MEG'S ANNIVERSARY.
IT was the last Sabbath in April, a few weeks before Anniversary-day, and the May walk was uppermost in the minds of the children. Miss Way feared that the lesson on "Confession and Cross-bearing" made but slight impression on the group of girls around her, for attention wavered. She had prepared it earnestly and prayerfully, hoping that more than one might be led to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus, but only shabby little Meg seemed to take an interest in the subject. Meg's great blue eyes were always serious. She was an orphan, lived in an attic, and sold flowers. Miss Way had seen her on the street some months previous, and had invited her to Sabbath-school. As it was the one bright spot in Meg's life, every Sabbath found her in her corner by the wall, quiet and attentive. Her coming to the class had been received with great disapprobation by the other girls. Meg was used to slights; but perhaps if the girls could have seen the tears that fell in the lonely attic, they would have been more tender. After the lesson, the new anniversary hymns were sung with a zest, and there was a brief opportunity for the long-suppressed chatter.
Meg, in her corner, heard accounts of wonderful dresses, which were to appear on the great occasion.
Pearl Parker seemed the most gay and thought less of all her class. An only child of an indulgent home, she knew and cared nothing about self-denial, and somehow the lesson made her uncomfortable. There was, however, no trace of this in her manner as she said, "Just think, girls! My birthday is on Anniversary-day."
"What do you suppose you'll have?" inquired Lizzie Lane.
"Oh," replied Pearl,
"I have my gift already," and she drew a ten-dollar gold piece from her purse, and allowed each of her mates to hold it a moment.
"Are you going to spend it?" said Kate Wilson.
"Of course I am," said Pearl. "I am going to buy a lovely white satin fan with violets all over it, to carry on the anniversary."
A succession of exclamations here received a timely check by the superintendent's bell, and school was dismissed.
As Pearl walked toward home, she passed Meg. Acting on the impulse of the moment, she said pleasantly, "You are coming to the May walk?"
Now, that prospective anniversary had been in Meg's thoughts for several weeks. Until this particular Sabbath she had looked forward with joy to a part in the bright festival, which she had often witnessed. Somehow the feeling had come to her that her coarse attire would be sadly out of place, and she would better quietly absent herself, and be patient. So, in answer to Pearl's question, she said, "I should like to come very much, but I can't."
The involuntary glance at her dress expressed more than words. Pearl thought of her gleaming gold piece and! The coveted satin fan, and said, passing on, "You would better come; the music is always good."
"Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."
Oh, that Sabbath-school lesson! It came to Pearl as she stood at the door of her elegant home. It was written all over the pages of her new book. It put the piano out of tune.
Everything went wrong that week. Pearl said she would stay at home the next Sabbath, but it found her in her place; and in the evening meeting Miss Way wept for joy to hear Pearl say, "I want to be His disciple."
Pearl went home with a happy heart. Out from her purse came the gold piece. "You have a new name," she said to it, smiling. "It is Meg's Anniversary.'"
Anniversary-day dawned, the merriest of May days. The Sabbath-school buzzed with excitement.
"Where's Pearl?" queried more than one anxious voice in Miss Way's class.
"I'm glad that dreadful Meg Alton has the good sense to keep away," said Clara Steele.
"There's Pearl, now!" said Lizzie Lane, with such a pretty girl in blue."
"Oh, if it isn't Meg!" exclaimed Kate Wilson.
Yes, it was Meg, transformed by happiness and a ten-dollar gold piece into a beautiful, radiant Meg. The situation was awkward for the girls, but following Pearl's leadership, everything went on pleasantly, and Pearl waved a twenty-cent fan very contentedly. But the best was yet to come.
With Mrs. Reid, the pastor's wife, was a visitor, Mrs. Delmont, a wealthy and childless widow, who seemed deeply interested in Meg Alton's face, and made several inquiries about the child. After the exercises, she beckoned to Meg, who went to her wonderingly. "My dear," she said, "do you want a mother?"
Oh, the longing that filled the child's eyes!
"Then kiss me." Thus the contract was made and sealed.
One bright day, as an ocean steamer swung out into the harbor, Pearl Parker turned from the pier with Meg's "good-by" kiss on her lips, and the blessing of the "God of the fatherless" upon her head, and went home to find it her chief joy to deny herself, take up her cross, and follow Him.
—Selected.