WOMAN'S GOSPEL WORK by Helen Raymond Wells

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 15, 1900

WOMAN'S GOSPEL WORK

By Helen Raymond Wells

“The Lord giveth the word: the women that publish the tidings are a great host.” Ps. 68:11, R. V.

“Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.” Eze. 7:23.

Do not forget the 12 M. hour of prayer for one another, our work, and for those for whom special requests are made.

THE unsympathetic mothers are rare, and are so only at those stages and concerning those occupations of the child's life that they feel come outside of their own sphere of action. They are those mothers who care most devotedly for their children in infancy, but consider them “off their hands” when old enough to go to school, having no inclination to follow them there, even in their thoughts; who have no interest in hearing anything about their school life from the children, meeting their wish to tell thereof with indifference, if not outright objection, to “being bothered about such things,” as I heard one mother say when intent on preparing a good dinner for her family, and the children came in eager to talk over their morning's experiences. “It's their teacher's business to attend to their school affairs. I've got all I can do to dress and feed them properly,” she added, after silencing them; never thinking to shut off a child's confidence in one thing may be to destroy it altogether, nor foreseeing that her own action was bringing about the time when the children would come to consider her incapable of sharing their larger interests and would turn from her to those who could sympathize with them.

Another mother was getting dinner and ironing. Warm and tired and not very well, it would hardly have been surprising if she had remonstrated at the vehement greetings upon the entrance of the children. “I got one hundred in spelling, ma,” cried Ben, “and Nettie's map was well done, the teacher said.” “I forgot the six in the table of nines, mamma,” confessed Will, “but thought of it in time from the story you told me about it. I don't think I'll ever forget the old fifty-four again.” The mother smiled her approval, looked her praise, and in a few but hearty words spoke her sympathy to each one and patting the least child on the head, asked, “Was Fannie a good little girl in school?” Sympathy begets sympathy. The little thing at once offered to help Nettie, who, as soon as she put away her books, had begun to set the table. Ben declared he'd “just like to iron the towels,” while Will was off for a pail of fresh water.

Yet another mother, considered not a very exemplary housekeeper, was found going over the day's lesson with each child before school time in the morning. “In ten years from now,” she said, “it won't much matter whether my work was all done up at the proper time of day, but it will matter if these children have made the most of their chances in school.”

“I can't get this translation,” said her son to still another mother, coming to her with his Latin book in hand. She might very reasonably have asked, “Why do you come to me? I don't know a word of Latin.” What she did say was: “I'd just leave that a while. Do the other sentences, and then come back to this. Perhaps you will get fresh ideas by that time.” The plan succeeded, and, throwing his arms about his mother, the boy exclaimed: “You can always help a fellow somehow.”—Helen Raymond Wells, in the New Crusade.