Sorely disappointed because the Master had not appeared, the peasant sat gazing into the fire, and as he gazed he fell asleep. Suddenly the room was radiant with a light that did not come from the fire, and there stood the Master, white-robed, and serene, looking upon him with a smile. "Ah, Master, I have waited and watched all this long day, but thou didst not come." The Master replied, "Three times have I visited thy cabin to-day. The poor peddler whom thou rescued, warmed and fed, that was I; the poor woman to whom thou gavest thy coat, that was I; and this little child whom thou hast saved from the tempest, that is I. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me."
The Christ vision faded. The peasant awoke. He was alone with the child, who was smiling in its sleep. But he knew that the Master had visited his cabin.
"The love of God! The love of God!" I said,—
And at the words through all my being went
A sudden shudder of light; the firmament
Not otherwise seems riven by the red
Jagg'd lightning-flash that quivers overhead
When for an instant heaven and earth are blent.
So for a dazzling space my heart was rent,
And I beheld—beheld—but all had fled.
Had fled! nor has returned; yet on my way
Along the pave or through the clanging mart,
Sometimes a stranger's eye falls full on mine;
"You too?" We have no speech, we make no sign,
But something seems to pass from heart to heart,
And I am full of gladness all that day.
C. A. Price in Scribner's Magazine.
CHAPTER X
WHERE YOUR SUPPLY IS
He who dares assert the I,
May calmly wait
While hurrying fate
Meets his demand with sure supply.
Helen Wilmans.
Never affirm, or think about yourself, your prospects, your career, or your happiness what you do not wish to come true.
Every child should be taught to expect success and happiness, to believe that the good things of the world are intended for him.
We never can get more out of ourselves than we expect. If we expect large things, demand them; if we hold the large mental attitude toward our work, toward life, we shall get much greater results than if we depreciate ourselves, and look for only little things.