the Sunday school?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, father, that I have, and a beautiful lesson it was," responded the +child. "It was the lesson and Mr. Evans together that kept me so late."</p> + +<p>"How so, Mary?" asked Molly. "We've been right down uneasy about you, +fearing lest something had happened to you."</p> + +<p>"You needn't have been so, mother dear," replied the little girl, with +something of her father's quiet assurance. "God knew what I was about, +and He would not let any harm come to me. Oh, father, the more I read +about Him the more I want to know, and I shall never rest until I've a +Bible of my own. But to-day I've brought home a big bit of the farmer's +Bible with me."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, Mary? How could you do such a thing?" questioned +Molly in amazement.</p> + +<p>"Only in my head, mother dear, of course," replied the child; then in a +lower voice she added, "'and my heart.'"</p> + +<p>"And what is the bit?" asked Jacob.</p> + +<p>"It's the seventh chapter of Matthew," said Mary. "Our Sunday lesson +was from the first verse to the end of the twelfth verse. But it was so +easy and so beautiful that I went on and on, till I'd learned the whole +chapter. And just as I had finished, Mr. Evans came in and asked me if +I understood it all; and when I said there were some bits that puzzled +me, he was so kind and explained them. If you like, mother and father, +I'll repeat you the chapter."</p> + +<p>So Jacob pushed away his work, and took his old seat in the chimney +corner, and Molly began some knitting, while Mary sat down on a stool +at her father's feet, and beginning at the first verse, repeated the +whole chapter without a single mistake, without a moment's hesitation, +and with a tone and emphasis which showed her comprehension of the +truths so beautifully taught, and her sympathy with them.</p> + +<p>"Mark my words, wife," said Jacob that night, when Mary had gone to +bed, "that child will do a work for the Lord before she dies. See you +not how He Himself is leading and guiding His lamb into green pastures +and beside still waters? Why, Molly, when she repeated that verse, +'Ask, and ye shall receive,' I saw her eyes shine, and her cheeks glow +again, and I knew she was thinking of the Bible that she's set her +heart on, and which I doubt not she's praying for often enough when we +know nothing about it. And the Lord He will give it her some day. Of +that I'm moral certain. Yes, Molly, our Mary will have her Bible!"</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image014" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image014.jpg" alt="image014"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b><em>"The Word of the Lord endureth for ever."</em></b><br> +<b><em>From a Bible in the Society's Library (C. Barker, 1585).</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h2><a id="Chapter_5">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>FAITHFUL IN THAT WHICH IS LEAST.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +Since this one talent Thou hast granted me,<br> +I give Thee thanks, and joy, in blessing Thee<br> + That I am worthy any.<br> +I would not hide or bury it, but rather<br> +Use it for Thee and Thine, O Lord and Father<br> + And make one talent many.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<div class="container"> +<figure id="image015"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image015.jpg" alt="image015"> +</figure> +<p> +<br> + WE may be sure that various were the influences +tending to mould the character of Mary Jones during the years of her +school-life, confirming in her the wonderful steadfastness of purpose +and earnestness of spirit for which she was remarkable, as well as +fostering the tender and loving nature that made her beloved by all +with whom she had to do.<br> +<br> + Her master, John Ellis (who afterwards was stationed at Barmouth), +seems to have been a conscientious and able teacher, and we may infer +that he took no small part in the development of the mind and heart of +a pupil who must always have been an object of special interest from +her great intelligence and eagerness to learn.<br> +<br> + But as the years passed, the time came for John Ellis to change his +sphere of labour. He did so, and his place was taken by a man, a sketch +of whose story may perhaps not inappropriately be given here, as that +of the teacher under whom Mary Jones was being Instructed at the time +when a great event occurred in her history, an event the recounting of +which we leave for the next chapter.</p> +</div> + +<p>The successor to John Ellis was Lewis Williams, a man who from a low +station in life, and from absolute ignorance, rose to a position of +considerable influence and popularity, from an utterly heedless and +godless life, to be a God-fearing and noble-minded Christian.</p> + +<p>He was a man of small size, and from all that we can learn of his +intellect and talents we can hardly think that they were of any +high order. But what he lacked in mental gifts, he made up in iron +resolution, in a perseverance which was absolutely sublime in its +determination not to be baffled.</p> + +<p>He was born in Pennal in the year 1774; his parents were poor, but of +them nothing further is known.</p> + +<p>Like other boys at that time, and in that neighbourhood, he was wild +and reckless, breaking the Sabbath continually, and otherwise drawing +upon himself the censure of those with whom he was acquainted.</p> + +<p>But when he was about eighteen years old, he chanced on one occasion to +be at a prayer-meeting, when a Mr. Jones, of Mathafarn, was reading and +expounding the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.</p> + +<p>The word of God, thus made known to Lewis Williams in perhaps a fresh +and striking manner, was the means of carrying home to his hitherto +hard heart the conviction of sin; and a change was from that time +observed in him, which gradually deepened, until none could longer +doubt that he had become an earnest and consistent Christian.</p> + +<p>On the occasion of his requesting to be admitted to membership in a +little Methodist church at Cwmllinian, he was asked (probably as one +of the test questions), "If Jesus Christ asked you to do some work for +Him, would you do it?" His answer gives us the key to his success: "Oh +yes; 'whatever' Jesus required of me I would do 'at once.'"</p> + +<p>Such was the commencement of the religious life of this most singular +man.</p> + +<p>Some years after, when in service at a place called Trychiad, near +Llanegryn, he could not but notice the ignorance of the boys in the +neighbourhood, and, burning with zeal to perform some direct and +special work for his Heavenly Master, he resolved to establish there a +Sunday school, and a week-night school besides, if possible, in order +to teach the lads to read.</p> + +<p>This would have been praiseworthy, but still nothing remarkable in +the way of an undertaking, had Lewis Williams received any sort of +education himself. But as he had never enjoyed a day's schooling in his +life, and could hardly read a word correctly, the thought of teaching +others seemed, to say the least, rather a wild idea.</p> + +<p>But how often the old proverb has been proved true that where there +is a will there is a way; and once more was this verified in the +experience of Lewis Williams.</p> + +<p>Owing to the young man's untiring energy and courage, his school was +opened in a short time, and he began the work of instruction, teaching, +we are told, the alphabet to the lowest class by setting it to the tune +of "The March of the Men of Harlech."</p> + +<p>Dr. Moffat, we know, tried the same plan of melody lessons forty years +later, with a number of Bechuana children, teaching them their letters +to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne" with wonderful facility and success.</p> + +<p>But Lewis Williams, if he set up for a schoolmaster at all, could +hardly confine his instructions to the lowest class in the school; yet +in undertaking the teaching of the older boys, he was coming face to +face with an obstacle which might well have seemed insurmountable to +any one whose will was less strong or courage less undaunted.</p> + +<p>The master could not read, or at least he could neither read fluently +nor correctly, yet he had bound himself to teach reading to the lads in +his school.</p> + +<p>Painfully mindful of his deficiencies, he used, before commencing his +Sunday school exercises or his evening classes, to pay a visit to a +good woman, Betty Evans by name, who had learned to read well. Under +her tuition, he prepared the lessons he was going to give that day or +the next, so that in reality the master of that flourishing little +school was only beforehand with his scholars by a few hours.</p> + +<p>At other times he would invite a number of scholars from an endowed +high school in the neighbourhood, to come for reading and argument.</p> + +<p>With quiet tact and careful foresight, he would arrange that the +subject taken for reading and discussion should include the lesson +which he would shortly have to give.</p> + +<p>While the reading and talk went on, he listened with rapt attention. +The discussions as to the meaning or pronunciation of the more +difficult words were all clear gain to him, as familiarizing his mind +with what he desired to know.</p> + +<p>But none of these youths meeting thus had an inkling that the man who +invited them, who spoke so discreetly, and listened so attentively, was +himself a learner, and dependent upon them for the proper construction +of phrases, or for the correct pronunciation of words occurring in his +next day's or week's lessons.</p> + +<p>The school duties were always commenced with prayer, and as the master +had a restless, unruly set of lads to do with, he invented a somewhat +peculiar way of securing their attention for the devotions in which he +led them.</p> + +<p>Familiar with military exercises through former experiences in the +militia, he would put the restless boys through a series of these, and +when they came to "stand at ease," and "attention!" he would at once, +but very briefly and simply, engage in prayer.</p> + +<p>While Lewis Williams was thus hard at work at Llanegryn, seeking to win +hearts to the Saviour, and train minds to serve Him, it happened that +Mr. Charles of Bala, intending to preside at a members' meeting to be +held at Abergynolwyn, arrived at Bryncrug the evening before, and spent +the night at the house of John Jones, the schoolmaster of that place.</p> + +<p>In the course of conversation with his host, Mr. Charles asked him if +he knew of a suitable person to undertake the charge of one of his +recently established schools in the neighbourhood. John Jones replied +that he had heard of a young man at Llanegryn, who taught the children +both on week-nights and Sundays; "but," added the schoolmaster; "as I +hear that he himself cannot read, can hardly understand how he is able +to instruct others."</p> + +<p>"Impossible!" exclaimed Mr. Charles. "How can any one teach what he +does not himself know?"</p> + +<p>"Still, they say he does so," replied John Jones.</p> + +<p>Mr. Charles at once expressed a wish to see this mysterious instructor +of youth, who was reported as imparting to others what he did not +himself possess. The next day, accordingly, summoned by John Jones, +our young schoolmaster made his appearance. His rustic garb, and the +simplicity of his manner, gave the impression of his being anything but +a pedagogue, whatever might have been said of him.</p> + +<p>"Well, my young friend," said Mr. Charles, in the genial pleasant way +that was natural to him, and that at once inspired with confidence all +with whom he had to do, "they tell me you keep a school at Llanegryn +yonder, on Sundays and week-nights, for the purpose of teaching +children to read. Have you many scholars?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, far more than I am able to teach," replied Lewis Williams.</p> + +<p>"And do they learn a little by your teaching?" asked Mr. Charles, as +kindly as ever, but with a quaint smile lurking round his mouth.</p> + +<p>"I think some of them learn, sir," responded the young teacher, very +modestly, and with an overwhelming sense of his own ignorance—a +consciousness that showed itself painfully both in his voice and manner.</p> + +<p>"Do you understand any English?" questioned Mr. Charles.</p> + +<p>"Only a stray word or two, sir, which I picked up when serving in the +militia."</p> + +<p>"Do you read Welsh fluently?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir, I can read but little, but I am doing my very best to learn."</p> + +<p>"Were you at a school before beginning to teach?" asked Mr. Charles, +more and more interested in the young man who stood so meekly before +him.</p> + +<p>"No, sir. I never had a day's schooling in my life."</p> + +<p>"And your parents did not teach you to read while you were at home?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir, my parents could not read a word for themselves."</p> + +<p>Mr. Charles opened his Bible at the first chapter of the Epistle to the +Hebrews, and asked Lewis Williams to read the opening verses.</p> + +<p>Slowly, hesitatingly, and with several mistakes, the young man +complied, stumbling with difficulty through the first verse.</p> + +<p>"That will do, my lad," said Mr. Charles; "but how you are able to +teach others to read, passes my comprehension. Tell me now by what plan +you instruct the children."</p> + +<p>Then the poor young teacher described the methods to which he had +recourse for receiving and imparting instruction; he gave an account +of his musical A B C; the lessons given to himself by Betty Evans; the +readings and discussions of the grammar school boys; and the scholars +playing at "little soldiers."</p> + +<p>As Lewis Williams proceeded with his confessions (for such they +appeared to him), Mr. Charles, with the discernment which seems to have +been one of his characteristics, had penetrated through the roughness +and uncouthness of the narrator to the real force of character and +earnestness of the man. He saw that this humble follower of the +Saviour had earnestly endeavoured to improve his one talent, and work +with it in the Master's service, and that he only needed help in the +development of his capacity, to render him a most valuable servant of +Christ. He recommended him therefore to place himself for a time under +the tuition of John Jones, and thus fit himself for efficient teaching +in his turn.</p> + +<p>During the following three months, Lewis Williams followed the advice +of Mr. Charles; and this was all the schooling that he ever had.</p> + +<p>His self-culture did not, however, cease with the help gained from John +Jones. Every hour he could spare was devoted to study, in order to fit +himself for one of the schoolmasters' places under Mr. Charles' special +control and management. And we are told that in order to perfect +himself further in reading, he used to visit neighbouring churches, to +study the delivery and reading of the ministers presiding there.</p> + +<p>His earnest desire was gratified at last, for in the year 1799—that +is, when he was about twenty-five years of age—he was engaged by Mr. +Charles as a paid teacher in one of his schools. He was removed to +Abergynolwyn a year later, and here, among his pupils, was our young +friend Mary Jones.</p> + +<p>In his subsequent years of work he was the means of establishing many +new schools, and of reviving others which were losing their vitality; +and at length, he even became a preacher, so great was his zeal in his +Master's service, and so anxious was he that all should know the truth +and join in the work of the Lord.</p> + +<p>He died in his eighty-eighth year, followed by the sincere gratitude +and deep love of the many whom he had benefited.</p> + +<p>Our story now returns to Mary Jones, who at the time that Lewis +Williams became schoolmaster at Abergynolwyn, was nearly sixteen years +old.</p> + +<p>She was an active, healthy maiden, full of life and energy, as earnest +and as diligent as ever. Nor had her purpose faltered for one moment +as regarded the purchase of a Bible. Through six long years she had +hoarded every penny, denying herself the little indulgences which the +poverty of her life must have made doubly attractive to one so young. +She had continued her visits to the farm-house, and while she there +studied her Bible lessons for school, her desire to possess God's Holy +Book for herself grew almost to a passion.</p> + +<p>What joy it would be, she often thought, if every day she could read +and commit to memory portions of Scripture, storing her mind and heart +with immortal truths. "But the time will come," she had added, "when I +shall have my Bible. Yes, though I have waited so long, the time will +come." Then on her knees beside her little bed she had prayed aloud,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "Dear Lord, let the time come quickly!"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>As may be supposed, Mary was the great pride and delight of her +parents. She was more useful, more her mother's right hand than ever; +and her father, as he looked into her clear, honest, intelligent dark +eyes, and heard her recite her lesson for school, or recount for his +benefit all the explanations to which she had that day listened, +thanked the Lord in his heart, for his brave, God-fearing child, and +prayed that she might grow up to be a blessing to all with whom she +might have to do in the future.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image016" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image016.jpg" alt="image016"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b><em>"If a man love me, he will keep my words."</em></b><br> +<b><em>Tail-piece from Coverdale's New Test. (1538) in the Society's Library.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h2><a id="Chapter_6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>ON THE WAY.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +A strong, brave heart, and a purpose true,<br> + Are better than wealth untold,<br> +Planting a garden in barren ways,<br> + And turning their dust to gold.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<div class="container"> +<figure id="image017"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image017.jpg" alt="image017"> +</figure> +<p> +<br> + "O MOTHER! O father! Only think! Mrs. Evans has just +paid me for that work I did for her, and it is more than I expected; +and now I find I have enough to buy a Bible. I'm so happy I don't know +what to do."<br> +<br> + Mary had just come from the farm-house, and now as she bounded in with +the joyful news, Jacob stopped his loom, and held out both hands.<br> +<br> + "Is it really so, Mary? After six years' saving! Nay then, God be +thanked, child, who first put the wish into your heart, and then gave +you patience to wait and work to get the thing you wanted. Bless you, +my little maid," and Jacob laid a hand solemnly upon his daughter's +head, adding in a lower tone, "and she shall be blest!"<br> +<br> + "But tell me, father dear," said Mary after a little pause, "where +am I to buy the Bible? There are no Bibles to be had here or at +Abergynolwyn."</p> +</div> + +<p>"I cannot tell you, Mary, but our preacher, William Huw, will know," +replied Jacob; "you will do well to go to him to-morrow, and ask how +you're to get the book."</p> + +<p>Acting upon her father's suggestion, Mary accordingly went the next +day to Llechwedd to William Huw, and to him she put the question so +all-important to her. But he replied that not a copy could be obtained +(even of the Welsh version published the year before) nearer than of +Mr. Charles of Bala; and he added that he feared lest all the Bibles +received by Mr. Charles from London had been sold or promised months +ago.</p> + +<p>This was discouraging news, and Mary went home, cast down indeed, but +not in despair. There was still, she reflected, a chance that one copy +of the Scriptures yet remained in Mr. Charles's possession; and if so, +that Bible should be hers.</p> + +<p>The long distance—over twenty-five miles—the unknown road, the +far-famed, but to her, strange minister, who was to grant her the boon +she craved—all this, if it a little frightened her, did not for one +moment threaten to change her purpose.</p> + +<p>Even Jacob and Molly, who at first, on account of the distance, +objected to her walking to Bala for the purchase of her Bible, ceased +to oppose their will to hers; "for," said good Jacob to his wife, "if +it's the Lord answering our prayers and leading the child, as we prayed +He might, it would ill become us to go against His wisdom."</p> + +<p>And so our little Mary had her way, and having received permission for +her journey, she went to a neighbour living near, and telling her of +her proposed expedition, asked if she would lend her a wallet to carry +home the treasure should she obtain it.</p> + +<p>The neighbour, mindful of Mary's many little acts of thoughtful +kindness towards herself and her children, and glad of any way in which +she could show her grateful feeling and sympathy, put the wallet into +the girl's hand, and bade her good-bye with a hearty "God speed you!"</p> + +<p>The next morning, a fresh, breezy day in spring, in the year 1800, +Mary rose almost as soon as it was light, and washed and dressed with +unusual care; for was not this to be a day of days—the day for which +she had waited for years, and which must, she thought, make her the +happiest of girls, or bring to her such grief and disappointment as she +had never yet known?</p> + +<p>Her one pair of shoes—far too precious a possession to be worn on a +twenty-five mile walk—Mary placed in her wallet, intending to put them +on as soon as she reached the town.</p> + +<p>Early as was the hour, Molly and Jacob were both up to give Mary her +breakfast of hot milk and bread, and have family prayer, offering a +special petition for God's blessing on their child's undertaking, and +for His protection and care during her journey.</p> + +<p>This fortified and comforted Mary, and, kissing her parents, she +went out into the dawn of that lovely day—a day which lived in her +remembrance till the last hour of her long and useful life.</p> + +<p>She set out at a good pace—not too quick, for that would have wearied +her ere a quarter of her journey could be accomplished, but an even, +steady walk, her bare brown feet treading lightly but firmly along +the road, her head erect, her clear eyes glistening, her cheek with a +healthy flush under the brown skin. So she went—the bonniest, blithest +maiden on that sweet spring morning in all the country round.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image018" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image018.jpg" alt="image018"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>CADER IDRIS.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Never before had everything about her looked to Mary as it looked on +that memorable morning. The dear old mountain seemed to gaze down +protectingly upon her. The very sun, as it came up on the eastern +horizon, appeared to have a smile specially for her. The larks soared +from the meadow till their trilling died away in the sky, like a +tuneful prayer sent up to God. The rabbits peeped out at her from leafy +nooks and holes, and even a squirrel, as it ran up a tree, stopped +to glance familiarly at our little maiden, as much as to say, "Good +morning, Mary; good luck to you!" And the girl's heart was attuned to +the blithe loveliness of nature, full of thankfulness for the past and +of hope for the future.</p> + +<p>And now, leaving our heroine bravely wending her way towards Bala, we +will Just record briefly the history of that good and earnest man on +whom the child's hopes and expectations were this day fixed, and who +therefore, in Mary's eyes, must be the greatest and most important +person—for the time—in the world.</p> + +<p>But apart from the ideas and opinions of a simple girl, Thomas Charles +of Bala was in reality a person of great influence and high standing +in Wales, and had been instrumental in the organization and execution +of much important and excellent work, in places where ignorance and +darkness had hitherto prevailed. Hence the name (by which he often +went) of "the Apostolic Charles of Bala."</p> + +<p>He was now about fifty years of age, and had spent twenty years in +going about among the wildest parts of Wales, preaching the Word of +Life, forming schools, and using his great and varied talents wholly in +the service of his Master.</p> + +<p>At the age of eighteen he had given himself to the Saviour, and his +first work for the Lord was in his own home, where he was the means of +instituting family worship and exerting an influence for good none the +less powerful that it was loving and gentle.</p> + +<p>His education was begun at Carmarthen, and continued at Oxford, and +we learn that the Rev. John Newton was a kind and good friend to +him during a part of his student life, and that on one occasion his +vacation was spent at the house of this excellent man.</p> + +<p>The Rev. Thomas Charles became an ordained minister of the Church of +England in due course, but owing to the faithful and outspoken style of +his preaching, many of his own denomination took offence and would not +receive him; so he seceded from the Church of England and joined the +Welsh Calvinistic Methodists; but his greatest work hitherto had been +the establishment of Day and Sunday Schools in Wales. The organization +of these, the selection of paid teachers, the periodical visiting and +examination of the various schools, made Mr. Charles's life a very +busy one. But as he toiled on, he could see that his labour was not +in vain. Wherever he went, carrying the good news, proving it in his +life, spending all he was and all he had in the service of Christ,—the +darkness that hung over the people lifted, and the true light began to +shine.</p> + +<p>The ignorance and immorality gave place to a desire for knowledge +and holiness, and the soil that was barren and stony became the +planting-place of sweet flowers and pleasant fruits.</p> + +<p>Such, in brief, was the man—and such his work up to the time of Mary +Jones's journey to Bala.</p> + +<p>About the middle of the day Mary stopped to rest and to eat some food +which her mother had provided for her. Under a tree in a grassy hollow +not far from the road, she half reclined, protected from the sun by +the tender green of the spring foliage, and cooling her hot dusty feet +in the soft damp grass that spread like a velvet carpet all over the +hollow.</p> + +<p>Ere long too she spied a little stream, trickling down a hill on its +way to the sea, and here she drank, and washed her face and hands and +feet, and was refreshed.</p> + +<p>Half an hour's quiet rested her thoroughly, then she jumped up, slung +her wallet over her shoulder again, and recommenced her journey.</p> + +<p>The rest of the way, along a dusty road for the most part, and under a +warm sun, was fatiguing enough; but the little maiden plodded patiently +on, though her feet were blistered and cut with the stones, and her +head ached and her limbs were very weary.</p> + +<p>Once a kind cottager, as she passed, gave her a drink of butter-milk, +and a farmer's little daughter, as Mary neared her destination, offered +her a share of the supper she was eating as she sat in the porch in the +cool of the evening; but these were all the adventures or incidents in +Mary's journey till she got to Bala.</p> + +<p>On arriving there, she followed out the instructions that had been +given her by William Huw, and went to the house of David Edwards, a +much respected Methodist preacher at Bala.</p> + +<p>This good man received her most kindly, questioned her as to her motive +in coming so far, but ended by telling her that owing to Mr. Charles's +early and regular habits (one secret of the large amount of work which +he accomplished), it was now too late in the day to see him.</p> + +<p>"But," added the kind old man, seeing his young visitor's +disappointment, "you shall sleep here to-night, and we will go to Mr. +Charles's as soon as I see light in his study-window to-morrow morning, +so that you may accomplish your errand in good time, and be able to +reach home before night."</p> + +<p>With grateful thanks Mary accepted the hospitality offered her, and +after a simple supper, she was shown into the little prophet's chamber +where she was to sleep.</p> + +<p>There, after repeating a chapter of the Bible, and offering an earnest +prayer, she lay down, her mind and body alike resting, her faith sure +that her journey would not be in vain, but that He who had led her +safely thus far, would give her her heart's desire.</p> + +<p>And the curtains of night fell softly about the good preacher's humble +dwelling, shadowing the sleepers there; and the rest of those sleepers +was sweet, and their safety assured, for watching over them was the +God of the night and the day—the God whom they loved and trusted, and +underneath them were the Everlasting Arms.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image019" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image019.jpg" alt="image019"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>A CORNER OF BALA LAKE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image020" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image020.jpg" alt="image020"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>BALA.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<h2><a id="Chapter_7">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>TEARS THAT PREVAIL.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +Often tears of joy and sorrow meet;<br> +Marah's bitter waters turn'd to sweet.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>BALA is even now a quiet little town, situated near the end of Bala +Lake, on the north side of a wide, cultivated valley. A hundred years +ago, it was more quiet and rural still. The scenery is pastoral in its +character, hilly rather than mountainous, but well wooded and watered. +The town is a favourite resort of people fond of shooting and fishing. +Altogether it is a pretty, cheerful, healthy spot, but wanting in the +imposing grandeur and rugged beauty of many other parts of North Wales.</p> + +<p>Such, then, was the place to which our little heroine's weary feet had +brought her on the preceding evening, and such was the home—for the +greater part of his life—of Thomas Charles of Bala.</p> + +<p>Mary's deep, dreamless sleep was not broken until her host knocked at +her door at early dawning.</p> + +<p>"Wake up, Mary Jones, my child! Mr. Charles is an early riser, and will +soon be at work. The dawn is breaking; get up, dear!"</p> + +<p>Mary started up, rubbing her eyes. The time had really come, then, and +in a few minutes she would know what was to be the result of her long +waiting.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image021" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image021.jpg" alt="image021"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>BALA LAKE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Her heart beat quicker as she washed and dressed, but her excitement +calmed when she sat down for a minute or two on the side of her bed, +and repeated the 23rd Psalm.</p> + +<p>The sweet words of the royal singer were the first that occurred to +her, and now, as she murmured "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not +want," she felt as though she were of a truth being watched over and +cared for by a loving Shepherd, and being led by Him.</p> + +<p>She was soon ready, and David Edwards and his guest proceeded together +to Mr. Charles's house.</p> + +<p>"There's a light in his study," said the good old preacher. "Our +apostle is at his desk already. There are not many like him, Mary; +always at work for the Master. The world would be better had we more +such men."</p> + +<p>Mary did not reply, but she listened intently as David Edwards knocked +at the door. There was no answer, only the tread of a foot across the +floor above, and the next moment the door opened, and Mr. Charles +himself stood before them.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, friend Edwards! And what brings you here so early? Come +in, do," said the genial, hearty voice, which so many knew, and had +cause to love. Then, as David Edwards entered, Mr. Charles noticed the +little figure behind him in the doorway.</p> + +<p>A rather timid shrinking little figure it was now, for Mary's courage +was fast ebbing away, and she felt shy and frightened.</p> + +<p>A few words of explanation passed between the old preacher and Mr. +Charles; then Mary was invited to enter the study.</p> + +<p>"Now, my child," said Mr. Charles, "don't be afraid, but tell me all +about yourself, where you live, and what your name is, and what you +want."</p> + +<p>At this Mary took courage and answered all Mr. Charles's questions, +her voice (which at first was low and tremulous) strengthening as her +courage returned. She told him all about her home and her parents, her +longing when quite a child for a Bible of her own, then of the long +years during which she had saved up her little earnings towards the +purchase of a Bible—the sum being now complete.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Charles examined her as to her Scripture knowledge, and +was delighted with the girl's intelligent replies, which showed how +earnestly and thoroughly she had studied the Book she loved so well.</p> + +<p>"But how, my child," said he, "did you get to know the Bible as you do, +when you did not own one for yourself?"</p> + +<p>Then Mary told him of the visits to the farm-house, and how, through +the kindness of the farmer and his wife, she had been able to study her +Sunday school lessons, and commit portions of Scripture to memory.</p> + +<p>As she informed Mr. Charles of all that had taken place, and he began +to realize how brave, and patient, and earnest, and hopeful she had +been through all these years of waiting, and how far she had now come +to obtain possession of the coveted treasure, his bright face became +overshadowed, and, turning to David Edwards, he said, sadly, "I am +indeed grieved that this dear girl should have come all the way from +Llanfihangel to buy a Bible, and that I should be unable to supply her +with one. The consignment of Welsh Bibles that I received from London +last year was all sold out months ago, excepting a few copies which I +have kept for friends whom I must not disappoint. Unfortunately the +Society which has hitherto supplied Wales with the Scriptures declines +to print any more, and where to get Welsh Bibles to satisfy our +country's need I know not."</p> + +<p>Until now, Mary had been looking up into Mr. Charles's face, with her +great, dark eyes full of hope and confidence; but as he spoke these +words to David Edwards, and she noticed his overclouded face, and began +to understand the full import of his words, the room seemed to her to +darken suddenly, and, dropping into the nearest seat, she buried her +face in her hands, and sobbed as, perhaps, few girls of her age had +ever sobbed before.</p> + +<p>It was all over, then, she said to herself—all of no use—the prayers, +the longing, the waiting, the working, the saving for six long years, +the weary tramp with bare feet, the near prospect of her hopes being +fulfilled, all, all in vain! And to a mind so stocked with Bible texts +as hers, the language of the Psalmist seemed the natural outburst for +so great a grief, "Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He in anger +shut up His tender mercies?" All in vain—all of no use! And the poor +little head, lately so erect, drooped lower and lower, and the sunburnt +hands, roughened by work and exposure, could not hide the great hot +tears that rolled down, chasing each other over cheeks out of which the +accustomed rosy tint had fled, and falling unheeded through her fingers.</p> + +<p>There were a few moments during which only Mary's sobs broke the +silence; but those sobs had appealed to Mr. Charles's heart with a +pathos which he was wholly unable to resist.</p> + +<p>With his own voice broken and unsteady, he said, as he rose from his +seat, and laid a hand on the drooping head of the girl before him: "My +dear child, I see you 'must' have a Bible, difficult as it is for me to +spare you one. It is impossible, yes, simply impossible, to refuse you."</p> + +<p>In the sudden revulsion of feeling that followed these words, Mary +could not speak; but she glanced up with such a face of mingled rain +and sunshine—such a rainbow smile—such a look of inexpressible joy and +thankfulness in her brimming eyes, that the responsive tears gushed to +the eyes—both Mr. Charles and David Edwards.</p> + +<p>Mr. Charles turned away for a moment to a book-cupboard that stood +behind him, and opening it, he drew forth a Bible.</p> + +<p>Then, laying a hand once more on Mary's head, with the other he placed +the Bible in her grasp, and, looking down the while into the earnest, +glistening eyes upturned to him, he said:</p> + +<p>"If you, my dear girl, are glad to receive this Bible, truly glad am I +to be able to give it to you. Read it carefully, study it diligently, +treasure up the sacred words in your memory, and act up to its +teachings."</p> + +<p>And then, as Mary, quite overcome with delight and thankfulness, began +once more to sob, but softly, and with sweet, happy tears, Mr. Charles +turned to the old preacher, and said, huskily, "David Edwards, is not +such a sight as this enough to melt the hardest heart? A girl, so +young, so poor, so intelligent, so familiar with Scripture, compelled +to walk all the distance from Llanfihangel to Bala (about fifty miles +there and back) to get a Bible! From this day I can never rest until I +find out some means of supplying the pressing wants of my country that +cries out for the Word of God."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image022" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image022.jpg" alt="image022"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>MR. CHARLES'S HOUSE AT BALA.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Half an hour later, Mary Jones, having shared David Edwards's frugal +breakfast, set off on her homeward journey.</p> + +<p>The day was somewhat cloudy, but the child did not notice it; her +heart was full of sunshine. The wind blew strongly, but a great calm +was in her soul, and her young face was so full of happiness that the +simple folk she met on the way could not but notice her as she tripped +blithely on, her bare feet seeming hardly to press the ground, her eyes +shining with deep content, while the wallet containing her newly-found +treasure was no longer slung across her back, but clasped close to her +bosom.</p> + +<p>The sun rose and burst through the clouds, glorifying all the +landscape; and onward steadily went Mary, her heart, like the lark's +song, full of thanksgiving, and her voice breaking out now and again +into melody, to which the words of some old hymn or of a well-known and +much-loved text set themselves, without an effort on the girl's part.</p> + +<p>On, still on, she went, heeding not the length and weariness of the +way; and the afternoon came, and the sun set in the western heavens +with a glory that made Mary think of the home prepared above for God's +children; that heaven with its walls of jasper, and its gates of pearl, +and its streets of gold, and its light that needs nor sun nor moon, but +streams from the Life-giving Presence of God Himself.</p> + +<p>That evening Jacob and his wife were seated waiting for supper and +for Mary. What news would the child bring? How had she sped? Had she +received her Bible? These were some of the questions which the anxious +parents asked themselves, listening the while for their daughter's +return after the fatigues and possible dangers of her fifty miles' walk.</p> + +<p>But the worthy couple were not long kept in suspense.</p> + +<p>Presently the light step which they knew so well, approached the +cottage; the latch was lifted, and Mary entered, weary, foot-sore, +dusty and travel-stained indeed, but with happiness dimpling her cheeks +and flashing in her eyes. And Jacob held out both arms to his darling, +and as he clasped her to his heart, he murmured in the words of the +prophet of old, "Is it well with the child?" And Mary, from the depths +of a satisfied heart, answered solemnly, but with gladness, "It is +well."</p> + +<p>We sometimes see—and particularly in the case of young people—that +great eagerness for the possession of some coveted article is followed +by indifference when the treasure is safely in their hands. It was not +so, however, with Mary Jones. The Bible for which she had toiled, and +waited, and prayed, and wept, became each day more precious to her. The +Word of the Lord was indeed nigh unto her, even in her mouth and in her +heart.</p> + +<p>Chapter after chapter was learned by heart, and the study of the Sunday +school lessons became her greatest privilege and delight.</p> + +<p>If a question were asked by the teacher, which other girls could not +answer, Mary was always appealed to, and was invariably ready with a +thoughtful, intelligent reply, while in committing to memory not only +chapters, but whole books of the Bible, she was unrivalled both in the +school and neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>Nor was this all. For though to love, and read, and learn the Bible are +good things, this is not the sum of what is required by Him who has +said "If ye love Me, 'keep' My commandments."</p> + +<p>Mary's study of the Word of God did not prevent the more than ever +faithful discharge of all her duties. Her mother, who had at one time +feared that Mary's desire for book learning, and longing to possess +a Bible of her own, might lead her to the neglect of her practical +duties, was surprised and delighted to see that, although there was a +change indeed in the girl, it was a change for the better.</p> + +<p>The holy truths that sank into her heart were but the precious seed +in good ground, which brings forth fruit an hundredfold; and the more +entire the consecration of that young heart to the Lord, the sweeter +became even the commonest duties of life, because they were done for +Him.</p> + +<p>Not very long after Mary's visit to Bala, she had the great pleasure +of seeing again the kind friend with whom, in her memory, her beloved +Bible would now always be associated.</p> + +<p>Mr. Charles, in the course of his periodical visits to the various +villages where his circulating schools were established, came to +Abergynolwyn, to inspect the school there under the charge of Lewis +Williams, and by examining the children personally, to assure himself +of their progress.</p> + +<p>Among the bright young faces upturned to him, his observant eye soon +caught sight of one countenance that he had cause to remember with +special and with deep interest; and the interest deepened still more, +when he found that from her alone all his most difficult questions +received replies, and that her intelligence was only surpassed by the +childlike humility which is one mark of the true Christian.</p> + +<p>We may be very sure that Mr. Charles did not miss this opportunity of +saying a few kind words to his young friend; and that Mary in her turn +treasured them up, and remembered them through the many years and the +various events of her after life.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image023" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image023.jpg" alt="image023"></figure> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image024" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image024.jpg" alt="image024"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>BALA LAKE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<h2><a id="Chapter_8">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>THE WORK BEGUN.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +Henceforward, then, the olive-leaf plucked off,<br> + Carried to every nation,<br> +Shall promise be of re-awakening life,<br> + Our sinful world's salvation.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>WE have seen that the incident recorded in the last chapter made a +deep impression upon the mind and heart of Mr. Charles. The thought of +that bare-footed child, her weary journey, her eagerness to spend her +six years' savings in the purchase of a Bible; then her bitter tears +of disappointment, and her sweet tears of joy—all these came back to +his recollection again and again, came blended with the memory of the +ignorance and darkness of too many of his countrymen, and with the cry +that was ascending all over Wales for the Word of God.</p> + +<p>The girl's story was only an illustration of the terrible sense of +spiritual death that prevailed during this famine of Bibles; and none +could know so well as this good man—whose influence was, from the +nature of his work, very widely diffused—how deep a want lay at the +root of the people's degradation and impiety, against which he seemed, +with all his earnest striving, to be making such slow progress. What +wonder, then, that the question how to secure the publication of +sufficient copies of God's Word for Wales, occupied his mind almost +without cessation?</p> + +<p>In the winter of 1802, Mr. Charles visited London, full of his one +great thought and purpose, though not as yet seeing how it was to be +accomplished.</p> + +<p>It was while revolving the matter in his mind one morning, that the +idea occurred to him of a Society for the diffusion of the Scriptures, +a society having for its sole object the publication and distribution +of God's Holy Word.</p> + +<p>Consulting with some of his friends who belonged to the Committee of +the Religious Tract Society, he received the warmest sympathy and +encouragement, and was introduced at their next meeting, where he spoke +most feelingly and eloquently about Wales and its poverty in Bibles, +bringing forward the story which forms the subject of our little +book, and which gave point and pathos to his appeal on behalf of his +countrymen.</p> + +<p>Nor was the appeal without effect. A thrill of sympathy with a people +that so longed and thirsted for the Word of God, ran through the +assembled meeting. An earnest desire took possession of Mr. Charles's +hearers to do something towards supplying the great need which he so +touchingly advocated; and the hearts of many were further stirred, +and their sympathies quickened, when one of the secretaries of the +Committee, the Reverend Joseph Hughes, rose, and in reply to Mr. +Charles's appeal for Bibles for Wales, exclaimed enthusiastically: "Mr. +Charles, surely a society might be formed for the purpose; and if for +Wales, why not for the world?"</p> + +<p>This noble Christian sentiment found an echo in the hearts of many +among the audience, and the secretary was instructed to prepare a +letter inviting Christians everywhere, and of all denominations, to +unite in forming a society having for its object the diffusion of God's +Word over the whole earth.</p> + +<p>Two years passed in making known the purpose of the Committee, and in +necessary preliminaries, but in the month of March, 1804, the British +and Foreign Bible Society was actually established, and at its first +meeting the sum of £700 was subscribed.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately Mr. Charles was unable to be present at this meeting. +He was hard at work at home in Wales, but he heard the news with +the greatest joy; and it was owing to his exertions and to those of +his friends, as well as to the efforts of other Christian workers +who deeply felt the great need of the people at this time, that the +contributions in Wales amounted to nearly £1,900; most of this sum +consisting of the subscriptions and donations of the lower and poorer +classes.</p> + +<p>In the foundation of the Bible Society all denominations met, and were +brought thus into sympathy by a common cause, and an earnest wish to +serve one common Master. Hence we see representatives of all Christian +Churches working together for the good and enlightenment of the world.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, wherever Mr. Charles was at work, wherever his influence +extended, there was awakened the longing, and thence arose the +petition, for the Word of Life; and wherever he told the story, either +on Welsh or English platforms, of the little maiden of Llanfihangel, +the simple narrative never failed to carry home some lessons to the +heart of each hearer.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image025" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image025.jpg" alt="image025"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>MONUMENT TO MR. CHARLES AT BALA.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Great was the joy and thankfulness of this single-minded and +hard-working minister of Christ, when he learnt that the first +resolution of the Committee of the Bible Society was to bring out an +edition of the Welsh Bible for the use of Welsh Sunday schools; and his +delight was greater still when the first consignment of these Bibles +reached Bala in 1806.</p> + +<p>Among the most useful workers in the early years of the Bible Society +was the Reverend John Owen, who soon became one of its secretaries, and +proved a most earnest and able promoter of the glorious enterprise.</p> + +<p>Associated also with this time of the great Society's childhood are +the honoured names of Steinkopff, of Wilberforce, and of Josiah Pratt; +while in Wales, among its earliest supporters, were Dr. Warren, Bishop +of Bangor, and Dr. Burgess, Bishop of St. David's, who united cordially +with Mr. Charles and others in the good work. As to Mr. Charles +himself, he evinced the deepest interest in the new spheres of labour +and usefulness opening in all directions,—an interest which showed +itself in many practical ways up to the time of his death.</p> + +<p>But in following the operations of the Bible Society, we must not +forget our friend Mary Jones, who during this time had passed from +early girlhood to womanhood.</p> + +<p>On leaving school, she worked as a weaver, and we conclude that she was +still living with her parents.</p> + +<p>Of one thing we may be sure: that her precious Bible was as dear to her +as ever, and that she was intensely interested in the founding of the +Bible Society, and in the news of the first edition of Welsh Bibles +having been received at Bala.</p> + +<p>But in addition to her weaving, and the household help she gave her +mother, who was not so well or strong as formerly, Mary had developed a +talent for dressmaking, which stood her in good stead when she wished +to earn a little extra money.</p> + +<p>All who could afford it came to her to cut out and make their dresses, +and though Mary never wasted a moment, she sometimes found it quite +difficult to do during the day all that she had planned.</p> + +<p>As for Jacob, he was more and more a martyr to asthma, and when the +winter winds and fogs came his sufferings were very great, though they +never exceeded the quiet patience and fortitude with which he bore his +affliction—bore it, as he said, "for the dear Lord's sake," who had +borne so much for him.</p> + +<p>Occasionally Mr. Charles would visit Abergynolwyn, and every now and +then Llanfihangel, and at such times he and Mary Jones met again, and +she would learn from him how the Society in London was going on—that +great London which was a strange, distant, untried world to her, such +vague ideas had she of its size and its distance from the little, +quiet, secluded place where she lived.</p> + +<p>And so, up in London, the great tree of life went on spreading, and +growing, while the root from which it had sprung remained in Wales +unperceived almost beneath the soil. And thus we see in this life that +God has need of the high and the lowly, the great and the small, the +gold and the baser metal; and "out" of all, and "through" all, and "in" +all, He works His wondrous way, and permits His creatures to join, as +it were, with Him in the turning of the world from darkness to His +marvellous light.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image026" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image026.jpg" alt="image026"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b><em>Manet.</em> <em>"It remains."</em></b><br> +<b>(<em>From a Bible in the Society's Library.</em>)</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image027" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image027.jpg" alt="image027"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>LLAN-Y-CIL CHURCH.</b><br> +<b>(<em>The Burial-place of the Rev. Thomas Charles.</em>)</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<h2><a id="Chapter_9">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>YOUTHFUL PROMISE FULFILLED.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +Nurtured and nursed of Heaven, the blossom bloom'd,<br> + Until an open flower<br> +With buds around it, gazed upon the sun,<br> + Or drank the shower;<br> +Nor did forget, in this the blooming time,<br> + The fragrance due<br> +To Him who gives to Nature all her wealth,<br> + To flowers their hue.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>WHEN next we glance at our heroine of Llanfihangel, she is Mary Jones +no longer. A great change has come over her surroundings, and her +school work and her old home life with her parents are things of the +past. For she has married a weaver, Thomas Lewis by name, and is living +at the village of Bryncrug, near Towyn, not very far from Llanfihangel. +But the difference in circumstances has not changed the character of +Mary, save as the advancing summer may be said to change the fruit by +ripening it.</p> + +<p>So dutiful and devoted a daughter as Mary had ever proved herself, +would hardly have left her parents while she could minister to the +wants of their declining years, work for them, and be their great joy +and comfort. So it is only reasonable to suppose that ere she married, +both good old Jacob and his wife had been laid to rest, and that Mary, +in casting in her lot with Thomas Lewis, whom possibly she had known +for many years, would be neglecting no duty that could be required from +a loving daughter.</p> + +<p>But here, at Bryncrug, with a husband and children of her own, and the +care of a home for which she alone was responsible, with new duties, +and fresh cares, Mary's love for her Bible had grown, not diminished.</p> + +<p>Other things had changed—companionships, home influences, claims, +interests—but the Sacred Word remained to her unaltered, except that +every day it grew more into her heart, and became more one with her +life, yielding her, in answer to careful study, and earnest prayer for +God's Spirit of enlightenment, deep meanings of truth and sweetness +which had hitherto been unperceived.</p> + +<p>If Mary's life was a busy one during the years spent at Llanfihangel, +doubly so was her life here at Bryncrug. But the same quiet energy +and steadfastness of purpose for which she had ever been remarkable +still pervaded all that she did, making every duty, however humble and +homely, a service for Christ, while by her consistent Christian walk +and example she influenced for good all that were about her.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image028" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image028.jpg" alt="image028"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>BRYNCRUG, NORTH WALES.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>If a neighbour's child wished to have a Sunday school lesson explained, +she invariably came to Mary, who could always spare a few minutes to +give the instruction that had been so precious to her in her youthful +days. And her intimate knowledge of the Bible gave her a very clear +way of explaining its truths, while her insight into character, and +her sympathetic nature, made her a wise counsellor and an acceptable +teacher.</p> + +<p>If, again, a friend wanted a hint or two in the making of a new dress, +or advice as to the management of her bee-hives, Mary was always the +authority appealed to, as being the most capable, as well as the +kindest of neighbours, and ever ready to lend a helping hand, or speak +a helpful word.</p> + +<p>Thus in Bryncrug she was winning for herself the love and confidence of +her fellow-creatures, and showing forth in life and character the glory +of that Saviour whose faithful handmaid she tried to be.</p> + +<p>We have just alluded to the fact of her being an authority in the +management of bees, and she was justly considered so, as her success +with her own bee-hives sufficiently proved.</p> + +<p>That success was simply remarkable, both as to the large number of +hives, and their profitable results.</p> + +<p>The attracting power and influence which Mary seemed to exercise over +people appeared to extend even to her bees; but, be this as it might, +we are told that whenever she approached the hives, her reception by +her winged subjects was nothing less than royal, such was the loyalty +and enthusiasm of these sensible, busy little honey-makers.</p> + +<p>The air would be thick with buzzing swarms, and presently they would +alight upon her by hundreds, covering her from head to foot, walking +over her, but never attempting to sting, or showing any feeling but +one of absolute confidence and friendliness. She would even catch a +handful of them as though they had been so many flies—but softly, so +as not to hurt them—and they never misunderstood her, or offered her +the slightest injury. In short, there seemed to be a sort of tacit +agreement between Mary and her bees, and they were apparently proud and +pleased that a part of what they were the means of earning should go +towards the support of God's work in the world. For Mary divided the +proceeds thus:</p> + +<p>The money brought by the sale of the honey was used for the family and +household expenses, but the proceeds of the wax were divided among the +societies which, poor as she was, Mary delighted to assist.</p> + +<p>Among these, foremost in her estimation stood the British and Foreign +Bible Society, with the establishment of which she had been so closely +connected, and she was never happier than when she could spare what for +her was a large sum, to help in sending the Word of God—so precious to +her own heart—over the world.</p> + +<p>Mary was also much interested in the Calvinistic Methodist Missionary +Society—a Society founded by the denomination to which she had, for +so many years, belonged; and many a secret self-denial could have +borne witness to her generosity in giving of her substance for the +furtherance of the Gospel.</p> + +<p>On one occasion we are told that, when a collection was made at +Bryncrug for the "China Million Testament Fund," in the year 1854, +a ten shilling gold piece was found in the collection plate, neatly +wrapped up between half-pence, and thus hidden until the money came to +be counted.</p> + +<p>This was Mary's gift, the outcome of a loving, generous heart touched +by God's love and the spiritual wants of her fellow-creatures.</p> + +<p>Mary was sitting at her cottage door one day, when a neighbour, Betsy +Davies, came up. "Good day, Mary," said she; "may I come and sit with +you for an hour this afternoon? I've a dress I must alter for my eldest +girl, and I don't see how to begin, so I thought may be you'd be good +enough to show me."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that I will, with pleasure," replied Mary. "My children are all +at school, and my husband has gone to Towyn, so I have a quiet hour or +two before me. Let me see your work, Betsy."</p> + +<p>Betsy Davies laid the garment over Mary; knee, and Mary's eyes, quick +and intelligent as ever, saw in a moment or two what was needed.</p> + +<p>"That's not a difficult job," said she pleasantly, "nor yet a long one. +Just unpick that seam, Betsy, and I'll pin it for you as it ought to +be; then if you let down the tuck in the skirt, you'll have it long +enough, and as for the rent in the stuff, I think I've got some thread +about the right colour with which you can darn it up. I will show you, +my dear, how I darn my little Mary's dresses when she tears them, as +she does very often, playing with her brothers. Yours can be mended +just in the same way, and you'll see the place will hardly show at all."</p> + +<p>When the two women had settled down to their work, Betsy said, "I wish +you'd tell me, Mary, how you manage to get on as you do. You can't be +rich people, your husband being only a weaver like mine and like most +of the others here, and yet you never get into debt, and you always +seem to have enough for yourselves, and what's more wonderful still, +you've enough to give away something too; I must say I can't understand +it!"</p> + +<p>"I don't think there's anything very hard to understand," said Mary, +smiling. "If by great care and a little self-denial we can contribute +something of our substance to help on God's work, it is surely the +greatest joy we can have."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's all very well," replied Betsy, "but I never have anything +to contribute; and yet I haven't as many children as you, and so my +family and housekeeping doesn't cost so much."</p> + +<p>"It's like this, Betsy dear," said Mary, "we ask ourselves—I mean my +husband, and my children, and I, all of us—'What can we do without?' +And one and another is willing to give up some little indulgence, +and so we save the money. This we put into a box which we call the +treasury, and whenever we add anything to what we keep there, we think +of the widow who cast into the treasury of the temple her two mites, +and of our Lord's kind, tender words about her."</p> + +<p>"But what sort of things can you give up?" asked Betsy. "We poor folk, +it seems to me, don't have any more than just the necessaries of life, +and one can't give up eating and drinking, or go without clothes to our +backs."</p> + +<p>"Yet I think if you consider a bit, you'll see there are some trifles +which are not really needful, though they may be pleasant," replied +Mary. "Now for instance, Thomas had always been used to a pipe and a +bit of tobacco in an evening after his work was done; but when we were +all wondering what we could give up for our dear Lord's sake, he said, +'Well, wife, I'll give up my smoke in the evenings.' And I tell you, +Betsy, the tears came into my eyes when I heard that, knowing that my +husband's words meant a real sacrifice. Then our eldest son, wishing to +imitate his father, cried out, 'And I've still got that Christmas box +my master gave me last winter, and I'll give that.' And Sally, she gave +up the thought of a new hat ribbon I'd promised her, and she sponged +and ironed her old one instead, and wore it, feeling prouder than if it +had been new. And as for little Benny, he was all one day picking up +sticks in the wood to earn a penny, and that was his gift."</p> + +<p>"And you yourself?" asked Betsy, with interest.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have the wax that my bees make; and the money that I got by +selling that went into the treasury, as well as any other small sum I +did not actually need. And this I must say, Betsy, we have never really +suffered for the want of anything we have given to God; and He repays +us with such happiness and content as He alone can give."</p> + +<p>"That I can well believe," rejoined Betsy, "for I never hear you +grumble, or see you look cross or discontented like the rest of the +neighbours, and as I do myself only too often. Well, Mary," she +continued, "I mean to try your plan, though it will come very hard at +first, as I'm not used to that sort of saving."</p> + +<p>"I think I got used to it when I was a child, putting away my little +mites of money towards buying a Bible," rejoined Mary. "For six years I +put by all my little earnings, and since then it has come natural."</p> + +<p>"You did get your Bible, then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed; this is the very one," and rising from her seat Mary took +the much prized volume from the little table in the cottage, and put it +into her visitor's hands.</p> + +<p>Betsy looked at it, inside and out, then handed it back saying, "I +really believe, Mary, that this Bible is one of the reasons why you +are so different from all the rest of us. You've read and studied and +learnt so much of it, that your thoughts and words and life are full of +it."</p> + +<p>And Mary turned her bright dark eyes, now full of happy tears, upon her +companion, and answered in a broken voice—</p> + +<p>"O Betsy dear, if there is a little, even a little truth in what you +kindly say of me, I thank God that in His great mercy and love He +suffers me, poor and weak and simple as I am, to show forth in my small +way His glory, and the truth of His blessed Word."</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image029" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image029.jpg" alt="image029"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b><em>Nunquam Frustra.</em> <em>"Never in Vain."</em></b><br> +<b>(<em>From a Bible in the Society's Library.</em>)</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image030" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image030.jpg" alt="image030"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>RUINS OF MARY JONES'S COTTAGE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<h2><a id="Chapter_10">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>HER WORKS DO FOLLOW HER.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +O mighty tree, o'ershadowing all the earth,<br> +In loneliest wilds thy seedling had its birth.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>NOW our narrative nears its close. The last glimpse of our friend Mary +shows us an aged woman clad in the curious old Welsh dress.</p> + +<p>She holds in one hand a staff for the support of her trembling limbs, +once so active and nimble; while with the other she clasps to her side +her beloved Bible, the companion of so many years, the consoler and +comforter, the guide and teacher of her life.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image031" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image031.jpg" alt="image031"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>MARY JONES IN HER LATER YEARS.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>How much of joy or of sorrow, of trial or of what the world calls +success, had fallen to Mary's lot during her long life of eighty-two +years, we know not. We learn that she had eight children, several of +whom may have died in early life. One son, we believe, is living now +[1882], having made his home in America.</p> + +<p>Little as we know, however, of Mary's actual experiences, it was +impossible that during her married life she should not have learned +what deep sorrow meant, as it is almost certain that she survived +several of her children, and quite certain that her husband too died +before she did.</p> + +<p>Still, since we are taught that God's children do not sorrow as those +without hope, so we are sure that the childlike, trusting spirit of +this handmaid of the Lord was as ready to suffer as to do the will of +the Divine Master, and that however deep the affliction, there was +no bitterness in the grief, no despair in the tears that watered the +graves of loved ones gone before.</p> + +<p>Feeble and tottering was now our once bright, bonny, blithe maiden, but +it was only physically that Mary was altered. She was still the same +brave, simple-hearted, earnest, faithful follower of Christ. Time with +its changes, in parting her from most of those whom she loved on earth, +had not separated her from the love of Jesus, or taken away her delight +in the Word of the Lord that endureth for ever.</p> + +<p>Indeed she loved her Bible better even than of old, for she understood +it more fully, and had proved its truth beyond all doubting, again and +again, in her daily life for so many years.</p> + +<p>Can we doubt, then, that when the summons came, and she heard the voice +which she had known and loved from childhood, saying to her "Come up +higher!" she had no fears, no shrinking, but felt that surely since +goodness and mercy had followed her all the days of her life, she +should dwell in the house of the Lord—that house above, not made with +hands—for ever.</p> + +<p>Mary Jones died December the 28th, 1866, at the good old age of +eighty-two. We have no particulars of her last moments, save that on +her deathbed she bequeathed her precious Bible to the Rev. Robert +Griffiths, who in his turn bequeathed it to Mr. Rees.</p> + +<p>This Bible, which is now in the possession of the British and Foreign +Bible Society, is a thick octavo, of the edition published by the +Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, in 1799—the last +edition of the Welsh Bible previous to the establishment of the Bible +Society.</p> + +<p>The volume contains, in addition to the actual text of the now +recognized and authorized Scripture, John Cannes' marginal references, +the Apocrypha, the Book of Common Prayer, a metrical version of the +Psalms by Edmund Prys, and various Church tables. It also contains, +in Mary Jones's handwriting—in perhaps the first English that she +had learned—a note that she bought it in the year 1800, when she was +sixteen years old.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image032" style="max-width: 30.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image032.jpg" alt="image032"> +</figure> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>So, full of days, and like Dorcas of old, of good works, Mary Jones +passed away from earth to the rest that remaineth for the people of +God, a sheaf of ripe corn safely garnered at last in the heavenly +granary.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image033" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image033.jpg" alt="image033"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>GRAVE OF MARY JONES.</b><br> +<b><em>Probably the year of the death of Mary Jones should have been given as</em></b><br> +<b><em>1866, as on p. 144, since she was born in 1784.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>She was buried in the little churchyard at Bryncrug, and a stone has +been raised to her memory by those who loved to recall the influence of +her beautiful life, and the important if humble part she had taken in +the founding of the great work of the British and Foreign Bible Society.</p> + +<p>As it is only by a view of the mighty-stemmed, wide-spreading oak +that we can judge of the acorn's potency, its wealth of hidden and +concentrated power, so we can hardly appreciate the great importance of +the simple narrative which here stands recorded, unless we cast a brief +glance over some of the details of the glorious work that arose from +the small beginnings which form the subject of our story.</p> + +<p>It is an undeniable fact that the idea of the establishment of the +British and Foreign Bible Society laid fast hold of the public mind +in Great Britain—a hold which extended with marvellous rapidity, as +will be seen when we say that while during the first year the money +expended in the operations of the Committee amounted to 691<i>l.</i>; in +the eleventh year its expenditure had grown to 81,000<i>l.</i>, swelling in +the fifty-first year to 149,000<i>l.</i>, while in 1890 the sum reached the +enormous proportions of nearly 228,000<i>l.</i></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image034" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image034.jpg" alt="image034"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>FAC-SIMILE OF WRITING ON THE BIBLE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>During the first three years following the establishment of the +Society, it circulated 81,000 Bibles and Testaments, while in the +year 1890 its distribution of Bibles, Testaments, and single books of +Scripture, amounted to 3,792,263.</p> + +<p>When the Society was founded, the Bible existed in less than fifty +languages. Since then, by its agency, versions have been published in +no less than 291 languages.</p> + +<p>But these figures bewilder the mind, and it may be more interesting to +see how the books have been distributed.</p> + +<p>When from any fresh place the request comes for a supply of the +Scriptures, special inquiries are instituted and all possible +information obtained. The most accurate and trustworthy is supplied +by missionaries labouring in the country whence the petition has been +sent. It is the missionaries, too, who are for the most part the best +qualified to translate the Divine Word, and the most ready to undertake +this difficult but honourable task. When the translation is complete, +the Society prints and sends over, free of cost, as many copies as are +necessary for the mission work.</p> + +<p>The thankful eagerness with which the Scriptures have been received by +the South Sea Islanders, has been as pathetic as it was surprising. The +natives would put down their names, months in advance, in the mission +list, to bespeak a copy, willingly giving a dollar, or even two, for a +Bible, showing thus their anxiety to possess the Scriptures.</p> + +<p>Frequently it has been the case, as in Madagascar, that the deadly +power of persecution has silenced the voice of the teacher. But +persecution was of no avail. "The Lord gave the word, and great was the +company of the preachers!" Here a book, and there a chapter, and there +again a verse—mute yet eloquent teachers, carrying the Gospel of our +Divine Lord into the very heart of the cruel idol-lands.</p> + +<p>Thus, while the martyrs fell in their Master's work, and the few +godly men that remained were ready to wail with Elijah of old, "Lo +I, even I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away," the +silent messengers were passing from hand to hand, the great work was +going forward unseen, and the kingdom of God came once more, not with +observation, but with a quiet, all-pervading power, turning chaos into +order, and darkness into light.</p> + +<p>It is a matter for deep thankfulness that in some countries—for +instance Russia, where missionaries are not allowed to work—the Bible +is welcomed by the people. Some touching incidents are recorded of the +war with Turkey, showing clearly with what eagerness and gratitude the +Scriptures were received.</p> + +<p>An agent for the Bible Society residing at Warsaw, used to visit the +infirmaries, accompanied by his daughters, and everywhere joy greeted +their approach.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "We often saw the poor soldiers sitting at the window," this gentleman +writes, "waiting for us, and saluting us at a great distance; and the +moment we entered the passage, we were hemmed in by a crowd of men +that had not been supplied with Bibles. Even those who were struggling +between life and death, and had apparently lost all interest in +surrounding matters, would try and stretch out a hand to obtain a copy +of the Scriptures; and when my daughters stooped down to them, asking +'Shall I read a few words to you?' a smile would often light up their +countenances, and they would whisper,—'Yes, read, dear sister, and +leave us the copy as a remembrance in case we recover.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>During this war, too, the colporteurs of the Society followed the +army on to the battlefields, selling thus about 15,000 volumes of the +Scriptures, the soldiers buying copies to send home to loved ones whom +they might never see again.</p> + +<p>Then again, at the great fair of Nijni Novgorod, where the merchant +and trade world of Russia assemble yearly for business transactions of +every description, the Society has a stall, and at the fair of 1889 +nearly 8,000 copies were sold.</p> + +<p>As further proof of the power of the Bible and of its influence even +where unaided by missionary zeal and enterprise, we give the following +touching narrative.</p> + +<p>A native of a little town on the shores of the Adriatic was obliged to +leave home and go to Naples. There he was led to a knowledge of the +truth through a Waldensian minister, and having embraced it, he joined +the Church over which the minister presided. Afterwards, he removed +to Florence, and thence he sent a Bible to a friend of his at home, +accompanied by a letter containing these words:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "This book has greatly benefited my soul; read it, and it will bring a +blessing to yours."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>That man took his friend's advice, read the book, and finding in it the +truths his soul needed, gathered his friends and acquaintances around +him to read it with them.</p> + +<p>We must not detail the many obstacles thrown in his way by the enemies +of the Gospel, but need only say that notwithstanding these, numbers +continued to come and hear the reading of God's word, and that when, a +few months later, the pastor of the Naples church went there, he found +a number of people who believed the Gospel, and were ready to make a +profession of their faith at whatever cost. They proved as good as +their word, and a short time afterwards Signor Pons of Naples returned +there to celebrate the Lord's Supper. He thus narrates the scene:—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "The event which took place at — last week, is one which I can never +cease to remember—one of those consolations which rarely fall to the +lot of God's servants, but which more than compensate for the toils +and privations of a lifetime. I found our friends awaiting me with the +greatest eagerness, and hardly had I come among them when I was asked, +'This time we shall celebrate the Supper of the Lord, shall we not, +sir?'<br> +<br> + "I did my best to set before them the solemnity of this step, but all +my objections seemed only to quicken their ardour.<br> +<br> + "Several days were spent conversing, until, deeming that the time had +arrived for administering the Lord's Supper to them, I proceeded to +examine the candidates as to their knowledge of divine things. Thirty +came forward, and most of these gave full satisfaction.<br> +<br> + "The scene at the Lord's Supper was most moving. As I prayed before +partaking, sobs burst from every part of the room, and not a cheek was +dry.<br> +<br> + "At the end of the service, one of the communicants rose and said, +'I can neither read nor write, but, by the grace of God, I feel that +whereas before I wallowed in the mire and was blind, I am now in a +glorious hall, illuminated by the blessed light of day. I can say no +more.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Nardini, the colporteur at Padua, tells an interesting story, which +further illustrates the reforming and life-giving power of the Bible +under the blessing of Almighty God. We will let him relate it himself.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "Having heard," he says, "that in a village not far from Vicenza a +knife-grinder had died, giving a most encouraging testimony to the +truths of the Gospel, I went to the place, to learn precisely the facts +of the case.<br> +<br> + "I found that his name was Batista, and that being unmarried, he had +for several years lived with his brothers. He was converted to the Lord +solely by means of a Bible which he had bought, it is supposed, from +some passing colporteur. Before the time of his conversion, in 1872, +he had been a very profane and immoral man, but afterwards his conduct +became blameless, and he urged all whom he knew to believe the Gospel. +In the evenings, especially in winter and on the Lord's day, he invited +others to join him in reading the Bible and talking of its precious +truths. Batista died in July, 1877, (at the age of forty) with his +Bible under his pillow. His life and death produced a deep impression +on his neighbours, and his memory is fragrant in the village. As the +result of his labours, two men who were dyers by trade have come firmly +to believe the Gospel. He himself was never in a Protestant church in +his life, nor did he even know a minister as member of one."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>To the subject of colportage a brief space may not inappropriately +here be given, as a means of good, the importance of which it would be +impossible to over-estimate.</p> + +<p>As probably every one knows, a colporteur is a man who carries +something on his back. He may really be called a creation of the Bible +Society, and though not so conspicuous as the missionary, he does a +right noble work.</p> + +<p>One of these godly and earnest men sold in Holland during about forty +years of labour among the people, 139,000 copies of the Scriptures; +and when he lay dying, his room was visited by numbers who wished for +the privilege of hearing the brave old Christian's testimony to the +truth, and of seeing how firm—even now at the last—was his faith in the +Word of the Lord, which nearly all his life long he had been trying to +circulate among the people.</p> + +<p>One important work done by the colporteur is not to be accomplished by +any other agency. He takes the Bible to those regions most remote from +the great centres—to wild, thinly-populated neighbourhoods where the +hum and bustle of traffic and mart, the cry of the crowded city, never +penetrate.</p> + +<p>For instance, in Norway, many of the peasants' homes are forty or +fifty miles from any book-shop, and the people would never obtain the +Scriptures, were it not for these devoted men, who toil up and down the +mountains, and follow the fiords into the very midst of the country, +carrying over land and by water the Word of Life.</p> + +<p>Then again, the colporteurs are often the means of overcoming in the +people's minds their unwillingness to purchase the Scriptures, and to +listen to the truth.</p> + +<p>They are earnest faithful Christians who love the Bible, and in telling +what it has done for them, they bear testimony to what it can do for +others. Often too they are men of wonderful memory and ready wit, +and they can frequently arrest the attention of the careless by the +quotation of some suitable passage, or startle the lethargic soul from +its death-like stupor by the trumpet-blast of inspired warning.</p> + +<p>We record the following instance, showing that the work of the +colporteur is not confined to the mere porterage and sale of books. As +it is taken from a German colporteur's journal, we give it in his own +(translated) words:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "One day, just after the dinner hour, I entered the house of a +carpenter. When I found that he was taking his afternoon nap, my first +thought was not to disturb him. But I could not feel easy in leaving +him, so after a moment's hesitation I went up to where he lay, awoke +him, and said 'Will you buy a Bible?'<br> +<br> + "'I am a Catholic,' he replied, 'and do not want one;' and he turned +round to sleep again.<br> +<br> + "'That is what you say,' I answered, 'but God says "Awake, thou that +sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light?"' +The man started and sat up.<br> +<br> + "'I woke you purposely,' I continued, 'without caring whether you liked +it or not; and in like manner, God, through His Word, is awaking you +from your spiritual sleep.'<br> +<br> + "'But we are forbidden to read that book of yours,' he said.<br> +<br> + "'Nay,' I rejoined, 'what right has a priest to forbid what God +commands? Obey Him rather than man.'<br> +<br> + "The man was silent. At last he said, 'A thing I had long forgotten +comes to my memory. Twenty-five years ago I was working as a journeyman +in Hamburg, and a friend of mine used every night, when we reached our +lodgings, to read his Bible; and he told me just what you have been +saying, to obey God rather than man. I can hear his warning voice now; +and perhaps you have been sent to revive the impression before it is +too late. Yes, I will read it. Death may soon come. Only the other +day a ladder fell with me on it, and it was a miracle that I was not +killed; but it may have been God's will I should be spared to awake as +you have urged me to do.' With that he bought a Bible, with the words, +'Ah, I wish I had done this long ago!'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Another striking story is told of one of the colporteurs in Bohemia.</p> + +<p>He was coming to the end of a long day's work, sorely discouraged by +the rebuffs with which he had met. There remained in the small town but +one cluster of houses unvisited, and he was disposed to pass these by, +especially as he knew one of them to be occupied by a gentleman who +was an open enemy and mocker of the Bible. But his conscience was not +easy. His instructions bade him, except for sufficient reason, call at +every house; and besides this, to-day the words had been haunting him, +"Behold, I stand at the door and knock." In a humble sense those words +described his own calling; and he felt he must be true to it. "Up, +faint heart, and knock!" he said to himself; "who knows but thy fears +shall be removed!"</p> + +<p>So he plucked up courage to go to the door of this very man; and when +it was opened, and the master of the house appeared, he could think of +nothing to say but just this "Behold, I stand at the door and knock!"</p> + +<p>The owner was taken aback, as the stranger added in a hurried, +entreating tone: "I am not a common hawker; to-day Jesus Himself is +standing at the door of your heart. You may turn 'me' away, but oh, do +not reject 'Him.' Only believe His Word; I bring it to you. He will not +cast you out." He paused, afraid at his own boldness, but not a word of +rebuke followed.</p> + +<p>The gentleman called his wife and daughter saying—"We must not let this +good man go; let him sup with us."</p> + +<p>He was led into the sitting-room, where they listened eagerly to him as +he poured out freely all that was in his heart; and when they sat down +to the evening meal, they looked to him to give thanks.</p> + +<p>As to what the Society is doing at home, these pages are too brief to +give any sort of record of the great work that is going on. There is +hardly a school, or a hospital, or an asylum that has not been helped +by it again and again, while out of it (just as from the ever-rooting +boughs of the banyan-tree new growths arise) numbers of branch Bible +Societies have sprung, each a centre of usefulness and of union in its +own sphere.</p> + +<p>And—speaking of union and sympathy in a common cause—it has been +suggested, and with perfect truth, that even if the Bible Society had +never circulated a single copy of the Scriptures, it would yet have +done a noble work in affording a meeting-ground for Christian people +of all ranks and stations, and of every denomination. For whatever the +differences of opinion on some points, believers can unite as brothers +in honouring God's Word, and speeding it forward over the whole earth.</p> + +<p>Of the reality and genuineness of this sympathy and union, the great +work done is perhaps the best testimony that could be offered. Happy, +nay, thrice blest are all those who have a share in it.</p> + +<p>And by these we do not mean only such as can give largely, or serve +the Society in great and conspicuous ways. Let no one say that what he +can give is but as a drop in the bucket, and therefore of no value. +It is by the tiny rills that like a thread of silver wind adown the +hill-side—by the silent night dews, by the softly-falling rains, by +the quiet springs that swell among the peaty uplands—it is by "these" +that the river is formed, by these that it is fed and sustained in +its mighty flow, in the force and depth of the current that bears +great ships on its bosom, down, down to the ocean. Not a drop is lost, +nothing is valueless; all goes to make up an inestimably precious whole.</p> + +<p>And now, in conclusion, dear friends young and old, if but one heart +is moved by the perusal of these pages to more earnest work for the +Master, to self-denial and loving service in the spread of His truth, +to a more eager study of God's Word, and a greater zeal in circulating +and making it known among others—then indeed this little story of the +poor Welsh girl and her Bible will not have been written in vain.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image035" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image035.jpg" alt="image035"></figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>THE CASE IN THE BIBLE HOUSE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77715 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/77715-h/images/image001.jpg b/77715-h/images/image001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..590da71 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook #77715 +(https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77715) |
