I replied,—“Thank you, my dear child; I will not take your bangles, but Jesus will accept your offering, and bless and reward you all the same.”
As she still held them up to me, saying, “Padre, do receive them from me, and may God ever bless you!” a lady, who had been seated beside her, came up to me, and said,—
“Please, do take them, or the dear girl will break her heart. She has offered them up to Jesus for your Mission Ship.”
I afterwards learned that the girls were orphans, whose parents died in the famine; that the lady and her sister, daughters of a Missionary, had adopted them to be trained as Zenana Missionaries, and that they intended to return with them, and live and die to aid them in that blessed work amongst the daughters of India. Oh, what a reward and joy might many a lady who reads this page easily reap for herself in Time and Eternity by a similar simple yet far-reaching service! Take action when and where God points the way; wait for no one’s guidance.
The most amazing variety characterized the gifts and the givers. In Glasgow a lady sent me an anonymous note to this effect:—
“I have been curtailing my expenses. The first £5 saved I enclose, that you may invest it for me in the Bank of Jesus. I am sure He gives the best interest, and the most certain returns.”
From Edinburgh a lawyer wrote, saying,—“I herewith send you £5. Take out for me two hundred shares in the Mission Ship. I never made any investment with more genuine satisfaction in all my life.”
A gentleman, whose children had zealously collected a considerable sum for me by the Cards, at length sent me his own subscription, saying,—“I enclose you £25, because you have so interested my children in Missions to the Heathen.” The same friend, after hearing me plead the cause in Free St. George’s, Edinburgh, sent me a most encouraging letter, and another contribution of £100.
In Glasgow a lady called at my brother’s house, saying,—“Is the Missionary at home? Can I see him alone? If not, I will call again.” Being asked into my room, she declined to be seated, but said,—“I heard you tell the story of your Mission in the City Hall, and I have been praying for you ever since. I have called to give you my mite, but not my name. God bless you. We shall meet in Heaven!” She handed me an envelope, and was off almost before I could thank her. It was £49 in bank notes.
Another dear Christian lady came to see me, and at the close of a delightful conversation, said: “I have been thinking much about you since I heard you in the Clark Hall, Paisley. I have come to give a little bit of dirty paper for your Ship. God sent it to me, and I return it to God through you with great pleasure.” I thanked her warmly, thinking it a pound, or five at the most; on opening it, after she was gone, it turned out to be £100. I felt bowed down in humble thankfulness, and pressed forward in the service of the Lord.
Another lady, who sent for me to call, said to me:—“I have heard of the sufferings and losses of the Missionaries on your Islands through the smallness of the Sailing Vessel. I am glad to have the opportunity of giving you £50 to assist in getting a Steam Auxiliary.”
Many articles of jewellery, silver and gold ornaments, rings and chains, were also sent to me, or dropped into the Collecting plate. With the assistance of Christian gentlemen, and by the kindness of a merchant at once interested in our work and in the gold and silver trade, these were turned into cash on the most advantageous possible terms, and added to the Mission Fund.