Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1895-10-25

my brother's money carefully; | have
wasted neither time nor substance in
the gewgaws and tinery of the fool
ish. \ rational, bare taking, sober
minded woman; that's what have
been, Miss Maria West"
les, aunt, | know you have
"lhen what fault Is there to be
found with me-"
"No fault with anything Of that"
replied Maria, gaining courage to
speak; "had you neglected these du-
ties, then fault might have been
found But. dear aunt, fear you
did not think much of God; fear
you did not sufficiently remember
your duties 10 Him"
IL had no time to do more than
did. went 10 church on a Sunday,
and / did nothing to offend Him that
4 | know OF"
con, but that is not enough. If
We do not learn to love Him and live
near Him while we are here, how
can we expect to live with Inn here
AFTER
"You would have had me neglect
my avocations for prayer and psalm
singing"
:" | would not have you neglect
one" returned Maria, panied at the
spirit in which her aunt spoke.
There lies the great mistake, aunt,
into which so many people fall. They
think they have not time to become
| good, and that the serving God must
be a business apart, and will hinder
| them IN their general occupations;
they would make religion a totally
separate thing; they no not under
stand that it must be mixed with the
interests of daily life, that true reli-
! gion is ever in the heart, influencing
the thoughts, directing the actions.
On, aunt, the more eff GENTLY we per
form our duties here, let them be
eyer SO lowly, the acceptable it if to
God. If We can but get the changed
heart-the renewal of the spirit
spoken of by Jesus Christ-then we
can understand these things, and we
find that by making q hope of here
after our first care, we render our
duties pleasaDter, our path easy and
ourselves cheerful. DO you remem
/ Der that verse in the book of Psalms:
--'for this shall every one that is
godly parry unto Thee, in time
when Thou mayst be found; surely
in the floods of great waters they
shall not come nigh unto Him.
When the great water-hood Of death
shall Overwhelm US, and We cry to
God in our angulshed heart, without
faith, without hope i'll Christ, and do
not find Him, then must come trihu-
lation and remorse, and we think of
the time in which we might have
sought Him and did not-iime that
was all our own once, but now taken
| from US forever"
There was no reply.
"Dear Aunt Hester" Maria softly
said, leaning over the bed, call this
long time of illness, these many
weary months that you have lain
there, may have been mercifully &C
corded you by God, that you might
pray to Him and find Him--that you
might be reconciled TO Him through
Jesus, and enter into His rest"
"You are a good girl, Maria" ex-
claimed Aunt Hester; and taking her
hand, she held it within hers for sew
eral minutes.
For some weeks now Maria had
had bed in her aunt's room, to be
at hand should she want anything.
That night when the silence had
fallen on the house, and, as Maria
deemed, her aunt was asleep, she
gave way to her grief for George,
and sobbed silently. 1t happened
that Miss West was not asleep, and
she called to Maria. The latter got
up, put on her fur slippers and her
dressing gown, and approached the
bed. "Is it your draught you want,
aunt"
mo. Sit down there and tell me
what you are crying for. don't
like to hear the sound of grief in the
night; | have been listening to you
this half hour"
"Maria's heart failed her. What
should she say; what excuse could
she make? The next moment she
determined to make none, brit to
seize the opportunity, perhaps prov
identially offered, for telling the tale,
hoping her aunt might be moved TO
compassion. AS Miss West listen
ed, an ominous frown gathered on
her face; like her brother she was
not tolerant of those who fell into
temptation.
"No, she said, when Maria had
spoken, 81 will not help him. 1t
would be throwing good money af-
ter bad. He would just go and do
the same thing again tomorrow. |
know what gambling is: there is not