“That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.”
“And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.”
I need hardly say that places were easily found for such girls. The gipsy-girl, too, has kept to her determination of doing something well, and has been in one place for the last fifteen months.
CHAPTER IX.
Our Missionaries.
“The poor are the poor’s best friend.”
“Little words of kindness,
Little deeds of love,
Make this world an Eden,
Like to heaven above.”
Those who have watched the “Mothers’ Society” from the commencement, will see that every year has been marked by steady progress; and not merely in numbers: the moral and spiritual tone has deepened, become more real, more earnest, more active. Nothing was so distressing to me, when I first commenced this work, as to observe the unkind feelings which these women manifested towards each other. It was no unusual thing for me to receive a call from one of them, for the purpose of telling me, that if I allowed Mrs So-and-So to come to the meeting, then she should not come. “They hadn’t spoke for months, and never meant to speak any more; and there was no pleasure in coming and seeing such a ‘ippocrit’ as she was, ‘sitten up there.’” Then, again, I was warned not to take up with such a one; for she was as false as she was high, and “nobody never believed a word she said.” Once, a mother came to complain against her own daughter, telling me she was quite undeserving of the assistance I was rendering her, and that the only thing that brought her amongst us was to get all she could. I often spoke to them very earnestly about these accusations of each other, and assured them that this sin would be to our meetings what Achan’s crime was to the camp of Israel; that we could neither expect the blessing of a God of love ourselves, nor hope that our united prayers for our children would be heard and answered, whilst we were hating instead of helping one another.
But this is not so much a thing to be lectured against, as to be lived down. The constant reading together of the Word of God, especially of His life who so loved us, sinners though we are, as to die for us, soon had its effect upon us. We have always, from the first, made a point of referring in our prayers to any particular family affliction which had occurred to any of our number, and also of sending kind messages to the absent; and as I persisted in doing this to saints and sinners alike, and never took any further notice of the evil reports brought to me, than to pray more earnestly than ever, that we might all be delivered from the particular sins complained of, the evil spirit seemed gradually to die out, and I hailed with joy many evidences of a very different spirit. The elder women began to remember that they could sometimes help the younger ones, by nursing their babies, so that the work for the many little ones at home might proceed the faster. The younger members, in their turn, would stop to thread the needle, which the failing sight of some companion made a difficult operation. The warmest seat by the fire was given up to the poor invalid, who came with a bad cough, or to the newly made mother, with her “wee baby.” The only two footstools in the room were given up to those who most needed them, instead of keeping them, with the remark, “I got it fust, and I shall keep it,” which at one time might have been heard.
One evening last winter I read to them, from “The Book and its Mission,” some account of Marian, and what she was doing for her poor neighbours in St Giles’s. I saw they were extremely interested in the narrative; and I said to them—“Now, many of you, I know, feel to those about you as kindly as Marian; and if any of you think that you have time, and strength, and spirit, for this work, I believe that, without giving up your whole days to it (as, with you, that would be impossible), you might, by a little planning and arrangement, accomplish a great deal of good.” After the meeting was over, three of the women came to me, and offered their services in any way I thought best. As it was then too late to go into the subject, I invited them to tea on the following Wednesday. The three came, bringing with them a fourth, the mother of several little children, who apologised much for coming, especially as she had to bring her baby with her. She knew she couldn’t do much, but she couldn’t bear to be left out. She thought she might take her baby, and sit with a sick neighbour sometimes; or take care of some little children, with her own, now and then, if that would do any good. Two of the women were upwards of fifty years of age, and had then no children living with them; the other was one of those who attended our first meeting, and then told me, that she thought, if we went on with the society, she might look in now and then upon us: not that she wanted to learn anything; for, “I ’spect,” said she, “I know everything better than anybody can tell me.” In fact, that her visits would be to give us her patronage. However, as we became better acquainted, we were soon good friends. She lost her husband a few months afterwards, and was left to struggle alone, with a family of boys, to whom she has done her duty, and they are truly rising up to call her blessed. With a very limited allowance from the parish, she managed, by washing and mangling, to earn enough to support them, and send them all to school; but the work was too hard for her. After the first year or two, I began to observe that she walked uneasily, and that the expression of her countenance indicated constant suffering. I soon found that she was suffering from an internal complaint, which, I feared, at first, admitted of no remedy. But, notwithstanding all she endured, she worked on, always saying she could bear anything but the workhouse, and separation from her children; and managed, in spite of such difficulties as would have sunk many a strong man’s heart, to keep her little home to herself, and retain over her great boys an almost unbounded influence. She became so very ill last summer, that I took her one day to “The London Home,” a kind of hospital for chronic diseases just established in our neighbourhood. The doctors spoke of her case, not only hopefully, but as one that could certainly be cured; but it must be by an operation; and it would be necessary for her to become an inmate of the hospital for four or five weeks. Under the skilful and humane care of Mr Baker Brown, the cause of her suffering was entirely removed; and the gratitude of this poor woman for so great a mercy seemed unbounded. During the evening on which she and her companions came to my house, she said—“After I was sure I was going to be well again, I used to lie in my bed in that hospital there for hours, with my heart lifted up with gratitude to God; and I asked Him so many times to shew me what I should do for Him for all His great love and kindness to me. I really did feel that love and thankfulness to Him, that I thought the first strength I had I must give to Him; but I couldn’t exactly see how. Last Monday was the first time, since then, I have been able to come to the meeting; and as you were reading about Marian, I says to myself, ‘There, that’s your sort of work; that’s what you’re to do;’ and I began to think how God had tried me, and how I had suffered in almost every way, and that He had helped me through everything, and never left me; and I knew then that this was His way of teaching me, and preparing me to help others. And now, ma’am,” she went on to say, “you see, people is very kind to me; and my children’s beginning to help me; and I shan’t have quite so much hard work as I have had; and though I can’t do a great deal yet, I think I could give up two afternoons in the week for doing what I can for those who want help. And I have thought of what you often have told us, too, ma’am, that if we will but make a beginning in what is right—even if we don’t see exactly how—that the way will open to us as we go along, and God will send the light as we want it. We don’t, none of us, feel very wise about it at present; but we are all ready to do, as far as we can, anything you think best.”
We spent a very pleasant evening together, and talked over various plans. The women were of varied capacities, and I saw that they were not all fitted for the same work; but they were all actuated by the same spirit—love to their Saviour, and willingness to work for Him.
At our next meeting, in the following week, just as I sat down to read, a little girl entered the room, and, coming up to me, said—