When we read of great heroes who fearlessly give their lives for some cause or other, we admire them very much; we think them wonderful. But we often pass by unnoticed some who, in an obscure way, endure and suffer silently in doing that which they know God has called them to do.
In a lighthouse, two miles from shore, on the French coast, lived the guard with his wife and four children.
One day, Matelot, this was his name, became ill. Night was coming on, and the light in the tower had to be lighted, Mrs. Matelot left her husband in the children’s care to go and light the lamp. On her return the oldest boy said,
“Mother, the light is not burning.”
And so it was, the revolving light was stationary, and would be mistaken for any other light, and it might lead to serious results to ships in that dark night, and threatening storm. Once more she climbed the steep stairs to see what could be done. A long time she worked, but in vain. Matelot was cleaning the machinery when he took ill, and had not been able to put it together again.
Returning to her quarters, she sent the two oldest boys, ten and seven years old, to the tower where all night, from nine o’clock until seven in the morning, the two children with all their strength, turned the lamp this way and that. Not one moment did they falter.
How many ships owed their safety to these brave little boys?God knows, if no one else. He also knows and takes notice and will reward the little boys and girls who, knowing what awaits those who do not have Jesus as their Saviour, warn them of the judgment to come. All children, no matter how young, who have learned of the Saviour’s love, can tell their playmates, or give them a scripture card, or a Sunday-school paper, that will tell them how to be saved.
ML 02/13/1938