Katharine's Yesterday by Grace Livingston Hill Read Free Book Online Page B

Katharine, you seem different this summer from last,” he said to her one evening as they walked down the moonlit village street, the last of the procession of young people who had gone out to enjoy the full moon. “Will you tell me how it is?”
    “Am I different?” she asked, with a happy little laugh; then, more soberly, “I’m glad you think so. There ought to be a great difference, but there isn’t as much as I wish.”
    “And what has made this difference? May I know about it?” he asked.
    She was still for a moment, and then slowly, almost timidly, began to recite the little poem which had grown to seem a part of her life.

    “ I was poor yesterday, but not today;
    For Jesus came this morning ,
    And took the poor away.”

    Through to the end she repeated it, her voice very sweet and low; and he listened, taking the words into his heart, to be kept for a sacred memory.
    “That is the reason why there is a difference,” she said, “if there is any. The restlessness and uneasiness are all gone from my heart now. I feel as if Jesus had forgiven me. Your little book has helped me too. I have read that chapter of Corinthians every day this year , and it grows more wonderful every time I read it.”
    The moonlight sifting through the leaves made a corridor of soft light for them to walk in. The hum of the crickets, the occasional lifting of some leaf by the night wind, and worried song of a mother bird singing a late lullaby to her babies – all seemed to lend a solemn quiet to the air about, and to help them to talk about this great subject, and open their hearts to one another as they had not done before. Gradually the voices of the others grew fainter, as the steps of these two grew slower, and they held sweet conversation about their heavenly Father. It seemed, indeed, as though he were near, listening; and when, in the quietness of her own room that night, Katharine thought over that walk and talk, the words of a familiar old poem came to her mind.

    And the Lord, standing quietly by
    In the shadows dim,
    Smiling, perhaps, in the darkness,
    To hear our sweet, sweet talk of him.

    There came a day, at the close of the summer, when Katharine stood beside the front gate once more, thinking. The summer friends had all flitted again, and another winter was about to begin; but Katharine was not dreaming of her yesterday time, nor even of her today, but was taking a little peep into a very bright tomorrow - a tomorrow in which she was to help Frank Warner be a good minister, and he was to help her be the minister’s wife.
    John came down the walk and stood beside her, resting his hand upon her shoulder. She looked up at his face, and saw in it a little of that sense of left-aloneness which had made her so miserable a year ago, and she roused from her sweet thoughts to cheer him up.
    But John will never be troubled by the dreariness of a today; for his sister no longer lives in her yesterdays, and he has learned the secret of marking all the todays bright by looking forward to a joyful tomorrow.

Fairy Tales Redux

Foreword
    The following chapter titles were given to me, and I was asked to write a short story based upon them. I tried to be clever.

Chapter 1: Early Snow
    Philip buckled his sword belt, donned his cape, jumped onto his horse – Chester – and kicked him into a gallop as they left the castle gate. It was time to go rescue a princess.
    Philip was not at all happy about this. In his not so humble opinion, rescuing princesses was not at all what it was cracked up to be. He didn’t even like princesses. Far too prissy and needy, the lot of them. They were always getting kidnapped by dragons, and instead of doing something useful – like maybe escaping – they sat around bemoaning the hand fate dealt them and waiting for a prince to do all the hard work. Philip just didn’t see the appeal.
    It was no wonder there was a princess shortage these days; half of them got eaten by dragons who got bored