who had wandered away from her home in the country and taken refuge in a large city, with the usual results of that dangerous step:
Her old father mourned for the girl he
had lost; but in his simplicity it never occurred
to him to try to find her, for the
world beyond the limits of his township was
vast and forbidding. But word came to him
one day that somebody had seen his daughter
in the city, one hundred miles away, and
with only that to guide him he went in
search of her.
Once in the city, he shrank from the noise and confusion of the crowds. He waited until night, and then when the streets were comparatively deserted, he roamed up and down from one street to another, giving the peculiar cry he had always used when looking for a lost lamb—a cry the girl herself had heard and given many times in her better days. A policeman stopt the old man and warned him that he was disturbing the peace, whereupon the father told his story and said:
"She will come to me if she hears that cry."
The officer was moved by the old man's simplicity and earnestness, and offered to accompany him in his search. So on they went up and down the thoroughfares and into the most abandoned sections of the city, the farmer giving the plaintive cry and the officer leading the way that seemed the most promising of success.
And success did come. The girl heard the cry, recognized it, and intuitively felt that it was for her. She rushed into the street and straight to her father's arms. She confest the weariness and misery of her lot, and begged that he would take her back to the farm, where she might begin a new and better life. Together they left the city the next day. (Text.)
(1891)
Lost, Not, but Gone Before—See Evidence, Providential.
LOST, SEEKING THE
Years ago when Charley Ross was kidnaped,
his broken-hearted father declared:
"I will search for my lost boy while life
lasts. I will go up and down the earth, and
look into the face of this child and that to
see if it is my lost boy."
The great Father is engaged in a similar
search; nor will He rest until the
lost is found. (Text.)
(1892)
The Arab Waziers have a tradition as
to their origin:
A certain ancestor had two sons, Issa and
Missa, which may mean Jesus and Moses.
Missa was a shepherd, and one day a lamb
wandered away and was not to be found.
For three days and nights Missa sought it
far and near through the jungle. On the
fourth morning he found it in a distant valley,
and instead of being angry with the
lamb for straying and giving him all his
pains and anxiety, he took it in his arms,
prest it to his bosom, kissed it tenderly and
carried it back to the flock. For this humane
act God greatly blest Missa and made
him progenitor of the Wazir tribe. (Text.)
(1893)
Lot, Consulting the Bible by—See Bibliomancy.
LOVE
To cease from egotistic ambition and learn love with a humble mind is the lesson of this verse by John G. Neehardt:
For my faith was the faith of dusk and riot,
The faith of fevered blood and selfish lust;
Until I learned that love is cool and quiet
And not akin to dust.
For once as in Apocalyptic vision,
Above my smoking altars did I see
My god's face, veilless, ugly with derision—
The shameless, magnified; projected—Me!
And I have left mine ancient fanes to crumble,
And I have hurled my false gods from the sky;
I wish to grasp the joy of being humble,
To build great love an altar ere I die.
(1894)
Love is not merely a sentiment. It will have its material expression if it is real. The following from Dr. W. T. Grenfell refers to the fishermen of the North Sea Coast:
The intense cold of winter, and the inadequacy
of the warm clothes with which
the men, and especially the boys, were unable
to provide themselves, claimed attention,
and warm hearts of Christian ladies told
all over England were moved by the tales
of this great need. Hundreds and thousands
of warm mittens, helmets, mufflers, and
