A Wagon-load Of Food.
"A young minister and his wife were sent on to their first charge in
Vermont about the year 1846. On the circuit were few members, and most
of these were in poor circumstances. After a few months the minister and
his wife found themselves getting short of provisions. Finally their
last food had been cooked, and where to look for a new supply was a
question which demanded immediate attention.
"The morning
eal was eaten, not without anxious feelings; but this
young servant of the Most High had laid his all upon the altar, and his
wife also possessed much of the spirit of self-sacrifice; and they could
not think the Saviour who had said to those he had called and sent out
to preach in his name: 'Lo! I am with you always,' would desert them
among strangers. After uniting in family prayer he sought a sanctuary in
an old barn, and there committed their case to God;--his wife met her
Savior in her closet and poured out her heart before him there.
"That morning a young married farmer, a mile or two away, was going with
a number of hands to his mowing-field. But as he afterward told the
minister, he was obliged to stop short. He told his hired help to go on,
but he _must go back_--_he must go and carry provisions to the
minister's house_. He returned to the house, and telling his wife how he
felt, asked her help in putting up the things he must carry. He
harnessed his horse into his wagon; put up a bushel of potatoes, meat,
flour, sugar, butter, etc. He was not a professor of religion. The
minister's wife told me there was a good wagon-load. He drove it to the
house, and found that his gifts were most thankfully received. This
account was received from the minister himself,--David P.--, who died in
Chelsea, Mass., in Dec. 1875, and subsequently from his wife,--and
communicated to a correspondent of '_The Christian_.'"