dle. She wanted the loving, com fortable arms of her mother. Other arms picked her up, but they were strange, and the little girl did not want strange arms to hold her. She cried until she became sick. The missionary nurse tried to love and help her, but Mary did not want the missionary nurse. Then the doc tor came and gave her medicines to make her strong, but Mary did not want the doctor’s medicines. All she wanted was her mother. In a dis tant city, the mother was crying for her baby, just as Mary was crying for her mother, but they never saw each other again. Finally the doctor said, “ There is no hope. The baby will die.” The missionary nurse determined Mary would not die, and she sat with her night and day, loving her, cuddling her, doing everything pos sible to make the baby want to live. Gradually the baby began to re spond. She became stronger and stronger; she stopped crying; and the day came when she smiled for the first time. When she was a lit tle older, she began playing with other children; then she went to school and grew to be a lovely girl. There was just one thing wrong about Mary — she didn’t like to study. During her last year in regu lar school, she failed and asked to be taken out of school. The mis sionaries talked a long, long time to her, asking her to try again. But Mary cried and cried, “ I don’t like to study; I don’t like school; I don’t want to try again,” she said. But just as the missionary nurse did not give up when Mary cried as a baby and did not want to live, just now the missionary teacher did not give up when Mary cried and did not want to go to school. It was many hours before Mary finally said she would try just one more time. At the end of the school year, the results were given out—the names of those who passed and those who failed. Would Mary again be among those who failed? She was afraid to hear her name for fear it would be among those who did not pass. When she heard at last, she cried, but this time because she was so happy, for Mary had passed. Then she made an important decision. She said, “ I prayed, and the Lord Jesus helped me. Now I’m going to become a teacher, that I might help other children who don’t like to study, who don’t like school, and who don’t pass. I’m going to show them that the Lord Jesus can help them as He helped me.”
by Carol Terry Talbot
A young mother swayed back and forth, singing softly and cud dling in her arms her tiny baby. The little one was soft and warm and comfortable in her mother’s arms. She felt loved and safe, and soon drifted off happily to sleep. The mother had work to do and knew she should put the baby in her cradle and start her other work, but she loved her baby so much, she just sat there quietly for a while watching her wee d .ughter sleep. She no ticed how soft the baby’s skin was, how tiny yet perfectly formed were the tiny feet and hands. She gently caressed the lovely brown skin and stroked the little one’s black hair. Mother and child were happy in each other’s love over in their own land of India. The mother named the baby “Mary,” and as she sat there, she began to make wonderful plans for her little girl. They looked like a picture of happiness, mother and child, neither of them dreaming that the next day would bring sor row to both of them that each would feel all her life long. The mother and baby were staying at the Mukti Mission because the baby was small and weak, and the mother wanted her to have the very best care, that she might grow, up to be strong and well. But the next day after the mother and baby had been so happy together and the mother had made such beautiful plans for little Mary, the young mother’s father came to the Mukti Mission and demanded to see his
daughter immediately. When the young mother went to see her father, who was standing at the gate, he said, “ The father of your baby has gone away and no one can find him. Leave the child and come home and cook my food.” The big, brown eyes of the young mother filled with tears. “ Leave my baby?’ I’ll come with you, if you wish, but I must bring my baby with me.” “ Leave her,” I say, “ and come now. The train is leaving soon.” “ Never will I come without my baby,” she cried, “never.” “You will do as I say,” said the father, as he struck her across the face. The young mother sank to the ground, covering her face with her hands. “No! No!” she cried, “not without my baby.” But the man was big and strong and he was her father. He forced her to go with him, and she went sobbing down the road, never to see her lovely baby again. The mission aries wanted to call the police, but they could do nothing to help her because the strong man was her father. When a girl is eighteen years old, the law says she does not have to do what her father says if she does not want to, but this young mother was only seventeen years old. Her mother was dead. The father of her child had run away, and her cruel father had full authority over her. Baby Mary was crying in her cra
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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