Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

k is used up and the larder is empty; the bread is all gone, and mother has nothing with which to bake more. The children are hungry and there is no food for them. Father puts forth the last reserve of his rapidly waning strength to obtain supplies but all in vain. Last night he came home from a final extended effort to get food for his children, but he returned empty- handed. Now it is morning. The children who went to bed hungry, but quieted by the hope that father would return with food in the morning, are now coming for breakfast. As they approach, father and mother ob- serve how haggard and starved they already are. It almost breaks the hearts of the parents to see them sadly disappointed. Family worship is conducted as usual, but after the prayer, there is no breakfast. All hungry, and nothing to eat. What a terrible thought! During the day, a kind neighbor, who realized that they were actually starving, shared with them of his scanty supplies, even though his store was small, and would in no wise last till the next crop. They ate the little food which was just enough for one day’s rations. Again efforts were put forth to get food. A little grain with considerable substitutes, such as buckwheat flour, sunflower VIZUALIZING FAMINE CONDITIONS 229 seed meal, flour made of ground “kurai’’ a common tum- bleweed, or ground corncobs had been obtained in ex- change for several pieces of the scant supply of furniture. These were prepared for the table, and the family con- tinued to subsist for a short time. This was repeated several times but with each day the family showed more traces of under-nourishment. As days and weeks passed, conditions became worse, and despair threatened to over- come them. They did everything possible to obtain food, and prayed as never before, and yet all seemed in vain. What a testing time for their faith, The morning worship, which in former days was always followed by a hearty meal, became almost a torture. In the days of plenty it was easy to have faith in God and trust Him for the daily food, but now! The father was daily compelled to face the children whom he had taught to trust in God who would certainly care for them. He hardly dared to read again, ‘Consider the lilies of the field, etc.” or “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink;” “Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” From day to day the pangs of hunger and.the hope- lessness of the situation continued to increase. But as time wore on, the complaints of the little ones became less emphatic. The loud calls for bread had changed into quiet melancholy pleadings. Their voices became more husky, their eyes watery, and their pleadings pathetic to the point of breaking one’s heart. The sound of song and merry laughter gradually disappeared. Interest