Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1854-10-04
TH3 BLIND GIRL

" when a student in the University of
Geneva, I was accustomed to spend the
long summer vacations travelling to vii
lagos in my native France, preaching in the
open squares the kingdom Of God, distrib-
uting his holy Word to those who would
accept il, and teaching from house to
house the blessed Gospel Of Jesus, my
Master. On such an excursion, in the
summer of lS3-, I entered little vine
hung cabin in the environs of Dion. In
its low, wide kitchen, saw middle-aged
woman, busy ironing; and girl Of some
seventeen or eighteen years, Of sweet,
serious aspect, plating straw. She did
not raise her eyes as entered, and on
nearer approach, I perceived that she was
blind
Saying that ! was one sent to bring glad
tidings of good things, l began to tell
them the story of Christ, his love, his
sufferings, his death. They listened at
tentively, and tears rolled slowly from the
sightless eyes Of the young girl. 1t was
indeed tidings, new and wonderful, unto
them for, like others of the simple peas
antry of France, they were accustomed to
sing sweet hymns, and murmur devout
orisons to " "blesscd Mary, mother mild"
while Christ and his salvation were hidden
from their hearts. The next day, and the
next, l visited the widows poor cottage,
and Jesus, the good Shepherd, gave me
new cause for thankfulncss, in permitting
me to guide both mother and daughter to
the fold of peace.
Poor, sightlcss Marie how was she af-
fec:ed when l told her of Him who opened
the eyes of the blind, and read to her how
blind Bartimeus sat by the wayside beg
ging, when he cried unto Jesus o. Naza-
reth passing by, and received sight. Then
an irrepressible longing, such as she had
never known before longing for Gods
blessed gift of vision-seizcd upon the
poor, blind girl; not that she sighed to
behold the blue heaven, or the golden
light, or to look upon her mothers smile,
or gaze in her young brothers laughing
eyes. No, not these; but she longed to
read the blessed words Of Jesus, how he
said, Come unto me, and l will give you
rest"
There dwclt then in DUon man Of
God, who gathered around him a few
blind, whom he had taught to read and
work. l sought him out, told him of
Marie, interested him in her, arranged
that she should come an hour every NOR
ming to learn to read, and procured for her
a Bible with raised letters for the blind.
You should have seen her delight as she
started off next morning. warm, bright
August morning-one hand locked in her
little brothers, and the other fondly clas-
ping the precious Bible, to take her first
lesson.
Alas, poor Marie , it requires delicate
touch to distinguish the slightly raised
surface and nice outline of the letters, and
her fingers were hard and callous with the
constant plating of straw. Again and
again was the effort made, but to no pur-
pose. But one day as she sat alone,
sorrowfully chipping with her little knife
the rough edges Of the straw, happy
thought occurred to her {: Could not she
cut away the thick, hard skin from her
fingers, and then it would grow anew,
smooth and soft, like the rosy fingers ofa
child? And so she whitfield the skin
from the poor fingers, needing not the
pain-was it not that she might read the
word of God? But the straw work would
not ccascj it bought bread, and the wound
cd fingers were slow to heal. When the
reading lesson was tried again, warm drops
tricklcd from the bleeding fingers along
the sacred line /: was all in vain
After the first bitterness of her disap-
pointmcnt, Marie strove hard to be cheer
full. "Cod had opened the eyes Of her
SOUL" she said, and ought she not to
praise him And the new Bible! Ah,
surely she must carry it back; some hap
pier blind girl might pluck the fruit from
this tree of life, and fud healing In its
blessed leaves. And holding the dear
volume near to the beating Of her heart,
she knclt by her white cot to pray; 81 Dear
and blessed Jesus, who lowest the poor
and opcncst the eyes of the blind, thank
thee that thou hast not hidden thyself from
a poor blind girl. And since can not
read thy heavenly words, pray that thou
wilt whisper them into my soul, that my
spirit may not be dark like my poor eyes.
can see thee with my heart, dear Jesus,
and thou knowcst that l love thee, and
love thy holy Book" And she touched
the open Bible with her lips. Oh, joy
To the soft lips the slight indentations OF
the raised surface are clearly perceptible;
they trace the sharp outline of the letters
with uuerring accuracy. With low cry
Of Joy, she passed line afterline across her