"A correspondent of Arthur's Magazine tells of a poor woman who had been washing for us, who said: 'Seems as if the Lord took very direct ways to reach people's feelings sometimes. Now, I was astonished once in my life. I lived away out West, on the prairie, I and my four children, and I couldn't get much work to do, and our little stock of provisions kept getting lower and lower. One night, we sat hovering over our fire, and I was gloomy enough. There was about a pint of corn-meal in the house, and that was all. I said, 'Well, children, may be the Lord will provide something.' 'I do hope it will be a good mess of potatoes,' said cheery little Nell; 'seems to me I never was so hungry for taters before.' After they were all asleep, I lay there tossing over my hard bed, and wondering what I would do next. All at once, the sweetest peace and rest came over me, and I sank into such a good sleep. Next morning, I was planning that I would make the tinfull of meal into mush, and fry it in a greasy frying-pan, in which our last meat had been fried. As I opened the door to go down to the brook to wash, I saw something new. There, on the bench, beside the door, stood two wooden pails and a sack. One pail was full of meat, the other full of potatoes, and the sack filled with flour. I brought my hands together in my joy, and just hurrahed for the children to come. Little dears! They didn't think of trousers and frocks then, but came out all of a flutter, like a flock of quails. Their joy was supreme. They knew the Lord had sent some, of his angels with the sack and pails. Oh, it was such a precious gift! I washed the empty pails, and put the empty sack in one of them, and, at night, I stood them on the bench where I had found them, and, the next morning, they were gone. I tried and tried to find out who had befriended us, but I never could. The Lord never seemed so far off after that time,' said the poor woman, looking down with tearful eyes."
The Prayer In The Woods.
A friend relates the following incident, as received from the lips of a poor afflicted, crippled orphan boy, whose own experience is a practical illustration of the words: "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." Ps. xxvii 10.
"Out of many instances of answered prayer I will tell the following one: In August, 1874, I wished to go to Lowell, a distance of some thirty miles, or more. I had no money, and did not know how to get there. I asked the station-agent and the conductor, but each refused, saying it would not be consistent with their duty. Knowing of no human help, I left the depot and went into the woods, some ways from the station, where I could be alone, and tell that Friend who is able to provide, and who is rich unto all that call upon Him. I knelt down beside the stump of a tree and prayed, and told the Lord all about it, and asked Him either to give me money, or provide some way that I could go where I desired. I felt that the Lord heard and answered me, and filled my soul with praise and joy. The language of my heart was, 'Bless the Lord.'
"As I turned and was going out of the woods, I heard a voice saying, 'Halloo.' As I had seen no one, and knew not that any human being was near, I was surprised at this greeting. 'Halloo!' said the stranger,' I never heard such a prayer in my life. Why did you go and pray?' I told him that I felt heavy, burdened, and I took the burden to the Lord. He said, 'I heard you pray--you want money, do you? The Lord has opened the way; here is five dollars. It is the best way to go to the Lord, and trust Him to open the way. Go and use the money.' I thanked him, and I thanked the Lord, and went oh my way rejoicing in Him whose promise is,' My God shall supply all your needs,' and who himself had heard and answered my request."
The Lord Can Do It.
"In one of the mountainous towns--says The Christian--in the north-western part of Connecticut, there lived, some time since, an aged couple who had seen some eighty years of earthly pilgrimage, and who, in their declining days, enjoyed the care of a son and daughter, who resided with them at their home.
"In process of time, the son became sick, and drew nigh the gates of death. The doctor pronounced him incurable, saying that one lung was consumed, and that he could live but a short time.
"The fear of her brother's death, and the thoughts of being left alone to bear the responsibility of the aged parents' care, burdened the sister's heart exceedingly, and led her to cry mightily to the Lord, to interpose for his recovery, and spare him still to them; and her importunate supplications ascended to God, until the answer came to her heart as a sacred whisper,--'I have heard thy cry, and have come down to deliver thee.'
"Comforted by this sweet assurance, she rejoiced exceedingly, knowing that what our Heavenly Father promises he is abundantly able to perform, and that He will fulfill his word, though heaven and earth shall pass away. But her faith was destined to be tried, and, on the very day after she had obtained the assurance of her brother's recovery, in came some one, saying, 'The doctor says S---- can live but a little time.' For an instant, these words were like a dagger to the sister's heart, but she still held fast her confidence, and replied: 'If men can't cure him, the Lord can.'