In The Way

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Title:     In The Way
Author: Margaret White Eggleston [More Titles by Eggleston]

Gladys Mercer sat looking at a snapshot which had come to her from one of her girl friends. It showed a strong, athletic woman with a blanket rolled over her back hiking along the road and with her six girls in middies and bloomers. And as Gladys looked at the picture, she smiled at the memories which it brought.

There was the long hike, the tired muscles, the view from the mountaintop, the wonderful sunset, the stillness of the night and the fear of the dark. Then there was the voice of the woman in the picture,

"Girls, you are safer here than in any house you could find. Just remember that God is over all and sleep as sound as can be."

Then there was the sunrise, the pancake breakfast on the hill, and the hike home. Best of all there had been two long days with Mrs. Fuller, the friend of girls. What a good visit they had had with her! What a fine story she had told them at the sunset! What a helpful prayer she had made as they closed their good-night song when the sun went down!

And then from the thought of the trip, Gladys went to the thought of all that Mrs. Fuller had meant to her. She was sunny; she was happy in her work through the day, and happy to give her time to them at night; she was always ready to advise and help; she seemed to know just what to do when they did not know; somehow she could always get them to do the thing they had thought they would not do. She was to Gladys, the motherless girl, a friend, a companion, a leader and a heroine.

What was there about her that made her able to lead? Was it her smile? Was it her ability to do things? What made a leader anyway?

Gladys leaned far back against the old tree under which she had been sitting and said to herself, "I wish--I wish----"

"And what do you wish," said a little voice, and there close to her was a dear little lady dressed in red and in her hand she carried a lamp.

"Who are you?" said Gladys.

"I am the Fairy of Helpful Service," said the little lady. "I heard you talking about one of my helpers, so I was interested to know what you wished when you thought of all she had done for you girls. Now tell me. What do you wish?"

"If you are a fairy, perhaps you can give me my wish. I wish to be like Mrs. Fuller. I want to help girls. I want to get the kind of letters she gets from girls who are far away. I want to see 'my girls' some day giving service all over the world as she does. I want to be like her. Please, fairy, give me my wish."

"I can't make you like her but I can put you in the way of service and then, if you choose, you can become like her and get the things you are asking for. Those things are not given--they are earned, and the cost of them is heavy. I don't really think you mean what you say, for you haven't even wanted to go to school to learn to help. Perhaps the best way would be to let you see her in the way and then you can choose for yourself whether you want your gift. Come and we will watch her climb the way."

So the Fairy of Helpful Service and the girl who wanted to be a leader went together into the House of the Past.

"There," said the fairy, "there is Mrs. Fuller as a little girl. We will watch her grow and you may see where she earned some of the qualities which you admire in her."

There she was, a mischievous little girl of ten, as happy as the day was long.

"Here she is laying the foundation for health," said the fairy, "with long hours of sleep and good food and plenty of play. One begins away back in girlhood to be a leader. Some who would have been good helpers for me cannot serve because they did not begin early enough to get ready."

Then as the little girl played there came into the way a black, black cloud. Gladys shuddered as it came nearer and nearer to the little girl and finally enveloped her. It was death--the death of her father, but after the cloud had passed and the sunshine had come again, the fairy said,

"See, her shoulders are broader. She has learned what loneliness means."

On she went and then she was going to High School. Others had clothes that she did not have. She must hurry to finish because there was no father in the home. So, eagerly she pushed through the High School.

Just here Gladys saw a hand reached out to help and heard a voice saying to the girl, "Of course it will be hard but you can go to college if you really want to go. It will do you good to sacrifice for it." 'Twas the Master of the school who was helping her to keep in the way.

"Can you see her grow?" said the fairy. "She has added concentration, an appreciation of the girl who has little and who must be with girls who have much, and now she has been given a vision."

Then Gladys watched her toil through college, earning her way, often overtired and worried as to where the means to go on were to come from. But she pushed ahead.

"Oh," said Gladys, "how hard she works! I could never do that. I am sorry for her."

"You needn't be," said the fairy. "You need never be sorry for those that sacrifice for an ideal. Be sorry for those who have none and so who live at ease." And they watched her struggle through temptation and toil to the graduation day.

As the college days passed, there came strength of purpose, but there came also the desire to serve. Gladys watched her lead the little group of dirty street boys in the slums.

"How can she do it?" said Gladys. "They are so dirty and so rough."

But the fairy said, "When one wants to serve, she looks at the heart and the life--not at the clothes and the actions. The boys are helping her to keep in the way."

And after college there were happy days. Days of love and comradeship, days of work for the fairy; days when opportunity was everywhere. And in these days of happiness there came lessons of sharing, of winning, of filling the life with sunshine. The path was so bright that it dazzled.

Suddenly, Gladys looked ahead in the path. "Look," she said to the fairy. "Look, oh, how black it is! Oh, I am sorry."

Then the storm descended and all was black in the way--oh, so black and to move took all of one's strength. Against it she struggled, but it seemed as though she must surely be driven from the path. Death and loneliness and worries seemed overpowering.

But the storm passed and, when once again there was peace, a great strength had come in its place, for there was sympathy for others who suffered, there was an appreciation of the value of friendship, and there was a knowledge that God helps.

Little by little the road widened, though often it was lonely and hard. There were many steep places but each added something. And then Gladys saw the picture change.

There was Mrs. Fuller with her girls and she was leading them by the hand. But it was by no means easy. Some held back; some chose to play by the way; some looked longingly at the things by the wayside that would harm. But her one hand reached up and her other hand helped them ahead as she tried to keep them in the way.

As the picture faded, Gladys turned to the fairy. "I thought it had been all sunshine but now I see how hard it has been to learn to understand and to help. I love her better than I did before, now that I have seen her in the way. Thank you, fairy."

"But wait," said the fairy. "You asked me for a gift. Do you still want it? Do you still want to follow her?"

"To follow means study, and sacrifice, and temptations conquered, and sympathy, and all sorts of hard things, doesn't it? I never thought about it. But I love Mrs. Fuller and I still want to lead girls--I still want the letters and I still want to be like her. Please, Fairy of Good Works, put me in the way and I will go back to school and begin to get ready."

Then the little lady smiled as she waved her wand over the head of the girl. "Your life may be much more sunny than hers, dear. Not all must have the same things to overcome. But whatever you meet in the way, you must struggle against it and come out stronger because you have struggled. Can you see away off there in the distance the hands of girls--oh, so many of them--eagerly reached out for help? They are 'your girls.' And here is the way. Above there is one who helps and I am here though you may not see me. Push forward or the girls will have no helper. Good-by and good luck to you."

But as Gladys reached out to detain her, her hat fell to the ground and she found herself sitting against the tree. In her hand was the picture of Mrs. Fuller and her girls. Long she looked at the picture. Then she said to herself,

"I never knew the way was so long or so hard to be like you but if just one girl can love me some day as I love you, then I shall be glad I have walked in the way. I am ready to try and I hope I can win."

[The end]
Margaret White Eggleston's short story: In The Way

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