A little child in a hopfield played:
A little child from a hopfield strayed.
I wonder what was that child’s intent,
As forth from the pickers alone she went.
Only two years and a few odd weeks,
What is the fortune the darling seeks?
Is it the home she has left behind?
Is it the flowers she hopes to find?
Nobody saw her! so time went on.
Nobody knew that the child was gone:
Then she was missed, and they searched around;
But not a trace could be anywhere found.
They called through the hopfield, looked under the bine,
Tried hedges and ditches; but not a sign
Could anyone find; for no one had seen,
Or could tell where the wanderer’s feet had been.
“The river,” one whispered in accents low!
Could it be she had gone where its waters flow?
They went: but the waters in silence sealed,
No trace of the missing one revealed.
Soon night came on and its curtain drew,
Riding sought and seekers alike from view.
The police were told, and from far and near,
Were summoned to search for the tiny dear.
They peered and questioned and sought again
Through field and woodland, but all in vain.
The child that once in the hopfield played,
Was “lost” beyond human help and aid.
Oh terrible word! and yet children grown,
Are “lost” today in the great unknown,
They have wandered far from the fields of grace,
And who, their wandering steps can trace?
The weeks passed by! was the child forgot?
Oh! no, but the searchers found her not:
Until some women, while working, found,
Her body out in the mangold ground,
‘Twas covered with leaves, where the darling fell,
With no one near of her fate to tell.
God grant the Seeker Divine today,
May find the souls that have gone astray:
May find them living, before too late,
And death forever has sealed their fate;
Like the child that once in a hopfield played.
The child that far from that hopfield strayed,
Wm. Luff
We are sure from Scripture that the Lord Jesus took the lost little tot in our story to be with Himself in heaven, for though She was born with a fallen nature, she was yet a babe and had not as yet wandered afar in the fields of sin. The Lord Jesus died for all such on the cross, so when speaking of the so young, Scripture simply states, “The Son of mart is come to save that which was lost.” Matt. 18:1111For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. (Matthew 18:11).
But when boys and girls grow older they reach an age of responsibility and must realize that they are lost in their sins. The Saviour comes to seek them and they must have to do with Him personally about their sins. They must receive Him by faith into their hearts as their own Saviour. Therefore it says, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10).
Has He found you yet, dear young reader?
ML-07/17/1960