The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-02-05
Samantha JOe's Prayer.
BY JOSIAH ALIENS WIFE.

She is beautiful child. OF course,
bein' entirely onprejudiced we see
clear; some grandparents are prejudlc-
ed-we haint.
Well, she enjoyed herself drettul
we'll ali day, and when it come night
she knelt down and said her little pray
ers before she went to bed. And q!
how sweet she did look as she knelt
there in her little white night-gown,
with her golden hair u fallin' round
her face and shoulders some like a
halo.
II don't know as 1 ever heard OF Il
shoulder halo before, but it stand 10
reason that they have 'em.) her
dimpled hands wuZ clasped on my
knees, and her great, big innocent eyes
wus a loOkin' for the Eternal God she
wuz addressin.' l wuz a Waltih TO
hear hel commence, my Josiah a-lCok-
in on admirin'ly, and almost worship
fully, from the other side of the hearth,
when all Of a sudden she broke out
kinder excited like, ami says she:
80! before l forget it, Lord, L want
to tell you"
Jusiah made q horrowful eXclanEl-
ton, as if he wuZ shocked beyond all
account, and would have stopped her
but gin him a warnin' look, ana lei
babe 90 on, and says she:
before l say my prayers, dear Lord'
7 lust want to tell you that l wuz sell
fish little girl to-day, and L want you,
T want YOU special, to hel p me to be
generous little girl, and will help you
to, or mebby 1 won't" ;.
Here Josiah fairly throwed up his
hands in horror, and says he:
"Samantha Allen tlrat is going too
far. / wont set still and see such lrrev-
erence q goin' on. 1t must not go on
in NV house. This is the house OF
deacon"
Saws he "She must not be encour-
aced or allowed to say such things. l
speak as a deacon of the MethodlsI
Episcopal Church." says he, lookln'
some big. - ,,o.so,
speech to make, -tellin' the Lord thaI
"mebby she would help him, ana
mebby she wouldn't" 1t sounoeu
strange and bad. :o..
N And if I had let it go on, and Jest
hushed her up, and rebulIed her chill
in'Iy, and not let her explain, why we
should always have thought the paoe
had acted irreverent and bad.
But felt that there wus somethn,
more to the bottom of it. felt that
the babe meant somethIn' more IMAM
she could with l:cr small stock or IAN
guage make known to once.
So T give my companion a deep'
warnin' look, as much us to- say
"Keep still, Josiah Allen" Ana tnen
T bent over babe, and says: Wnat
do YOU mean, babe, by that 'Meb6y l
wont y That don't sound jest right,
sweetheart You know you are talk
in, to the One highest and best, wh,o,
made YOU and keeps you alive, and all
them YOU love; One who loves you
better than even grandma does. You
must be very true and lovin' and hum
BILE wien you talk to Him." >.
"Well, that is what l mean II l
told a wrong story to you, 1t wouldn't 7
be so bad, would it, as if l told one 10
God ?" ., l., ,.,,
know as it would" =,
"Well, | was so afraid would tell
one to Him if said right out that 1
would help Him."
see there was suthin' in it further
than Josiah and me had seen, and so,
saws T. "Tell me all about it, babe"
HWell, this morning l took the big
gest pear on the table, and papa said l
was getting to be a selfish, little glTl;
and he felt bad about it; anu L loit'
him would tell the Lord all about IT,
and guessed He would make me pet,
ter-I'd ask Him to special, and l sald
I would help him. But then !
thought mebby would forget, ana ao
something jest as bad, and that Wou'd
Be telling wrong story TO the l'oTa,
wouldn't it? And SO | thought IA
saw, Perhaps l wouldn't. so lie
wouldn't be s'prised if | forgot, ahd
wasn't just good !; don't you see"
eyes" says l !; grandma sees Jesl
how twas" and I cast triumphant
look at my partner, but he too was
a-lookin' perfectly happy and content
ed.
And so babe told her little prayers,
"Our Father" and Nov / lay me, y
and ended up with "God bless papa
and mamma, and grandpa and grand
ma. and Uncle Tom aud Aunt Maggy,
and little Snow; and doa't forget,
Dleuse, PLEASE, PLEASE, dear Lord,
don't forget to make me good, anu
don't let me forget it. Don't let me
forget khai Z1puWt 10 De go0a when l
get to playin' with Jack, and ne
1inches me; and bless Jack. Amen"
And took her up in my arms and
carried her to bed, after / had held hel
down to kiss her grandpa. Bless hel
sweet face! , .,
And I tucked her into her little crit
by our bed, and kissed her moren
dozen times, and she me.
And when [ went back l says tc
Josiah: "If there was ever Il deep
deep religious prayer, that was.'
"Yes," says he, sit was prayer tha'
any minister might be proud on"
ito think" says I. "of her bcln' Sc
conscientious, so 'fraid of lynn to the
Lord. And think of all the long, Ions
vows we have hearn made to meellh
that wuzn't KEEP"
eyes" says he, "it was powerful
effort. I never see the beat ont, and
have been deacon for most twenty
years."
"To think of her honesty says |
: "And the depth of the idee, of wantln
rkhe Lord to help her not to forget tha
she wanted to be good. When she go
to playin' with Jack, and he plagued
her, Just think ont! She felt, tina
little creeter did, how different it wa
to want to he good in the quiet ant
rest of prayer time, and what it woult
be when took up by the cares or IN