Bettys Bright Idea | Page 7

"But all through the mountains thunder-riven, And up from the rocky
steep, There rose a cry to the gates of heaven, 'Rejoice! I have found
my sheep!' And the angels echoed around the throne, 'Rejoice, for the
Lord brings back His own!'"
All day long, poor John had felt so lonesome! Nobody cared for him;
nobody wanted him; everything was against him; and, worst of all, he
had no faith in himself. But here was this Friend, seeking him,
following him through the cold alleys and crowded streets. In heaven
they would be glad to hear that he had become a good man. The
thought broke down all his pride, all his bitterness; he wept like a little
child; and the Christmas gift of Christ--the sense of a real, present,
loving, pitying Saviour--came into his very soul.
He went homeward as one in a dream. He passed the drinking-saloon
without a thought or wish of drinking. The expulsive force of a new
emotion had for the time driven out all temptation. Raised above
weakness, he thought only of this Jesus, this Saviour from sin, who he
now believed had followed him and found him, and he longed to go
home and tell his wife what great things the Lord had done for him.
[Decoration]

SCENE V.
Meanwhile a little drama had been acting in John's humble home. His
wife had been to the shop that day and come home with the pittance for
her work in her hands.
"I'll pay you full price to-day, but we can't pay such prices any longer,"
the man had said over the counter as he paid her. "Hard times-- work

dull--we are cutting down all our work-folks; you'll have to take a third
less next time."
"I'll do my best," she said meekly, as she took her bundle of work and
turned wearily away, but the invisible arm of the Shining One was
round her, and the words again thrilled through her that she had read
that morning: "He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and
precious shall their blood be in his sight." She saw no earthly helper;
she heard none and felt none, and yet her soul was sustained, and she
came home in peace.
When she opened the door of her little room she drew back astonished
at the sight that presented itself. A brisk fire was roaring in the stove,
and the tea-kettle was sputtering and sending out clouds of steam. A
table with a white cloth on it was drawn out before the fire, and a new
tea set of pure white cups and saucers, with teapot, sugar-bowl, and
creamer, complete, gave a festive air to the whole. There were bread,
and butter, and ham-sandwiches, and a Christmas cake all frosted, with
little blue and red and green candles round it ready to be lighted, and a
bunch of hot-house flowers in a pretty little vase in the centre.
A new stuffed rocking-chair stood on one side of the stove, and there
sat Miss Florence De Witt, our young princess of Scene First, holding
little Elsie in her lap, while the broad, honest countenance of Betty was
beaming with kindness down on the delighted face of Tottie. Both
children were dressed from head to foot in complete new suits of
clothes, and Elsie was holding with tender devotion a fine doll, while
Tottie rejoiced in a horse and cart which he was maneuvering under
Betty's superintendence.
The little princess had pleased herself in getting up all this tableau.
Doing good was a novelty to her, and she plunged into it with the zest
of a new amusement. The amazed look of the poor woman, her dazed
expressions of rapture and incredulous joy, the shrieks and cries of
confused delight with which the little ones met their mother, delighted
her more than any scene she had ever witnessed at the opera--with this
added grace, unknown to her, that at this scene the invisible Shining
Ones were pleased witnesses.

She had been out with Betty, buying here and there whatever was
wanted,-- and what was not wanted for those who had been living so
long without work or money?
She had their little coal-bin filled, and a nice pile of wood and kindlings
put behind the stove. She had bought a nice rocking-chair for the
mother to rest in. She had dressed the children from head to foot at a
ready-made clothing store, and bought them toys to their hearts' desire,
while Betty had set the table for a Christmas feast.
And now she said to the poor woman at last:
"I'm so sorry John lost his place at father's. He was so kind and obliging,
and I always liked him; and I've been thinking, if you'd get him to