Mary's Dream: A True Life Story

Written by Arthur Zulu


Mary's Dream: A True Life Story The true story of a poor girl's quest for a Bible. (True Story)

She walked several kilometers bare- footed inrepparttar winter cold to buy a Bible. But it was sold out before she got to her destination. What happened? Find out.

There are dreams and there are dreams. And there are dreamers and there are dreamers too. Some of these dreamers realize their dreams, while others have had their names writ in water. In some, theirs may be an ambition to rule empires, while for other young men,repparttar 123326 mere accomplishment of marrying a fair lady and living happily with her ever after in a hanging garden beside a blue sea, is a big dream.

Now consider one of these dreamers who dreams of owing a Bible. Butrepparttar 123327 family being very poor could barely provide food forrepparttar 123328 members, not to talk of buying a Bible. Now this dreamer is notrepparttar 123329 Biblical Joseph,repparttar 123330 dreamer. But her name is Mary Jones, a sixteen - year old girl born 1784 in a village in Wales that goes byrepparttar 123331 curious name of Llanfihangel.

There is nothing wrong to dream of owning a Bible though. Butrepparttar 123332 odds against her are many. Becauserepparttar 123333 girl lived inrepparttar 123334 wrong century and dreamed inrepparttar 123335 wrong times. In those days, to own a Bible was to die. Like William Tyndale. Like Jan Hus. Like so many others.

But big dreamers are die- hards. And Mary was one of them. So this daughter of poor weavers started saving whatever money that she got in order to buy a Bible. It was Mary's parents that aroused her interest inrepparttar 123336 Bible. They told her Bible stories and instilledrepparttar 123337 fear of God in her heart. Sincerepparttar 123338 family never had a Bible, Mary often read a neighbor's Welsh Bible.

Then when she was sixteen years old inrepparttar 123339 year 1800, news came that a few Welsh Bibles were available for sale atrepparttar 123340 local church at Bala. She checked her box of coins. It was full. She told her parents that her dream was coming true. For she was going to Bala to buy her own copy ofrepparttar 123341 Bible.

The journey to Bala itself was not an easy one. From Llanfiangel inrepparttar 123342 Atlantic coastline up to Bala inrepparttar 123343 hinterland is over 40 kilometers. Again, she was to walk barefooted inrepparttar 123344 middle of winter and without a winter coat or booth to get there. Furthermore, it was a steepy mountainous terrain, often rising, falling, and meandering here and there. And worse: it was a highway for robbers.

Few parents would allow a sixteen - year old daughter to take a risk. But few families have sixteen year olds who have a love forrepparttar 123345 Bible. So onrepparttar 123346 day of Mary's departure Mr. and Mrs. Jones bought bread and dried meat that would last her journey, tied them up in a large white handkerchief and put it in a basket.

Mary ties her coins in a neck handkerchief, puts it inrepparttar 123347 pocket of her long dress, adorns a hat and carries her basket of provisions. And with a hug, a kiss and a goodbye from her parents, she startsrepparttar 123348 long, uncertain journey to Bala.

She had thought of makingrepparttar 123349 journey in three days. She walked 18 kilometersrepparttar 123350 first day. It was very cold and she shook all alongrepparttar 123351 journey. She only stopped to eat and rest under a tree. She was almost dropping dead when she sighted a watchman warming himself beside a fire in a village gate house. Not wanting to spendrepparttar 123352 money by lodging in an inn, she beggedrepparttar 123353 watchman that he allow her to passrepparttar 123354 night inrepparttar 123355 gate house.

"No problem" saidrepparttar 123356 old man spreading his palms byrepparttar 123357 fire. "But who ye and where art thou goest this winter cold?" he asked.

"I am Mary. Going to Bala."

"That's 22 kilometers away, and no winter boots and coat" saidrepparttar 123358 old man absent mindedly. "Here's some hot soup. It'll do ye some good"

With that, he poursrepparttar 123359 hot soup in two bowls. And they drink and talk ofrepparttar 123360 weather. Before .long,repparttar 123361 old watchman falls asleep followed byrepparttar 123362 tired Mary.

Inrepparttar 123363 morning, she thanksrepparttar 123364 old man, washed her face and continues her journey. Today, she walks 15 kilometers, stopping twice to rest and eat. What makesrepparttar 123365 journey hard, is that she would have to climb and descend mountains. Her legs swoll and ached. And at night, she met a group of weavers who were working throughrepparttar 123366 night by a fireside. She indicated her willingness to help inrepparttar 123367 loom for an opportunity to stay forrepparttar 123368 night.

The curious weavers received her after hearing her story. She worked for a while and was allowed to even sleep inrepparttar 123369 early morning hours. They even gave her a coin before she left inrepparttar 123370 morning. When she was exhausted inrepparttar 123371 evening, she dragged herself into an unlit gate house atrepparttar 123372 outskirt of a village. The watchman was not there. Perhaps, he will be coming later, she thought. And she lay on a mat and slept away.

It was 2 am. Two thieves, Red Devil and Black Night were looking for someone to rob. The road was empty. It was plain that they would have to go hungry and empty handed. Andrepparttar 123373 night was cold. They looked intorepparttar 123374 dark gate house. The night watchman didn't come. So they decided to go in and rest for a while beforerepparttar 123375 break of dawn. But to their surprise they found a girl fast asleep there. Red devil held her throat, while black night searched and took her money. After that, they take her remaining bread and meat, leavingrepparttar 123376 cloth andrepparttar 123377 basket; and ran away.

.............................................

The local apothecary generally called Dr. Hades found it unusual to be woken by this barefooted girl with a basket this early morning. After listening to her, he asked:

"Do you know them that stole your money?"

"No" was Mary's answer.

"And is that why you want to drink arsenic to kill yourself?

"Yes" she replies.

"But where did you getrepparttar 123378 coin you want to use to pay forrepparttar 123379 poison?"

She explained that it was a gift from some weavers whom she had helped to weaverepparttar 123380 night before. But Dr. Hades was not satisfied with her answer. Perhaps,repparttar 123381 girl is a run-away—one of these bad girls inrepparttar 123382 neighborhood. Perhaps, she needs food and a good sleep. He goes to an inner room, returns with a mixture which he gives to her, and asks her to userepparttar 123383 coin to buy some food.

Mary thanks him and walks torepparttar 123384 gatehouse. She spreadrepparttar 123385 white handkerchief onrepparttar 123386 ground, finds a piece of rock and starts to write a suicide note on it,repparttar 123387 bottle of arsenic by her side. But halfway, she falls asleep.

...............................................

Lord Godsend, a generous rich man, happened to be passing through that road at that time. He was driven in his horse- drawn chariot by Jonny, who is inrepparttar 123388 habit of swearing byrepparttar 123389 minute.

If You Think You Can’t Do It “Because,” Take a Look at What These people Did “In Spite Of”

Written by Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach


Every now and then we’ve probably all had moments of thinking we couldn’t do something because we were too old or too young, too dumb or too smart, too threatening or too intimidated, too experienced or too naïve. We may also have thought we couldn’t do something because of physical, mental or emotional limitations. Atrepparttar same time, we may have people telling us we can’t because ofrepparttar 123325 same considerations.

When you need some inspiration, here are some people who refused to be limited by their disabilities. In fact some of them were motivated by it.

As Maria Eagle,repparttar 123326 UK’s Minister for Disabled People, said, in commenting onrepparttar 123327 winners for Greatest Disabled Britons, “It shows disability is certainly no barrier to greatness. In fact, in a lot of cases it acts as a spur.”

CAN’T DO IT BECAUSE YOU AREN’T PRIVILEGED?

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), dubbedrepparttar 123328 “Survey of Affluent Teenagers,” was no obstacle to a homeless teenager in California, who had been completely home-schooled. He just scored a perfect 800/800 onrepparttar 123329 SAT: http://www.thekcrachannel.com/news/574672/detail.html .

TOO OLD?

Americans overrepparttar 123330 age of 65 outpaced all demographic groups enteringrepparttar 123331 Internet “by staggering margins,” says CyberAtlas. Jupiter Research confirms: Older adults (50-64) and seniors (65+) were two ofrepparttar 123332 fastest emerging demographic groups online.

TOO YOUNG?

According to CyberAtlas, roughly 17 million US surfers during September 2003 were betweenrepparttar 123333 ages of 2 and 17. That is not a typo. TWO!

BRAIN CHEMICAL CHALLENGES?

SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, former prime minister of Great Britain and leader during World War II, was recently voted to Ouch’s Top Ten Greatest Disabled Britons (GDB). He suffered from depression for most of his life, or perhaps was bipolar. The depression, which he referred to as his “black dog,” became worse in later years. This is what lies behindrepparttar 123334 famous, “Never give up. Never. Never. Never. Never.” [Note: Ouch ( www.bbc.co.uk/ouch ) is BBC’s website that reflects life as a disabled person.]

LIONEL ALDRIDGE , a defensive end for Vince Lombardi’s legendary Green Bay Packers ofrepparttar 123335 60s, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia inrepparttar 123336 70s. While playing, he won three world championships, including two Super bowls. He now gives inspirational talks about his battle against paranoid schizophrenia.

PHYSICAL DISABILITY?

Voted Number One in Ouch’s poll of Greatest Disabled Britons was STEPHEN HAWKING, a world-renowned astrophysicist who is severely physically disabled. “The human race,” he said, “is so puny compared torepparttar 123337 universe that being disabled is not of much cosmic significance.”

A victim of Motor Neurone Disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, he basically lives in “a useless body”. For instance, with computer help, he is able to “speak” 15 words a minute. His site is here: http://www.hawking.org.uk but typically you will find little of his disability.

In case you are feeling sorry for yourself because you have an artificial knee or just had a hip replacement, take a look at these photos: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/features/bitch/bitchhawking.shtml .

Hawking holdsrepparttar 123338 highest position available at Cambridge, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.

IAN DURY, a major pop star who was stricken with polio atrepparttar 123339 age of 7, received nearly one-third ofrepparttar 123340 votes inrepparttar 123341 GDB poll. Dury, who died a couple of years ago, “strutted around stage with a stick, combining rock ’n’ roll, humor, wit and a stage presence,” said one review. “He was truly brave,” said an article inrepparttar 123342 Guardian Limited, “both physically and inrepparttar 123343 way he approached his music.”

He continued to perform while seriously ill with cancer in his final years. When he discoveredrepparttar 123344 expensive drugs he was receiving were not available onrepparttar 123345 NHS, he devoted time to raising funds for an organization called CancerBACUP.

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