Article June 28, 1919 Issue

"Rest in God"

EVE T. SANFORD

With very doleful thoughts because she was obliged to be alone for some weeks, a young student of Christian Science sat on the veranda of her new home in the Central American tropics. The house stood on a knoll, where the year before there had been a dense forest, and a large clearing had been made about it. From the veranda where the student sat there was a scene of wondrous beauty. All around were high wooded mountains and foliage of various hues; many bright plumaged birds were flying about, and the air was sweet with perfume from the wild pink begonias blooming on the hills near the house. At the moment, however, the student saw none of the beauty, for her brooding thoughts were filled with fear, loneliness, and dread of the days to come. The unusual noises—the loud barklike roar of the baboons in the nearby woods, the deep breathing of the oxen who insisted on camping about the house—had long kept her awake at night; then when sleep had finally come the night before, she had been awakened by the terrified squawk of the chickens, and had run down with a candle and machete to the chicken house to drive off a huge boa constrictor; two nights previous it had been a weasel and an opossum that had attacked the chickens.

Now, as her gaze rested on a hill about five hundred yards from the house, she suddenly saw a small animal moving swiftly down the path in the direction of the house. With a sinking heart she sat and watched it, feeling certain it was some ferocious beast. Shudderingly she thought what awful animals might come at night, since they did not even keep away in the daytime. Nearer and nearer it came, plainly visible all the time, though long grasses and undergrowth were on each side of the path. When it was within a few yards of the house, the student tremblingly stepped to the side of the high veranda to behold—what? Why, only a small pink and white pig, which, from its cleanness and the rope about its neck, was plainly the pet of some Spanish child.

With feelings of intense relief the Scientist jumped from the veranda laughing, and seizing the short rope, secured the now squealing little pig to the veranda post that it might be later restored to its rightful owner. In the same moment she realized that the mesmerism of fear and strain which had held her for days was broken, and felt that she would not again be in such bondage. For days she had moped around the house, but now saddling her mule she rode joyously about in the deep woods for hours, stopping many times to gather orchids and choice ferns, and all the while clinging in thought to the ninety-first psalm with all its rich promises of protection.

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"Enter into thy closet"