Lila was “only a little child,” and an orphan. She left her home in charge of an aged aunt, to cross the Ocean, to live with relatives in a busy city in Canada, 3000 miles from the village where she was born. A long journey, indeed, for “a little child.” But Lila had a Heavenly Friend who took her across the seas, and she was the happiest passenger on that big ship. Indeed, she was the favorite of the whole company on board, passengers and sailors alike. Her sweet voice melted all hearts, and brought tears to all eyes. She had been taught to sing in her early childhood, and I believe her young and tender heart had been won to the Saviour ere she started on that long voyage across the Atlantic. Weather-beaten sailors gathered around her, to hear the sweet voice sing,
“Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.”
Aged women and strong men wept, as they listened to her song. And it is on record, that when the shore was reached, there was a chorus of voices asng that she should come to their homes to “stay.” A preacher on that ship rinded the passengers of three Texts in which the words “a little child” occur. They were,
The first is as true today as then.
The second, as applicable now as then.
The third tells the result of a child’s influence over others.
It was a memorable voyage, and had wonderful results. For Lila herself early became a child of God, by taking God’s Gift, the Lord Jesus Christ as her own Saviour, and, while only a little girl, she was the means of leading her own aunt and her three cousins to Him.
ML 11/15/1942