p. 13 | HOME AND FIRESIDE by Mrs. M. Smith

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Dec 19, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 50.

HOME AND FIRESIDE

By Mrs. M. Smith

A Christmas Basket

HERE! At last I have everything ready. O, what hard work it is to get suitable gifts for all of my friends! The hardest one to suit is Ethel Jordan, but she certainly can not find any fault with this beautiful brooch. It cost so much more than any of the other presents. "I wonder what she is going to give me!"

These words were uttered by Julia Delman, as she stood looking with satisfaction upon the different packages just done up, and tied with pretty ribbons, ready to send away to her friends.

"What a lot of work," she sighed. For several weeks she had gone from one store to the other to find what she wanted, and at last she was satisfied.

As she stood looking upon her work, a shiver went through her when she heard the wind whistle and saw the snowflakes come dancing down on the window-panes. She went to the window and looked out on the street. The sleigh-bells jingled, and the people were hurrying back and forth with their arms full, laden with Christmas packages. They did not feel the cold wind nor care for the snow blowing in their faces. They were too much taken up with the spirit of Christmas to care about the weather.

Julia stood looking at the scene. Her eyes fell upon an old woman who walked with feeble steps on the other side of the street. She looked cold and frozen, and carried an empty basket on her arm. As her form swayed in the wind, her thin clothing hardly covered her limbs. Julia watched her until she turned the corner; and as she gazed after the vanishing figure, she heard a voice saying, "I was an hungred, and ye gave Me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in: naked, and ye clothed Me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not." The voice was so audible that Julia turned around to see if some one was in the room. The door had been left partly open, but no one was there. She was ready to say, "Lord, when saw I Thee an hungred, or—" but ere she finished the sentence, the voice answered, "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me."

The old woman's frozen hands and empty basket came up before her eyes. She began to feel a little uneasy. She professed to be a Christian, and these Bible verses were not unfamiliar to her. She turned to the table where the Christmas presents were piled up, but the interest in them was not quite the same.

Again she heard the voice: "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?"

Now Julia commenced to make excuses: "I can not see that it is a sin to give one's friends a Christmas present. Every one does that. We can not shut ourselves out from everything that we love, and it certainly is not wrong to give those whom we love a present."

While she was thus reasoning, the sound of Martha's rich contralto voice was heard from the kitchen: I gave, I gave My life for thee; What hast thou given for Me?

"I wish Martha would do her work and not always be singing!" She felt like putting her fingers in her ears and running away, but she could not move. She sank down in a chair, and, laying her face in her hands, she said to herself, "What have I done for Thee?" Again the old woman stood before her eyes. Could she be one of His little ones? Then she began to examine herself. What had she done for her Saviour all these years during which she had professed to be a Christian? To be sure, she had gone to church and Sabbath-school, but really to sacrifice anything for her Saviour, that she had not thought much about.

Still the melody from the kitchen came pouring in: I suffered much for thee, More than thy tongue can tell, Of bitterest agony, To rescue thee from hell.

"I suffered much for thee," repeated Julia. A vision of Jesus began to appear before her, not as a babe in the manger—as one thinks of Him at Christmas time; but she saw Him in Gethsemane in agony of soul, His form prostrated on the ground, sweat falling from His brow as great drops of blood. She followed Him to Calvary, and saw Him stagger under the heavy burden of the cross. She beheld Him hang between two malefactors, suffering the cruel death.

She could endure the sight no longer. Casting herself on her knees, she cried for mercy, and that the blood which was shed on the cross might wash her sins away. As she lay pleading, the same voice whispered, "Tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; tho they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

Martha had entered the dining-room, and was arranging the table for dinner. She was chanting in a soft, subdued tone the anthem: Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Good will toward men.

As the sweet notes poured into the room where Julia was, so the sweet peace and joy poured into her soul; and before she realized it, she leaped to her feet, singing: Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of the Spirit, washed in His blood!

There were sunshine and joy in her heart and soul now. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she looked around. It seemed as if everything had changed. The storm had ceased, and the sun was peeping out between the clouds. She heard the bells and the merry crowd out on the street, and it seemed to her that even they had changed. But the change was in her own heart.

She turned and looked at her Christmas gifts; and before she knew it, she was saying, "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me." She began to open the packages one after another. A knock came at the door, and Martha entered, saying:

"Mis' Reynolds, president of the Missionary Society, come to ask would you give sompin' for a Christmas tree for poor children."

"For poor children!" repeated Julia with joy. Then added: "Martha, tell Mrs. Reynolds to come right in. I am so glad she has come."

Martha wondered, as she turned to go out, what had come over Miss Julia. But when she heard the story Julia told Mrs. Reynolds, she said, "Praise the Lord," and went into the kitchen.

Julia assured Mrs. Reynolds that the Lord had sent her; and she, with her own deep Christian experience, also saw the wonderful work of the Lord.

Through Mrs. Reynolds Julia learned the old woman's name and address; and after her departure, she took the beautiful brooch down to Mr. Martin, the jeweler. Mr. Martin greeted her with a pleasant smile and nod, thinking that now he had a good sale before him. Julia told him her wonderful experience from beginning to end, and, when finished, handed him the brooch. "I must fill up that woman's basket with this," she said.

Mr. Martin had listened to her story with deep interest, then silently he took the brooch and put it back in the case. Taking from the drawer currency twice the amount Julia had paid, he handed it to her.

"I also must help to fill the basket."