E-text prepared by Audrey Longhurst, Gregory Smith,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
The Lamp in the Desert
By Ethel M. Dell
The Way of an Eagle
The Knave of Diamonds
The Rocks of Valpré
The Swindler, and Other Stories
The Keeper of the Door
The Bars of Iron
The Hundredth Chance
The Safety Curtain, and Other Stories
Greatheart
He knelt beside her, his arms comfortingly around her.
Drawn by D.C. Hutchinson Chapter V.
The Lamp in the Desert
By
Ethel M. Dell
Author of The Way of an Eagle, The Hundredth Chance, etc.
1919
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO
MY DEARLY-LOVED
ELIZABETH
AND TO THE MEMORY OF HER GREAT GOODNESS
WHEN SHE WALKED IN THE
DESERT WITH ME
"He led them all the night through with a light of fire."
PSALM lxxviii, 14
Lamps that gleam in the city,
Lamps that flare on the wall,
Lamps that shine on the ways of men,
Kindled by men are all.
Lamps that flare on the wall,
Lamps that shine on the ways of men,
Kindled by men are all.
But the desert of burnt-out ashes,
Which only the lost have trod,
Dark and barren and flowerless,
Is lit by the Hand of God.
Which only the lost have trod,
Dark and barren and flowerless,
Is lit by the Hand of God.
To lighten the outer darkness,
To hasten the halting feet,
He lifts a lamp in the desert
Like the lamps of men in the street.
To hasten the halting feet,
He lifts a lamp in the desert
Like the lamps of men in the street.
Only the wanderers know it,
The lost with those who mourn,
That lamp in the desert darkness,
And the joy that comes in the dawn.
The lost with those who mourn,
That lamp in the desert darkness,
And the joy that comes in the dawn.
That the lost may come into safety,
And the mourners may cease to doubt,
The Lamp of God will be shining still
When the lamps of men go out.
And the mourners may cease to doubt,
The Lamp of God will be shining still
When the lamps of men go out.