A Book on the Loom

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” — from Psalm 119

When Mary was eleven, she went to work in a big factory called Baxter Brothers. At first she worked for half the day and went to the factory school for the other half. Soon she worked from six in the morning until six at night, and went to school in the evenings. She got up at five to help with the housework before she left!

The weaving-shed was so noisy that people could hardly talk. Mary became a skilled weaver, in charge of two looms at once. When she brought home her first wages, her mother cried over them and said they were too precious to spend. Two of Mary’s brothers died, and in 1870 her father died too. Mary’s wages kept the family going.

Mary loved to learn. She propped a book open on her loom and read it while she worked, and she read as she walked to work. Most of all she read the Bible. Once a girl asked Mary for something to read, and Mary gave her own Bible, saying, “Take that; it has made me a changed lassie.”

Mary’s church was in a poor part of the city, where gangs of rough boys ran wild. Mary began to teach them, though some boys came to spoil the meetings and threw mud at her. Years later, Mary seems to have told of one night when a gang surrounded her. Their leader swung a heavy lead weight on a string around her head, closer and closer, until it brushed her forehead. Mary did not move. At last he let it drop. “She’s game, boys,” he said, and the whole gang followed her into the meeting.

All her life Mary was scared of crowds, of speaking in public, and even of cows in fields! But she learned to stay put when she wanted to run.

Being brave does not mean never feeling scared. God can help you to do the right thing even when you feel afraid.

Dear God, thank you for the Bible, which shows me the way to go. When I feel scared, help me to be brave and do what is right. Amen.