“Not quite the best,” said the younger child; “we once slept in a warm place.”
The elder child here shook her head at poor little Lizzie, and made a sign to her to say no more; but the movement did not escape Susan’s observation, and only served to confirm what she had already strongly suspected, that these poor, forlorn children were none other than Daisy’s “prayer-children.” It had been her earnest hope that somehow, through means of the ragged school, which brought her into contact with so many of the poor children and homes of the neighbourhood, she might learn something about them; and now the longings and prayers of the past months seemed at length about to be answered. Their eyes brightened when Susan asked them if they would like to go home with her, and to have some warm tea and bread-and-butter; and poor little Lizzie could not resist saying, “We’re so hungry; we’ve had nothing but some dry crusts since yesterday morning.”
Telling them to keep close to her, and talking to them, as they walked along, of the Good Shepherd who loved them, and was even now seeking to bring them to His fold, Susan led them to her own home. The shutters being closed, the children did not at first recognize the place where six months before they had found shelter; but as Susan led them through the shop, watching their faces meanwhile, to discover any sign of recognition, Lizzie suddenly pulled her sister’s arm, and said in a low voice, “Wasn’t this the place where we slept that night?”
Polly looked frightened, and whispered, “Perhaps we shall be punished for it;” and in another moment both of them would have darted out of the door, had not Susan closed it and taken them by the hand, saying to them very gently, “Don’t be afraid, dear children; this is the nice place where you once slept, one cold night in the winter, and we hoped you would have come to it again, and used to leave the door unlatched for you every night. God your Father in heaven led you here, and we asked Him to bring you back, and He has heard our prayers. Polly and Lizzie needn’t fear anything now; for, if they are good, they shall stay here always, and never sleep out in the cold any more again.”
Then leading them into the inner room, she brought them to Daisy, who was lying on her couch in the window, and said:
“Daisy, here are your ‘prayer-children,’ found at last through your prayers and my dear little school.”
Daisy’s face beamed with joy and thankfulness. During the quiet hour while her brother and sisters were at school, and her father and mother at church, she had been praying that Jesus would suffer these little children to come unto Him, and that they might be found; and even while the prayer was rising up from her heart the answer of peace was coming down, and the promise of old being fulfilled: “It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”
There was general rejoicing that afternoon in the Morleys’ home when the rest of the family came in.
Kind Mrs. Morley, with Elsie’s help, soon washed and dressed the poor children in some better garments than their own miserable rags; and the loving mother’s heart did not repent when she saw poor little Lizzie sitting at the tea-table that evening in Lily’s place, and clad in Lily’s clothes.
Happy, thrice happy, they who know the joy and blessed privilege of ministering to the Lord of glory, in the person even of a little child, and who, from love to the Saviour who loved them and gave Himself for them, receive one such little one in His name.