"Have you heard of Delia Rees, the Bluebird of Mulberry Bend? She was one of the lowest and vilest habitués of the dens of iniquity in the city of New York. In a low dive surrounded by thieves and wicked associates she was reached through Christian workers, and her interest awakened and her desire for a life of purity kindled, through the gift of a delicate pink rose. ‘Bluey,’ as her rough, sinful companions called her, was once a beautiful, innocent girl, reared in a convent. Ruined through means of a deadly drug, she had gone from bad to worse. She became addicted to snuff, tobacco, whiskey, and opium; had been six times behind the prison bars; her body was scarred and marked with stabs, cuts and bruises and part of her hair had been pulled out by the roots.
"The interest of God’s children in the ‘Door of Hope,’ in New York, touched her and awakened thoughts of childhood. Love reached her heart and she sought and found Jesus Christ as her own personal Saviour. She proved Him to be a ‘risen Christ,’ an ever-present friend. She was delivered from the awful, sinful habits which were dragging her down. She gave herself to the Lord and like the woman of Samaria (John 4) began at once to tell others of Jesus. Her health was undermined by the awful life of sin she had been in and she only lived a short time; but in about eleven months time she had led one hundred to Christ ‘out of darkness into light,’ ‘The gates of hell’ prevailed not against her. Death was a triumphant entry into ‘the joy’ of her Lord."
