It all started with a gift from my mother in the year 1910, when I was ten years of age.

MY FAMILY lived in a wooden cottage in the North Sydney suburb of Crows Nest. I came home from school one day to find my mother talking to a man at the front door. I was curious about the identity of this strange man who was dressed in a suit and carried a bag full of books. I shyly excused myself and went into the house. However, just a few minutes later, Mother called me. She said: “This man has some lovely books, and they’re all about the Scriptures. Now, since you’re going to have another birthday soon, you can either have a new dress or these books. Which would you like?”

“Oh, Mummy, I’ll have the books thank you,” I responded.

So at age ten, I came to have the first three volumes of Studies in the Scriptures, by Charles Taze Russell. The man at the door explained to my mother that she would need to help me to understand the books, as they would likely be too difficult for me. Mother said that she would be glad to do so.

A Neighbor Shares Spiritual Truth

Through all those years, the “Bible books” traveled with me. Though I had never really read them, deep down I knew that the message they contained was important. Then, one day in the late 1920’s, Lil Bimson, one of our neighbors, came to visit. We went into the lounge, sat down, and had some tea.

“Oh, you’ve got those books!” she suddenly exclaimed.

“What books?” I asked, puzzled.

She pointed to Studies in the Scriptures sitting in the bookcase. Lil borrowed them and took them home that day and eagerly read them. Her excitement over what she read soon became very evident.