444 



GLEAJ^INGS IN BEE OULTUKE. 



June 



I spoke to him in regard to different 

 things ; but he replied by yes or no, without 

 even looking at me. When I was in the 

 jewehy business I always prided myself on 

 my ability to sell goods. If I wanted to sell 

 a man a watch, the first thing was. in ordi- 

 nary cases, to get acquainted with him and 

 make myself agreeable. When people be- 

 came acquainted with me they usually were 

 willing to trust my statements. VVhat I 

 said would have but little weight until I had 

 made mvself agreeable and pleasant. It is 

 a trade to sell watches; it is a trade to sell 

 goods of any kind, and an expert salesman 

 usually commands a large salary. It oc- 

 cUiTed to me that I should have to use much 

 the same energy in getting acquainted with 

 this boy tliat 1 used to in selling goods. 

 Finally I turned to him, determined to see 

 wliether I could break the shell of indiffer- 

 ence or bashfulness (was it the latter ?). I 

 asked him his name. He replied, briefly, 

 "Henry.'' Then I turned myself toward 

 him and commenced something like this : 



"Henry, we are going to ride perhaps an 

 hour together, and I want to get ac(iuainted 

 with you. I wanted to know your first 

 name "itecause I want to talk with you as if 

 we had been friends a long while; and I 

 can't talk with anybody easily unless I call 

 them by their familiar name as other people 

 do. Perhaps you woidd like to know why I 

 wanted to get acquainted with you at all. 

 Well, Henry, it is because I love all the 

 boys. I want to see them grow up to be" 

 good men ; and, most of all, 1 want them to 

 become Christians." 



At this he looked me full in the face in 

 some astonishment ; but when he fully un- 

 derstood that it was in regard to his soid's 

 salvation that I intended to speak, you 

 should have seen the transformation that 

 came into that boy's face. I had not seen 

 him smile before at all ; but now a faint 

 smile lighted up his boyish features. But 

 that smile was worth "every thing to me. 

 There was in it a look of innocent wonder 

 such as a baby shows in its first smile of 

 recognition. Nutv he was willing to talk. I 

 asked him about his father and mother. 

 The mother was a Christian, and it was the 

 old, old story. He had been in the habit of 

 going to Sunday-school ; but for a year past, 

 or more, he had decided he was getting to 

 be t(M) old. I wonder if Henry will forgive 

 me if I tell how he passed his Sundays. 

 With l>oyish frankness he admitted he had 

 learned to swear just a little; he had also 

 commenced to smoke cigars just a little ; 

 and lie knew how to play cards just a little. 

 He knew about other things too, just a little, 

 that I need not tell of here. I presume his 

 mother did not suspect what he frankly con- 

 fessed to me. 1 asked him what he thought 

 about the Bible and Jesus, and a future aft- 

 er this life is i)ast. He was not thinking 

 very much about them nowadays ; in fact, 

 these other things had driven them out of 

 his head. He had heard men speak sneer- 

 ingly about such things, and he was fast 

 learning to do so himself. Well, I worked 

 hard during that hour.* I plead with llen- 



*Yes, I had worked as hard and earnestly as 1 

 used to work in selling a high-priced watch; but in 



ry; I held up before him the future if he 

 kept on in the downward road ; then I told 

 him, on the other hand, of Gods love and of 

 his promises. I told him of our little band 

 of Christian workers in Medina — of our 

 prayer-meetings ; I told him of the boys I 

 had met in jail, and 1 spoke of the habits 

 that had brought them to prison. He was 

 deeply interested in all this, and I was sur- 

 prised that I could interest a boy in his 

 teens if I tried hai d He asked me many 

 questions, and I told him as much as I could 

 about the great world, with its opportuni- 

 ties that lie before him. When we were 

 ready to separate 1 felt that Henry was my 

 friend, and I knew that I was his friend. I 

 told him I might never see him again, but 

 that I should think of him often a"nd pray 

 for him. 



" Henry, does your employer give you any 

 rules in regard to money you receive from 

 strangers? What I mean, is it yours, inde- 

 pendent of your wages, even if you tell him 

 about it V" 



He replied that it was. 



"Well, Henry, here is twenty-five cents, 

 which you are to use just as you please, only 

 use it "for some good purpose. Buy some- 

 thing with it to remember me by, if you 

 choose ; and please don't forget the prorhise 

 you have given me, to go back to Sunday- 

 school ; to stick closely to your mother, aiid 

 follow her advice. Try hard to talk to her 

 as you have talked to me here to-day. Don't 

 keep back any thing ; and, above all things, 

 my boy, don't forget Jesus who died for us 

 all. Don't ever again let his dear name 

 pass your lips in vain. Don't go with bad 

 boys ; don't stay where you hear bad talk ; 

 and may I hope to hear some time that you 

 are not "only a good man, but a good Chris- 

 tian man." 



Xow, dear reader, how do you suppose I 

 felt as I took his childish hand in mine and 

 bade him good-by ? I hardly need tell you 

 that the darkness and clouds of the morn- 

 ing were gone. My faith was as bright and 

 clear in the Savior's love and the Savior's 

 promise as is the clear blue sky after a sum- 

 mer shower. And I was happy too. A 

 peace filled my heart that comes from no 

 other service or work. It was the peace 

 that Christ Jesus and he only can give. 

 Why, the memory of that forenoon's work 

 was' as a sweet perfume pervading my whole 

 being, even when 1 was thinking of' some- 

 thing else. Over and over again I woiild 

 forget myself and be wondering what it was 

 I was so "glad and happy about. It made my 

 whole visit pleasant ; it made me love eve- 

 rybody — even the sinful and wicked. And 

 do y<m not see now that it was nothing 

 more nor less than the fulfillment of the lit- 

 tle text at the head of this talk Y You may 

 verify it in your own experience, for you 

 probably have just such neighbors right 

 around you. May God help us to remember 

 the boys I May he help us to remember, too, 



this case I was working unseltishly. In fact. I had 

 no thought of an.\- pay in anj' shape what!-ver. It 

 was simply for Chrixt'a sake: and without being- 

 aware of it I was standing where the ijromise 

 reached me when .lesiis said, "inasmuch as ye 

 have done it unto one of the least of these my 

 brethren, ye have done it unto me," 



