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MARY

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Oct 4, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 40.

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MARY.

"WHEN Mary was a little girl of five or six, she was married to an old Brahmin priest. When she was eleven, she had to go and live with her cruel old husband as his wife. All her happy childish days were now over forever. She was now shut up in a big dark room with three other wives of the old Brahmin without books or toys or sewing. One day a missionary lady came to the house, and asked if she might teach this poor little girl to read. The old man said:
"'You might as well try to teach my cow.'"
"But in a few months he was astonished to hear little Mary read. All this time Mary was learning about Jesus, and how He had died for her, and she told her husband she could not worship idols any more. Our parents send us to Sunday-school, and are glad we love Jesus; but when the old Brahmin heard that, he took Mary and beat her cruelly, and sent the missionary away. But, down in a dark corner, Mary had hidden a Testament and a hymn book, and every moment she could get she spent in reading them. One day her husband found her with the Testament, and took it away, and tore it up, and then beat her again. But still Jesus kept this little lamb, and said, No one shall be able to snatch her out of My hand."
"At last, one day her husband found her hymn book. In a rage he tore up the little girl's last treasure, and then dragged Mary to the fire, and with a red hot iron burned away the palm of her hand. But even this was not enough. He gave her another cruel beating, and kicked her into the street half dead. The Lord Jesus sent one of His missionaries along, and she was carried safely to the missionary's house, where she was loved and cared for. Mary is now a happy Christian in a mission school, and to-day she is singing from her Bengali hymn book, 'I am so glad that Jesus loves me,' to the same tune that you sing it. She loves her Bible; she loves to pray; and loves to work for Jesus; and every day she is growing to be more like Him."