JOHNNY'S TRUST.
BY the industry of Johnny, and the wages of his kind mother, the family
at the cottage had passed a very comfortable summer; but now work was
scarce, and the widow looked forward with some dread to the cold
weather.
She well knew that more than one third of the women who worked for the
factory had received no hose for several weeks; and that it was only
through her friend's exertions that Mr. Miles sent it regularly to her.
Then, although her earnings had provided them with abundance of good
plain food, yet this sum, even if continued, would not supply fuel and
warm clothes. Nor was there anything to pay for mending the roof, where
the rain dripped in during every shower.
It was on a dreary November evening that Mrs. Talbot talked with her son
while Ella, untroubled by anxiety or care, lay soundly sleeping in the
bed at the farther corner of the room.
With a sigh, the widow told her boy she feared trouble was before them.
"Everything seems dark," she went on; "I can't see where help to carry
us through the winter is coming from. We can't live in this house much
longer unless it has new shingles on the roof; and I know that is a
very costly job. Then we all need warm clothes. I'm afraid, Johnny,
you'll have to leave school and work harder than you have ever worked
before;" and she sighed again.
Johnny's chin trembled. "I can't work in the mill, mother," he began,
trying to keep back a sob. "One of the men told me to-day there were no
orders from the merchants, and they would have to stop."
The widow covered her pale face with her hands. "We shall starve,
then," she cried out, in a voice of agony. "Oh, if your father were only
alive!"
She leaned on the table and wept bitterly.
"Mother," faltered Johnny, drawing his coat-sleeve across his eyes;
"mother, you told me our heavenly Father loves us better than any
earthly father. Won't he help us if we pray to him? Don't cry so,
mother; I think he knows about it, and perhaps he'll take care of us,
as he did when we were starving before."
"Johnny! Johnny! I've been wicked. I've been doubting him all day. Yes,
my child, he is good, merciful, and true to his promises, even to poor,
weak creatures like me. We will pray, and we will trust. I feel happier
already. I have been carrying my burden of care when he says we may cast
it on him. Come, Johnny, we will pray."
They kneeled together by the firelight; and the woman, with a full
heart, thanked her heavenly Father for her precious boy,--that his faith
had not wavered when she so wickedly doubted his power or his
willingness to help them. She thanked him again for his former care of
them, and she urged his gracious promise, "I will be the widow's God,
and a father to the fatherless."
She arose and took her seat with almost a smile.
"All my anxiety has gone," she said, in a cheerful tone; "I know my
heavenly Father is able and willing to help us. Johnny, my precious boy,
how could I murmur when you and Ella are spared?"
"I prayed in my heart all the way home," faltered the boy; "I didn't
know what we should do; but I kept saying to myself,--
"'God knows all about it,--just as he did about Joseph in prison.'"
His mother drew him to her side, and kissed his forehead.
"Now you must go to bed," she said. "Though we trust God for the
future, we must do all we can to help ourselves. I have work for another
week; and you must be off early to yours. When this fails, I feel sure
that we shall be provided for somehow."
Johnny lay quiet on his couch, and his mother thought him asleep. She
read chapter after chapter of God's holy word, comforting herself in his
gracious promises, when she was startled by hearing her boy say,--
"Mother, there's my silver dollar, you know. That will buy a good deal."
"Yes, dear."
Her voice trembled. She knew how much he prized that dollar, and how
often Mr. Miles had asked to see it, "to be sure," he said, "that it was
not lost or forfeited." She resolved that not until everything else had
been sacrificed should that dollar be parted with.
Two days later Johnny ran home with the joyful announcement,--
"Mrs. Miles has come home! I've seen her. She beckoned me to go in, and,
O mother! what do you think she showed me? The cunningest little baby I
ever saw. She wants you to come right over, and she----"
Mrs. Talbot interrupted him by saying,--
"That is good news! I'll go at once, and take Ella, so that I can stay
and help her. Rake up the fire as quickly as you can, and put on Ella's
hood."
"I felt a little troubled for you," exclaimed the lady, when, after a
cordial embrace, she had heard a confession of the widow's fears; "but I
am sure all will come out right and bright. That dear Johnny! I hope my
boy will be just like him;" and here she gave the baby a good squeeze.
"If the mill is shut, as I suppose it must be, we shall go to my
father's for the winter. It will be a trial to all of us; but we will
trust it is for the best. My husband told me that he should know
certainly at the end of another week. If no orders come in before that
time, they can't keep on."
Mrs. Talbot took the baby and began to caress it to hide her troubled
face; but presently said, with a smile,--
"How thankful we ought to be that there is One who orders all events in
our lives, and that this Being is he who calls himself our Father."