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paring for missionary work in China, but took quick consumption and died. A remarkable scene took place at his bedside, which my mother and sister witnessed. "Jimmie" was sanctified a few days before his death, and died in the first glow of this new experience. The Spirit came upon his father, and he, victorious over his loss, shouted his son to the other shore. Our old home place in Lewis county was exchanged for the Godbey property, and a few months later we moved into the new house vacated by this family. After attending college for about ten months, I stopped to teach. The board of directors offered me the school in the district in which we lived, which was one of the best in the county and sought after by leading teachers. The Lord helped me to secure a first-grade certificate, which it was necessary to have in order to get the school.

At this time Aunt Eliza Mason, who lived in Montana, came to visit us. Two of my sisters had always been favorites of hers. A few days after her arrival I overheard her tell mother that she wanted to take one of them back with her. Mother told her that neither of them could be induced to go so far from home, and that Alma would be more likely to go than any of her other children. My aunt said she would prefer to take one of the other

girls, but rather than have no one go with her, she would take me.

I passed through one of the greatest trials of my life that day. The cords that had so tenderly bound me to some of the members of the family were gradually being severed. I had been with mother to C- and on account of some misunderstanding between an older sister and myself, I silently wept all the way there and back. For three years God had been preparing me for the separation, by taking me through some trying experiences with different members of the family. When my aunt returned to Montana, she went with the understanding that I was soon to follow. God's will was made very plain to me. He said to me as He did to Abraham, "Get thee out of thine own country, and from thy father's house into a land which I will show thee." It has always been God's plan when people begin life in His service to take them away from their old environments and place them where they cannot lean upon human ties and relationships. One of Satan's most successful schemes to defeat God's plans in the lives of people is to cause human relationships to stand between them and God. If a man misplaces his affections, Satan has won the day. human ties and affections there is great strength; it is the devil's purpose to use these

In

for the upbuilding of his kingdom by wresting them from their proper places and using them to defeat God's plans.

There is no subject upon which more light is thrown in the Word than the kinsfolk question, yet most professed Christians do not seem to know it. It is hard to make people believe, and especially the young, that human affections, when perverted, make parents and loved ones the most deadly foes of those who are trying to serve the Lord. When a person turns his back upon the world to follow Christ, he will have enough to do to keep his eyes upon Jesus and make the race, without being dictated to by carnal-minded relatives who are unwilling to relinquish their claims upon him. It is impossible to serve two masters. One can readily see how the love of a worldlyminded mother can hinder a child who has chosen a course in life entirely different from her own plans, which must necessarily be the case when the lone way of the Cross is taken.

After returning to Montana, my aunt engaged the spring term of the Bannock public school for me at sixty dollars a month. This was twice as much a month as I had been receiving in Kentucky, and was quite an inducement for me to go; but the great desire of my heart was to be used of the Lord in

that new country as a missionary. From the moment of my conversion I believed that my life would be spent in a special way in the Lord's service, and supposed that my only opportunity would be in some home or foreign mission field, as the Methodist church had made no provision for women to preach. That this opening was of God, I could not doubt, and believed it to be the first step to a life of usefulness in the Lord's vineyard. My plans were kept for a time from father and mother, knowing it would be hard for them to let me go. At last I told them of my intentions, but it was some time before they were convinced that it was God's will.

CHAPTER III

ON

LEAVING HOME

N the 20th of March, 1882, my ticket was purchased for Dillon, Montana, at a cost of one hundred and six dollars, and at four o'clock in the afternoon I started alone on my long journey. I was yet in my teens, and previous to this had made only a few short trips on railroad trains. As I drove away to the station, I looked back and saw mother standing on the porch. I knew she was wondering if she would ever see me again. Perhaps no tie was ever stronger between mother and daughter than that between us. I promised her before leaving home not to get married until she saw me again, and that, God willing, I would return in two years. In less than an hour after boarding the train, I reached Cynthiana, where I met Mrs. Martha Grinnan, my father's only sister, who, with a distressed look, said: "Child, I would rather see you buried than taking this trip, for then I would know where your corpse lay. You know nothing of the sin of this wicked world, and your parents have shown no wisdom in letting you take such a journey alone." I told her that I was not alone; that I had a

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