SWEET ‘taties—sweet ‘taties yams;” the woman, who carries her load in a large wooden tray on her head, looks this way and that, and scans eagerly the faces of any who will cast a glance at her wares. But there seems to be no one to buy, and she trudges on with her weary load, under the scorching rays of a tropical sun, her bare feet seeming inured to the heat of the white stone roads, and her head to its burden-. There is no lagging in her steps, no bending under her load. She must toil on, if she would get something for herself and her children to eat. Oh, who will buy? Who will buy? But she has scarcely passed, till “Fish—fish” rings out, and a woman with a great basket of fish on her head is before you; and here is another with her tray heaped high with bread and cakes; and now we come to one whose load is candies, in fancy shapes and colors, made from the cocoanut; or, it may be, from the sugar which is so cheap and plenty in this Island of sugar cane; next it is peanuts and fruits —mangoes, sappadillas, mamme-suppotes, and other fruits which most of my little readers have never seen or heard of. You would like to taste some of these fine fruits, I dare say, but you would not wish to live in one of the wretched huts in which the poor women, who carry the fruits, live. You who have comfortable homes would be sorry indeed to have to exchange places with some of these poverty-stricken people. But some of these tried ones are rich in faith; they are amongst those who “have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.”
How is it with my reader? It is not now a poor woman of Barbados offering you vegetables, fruits, nuts or candies; no! God Himself is holding out; something of inestimable value. Oh, who will buy? Maybe you would not have pennies enough to buy what you would like from these poor women. But what is of priceless worth, God offers to you without money and without price. Will you not “come,” and “buy wine and milk without money and without price”? If you will, you will get that. which will satisfy your heart for time and for eternity. The water of life is flowing freely for all. Whosoever will may come and quench his thirst.
Will you not drink, and live?
ML 11/06/1904