t the train might not be late in reaching
Washington, since the time there would be short enough, at best.

Three hours later he roused with the start that is apt to come with the
intense silence that marks a long night wait of a train between
stations. The delay was so prolonged that soon the time table showed the
loss of three hours.

There was one consolation, however: he would be able to pass during
hours of daylight through the incomparable mountains of West Virginia.

The unexpected blessing was forgotten when the train drew into the
Washington station so near the close of the afternoon that the traveler
thought he might as well go home at once. Later on, he might be able to
make a special trip to the Capital. "And I might have finished my
program without all that expense and trouble," he thought.

But while he was there he decided he would call on the telephone the man
in the department whom he wished to see. He told the man of his late
train and his disappointment.

"Perhaps it is just as well," was the word from the other end of the
wire. "I have been afraid that the time set aside for our work this
afternoon was altogether too short. What do you say to coming to me the
first thing in the morning? Then we can devote to our program all the
time that proves necessary."

So he remained overnight. The evening gave him the chance he had sought
for a year to spend an evening consulting authorities at the
Congressional Library. Next morning the real business of the stopover
was attended to. Then he learned why it would have been impossible to
receive the afternoon before the attention he received during the
morning hours. He knew, too, that it would have been out of the question
to seek a second interview on the same business; therefore he would
have had to rest content with the results of the first conference.

The time came to take the train for the final stage of the journey. On
that train his seat-mate, a man he had never seen before, perhaps never
would see again, gave him a number of bits of vital information on the
very business that had led him to Washington!

Is it worth while to ask God to look out for the everyday needs of His
people?

CHAPTER EIGHT

_GOD THE SOURCE OF COURAGE_

"BE strong and of a good courage!" More than three thousand years ago
the inspiring words were spoken by a great military leader to men about
to undertake a tremendous task. Some of them were dismayed. The
diff