THE PREACHING OF BETSEY LEE.
BETSEY LEE was poor and old;
Through summer's heat and winter's cold,
Like a policeman on his beat,
She daily trod the crowded street.
Sometimes she offered homemade wares
To travelers on the thoroughfares;
Sometimes she asked in stately halls,
Where priceless paintings decked the walls,
For honest work, whereby to earn
A loaf of bread; or she would turn
A willing hand to aid distress;
Thus many lives did Betsey bless.
Year after year 'twas much the same,
Except that she grew deaf and lame;
Yet always honest, faithful, true,
The dwellers on the street all knew
That Betsey Lee would sooner die
Than beg or steal or tell a lie!
Full many gave her kindly word,
Which, I am sure, in heaven was heard;
And many a one who passed her by
Wondered that she should never sigh,
While every day the rich and great
Lamented o'er their bitter fate.
They wondered, too, why Betsey Lee
In everything some good could see.
Some thought it strange that Betsey took
Her chief delight in God's blest book;
Why she on Sabbaths always went
To church, and there, with heart content,
Communed with God; nor had a care
That others passed her with a stare
Because her clothes were not in style.
She heeded not their sneering smile.
I'll tell you why: Long years before,
Down to the river's winding shore,
Where wretched hovels filled the square,
And oaths and curses rent the air,
A missionary came one day,
To sow some seed beside the way.
A thoughtless crowd it may have been,
Of rogues and roughs and river men—
About the same as by the sea
Our Saviour taught in Galilee.
I know not whether many heard,
And learned, that day, to love God's word;
But this is certain; from that hour
Poor Betsey knew the Spirit's power;
From that day lived the Gospel plan
Of love to God and love to man.
Now Betsey wasn't learned at all;
But she could spell out, on the wall,
The golden texts the teachers wrote,
And all those texts could rightly quote;
Tho when the words were hard and long,
She sometimes got the meaning wrong;
And Betsey's heart was warmed and cheered
When short and easy words appeared.
The text she loved the best of all
Was very short—the words were small—
'Twas this: "Go ye and preach." Said Betsey Lee,
"That's plain and simple, just for me."
So day by day, as Betsey went
About her work, she preached content—
Preached faithfulness and love and hope—
Her every act for Jesus spoke.
She didn't wait for sunny days;
'Mid storm and cloud she sang God's praise.
Her life the sermon was she preached,
And many a heart her Gospel reached.
If poor old Betsey Lee could tell
The story of the cross so well,
With scarce one talent in her power,
With poverty her only dower—
Pray what will Jesus say, when we
Before our Judge meet Betsey Lee?