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lesson here ? She found it a little further along in verse 6. Eve used her influence with Adam wrongly. Pauline re membered, as this came to her, a talk she had listened to at Christian Endeavor one evening, from an old mission ary with silvery hair who had seemed strangely sweet, somehow, to all the Intermediates. He had been talking about the influence we exert on one another, and he had made a little plea for young Christians to stand fast and to let their light shine in their contacts with other young lives. And then he had dwelt especially upon the great power invested in “the little queens of the home,” as he quaintly termed America’s fortunate girlhood. “It is largely in your hands, my dears,” he had said in his slow, delightful way, nodding his stately silver head. “Largely in your hands what becomes of these,” and he waved his hand in the direction of a group of boys, who, to a man, promptly looked as derisive as possible. The sweet old voice went on unperturbed: “You remember the story of the young Christian in the early days of Christianity ? He was on his way to the arena with the glory of martyrdom almost within his grasp, unafraid of the lions or the death he would die, and then—and then the girl he loved laughed at him from her window—- jeered at his Christian courage, my dears, and—and he turned back. The power of the girl and her influence over the man who loved h e r!” And he smiled a little sadly as he looked into the unthinking young faces before him, with his heart yearning for harvesters to go out into the great fields that were white for the reaping, and needy, and waiting. Pauline drew towards her a pencil and paper and wrote: How G od ’ s G ardens G row Rule 1: Girls should use their influence with the boys they know to lead them nearer to Christ. Then, feeling that she was succeeding better than she expected in her search for blossoms in these newly dis covered gardens of the Word, she turned quickly to the story of the little maid and Naaman, the leper, in 2 Kings 5. The rule for conduct here was easy to find. Pauline knew that leprosy was a. type of sin and as she read ' eagerly on and came to verse 13 and saw— “I f the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean?” she quickly added: Rule 2: Girls should not be afraid to tell sinners about Christ and His power to save—even when they are older and more important than they. See 2 Kings S, What girl who is at all Bible taught, does not know the Book of Ruth ? Pauline could almosti recite it—and Esther, too, was a heroine of hers. She hastily ran over the beloved pages, lingering on the sixteenth and seven teenth verses of chapter one, verses whose beauty and perfume have been wafted down the centuries as the ideal expression of womanly friendship and devotion and loyalty: “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God : where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.” That was a soul-satisfying friendship for anyone to have! Pauline liked people who did not do things by halves. Like most girls, she loved to be loved above all other girls by her dear chosen “best friend.” Hence:—
:: H e a r t t o H e a r t ::
G irls I n t h e G a rd e n Of G o d ’s W ord B y F lorence N ye W h itwell
“Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense." —Song of Sol. 4:6. f W ISH there was more about girls in the Bible,” sighed Pauline. “There is Jairus’ daughter—” “Oh, she was only a child—twelve years old, and I am going on sixteen. Besides, she did not do anything. I wish I could find out just how God would like girls to act.” Elise pulled her sweater hastily over her head and snatched up her tennis shoes and racket as she heard Har old’s Honk! Honk! outside. “There they a re ! I must run.” Then, as a disappointed looked clouded the face of the young sister, to whom, as she well knew, she was the supreme authority, Elise paused to add, “Look here, Pauline! You know your way about in the Bible. Why not sit right down now at my writing table and go through it on this topic? You will be sur prised to see how much there is about girls. Look up the little maid that told Naaman the Syrian to go to Elisha-—■ see what there is to please God in her conduct. Try R u th ! She was little more than a girl. Inspect her life. And then, since girls are merely women in bud, look up some of the glorious women of whom Solomon said, 'Her price is far above rubies.’ For example, there was something per fectly fine in the Queen of Sheba’s conduct—see if you can discern what it was. It struck me very forcibly one day. Just wander all over the Book, as if it were an old- fashioned garden and you were looking for some buds of girls and roses of womanhood. See what you can find before I come back.” . And off rushed Elise, as Harold’s horn began a perfect presto—agitato—staccato of honks. Pauline sat down with a feeling of real interest in this new task. Was it possible that old white-bearded prophets,, like Moses, had written anything for her? Well, it would be a good thing to begin at “In the beginning God,” and see just what there was to be found in God’s garden of girls. Here in the very second chapter of Genesis Moses be gan to write about the first woman. Wonderful, myste rious creation of this other half of humanity—woman kind ! Pauline paused a moment over verse 24, the thoughts in her young mind like white butterflies hovering over a close-shut flower. Some day it would open, but the fragrance of its meaning was all.in the dim future for her. Nevertheless she must pause—just for a moment—-and marvel. But how about conduct ? Why, in the very next chap ter was a find! In the first place, Pauline reflected severely, no woman should have had any dealings with a
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