Part 23

THE CHILD'S PRAYER

Into her chamber went A little girl one day, And by a chair she knelt, And thus began to pray:--

"Jesus, my eyes I close, Thy form I cannot see; If Thou art near me, Lord, I pray Thee to speak to me."

A still, small voice she heard within her soul-- "What is it child? I hear thee; tell the whole."

"I pray thee, Lord," she said, "That Thou wilt condescend To tarry in my heart And ever be my Friend.

"The path of life is dark, I would not go astray; Oh, let me have Thy hand To lead me in the way."

"Fear not; I will not leave thee, child, alone." She thought she felt a soft hand press her own.

"They tell me, Lord, that all The living pass away; The aged soon must die, And even children may.

"Oh, let my parents live Till I a woman grow; For if they die, what can A little orphan do?"

"Fear not, my child; whatever ill may come I'll not forsake thee till I bring thee home."

Her little prayer was said, And from her chamber now She passed forth with the light Of heaven upon her brow.

"Mother, I've seen the Lord, His hand in mine I felt, And, oh, I heard Him say, As by my chair I knelt--

"'Fear not, my child; whatever ill may come I'll not forsake thee till I bring thee home.'"

THE CAT CAME BACK

Jimmy was lying on an old cot out in the orchard, getting some of the nice spring sunshine on his thin body. There was an anxious frown on his face now, and every little while he would turn on his side, look through the orchard, and call "Kittv kitty! kitty! Annette, Come, Ann-ette."

But Annette did not come. His mother came and reminded him that Annette was very old indeed, and it might be that she would never come again.

"She was here yesterday, Mother," he answered her, and the big tears came to his eyes "She felt perfectly fine then."

"I know, but she's an old cat. She never strays away of her own accord, and certainlv no one would steal an old blind cat."

Later on during the day a man came walking up to their house. He introduced himself as the new neighbor who just moved across the little creek. He made inquiries as to where he could buy fresh vegetables and milk. And just as he was about to leave he remarked, "I did a strange thing early this morning. There was an old cat came over to my place. One ear was almost gone and it was blind. I'm not much of a hand to make way with things, but I felt so sorry for that poor old animal that I killed it."

"Oh!" With a strangled sob Jimmy quickly left the room.

His mother explained to the man it had been their old pet. He was very sorry, but of course that did not bring the cat back.

"When I saw it, I just banged it over the head with a stick and then buried it. You will never know how badly I feel about it."

When he was gone, mother went out to find Jimmy and comfort him. He was out in the orchard on his knees. Quietly she went up and knelt beside him, slipping her arm about his shoulder.

He turned to her at once. "Mother, there's something funny about Annette. I've been praying and I feel all happy inside. It's just as if she wasn't dead at all!"

"What would we ever do without our Comforter, son?" she said. "He does help us bear our burdens in a wonderful way."

"I'll say he does. This morning I felt so bad I didn't know what to do, and then when that man said--he had killed Annette--I thought I just could not stand it. And here I am happy as anything again. And just because I took it all to Jesus. I think Annette is all right now."

"She was very old, son. It wouldn't have been much longer anyway. Why--why--Jimmy!"

But Jimmy was running swiftly across the field toward an old blind cat that was staggering in his direction.