It was an unusually busy day for the post office at an army training camp near the nation's capital. At one of the delivery windows, a young woman clerk who had volunteered to work "for the duration" had finished sorting a large pile of mail, and was cheerily greeting each of the long line of khaki-clad "customers" as they filed past. For each soldier-lad she had a smile and a kindly word, whether it was accompanied by a bit of mail or not. Her heart yearned over these boys so far from home and loved ones, and she longed to give each one the good news of the "Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”
Busy as she was, the clerk did not fail to see the unhappy face of one of the young men slowly approaching her window. He was taking no part in the gay banter going on around him, but seemed wholly withdrawn into and occupied with his own sad thoughts. Quickly she breathed a prayer for wisdom to speak a word in due season; and as he took his turn at the opening before her and spoke his name and company, she almost joyously reached for the letter she then handed him. Only one glance at it did he take, and handed it back to her.
"Say, lady," he said, "I just haven't the heart to open that letter. It's from my mother, and I've just got a telegram— it's here in my pocket— telling me she is dead.”
The sad eyes were near tears and the boyish lips were trembling as the clerk reached hastily under her counter and brought out from her "stock" a small Testament. Opening it at John 14, she handed it with the letter to the heart-broken boy, saying, "I haven't time to talk with you now while so many are coming for their mail. You take this over to that quiet corner and read it. I think it will help you to open your letter. I'll be praying, and you can come back to me later to have a talk.”
Half an hour later the rush at the counter was over, and the soldier returned. As the clerk greeted him with a sympathetic smile, she was happy to note that his face was composed and a new light was in his eyes. "Say, lady," he exclaimed, "that chapter you gave me was my mother's favorite. Many's the time she has read it to me. It did help me to open my letter; and while I was reading it, I began to understand as I never had before what it means to 'believe in God' and in His Son. Now I have made up my mind to accept and follow Him who is 'the Way, the Truth, and the Life.' And thank you, lady, for the right word.”