Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-12-07

heart and in your life. And prayer, my
friends. brings US near to God Ii is
n great privilege to say: Lord teach
us to pray"
A friend of mine was taken ill and
he had to go To Chicago for an opera
ton and asked me to come out and
preach during his absence, and | did.
Mr.. Alexander, who leads the sing
ing, had been leading the singing in a
great big tent and he called "A little girl
to the platform to sing l don't think
she was over eight, a beautiful little
girl, and | said to myself, Nobody
can hear that little girl fifty feet from
the platform
But she sang with such sweetness
and wonderfulness that it penetrated
that great tent and L saw scores Of
people weeping. Her father was an
engineer on a northwestern train and
this little girl and her mother had gone
to Chicago to attend to shopping and
visiting friends, and while there, Patti
was giving concerts at the auditorium.
She took this little girl around to the
hotel and said to the world-famous
prima donna.
"Out in Iowa, people who have heard
my little girl sing, think that she can
sing sweetly, but of course there is no
comparison between her voice and your
well-trained voice, but l thought you
might perhaps like to hear her.
And Patti said, I'D be delighted to
hear her"
And she took her to her suite of
rooms. Then she herself walked to the
other end and sat down and listened to
the little girl. She sang with such
sweetness of voice and simplicity that
il got tangled up in PATHS heart strings
and the tears trickled down her cheeks
and she bounded across the room and
put her arms around the little girl and
carried her back 10 where she had been
sitting and then she said:
Honey, you sit here and listen to me
and let me sing for you, you have been
kind enough to sing for me-"
Then Patti walked to where the lit
tie girl had been and put her arms be-
hind her back and sang The Last
Rose of Summer" and Home Sweet
Home" If you'd heard her on a pro-
gram it would have cost just two thou
sand dollars. Her price was a thou
sand dollars a song and she always
knew how many songs she was going
to sing before she walked on the stage,
for she had her money before she'd
sing. 1t will always be an epoch in
the life of that little girl that she had
the privilege of sitting at the feet OF
Patti and listening TO the worlds song
bird singing. WONDERFUL
A friend of mine told me that he
heard Paganini play violin, and he
played with such marvellous power and
vim that one string in the violin snap
ped, and still he played without discord
such music that the audience swayed
to their feet and they cheered and
cheered and cheered.
Oh, what a privilege to sit at the
feet of Paganini; or what privilege
to sit at the feet of Patti! But Jesus
Christ said: you can sit here and let
me teach you"
God Almighty has got to beg you to
get on your knees Lord, teach us, we
are pupils! We don't know! Lead us,
we want knowledge! How are you go
ing to get it? Sit down here and LEI
me tell you.
Lord, teach us to pray Now in
some instances, the Bible shows how
Jesus prayed "And in the morning,
rising up a great while before day, He
departed into a solitary place and there
prayed
Did you ever get up a little earlier
in the morning that you might have a
little time with God? No! Begin each
day with prayer? You begin each day
with combing your hair, you begin each
day with a breakfast you begin each
day with clothing yourself-O, God,
how many of them go through day after
day and year after year and never pray!
The only time they ever pray is when
some calimity comes or when they are
sick or members of their family, per-
haps, ILL., They don't pray when the
sun shines, they wait until the storm
RACES. They don't pray for all the chill
dren sitting around them until they are
afraid there is going to be an empty
chair in the family circle.
Well, God will hear you although you
never bend your knee. / wish you'd. the
next time you pray, see how many
things you can thank God for and how
few you can ask for. Just change 1t
around Run through life and see how
many things you can be thanktul 10
God for in the world.
Lord, teach us TO pray" When l
was secretary Of one of the Chicago !.
NJ c. AS L nad a great privilege. John
G. Payne-and il you want to read a
book that sounds like the acts OF the
APOSTLES, read his history-came back 10
the United States on his way to Scot
land to try and raise money in order to
huv a sea-going steam yacht, so that he
could visit the mission stations, because
storms used to arise and tornadoes
would sweep over the southern seas and
for weeks sometimes, they would be de-
layed and he had to go then IN row
boats. And he was endeavoring to raise
enough money to buy a sea-Soing steam
Yacht. And the way he could do 1t was
TO go delivering lectures and addresses
and take up collections.
And as | had the privilege of having
him for week in Farwell Hail. wed
take up collections and then take him
out to dinner. We have had as many
as twenty preachers. and we'd all SIT
and listen to this patriarch of God ana
never eat a mouthful. And | remem-
her one time he said this: All that
I am as a Christian man and CHRIS
tian worker I owe to my good old father
and mother" He said when they
were alive and l was boy at home