"Kitty"

Catharine Smith was a native of Pabay, a small island 
in Loch Roag, where dwell seven families. From their 
insular situation and poverty, it has not been in the 
power of the parents to educate their children ; but little 
Kitty is an example of the truth that all God's children 
are taught of him, for when only two years old she was 
observed to lay aside her playthings, and clasp her little 
hands with reverence during family worship ; and at the 
age of three she was in the habit of repeating the 23d 
Psalm, with such relish and fervour as showed that she 
looked to the good shepherd in the character of a lamb of 
his flock. Her parents taught her also tbe I>ord's Prayer, 
which she repeated duly, not only at her stated times, 
hut often in the silence of night. She frequently pressed 
the duty of prayer, not only on the other children, but 


 

on her parents, and she told her father that, in their 
absence, v/hen she would ask a blessing- on the food left 
for the children, her brothers and sisters would mock at 
and beat her for doing- so. At another time, when she 
was probably about six years old, she was out with her 
companions herding- cattle, when she spoke to them of 
the comehness of Christ. They, probably to tempt her, 
said he was black. She left them, and returned home 
much cast down, and said, " The children vexed me very- 
much to-day. I will not g-o with them, for they said that 
Christ was black, and that grieved my spirit." Her 
parents asked her what she rephed to that. " I told 
them," she said, " that Christ is white and glorious in his 
apparel." 

It is probable that Kitty was sufficiently enlightened 
to discern the moral comeliness of the gracious Redeem- 
er, while her thoughtless conmrades did not extend their 
ideas beyond personal beauty. They would have said 
any thing that might produce the effect of provoking their 
playfellow, whose more intelligent spirit grieved for 
them that they " saw no beauty in him" whom her soul 
loved, " that they should desire him." Perhaps no Chris- 
tian character is truly confirmed in faith and patience, 
without some trial of persecution, which both shows to the 
heart its own corruption, by the irritating effects of gain- 
saying, and affords an opportunity of proving that we are 
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. This dear child 
had her trial adapted to her age and sphere, and came 
forth on the Lord's side holding fast the word of life, in 
as firm a way as a much more experienced Christian 
might have done. 

The Rev. J. Macdonald of Farintosh having preached 
in the parish of Uig, Kitty's parents were among the 
many who went to hear him. On their return they men- 
tioned what he had said about the formality of much that 
is called prayer, and the ignorance of many as to its spi- 
rituality ; they stated, according to their recollection of 
the sermon, that many had old useless prayers, and greatly 
needed to learn to pray with the Spirit. The child ob- 
served this, and two days after, said to her mother, " it 

 

is time for me to give over my old form of prayer." Her 
mother replied, " neither you nor your prayers are old ; " 
but she rejoined, " I must give them over, and use the 
prayers which the Lord will teach me." After this she 
withdrew to retired spots for prayer. At one time her 
younger sister returned Avithout her, and on being asked 
where she had left Kitty, she said, " I left her praying." 
Her father says that he has often sat up in bed listening 
to her sweet young voice, presenting this petition with 
heartfelt earnestness, " Oh, redeem me from spiritual and 
eternal death." 

From the remoteness of her dwelling, Kitty had never 
attended any place of public worship, — but the Sabbath 
was her delight, — and often would she call in her brothers 
and sisters from the play in which they were thought- 
lessly engaged, asking them to join in prayer and other 
devout exercises, and warning them, that if they profaned 
the day, and disliked God's worship, they must perish. 
Her mother observing the intent gaze with which she 
looked on a large fire, enquired what she saw in that fire? 
She replied, " I am seeing that my state would be awful if 
I were to fall into that fire, even though I should be im- 
mediately taken out ; but wo is me, those who are cast 
into hell fire will never come out thence." Another day, 
when walking by the side of a precipice, and looking 
down, she exclaimed to her mother, " how fearful would 
our state be if we were to fall down this rock, even 
though we should be lifted up again ; but they who are 
cast into the depths of hell will never be raised there- 
from." * 

One day her mother found her lying on a bench with 
a sad countenance, and addressed some jocular words to 
her with a view to cheer her. But the child's heart was 
occupied with solemn thoughts of eternity ; and instead 
of smiling, she answered gravely, " O, mother, you are 
vexing my spirit, I would rather hear you praying." In 

* The reader is requested to observe that the child's words are 
translated from the Gaelic, and thus have lost their infantine ex- 
pression. 

 

truth, eternity was very near her, and the Spirit of God 
was preparing her for entering- it. As she got up one 
morning, she said, " O, are we not wicked creatures who 
have put Christ to death." Her mother, curious to hear 
what one so young could say on such a sul)ject, replied, 
" Christ was put to death, Kitty, long het'ore we were 
born." The child, speaking with an understanding heart, 
said, " mother, I am younger than you, but my sins were 
crucifying him." After a pause, she added, " what a 
wonder that Christ could be put to death when he him- 
self was God, and had power to kill every one ; indeed, 
they only put him to death as man, for it is impossible to 
kill God." She used often to repeat passages from Peter 
Grant's spiritual songs, such as, " It is the blood of the 
Lamb that precious is." When she came to the conclu- 
sion of the verse, " It is not valued according to its 
worth," she would, in touching terms, lament the sad 
truth, that His blood is so lightly thought of. Being 
present when some pious persons spoke of those in vii. 
Rev. who have washed their robes and made them white 
in the blood of the Lamb, she said, " is it not wonderful 
that, while other blood stains what is dipped in it, this 
cleanses and makes white." 

Murdoch Macleod being engaged in the valuable duties 
of a Scottish elder in the little island of Pabay, Kitty 
wished much to hear him, but from bashfulness was 
ashamed to enter the house where he was employed in 
worship ; she therefore climbed up to the window and 
sat there till all was over. Being asked what she had 
heard, she said she was amazed to hear that Christ offered 
himself as a Saviour to many in our land who rejected 
him, and that he was now going to other and more remote 
quarters to win souls. She then added with the pathos 
of a full heart, " O, who knows but he may return here 
again." 

Soon after she had completed her seventh year she was 
attacked by that sickness which opened her way to the 
kingdom of Heaven. When her father asked who she 
pitied most of those she would leave behind, she replied 
that she pitied every one whom she left in a Christless 

 

state. She suffered much from thirst during- her illness, 
and her mother, reluctant to give her so much cold water 
as she longed for, fell upon the evil expedient of telling 
her that the well was dried up. The following- day, 
when she saw water brought in for household purposes, 
poor Kitty's heart was grieved, and she said, " O, mother 
dear, was it not you who told the great lie yesterday, when 
you said the well was dry — O, never do so again, for it 
ang-ers God." During- her illness, she was enabled almost 
literally to obey the command, '' pray without ceasing-,'* 
and was often interceding- with the Lord to look down 
and visit her native place. On the morning of her last 
day on earth, her father said, " there is reason for thank- 
fulness that we see another day." Kitty opened her eyes, 
and said, " O, Holy One of Israel save me from death," 
a petition often used when in perfect health, and evidently 
referring- to spiritual and eternal death. Throughout the 
day she was generally silent, which her father remarked, 
saying-, " I do not hear you praying as usual;" to which 
she replied, "dear father, I pray without ceasing-, though 
not because you desire me to do so." In her last moments 
she was heard to say, " O, redeem me from death." Her 
father, leaning over her, said, " Kitty, where are you 
now ? " To which the reply was, " I am on the shore;" 
and immediately her soul was launched into the great 
ocean of eternity. In December, 1829, this lowly child 
was carried from her poor native island to the blessed 
region where the redeemed of the Lord find their home, 
and her name has left a sweet perfume behind it. 

From this most satisfactory and authentic account of 
the blessed state of one of the youngest souls brought to 
Christ during- the revival at the Lewis, which strongly 
reminds us of the narrative of a child of equally tender 
years detailed by Jonathan Edwards, we turn to two aged 
men, who almost literally explain the anomalous ex- 
pression, " a child of a hundred years old."