Bessie B. jFarrac. 
 
 [From Missionary Tidings, April, 1898.] 
 
 In the beautiful city of Louisville, Ky., Bes¬ 
 sie Bolling Farrar was born November 6, 1872. 
 The home of her parents, John William D. Far¬ 
 rar and Virginia Carter Farrar, was made very 
 bright by the presence of their little sunbeam. 
 Having consecrated her to the Lord from in¬ 
 fancy, the loving mother sought, day by day, 
 to teach this little one the sweet lessons of 
 Jesus. 
 
 When she was quite a little girl her parents 
 moved to Richmond, Va., where she spent the 
 first seven or eight years of her life. About 
 that time her father’s business took him to 
 Manchester, and here the most important days 
 of her young life were spent. 
 
 Every Sunday she and her little sister, two 
 years younger, would trudge over the long 
 bridge leading from Manchester to the Seventh 
 Street Christian Church in Richmond, talking 
 along the way about their library books. 
 
 At last the time came when she felt that she 
 must give herself to the Savior; so the two sis¬ 
 ters talked it over, and together they knelt to 
 
ask the guidance of their Father in Heaven, 
 and then both decided to go forward the fol¬ 
 lowing Lord’s Day to make their confession. 
 
 So in dear old Seventh Street Church “Our 
 Bessie” gave her heart to Jesus when she was 
 twelve years old. Ever since that time she has 
 been faithful in His service. 
 
 At this time she was deeply impressed with 
 the great need of sending the Gospel to the 
 heathen. One day, after she had attended the 
 C. W. B. M. meeting with her mother, I found 
 in her drawer these words: “I have conse¬ 
 crated myself to the Lord to carry the Gospel 
 to the heathen, and will make it my life work, 
 if I am thirty before I can prepare myself to 
 go.” 
 
 When she was fourteen her parents moved 
 back to Richmond so that they could give their 
 children better educational advantages. Not 
 being very strong, her loved ones feared her 
 great desire to study and improve every oppor¬ 
 tunity would seriously injure her health, but 
 “Our Bessie” felt that she must improve every 
 moment and would not give up. Finally her 
 health broke down under the mental strain and 
 tax on her eyes, one of which gave her very 
 serious trouble at that time. I shall never 
 forget the day I came home from school and 
 found a napkin on the door, and saw the anxi¬ 
 ous faces of the neighbors who met me in the 
 hall and told me that my darling sister was ill 
 from an operation which had been performed 
 on her eye. She had been having convulsions 
 all day, one after the other. I could hear her 
 
praying, oh! so earnestly, that the dear Lord 
 would not take her until she could go to India 
 to give those sad people the glad msssage of a 
 risen Lord. Her prayers were answered and 
 her dear life was spared. After her recovery, 
 she resumed her studies and continued at the 
 Richmond high school until the fall of ’91, 
 when the way was made ready for her to go to 
 Bethany College to prepare for her life work. 
 
 Here, I am sure, some of her happiest days 
 have been spent. Although she was always 
 looking forward to the time when she could 
 start for her far-off mission, she knew how to 
 improve every opportunity for doing good 
 around her, and seemed to live in her daily^ life 
 those beautiful words of Miss Havergal’s, of 
 which she is so fond: 
 
 “Just to let tliy Father do what He will, 
 
 Just to know that He is true, and be still; 
 
 Just to follow Him, hour by hour, as He leadeth, 
 Just to draw the moment’s power as it needeth ; 
 Just to trust Him, this is all; 
 
 Then the day will surely be 
 Peaceful, whatsoe’er befall, 
 
 Bright and blessed, calm and free.” 
 
 In the summer of ’94 she graduated. Then 
 came the sad parting with loved friends. 
 
 At our National Convention, held in Rich¬ 
 mond in the fall of ’94, it was decided that she 
 should go to Deoghur, India, in response to the 
 earnest appeal from dear Miss Adam for more 
 helpers. “Our Bessie” rejoiced that she had 
 been called to this the darkest spot in India. 
 
 October 4, 1895, she bade farewell to the dear 
 loved ones in the home in Danville, Va., where 
 
her parents had moved while she was in col¬ 
 lege. For Christ’s sake she was willing to 
 leave them and go into far-away India to lift 
 the banner of our Lord—not because she loved 
 her dear ones any less, but because she loved 
 her Savior far more. 
 
 On October 19, in company with the Drs. Mil¬ 
 ler and Miss Spradlin, she turned her face to¬ 
 ward India’s coral strand. How lovingly our 
 Father has watched over her during the years 
 of her labor in that dark country! 
 
 Now “Our Bessie” has just reached the 
 twenty-fifth mile-stone of her earthly pilgrim¬ 
 age, and this is the message which comes from 
 her far-away home: 
 
 “To-day I come to the quarter-century mile¬ 
 stone along life’s journey. I wanted to stop 
 and look at it and dream about all those twen¬ 
 ty-five miles I have come, but no! They tell 
 me that no one can stop in this journey—every 
 moment must find us nearer the next stone. I 
 would have asked about the road for this com¬ 
 ing mile, but I would only have been told that 
 only as I take the steps can I know. I can tell 
 that the way points up hill, but that is all. I 
 have a Guide whom I trust. He has led me all 
 the way so far, and has promised to lead me till 
 I reach Home. He is very faithful and very 
 gentle. There is none like Him. So the com¬ 
 ing mile must be a happy one so long as I fol¬ 
 low closely.” Birdie Farrar Omer. 
 
 Published by the Christian Woman’s Board of Mis¬ 
 sions, 152 E. Market St., Indianapolis, Ind., March, 1900. 
 One cent each ; ten cents per dozen.