Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Next Page
OCR
Vou. VIII.
~ “chung it in the shade.
* (if the -girls hadn’t
No. 34. { PUBLISHED
Copyright, 1909, by David O. Cook Publishing Company.
DAVID C. COOK PUBLISHING CO.; Exein, ILtrvors, anp 36 WasmINcTON St., CHICAGO.
PY
August 28, 1909.
“ ‘Whose Goodness. Faileth Never”
By: ‘Mary: E. Bamford -~
V
“TI wish Cordelia’d get a new dress,”
said. Nellie. Evangeline to another. girl.
“She’s worn that skirt’ till it’s faded in the
folds. . You can see it’s faded when the
‘ wind blows it.”
Then Nellie» Eyangeline..and the other
girl went out of-the church.kitchen and
never knew that Cordelia had been in. the
_ little passageway between the kitchen and
< the ladies’ parlor and had heard.
Cordelia came ‘out and. walked. slowly
“home. Some’of the time she looked down
at her skirt. “She bad had very few new
things this year, because the side of. the
house that’ mother tried to, rent out for
- housekeeping rooms ‘had -not kept rented
very “we The rooms had the sign “To
Let” up now.
’ She had tried to be careful of her skirt,
yet it had faded so that the under part of
the folds was considerably darker than the
upper. “She. had thought of dyeing the
skirt, but she had been afraid to, for fear
it would shrink,
“But I guess I’d better dye it, if the
irls are going to talk sbout-how fadey
’
s,” she decided. “I hate to ask mother
to buy even’ dye, but Ill have to. I do
hope the skirt won't shrink.or come out
. streaked. If I dye it the first of the week,
“maybe I can hang it out on the line enough
times so’s- the smell of dye will be gone
‘by next Sunda ay.’
Accordingly, the next day Cordelia, with
~fear and trembling, consigned her skirt
to a boiler of dye in her home kitchen.
“You'll have to stand right over it with
- two sticks, and keep turning it,’ warned
her mother. “You are sure you’ye got
enough salt in that dye to make it set?”
»Anxiously, during the time prescribed in
the directions on the packets of dye, Cor-
delia turned and soused her skirt. The
odor of the dye filled the kitchen. She
was hot and anxious. By and by her
mother helped -her carry the boiler
and Cordelia rinsed the skirt as the packet
directed. But she was alarmed at the
“eimount, ofthe dye that came out of the
th.
“I'm ‘afraid the dye hasn’t set well,”
she said, as she carried the skirt out and
“For a while she came back every few
minutes” to view her work. “When dry
enough to press, she anxiously heated the
> flatirons and did her best. But alas! there
was no doubt that the skirt had shrunk,
and.it was streaked
“Tt isn’t long enough for me
now,” faltered Cordelia despairingly,
ing around for her mother to s
Iter mother tried to pull it down, but in
‘vain. And ‘oh, how streaked it The
tears. gathered in tired Cordeli ey
““ Oh, I’ve ‘spoiled it! I’ve spoiled ier
she wailed. “I wish I’d let it alone!’
She dropped into a chair and burst into
tears. She was so disappointed.
“To never would have touched the skirt
said anything!” she
sobbed. “It looks. dreadfully—dreadfully !
It’s so streaked and short and spoiled, and
it’s all I’ve got!”
“Don’t ery, dear,’ said her mother
‘And Cordelia, hearing that catch
in mother’s voice, made an effort to stop
erying. Ilow could she haye cried and
. hurt mother ?—mother, who would so gladly
to wear
turn-
have given her new things, but: couldn’t!
Mother, who went_ without things often
herself, and never complained!
Cordelia sprang up and dashed away her
ears.
But the next Sunday. morning when she
began to get ready for church, expecting
to put on the short, streaked skirt, her
mother smilingly brought out another.
“Put this on, dear, she. said..- “I’ve
made. it over for you.”
“Mother!’. cried Cordelia...“ You’ve
made it out.of your only good Sunday
dress! Why, mother!,.What will you. do
for a dress yourself?”.
“Never mind, dear,” said “the mother
gently. “ You-can tell’ me all about the
morning service,.and perhaps I can wear
my everyday skirt Sunday nights to church
for a while.”
A lump rose in Cordelia’s throat. Moth-
er’s “everyday skirt”. was such a thin,
poor, faded one! She turned and put her
head on her mother’s shoulder.
“Oh, mother,” she faltered, “I wish you
hadn’t!, I. can’t bear to have
you give up your dress’ for
me !”
“There, dear!” said her
mother. ‘There, don’t ery.”
This is how it came about
that Nellie Evangeline saw
Cordelia wearing a different
skirt this Sunday. But Cor-
delia’s face was sober.
Ter mother went out to
the evening service, but Cor-
delia, sitting beside her,
could hardly keep the tears
out of her eyes when they
fell on the contrast between
her. good skirt and her moth-
er’s faded old dress.
“Tt’s a hun dyed _ times
more dreadful to have your
mother wear old, fadey things
than it'is to wear them your-
self!” thought Cordelia, chok-
ing back the tears. “Ob,
wish I hadn’t paid one bit of
attention’ to w ha t- Nellie
Evangeline said! I. just de-
spise myself, letting mother
wear. fadier things than -I
do!”
3ut mother’s. face was as
serene as ever, looking to-
ward the minister, and moth-
er sang. in her- soft. voice,
when hymn-time came.
“J don’t. believe she is
thinking about her dress at
all,” thought. Cordelia. “If.
father had lived,» he never
would haye let her wear su”
a poor old dress as that to
church. Oh, I wish I knew
what.to do!
Then she became aware of
the words that her “mother
what wasn’t so! And mother was singing
on with the others:
““T nothing lack if Iam hi is,
And he ig mine forever.’
The hymn had never
been so real to her before. ‘“ But mother
wouldn’t sing what wasn’t so!” she kept
saying to herself. Cordelia listened: while
her mother and. the others finished
Cordelia listened.
*** And so, through all the coming days, _
Thy lov shall fail me never,
And be the theme of all my praise,
Within thy house forever.
And, looking at. her mother, Cordelia
wondered how she could sing so confidently.
Why, it had been three months since their
rooms were rented!.. Almost: nobody had
come to look at them lately. Supposing
those housekeepisg rooms went unrented
for three months more!» Supposing they
neyer rented again! Cordelia locked out)
at the minister with’frightened eyes. ~ Tow
would mother and she get on, supposing
those rooms never rented? There was only
a very little income besides the rent of
those rooms,
Cordelia did not hear much of the ser-
mon. . She was thinking of that hymn, and
when she looked down she always saw ,the
contrast between her mother’s dress and
hers. Ww hat was it that hymn said? Cor-
SHE DID HER BEST,
was singing with the rest of the folks, as|]delia found the place in the hymn- book :
she held her bymn-book ?
“<The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never.
“Oh, how can mother’ sing that?”
thought. Cordelia. ‘‘ Hasn’t. the goodness
‘failed ever,’ when mother has to wear
an old dress?’ But mother wouldn’t.sing
“The King of love my shepherd is,
Vhose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I.am his,
he is mine forever.
“ And so, through al]. the coming, days,
. Thy love shall fail me never’
Mother’s hand was
hymn-book. She thought Cordelia was not .
listening to the. sermon. The girl softly.
put the book back in the rack and looked
at the minister, but in her heart the words |
of the hymn were taking, root. Did not’
the “ ‘King of love ”-know.and caxe‘ about:
the empty, unrented rooms~ at. home?
Couldn’t God send somebody to rent them?-_
A silent prayer went up from Cordelia’s *
heart, and it was crowded into a ‘few
words, ‘ Lord. help mother—and—help me
to trust.as she trusts.’
Cordelia carried that prayer home with
her. Every day she prayed the same’
prayer. Before this she had only worried
about things, but now she prayed to Him
“ whose goodness faileth never,” and every
day her heart grew quieter... And oh, how ~
she loved her mother! Just the first money
that could be spared mother must be coaxed —
to get a Sunday skirt.
A> week:or two went by.*
wore to church, evenings, her faded old.
skirt that even. looked shabby - by. lamp: "
light Sunday: nights.
One Thursday when Cordelia came home .
from school the “To Let” sign was gone |
from the window. Cordelia ran in. There
was the sound of voices-in the other rooms. »
“Are they. rented?’ asked Cordelia,
breathlessly. . -
“Yes,” said her mother, /
Cordelia ran to, ber and hugg'
smiling, and
gently laid on. the |a sweet-toned bell.
mother ! she. cried.
“ Now you must have a new
Sunday skirt.”
don’t know as we can
this ‘nonth, ”* said her mother.
But’ Cordelia burst forth, |
“Tl go - without anything—
“anything else!”
It was not that month, but” .
the next, that * Cordelia’s _
.mother . sat one afternoon
with new black ‘cloth in her
lap,- making herself a. new
Sunday skirt. Down at her
.feet, pulling out — basting-
humming something.
“It’s ‘The King of
ros My Shepherd is,’ isn’t
“ Yes’m,” said- Cordelia.
“They sang it.in church one ~
Sunday, and I've learned part ©
of it by heart.”
But not even mother knew
how .truly by Cordelia’s very
heart . that hymn had been
learned.
BE SWEET-TONED,
The sweet-toned bell, says the |”
Cumberland Presbyterian, rings
out . sweetness, however, gently -
or rudely it is struck, while the ty
clanging gong cannot
‘a jangle. » There is the same
‘difference in people. From some. »
you learn. to expect always’ a>
~ ssnarl or a whini
~ while
- words of cheerfulness. and joy.
When «the grace. of ~God fully —
possesses. mind and heart, you
will respond with a sweet spirit—
to every touch, kind or unkind, rude, or loy-
&. . .
You will be a voice for God, in what-
ever place or company you are thrown, a wit-
ness for charity and kindness and truth. - vee
“When a man lives with God,” says Emerson,
“his voice shall be as sweet as the murmur
of the brook and the rustle of the’ corn.” | Be
Mother’ still»
threads, sat happy Cordelia, a
good deal,” “said
,touched as not to respond. with a
