Wilmington daily gazette., 1872-05-27
AN ESCAPE.

.r,oI; in a town In England, on the
fran''s n vood. One particular Saturday
dge o., " he went to the wood wit" a."a-Ae',
s''ihh,.' nv nrom;se,i his little sister Mary
Fn'c" h.ck ac full Of Of wild strawberr'e';
bring oacn h.sL ct wus full, and he had eaten
" Whe" ~ 10. h, n,sef, he took out story
hw .d A hs,,n to read. The story amused MN
..'ah poos thai he never noticed tnat Inc c.o"i'
n,.,hered over the blue sky III Two %, o. '"'ee
sa,, Jro,,s of rain fell on his hand ; a"e" "s
"mned up, and thru.''ng .ns oooN srd" i"n n..n.,.
uup." ran % n. hard "a he could towards h''''''
pGSe'' .;r fell heavily, and soon there came
Inc .h,,,der which seemed to be just over
ei'r ,,',,a y, hnvs head A good deal frightened,
he '''''. =. an old hollow oak, and squeezed
he c'.I. I;,s;d. Once there he though. he wonld
hil'e', s ,l,e storm ceaset and 40 he made him
wa.' ,n W. o,,inrtnblc as he could in the narrow
hollow, M, h,d been there hardly five minutes when
hs heard his name called: ,,;o,,,
he he.N,e;, Francis! come e-cOme here-1hIcN.
rr'",a '',',,,snt sprang ont from his shelter,
~ ,.", :" o,t in The direction from which the voice
an" ae lie had only gone few steps, when
ea'''.' ,"na o,mp louder clap of thunder, a NOR"
,"e,. ~, A,sb of lightning, followed by craci
oa1As 1. hs,ond him. Much terrified he looked
l'si ,. nd saw the oak all blackened and split
o'l" ~ ~ ,r,ce of the basket, which he now re
',an,,e .,'" ,,ered he had left hanging on tw:g'
What would have become OF me II had s'a'"
,hsre >" thought he, hurrying on.
''N , turning of the wood he saw y woman al
.,a door of the cottage beckonirg to INN.
e .San,s in ont Of the ran, said she; "and now
,slI me whe YOU are >.
'e.. nVIv W. Won know" said the boy, as he dried
.'.,fbv The fire. "vou called me lnst now.
n'..', mNnn she answered, "it wasn't you called
H., NV u an bow; and here he comes.
''' Ersnci. ,old her his story, and the danger
,.on which her call had sa, ell him.
"You should thank God with all your heart
Francis told her his story, and the dansel
con which her call had saved him
.Ym shon!d thank God with all your helrt'
-, ~. GOOD woman, as he ended the story
onr il wasn't chance that made me call You
name ina, then, but Gods merry to you. Don
forget that. -, ar III,
thought of that. .,a,
,,ol thinkinp more gravely then ever he hA
,hongbt before over all that had happened th'
afternoon. .
4 When he got home his mother and sister wei
II Watching for him.l
said his mother.
Where's the basket ?" said little Mary.
When he told them all that had happened
him Mary forgot all about the basket, aud Il
mother could hardly speak for crying AT !"
she said .
"Francis, the woman was quite right. v
must all thank God with our Whole hearts.
And nv boy; there is another thing l >hon
like Won to think Of When You grow up Al
90 into the world, there will be many storm
your duty may often lie in the midst oi The
/ and Won will often be tempted to stand by
the shelter, and leave your duty undone; do y
remember this storm then. If You had |
obeyed the woman's call, and run out OF "
shelter in obedience to it, what would have
come of you So you will find, when your d'
calls YOU, though 1t seems to be straight out Il
the storm, that only in obeying the call will
be safe"
The word. were said at the right nome
and Francis never forgot them, but often ;
often, as he grew older, they would come b
to him in moments of difficulty, and he wo
say 10 himself
"Where God calls me it must be safe to 9
Francis is man now. He has worked h;
and is rich a. well "a good man, and We
tell you that the great help of his life has b
those words OF his mother. In his room hf
cross, charred IN parts. His mother ha
made for him from the splntered oak tie
MERRYs MUSEUM