1887 



GLEANINGS IN iJEE CULTUKE. 



71 



dn^ JlefiEg. 



And if any man will sue thee at the law, and talie 

 away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And 

 whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with 

 him twain. — Matt. 5: 40, 41. 



^ AST iSuiulay afternoon I found another 

 1^ added to my class in our county jail. 

 ^J He was a stout, ruddy-faced young 

 ^^ man perhaps twenty years of age. His 

 face flushed when I spoke to him, and 

 I saw that he was quite bashful ; but in a 

 little time we got to talking like old friends. 

 Robert's story was something like this : He 

 came from England about two years ago, 

 and had been traveling about here and there, 

 trying to find work wherever it was to be 

 found. His last job was on the railroad ; 

 and on account of reducing the number of 

 hands in winter, he was thrown out of work, 

 and had been vainly trying to find something 

 to do in one of our neighboring towns. A 

 few evenings ago, the man with whom he 

 boards came home somewhat intoxicated. 

 He seemed to be in a quarrelsome, fault- 

 finding mood, and, among other things, he 

 inquired of his wife where Robert was. She 

 told him Robert had gone somewhere to help 

 somebody deliver some goods. He then in- 

 quired if Robert had found any work yet ; 

 and when told he had not, he broke out with 

 something like the following : 



" Well, he is a lazy, good-for-nothing shift- 

 less fellow. He certainly could get work if 

 he half tried.'' 



More remarks followed, not very compli- 

 mentary to Robert. Now, the truth was, 

 Robert had come home unknown to the 

 folks, and was at that time in bed ; but as 

 only a thin board partition separated him 

 from the family, he heard every word that 

 had been spoken, and up he jumped and 

 confronted the man who was speaking ill of 

 him behind his back. I presume some hard 

 and loud words ensued ; and finally the in- 

 toxicated man drew a pistol. At this, Rob- 

 ert put his hands on the man's shoulder and 

 pushed him away. This gave an opportuni- 

 ty of making a plea of assault and battery, 

 and the boarding-house keeper went for a 

 constable. The constable at once told him 

 he was intoxicated, and refused to make 

 any arrest. The man then went to another 

 officer of the law, who was not quite so par- 

 ticular, and Robert was arrested, and called 

 upon to pay a fine of $6.40. Robert had not 

 any money, so he could not pay it, and that 

 is why I found him in jail that Sunday after- 

 noon. You may perhaps notice that the 

 above statement is Robert's story for it. I 

 have not heard the other side at all, and, in 

 fact, we do not care any thing about the 

 Other side just now. When I find these boys 

 in jail, I endeavor to get the full facts in the 

 case, so far as I can, from their own lips, 

 and then I endeavor to show them that, ac- 

 cording to Bible teaching, they are con- 

 demned by their own words. Robert claim- 

 ed, as alcQOst all do who get into jail, that 

 he was entirely innocent, and had done 

 nothing. Wheii I had questioned him fully 

 on all the points of the case, I began talking 

 with him somewhat as follows : 

 '' Robert, why did you not stay in bed, 



since you had once retired in good order, 

 and thus have saved all this trouble and ex- 

 pense?" 



" Why, Mr. Root, do you suppose a man is 

 going to keep still in bed when he hears 

 somebody calling him a good-for-nothing 

 shiftless fellow, and going on in that way be- 

 hind his back?" 



" To be sure, I do expect a man to do just 

 that very thing, Robert." 



By this time my fingers were on the Bible, 

 and I opened to the fifth chapter of Mat- 

 thew, and read : 



But I say unto you, Love your enemies; bless 

 them that curse you, and do good to them that hate 

 you. 



Again I read : 



But whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, 

 turn to him the other also. 



Robert previously said that he was a mem- 

 ber of the Church of p]ngland before he 

 came over to America , and therefore 1 ex- 

 pected to have him at least respect these 

 words of the Savior, that seemed so espe- 

 cially calculated to help us to keep from get- 

 ting" into quarrels or dissensions. To my 

 surprise, however, he promptly rejected all 

 such teachings, saying, '" If that is Bible. I 

 don't want any of it around me." 



I appealed to one of the other inmates, 

 with whom I had had many long talks, and 

 I expected, of course, he would say that the 

 best thing Robert could have done was to 

 have kept still and let it go. I turned to 

 him. "■ Mr. Brant, if you lieard somebody 

 talking about you in the way Robert has 

 mentioned, after you had retired for the 

 night, would you not have kept still and let 

 it all pass?" 



'' To be sure, I would not^ Mr. Root. I 

 would get up and teach him manners." 



'• Even if it resulted in bringing you to 

 jail?" suggested I. 



" Yes, even if it brought me to jail. I 

 don't allow any man to abuse me when I am 

 around to hear it." 



I labored with them long and earnestly. I 

 even went so far as to tell them I feared 

 they would be in jail all their lives ; but 

 they decided they would take the jail, rather 

 than submit to being " run over." as they 

 termed it. Finally, however, I did succeed 

 in getting them to admit, that, if a man could 

 submit to be snubbed and abused, without 

 saying a word back, or doing any thing, it 

 would probably save trouble in the general 

 machinery of human life. 



" But, "Robert,"" said I, " after the deci- 

 sion had been made, that you were to pay 

 Si). 40 for laying your hands on a man before 

 he touched you, why did you not pay it and 

 have it done with?"' 



"■ Why, Mr. Tioot, I have already told you 

 that I hadn't any money. You know I have 

 not had any work all winter.'" 



'" But, it is a sad thing to get into Jail, and 

 have it hanging over you all your life after- 

 ward. Had you not an overcoat or watch, 

 or something you could leave with some 

 friend in order to keep you from going to 

 jail?"" 



He finally admitted that he had a watch, 

 and that it was worth $6.40 a good many 

 times over ; but when crowded, he replied,— 



