The meal was simple but good. Mrs. Goodman was a kindly lady and a fine housekeeper and cook. The children were very well be haved. “How can we ever pay or thank you, Mr. Eilers,” she said as I was getting ready to leave. “Mrs. Goodman,” I said, “ don’t you trouble yourself any about that. You see I have learned that the best way of life is even as the Lord Jesus tells us about. The Christian way. And the joy of liv ing that way and of being a good neighbor is pay and thanks enough for me.” Then with a good-bye and God bless you all lots, Deerfoot and I were on our way to Silver City. Well, boys and girls, that’s about it for this time. So bye for now and be good, real good, until I get back again to read you another thrilling story out of that wonder ful hook, the Bible. END. so of course he wouldn’t under stand. “Ha, ha!” Tommy had laughed. “ I bet you wouldn’t row across the lake to town if your life depended on it.” “ I would too!” she had cried. Judy remembered it now as she looked out across the ripply cold water, gray from the reflection of the low clouds overhead, to where the buildings of the town showed on the opposite shore. It looked like an awfully long way. And that’s where she had to go. She had never gone across the lake except with Mommy or Daddy, and then they had done most of the rowing. “ I can’t do it,” she said out loud. Then she remembered that she just had to get to town and she thought of the words of The Verse again. “ All right, I’ll try,” she whis pered. She looked back the way she had come but she couldn’t see her own house at all from here. Just the chimney of the house where by RACHAEL BORNE
Mr. Goodman feeling quite cheer ful after a restful night. He was, of course, quite upset over the whole affair and concerned about his family. I told him not to worry about a thing, to be sure and stop at the store and pick up whatever supplies he needed and not to worry about the bill. And when I said that I’d ride by his farm and tell his family what happened, and that he’d be home in a few days, he really was glad. Going by his home delayed my getting to Silver City a day but that didn’t really matter much. The farmer’s wife and children were very much surprised to see me ride up to their house. On find ing out who I was and why I had come, I was asked to put my horse in the bam, to let him rest and eat, while I came into the house to do the same. That I was glad to do before starting on the rest of my journey. then even if it was just a short time ago and she had even forgotten about the lake! As long as she could remember, Judy had been afraid of the Big Lake. She had never told anybody that she was afraid of it, and no body knew except her cousin Tom my who lived down around the cove. And he was always teasing her about it. Just this morning when they had been out walking along the frozen road together, he had asked her if she were going to learn to swim next summer. “ I don’t know,” she had answered. “ You’re a fraidy-cat,” he teased her. “ All girls are fraidy-cats,” he had added. Judy had remembered The Verse then and had suddenly felt very brave. “ I’m not going to be afraid of anything any more,” she had de clared. But she didn’t tell him about The Verse because he had never asked the Lord Jesus to come into his heart and forgive his sins,
which belonged to Mr. Goodman as well as my horse. Then I returned to the doctor’s, and learned that although the wounds of Mr. Goodman were rath er serious, he’d he well enough to travel in a few days. I told the doctor that the bill was on me, that I’d pay him in the morning before I left town. Then if he hadn’t re ceived enough, I’d pay him the bal ance after I came back through. Then I went back to the hotel and got a room for the night. T he next morning I went to the grocery store and told the owner that after Mr. Goodman was well enough to travel, he’d stop in and get some supplies to take back to his farm. I instructed him to give him whatever he needed and charge it to my account. Then on my return through Stagecoach Junction from Silver City, I’d pay the bill. At the doctor’s I found omehow her New Year’s Bible verse didn’t sound j quite the same now as it had last night. Standing here at the edge of the Big Lake, all muffled up in her wintertime wraps, Judy remem bered how warm and comfortable and cozy she had felt last night. She and Mommy and Daddy and little Babbie had gathered around the fireplace. Daddy had read from the Bible like he always did just before bedtime, and all of them had prayed. Even Babbie had lisped a little prayer. Then Daddy had read another verse and said it was the family’s verse that they were going to learn and use for a motto for this new year. It wasn’t a very long verse and Judy could already say it to herself. Judy had thought last night that of course she would always trust in the Lord Jesus, just like sbe trust ed Mommy and Daddy, and so she couldn’t ever be afraid! But a lot had happened since
a n d th e cJLa h t
33
JANUARY 1957
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