Gods Answers | Page 8

great life-work before them! Not for the welfare of
their own family were Mr. and Mrs. Merry to be permitted to settle in
those broad western lands; but many voyages were to follow, and they,
and subsequently their children also, were to be fellow-helpers in the
glorious work of finding homes on earth, and training for a heavenly
Home, thousands of children who would have been otherwise homeless
and uncared for. "What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt
know hereafter." Blessed hereafter! when we shall see all the way the
Lord our God has led us; not a smooth way, not an easy way. "The soul
of the people was much discouraged because of the way;" "but the Lord
led them by the right way."
With her usual energy, Miss Macpherson again entered on her
God-given work among the poor of the East End, and at once resolved
to do all in her power to help the destitute children with whom she

came in daily contact.
In the very month of her return, the first girl was rescued and received
into her own Home, then at Canonbury. Her story was thus written at
the time:--"E. C., aged sixteen, was sent to my lodgings to know if I
could provide a home for her. In August 1866 the father of this poor
girl had bidden her farewell as she was leaving home on an excursion
with the Sunday-school to which she belonged. On her return, cholera
had numbered him among the dead. The mother threw herself into the
canal, and, though restored, was lying helpless in a workhouse. E. C.,
who had before been learning dressmaking, was tossed about from one
poor place of service to another--her clothes all pawned, or in
tatters--till her last resting-place was on the flags. Then she applied at
the Rev. W. Pennefather's soup-kitchen in Bethnal Green, and slept in
the room at that time rented above it. The two following days were
occupied in vain endeavours to procure admittance into one of the
existing Homes for girls, the third, in preparing clothing for her, while,
at the same time, no way appeared open for her to be received
anywhere. When her clothing was ready, our first visit was to a sufferer
paralysed and convulsed in every limb, at times compelled to be
fastened to his bed,--one whose garret reminded one of the dream of
Jacob; for answers to prayer were so direct, it seemed as though
heavenly visitants were ever ascending and descending. He prayed, and
while he was yet speaking, the Lord sent His 'answering messenger.'
Miss Macpherson had felt it laid on her that day to come to the East
End to my help, though knowing nothing whatever of the present need.
When poor E. C. returned from the baths and washhouses in her clean
clothing, (having sold her former rags for twopence-halfpenny), she
was met by the loving offer of a home. She seemed afraid to believe it,
and followed, as if in a dream, the friend so mercifully raised up for her.
She was afterwards placed in service with a Christian friend, and her
two little brothers were among the first inmates of the Revival Refuge."
Most mercifully for the poor little matchbox-makers was Miss
Macpherson's return ordered at this time. Much sympathy had been
awakened concerning them, and much help had been sent for their
benefit from the kind readers of the "Christian" paper. They numbered

many hundreds, and Miss Macpherson undertook care and
responsibility concerning them, for which the strength and powers of
an older labourer were totally unfit. In this, and countless other
instances, Miss Macpherson has proved herself ever ready to "fulfil the
law of Christ" (Gal. vi. 2). The case of these infant toilers had rested on
her heart from the first moment she had been made acquainted with
their sufferings. The first sight of them is thus described by her own
pen:--
"In a narrow lane, having followed high up a tottering spiral staircase
till we reached the attic, the first group of tiny, palefaced
matchbox-makers was met with. They were hired by the woman who
rented the room. The children received just three farthings for making a
gross of boxes; the wood and paper were furnished to the woman, but
she had to provide paste and the firing to dry the work. She received
twopence-halfpenny per gross. Every possible spot, on the bed, under
the bed, was strewn with the drying boxes. A loaf of bread and a knife
stood on the table, ready for these little ones to be supplied with a slice
in exchange of their hard-earned farthings.
"This touching scene, which my pen fails to picture, gave me a lasting
impression of childhood's sorrows. Never a moment for school or