months at one time. When I first became helpless, I thought I was dying. I
knew if I went into eternity as I then was I would be lost, and suffered
terrible mental anguish. My dear mother came to my bedside with comforting
words: "Mary, put your trust in the Lord." I could move neither hand nor
foot but could only say, "Mother, I am trying to," knowing at the same time
that I was not capable of meeting the conditions--repentance, etc., I
decided that I would not tell Mother nor any one else that I felt that I
was lost, even if I died in that condition; but God in his mercy saw fit to
lengthen out my life.

Viewed from the standpoint of mature life, those early years remind me of
the experience of the Israel-ites when they came to Marah, where the waters
were bitter, and where Moses put something into the bitter waters to make
them sweet. In my unsaved condition, I was at Marah; but when the Lord
saved my soul, he put something into the bitter stream of my life that made
it sweet, and I can truly say, "My December is as pleasant as May: my
summer lasts all the year." Yes, I can now obey God's Word: "Rejoice
evermore; pray without ceasing; and in everything give thanks" (1
Thessalonians 5:14-16). Oh, what a wonderful change God wrought! It is all
through grace divine; for the promise is, "All things work together for
good to them that love God."




Chapter III

Incidents of Childhood

The old home farm near Windsor, Missouri, where I spent my childhood and