Autobiography of Anna V. Blough

              
LEST, I FORGET.
Bless the Lord oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits.  Psa. 103: 2.
Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led thee. Deut, 3: 2.
In as much as the Heavenly Father has bestowed upon us the gift of memory, that the blessings he bestows upon us may be retained as living realities, thus building for foundationin his ever constant care, it seems good to me to record here some of those cvents [sic] in my life that stand out as mile-stones along the path of my life.  There have been many times when my spirits have been at low ebb,  When a backward glance at the marvelous victories God has given me,has inspired new faith and courage, for present trials.  So, the 25th day of January 1915, I shallbegin to make an effort, to pick up the tangled threads, and perchance discover a continuous strain in which the Divine plan for my life has brot [sic] me to this present time, a raw recruit in Missionary service at Ping Hsien, Shansi, China.
The first years of my life have nothing special notice, say from my birth, Nov. 22, 1885, til the age of ten or twelve years.  I still remember the home near Waterloo,where we lived till I was six years old.  But the place thatshal always be Dearest spot on earth to me, is the one five miles south of Waterloo.  Here I had a playmate, Bertha Sweitzer with whom I passed an unconcerned childhood.  How different we were.  She was so refine, so gentke [sic], so kind, so good,   Would that those graces might ve [sic] mine too.
Sept. 25, 1898, in the silvery BlackHawk streamon an ideal autumn day, I was baptized.  Two years before, Bertha nad [sic] accepted her Saviour, but it did not then appeal to me.  Then. A year before, when Cora Lichty now my sister, was baptized [sic], I felt too that I should be.  But there was not courage in my heart to say anything, and others did not guess what was in my heartg [sic].  So for over a year, the Spirit 
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strove with me and made me to feel I was on loosing ground.  I rtemember the eve.  My courage rose high,enough to tell Mother that at that evening service I desired to make an open stand,  It was hard, yet when the song Softly and