August 1931
362
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
account of the finding of the lost Rodney among the mountain boys who sang at Desert Dream. “How that clever lad fooled them, and every one, is too long a story to tell now,” the letter read. “He’s worth working over, any how, and he’s going to stay right here and be drawn irre sistibly into the Thin Red Line. There’s nothing so con vincing as a few real live specimens for decoys when you’re duck shooting. Or perhaps I ’d better say that when you’re fishing you must use attractive flies. Lest this also should be not quite clear to your unclouded but horribly practical intellect, darling, I will say plainly that I wish Rodney to know our boys. “And now, by dear, why did you not tell us all ? I sup pose you bore it so long you were almost choked and could not. “You see, I wrote Elise all about you—indignant of course over what had happened. And she, indignant like wise, tried to better matters by going to the people who had troubled you. There she heard about your uncle’s attempt to prove that your father was unsound mentally and how you nearly lost your money. That was hard ! But when she heard that the uncle was trying to prove that you yourself were the one who was ‘off’ and was only awaiting your arrival here to go ahead, she was fright ened. Visions of you in the fell clutches of the cruel uncle and so on! She wrote me to get you to wait while she and Uncle Alan (who is a good uncle, and we’ll share him with you) found proof that you were emphatically sane. She knows little of the law in such cases, of course. And then I thought it would not be exactly soothing, after all your trials, for you to wait in England with the knowl edge that all this was going on. I should have been upset most fearfully myself, I know. So I just had to come away and leave you, my poor lamb, and in all the rush I am afraid it was done rather badly and awkwardly. For give me and believe that I love you truly. Everything has been set right. And whom do you think we found? The little girl you played with in those mountains of yours up north—the Indian! Picturesque as you described her, but now a tall Christian girl at school in Arizona, if you please. She was so intelligertt and gave such a fine testimony about your childhood and your parents, that we had no trouble at all. And Beatrice, she’s been praying for you that you might know and love Jesus Christ. And now, my precious, come home! We are expecting you and longing for you. You are to come directly to us.” Beatrice was at the window, and the happy teardrop that fell on Althea’s letter was caught by a sunbeam- caught and transformed. Riven into the seven wonderful colors of the universe, that glow in an eternal glory about the Throne—the colors of the rainbow! pean Mission, and Mrs. Agnes Hosie Jackson, each of whom spoke on the subject of missions, and Dr. Louis S. Bauman, pastor of the First Brethren Church of Long Beach, who offered startling proofs of the rapid fulfill ment of prophecy—the voice of the Lord Himself reached and awakened many a young life. Miss Myrtle Scott, di rector of the Lyceum and Eteri Clubs, with other Biola Bible women, Miss Anna Gleason, Miss Elizabeth Merritt, Miss Irene Hunter, and Miss Natalie Romans, gave help-' ful messages. Who can prophesy the outcome or estimate the extent of a practical, heart-to-heart ministry like this ? OPPORTUNITIES OUT OF DOORS [Continued from page 349]
steadied, “tell me whether I can help you in any way to plan for the future.” Beatrice felt as though she were surrounded by an angelic band. Some one cared ! Some one knew ! Some one understood! And Miss Lansdowne reflected with much satisfaction that the hungry cry of at least one needy human heart had been heard and answered in Lon don that day. Suddenly the girl leaned forward, her lovely wrap— so newly acquired in Paris—slipping from her slender shoulders. “I forgot it,” she exclaimed. “What did you forget?” “That rainbow’s end ! You were going to show me.” “Don’t you know? Haven’t you realized what or whomf When Elsa lost her Lohengrin through lack of faith, and the white swan boat had borne him away, was she so foolish as to look for happiness without him? And you, and I, and all of us, whose sins have sent our Prince to the cross and the tomb (where God would not let Him stay, but raised Him and glorified Him), are we looking for righteousness or peace here on earth apart from Him? The old tales are full of this very theme that should be ours. The Prince must return to His Bride. There, and there only, is your rainbow’s end, Beatrice.” Then a new and rare radiance came upon the soul of the girl as her new friend showed her Acts 1:11 with its hope. “This same Jesus !” He was to be the very same One —the dear familiar figure, the Saviour who walked the cities and the fields, yes, and the waters of His own land twenty centuries ago. “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Was this hard to believe in this age of “air-minded ness” Beatrice was asked, when one heard Rome talking with New York radio-wise? When men spoke casually as well as rationally of sending themselves by rocket to other planets, and so on ! What man can accomplish may we not believe the Creator may do? Who can deny His power and right to return to the earth which He made ? It was all so new to the girl that it must be told as to a little child. And as a thirsty babe drinks in the needed milk, so her weary, disappointed heart drank up His Word. “But when—when?” was her final question, eagerly asked. “Ah ! That we may not know, little Beatrice. We do know that He told us that when many of these things that are now happening shall come to pass, we are to look up, for then our redemption draweth nigh. You know that we find even worldlings and unbelievers filled with appre hension of some approaching crisis, they know not what. One of them recently said, ‘History one day will tell of a civilization that at one time deliberately committed sui cide.’ This man did not exactly understand God’s plan, but ‘we are not in darkness that that day should overtake us as a thief.’ ” As Beatrice walked peacefully back to the small quiet hotel where Althea and her family had left her, it seemed to her that the radiant hope kindled within her heart must be evident to every one. The very streets looked brighter and brighter. And behold, the sun itself began to struggle through the gloom overhead ! “It is an omen, perhaps,” thought the girl as she made her way to the hotel desk. Yes, there was a letter—an American letter, an Althea letter ! She took it as soberly as possible and went at once to her room. “Beatrice my brave !” it began. There followed a lively
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