p. 10 | THE HIDDEN WORLD by E. M. Patton

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 1, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 26.

THE HIDDEN WORLD.

By E. M. Patton

Part 1.

“There is no use in trying, Aunt Mary, at least for me,” said young Mrs. Lee, despondently as, supper work over, and baby tucked into bed, she had at last settled wearily into a rocking-chair.

“No use in trying what? my dear,” gently inquired Aunt Mary.

“Why, trying to study the Bible and think about it while I am at work during the day. You know the new minister said last Sabbath that every one might become a fair Bible student by just meditating upon a few texts every day while at work. I have always felt a great desire to know more about the Bible. But I never could get the time for study through the day, and when night comes on I am always too tired to do any thing more than read, or a little light sewing, or something of that sort.

“It is easy enough for a minister to talk,” continued Mrs. Lee, after a few moments’ silence, “or any one else, for that matter, who hasn’t had experience in the particular thing he is talking about. I am not saying that the plan might not be a good one for people engaged in many kinds of work; but for a housekeeper, who has all of the hundred and one little things to attend to every day, it is quite out of the question. In fact, I don’t believe it is possible.”

“But I do,” Aunt Mary quietly broke in. “The good Word has been made so plain that even he who has to run may read and understand. And there are but very few housekeepers so driven but that they may find a few moments’ time for meditation and rest—if they only think so. Have you never tried taking one little verse in the morning?”

“O yes, often, Aunt Mary, and that is one reason I know what I am talking about. Now this morning, for instance, I opened my Bible to one of the psalms, and, as I was combing my hair, I repeated a verse until I thought I had it well fixed in mind; but as a matter of fact I never even thought of the Bible again, let alone recalling that particular text.”

“I have often thought,” she continued, rocking slowly in the deepening twilight, “of a remark I once heard a poor mother make, that if her being saved depended upon the amount of Bible study she was able to do, she would have to go unsaved. I thought it a very dreadful remark at the time, but I begin to appreciate now how she felt.”

Just here they were interrupted by a ring of the door-bell. A neighbor called to spend the evening, and all thoughts of the conversation passed from Mrs. Lee’s mind.

Not so Aunt Mary, however. The next morning she happened into the kitchen just as Mrs. Lee was cleaning the lamps.

“I see you are free from one habit which I found very annoying in my early housekeeping days,” said Aunt Mary, as she sat down by the table and began to polish the lamp chimneys for her niece.

“What is that?” inquired Mrs. Lee, looking a little curious.

“Why leaving my lamps until the last thing in the day, or not fixing them at all until I wanted to light one. I was extremely particular about the rest of my housework, too, and I used to try hard to reform on this point. I would care for them faithfully for a few days, then some morning in the rush of other work I would forget them, and that night was sure to be the time that John would be the first to light the lamps, and perhaps find none of them filled!” And Aunt Mary laughed heartily at the thought of her early experiences.

“Well, how did you succeed?” questioned Mrs. Lee, for she knew of no one with a better reputation for careful and methodical housekeeping than Aunt Mary Burnham.

“When I began searching the Word for texts to help me in my housework,” she replied, “I took that beautiful parable of the Ten Virgins first, probably because it was on the subject of lamps and quite familiar. As I thought more about it, while caring for my lamps, the real lesson itself began to come home to my heart as never before—that of being ready, my own life lamp trimmed and brightly burning for the Master. My occasional forgetfulness in caring for my lamps until the last hour seemed an indication of my Christian experience. I was no better than one of the foolish virgins. When I determined, with God’s help, to be among the wise ones, it was the means of my forming the habit of always caring for my lamps early in the day. There was such peace and satisfaction, too, in knowing that nothing could absorb my attention through the day to the exclusion of making that preparation, for I was ready.”

“There are many other precious lessons in the Word which came to me in connection with this special work, the Word itself is a Lamp; and ‘I am the Light of the world.’ It only took a moment—for I learned to keep a Bible on the kitchen table—to look up a text for that time, and it wasn’t necessary always to look up a new one every morning. One verse, and sometimes just a thought in a verse, would last for a number of mornings or until the lesson became a part of my life experience.”

This part of the morning work over, Aunt Mary went to take dinner with a friend. But the quiet little talk stayed with Mrs. Lee, and there was born in her heart a new longing to have her life filled with an experience in these holy things. The more she thought about it, the more was unfolded to her understanding some of the beauties of the lesson contained in that wonderful parable. Other texts bearing on the same subject were brought to her mind—texts which she had heard or read at other times, but which had never seemed to make any impression on her mind. But now they came to her with a beauty and significance never appreciated before.

Perhaps the strangest part of all was that Mrs. Lee suddenly realized that her work was moving along on oiled wheels, compared with the way it sometimes seemed to drag. Baby had been quiet and contented with his playthings, fretting only when it came time for his morning nap. She was accomplishing more than she had thought possible for the forenoon, and with so little of the usual fatigue, too. Instead of being distracted and making blunders in her work, as she had always argued that she would if she did not keep her mind directly on her work, her thoughts seemed unusually clear. “Of course,” came a little whisper to her mind, “it might not always work so well every day.” She remembered, as the little seed of doubt began to take root, that her days had not always been alike anyway, some were always easier and more quiet than others, and this might have been only one of the quiet days, after all.

Probably no seed, not excepting the famous mustard of Bible account, is capable of such tremendous growth in a few moments of time as one little doubt that is cherished long enough for it to take root. In a few minutes all thought of the morning lesson was crowded from her mind, and she suddenly discovered that unless she hastened things greatly her dinner was liable to be late. This simply could not be, for they lived some distance from the school which their two older children attended, and there was just time for them to come home for a warm dinner and go back again, if everything could be on the table, ready for them when they came.

To make matters more perplexing, she found that she was out of the very thing she had planned as a basis for the children’s dinner, and stepping to her slate, which hung by the pantry door, she felt provoked when she saw that she had already ordered it by her husband several days before, and that he must have forgotten it. At the same time, baby woke up from his long nap, and as if to make up for the good behavior of the morning, began to fret and worry for his dinner. E. M. PATTON.

(Concluded next week.)