The Lord Did Not Forget The Potatoes.

"A correspondent of _Arthur's Magazine_ tells of a poor woman who had

been washing for us, who said: 'Seems as if the Lord took very direct

ways to reach people's feelings sometimes. Now, I was astonished once in

my life. I lived away out West, on the prairie, I and my four children,

and I couldn't get much work to do, and our little stock of provisions

kept getting lower and lower. One night, we sat hovering over our fire,
< r /> and I was gloomy enough. There was about a pint of corn-meal in the

house, and that was all. I said, 'Well, children, may be the Lord will

provide something.' '_I do hope it will be a good mess of potatoes_,'

said cheery little Nell; 'seems to me _I never was so hungry for taters

before_.' After they were all asleep, I lay there tossing over my hard

bed, and wondering what I would do next. All at once, the sweetest peace

and rest came over me, and I sank into such a good sleep. Next morning,

I was planning that I would make the tinfull of meal into mush, and fry

it in a greasy frying-pan, in which our last meat had been fried. As I

opened the door to go down to the brook to wash, I saw something new.

_There, on the bench, beside the door, stood two wooden pails and a

sack. One pail was full of meat, the other full of potatoes, and the

sack filled with flour_. I brought my hands together in my joy, and just

hurrahed for the children to come. Little dears! They didn't think of

trousers and frocks then, but came out all of a flutter, like a flock of

quails. Their joy was supreme. They knew the Lord had sent some, of his

angels with the sack and pails. Oh, it was such a precious gift! _I

washed the empty pails, and put the empty sack in one of them, and, at

night, I stood them on the bench where I had found them, and, the next

morning, they were gone_. I tried and tried to find out who had

befriended us, but I never could. The Lord never seemed so far off after

that time,' said the poor woman, looking down with tearful eyes."