p. 9 | WASN'T WANTED THERE

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 7, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 14.

WASN'T WANTED THERE.

SHE was a little old woman, very plainly dressed in black bombazine that had seen much careful wear, and her bonnet was very old-fashioned, and people stared at her tottering up the aisle of the grand church, evidently bent on securing one of the best seats, for a great man preached on that day, and the house was filled with splendidly-dressed people who had heard of the fame of the preacher, of his learning, his intellect, and goodness, and they wondered at the presumption of the old woman. She must have been in her dotage, for she picked out the pew of the richest and proudest member of the church and took a seat. The three ladies who were seated there beckoned to the sexton, who bent over the intruder and whispered something, but she was hard of hearing, and smiled a little withered smile, as she said gently:—

“O, I’m quite comfortable here, quite comfortable here!”

“But you are not wanted here,” said the sexton pompously. “There is not room. Come with me, my good woman; I will see that you have a seat.”

“Not room!” said the old woman, looking at her sunken proportions and then at the fine ladies. “Why, I’m not crowded a bit! I rode ten miles to hear the sermon to-day, because—”

CALIFORNIA SCENERY No. 13. —We herewith present two bits of Marin County landscape. There are few, if any, sections of the world more elaborately endowed with romantic scenery than Marin County, California. It is bounded on three sides by salt water—on the

But the sexton took her by the arm, and shook her roughly, in a polite, underhand way, and she took the hint. Her faded old eyes filled with tears, her chin quivered, but she rose meekly, and left the pew. Turning quietly to the ladies, who were spreading their rich dresses over the spot she left vacant, she said gently:—

“I hope, my dears, there’ll be room in heaven for us all.”

Then she followed the pompous sexton to the rear of the church, where, in the last pew, she was seated between a threadbare girl and a shabby old man.

“She must be crazy,” said one of the ladies in the pew which she had at first occupied. “What can an ignorant old woman like her want to hear Dr. —— preach for? She would not be able to understand a word he said.”

“Those people are so persistent. The idea of her forcing herself into our pew! Isn’t that voluntary lovely? There’s Dr. —— coming out of the vestry. Isn’t he grand?”

“Splendid! What a stately man! You know he has promised to dine with us while he is here.”

He was a commanding-looking man, and as the organ voluntary stopped and he looked over the vast crowd of worshipers gathered in the great church, he seemed to scan every face. His hand was on the Bible, when suddenly he leaned over the reading-desk, and beckoned to the sexton, who obsequiously mounted the steps to receive a mysterious message. And then the three ladies in the grand pew were electrified to see him take his way the whole length of the church, to return with the old woman, whom he placed in the front pew of all, its occupants making willing room for her. The great preacher looked at her with a smile of recognition, and then the service proceeded, and he preached a sermon which struck fire from every heart.

“Who was she?” asked the ladies who could not make room for her, as they passed the sexton at the door.

“The preacher’s mother,” replied that functionary in an injured tone.

How few remember that “while man looketh on the outward appearance, the Lord looketh on the heart”!—Selected.