A little boy named Lewis L. slowly opened the door of his mother’s room, and peeping in, said—
“Mamma, will you teach me my verse, and give me a kiss and say good night; I am so sleepy, and no one has listened to my prayer yet.”
Little Lewis did not know that his dear mother was very ill; indeed, those around her thought her dying. She was a widow, and Lewis was her only child, and every night as he sat upon her knee, she used to read him a few verses from the Word of God, or tell him the history of some of the great men of the Bible. She had been long in very weak health, but never too ill to teach her little son his verse, and to hear him repeat his evening prayer, so on this night he had come to her room as usual, only wondering that he had not heard her voice calling him, for bedtime was long past.
“Hush!” said a woman who stood beside her bed, “your dear mother is too ill to hear your prayer tonight. I will put you to bed,” she added, coming forward and taking the child’s hand to lead him from the room.
But Lewis began to cry as if his heart would break. “Indeed, I can’t go to bed without saying my prayer,” he sobbed.
The cry of her child aroused the dying mother, and turning round, she begged one who stood at the bedside, to bring her boy to her. He was lifted up and laid on the pillow—the bright locks and rosy cheeks of the child, side by side with the pale face of the mother, who was so nearly gone. Poor little Lewis, how little he thought of the great loss which he was so soon to know!
“Lewis, my son—my dear child,” said his mother, “say this verse after me.”
The child repeated in a clear, distinct voice, after his mother, the words, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” Then he said his little prayer, and kissing the cold lips of his mother, he went to bed.
When Lewis awoke next morning, he went as usual to his mother’s room, but the stillness of death was reigning there. His mother had taught him his verse for the last time, but he never forgot it, and I know, dear children, you will like to hear that God has answered the prayers of that mother, who, when she was dying, left her darling only son to the Father’s care.
Lewis has grown to be a man, and he has found what a happy thing it is to be a Christian, and to know the God in whom his mother trusted as the One who never leaves nor forsakes those who put their trust in Him.
J. J.