Little Mary and Her Umbrella

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 14, 1912

Little Mary and Her Umbrella

LITTLE Mary Gage was a ten-year-old girl who lived in the country among the farmers, near Woodford’s Corner, not far from Portland, Maine. One summer, about the year 1864, there was a terrible drought in that region. The heavens were bright and brassy, the wells were low, the brooks dried up, the grass was dead, the crops were failing for want of moisture, and the people were in distress; and so a day was appointed for them to fast and pray that God might send rain upon the earth. A meeting was to be held in the chapel at Woodford’s Corner, and the pastor of the little church started for the place in the morning, with one or two friends. On the way they fell in with little Mary, who was trudging along, carrying in her arms her mother’s big blue umbrella.

“Why, Mary,” said the minister, “why do you bring that great umbrella, on such a bright day as this?”

“Please, sir,” said little Mary, “I heard they were going to pray for rain, and I thought I should be sure to need the umbrella.”—Herald of Life.