JIM'S CORNER by Amey Ewing

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 27, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 20.

JIM'S CORNER.

By Amey Ewing

DONATION-DAY at the Children's Hospital was over, and the matron stood looking at the great store of gifts which had been received. "Only one picture," she said, "and Jim Wray has long been wishing that there would be lots of pictures. I will hang this opposite to his bed, and may be it will cheer him up."

Poor Jim! Some weeks before he had fallen under the wheels of a carriage, and was carried to the hospital maimed for life.

"His leg must come off," the doctor had said, "and it will be a long time before he can go home."

As the time passed, he longed more and more for the free air and the old busy life. Donation-day entertained him; he watched the crowds of ladies as they walked through the ward. One or two had stopped to ask if he was not thankful that he had such a nice place to be sick in, and he answered:—

"Thankful? Yes'm; a fellow generally is thankful when he has to go on crutches all his life."

The next morning, when Jim opened his eyes, he saw the picture hanging right before him.

"Donation, I s'pose,—something the folks didn't want and so they sent it here; that's the way they generally do. It's a wonder it isn't a picture of some fellow dying with a crowd of people looking at him."

It was a photograph of two boys; the one was dark and handsome, while the face of the other was as pure and sweet as that of an angel.

The longer Jim looked, the better he liked the "donation." At last, unable to enjoy it alone any longer, he spoke to his neighbor in a loud whisper:—

"Look at the picture over there. The folks who brought that wanted to give something nice."

"Who are those boys, Jim?"

"Don't know, but I like them."

"What is that light around that one's head?"

"Don't know; I wish it wasn't there. It don't look real. We will ask Miss Marion when she comes."

Jim studied the picture until the sweet faces seemed like friends, and a new light had come into his life.

Miss Marion sometimes felt discouraged about visiting at the hospital. On this warm day in particular she almost gave up going; but something in Jim's farewell glance the week before made her feel that to one sufferer at least her visits were helpful. This time his face was so bright when she entered the ward that she was startled.

"What has happened to please you, Jim?"

He pointed to the picture.

"Christ and John the Baptist!" she exclaimed; "where did that come from?"

"Eh! Who did you say?"

"Jesus and John the Baptist. That is a copy of a celebrated picture by a painter named Guido; he lived three hundred years ago. Do you like it?"

"Like it? I have been wishing you would come and tell me who they are, and why the blue-eyed boy has that light around his head."

"Jim, it is a picture of Christ. No one knows how he looked; but I think the artist was inspired when he painted that face. You have learned at Sunday-school that one of Jesus's names is the Light of the World; and he told his disciples that they too were to be like lights in this dark world. The old painters often put a light like that around the heads of Christ and the saints. Shall I tell you what it means? Everyone in this world, whether he knows it or not, has an influence over other people. The influence of a good person is like a light shining in the darkness. Are not your dark hours brightened by the visits of the good people who come to see you? The artists could not paint the good influences of the saints, and so they expressed it by putting a light around their heads."

Jim repeated softly— "Jesus bids us shine, You in your small corner, I in mine." I learned that long ago, but I did not know what it meant. If you will tell me how, may be I can shine; but," and the voice was choked with sobs, "how can a fellow like me shine? I am lame, and I haven't much education, and I'm poor."

"Jim," said Miss Marion, "those disciples to whom Jesus said, 'Ye are the light of the world,' were poor, and some of them were no better educated than you are. It did not seem as if they would ever have much chance to shine, did it? But it does not mean being rich or famous. It is what you have within you that makes the light around you. If your heart is pure, you can make others purer. If you are like Christ, you can make those around you more like Christ. If you have Christ within you, he will shine through you; and so, as he was the Light of the World, you will be a light in the world."

Jim's eyes were fixed on the sweet face beside him. Miss Marion had uncovered her head, and the last rays of the setting sun just touched the outline of her golden hair until, to the boy, it seemed as if she too had a shining halo around her head. The tears ran down his pale cheeks as he felt the divine light breaking into his heart. He looked again at the picture. The lovely face of the Christ-child was in a flood of light, and Jim felt as if he were in the presence of something holy.

"My small corner," he said, "is—where?" The last words were uttered in a husky tone. The answer came softly and tearfully:—

"Here, Jim, on this bed, just as long as it is necessary for you to stay. Our corners are just where God puts us."

Jim was left alone to think it all over. Shine on that cot where he had lain for weeks? "It's a mighty dark corner," he groaned. "May be a little light would go a good way. Jesus was a poor boy; he worked in his father's carpenter shop in a little town. I never thought much about it before. The painter put that light around his head to show that he was a light in the world then, when he wasn't any older than I am. His corner was small too; and I believe he will help me to shine anywhere, if I ask him."

It was months before Jim could leave his "small corner." Often he felt weary; the quick, impatient words would come; some ugly old habits were not to be easily given up. Each day brought its trials and temptations. Sometimes, when speaking an unkind word, his eyes would fall on the face opposite to him, and a voice seemed to say, "You in your small corner."

At last the doctor said, "To-morrow you can leave."

When Miss Marion came to say good-by, she found Jim in tears at the thought of leaving his picture and the "corner" that he had learned to love, and in which he was beginning to shine.

For a long time afterwards he often visited the ward, and the sound of Jim's crutch was a signal for rejoicing among the boys. He always came with a happy face, and many a cripple was cheered by his smile.

Jim's corner is larger now; but the secret of his happiness is the same as when he was lying on his cot in the hospital. The light that shone in that "small corner" fitted him to shine in the larger ones. He owns a copy of the picture, too; and underneath it hangs his golden text, "Ye shine as lights in the world."—Amey Ewing, in S. S. Times.