I remember hearing of a boy brought up in an English almshouse. He had never learned to read or write. He only knew the letters of the alphabet. One day a man of God came there, and told the children that if they prayed to God in their trouble, He would send them help. After a time this boy was apprenticed to a farmer.
One day he was sent out into the fields to look after some sheep. He was having rather a hard time; so he remembered what the preacher had said, and he thought he would pray to God about it. Some one going by the field heard a voice behind the hedge. They looked to see whose it was, and saw the little fellow on his knees, saying, “A, B, C, D,” and so on.
The man said, “My boy, what are you doing?” He looked up and said he was praying. “Why, that is not praying; it is only saying the alphabet.” He said he did not know just how to pray, but a man once came to the poor-house, who told them that if they called upon God, He would help them.
So he thought that if he named over the letters of the alphabet, God would take them and put them together into a prayer, and give him what he wanted. The little fellow was really praying. Sometimes when your child talks, your friends cannot understand what he says, but the mother understands very well. So if our prayer comes right from the heart, God understands our language. —MOODY.
