I DO not believe that any of you can guess the name of the little girl about whom I am going to tell you today. She was born on the 24th of May, which is always kept as a holiday in Canada, in remembrance of the good Queen Victoria, who reigned for sixty years in England. Now it is called “Victoria Day”, but for so many years everybody spoke of it as “The Queen’s Birthday”, that it constantly goes by that name still. As I said, my little friend was born on that day, and her father and mother gave her the name of “Queen Victoria.”
The first day I saw her, she was sitting on the doorstep of her home with her mother and sister, enjoying the sunshine, for it was late in the autumn. I crossed the road, and spoke to the mother, telling her I had begun a little Bible class in a house nearby, and asked her to allow her children to come to it. She said she would like for them to come very much. Then I turned to the little girls, and asked their names.
“Emilie” replied one; and the other said,
“Queenie.”
“But is that your real name?” I asked, and she said shyly,
“My whole name is Queen Victoria Graham.”
After that, both Queenie and Emilie and a younger sister Muriel, never missed coming to the little meeting, and after a time, I rented a room in their house, and had it there. Queenie was always attentive, and interested, and was a great help with the little ones, especially on cold days when they had to be “unbundled,” and bundled up again. Several times I tried to have a personal talk with her, but never succeeded in getting her to tell me whether she had received the Lord Jesus as her Saviour. When she was fifteen, she went to work in a candy factory, and I did not see her any more.
About a year after she had left my class, I received a letter, being away from home at the time, telling me that Queenie had died very suddenly. I was much distressed, and how I wished I had made a greater effort to bring her to decide for Christ. As soon as I came home, I went to see her mother. She was in great sorrow, and told me, through her tears, of Queenie’s short illness, and how unexpected her death’ had been. She had had a bad fall three weeks before, but made light of it, and no one guessed that it was so serious.
“She was ill for only three days,” said the poor mother, “and I never once thought she was going to die.”
“Then she did not know either?” I said.
“No, she did not know,” was the reply, “and though she was so ill, she was trying all the time not to give trouble. She was such a good girl, and such a comfort to me. She never went out in the evenings, but stayed and helped me with the little ones, and I miss her so.”
Then she added, “She loved her Bible so much; she was always reading it when she could get a minute. Half the time she went to work without any breakfast. She had to start so early, and she would say, ‘I must read a few verses before I go off, and there is not time for both.’ “just as I was preparing to say goodbye, Mrs. Graham said, in a hesitating manner,
“Would you like to see Queenie’s Bible? There is something written in it.”
I eagerly assented, and she brought me the little well-worn Book, and turned to the end. There I saw written in irregular girlish writing,
“Saved forever. October 1916.” “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth from all sin.” “Now I know that I am saved.”
I was deeply touched, and so thankful, to have been permitted to see such a confession of faith. How little she thought that in little over a year she would be called home. But in that short time, she was able to bring forth fruit for God. She proved what Job had said, so many hundreds of years before, to be true,
Perhaps some girl of Queenie’s age may read this true story, and if so, I would like to ask you, if you were taken away suddenly, without any time to prepare to meet God, would it be well with you, as it was with her? She had no one in her home to help or encourage her in her desire after the things of God, but in, her Sunday-school and her Bible class, she heard the good news of what Jesus had done for her, and gladly accepted it, and by her works she showed her faith.
“She got up early,” her sister who slept with her said, “but she had her Bible open on the table, and every minute she would stop in her dressing, to read a few verses, and so she had no time to eat her breakfast.”
ML 05/18/1924