The Poorhouse Waif and His Divine Teacher Part 8

The little summer-kitchen, which had been built just back and a little apart from the large, convenient farm-house, was princ.i.p.ally for the purpose of keeping the larger building free from the offensive odors that might arise from the cooking or the use of tobacco; but Mrs. Miller was so extremely neat and clean about her housekeeping that this room too was always cozy and inviting. In the chimney-corner of the kitchen a large fireplace had been built, and the latter had been covered by a closed iron cooking-grate. Above the rustic stove was a mantel, upon which the tobacco supplies of the old people were kept, and Edwin was told that he was welcome to place his pipes and cigars with theirs if he desired to do so.

The invitation was gladly accepted, and when Edwin's things were arranged, the mantel was well filled. The other furnishings of the room were a large cupboard, the necessary articles for cooking, a long home-made dining-table in the center of the room with long benches on both sides, and a few old-fashioned straight-backed chairs. And here they met night after night to smoke and to talk.

The congregation to which Mrs. Miller belonged was in the habit of holding their weekly prayer-services in the residences of the different church-members, and soon after Edwin's arrival in her home Mrs. Miller told him that on the following Thursday evening there was to be a prayer-meeting at her house.

"A prayer-meeting!" Edwin exclaimed with as much wonder and astonishment as he had displayed when talking with Frank about prayer; and immediately he connected the words with those that he had listened to on the porch of his friend's home. And when he asked simply, "What is a prayer-meeting?" she hid her surprize and explained that some people from different parts of the neighborhood would come together after supper in some room and spend an hour in reading, praying, and singing hymns.

"Can I be with you too?" Edwin asked as though he expected to be denied the privilege; but when Mrs. Miller answered, "Certainly," the beseeching look immediately changed to one of gladness.

"Can it be possible," thought Edwin the following day as he went about his work, "that in this very home where I am now living they will have prayer.

Only three more days! How can I wait until Thursday night?"

When at last the appointed evening had arrived, Edwin with great inward emotion and with bright antic.i.p.ations watched the people as they arrived in groups of twos and threes, some on foot and others in carriages. When all had arrived and had pa.s.sed on into the house, they were greeted by Mrs.

Miller, and Edwin was invited to join them in the comfortable sitting-room of the large house.

Edwin felt that these people were conferring upon him a wonderful privilege and honor, but he could not get away from the feeling that he was an intruder in their meeting. He was surprized that no one else seemed to look upon his being there as strange. In fact, all were so very kind that he decided to get all the good possible from being there and to solve, if he could, the puzzle of prayer, also to find out what it meant to become converted.

Now, Edwin had never learned that there was any other language than the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect, and having never been in a neighborhood where the Bible truths in any language were taught in his hearing, and not knowing that there was a Bible or a Savior, he had no way of understanding (even in his mother-tongue) what to most people would have been simple and readily comprehended.

When all was in readiness for the service to begin, a song was sung and then a chapter from the large German family Bible was read. After that all knelt to pray. Edwin knelt also, but he faced the others and gazed upon the upturned faces as though they belonged to creatures from another world.

When Amanda and Mrs. Kauffman prayed and he saw their faces beaming with the glory of G.o.d, he was sure that their prayers were informal, for no books were before them and the words seemed to come from their hearts. The reason that he could not understand what was said, he felt sure, was because they were talking to G.o.d, and the language was that of another world.

When they arose and began telling of G.o.d's goodness to them, some even leaping and shouting at times, Edwin supposed that it was another form of prayer, and as the words spoken were all in German, they too, he reasoned, must belong to another world. Notwithstanding he rejoiced because he was there, and he believed that everything was just as it should have been.

When the meeting had been dismissed and the people had gone to their homes, Edwin and Mr. and Mrs. Miller went to the summer-kitchen to smoke before retiring. While they were filling their pipes and selecting the coals to light them, Mrs. Miller inquired, "How did you like the meeting tonight.

Edwin? Was it like you thought it would be?" His answer did not reveal the fact that he had not understood enough of what had been said or done to form any new conclusion. He did tell her, however, that he thought the meeting was really wonderful, and he asked how they all knew that they were on the road to heaven. For Mrs. Miller this was a very hard question to answer, for she too was living in great uncertainty regarding the future and her reward; so she said:

"They don't know anything about that for sure in this life. They must wait until after they die before they can find that out."

In reply to Edwin's questions on prayer and what it means to be converted, Mrs. Miller explained that she had gone forward and given her hand to the minister a long time before and that after waiting a year's time he had told her she was in the church, and that joining church was what was meant by being converted.

"What do you mean by 'church'?" Edwin asked, feeling that he had found another word bearing upon the great subject that was perplexing him.

"Why the church is that big building down on the first four corners as you go into town. You can't miss it, for it's the only building there, and if you want to go down there with us some time to a meeting, you can. We have meeting, you know, every Sunday at the church."

But Edwin did not know, so he said, "Do you mean that you have prayer-meeting every Sunday?"

"Oh, no," she answered; "it isn't a prayer-meeting. We just get together and listen to the minister talk, but we always sing, and the minister prays for us."

"And don't you know, because you go to that church, that you will go to heaven when you die?" Edwin said in astonishment, but the answer was, "Oh, no; we don't really know anything about that."

As Edwin pondered over the matter that night when alone, he said, "If it took Mrs. Miller a whole year to get into the church, it will take me that long to get converted; but I can't see why she doesn't know any more than she does about getting to heaven."

Although Edwin could get no understanding in regard to the deep things that were upon his mind, he never for one moment thought of giving up in his efforts to search for them and to find out. In his heart he was still sure that there was a way to know these things, and although his friends had failed to discover them, his confidence in their sincerity was not in the least shaken.

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3: 9).

CHAPTER XV

A STAR OF HOPE

Come then, O care! O grief! O woe!

O troubles! mighty in your kind; I have a balm ye ne'er can know, A hopeful mind.

--Vane.

During the weeks that followed, Edwin was very busy, but most of the time that he was at work about the ch.o.r.es or in the harvest-field where the men were gathering in the ripened grain or preparing for the threshers, he was reviewing in his mind the scene on eternity, the talks with Frank, the prayer-meeting, and what Mrs. Miller had told him in regard to the church.

"It will take me just a year from the time I start to go to church before I can become converted, or be able to pray the right kind of prayer," he said to himself; "and how much longer will it take before I know that I am on the road to heaven?" for regardless of Mrs. Miller's confident statement that n.o.body in this world could know of his future reward, Edwin was still of the opinion that people could. "It's just because they haven't got that far along, I guess," he reasoned, and he felt very sure that some of the people who were at the prayer-meeting must know.

Among the day-laborers who worked for Mr. Miller was a Mr. Kunz, who, although not a Christian, was a good, intelligent, and friendly fellow, and who lived only about a mile away. For this young man Edwin soon formed a great attachment, and as the weeks slipped by he occasionally found time and opportunity to visit him in his home. During one of these visits Mr.

Kunz said in answer to Edwin's questions on prayer and the other things that were troubling him:

"I don't know very much about such things, Edwin, but I think that you can find out all you want to know if you will go to the big camp-meeting that is soon to be held on the camp-ground yonder," and with his finger Mr. Kunz pointed to a strip of woods that Edwin had heard spoken of as the "Camp-Ground."

"Why! what has the camp-meeting to do with such things?" Edwin asked, greatly surprized; for his idea of the camp-ground had been that it was a place for worldly amus.e.m.e.nts to be held, such as picnics, festivals, and ball-games, and it was hard for him to connect it with anything that he considered so solemn as prayer and getting an a.s.surance of heaven.

"It has much to do with it, Edwin," Mr. Kunz replied. "The meeting is held by men and women who are converted and whose business it is to see that those who come to the meeting get converted. They will know what you need and will help you to understand how to get it."

"Do you mean," Edwin asked, his eyes opening wide in wonder, "that one can get converted right there at the meeting?"

"Yes, indeed, I mean it," Mr. Kunz replied, smiling at the eagerness of Edwin. "Every year many are converted, and it is for that very purpose that the meeting is held."

Poor Edwin! It was hard for him to make the words of Mrs. Miller and those of Mr. Kunz harmonize; but as he considered what his friend had said, a bright star of hope arose in his sky, and he at once decided that the thing for him to do was to attend that meeting. He asked Mr. Kunz how it was possible for those people to get any one converted in so short a time. As Mr. Kunz was not a Christian himself, he could only answer that he did not know how it was, but that somehow they did it. With this knowledge Edwin arose to return to the place where he was making his home.

It was Sunday afternoon early in August, but Edwin gave no heed to the warm rays of the sun. As he walked along the highway toward the home of his employer, his heart was light and happy, and as he was alone he swung his arms and clapped his hands in his delight. The thought that it was possible to become converted within a week's time, or eight days, as the meeting was to continue over two Sundays, seemed almost too good to be true. "But why not," he reasoned, "when there will be such able men and women at the meeting to do the work. At the church where Mrs. Miller was converted, it might have taken a year, for there was but one man to do the work; but at the camp-meeting there will be many."

Then he began to wonder how the work would be accomplished, and he concluded that it would take some kind of a scientific, systematic performance, together with a wonderful prayer, and that then, if the work had been properly done, an a.s.surance that the person was converted and safe for heaven would come.

Suddenly as he walked along, he felt that he was not alone, but no one was in sight. Then these words seemed to be whispered in his ear:

"You had better not rejoice too soon, for your hope may be in vain. Your master may refuse to let you go to the camp-meeting; for you know how busy he is just now and how necessary that he should have your help."

But without the slightest fear Edwin answered in an audible tone:

"Yes, sir, I know that the work is pushing us hard just now, but this matter, to my mind at least, is of far greater importance than all the work on the farm. And then I do not expect my master to give me the time off to attend the camp-meeting. I'll tell him how much I dislike to leave him and that nothing else at such a time would induce me to go. Then I'll say that I will not only work for him as hard as I can the four weeks before I go, but that I will stay two weeks longer than I agreed to stay and will give him that work free, if he will only let me attend that meeting."

Had Edwin thought to ask Mr. Kunz if anyone could get converted in less than the eight days, he might not have been so determined to remain for the entire meeting; but, supposing that it would take at least that long for the operation, he did not want to run any chances of failure in his undertaking.

He had hardly finished telling what he would do in return for the favor that he was expecting to ask of his master, when again he seemed to hear the voice speaking. It said:

"Your week's absence from the farm at this busy time might cause your master so much inconvenience and loss that he would not even consider your offer of two extra weeks of labor in return."

"Under such circ.u.mstance I'd give him a month's time for the one week,"

Edwin answered bravely.

Then the voice suggested that he might be unable to leave under any circ.u.mstances, but at this suggestion Edwin exclaimed: