that, in answer to repeated prayer, I acquired my first autoharp, which
I shall frequently mention in connection with my work. "How did I come
by it?" I will tell you in the next chapter.




CHAPTER III.

MY FIRST AUTOHARP--I FORSAKE ALL TO FOLLOW JESUS.


There it lay, all covered with dust, in that auctioneer's window in
Chico. We had just arrived from Sheridan, Sutter County, where we had
conducted a successful series of meetings.

In the latter place we had been able to borrow a small organ, and I had
a splendid choir of little children, who crowded our commodious wagon
an hour each evening before service, that time being devoted to
serenading the neighborhood with gospel song. There I saw the drunkard
and the saloon-keeper yield to the blessed influence of the singing by
these sweet, innocent little children of songs such as "Wash me in the
blood of the Lamb, and I shall be whiter than snow." But the time soon
came when we must part with the little organ as well as with the dear
children.

How I longed and prayed for an autoharp! At this time my pocket-book
was well-nigh empty, my husband having met with total loss in mining
enterprises. I possessed exactly $2.50 on the day when we reached
Chico.