As the college days passed, there came strength of purpose, but there came also the desire to serve. Gladys watched her lead the little group of dirty street boys in the slums.
“How can she do it?” said Gladys. “They are so dirty and so rough.”
But the fairy said, “When one wants to serve, she looks at the heart and the life—not at the clothes and the actions. The boys are helping her to keep in the way.”
And after college there were happy days. Days of love and comradeship, days of work for the fairy; days when opportunity was everywhere. And in these days of happiness there came lessons of sharing, of winning, of filling the life with sunshine. The path was so bright that it dazzled.
Suddenly, Gladys looked ahead in the path. “Look,” she said to the fairy. “Look, oh, how black it is! Oh, I am sorry.”
Then the storm descended and all was black in the way—oh, so black and to move took all of one’s strength. Against it she struggled, but it seemed as though she must surely be driven from the path. Death and loneliness and worries seemed overpowering.
But the storm passed and, when once again there was peace, a great strength had come in its place, for there was sympathy for others who suffered, there was an 112 appreciation of the value of friendship, and there was a knowledge that God helps.
Little by little the road widened, though often it was lonely and hard. There were many steep places but each added something. And then Gladys saw the picture change.
There was Mrs. Fuller with her girls and she was leading them by the hand. But it was by no means easy. Some held back; some chose to play by the way; some looked longingly at the things by the wayside that would harm. But her one hand reached up and her other hand helped them ahead as she tried to keep them in the way.
As the picture faded, Gladys turned to the fairy. “I thought it had been all sunshine but now I see how hard it has been to learn to understand and to help. I love her better than I did before, now that I have seen her in the way. Thank you, fairy.”