Willie the Waif | Page 7

another night, and hear some more
about Jesus?"
"We'd like to, wouldn't we, Willie?"

Willie nodded. He could hardly take his eyes off the beautiful face of
the lady, and for once he felt too shy to say much, but when he was
outside the door his tongue became unloosed.
"Wasn't she a pretty lady, Bob? Shall we go and see her again?"
"'Course we will," was the decided answer. "But, Willie, wouldn't yer
like to go an' see that kind man wot the gent told us about?"
"Yes," said Willie; "but where is 'e, Bob?"
"I dunno," said Bob; "but the lady said as 'ow 'e would 'ear us if we
spoke to 'im. P'raps Mrs. Blair will tell us."
When the children arrived, at the house they found Mrs. Blair
becoming very anxious about them, for it was not often they were so
late now that the evenings were dark and cold.
"Why, laddies!" she exclaimed, "I thought you were lost. Wherever
'ave you been?"
"Mrs. Blair," said Willie eagerly, "can you tell us the way to Jesus?"
"Bless the child!" she said, looking at Bob. "What on earth does he
mean?"
"'Ain't you ever 'eerd about 'im?" asked Bob, looking very disappointed.
"We've bin to a place where a lot o' children were singing about 'Suffer
little children,' and then a man talked about one as was called Jesus,
and 'e said 'e wanted all little boys like Willie an' me to be good so's we
could go and live with 'im some day; and Willie and me wants to find
the way, and now you can't 'elp us!" sadly and wistfully.
"No, child," she said huskily, "I'm afraid I can't. Be quick and get your
suppers, for it's awful late, an' that little 'un ought to be in bed."
"Bob," whispered Willie, "yer'll speak to Jesus afore we go to bed,
won't yer? The lady said 'e would 'ear."

So the two little waifs knelt in their corner with their eyes tightly shut,
and Bob prayed in a low voice---
"Please, Sir, me an' Willie wants to find Yer. Make us good boys, an'
show us the way."
"Say 'men, Bob," said Willie, "like the lady did."
And Bob said "'men."
CHAPTER IV
A VISITOR FOR WILLIE
What made Mrs. Blair sit up late that night, watching the fire, instead
of going to bed quickly as she usually did? Willie's question had taken
her back in thought to the time when she was a little girl. She
remembered the lovely village where she was born; she fancied herself
a girl again, running about the sweet-scented lanes and the green fields.
She could see the honeysuckle all out in bloom, as it climbed over the
cottage door and peeped in at the windows; but, most of all, she
thought of her mother and the prayer she taught her to say every night
as she knelt at her knee. But her mother was dead, and she had not been
near the village for many years. In that time she had forgotten all the
lessons her mother had tried to teach her, and now when little Willie
wanted her to show him the way to Jesus she was not able to do so. It
was many years since she had taken the name of Jesus upon her lips.
She had been a hard-working woman all her life, and she had no time to
think about Him. But now she wished she had. She would have been
glad if she could have told little Willie what he wanted to know.
From this time the boys never forgot to speak to Jesus, as Willie called
it, every morning and evening. They went to the mission services
regularly every week, and Miss Elton and her brother began to take a
great interest in the children. The boys listened eagerly to every word
that was said, and carried it faithfully home to Mrs. Blair, for she, poor
woman, seemed quite as anxious to find Jesus as the children had been.

Willie's "pretty lady" had quite won the children's hearts, so that Willie
had lost all his shyness with her; and as for the lady herself, she
delighted to bear him chatter. Bob told her all about their life in
Primrose Place, and on the streets since, and what a good friend Mrs.
Blair had been to them.
"Why, you see," she said, "Jesus has been taking care of you all the
time; only you did not know it."
"'As 'e?" said Bob wonderingly.
"Of course He has," was the reply. "Don't you see how He has let you
take care of Willie? All the kind, loving thoughts that you have about
are put into your mind by Jesus. It was He made Mrs. Blair so kind