A strong, brave heart, and a purpose true,
Are better than wealth untold,
Planting a garden in barren ways,
And turning their dust to gold.
O mother! O father! only think! Mrs. Evans has just paid me for that work I did for her, and it is more than I expected; and now I find I have enough to buy a Bible. I'm so happy I don't know what to do."
Mary had just come from the farm-house, and now as she bounded in with the joyful news, Jacob stopped his loom, and held out both hands.
" Is it really so, Mary? After six years' saving! Nay then, God be thanked, child, who first put the wish into your heart, and then gave you patience to wait and work to get the thing you wanted. Bless you, my little maid," and Jacob laid a hand solemnly upon his daughter's head, adding in a lower tone, " and she shall be blest!"
" But tell me, father dear," said Mary after a little pause, " where am I to buy the Bible? There are no Bibles to be had here or at Abergynolwyn."
" I cannot tell you, Mary, but our preacher, William Huw, will know," replied Jacob; " you will do well to go to him to-morrow, and ask how you're to get the book."
Acting upon her father's suggestion, Mary accordingly went the next day to Llechwedd to William Huw, and to him she put the question so all-important to her. But he replied that not a copy could be obtained (even of the Welsh version published the year before) nearer than of Mr. Charles of Bala; and he added that he feared lest all the Bibles received by Mr. Charles from London had been sold or promised months ago.
This was discouraging news, and Mary went home, cast down indeed, but not in despair. There was still, she reflected, a chance that one copy of the Scriptures yet remained in Mr. Charles's possession; and if so, that Bible should be hers.
The long distance-over twenty-five miles -the unknown road, the far-famed, but to her, strange minister, who was to grant her the boon she craved-all this, if it a little frightened her, did not for one moment threaten to change her purpose.
Even Jacob and Molly, who at first, on account of the distance, objected to her walking to Bala for the purchase of her Bible, ceased to oppose their will to hers; " for," said good Jacob to his wife, " if it's the Lord answering our prayers and leading the child, as we prayed He might, it would ill become us to go against His wisdom."
And so our little Mary had her way, and having received permission for her journey, she went to a neighbor living near, and telling her of her proposed expedition, asked if she would lend her a wallet to carry home the treasure should she obtain it.
The neighbor, mindful of Mary's many little acts of thoughtful kindness towards herself and her children, and glad of any way in which she could show her grateful feeling and sympathy, put the wallet into the girl's hand, and bade her good-bye with a hearty " God speed you!"
The next morning, a fresh, breezy day in spring, in the year 1800, Mary rose almost as soon as it was light, and washed and dressed with unusual care; for was not this to be a day of days the day for which she had waited for years, and which must, she thought, make her the happiest of girls, or bring to her such grief and disappointment as she had never yet known?
Her one pair of shoes-far too precious a possession to be worn on a twenty-five mile walk-Mary placed in her wallet, intending to put them on as soon as she reached the town.
Early as was the hour, Molly and Jacob were both up to give Mary her breakfast of hot milk and bread, and have family prayer, offering a special petition for God's blessing on their child's undertaking, and for His protection and care during her journey.
This fortified and comforted Mary, and, kissing her parents, she went out into the dawn of that lovely day-a day which lived in her remembrance till the last hour of her long and useful life.
She set out at a good pace-not too quick, for that would have wearied her ere a quarter of her journey could be accomplished, but an even, steady walk, her bare brown feet treading lightly but firmly along the road, her head erect, her clear eyes glistening, her cheek with a healthy flush under the brown skin. So she went-the bonniest, blithest maiden on that sweet spring morning in all the country round. Never before had every tain seemed to gaze down protectingly upon her. The very sun, as it came up on the eastern horizon, appeared to have a smile specially for her. The larks soared from the meadow till their trilling died away in the sky, like a tuneful prayer sent up to God. The rabbits peeped out at her from leafy nooks and holes, and even a squirrel, as it ran up a tree, stopped to glance familiarly at our little maiden, as much as to say, " Good morning, Mary good luck to you! " And the girl's heart was attuned to the blithe loveliness of nature, full of thankfulness for the past and of hope for the future.
And now, leaving our heroine bravely wending her way towards Bala, we will just record briefly the history of that good and earnest man on whom the child's hopes and expectations were this day fixed, and who therefore, in Mary's eyes, must be the greatest and most important person-for the time-in the world.
But apart from the ideas and opinions of a simple girl, Thomas Charles of Bala was in reality a person of great influence and high standing in Wales, and had been instrumental in the organization and execution of much important and excellent work, in places where ignorance and darkness had hitherto prevailed. Hence the name (by which he often went) of " the Apostolic Charles of Bala."
He was now about fifty years of age, and had spent twenty years in going about among the wildest parts of Wales, preaching the Word of Life, forming schools, and using his great and varied talents wholly in the service of his Master.
At the age of eighteen he had given himself to the Savior, and his first work for the Lord was in his own home, where he was the means of instituting family worship and exerting an influence for good none the less powerful that it was loving and gentle.
His education was begun at Carmarthen, and continued at Oxford, and we learn that the Rev. John Newton was a kind and good friend to him during a part of his student life, and that on one occasion his vacation was spent at the house of this excellent man.
The Rev. Thomas Charles became an ordained minister of the Church of England in due course, but owing to the faithful and outspoken style of his preaching, many of his own denomination took offense and would not receive him; so he seceded from the Church of England and joined the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists; but his greatest work hitherto had been the establishment of Day and Sunday Schools in Wales. The organization of these, the selection of paid teachers, the periodical visiting and examination of the various schools, made Mr. Charles's life a very busy one. But as he toiled on, he could see that his labor was not in vain. Wherever he went, carrying the good news, proving it in his life, spending all he was and all he had in the service of Christ,-the darkness that hung over the people lifted, and the true light began to shine.
The ignorance and immorality gave place to a desire for knowledge and holiness, and the soil that was barren and stony became the planting-place of sweet flowers and pleasant fruits.
Such, in brief, was the man-and such his work up to the time of Mary Jones's journey to Bala About the middle of the day Mary stopped to rest and to eat some food which her mother had provided for her. Under a tree in a grassy hollow not far from the road, she half reclined, protected from the sun by the tender green of the spring foliage, and cooling her hot dusty feet in the soft damp grass that spread like a velvet carpet all over the hollow. Ere long too she spied a little stream, trickling down a hill on its way to the sea, and here she drank, and washed her face and hands and feet, and was refreshed.
Half an hour's quiet rested her thoroughly, then she jumped up, slung her wallet over her shoulder again, and recommenced her journey.
The rest of the way, along a dusty road for the most part, and under a warm sun, was fatiguing enough; but the little maiden plodded patiently on, though her feet were blistered and cut with the stones, and her head ached and her limbs were very weary.
Once a kind cottager, as she passed, gave her a drink of butter-milk, and a farmer's little daughter, as Mary neared her destination, offered her a share of the supper she was eating as she sat in the porch in the cool of the evening; but these were all the adventures or incidents in Mary's journey till she got to Bala.
On arriving there, she followed out the instructions that had been given her by William Huw, and went to the house of David Edwards, a much respected Methodist preacher at Bala.
This good man received her most kindly, questioned her as to her motive in coming so far, but ended by telling her that owing to Mr. Charles's early and regular habits (one secret of the large amount of work which he accomplished), it was now too late in the day to see him.
" But," added the kind old man, seeing his young visitor's disappointment, " you shall sleep here to-night, and we will go to Mr. Charles's as soon as I see light in his study-window to-morrow morning, so that you may accomplish your errand in good time, and be able to reach home before night."
With grateful thanks Mary accepted the hospitality offered her, and after a simple supper, she was shown into the little prophet's chamber where she was to sleep.
There, after repeating a chapter of the Bible, and offering an earnest prayer, she lay down, her mind and body alike resting, her faith sure that her journey would not be in vain, but that He who had led her safely thus far, would give her her heart's desire.
And the curtains of night fell softly about the good preacher's humble dwelling, shadowing the sleepers there; and the rest of those sleepers was sweet, and their safety assured, for watching over them was the God of the night and the day-the God whom they loved and trusted, and underneath them were the Everlasting Arms.