Around the World in 88 Years -E Book - Arthur Burt

over backwards, defying the law of gravity. I had never seenanything like it.My son Joe, who was 14 then, would be swept along in worship,dancing and whirling around with this brother like people on askating rink. This new liberty to worship Jesus tremendouslyblessed Joe. Another time, the Massey sisters ministered at ourchurch, and Joe went down on his face under the power of God.When he got up, all he could say was, “Oh, I can see His face.”The teen years bring strong temptations and challenges to children,even to those who are reared under the umbrella of Christianteaching and grace. We raised all of our children in this way,attending church meetings from the time they were three or fourweeks old — even through the war years, when the rationing ofpetrol meant transporting our large family mostly by bus or bicycle.Marj and I bought sidecars for our bicycles when we had our firsttwo children, and as our family grew, I enlarged my sidecar totake two. Then I went to a scrap yard and bought metal sides offlorries (trucks). I cut them up with a hacksaw and made a longcigar-shaped vehicle, and with a knuckle joint and a bent towbar, I fastened it under the saddle seat of my bicycle. Now I couldpull it directly behind instead of from the side. I would put Peterto sleep at the bottom, Miriam would lie at his feet, then Josephwould sleep over them in a hammock. I could transport threeasleep or six awake.During an awful winter we had in the ‘40’s, we traveled to themeetings in snow so deep it was almost to the top of the lamppoles in some places. I fastened a perambulator (baby carriage)onto a sledge and pulled the children on it to the mission.People looked upon us as the mad Burts. Every night we traveledto the meetings in this way, even though all of England was beingdesolated. The Germans had bombed two nearby towns —Sheffield, 23 miles from us, and Chesterfield, which was only 11miles away. Sheffield had been hit very hard. During one air raidthere, bombs had sealed both ends of an air raid shelter, trappinghundreds of people in, and they all died.131