Collective Worship
Title: Mary Jones and her Bible
Theme: Determination to succeed and patience
School: Primary
Term: All terms
Summary: The story of Mary Jones’ efforts to save enough money for a Bible and her twenty-five mile walk to Bala to buy it.
Teachers’ Notes
Recommended hymn/song:
The Journey of Life (Come and Praise Bk1 no. 45)
Recommended reading:
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Psalms 119:11
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:16
Instructions:
The pictures should be shown on PowerPoint as the story is told. The ( ) shows when the slide should be changed. To attract the pupils’ attention, we recommend the first slide is already on display as they enter.
The Main Text
(Picture 1)
Have you ever wanted something really badly? Did you get it? Did you have to work hard or give something up to get it?
This story is about a girl who wanted something so much that she was prepared to make a lot of sacrifices to get it, even though it took her several years to save enough money to buy the thing she wished for.
That girl was Mary Jones. She was born in the remote village of Llanfihangel y Pennant, in Meirionydd, in 1784.
(Picture 2)
Mary went to school in a nearby village. She enjoyed going to school and wanted to read as much as she could. In those days there were few books and they were very expensive. In many homes the only book available was the Bible.
(Picture 3)
There wasn’t a Bible in Mary’s poor household so every Saturday afternoon she was allowed to visit her neighbour’s house, Mrs Evans, to read her Bible.
Mary’s greatest wish was to have a Bible of her own. The price of a Bible in those days was about 18 pence. That doesn’t sound very much to us nowadays, but when Mary was alive two hundred years ago this was more than a week’s wages for most people. However Mary was determined not to let the cost of the Bible put her off. She decided that she would earn the money all by herself.
(Picture 4)
So Mary set to work. She was constantly thinking of different ways to add a few pennies to her collection every day. She knitted socks to sell, she did some babysitting, she weeded people’s gardens and she collected bundles of firewood.
(Picture 5)
Mrs Evans heard about Mary’s idea and gave her some hens so that she could make money by selling the eggs to her neighbours. Then one day she counted her coins and found that at last she had earned enough.
How long do you think it had taken Mary to raise this money? She started when she was ten and didn’t have enough until she was 16 years old - so it took her six years!
But now that Mary had finally saved up the money, her problem was how to get a Bible. They could not easily be bought in the shops.
(Picture 6)
Usually people ordered them from a man called Thomas Charles who lived in Bala, a town about 25 miles from Mary’s village. You would not take long to drive that distance in a car today, but in those days the only means of transport were walking, travelling on horseback or in a horse drawn cart.
Mary decided to walk to Bala to buy her Bible.
(Picture 7)
She set off early one morning and walked all day long. She didn’t wear her shoes because she only had one pair and didn’t want to wear them out on the long journey. As evening fell, clouds gathered above the rocky mountain slopes. Mary wrapped her shawl more tightly round her shoulders and continued on her journey.
It was very late when Mary arrived at Thomas Charles’ house and she was in for a big disappointment. He only had one Bible left and he had promised it to someone else.
(Picture 8)
But when Thomas Charles heard Mary’s story he let her have the last Bible. He was sure that when the other person heard it too they would not mind waiting a little longer.
(Picture 9)
Thomas Charles was so impressed with Mary’s determination that he set up a society with the aim of providing a Bible for everyone in the world. That society still exists today and it is called the Bible Society.
(Picture 10)
Mary lived until she was 82 years old. A memorial stone can be found along the route that she took to gain her precious prize from Llanfihangel y Pennant to Bala. Here are the words that she wrote inside her Bible:
(Picture 11)
‘’Mary Jones was born 16th December 1784. I bought this in the sixteenth year of my age. I am daughter of Jacob Jones and Mary Jones his wife. The Lord may give me grace Amen. Mary Jones is the true owner of this Bible. Bought in the year 1800 aged sixteen.’’
Prayer
Dear Lord
Help us to realise that in order to succeed we sometimes have to work hard and not give up. Give us the patience to realise that we cannot always have things straight away. Give us the grace to be thankful for everything that you give us.
Amen