her way to a big banquet in India, the lovely Queen was feeling sorry that she could not be with her baby prince. But when she arrived at the banquet, what do you think she saw? There on the table was a pretty birth day cake, and right on the top was a tiny doll. Do you think it was just an ordinary doll? No! It was a little prince. Even though she could not be with Prince Andrew on his birthday, you see the Queen was smiling happi ly, because, while thinking of him, she cut his birthday cake. About the same time over in a dif ferent part of India, there was an other Elizabeth, but she was not smil ing. Her skin and eyes were brown, her hair was dark, her clothing dirty, her bedding just a tom rag. Instead of being loved and wanted by almost everyone everywhere in the world like the Queen, she was not wanted by anyone. The mother, who did not want her, brought baby Elizabeth to the Ramabai Mukti Mission, and then turned her back and walked away down the road, leaving her baby behind. Swinging in one of our cradles, tiny Elizabeth reaches up her arms for a mother who is not there, crying for the mother who has de serted her. She is not a fairyland queen. She is a tiny, forsaken, fright ened little girl. W ill you pray for God’s care of the beloved Queen who came from Eng land to visit India, and will you also take the unwanted baby Elizabeth on your heart for love and prayer in place of the mother who walked down the road, never to return again? —Carol Terry Ramabai Mukti Mission, India For Our Children Father, hear us, we are praying, Hear the words our hearts are saying, We are praying for our children. Keep them from the powers of evil, From the secret, hidden peril, From the whirlpool that would suck them, From the treacherous quicksand, pluck them. From the worldling's hollow gladness, From the sting of faithless sadness, Holy Father, save our children. Through life's troubled waters steer them, Through life's bitter battle cheer them, Father, Father, be Thou near them. Read the language of our longing. Read the wordless pleadings throng ing,
T h e b ig , g r e y elephant walked carefully and in a dignified way down the road lined with thousands of people. Covering his back and fall ing almost to his feet on either side was a beautiful rug of red and gold. There were bells on the edges of the rug that jingled as the elephant walked along. The back of an ele phant is very wide, and way up on top of the back of this one was a plat form and chair gaily decorated with colored streamers and golden fringe. But no one was looking at the stately elephant or at the beautiful rug and chair on its back. No one was even paying any attention to the mu sical jingling of the bells. They were all looking at the person sitting in the chair on top of the elephant. They looked and looked, as though they had never seen anyone quite so won derful in all their lives, for she was a queen, the most beloved queen in all the world. She was all that fairy land books picture a queen to be— young and beautiful, with soft curly hair, eyes of sky blue, and skin so soft and fair one longed to touch it. But this was not fairyland; this was India, and there on top of the ele phant was Her Majesty Queen Eliza beth II, smiling and waving to the thousands of Indians who were wel
coming her to their land, for she had come from England to visit them. The people of India showed her many of the wonders of their land, and she looked carefully at them all, even at the snakes. When they showed her a tiger, do you think they took her to a zoo? No! They took her right into a big jungle where tigers live and sleep and kill. Up way in the top of a tree, a little house was built for the Queen so she would be safe from harm, and her husband, the Duke, stayed by her side with a gun in his hand. For many hours they sat in the tree-top house. They sat very, very quietly, hardly whisper ing, hoping a tiger would pass that way. And after awhile, he came, a roaring, angry, fierce tiger. Do you think the tiger harmed the beautiful Queen? Not with the Duke by her side, for he raised the gun and shot, and the tiger rolled over on its side, never to kill anyone or any little ani mal again. But one of the days while Queen Elizabeth was in India, her mind was not on snakes or elephants or tigers, for it was the first birthday of her tiny son, Prince Andrew. He was thousands of miles away over in Eng land, and she could not be with him to celebrate his birthday. As she made
Holy Father, for our children. And wherever they may bide, Lead them Home at eventide.
— Amy Carmichael
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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