A PRAYER FOR A SERVANT.


"Some time after, we failed to find anything like suitable help in the
house, which we greatly needed. Before starting out one morning, in
secret I prayed to God to direct me as I went on my uncertain business,
and prayed as I called at different places, and soon found a colored
girl sixteen years old wanting a place, who came and proved to be the
best help we ever had, before or since. For seven years and a half she
lived in the family, taught two of our children to read; was glad, from
choice, to move with us to different places, till she left to be
married, fell sick and passed away. A dozen other times when driven in
straits, _in answer to prayer_ God has enabled us to procure necessary
help, which was difficult to obtain.

"In 1874, while on my way to see my mother in Pennsylvania--who had just
been paralyzed, and died the next week--I was suddenly paralyzed in my
left arm, by which, I have since been helpless and useless. After coming
here to live, being in want of a man to lift me in and out of bed, dress
me, etc., for which we inquired of people, and prayed to God to send us
the needed help. We had not means to hire and pay any person to do such
work, even if he could be found. Soon the right one came, in the person
of a young German, who was tramping through the country in search of
employment and food; was ready and glad to do any work for a living. For
pay that satisfied him and us, he staid in the family over a year,
working out doors and in; could be trusted to do business with money,
and return every cent correctly. After being with us over a year, when
we needed him no longer, he obtained a situation in a good family, where