A little boy named Edwin was once taken from his home and kept hidden with a family who lived far from other people in a large forest.
This family expected to gain money when they would return the child, but this they were afraid to do. They put old ragged clothes, on Edwin and called him “Tom”, but the little one did not forget his own name and often cried for his home, saying, “Edwin wants mama.”
During this time the sad parents, Mr. and Mrs. L., were searching in all possible ways for their little boy, but could get no trace of where he had been taken. The winter passed, and their hope of his safety grew less. They had never known sorrow before, and had lived for their pleasure, without trust in God or wish to honor Him. So they were without any comfort in this great trouble, until a young girl who helped about their house spoke to the lady of the Lord, and told her that she was praying God to show them where to find little Edwin. At last the poor mother found comfort in trusting the Lord herself.
One day early in the summer, a small boy awakened from his nap in the house in the woods and could see no one about although a woman was not far away gathering sticks for cooking their meals. The child went outdoors and ran along a path which led to a stream. There were rocks and thick bushes along the bank, and the briers hurt the little one’s bare feet, and he began to cry. A big crow flew close by his head frightening him, and he called for someone to help him, saying,
“Come to Edwy ... ... come”. No one came, but he heard a faint answer, “Come... come!”
It was the echo of his own voice, the sound coming from the high bank across, but the child was too young to understand that, and he cried louder,
“Papa, mama, come to Edwy.” The echo answered more plainly, Come ... .Edwy!”
This made little Edwin keep calling: each time the echo answered; he was keeping on slowing in the path each step taking farther from the house.
The Lord knew the little one’s need and was bringing help. He has many ways of doing for sad hearts; this time He used an echo.
While little Edwin was crying all alone and afraid, a carriage had stopped on the highway not far away, for the horses to rest before climbing the steep, hill. There was a man and his wife, and a young girl and a boy, who stepped from the carriage. Many trees and wild bushes hid the path in the valley from them, but the servant boy heard a faint sound like the voice of a child; he listened intently; it came again faintly; then again louder. With a brief word to the man, the boy started running down a narrow path leading into the woods. The voice was heard a third time more distinctly, and afterward, the faint echo; then the man also hurried down the path into the woods.
After a short run, the boy came to a turn where he could see a child, but not then alone, for the wicked woman had heard the cries and came to him, and was pulling his hand to lead him back, but the child did not want to go, crying, “Edwy wants his mama.”
The servant boy spoke to her, and took little Edwin’s hand, but he did not know what to do; indeed the ragged, dirty child did not look like the little one he had known.
At that moment the man from the carriage, who was Mr. L. reached them. The woman evidently recognized him, as she quickly dropped the child’s hand, turned, and hurried toward her house.
Edwin knew his father and clung to him, and was quickly carried to his mother at the carriage. What joy for her to again see and hold her dear little boy, ragged and dirty though he was! And also what joy to the young girl for the answer to her prayers!
Before the carriage started on, they all knelt on the grass by the roadside to thank God for the finding of little Edwin. Afterward in the home, he was taught of the Lord, which he had not been before, and the parents’ desire was to speak and live to honor Him.
The wicked family could not be found after this when sought; we can only hope they repented of their evil ways.
“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him,” Ps. 103:11,8.
ML 08/11/1940