ed, or packed so close
in the little fold that they could not grow as little lambs should?
We rolled the burden off that day as to the ultimate responsibility, and
we asked definitely for all that was needed to build another room.
Three days later a registered letter came from a bank in Madras. It
contained an anonymous gift of one hundred rupees, and was marked, "For
a new nursery." The date showed that it had been posted in Madras on the
day of our waiting upon God for guidance as to His wishes. A few days
later, the same amount, with the same direction as to its use, was sent
to us from the same bank. The giver, as we knew long afterwards, was a
fellow-missionary in Tinnevelly, whose order to send these sums to us
was given before even we ourselves had fully understood the meaning of
the leading. The second room was built on to the first, and the children
called it the Room of Joy.
[Illustration: THE RED LAKE.
Water Palms, with Mountains in the background.]
There are no secrets in India. The Hindu masons were amazed at what they
at once recognised as the hand of the Lord upon the work, and they
spread the story everywhere. Later, when they built the nursery where
poor little Mala stood and mourned, they understood why they had to stop
before the verandah was built. Only enough was in hand to build the bare
room; but to their eyes, as to ours, a verandah was much needed, and
they were content to wait till what was required for one came. In this
land of blazing sunshine and drenching monsoon a house without a
verandah is hardly habitable, and a small square room without one has a
Manx-cat appearance.
The story of the rooms has been repeated in the story of the work ever
since. "Do not thank us. It is only a belated tenth," wrote a
fellow-missionary not long ago, as she sent a gift for the nurseries.
Belated tenths have reached us sometimes when they have been like
visible ravens flying straight from the blue above. All the long
journeys in search of the children, all the expenses connected with
their salvation, all that has been required to provide nurses and food
(including the special nourishment without which the more delicate could
not live at all), all that is now being needed for their education--all
has come and is coming as the ravens came to Elijah. The work has
been a revelation of how many hearts are sensitive and obedient to
the touch of the Spirit; for sometimes help has reached us in such a wa
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