with the children, in passing by the window, I saw the top of a great
load of wood coming up the road towards our little house. Can that be
for us? I asked myself. Presently I saw the wagon turn off the road and
come up towards our door. Then I was puzzled to know how to pay for it.
A dollar and seventy-five cents I knew would only go a little way
towards paying for all that wood. The oxen came slowly on, dragging the
load to our door. I asked the man if there wasn't same mistake about it.
'No, ma'am,' said he, 'there's no mistake.' 'I did not order it, and I
cannot pay for it,' was my reply. 'Never mind, ma'am,' said he, 'a
friend ordered it, and it is all paid for.' Then he unhitched the oxen
from the wagon, and gave them some hay to eat. When this was done, he
asked for a saw and ax, and never stopped till the whole load was cut
and split and piled away in the woodshed.

"This was more than I could stand. My feelings overcame me, and I sat
down and cried like a child. But these were not bitter tears of sorrow.
They were tears of joy and gladness, of gratitude and thankfulness. I
felt ashamed of myself for doubting God's word, and I prayed that I
might never do so again. What pleasure I had in using that wood! Every
stick of it, as I took it up, seemed to have a voice with which to say
'Jehovah-Jireh.' As Abraham stood on the top of Mount Moriah he could
say, 'The Lord _will_ provide.' But every day, as I went into our
woodshed, I could point to that blessed pile of wood sent from heaven,
and say, 'The Lord _does_ provide.'"


A REFRACTORY MAN COMPELLED TO PAY A DEBT.


A refractory man who owed a small debt of about $43, refused to pay it