"What was it all about?" asked the girl as they settled into a steady gait
after a long gallop across a smooth level place.
He looked at her questioningly.
"The school. What did it mean? She said it was a Christian Endeavor. What
is that?"
"Why, some sort of a religious meeting, or something of that kind, I
suppose," he answered lamely. "Did you enjoy it?"
"Yes," she answered solemnly, "I liked it. I never went to such a thing
before. The girl said they had one everywhere all over the world. What do
you think she meant?"
"Why, I don't know, I'm sure, unless it's some kind of a society. But it
looked to me like a prayer meeting. I've heard about prayer meetings, but
I never went to one, though I never supposed they were so interesting.
That was a remarkable story that old man told of how he was taken care of
that night among the Indians. He evidently believes that prayer helps
people."
"Don't you?" she asked quickly.
"O, certainly!" he said, "but there was something so genuine about the way
the old man told it that it made you feel it in a new way."
"It is all new to me," said the girl. "But mother used to go to Sunday
school and church and prayer meeting. She's often told me about it. She
used to sing sometimes. One song was 'Rock of Ages.' Did you ever hear
that?
"'Rock of Ages, cleft for me.
Let me hide myself in Thee.'"
She said it slowly and in a singsong voice, as if she were measuring the
words off to imaginary notes. "I thought about that the night I started. I
wished I knew where that rock was. Is there a rock anywhere that they call
the Rock of Ages?"
The young man was visibly embarrassed. He wanted to laugh, but he would
not hurt her in that way again. He was not accustomed to talking
religion; yet here by this strange girl's side it seemed perfectly natural
that he, who knew so very little experimentally himself about it, should
be trying to explain the Rock of Ages to a soul in need. All at once it
flashed upon him that it was for just such souls in need as this one that
the Rock of Ages came into the world.
"I've heard the song. Yes, I think they sing it in all churches. It's
quite common. No, there isn't any place called Rock of Ages. It
refers--that is, I believe--why, you see the thing is figurative--that is,
a kind of picture of things. It refers to the Deity."
"O! Who is that?" asked the girt.
"Why--God." He tried to say it as if he had been telling her it was Mr.
Smith or Mr. Jones, but somehow the sound of the word on his lips thus
shocked him. He did not know how to go on. "It just means God will take
care of people."