The St. Johns herald., 1900-12-29
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Martha Deans Doubt
By Mary Sweet Potter.
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IT
 "So long have prayed and waited for prosperity-nay, even sufficient income to yield my children and my. self the common necessaries of life without receiving an answer to my prayers, that 1 am tempted to believe that God does not redeem His promises but to a few favored ones" So spoke Martha Dean.
 The very essence of bitterness must dwell in the heart of one who gives ut. terance to such e sentiment, and, in deed, Martha Dean was in bitter and desperate mood, which was quite un- usual with her. for she had never lost faith before.
 She sat there before her frelees kitchen range, her dull eyes watching the progress of great snowstorm. She saw nothing of it's white, fierce beauty, however, but gathered only the one harsh idea that 1t was the inevitable cruelty of winter. for by l bitter experience she had learned that ! to her and hers, these later years of her life, winter brought little but cold, privation and general discomfort.
 It was not yet dark, but to keep the children from taking cold she had tucked them as warmly as possible into their beds; for there was so little fuel that she had allowed the fire to die out as soon as she had cooked the simple supper, thus insuring 8 little warmth and comfort for the next day, as we'll as blaze to cook their meals. Now she heard them calling to each other across the room, and then a little later Jennie, the oldest of the four, was telling a story to little Edith, who lay beside her, and trying to keep her voice up to pitch high enough for the two little boys, Tommy and Johnny, to hear also over across the room.
 Here was one source of bitterness for Martha Dean. She wanted her chil- dren chatting and playing about her in comfort and happiness, but her pinch ing poverty forbade even that. The words of Jennie's story came now and then to her mothers ears; it was an extravagantly generous Christ mas story, and Martha Deans lip curled in smile of bitterness as she listened.
 My poor babies!" she murmured. Theirs will be a sorry Christmas time, with not even fire to keep them warm"
 For the next day would be Christ mas, and being, for the time, faithless, she felt sure that no Christmas cheer awaited them-nothing, indeed. but privation and misery. The hours passed, the children's voices were hushed in sleep, and she could no long CT watch the storm, but she knew by the light batter against the window. with now and then fierce fling of the sleety snow. that it was still raging. ? and she sat in silence and darkness thinking-not of some plan to work out Of the difficulty they were in, for it seemed to her that every outlet was closed-but of the past, when she and her little ones had been surrounded by comforts and blessed and protected by the love and care of the husband and father, who had died and left them four years before.
 Suddenly there came to her ears plaintive cries and a noise atsthe door Martha Dean hastened to light her lamp.
 Whatever it is that wants to come in out of such storm, it shall come," she thought. "I can at least give shel- ter to any creature that is without, be it beast or human" And she hastened to throw open the door.
 4 little child stood there, covered with snow, it's face uplifted in anxious inquiry, it's breath coming in quick gasps.
 Not a poor-looking child in thin clothing, with a pinched face, as one might expect to see out upon such a night, but a child weighted down with rich, cumbersome wraps, with a face round and rosy and beautiful.
 Fearlessly she stepped inside, and in so doing disclosed the one fault in her dress which had rendered her short exposure to the storm danger ous and uncomfortable. Her feet were clad in light slippers. and in wading through the snow she had wet them through and through though she had walked only short distance.
 You dear little one!" cried Martha Dean. "How did you come here?"
 'T was all lost till I said my l prayers" was the quick reply. "We were going to see grandpa, and tum- bled out of the big sleigh into the snow. Then the horses wouldn't stop, so told the Lord, just as mamma told i me to, and He helped me to get here"
 "And didn't you get hurt anywhere, you poor babe?" inquired Martha Dean. busbipg at the little girls sim