Led By A Little Child.


"I'M going to carry these flowers to Jesus,"

so softly whispered little Clara Spring to herself

one day in the garden, as she culled the

choicest of her flowers. And she added:

"When the fruit is ripe, I'll carry him some

of that, too."

She spoke the last words in a louder tone,

not being aware that any one was near enough

to hear her, or she would not have spoken

aloud.

Her cousin Agnes, a young lady of eighteen,

was picking currants, and was hidden by the

bushes; but, as Clara spoke the last words,

she had come near enough to be overheard by

her cousin, who then came out of her hiding place, and said:

"To whom are you going to carry the fruit,

Clara?"

The little girl replied: "Oh, I didn't know

you were there, cousin Agnes. I'm going to

carry it to poor, sick Rachel."

"But you said him, Clara,"rejoined her

cousin.

The child blushed; not that she was

ashamed of Jesus; but she had never talked

on these subjects to her cousin, because Agnes

did not seem to care for such things. She

was gay and thoughtless, having been brought

up by a worldly mother. But, though Clara

was timid, she was not ashamed; and she replied:

"Yes, cousin Aggie, I did say him; and I

meant Jesus."

"But he is not here, child," answered her

cousin.

"Yes, he is," returned her little companion;

"though we do not see him, yet he sees us;

and he is waiting for me in poor, sick Rachel's

room."

It was so strange to hear the child speak

thus, and these things were so new to Agnes,

that, partly from love of novelty, and partly

from being touched by the sweet simplicity

and confidence of the little girl, she said:

"You dear little thing, where did you learn

all this? Tell me more."

So, in the same artless manner, Clara told

her cousin what she had learned in the Sabbath

school and in her Bible about the dear

Redeemer. And there, under the currant

bushes, listening to a child, Agnes heard her

first gospel sermon; and while she listened,

the Holy Spirit opened her understanding, and

softened her heart, so that the good seed took

root in her bosom. When she rose, Clara saw

a tear fall from her eye, though she turned

away to hide it.

Not many months after, Agnes might be

seen in the same Sabbath school which her

cousin Clara attended, surrounded by a class

of little girls, to whom she taught the same

sweet story of the love of Jesus and his constant

presence.

She continued to be a teacher many years,

and had the satisfaction to see a great number

of her scholars publicly profess their love

to Christ, and sit down with her at his table.

The first Bible verse, which she ever learned

was taught her by her little cousin, and

 influenced her whole life. It was these words of

Christ:

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of

the least of these, ye have done it unto me."

Matthew 25:40.



 

Well Spring