I CAN hardly remember a time when I did not love singing. When quite a tiny child I sang when I felt happy; and when trouble came, for my childhood had its cloudy days as well as its bright ones, I sang because the sound of my own voice seemed to help me to forget my troubles. As I grew older I felt glad and thankful to know that by singing I could give pleasure to others. It was a great comfort to me to remember that although I could not see the beautiful and wonderful things of which I heard others speak, I, even I, a poor blind girl, had a talent lent to me by God, and I was always pleased when, as was often the case, I was asked to sing in one of the wards of the workhouse infirmary, or to some near neighbor.
But after my conversion I began to sing in a different way. I wanted to win some soul for Christ, and often asked the Lord to indulge me, if according to His will, with the joy of knowing that my song had led some poor, wandering sinner to the Savior. And though not till after some years of waiting, the answer came, it was in a way and from a place I did not expect.
For some years after I knew the Lord Jesus as my own precious Savior I continued to attend a large and generally well-filled church. Many, I believe, got blessing there, for the gospel was faithfully preached; and though I see now that many things were allowed that could not have been pleasing to the Lord, God is a God of grace, and loves to bless His own word.
I was often chosen to sing Bible words set to beautiful music. I should not do so now, as I have learned that God's word does not need the aid of man's music, but at that time I lived, or tried to do so, up to the light I had. One Sunday I had been asked to sing part of John 20, that wondrous scene, when in the dim twilight of the resurrection morning the Lord made Himself known to Mary Magdalene in the garden. I tried to think how very glad she must have been when she really knew it was the Lord Himself who called her by her name. I felt sure that I, too, should have known Him by His voice, so I expect there was a good deal of happy surprise in my voice as I sang that one word "Master.”
Ten or twelve years had passed; I had left many things with which I had formerly been connected, and after many weary wanderings had found a haven of rest among those gathered to the name of the Lord, when to my great surprise a letter came from a lady living in South Africa. It told how on the Sunday already referred to she had gone into the church simply to hear the singing, with very little thought or care for eternal things. But wherever she went for some days after that one word, "Master," seemed to follow her. All through the day, no matter how she tried to occupy herself, she seemed to hear that word, and at night she heard it again in dreams. At last she made up her mind to get a Bible and read it for herself. She was not quite sure, but thought the words I had sung were somewhere in the Gospel by John, so began to search for it in chapter 1, but of course it was not there. Page after page was turned, but still in vain, till her eye rested upon the words, "The Master is come, and calleth for thee." (John 11:2828And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. (John 11:28).)
As she read a great longing, surely wrought by the Holy Spirit, seemed to fill her soul. If the One of whose grace and tenderness she read would but call her, how gladly she would, she thought, answer to His call. She began to read her hitherto neglected Bible, and pray for light to understand it, and it was not long before she knew that the call of God had come to her. She believed and was saved. A year or two later she was united in marriage to a christian man, and went with her husband to live in Africa.
About this time a new interest opened up to me. Many friends of the blind were talking about a system of writing and reading that had been introduced from the Continent, where it was already in use. It was called the Braille system, and took its name from a French gentleman, Louis Braille, who was, or had been, a professor in a large institution for the blind in Paris. I was asked to learn, and afterward to teach it, both of which I enjoyed doing. My new occupation quickly enlarged my circle of friends, as I began in my capacity of teacher to attend several of the classes held for the blind in different parts of London, in which any who wished to learn to read either the embossed or dotted type had an opportunity of so doing. They also received Bible teaching, and listened to simple gospel addresses. Sometimes friends from a distance came to speak to them.
On one occasion a gentleman, whose name I do not now remember, told a true story which, I believe, made a deep impression upon many. He was speaking about the need of being real in all we had to do with God, and used as an illustration something that happened when he lived in California, in which country he had spent some years.
In one of its large cities is a well-known bank in which the miners employed in the gold diggings always find a ready sale for any nuggets or gold-dust they may have found. One day a Chinaman presented himself at its counter with a nugget of more than ordinary size and weight. It was indeed a prize. The manager was at that moment absent, but the one who took his place, after applying one or two of the usual tests, decided that it was pure gold, and so of considerable value. A good price was paid for it, and the Chinaman left, well pleased with his success.
On the manager's return he looked somewhat doubtfully at the purchase. He was told of the tests that had been applied, but still he was not satisfied, and ordered it to be placed in the melting-pot. There the cheat that had been practiced was soon discovered. The supposed golden nugget was only silver, over which a thin layer of real gold leaf had been so cleverly and evenly spread as to escape detection.
Some weeks later the same Chinaman again made his appearance with another nugget larger than the first. But he soon found that things did not run as smoothly as he had expected. The manager said that if it was what it claimed to be, gold, he was quite willing to buy it, but ordered it to be tried in the melting-pot. The Chinaman on hearing the order exclaimed, "No cookie, no cookie," and catching up his gilded nugget ran out of the bank as fast as he could. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Gal. 6:77Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7).)