Mary, now aged ten, had a playful disposition. She found new friends, lively, but no too wild. One of their favourite games was to knock on people’s doors and then run away. Mary and her friends were the bane of Dundee housewives. As she said in later life ‘I little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.’ Not all would have agreed.
One day she caught the eye of an old woman who had ‘an eye for sin.’ She called Mary and some of her friends into the cottage. Suddenly the woman grabbed Mary’s hand and held it near the blazing fire
‘D’ye see that! I you were to put your hand into the flames they’d burn you sore. Repent from your sins or you will blaze in the flames of hell for ever and ever.’
Terrified Mary tore her hand away and rushed home to throw herself down on her bed.
‘What can I do? I’m a sinner.’ She sobbed, ‘I repent, I repent, I do believe.’
She sobbed herself to sleep and temporarily lost her gaiety. this was not the best way to convict someone of their sins but from that day Mary determined to serve her Lord with all her being as long as she lived.
more to follow …………………….