249
July 1943
The Train
of Opportunity
A True Story of Two Students*
as long as their liquor would hold out between stations. The two girls at the other end of the c o a c h were no different. Nan had spoken to them when they had come by the day before. One of the girls had told Janet and Nan that she was going to Los An geles to be married. To Janet’s aston ishment, only a few minutes later she saw the girl cuddled close to one of the soldiers, sharing his drink. Before Janet had recovered from th a t’ sur prise, a sailor came swaggering along and tapped the soldier on the arm. “Time’s up, soldier,” he called jovi ally. Without a word, the soldier got up, and the sailor sat down and took the* giggling girl in his arms. Janet felt her mouth drop open in amaze ment. How could any one with any decency act like that? How could she go from the embrace of strangers to the one she expected to marry when she reached Los Angeles? The other girl had smiled in a shy, friendly way, and Janet’s heart had warmed to her when this stranger told her of her husband overseas. But any sympathy she had felt for the girl faded when she saw her, a little later, in a s o l d i e r ’s arms. Had she no thought of the sacredness of marriage vows? Such a feeling of reversion and contempt swept over Janet that she was surprised at the strength of her own emotion. Then like a still, quiet voice came the thought: “But for the grace of God, that could be I.” And she bowed her head and pleaded be fore the Lord for the two girls, and [Continued on Page 253]
S ANET BLAIR h e s i t a t e d at the doorway of the day coach and turned quickly to her sister close behind her. “There must be a mistake, Nan,” she gasped. “Surely this is the smoker —it’s full of men a,nd smoke.” “No mistake, Lady,” the R e d c a p h a n d i n g up their bags answered cheerfully. "It’s jes’. like dat in de whole train. Dis wah done upset about eberything, I guess.” “But, Nan,” Janet protested. “It’s awful. The air is blue with smoke— and—and,” she stopped helplessly, her dark eyes widened with dismay at the thought of the three days and nights ahead of them, packed in this coach full of soldiers, blue smoke, and stale liquor fumes. “There’s no help for it, Janet,” Nan said, matter-of-factly. “It isn’t a choice time to travel, but we have to if we are to get to the Institute. There are two other girls at the far end of the coach, so we won’t be the only ones. And remember, there is Another with us. He will see us through every trial.” Janet’s eyes cleared instantly. “Of course,” she breathed softly. “It was wrong of me to forget that.” They had reached a vacant seat and put their bags down. Now it was Nan’s turn to hesitate as they surveyed the dusty seat and floor littered with chewing gum papers, cigarette butts, candy wrappers, and bottle caps. “This doesn’t look much like the trains you traveled on as stewardess, does it, Nan?” Janet teased. * For the purpose of this account the actual names have been withheld ,
Nan smiled ruefully. “No. But I ghess it is to be expected. With so much more travel and so much less help, it is no wonder the coaches are untidy. Where's that old cloth we used for our shoes? We can dust this seat anyway.” Through a cloud of dust, Janet saw the appreciative smile of two soldiers sitting across the aisle. She took the moment to be thankful that the two men nearest them were obviously not drinking or taking part in the revelry of the others. The train sped on through the night, the wheels clicking off the miles with monotonous rhythm. Inside the coach es the air grew worse, the revelers noisier. Janet thought longingly of the home they had just left. Mom and Dad would be sitting before the radio, listening to the war reports and pray ing for the boys in service. It would be w o n d e r f u l to be back there, sur rounded by the warmth and love of their home. Her mind raced ahead of the train and was in Los Angeles, in the quiet halls of the Bible Institute, where she had spent one year. She wished she and her sister were there now. She was glad that Nan decided to come with her to the Institute this year. Nan was older than she, and as a nurse and stewardess had seen enough of the ways of the world to create in her heart a new longing for a knowl edge of the Word of God and the means of giving it to others. On this train almost every boy (and most of them were about eighteen or nineteen) had been drinking steadily,
Made with FlippingBook Annual report