“I will obey God,” said Bessie quietly;
and she began at once to prepare to leave home.
When all was ready and the morning of departure had
come, Mr. Worthington went out to prepare to take
his daughter to the train. He had been very silent
all the morning, but Bessie’s heart was so full
that she had taken little notice of his behavior.
Oh, how she longed for his consent for her to return!
Her mother gave her every encouraging word possible.
At last they looked out and saw that the horse was
ready. As Bessie picked up her last bundle, the
door opened, and her father, stepping in quickly,
caught her in his arms. “O my child,”
he sobbed, “will you forgive me and come back
as soon as the Lord will let you? I didn’t
mean what I said; but it is so hard to give you up.
If you need anything, write to me at once and let
me know about it, won’t you?” and he tenderly
kissed her. Bessie’s heart was filled with
joy, and she said that he could expect her home just
as soon as the Lord would let her come.
“Read 1 Cor. 10:13 and Jas. 1:12 just as soon
as you have time, dear,” whispered Mrs. Worthington
in her daughter’s ear as she kissed her again
before she jumped into the buggy beside her father.
Then they drove away from the home and the mother
that were so dear to Bessie’s heart.
Very few words were spoken on the way to town, and
after a long ride Bessie found herself on the train.
It all seemed like a terrible dream; but there was
a sweet peace and quietness in her soul, and her father’s
loving words rang again and again in her ears.
CHAPTER XXIV.
REVERIE.
In the days that followed Bessie’s arrival at
the Trumpet office, she found many ways in
which she could help spread the gospel. She found,
too, that she could preach in a way that was not at
all distasteful to her; for she could set up many
lines of type to be used in printing the gospel message
in the Trumpet, which was carrying light and
truth into many homes and preaching to hungry souls.
But oh, how often she thought of the dear ones at
home and of how they were missing her!
One evening, when she sought her room and sat down
beside the window, as she had so often done at home,
she began to review her life. As the soft shadows
gathered slowly about her, she seemed to be at home
again close beside her mother’s knee, listening
to her tender, loving words of sympathy and advice.
Bessie could now see what they had been worth to her.
They not only had prepared her for a common sphere
in life, but had given her a thorough understanding
of God’s great plan of salvation. As she
recalled her mother’s prayers and talks, she
realized that, through them, she had many times escaped
what other girls had ignorantly blundered into, and
had been spared a great many of the bitter sorrows
that come into the lives of girls not taught at their
mother’s knee. In her thankfulness, she
offered a fervent prayer to her heavenly Father that
many more earnest, noble, and prayerful mothers might
be found to guide their children through the critical
period of childhood.
