diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 1305073 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/13889-h.htm | 3772 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 78701 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/images/image-1.jpg | bin | 0 -> 97338 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/images/image-10.jpg | bin | 0 -> 91641 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/images/image-11.jpg | bin | 0 -> 93338 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/images/image-12.jpg | bin | 0 -> 83786 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/images/image-2.jpg | bin | 0 -> 116597 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/images/image-3.jpg | bin | 0 -> 94506 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/images/image-4.jpg | bin | 0 -> 93771 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/images/image-5.jpg | bin | 0 -> 87672 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/images/image-6.jpg | bin | 0 -> 110033 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/images/image-7.jpg | bin | 0 -> 125222 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/images/image-8.jpg | bin | 0 -> 73118 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889-h/images/image-9.jpg | bin | 0 -> 80559 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889.txt | 3660 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/13889.zip | bin | 0 -> 74821 bytes |
17 files changed, 7432 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/13889-h.zip b/old/13889-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0109e6a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h.zip diff --git a/old/13889-h/13889-h.htm b/old/13889-h/13889-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..013d261 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/13889-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3772 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dave Ranney, by Dave Ranney, et al</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + ins.correction {border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-color: red; border-bottom-width:1px;} + .caption {font-size: smaller; margin-left: 25%; margin-right: 25%; } + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Dave Ranney, by Dave Ranney, et al</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Dave Ranney</p> +<p>Author: Dave Ranney</p> +<p>Release Date: October 29, 2004 [eBook #13889]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAVE RANNEY***</p> +<br><br><h3>E-text prepared by Steven desJardins<br> + and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders</h3><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<center> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="442" height="707" alt="Cover of Dave Ranney" title="Cover of Dave Ranney"> +</center> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>DAVE RANNEY</h1> + +<h3>OR</h3> + +<h2>THIRTY YEARS ON THE BOWERY</h2> + +<h3>An Autobiography</h3> + +<h4><i>Introduction by Rev. A. F. Schauffler, D. D.</i></h4> + +<h4>1910</h4> + +<br /> + +<h3><i>This story of my life is dedicated to</i></h3> + +<h3>DR. A. F. SCHAUFFLER</h3> + +<h3><i>Who stuck by me through thick and thin</i></h3> + +<br /> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span>Honest endeavor is ne'er thrown away;<br /></span> +<span>God gathers the failures day by day,<br /></span> +<span>And weaves them into His perfect plan<br /></span> +<span>In ways that are not for us to scan.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span><i>—Lucy Whittemore Myrick, 1876.</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> +<br /> + +<p>The autobiography which this book contains is that of a man who through +the wonderful dealings of Providence has had a most remarkable +experience. I have known the writer for about seventeen years, and +always most favorably. For a number of years past he has been Bowery +Missionary for the New York City Mission and Tract Society, and has +shown himself faithful, capable and conscientious. His story simply +illustrates how the gospel of the grace of God can go down as far as man +can fall, and can uplift, purify, and beautify that which was degraded +and "well nigh unto cursing."</p> + +<p>As a testimony as to what God can work, and how He can transform a man +from being a curse to himself and to the world into being a blessing, +the story is certainly fascinating, and ought to encourage any who have +lost hope to turn to Him who alone is able to save. It ought also to +encourage all workers for the downfallen to realize that God is able to +save unto the uttermost all who come to Him through Jesus Christ, the +all-sufficient Saviour.</p> + +<p>With confidence I recommend this book to those who are interested in the +rescue of the fallen, knowing that they will praise God for what has +been wrought and will trust Him for future wonderful redemptions.</p> + +<p>A. F. SCHAUFFLER.</p> + +<p>New York City.</p> + +<br /> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<br /> + +<a name="CONTENTS"></a><h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<br /> + +<center>I. <a href="#CHAPTER_I">BOYHOOD DAYS</a></center> +<center>II. <a href="#CHAPTER_II">FIRST STEPS IN CRIME</a></center> +<center>III. <a href="#CHAPTER_III">INTO THE DEPTHS</a></center> +<center>IV. <a href="#CHAPTER_IV">"SAVED BY GRACE"</a></center> +<center>V. <a href="#CHAPTER_V">ON THE UP GRADE</a></center> +<center>VI. <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">PROMOTED</a></center> +<center>VII. <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">THE MISSION IN CHINATOWN</a></center> +<center>VIII. <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">BOWERY WORK</a></center> +<center>IX. <a href="#CHAPTER_IX">PRODIGAL SONS</a></center> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br /> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span><i>"Let me live in a house by the side of the road,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Where the race of men go by.</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Men that are good and men that are bad, as good and as bad as I.</i><br /></span> +<span><i>I would not sit in the scorner's seat,</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Nor hurl the cynic's ban.</i><br /></span> +<span><i>Let me live in a house by the side of the road</i><br /></span> +<span><i>And be a friend to man."</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br /> + +<a name="CHAPTER_I"></a><h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>BOYHOOD DAYS</h3> +<br /> + +<p>I have often been asked the question, "Why don't you write a book?" And +I have said, "What is the use? What good will it do?" I have thought +about it time and time again, and have come to the conclusion to write a +story of my life, the good and the bad, and if the story will be a help, +and check some one that's just going wrong, set him thinking, and point +him on the right road, praise God!</p> + +<p>I was born in Hudson City, N. J., over forty years ago, when there were +not as many houses in that town as there are now. I was born in old +Dutch Row, now called Beacon Avenue, in a two-story frame house. In +those days there was an Irish Row and a Dutch Row. The Irish lived by +themselves, and the Dutch by themselves.</p> + +<p>Quite frequently the boys of the two colonies would have a battle royal, +and there would be things doing. Sometimes the Dutch would win out, +sometimes the Irish, and many's the time there was a cut head and other +bruises. Sometimes a prisoner would be taken, and then we would play +Indian with him, and do everything with him except burn him. We were all +boys born in America, but if we lived in Dutch Row, why, we had to be +Dutch; but if, on the other hand, we happened to live in Irish Row, we +had to be Irish. I remember moving one time to Irish Row, and I wondered +what would happen when I went to play with the old crowd. They said, "Go +and stay with the Irish." I did not know what to do. I would not fight +my old comrades, so I was neutral and fought with neither.</p> + +<p>We had a good many ring battles in those days, and many's the fight we +had without gloves, and many's the black eye I got, and also gave a +few. I believe nothing does a boy or girl so much good as lots of play +in the open air. I never had a serious sickness in my life except the +measles, and that was easy, for I was up before the doctor said I ought +to get out of bed. Those were happy days, and little did I think then +that I would become the hard man I turned out to be.</p> + +<p>I had a good Christian mother, one who loved her boy and thought there +was nothing too good for him, and I could always jolly her into getting +me anything I wanted. God bless the mothers! How true the saying is, "A +boy's best friend is his mother." My father I won't say so much about. +He was a rough man who loved his cups, and died, as you might say, a +young man through his own waywardness. I did love my mother, and would +give anything now to have her here with me as I am writing this story. +She has gone to heaven, and I was the means of sending her to an early +grave through my wrong-doings. She did not live to see her boy saved. +Many's the time I would promise her to lead a different life, and I +meant it too, but after all I could not give up my evil ways.</p> + + +<h4>THE FIRST TASTE FOR DRINK</h4> + +<p>I remember when I first acquired the taste for drink. My grandfather +lived with us, and he liked his mixed ale and would send me for a pint +two or three times a day. In those days the beer was weighed so many +pounds to the quart. Every time I went for the beer I used to take a +swallow before I came back, and sometimes two, and after a while I +really began to enjoy it. Do you know, I was laying the foundation right +there and then for being what I turned out to be—a drunkard. I remember +one time—yes, lots of times—that I was under the influence of the vile +stuff when I was not more than ten years of age.</p> + +<p>I received a public school education. My school-days were grand good +days. I had all the sport that comes to any boy going to school. I would +rather play ball than go home to dinner. In those days the game was +different from what it is at the present time. I was up in all athletic +sports when I was a boy. I could jump three quick jumps and go +twenty-eight and a half feet; that was considered great for a schoolboy.</p> + +<p>There was one game I really did enjoy; the name of it was "How many +miles?" It is played something like this: You choose sides, and it +doesn't matter how many there are on a side. Of course each side would +be eager to get the quickest and fastest runner on their side. How I did +like that game! We then tossed to see who would be the outs and who +would chase the outs, and many's the mile we boys would run. We would be +late for school and would be kept in after three o'clock; that would +break my heart, but I would forget all about it the next day and do the +same thing again.</p> + +<p>Our teacher, J. W. Wakeman—God bless him!—is living yet, and I hope he +will live a good many years more. A boy doesn't always like his teacher, +and I was no exception; I did not like him very much. He gave me more +whippings than any other boy in the school. All the learning I received +was, you might say, pounded into me. He used to say to me, "David, why +don't you be good and study your lessons? There is the making of a man +in you, but if you don't study you will be fit for nothing else than the +pick and shovel." How those words rang in my ears many a time in after +years when they came true, when I had to use the pick and shovel! I am +not saying anything against that sort of labor; it has its place. We +must fill in somewhere, in some groove, but that was not mine.</p> + +<p>How I did enjoy in after years, when I was roaming over the world, +thinking of my old schoolmates! I could name over a dozen who were +filling positions of trust in their own city; lawyers, surrogates, +judges, and some in business for themselves, making a name and doing +something, while I was no earthly use to myself or to any one else. Some +people say, "Such is life; as you make your bed so you must lie." How +true it was in my case! I made my bed and had to lie on it, but I can +truthfully say I did not enjoy it.</p> + +<p>There are many men that are down and out now who had a chance to be +splendid men. They are now on the Bowery "carrying the banner"—which +means walking the streets without a place to call home—without food or +shelter, but they could, if they looked back to their early life, see +that they were making their beds then, or as the Bible reads, sowing the +seed. Listen, young people, and take heed. Don't believe the saying, "A +fellow must sow his wild oats." The truth is just this: as you sow so +shall you reap. I was sowing when I was drinking out of the pail of +beer, and I surely did reap the drunkard's portion—misery.</p> + + +<h4>A TRUANT</h4> + +<p>I was a great hand at playing hookey—that is, staying away from school +and not telling your parents. I would start for school in the morning, +but instead of going would meet a couple of boys and we would hide our +books until closing-time. If any boy was sent to my home with a note, I +would see that boy and tell him if he went he knew what he would get. He +knew it meant a good punching, and he would not go. I would write a note +so that the boy could take it back to the teacher saying that I was sick +and would be at school when I got better.</p> + +<p>I remember how I was found out one time. We met as usual—the +hookey-players, I mean—and started down to the Hackensack River to have +a good day. Little did I know what would happen before the day was +over. One of the boys with us went out beyond his depth and was drowned. +I can still hear his cries and see his face as he sank for the last +lime. We all could swim a little, and we tried our best to save him, but +his time had come.</p> + +<p>That wound up his hookey-playing, and you would think it would make me +stop too; but no, I went right along sowing the seed, and planting it +good and deep for the Devil.</p> + +<p>I recollect the first time I went away from home. It happened this way: +The teacher got tired of receiving notes saying I was sick, and she +determined to see for herself—for I had a lady for teacher in that +class—what the trouble was.</p> + +<p>One afternoon whom should I see coming in the gate but my teacher, and +now I was in a fix for fair. I knew if she saw mother it was all up with +me, so I ran and met her and told her mother was out and would not be +back until late. She asked me how I was getting on. I said I was better +and would be at school in the morning. She said, "I am glad of that."</p> + +<p>When she turned to go I could have flung my cap in the air and shouted. +I thought I had fooled her and could go on playing hookey, but you know +the old adage, "There's many a slip." Just at this time my mother looked +out of the window and asked who was there and what she wanted. Well, +mother came down, and things were made straight as far as she and the +teacher were concerned; but I was in for it; I knew that by the way +mother looked at me. The jig was up, I was found out, and I knew things +would happen; and I did not want to be around when mother said, "You +just wait!" I knew what that meant, so I determined to go out into the +world and make my own way.</p> + +<p>I was a little over thirteen years of age, and you know a boy does not +know much at that age, but I thought I did. I went over the fence with +mother after me. If dad had been home I guess he could have caught me, +that is if he had been sober. Mother could not run very fast, so I got +clear of the whip for that time at least. I got a good distance from the +house and then I sat down to think. I knew if I went home a whipping was +waiting for me, and that I could do without.</p> + +<p>There was a boy just a little older than myself, Mike ——,<a name="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> that was +"on the bum," as we used to say. The boys would give him some of the +lunch they had brought to school, and I thought I would join forces with +and be his pal. I saw Mike and told him all about the licking, and Mike +said, "Don't go home; you are a fool if you do." We went around, and I +was getting hungry, when we thought of a plan by which we could get +something to eat. Mother ran a book in a grocery store, and Mike said, +"Go to the store and get a few things, and say you don't have the book +but will bring it when you come again." I went to the store and got a +ham, a pound of butter, two loaves of bread and one box of sardines.</p> + +<a name="Footnote_1_1"></a><div class="note"><p><a href="#FNanchor_1_1">[1]</a> Where proper names are left blank they refer to real +persons or places.</p></div> + +<p>Some people will ask how I can remember so many years back. I remember +my first night away from home as though it was yesterday, and I'll never +forget it as long as I live. After I got the things the grocer said, +"Where is the book?" I told him mother had mislaid it, and he said, +"Bring it the next time." We built a fire and cooked the ham and had +lots to eat.</p> + +<p>Up to this time it had all been smooth sailing; it was warm and we had a +good time in general. We had a swim with some other boys, and after +telling them not to say that they saw me, we left them. I asked Mike +where we were going to sleep, and he said, "I'll show you when it's +time."</p> + +<p>After a while Mike said, "I guess we had better go to bed." Off we +started across the lots until we came to a big haystack, and Mike +stooped down and began to pull hay out of the stack and work his way +inside. Remember I was green at the business; I had never been away from +home before; and Mike, though only a little older, was used to this kind +of life. Well, I pulled out hay enough, as I thought, and crawled in, +but there was no sleep for me. I kept thinking and thinking. I would +call Mike and ask him if he was asleep, and he would say, "Oh, shut up +and let a fellow sleep!"</p> + +<p>I am no coward, never was, but I was scared that night for fair. About +midnight I must have dozed off to sleep when something seemed to be +pushing at my feet. I was wide awake now, and shook Mike, but he only +turned over and seemed to sleep all the sounder. I could hear the +grunting and pushing outside all the time. My head was under and my feet +covered with the hay, when something took hold of my foot and began to +chew. My hair stood on end, and I gave a yell that would have awakened +"The Seven Sleepers." It woke Mike, and the last I heard of him that +night he was laughing as though he would split his sides, and all he +could shout was, "Pigs, pigs!" as I went flying toward home. I got there +as soon as my feet would carry me. I found the house up and mother and +sister crying, while father was trying to make them stop. When I shook +the door it opened and I was home again, and I was mighty glad.</p> + +<p>The reason for the crying was that when it got late and the folks began +to look for me, one of the boys said that the last time he saw me I was +swimming with Mike ——. When I did not come home they thought surely I +was drowned, but I was born for a different fate. Sometimes in my years +of roaming afterwards I wished I had been drowned as they thought. They +were so glad to see me again that there was no whipping, and I went to +school next morning promising to be a better boy.</p> + + +<h4>A BASEBALL GAME</h4> + +<p>I was fast becoming initiated in the ways of the Devil. There was +nothing that I would not do. I remember one time when mother thought I +was going to school but found out I was "on the hook." She decided to +punish me, and that night after I had gone to sleep she came into my +room and took all my clothes except my shirt. I certainly was in a fix. +I had to catch for my team and I would not miss that game of ball for +anything in the world; I simply had to go. In looking around the room I +found a skirt belonging to my sister that I thought would answer my +purpose. I had my shirt on and I put the skirt on over my head. Then I +ripped the skirt up the center and tied it around each leg with a piece +of cord—anything for that game!—and there I was with a pair of +trousers manufactured out of a girl's skirt. But I had to catch that +game of ball that day at any cost. Getting to the ground was easy. I +opened the window and let myself down as far as I could and then +dropped. I arrived all right, a little shaken up, but what is that to a +boy who has a ball game in his head!</p> + +<p>I got to the game all right and some of the boys fixed me up. I don't +remember which side won that game, but when it was finished I went home +and met mother, and the interview was not a pleasant one, though she did +not give me a whipping.</p> + +<p>I used to read novels, any number of them, in those days—all about +Indians, pirates, and all those blood-and-thunder tales—lies. You can +not get any good out of them, and they do corrupt your mind. I would +advise the young people who read these lines, and older folks also, if +this is your style of reading, to stop right where you are. Get some +good books—there are plenty of them—and don't fill your mind with +stuff that only unfits you for the real life of the years to come.</p> + +<center> +<img src="images/image-1.jpg" width="756" height="419" alt="A NOON SHOP MEETING ADDRESSED BY MR. RANNEY." title="A NOON SHOP MEETING ADDRESSED BY MR. RANNEY."> +</center> +<div class="caption"><center>A NOON SHOP MEETING ADDRESSED BY MR. RANNEY.</center></div> + + + +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_II"></a><h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>FIRST STEPS IN CRIME</h3> +<br /> + +<p>I was getting tired of school and wanted to go to work. I had a good +Christian man for my Sunday-school teacher, Mr. M., a fairly rich man, +and I did think a good deal of him. I liked to go to Sunday-school and +was often the first in my class. The teacher would put up a prize for +the one that was there first. Sometimes it would be a baseball bat, +skates, book, or knife. I would let myself out then and would be first +and get the prize.</p> + +<p>I asked Mr. M. to get me work in an office. After a few weeks he called +and told my mother he had got me a job in Jersey City, in the office of +a civil engineer, at $3 a week. I was a happy boy as I started in on my +first day's work. It was easy; all I had to do was to open up and dust +the office at 8 A. M., and close at 5 P. M. I used to run errands and +draw a little. But after a few weeks the newness of work wore off and I +wished I was back at school again, where I could play hookey and have +fun with the other fellows.</p> + + +<h4>THE FIRST THEFTS</h4> + +<p>I had lots of time on my hands, and you know the saying, "Satan finds +some mischief still for idle hands to do." He certainly found plenty for +me. The boss was a great smoker and bought his cigars by the box. He +asked me if I smoked, and I said no, for I had not begun to smoke as +yet. Well, he left the box of cigars around, always open, so I thought I +would try one, and I took a couple out of the box. See how the Devil +works with a fellow. He seemed to say, "Now if you take them from the +top he will miss them," so he showed me how to take them from the +bottom. I took out the cigars that were on top, and when I got to the +bottom of the box I crossed a couple and took the cigars, and you could +not tell that any had been taken out. That was the beginning of my +stealing. The cigars were not missed, and I thought how easy it was, but +this beginning proved to be just a stepping-stone to what followed.</p> + +<p>I did not smoke the cigars then, but waited until I got home. After +supper I went out and met Mike ——, and gave him one of them, and I +started in to smoke my first cigar. Mike could smoke and not get sick, +but there never was a sicker boy than I was. I thought I was going to +die then and there and I said, "No more cigars for me." I recovered, +however, and as usual forgot my good resolutions. That turned out to be +the beginning of my smoking habit, and I was a good judge of a cigar +when I was but fourteen years of age. I went on stealing them until the +boss tumbled that some one was taking them and locked them up for safe +keeping. I never smoked a cigarette in all my life. I know it takes +away a young fellow's brains and I really class cigarettes next to drink +and would warn boys never to smoke them.</p> + +<p>I had been in the office now about three months. At the end of each +month I received a check for $12. It seemed a fortune to me and I hated +to give it in at the house. The third month I received the check as +usual, made out to bearer. Well, I went home and gave the check to +mother, and she said I was a good boy and gave me fifty cents to spend.</p> + +<p>I watched my mother and saw her put the check in an unused pitcher in +the closet on the top shelf. It seemed as though some one was beside me +all the time telling me to take it and have a good time. It belonged to +me and no one else had a right to it, Satan seemed to say. And what a +good time I could have with it! They would never suspect me of taking +it, and I could have it cashed and no one would ever know.</p> + +<p>So I got up in the middle of the night and started right there and then +to be a burglar. I went on tiptoe as softly as I could, and was right in +the middle of the kitchen floor when I stumbled over a little stool and +it made a noise. It was not much of a noise, but to me it seemed like +the shot out of a cannon. I thought it would wake up the whole house, +but nobody but mother woke, and she said, "Who's there?" I said nothing, +only stood still and waited for her to fall asleep again. As I stood +there a voice—and surely it was the voice of God—seemed to say, <ins +class="correction" title="Transcriber's Note: Missing quotation mark added"> +"</ins>Go back to bed and leave the check alone. It is not yours: it belongs +to your mother. She is feeding and keeping you, and you are doing +wrong." I think if the Devil had not butted in I would have gone to bed, +but he said, "Now you are here no one sees you, and what a good time you +can have with that check!" That settled all good thoughts and I went up +to the closet, put my hand in the pitcher, took the check and went back +to bed. That was my first burglary.</p> + +<p>Did I sleep? Well, I guess not! I rolled and tossed all the balance of +the night. I knew I had done wrong. But you see the Devil was there, and +I really think he owned me from the time I stole the cigars—"that +little beginning."</p> + +<p>I got up the next morning, ate my breakfast and went to work. I still +had the check, and all I had to do was to go to the bank and get it +cashed. But I was afraid, and how I wished that the check was safe in +the old pitcher. I worried all that day, and I think if I had gotten a +chance that night after I got home, I would have put the check back. But +the old Devil was there saying, "You fool, keep it! It is not missed, +and even if it is no one will accuse you of stealing your own money." I +tell you, the Devil had me hand and foot, and there seemed to be no +getting away. Oh! if I could have had some person to tell me plainly +what to do at this time, it might have been the turning-point in my +life! Anyway, the check didn't get back to the pitcher. I had it and the +Devil had me.</p> + +<p>Next day I disguised myself somewhat. I made my face dirty and put on a +cap. I had been wearing a hat before, so I thought the teller at the +bank would not know me. I had been there often with checks for my boss. +Well, the teller just looked at the check, gave me a glance, and passed +out the $12. It did not take me long to get out of the bank. I knew I +had done wrong, and I felt it, and would have given anything if I could +have undone it; but it was too late, and my old companion, the Devil, +said, "What a nice time you can have, and wasn't it easy!"</p> + +<p>When I went home the first question was, "Did you see your check?" My +dear mother asked me that, never thinking that her boy had taken it. +Oh! if I had had the courage to tell her then and there, how much misery +and trouble it would have saved me in after life! But I was a moral +coward, and I said, "No, mother; where did you put it?" I had her +guessing whether she really put it in the pitcher or not.</p> + +<p>There was a regular hunt for that check, and I hunted as much as any +one, but it could not be found. Mother did not know much about banks in +those days, but some one told her about a week after that she ought to +go to the bank and stop payment on the check. That sounded good to +mother, and she said, "Dave, you and I will go to the bank and stop +payment on that check." I was in it for fair this time. The only chance +I had was in the teller not recognizing me.</p> + +<p>We went to the bank, and mother told the teller about the +lost—stolen—check, and for him to see that it wasn't paid. He said, +"All right, madam, I'll not pay it if it is not already paid." He looked +over the books and brought back the lost check. I had stood in the +background all this time. Then my mother asked him whom he paid it to. +He said it was hard for him to recall just then, "But I think I paid it +to a boy," he said. "Yes, it was a boy, for I recollect that he had as +dirty a face and hands as ever I saw." Mother pulled me up in front of +him and told him to look at me and see if I was the boy. He looked at me +for a minute or so—it seemed to me like an hour—then said, "No, that +is not the boy that cashed the check, nothing like him. I am sure I +should know that boy." In after years, when I was lined up in front of +detectives for identification for some crime, identified or not, I +always thought of a dirty face being a good disguise.</p> + +<p>On the way home from the bank mother asked me all sorts of questions +about boys I knew; if they had dirty faces and so on, but I did not +know any such boys, so the check business died out. She little thought +that her own boy was the thief, and she blamed my cousin, who was +boarding with us at the time.</p> + +<p>My grandfather was still with us, and he had quite a sum of money saved. +He wanted some money, and he and I went to the bank and he drew out +fifty dollars in gold. There was a premium on gold at that time, and he +received two twenty-dollar gold-pieces and one ten. Well, that night he +lost one of the twenty-dollar gold-pieces and never found it. There was +a hot time the next morning, for he was sure he had it when he went to +bed. My father was blamed for that, so you see the innocent suffer for +the guilty.</p> + +<p>I had quite a time with the money while it lasted, went out to the old +Bowery Theatre, and had a good time in general. I little thought then +that in after years I would be sitting on the old Bowery steps, down +and out, without a cent in my pocket and without a friend in the world.</p> + + +<h4>LOSING A POSITION</h4> + +<p>I was a boy of fourteen at this time, working in a civil engineer's +office for three dollars per week, but I knew, young as I was, that as a +profession engineering was not for me. I knew that to take it up I +needed a good education, and that I did not have. I didn't like the +trade, anyway, and didn't care whether I worked or not. That is the +reason I lost my job.</p> + +<p>One afternoon my employer sent me up Newark Avenue for a suit of clothes +that had been made to order. He told me to get them and bring them back +as soon as I could. I must say right here that my employer was a good +man, and he took quite a liking to me. Many a time he told me he would +make a great engineer out of me. I often look back and ask myself the +question, "Did I miss my vocation?" And then there comes a voice, which +I recognize as God's, saying, "You had to go through all this in order +to help others with the same temptations and the same sins," and I say, +"Amen."</p> + +<p>After getting the clothes I went back to the building where I +worked—No. 9 Exchange Place, Jersey City—and found the door locked. I +waited around for a while, for I thought my employer wanted his clothes +or he would not have sent me for them. Finally I got tired of waiting, +and after trying the door once more and finding it still locked, I said +to myself, "I'll just put these clothes in the furniture store next door +and I'll get them to-morrow morning." I left them and told the man I +would call for them in the morning, and started for home.</p> + +<p>I was in bed dreaming of Indians and other things, when mother wakened +me, shouting, "Where's the man's clothes?" I couldn't make out at first +what all the racket was about. Then I heard men's voices talking in the +yard, and recognized Mr. M., my Sunday-school teacher, and my employer, +the man that was going to make a great engineer out of me. I went out on +the porch and told him what I had done with the clothes, and he nearly +collapsed. He was very angry, and drove off, saying, "You come to the +office and get what's due you in the morning." I went the next morning, +got my money, and bade him good-by. That was the last of my becoming one +of the great engineers of the day.</p> + +<p>I was glad, and I went back to school determined to study real hard, and +I did remain in school for a year. Then the old craze for work came on +me again. Father had died in the meantime, and mother was left to do the +best she could, and I got a job with the determination to be a help to +her.</p> + + +<h4>AT WORK AGAIN</h4> + +<p>I got a position as office boy at 40 Broadway, then one of New York's +largest buildings. The man I worked for was a commission merchant, a +Hebrew, and one of the finest men I ever met in my life. He took me into +his private office and we had a long talk, a sort of fatherly talk, as +he had sons and daughters of his own. I loved that man. I had been +brought up among the Dutch and Irish, and had never associated with the +Jews, and I supposed from what I had heard that they were put on earth +for us to get the best of, fire stones at, and treat as meanly as we +could. That was my idea of a Jew—my boy idea. Yet here was a man, a +Jew, one of the whitest men I ever met, who by his life changed +completely my opinion of the Jews, and I put them down from that day as +being pretty good people.</p> + +<p>My mother did some work for his wife, and when he heard that I wanted to +go to work he told her to send me over to his place of business, and +that is how I got my second position in this big world.</p> + +<p>I went to work with the determination to make a man of myself, and +mother said:</p> + +<p>"Now, Dave, be a good boy, and one of these days you will be a big +merchant and I shall be proud of you." That was what I might have been +if I had had the grace of God to make my life true. I am acquainted with +some men to-day that started about the same time I did. They were boys +that looked ahead, studied and went up step by step, and are to-day some +of the best-known bankers in America.</p> + +<p>They say "Hell is paved with good intentions," and I believe it is. We +start out in life with the best intentions, but before we know it we are +up against some temptation, and unless we have God with us we are sure +to fall, and when we fall, why, it's the hardest thing in the world to +get back where we tumbled from. I only wish I had taken the Saviour as +my helper years ago. Oh! what a change He did make in my life after I +did accept Him, seventeen years ago!</p> + +<p>I started in to work at four dollars a week, and, as I said, I intended +to be a great merchant. I meant well, if that was any consolation. My +duties were to go to the postoffice and bring the mail, copy the +letters, and run errands, and I was happy.</p> + +<p>I was out one day on an errand, when whom should I meet but my old +friend Mike ——, my chum of the pig incident. He said, "Hello, Dave, +where are you working?" He had a job in a factory in Maiden Lane, at the +same wages I was getting. I hadn't seen much of Mike lately, and to tell +the truth I didn't care so much about meeting him. I am not +superstitious by any means, but I really thought he was my Jonah. We +talked a while, and we promised to meet and go home together. Like a +foolish boy, I met him that night and many a time after.</p> + + +<h4>TOUCH NOT, TASTE NOT</h4> + +<p>Mike was just learning to play pool, and one evening we had to go in and +play a game. That night I had the first glass of beer I ever took in a +saloon. Mike was getting to be quite a tippler, and he said, "Let's have +a drink." I said I didn't want any, and I didn't. But he said—I really +think the Devil was using Mike to make me drink—"Oh, be a man! One +glass won't hurt you; it will do you good." And he talked to me about +mother's apron-strings, and finally I took my first drink outside of +what I drank when grandfather used to send me for beer.</p> + +<p>Do you know, as I stood there before the bar, with that beer in my hand, +I heard a voice just as plain as I ever heard anything, saying, "Don't +take that stuff; it's no good, and will bring you to shame and misery. +It will spoil your future, and you will never become the great merchant +you started out to be. Put it down and don't drink it." That was +twenty-five years ago, and many a time I have heard that voice since. +How I wish now that I had listened to that voice and never taken that +first drink! It is not the second or the one hundred and second drink +that makes a man a drunkard, but the first.</p> + +<p>I started to put the glass down, and with that Mike began to laugh, and +his laugh brought the other fellows around. Of course Mike told them I +was a milk-and-water boy. I could not stand it to be laughed at, so I +put the glass of beer to my lips, swallowed it, and never made a face +about it. Then the fellows said, "You're all right! You are initiated +now and you're a man!"</p> + +<p>I didn't feel very much like a man. I felt as though I was some fellow +without a single spark of manhood in my whole make-up. I thought of +mother; what would she say if she knew I had broken my promise to her? I +had promised her when father died never to take a drink in all my life. +I knelt at her dear side, with her hands upon my head, and she prayed +that God would bless her boy and keep him from drink. I had honestly +intended to keep that promise, but you see how the Devil popped in and +once more made me do what I knew was wrong—drink that first cursed +glass of beer.</p> + +<p>I went home, walking all the way, and trying to get the smell out of my +mouth. I could not face my dear mother, so I went to my room without +supper. I thought that all she had to do was to look in my face and she +would know that I had broken my promise, and I was ashamed. She came up +later and asked me what was the matter, and I said I had a headache. If +I had had the courage to tell her then, things might have been +different! She brought me a cup of tea and bade me good-night.</p> + +<p>The next night the Devil steered me into the same saloon. I drank again +and again, till finally I could drink as much as any man, and it would +take a good deal to knock me out.</p> + +<p>I was still working for the merchant on Broadway, and my prospects were +of the brightest. They all liked me and gave me a raise in salary, so I +was now getting five dollars a week. But, you see, I was spending money +on pool and drink, and five dollars didn't go so very far, so I began to +steal. I had charge of the stamps—the firm used a great many—-and I +had the mailing of all the letters. I would take out fifty cents from +the money and balance the account by letters mailed. I began in a small +way, and the Devil in me said, "How easy! You're all right." So I went +on until I was stealing on an average of $1.50 per day. I still kept on +drinking and playing cards. I had by this time blossomed out as quite a +poker player and could do as many tricks as the best of them. I used to +stay out quite late, and would tell mother that I was kept at the +office, and little did she think that her only son was a gambler!</p> + +<p>The Bible says, "Be sure your sin will find you out," and it proved true +in my case. One night I was out gambling, and had had quite some luck. +The fellows got to drinking, and in fact I got drunk, and when I started +for home I could hardly walk. I fell down several times, when who should +come along but mother and sister, and when they saw me staggering along +they were astonished. I heard my mother say, "Oh! my God, my boy, my +only son, oh! what happened to you?" Mother knew without asking what the +matter was. She had often seen father reeling home under the influence +of drink. But here was something she could not understand. Here was her +only son beastly drunk, and she cried bitter tears. She took hold of one +arm and my sister the other, and we finally reached home. I was getting +pretty well sobered up by this time, and knew I was in for a lecture. +My mother hadn't whipped me of late, but I dreaded her talk, and then I +wished I had never met Mike ——.</p> + +<p>Mother didn't say anything until we got home. She put me to bed, brushed +my clothes, and told me to go to sleep. About two o'clock I woke up. +There was mother kneeling by my bedside, praying God to save her boy and +keep him from following in his father's footsteps. I lay there and +listened and said amen to everything she asked God to do. Finally I +could stand it no longer; I jumped out of bed and knelt beside my mother +and asked God to forgive me. I threw my arms around mother's neck and +asked her to forgive her boy, which she did. I determined right then and +there to do better and never to drink any more.</p> + +<p>I really meant to start all over again, but I didn't take Jesus with +me—in fact, I think the Devil owned me for fair. I was pretty good for +about a month, kept away from Mike and the other fellows, and mother +was delighted. But this did not continue long; I met Mike again, and +fell into the same groove, and was even worse than before.</p> + +<p>Barnum was running his circus in New York then, and Mike and I decided +to see the show and took a day off to go. I had not got leave of absence +from work, so on our way home we planned what we could tell our bosses +when we went to work the next morning.</p> + +<p>When my employer came in that morning I told him I was sick the day +before and not able to get out of bed. He just stood there and looked at +me, and said, "What a liar you are! You were seen at the circus +yesterday! Now, why didn't you tell me the truth, and I would have +overlooked it? I can't have any one in my employ that I can't trust." So +I had to look for another job. I was sorry, but it was my own fault. +There I was, without a job and without a recommendation. What was I +going to do? Surely "the way of the transgressor is hard."</p> + +<p>I tell the men in the Mission night after night that I would rather deal +with a thief than a liar, because you can protect yourself against a +thief, but a liar—what can't a liar do? If I had only told the truth to +my employer that day, why, as mother said afterwards, he would have +given me a lecture, and it would have been all over.</p> + + +<h4>DEEPER IN THE MIRE</h4> + +<p>Now what was I to tell my mother? You see, if you tell one lie you are +bound to tell others, and after you have lied once, how easy it is! My +side partner, the Devil, was there by my side to help me, and he said, +"Don't tell your mother." So I said nothing, and took my carfare and +lunch money every day, went out as if I were going to work, and hoped +that something would turn up. That's the way with the sinners; they are +always hoping and never doing. So it was with me, always hoping, and +the Devil always saying, "Don't worry; it will be all right."</p> + +<p>I used to dread going home at night and meeting my mother, and when she +would say, "How have you got on to-day?" I was always ready with another +lie, telling her I was doing finely, that the boss said he was going to +give me a raise soon. He had—he had raised me right out of the place!</p> + +<p>I was getting deeper and deeper into difficulty and could not see my way +out. Oh! if I had only told my mother the truth, how different my life +might have been! Saturday night was coming, and I did not have any money +to bring home, and I did not know what to do. I thought of everything, +but could not see my way out, when the thought came to me, "Steal!" My +sister was saving up some money to buy a suit, and I knew where she kept +it and determined to get it. That night I entered her room and took all +the money she had saved. No one saw me but God, but the Devil was there +with me, and said, "Isn't it easy? Don't be a coward! God doesn't care." +I knew right down in my heart that He did care, and in after years when +I was wandering all over the States I found out how much He really +cared, and I said, "Praise His name!"</p> + +<center> +<img src="images/image-2.jpg" width="600" height="562" alt="A BACK YARD ON THE BOWERY." title="A BACK YARD ON THE BOWERY."> +</center> +<div class="caption"><center>A BACK YARD ON THE BOWERY.</center></div> + +<center> +<img src="images/image-3.jpg" width="600" height="507" alt="ONE OF RANNEY'S FORMER HAUNTS." title="ONE OF RANNEY'S FORMER HAUNTS."> +</center> +<div class="caption"><center>ONE OF RANNEY'S FORMER HAUNTS.</center></div> + + + +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_III"></a><h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>INTO THE DEPTHS</h3> +<br /> + +<p>After I had taken this money from my sister I knew that I was suspected. +I was accused of taking it, but I was getting hardened; I had lost my +job through lying; I was getting tired of home; I didn't care very much +how things went.</p> + +<p>About this time my elder sister was married and moved to New York. Her +husband was a mechanic and made good money. He liked me, and when the +theft was discovered I went and put up with him, staying there until I +made money enough to leave, then I got out. All this time I was going +from bad to worse, my associates being thieves and crooks and gamblers.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget the first time I was arrested. I was with a +hardened crook, and we had made a haul of some hundred dollars. But as +luck would have it we were caught and sent away for nine months on a +"technicality." If we had received our just dues the lowest term would +have been five years each. I thought my time in prison would never come +to an end, but it did at last, and I was free. But where was I to go? My +mother had moved to New York to be near my sister, so I went and called +on them. Mother asked me where I had been. I made some kind of an +excuse, but I could see by mother's eye that she did not take much stock +in it.</p> + +<p>I remained at home, and finally got work in a fruit house on Washington +Street, at eight dollars a week. I was quite steady for a while, and +mother still had hopes of her boy. But through the same old company and +drink I lost that job.</p> + + +<h4>MARRIAGE</h4> + +<p>About this time I ran across a girl who I thought would make a good +wife, and we were married. I was then in the crockery business in a +small way, and if I had stuck to business I should be worth something +now. I'll never forget the day of the wedding. The saying is, "Happy is +the bride the sun shines on," but there was no sunshine that day. It +rained, it simply poured. Mother tried to get the girl to throw me over; +she told her I would never make her a good husband; and I guess Mary was +sorry afterward that she did not take her advice.</p> + +<p>The night of the wedding we had quite a blowout, and I was as drunk as I +could be. I'd ring in right here a bit of advice to my girl readers: +Don't ever try to convert a man—I mean one who drinks—by marrying him, +for in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred you won't succeed. In my case +I was young and did not care how the wind blew. I stayed out nights and +neglected my home, but I must say, bad as I was, I never hit my wife. I +think any man that raises his hand to hit a woman is worse than a cur, +and that he will certainly be punished in some way for it.</p> + +<p>Things went from bad to worse, and one day I came home to the store and +there was no wife. She had gone. Married and deserted in two months! I +felt sore, and all I thought about was to get even with my wife. I sold +out the business, got a couple hundred dollars together, and started +after her. I found out that she had gone to Oswego, and I sent her a +telegram and was met at the station by her brother. It did not take me +long to get next to him. In a very short time I had him thinking there +was no one like Ranney. Mary and I made up and I promised never to drink +again, and we started for New York. My promises were easily broken, for +before we got to Syracuse both her brother and I were pretty drunk.</p> + +<p>After reaching New York we went to mother's house and stayed there until +we got rooms, which we did in a few days. Mary's brother got work in a +lumberyard. I hunted as usual for a job, praying I wouldn't get it. I +went hustling lumber and worked two days, leaving because it took the +skin off my hands. Finally I could not pay the rent, was dispossessed, +and then went to live in "Hell's Kitchen," in Thirty-ninth Street, where +my son was born. Our friends thought the baby would bring Mary and me +closer together, as it sometimes does. But what did I care for a baby!</p> + +<p>I got work on Jake Sharp's Twenty-third Street cars, and Mary would +bring me my dinner and do everything she could for me. But when drink is +the idol—and it was mine—what does one care for love? Nothing. I +certainly led Mary a hard life. At last I came home one night and she +and the kid were gone. The baby was then two months old, and I never saw +him again until he was a boy of nine. I was not sorry at their going. I +wasn't any good in those days. I imagined I was "done dirty," as they +say, but I knew the girl couldn't do anything else for herself and baby. +I sold out the little furniture the rooms contained, got a few dollars, +and jumped the town.</p> + + +<h4>WANDERINGS</h4> + +<p>I started out with every one's hand against me and mine against every +one's. I struck Marathon, N. Y., and had quite a time there. I worked in +Dumphy's tannery, got a few weeks' pay and a few other articles, and +jumped out for fear of being arrested. I reached Syracuse and struck a +job in McChesney's lumberyard, at $1.35 per day.</p> + +<p>I stayed in Syracuse quite a while and learned a little of the lumber +business. I had quite a few adventures while there. I had struck up an +acquaintance with a New York boy, and one evening after work we were +sitting on the grass in front of one of the hotels, and seeing the +patrol wagon passing, I made the remark, "Some poor bum is going to get +a ride," when it pulled up in front of us and we were told to get in. I +tried to argue the point with the captain, but it was of no use. We were +taken to the station, and the others were sent below while I was kept up +for examination. They put me through a light "third degree," measuring +me and noting the color of hair and eyes, size of feet, etc.</p> + +<p>Finally they stopped measuring and asking questions, and I waited. I saw +my friend come up and go out of the door; he did not take time to bid me +good-by. I asked the captain if he was through with me, and he did not +know what to say. He apologized, and explained that I had been arrested +because I looked like a man that had escaped from Auburn.</p> + +<p>I felt rather sorry for the captain, not because I was not the escaped +prisoner, but because he was so nervous. I could not leave him without a +jolly, so I said, "Captain, if you'll come up to the corner I'll treat," +patting my pocket in which I had a few pennies. He thanked me and said, +"No." I met the captain every night taking his men as far as Salina +Street, and we always saluted one another.</p> + +<p>My new pal couldn't be got up on Main Street to the postoffice again for +anything, and as soon as he earned money enough he took the train for +"little old New York." I've met him on the Bowery since I became a +missionary there, and we did smile about that ride in the "hurry-up +wagon" in Syracuse.</p> + +<p>Finally I came back to New York, after being away quite a time, got work +in a carpet factory, and was quite steady for a while.</p> + +<p>My poor dear mother was sick, sometimes up and oftentimes in bed. I can +still see her and hear her say, "David, my poor boy, I do wish you would +stop your drinking. I've prayed for you, and will pray until I die. Oh, +Dave! I'd die so happy if my only son would stop and be a man!" But that +cursed appetite, what a hold it had on me! It seemed as if I couldn't +stop if I had been given all the money in the world.</p> + +<p>I did love my mother dearly; I didn't care for any one in the world but +her. Still, one of the meanest acts I ever did was to my mother. And +such a good mother she was; there are not many like her!</p> + +<p>She was in bed and had only a few weeks to live. One day she called me +to her bedside and said, "Dave, I am going to leave you, never to see +you again on this earth, but oh! how I wish you were going to meet me on +the other side. Now, Dave, won't you promise me you will?" I said, "Yes, +mother, sure I will." And she made me promise then and there that when +she was dead, and waiting burial, I would not get drunk, at least while +her body was in the house. I went down on my knees and promised her that +I'd meet her in heaven.</p> + +<p>She died, and the undertaker had been gone but a short time when I began +drinking, and the day of the funeral I was pretty drunk. That was one of +the meanest things I ever did. But I am sure that sometimes my dear +mother looks over the portals of heaven, and sees her boy—a man now, a +Christian—and forgives me. And some day, when my time comes, I am going +to join her there.</p> + +<p>I went from bad to worse, wandering all over, not caring what happened. +I took a great many chances. Sometimes I had plenty of money, and at +other times I wouldn't have a nickel I could jingle against a tombstone. +I boated on the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans, then up on the +Lakes. I was always wandering, but never at rest, sometimes in prison, +and sometimes miles away from human habitation, often remorseful, always +wondering what the end would be.</p> + +<p>I recollect, after being eighty-two days on the river to New Orleans, +being paid off with over $125. I left the steamer at Pittsburg, and the +first thing I did was to go and get a jug of beer. Before I got anywhere +near drunk I was before Judge White, and was fined $8.40, and +discharged. I wasn't free half an hour before I was arrested again, +brought before Judge White, and again fined $8.40. After being free for +about fifteen minutes, I was again brought before Judge White, who +looked at me this time and said, "Can't you keep sober?" I said, "Your +Honor, I haven't had a drink since the first time." And I hadn't. But he +said, "Five days," and I was shut up for that time, and I was in hell +there five days if ever a man was.</p> + +<p>Out of jail, I drifted with the tide. I was arrested for a trick that, +if I had got my just dues, would have put me in prison for ten years, +but I got off with three years, and came out after doing two years and +nine months.</p> + +<p>When a person is cooped up he has lots of time to think. It's think, +think, think, and hope. Many's the time I said, "Oh, if I only get out +and still have my health, what a change there will be!" And I meant it.</p> + +<p>Isn't it queer how people will say, "I can't stop drinking," but when +they're in jail they have to! The prison is a sanitarium for drunkards. +They don't drink while on a visit there. Then why not stop it while one +has a free foot? I thought of all these things while I was locked up, +and I decided that when I was free I would hunt up my wife and baby and +be a man.</p> + +<p>Prison at best isn't a pleasant place, but you can get the best in it if +you behave. There's no coaxing you to be good. They won't say, "If you +don't behave I'll send you home." It isn't like school. You have to +behave or it's worse for you, for they certainly put you through some +pretty tough things. Many's the time I got on my knees and told God all +about it. If a man is crossing the street, sees a car coming, and is +sure it will hit him, the first thing he says is, "Oh, God, save me!" +The car misses him by a foot, and he forgets how much he owes. He simply +says, "Thank you, God; when I'm in danger I'll call on You again." It +was so with me. Out in the world again, I forgot all about all the +promises I made in prison.</p> + +<center> +<img src="images/image-4.jpg" width="600" height="630" alt="A BOWERY LODGING-HOUSE." title="A BOWERY LODGING-HOUSE."> +</center> +<div class="caption"><center>A BOWERY LODGING-HOUSE.</center></div> + + + +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a><h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>"SAVED BY GRACE"</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Twelve years later, after a life spent on the road and in prison, I +found myself on the Bowery, in the fall of 1892, without a friend, "down +and out." After spending my last dollar in ——'s saloon, I was sitting +down in the back room of that place, wondering if I dared ask —— for a +drink, when in he walked. He looked at me, and said, "Now, Danny, I +think you had better get a move on! Get out and hustle. You are broke, +and you know I am not running this place for fun."</p> + +<p>I took it kind of hard, but looked at him and said, "All right." I got +up from the chair where I'd been sitting and walked out, not caring what +I did, but bound to get some money. Now, —— was a good fellow in his +way; they all are if you have the price; but saloon-keepers are not +running their places for the benefit of others, and when a man's money's +gone they don't want him around. I had spent all I had, about twenty +dollars, and now I was turned out, and it served me right.</p> + +<p>Now there's something in rum that fascinates, something we can't +understand. I wanted whiskey, and was ready to do anything to get it. +The appetite in me was fierce. No one knows the terrible pangs, the +great longing, but one who has been up against it. And nothing can +satisfy the awful craving but whiskey.</p> + + +<h4>THE TURNING-POINT</h4> + +<p>Many's the time I've stood on the Bowery and cursed God and the day I +was born, and wished that I was dead. But here I was! Nobody cared for +me, and why should they, for I did not care for myself. I did not even +think God cared much or He would have done something. I imagined the +Devil thought he had me for keeps, and so he did not exert himself very +much either. I was out of the saloon, on the street, and little as I +imagined such a thing would ever happen, I never entered ——'s saloon +again. All unknown to me the turning-point in my life had come.</p> + +<p>Sizing up the situation, I knew I must have a drink, but how was I to +get it? Up to this time I'd done everything on the calendar except +murder, and I don't know how I missed that. I've seen men killed, have +been in a few shoot-ups myself, and bear some scars, but I know at this +writing that God and a mother's prayers saved me from this awful crime.</p> + +<p>Among the many accomplishments suited to the life I was leading was that +of a "strong-arm man," and I determined to put it into use now, for I +was desperate.</p> + +<p>The rule in this dastardly work is always to select a man smaller and +weaker than one's self. As I looked about I saw a man coming up the +Bowery who seemed to answer to the requirements, and I said to myself, +"This is my man!" I walked up to him and touched him on the shoulder, +but as he straightened up I saw that he was as big as myself, and I +hesitated. I would have taken the chances even then, but he started back +and asked what I wanted. I said I was hungry, thinking that he would put +his hand in his pocket, and then, having only one hand, I could put the +"strangle hold" on him. But he was equal to the situation. He told me +afterward that I looked dangerous.</p> + +<p>I asked him if he was ever hungry. He said, "Many's the time." I told +him I was starving. "Come with me," said he, and we went over to Chatham +Square, to a place called "Beefsteak John's."</p> + +<p>We went in and sat down, and he said, "Now order what you want." On the +Bowery in those days you could get a pretty good meal for fifteen +cents—all you wanted to eat. The waiter was there to take my order. I +knew him and winked to him to go away, and he went. He thought I was +going to work the young fellow for his money.</p> + +<p>The young fellow said, "Why don't you call for something? I thought you +were starving."</p> + +<p>Now here I was up against it. I'd panned this man for something to eat, +and he was willing to pay for anything I wanted, and for the life of me +I could not swallow any food. When a man is drinking he doesn't care to +eat at a table. Give him a square meal, and he doesn't enjoy it. I know +men to-day who spend every dollar they earn for drink, and eat nothing +but free lunches, handed out with their drinks. That was what was the +matter with me. All I wanted was drink. The young man had called my +bluff, and I had nothing to show but lies. I sat there wondering how I +was going to get out of this hole. I was looking at the man and he at +me, when the little good that was in me cropped out, and looking him +square in the eye I said, "Young fellow, I've lied to you. I could not +eat the first mouthful." I told him I'd gone up to him thinking he would +dig down in his pocket and give me a little change. I did not mention +the fact that I intended to "put him up in the air" and rob him. Then I +sat back in my chair and waited for the "come-back." Finally he said, +"Have some coffee and sinkers"—rolls. But I could not go even that!</p> + +<p>We got to talking, and he asked me where I was living. I smiled at the +idea of my living! I wasn't even existing! I told him I lived any place +where I hung up my hat: that I didn't put up at the Astor House very +often; sometimes at the Delevan, or the Windsor, or in fact, any of the +hotels on the Bowery were good enough for me—that is, if I had the +price, fifteen cents. You can get a bed in a lodging-house for ten +cents, or if you have only seven cents you can get a "flop." You can +sit in some joint all night if you have a nickel, but if you haven't you +can do the next best thing in line, and that is "carry the banner." +Think of walking the streets all night and being obliged to keep moving!</p> + +<p>The man took a fifty-cent piece out of his pocket, held it in his hand, +and asked me if I would meet him at the Broome Street Tabernacle the +next morning at ten-thirty. Now I wanted that half-dollar, I wanted it +badly! It meant ten drinks to me at five per. I would have promised to +meet the Devil in hell for drink, and fearing the young man might put +the money in his pocket again, I said I'd be there. He gave me the +half-dollar, we shook hands, and I never expected to see that man again.</p> + +<p>I didn't go back to ——'s, but to —— Bowery—another place that has +put more men on the down-grade than any place I know. It's out of +business now, and as I pass there every day I pray that all the saloons +may go. I drank the half-dollar up in quick time, for with the Bowery +element it's divy even with drinks.</p> + + +<h4>BROOME STREET TABERNACLE</h4> + +<p>Morning came, and I wondered what I should do for the day. How I loved +to stand and smell the liquor, even when not drinking! But now I hate +it! Oh, what a change when Christ comes into a man's heart! I had stood +there all night in that saloon and didn't feel a bit tired. I went out +to "do" some one else, when I thought of the fellow of last night. I +thought I had sized him up and that he was easy, so I started for the +meeting-place, the Tabernacle. I went there to see if I could work him +for a dollar, or perhaps two.</p> + +<p>I got to the church and looked for a side door and found a bell which I +rang. I did not have to wait long before the young fellow himself opened +the door. Out went his hand, and he gave me such a shake that one would +have thought he had known me all my life. There's a lot in a handshake! +"I'm glad to see you!" he said. "I knew you would keep your promise. I +knew you would come."</p> + +<p>That took me back a little. Here was a man I had never seen till the +night before taking me at my word. I wondered who he was. We went into +the church. He was talking to make me feel at home. Finally he looked me +over from head to feet and said, "Are those the best clothes you have?" +I said, "These are the best and only clothes I have." I had my trunk on +my back, and the whole kit, shoes and all, wasn't worth fifty cents. The +way of the drunkard is hard. I had helped put diamonds on the +saloon-keeper and rags on myself, but if there are any diamonds now I'll +put them on my own little wife and not the saloon-keeper's. The young +man said, "I've a nice suit that will fit you. Will you let me give it +to you?"</p> + +<p>Here was a situation that puzzled me. I was an old offender, had "been +up" many times and was well known to the police. My record was bad, and +whenever there was a robbery or hold-up the police would round up all +the ex-convicts and line us up at headquarters for identification. Give +a dog a bad name and it sticks. I was suspicious; a man that has "done +time" always is; and when the young man said he had clothes for me, I +put him down as one of the "stool pigeons" working in with the police. +Since I'd graduated to the Bowery doing crooked work I imagined every +one was against me. It was a case of "doing" others or they would "do" +me. And I wondered why this man took such an interest in me. The more I +thought the more puzzled I got.</p> + +<p>I looked about me. I was in a church; why should he do me any harm? Then +I thought that if I put on the clothes he might slip an Ingersoll watch +into the pocket, let me get on the street, and then shout "Stop, +thief!" I'd be arrested and then it would be away up the river for a +good long bit. However, I'm a pretty good judge of human nature, and I +thought I'd take a chance. It was a fine suit; and I could just see +myself putting it in pawn, so I said I'd take it. But "there's many a +slip 'twixt the cup and lip," and there was a strange slip in my case.</p> + +<p>The young fellow said, "Don't you think you had better have a bath?" +Well, I did need a bath for fair. A man sleeping in one bed one night +and a different one the next, walking the streets and sitting around on +park benches, gets things on him, and they are grandparents in a couple +of nights. Of course I needed a bath! I was a walking menagerie! He gave +me some money, and I went out and had a bath and came back with the +change. He showed me where I could change my clothes, and there was a +whole outfit laid out for me, underwear and all.</p> + +<p>I thought the man was crazy. I could not understand. At last I got into +the clothes, and I felt fine. I got a look at myself in the glass, and I +looked like a full-fledged Bowery politician. I said as I looked, "Is +this me or some other fellow?" I weighed one hundred and ninety pounds +and was five feet ten inches tall.</p> + +<p>I went into the young man's study and sat down. I did not know what was +coming next, perhaps money. I was ready for anything, for I took him for +a millionaire's son.</p> + +<p>Up to this time he had said nothing to me about God. Finally he opened +up and asked my name. I told him Dave Ranney, but I had a few others to +use in a pinch. And I told him the truth; kindness had won.</p> + +<p>He said, "Dave, why are you leading such a life? Don't you know you were +cut out for a far better one?" I was no fool; I knew all about that. I +had learned it in Sunday-school, and how often mother had told me the +same thing. I knew I was put into the world to get the best, and glorify +God; and I was getting the worst, and it was all my own fault. Here I +was. I felt that no one wanted anything to do with me, no one would +trust me, because I was a jail-bird. But I have found out since there +are people that are willing to help a man if they see he is on the +level.</p> + +<p>"Why," I said, "a man that has no backing has no show in 'little old New +York.' You even have to have a pull to get a job shoveling snow, and +then you have to buy your own shovel! What does any one care? The +politicians have all they want and are only looking for more graft. They +need you just twice a year to register and vote. I know I'm crooked, and +it's my own fault, I admit, but who's going to give me a chance? Oh, for +a chance!"</p> + +<p>The young fellow listened, then said, "Dave, there's One that will +help."</p> + +<p>I did not catch on to his meaning, but said I was glad and thanked him +for what he had done. I thought he meant himself. "Not I," he said; "I +mean God. Why don't you give Him a chance? Talk about men giving you a +chance—why, God is waiting for a chance to help you!"</p> + +<p>Just then my old friend the Devil came in; he always does when he thinks +he is going to lose a convert; and he said in his own fine way, "Oh, +what rot! Why didn't God help you before this? Don't bother about it; +you have a nice suit; get out of this place and sell the duds and have a +good time. I'll help you. I'll be your friend." He's sly, but I put him +behind me that time.</p> + +<p>It was easy enough for this man to talk about God giving me a chance, +but he didn't know me—a hard, wicked sinner, who if half the crimes I +had committed were known I'd be put in prison for life. Would God help +such a one? I knew I was clean and had a good suit of clothes on, but, +oh! how I wished God would give me another chance! But I felt as if He +had no use for me.</p> + +<p>The man put his hand on my shoulder and said, "I want to be your friend; +will you let me?" I said I'd be proud of such a friend. "Now, Dave," he +said, "there's One better than I who will stick to you closer than a +brother; will you let Him be your friend?" I said I would, though I +doubted if He wanted any part of me, but I was going to make a try; and +the young man and myself knelt down in the Tabernacle, corner of Broome +Street and Centre Market Place, on the 16th of September, 1892, and I +asked God to have mercy on me, cut the drink out of my life, and make a +man of me, if such a thing could be done, for Christ's sake. I kept +praying that over and over again, the man still kneeling with me, when +all of a sudden I heard a voice say, "I will, Dave; only trust Me and +have faith." I heard those words just as sure as I am living, and +writing this book. None but a Christian can understand this voice; +others would say we are crazy who say such things; but it's true: only +have faith, and all things are yours. I've proved it!</p> + + +<h4>A NEW MAN IN CHRIST JESUS</h4> + +<p>I rose from my knees a changed man. I can't explain it, but I felt as I +hadn't felt in years—lighter, happier, with a peace that was great in +my heart. I thought of mother and only wished she could see me then, but +she did all right.</p> + +<p>"What will your friends say?" there was the old Devil saying. "Get out +of this place, and don't be a fool; be a man."</p> + +<p>I stood there listening to the tempter, when the young fellow said, +"Dave, what are you going to do now that you have taken Jesus?"</p> + +<p>I said, "I've knelt here and asked God for Christ's sake to make me a +sober man, and I fully believe that He will. Drink has brought me down, +and I'll die before I'll take another drink." And at this writing I'm +over seventeen years off the stuff.</p> + +<p>I asked the young fellow what his name was, and found that he was +Alexander Irvine, lodging-house missionary to the Bowery under the New +York City Mission of which Dr. Schauffler is the head. We shook hands, +and before we parted we made a compact that we would be pals.</p> + +<p>Isn't it wonderful what God can do? I don't believe there's a man or +woman, no matter how wicked, no matter what sin they've done, but God +can and will save, the only conditions being: Come, believe, and trust. +"For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that +whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting +life."—John 3:16. But you have to have some sand of your own.</p> + +<center> +<img src="images/image-5.jpg" width="600" height="502" alt="READING-ROOM IN A LODGING-HOUSE." title="READING-ROOM IN A LODGING-HOUSE."> +</center> +<div class="caption"><center>READING-ROOM IN A LODGING-HOUSE.</center></div> + + + +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_V"></a><h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>ON THE UP GRADE</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Mr. Irvine paid for my lodging and meals for a week at 105 Bowery. I +thought he was great; I'd never run up against anything like him. He +said, "We must get you a job of some kind, and that quick. Will you +work?" Well, what do you think of that! Would I work? It struck me as +funny. Work and I had fallen out long ago. I could lie down beside work +and watch the other fellow do it. I had reached the point where, like a +good many others, I felt the world owed me a living, and I was bound to +get it. I had toiled hard and faithfully for the Devil, and taken a +great many chances, and I never thought of that as work. And I got the +wages the Devil always pays—cuts, shot, prison: I was paid good and +plenty. Here I was up against another proposition—work—and I hated +it!</p> + +<p>Irvine said, "You must have something to occupy your mind and time, for +you know the Devil finds mischief for idlers." I said I'd tackle +anything; I'd work all right. A few days later he told me he had a job +for me. "Good," I said. I wondered what kind of work it was. I knew it +was not a position of great trust, not a cashier in a bank; that would +have to come later on. Well, the job was tending a furnace—get up steam +at 5 A. M., do the chores, and make myself generally useful; wages +$12.00 per month and my breakfast!</p> + +<p>I did not like this for a starter, and I told Mr. Irvine so, and he had +to do some tall talking. He finally got angry and said, "Ranney, you +started out to let God help you. Well, you know God helps the man that +helps himself." That was so. I had asked God to help me, and here I was +at the start refusing to give Him a chance. That clinched it, and I +took the first honest job I had had in a good many years. I thank God I +did take it, for it was a stepping-stone.</p> + + +<h4>FISHING FOR A DINNER</h4> + +<p>I started in working and was getting on fine, but I always felt I wasn't +getting money enough. I tried in my leisure time for another job, but in +all the places I was asked the same question: "Where did you work last?" +I could not tell them, "In prison and on the road," and that queered me. +So I stuck to the furnace, was always on time, and was pretty well liked +by the people. I had been there about two weeks, and seen the cook every +day and smelled the steak, etc., about noontime and at supper, but the +cook never asked me if I had a mouth on me. She was a good-natured +outspoken Irish woman with a good big heart, and I thought about this +time that I'd jolly her a little and get my dinner. One day I came up +from the cellar carrying a hod of coal in each hand, and going into the +kitchen I tried in every way to attract her attention, but she was busy +broiling a steak and never looked around. Finally I got tired and said, +"Cook, where will I put this coal?" Well, well, I'll never forget that +moment in years! She turned and looked at me and began, "I want you to +understand my name is Mrs. Cunningham. I'm none of your cooks, and if +you dare call me cook again while you're in this house I'll have you +sacked—discharged!" I thought I had been hit with a steam car. I did +not answer her back, and she kept right on: "I'm a lady, and I'll be +treated as such or I'll know why!" I never saw a person so mad in all my +life, and I couldn't understand why. There she was cooking, and yet she +was no cook! I thought to myself, "I guess she doesn't like her job." I +didn't blame her, because I didn't like mine either.</p> + +<p>My heart went down into my boots. Here I had made a play for a dinner +and got left. About a week after this I was doing a little job in the +laundry when I ran across the cook, and she said, "Young man, would you +like a little bite to eat?" I answered quickly, "Yes, thank you, Mrs. +Cunningham," just as sweet as anything. No more "cook" for mine. I'll +never call people by their occupation again as long as I live. I'd had +my lesson; but I had won out on my dinner too. A short time after she +asked me if I could read, and would I read the news to her while she was +peeling potatoes. I answered very sweetly, "Yes, Mrs. Cunningham," and I +got my supper.</p> + +<p>I would see Irvine once in a while, and I was always ready to give up my +job, but he would say, "Stay six months, get a recommend, and then you +can get something better. Just let God take care of you, and you'll come +out away on top of the heap. God is going to use you in His work. Just +keep on trusting and don't get discouraged." He always had a word of +cheer, and I thank God that I did trust, and things came out better than +I even thought.</p> + +<p>You readers who are just starting out in the Christian life, just let +God have His way. Don't think you know it all. Go right ahead, have a +little sand, and trust Him. He will never leave you, and you will have +the best in this life and in the life to come. It's an everlasting joy, +and isn't it worth working for, boys?</p> + + +<h4>PRAYERS IN A LODGING-HOUSE</h4> + +<p>I remember, when I knelt down in 105 Bowery beside my cot to ask God's +blessing and guidance, how a laugh used to go around the dormitory. +There were about seventy beds in the place, and it was something unusual +to see a man on his knees praying. But when I started out to be a man I +meant business, and I said I would say my prayers every night. I don't +think God can think much of a man who says his prayers lying on his +back, unless he's sick. I believe God expects us to get on our knees, +for if a thing is worth getting it's worth thanks. I didn't mind the +laugh so much, but I did some: it was sort of cutting. I'm no coward +physically, and can handle myself fairly well at the present time, but +when it came to getting on my knees I was a rank coward.</p> + +<p>A lodging-house is a queer affair. Men of all nations sleep there—some +drunk, some dreaming aloud, others snoring. The cots are about two feet +apart—just room for you to pass between them. It takes a lot of grit +and plenty of God's grace to live a Christian life in a lodging-house. I +go in them every day now to look after the other fellow: if he is sick +or wants to go to the hospital I'll see to that; but I never can forget +the time when I was one of those, inmates.</p> + +<p>One night I had just got on my knees when boots, shoes, and pillows +came sailing at me; one boot hit me, and it did hurt for fair. Then a +whiskey flask hit me, and that hurt. I was boiling with rage. I got up, +but I didn't say anything; no one would have answered me if I had; they +were all asleep, by the way. We call such business hazing, but it's mean +and dirty.</p> + +<p>I went to work as usual the next day, and thought and planned all day +how to catch one of those fellows. I figured out the following plan: I +did not go to bed that night until quite late; the gas was turned down +low, and I made noise enough for them to hear me. When I was ready for +bed I knelt down and turned my head as quick as a flash to catch the +throwers, for I knew they would throw again. Just as I turned I caught +the fellow in the act of throwing a bottle. It seemed as though the +Devil had got me for fair again, for I made a rush for that fellow, got +him by the throat, pulled him out of bed and jumped on him, and I think +if it hadn't been for the watchman I would have killed him; but he said, +"Dan, for God's sake don't kill him!" I let up, and, standing upon that +dormitory floor, beds all around, every one awake, about 11 P. M., I +gave my first testimony, which was something like this: "Men, I've quit +drinking—been off the stuff about two weeks, a thing I have not done in +years unless locked up. I've knelt and asked God to keep me sober and +have thanked Him for His kindness to me. Now if you men don't let me +alone in the future I'll lick you or you will me."</p> + +<p>I went to my cot and knelt down, but I was so stirred up I couldn't +pray. I wondered if there was going to be any more throwing, but that +night finished it. I went up in the opinion of those men one hundred per +cent. I lived there until the place burned down, and was one of the +fortunate ones that got out alive when so many lost their lives, and I +always said my prayers and was respected by the men. I was making lots +of friends and attending Sunday-school, prayer-meeting, and mission +services.</p> + + +<h4>THE STORY OF AN OVERCOAT</h4> + +<p>One Thanksgiving-time I was hired to carry dinners to the poor families +by the New York City Mission. Mrs. Lucy Bainbridge was the +superintendent. God bless her, for she was and is one good woman! I +didn't have any overcoat and it was cold; but I didn't mind, as I was +moving about carrying the dinners. This was about two months after I had +decided to follow Christ, and I still had the furnace job when I met +Mrs. Bainbridge.</p> + +<p>She knew me by sight and asked me how I was getting on, and where was my +overcoat? I told her I was getting along all right, but I had no +overcoat. She said, "That's too bad! Come with me and we will see if +there's one in the Dorcas Room"—a place where clothes are kept that +good people send in for the poor who haven't so much. There were quite a +few coats there, any one of which would have suited me, but they didn't +please Mrs. Bainbridge. She said, "David, come into the office." She +gave me a letter to Rogers, Peet & Co., and told me to take it down +there and wait for an answer.</p> + +<p>I went down and gave the letter to a clerk, and it was great to see him +eye me up. I didn't know then how the letter read, but have since +learned that the contents were as follows: "Give this man about the best +overcoat you have in the store." No wonder he looked me over!</p> + +<p>We began trying on coats, found one that suited us, and he said, "You +might as well wear it home." "Not on your natural!" I said. "Put it in +paper or a box." I didn't think that coat was for me, for it was fifty +dollars if a cent. Picture me with twelve dollars per month and three +meals, and a fifty-dollar overcoat!</p> + +<p>I went back to Mrs. Bainbridge, and she told me to try the coat on, +which I did. Then she said, "David, that coat is for you, but listen, +David; that coat is mine. Now I wouldn't go into a saloon, and I want +you to promise me that you will never enter a saloon while you wear it." +I promised, and that coat never went into a saloon, and I wore it for +five years. Then I sent it to old Ireland, to my wife's father, and +perhaps he is still wearing it. I often see Mrs. Bainbridge, and she is +always the same kind friend, God bless her! I have entry to the Dorcas +Room when I need anything to help a man that I'm trying to put on his +feet, and that's often.</p> + + +<h4>DELIVERING TELEPHONE BOOKS</h4> + +<p>It was coming spring and I was no longer needed at the furnace. I left +with a recommendation for six months and a standing invitation from the +cook for my meals, and she never went back on me. I don't know where she +is now, but if she reads this book I want her to know that I appreciated +all she did for me when I started this new life and I am sure she will +be delighted to know that she helped a little.</p> + +<p>I got another job delivering telephone books. When you see a poor +seedy-looking man delivering these books, give him a kind word, for +there's many a good man at that job to-day hoping for something better. +This job was a hard one and you had to hustle to make a dollar a day, +but I did not mind the hustling: I was strong, the drink had gone out of +me, and I felt good. I was anxious to get a job as porter in some +wholesale house, and delivering these books gave me a good chance to +ask, and ask I did in nearly every store where I delivered a book. I +always got the same reply, "No one wanted." I stayed at this about +three months, and was getting discouraged. It looked as though I'd never +get a steady position.</p> + +<p>I had only a few more days of work, and was just finishing my deliveries +one afternoon. I had Twenty-second Street and North River as my last +delivery, which took me into the lumber district and into the office of +John McC——. I asked the young man in charge of the office if they +wanted a young fellow to work. He asked me what I could do, and I said, +"Anything." Now it's an old saying, "A man that can do everything can't +do much of anything."</p> + +<p>We went down into the yard and he asked me the different qualities of +lumber and their names. I'll never forget the first question he asked +me, which was, "What's the name of that piece of timber?" I said, "Oak," +and I was right. After testing me on the other piles he asked me if I +could measure, and could I tally? I told him I could, and he said, +"I'll give you $9.00. Is that enough?" I said that would do for a +starter, and he told me to be on hand at seven o'clock in the morning.</p> + +<p>I delivered the few books I had left, drew my money, got a shave, bought +a leather apron, and went to bed. I was up and at John McC——'s yard at +6:30.</p> + +<p>He was Police Commissioner then, and one of the whitest men I ever ran +up against.</p> + +<p>I started in at my third job since I had been converted. I was at home +in the lumber yard, as I had learned the business While roughing it in +Tonawanda, Troy, Syracuse, Buffalo, and on the Lakes. And when a man +learns anything, if he isn't a fool he can always work at it again. Here +I was at a business few could tell me much about.</p> + + +<h4>TESTIFYING IN A LUMBER YARD</h4> + +<p>The lumber-handlers as a rule are a free and easy set, nearly all +drinking men. It's warm work, and when a man is piling all day, pulling +up plank after plank, he thinks a pint of beer does him good. They rush +the can—first the piler, then the stager, and then the ground man, then +the piler again, and so on. I've counted as many as twenty pints in one +day among one gang. I soon got the run of the yard and made friends with +all the men; but if ever I was up against temptation it was there in +that yard, where I worked a long time. They would ask me to have a +drink, but I told them time and time again that I did not care about it; +I was off the stuff.</p> + +<p>Often when I was sweating after pushing down a load of lumber from the +pile and keeping tally at the same time, the Devil would whisper to me, +"Oh, have a glass of beer; it won't hurt you; it will do you good," and +I was tempted to join with the men and drink. I had to keep praying hard +and fast, for I was sorely tempted. But, thank God, I've yet to take my +first drink since 1892!</p> + +<p>God was always near me, and He often said, "Tell the men all about it, +how you have asked Me to help you, and they won't ask you to drink any +more." I wondered what the men would say if I told them. I was a little +timid about doing it. I had testified once or twice in a meeting, but +that was easy compared with this. But after a while I got up courage and +told the men why I did not drink. I said, "I have been a hard man and +loved drink so much that it separated me from family and friends, put me +in prison, and took my manhood away. One year ago I took Jesus as my +helper and asked Him to take away this love for drink, and He did. I +would rather lose my right arm than go back again, and with God's help +I'll win out and never drink again." I often talked with them about it, +told them it was a good way to live, and to think it over. I found out +in a little while that the men thought better of me, and respected me +more than before. I have heard some of them say, "I wish I could give up +the drink," and some did, and are living good lives without the cursed +stuff.</p> + +<p>I've met some of these men on the Bowery, "down and out," and I've stood +by them and tried to point them in the right direction. There's one man, +a fine noble fellow, who used to work with me in my lumber days, who is +on the Bowery at the present time, unable to give up the drink. He is +always glad to see me and says, "God bless you, Dan, and keep you away +from the stuff. I wish I could!" I tell him to ask God and have faith, +and then I slip him a meal ticket and give him a God bless you!</p> + +<center> +<img src="images/image-6.jpg" width="600" height="706" alt="MR. RANNEY AND ONE OF HIS "BOYS."" title="MR. RANNEY AND ONE OF HIS "BOYS.""> +</center> +<div class="caption"><center>MR. RANNEY AND ONE OF HIS "BOYS."</center></div> + + +<center> +<img src="images/image-7.jpg" width="600" height="697" alt="DAVE RANNEY, ALIAS DANNY REILLY." title="DAVE RANNEY, ALIAS DANNY REILLY."> +</center> +<div class="caption"><center>DAVE RANNEY, ALIAS DANNY REILLY.</center></div> + + +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a><h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>PROMOTED</h3> +<br /> + +<p>I had never lost sight of my friend Irvine. We used to see each other +often and have a good chat about things in general. He said he was going +to take charge of the Sea and Land Church and wanted me to come and be +the sexton. It would give me $30.00 per month, rooms, coal and gas. He +thought it would be a good thing for me to become reunited to my wife +Mary, and I thought so too, but she had to give her consent. We had been +separated for a number of years, and though I had been calling on her +for over a year she never took any stock in my conversion. Here I was +fifteen months a redeemed man, trying to get my wife to live with me +again. I prayed often, but I never thought she would consent.</p> + + +<h4>CHURCH OF SEA AND LAND</h4> + +<p>I was married young, and she was only a girl, and though she loved me +she could not forget the misery and hardships she went through. I never +hit her in my life, but I wouldn't support her: I'd rather support the +rumseller and his family, all for that cursed drink. And I didn't blame +her for being afraid to chance it again. "A burnt child dreads the +fire." I had made her life very hard, and she was afraid. She was glad +to know that I had given up drink, but doubted my remaining sober. +Finally she agreed to live with me again if I remained sober for three +years. I was put on probation—the Methodist way. Now I had been on the +level for fifteen months, and I had twenty-one months more to go. She +was strong-minded and would stick to her word, so I did not see how I +could take the job as sexton.</p> + +<p>I told Mr. Irvine that was the way things stood and for him to get +some one else. He said, "Pretty slim chances, but we will pray about +it." He and I went up to Sixty-seventh Street, where Mrs. Ranney was +working as laundress, and after a little talk we came to the point. I +was a go-ahead man, and tried every way to get her to promise to come +down, but she wouldn't say yes. I'll never forget that night in the +laundry if I live a hundred years; she took no stock in me at all. I was +giving it up as a bad job; she wouldn't come, and that settled it. We +got up to go when Mr. Irvine asked if she would object to a word of +prayer. She said, "No," and we had a little prayer-meeting right there. +We bade Mrs. Ranney good-night and left.</p> + +<p>The next night she came down and we showed her all over the church. The +sexton who had been living there hadn't kept the living apartments +clean, and she did not like them very much, but when she went away she +said, "If I only could be sure you would keep sober I would go with +you, but I can't depend on you. Fifteen months isn't long enough; you +will have to go three years. I don't think I'll come." I said, "That +settles it! But listen: whether you come or not, I am not going back to +the old life." The next day I received a telegram from Mary saying,</p> + +<center>"COME UP FOR MY THINGS." </center> + +<p>I jumped on a single truck, drove up to Sixty-seventh Street, and got +all my wife's things, trunks, band-boxes and everything, and it did not +take me long to get down to the church. Mary was already there, and I +took charge of the Church of the Sea and Land at Market and Henry +Streets, where I remained as sexton for ten years. I would not take +$10,000 for the character I received from the trustees when I resigned. +I always look back with pleasure to those good old days at the church, +the many friends we made, and the many blessings I received while +there.</p> + +<p>It did not take us long to get the run of the place. We sent for our +boy, who was in Ireland with his mother's folks. When he came I didn't +know him, as I hadn't seen him since he was a little baby. What a +surprise it was when at my sister's house, after supper, she went into +the front room, leaving me alone in the kitchen, when a manly little +fellow came in and looked me over and said, "Hello, father, I'm your son +Willie. How are you?"</p> + +<p>I looked at him, but couldn't say a word, for I had almost forgotten +that I had a son. I opened my arms and the boy came with a rush, threw +his arms around my neck, and said, "I love you, dad."</p> + +<p>I want to say here that this boy has never given me any trouble and we +have been companions ever since that night. He married a good Christian +girl and is in his own home to-day.</p> + +<p>I heard a little laugh, and there were my sister and Mary taking it all +in. I could see then that it was a put-up job, this getting me to go up +to my sister's house.</p> + +<p>Time passed and we were doing finely. One day we heard the boy playing +the piano, and we got him a teacher. In a short time he was able to play +for the smaller classes, the juniors. Then my friend Mrs. Bainbridge got +him a better teacher. He improved rapidly, and now he is organist in the +Fifty-seventh Street Presbyterian Church.</p> + +<p>I tell you it pays to be a Christian and on the level. If I hadn't done +anything else but give that boy a musical education, it would have paid. +I'm proud of him.</p> + + +<h4>MY FIRST SERMON</h4> + +<p>I remember the first meeting I ever led. It came about like this: I had +been sexton of Sea and Land Church about four years, was growing in +grace and getting on finely. One Wednesday night the minister asked me +if I would lead the prayer-meeting the following week, as he was going +away. I told him I did not know how to lead a meeting and I was afraid +to undertake it, as I couldn't preach a sermon. "Oh, that's all right," +he said. "I'll write out something, and all you will have to do is to +study it a little, read it over once or twice, then get up and read it +off." I told him I'd try. I'd do the best I could. So he wrote about ten +sheets of foolscap paper, all about sinners. I remember there was a +story about a man going over the falls in a boat, and lots of other +interesting things as I thought. I took the paper home and studied as +hard as I could to get it into my head.</p> + +<p>The night came on which I was to take the meeting—that eventful night +in my life. I got on the platform, took the papers out of my pocket, +and opened the big Bible at the chapter I was going to read, and laid +out the talk just as I thought a minister might do. I read the chapter, +then we had a song, then it was up to me.</p> + +<p>Do you know I made the greatest mistake of my life that night! I went on +that platform trusting in my own strength and not asking God's help. I +got a swelled head and imagined I was the real thing. But God in His own +way showed me where I was standing and brought me up with a short turn.</p> + +<p>I began reading the article written, and was getting on well, as I +thought, taking all the credit myself and not giving God any. I read +three pages all right, when some one opened the window. It was a March +night, very windy, and when the window was opened something happened, +and I thank God that it did.</p> + +<p>The wind came directly toward me and took the sermon I was preaching and +scattered it all over the room. I didn't know what to say or do. I +forgot everything that was written on the papers, and I knew if I tried +to get them back I would make a fool of myself.</p> + +<p>There was a smile on every face in the congregation. There I stood, +wishing the floor would open and let me through. I certainly was in a +box!</p> + +<p>Just at this moment God spoke to me and said, "David, I did that, and I +did it for your own good. Now listen to me. You were not cut out for a +minister. Just get up and tell these people how God for Christ's sake +saved you, and I'll be with you."</p> + +<p>I listened to the voice, bowed my head in prayer, and it seemed as +though the Lord put the words in my mouth. I told that roomful of people +of my past life and how God saved and had blessed me for four years. We +had a grand meeting and a number were saved that night, and, above all, +I received one of the greatest blessings of my life.</p> + +<p>On his return the minister said, "I hear you had a great meeting. How +did the reading go!" I told him what had happened, and he was +astonished, but saw God's hand in it, and said so.</p> + +<p>From that night on I never wrote up anything to read to my audience, and +I have spoken all over within a circle of fifty miles of New York, and +even farther away, including Boston, Philadelphia, Albany, and Troy. I +tell the Bowery boys I'm what is called an extemporaneous talker. I +don't know the first word I'm going to say when I get on my feet, but +God never leaves me: I just open my mouth and He fills it. Praise His +name!</p> + +<p>It was a lesson to me and I have never forgotten it.</p> + + +<h4>THE TESTIMONY OF A GAMBLER</h4> + +<p>While I was sexton of the old Sea and Land Church I met among other men +one who came to be a great friend. We called ourselves pals and loved +each other dearly, and yet I have never been able to bring him to +Christ. When I told him I was writing the story of my life he said he +wanted to add a few lines to tell, he said, what I could not. This is +what he wrote:</p> + +<p>"'Lead, Kindly Light,' was the song; I'll never forget it. I heard it on +the Bowery fifteen years ago. I was passing a Mission, and hearing it I +went in—I don't know why to this day. After the singing some one +prayed, and I started to go out when the leader of the meeting called +for testimonies for Christ. I waited and listened, and I heard a voice +that made me sit down again. I shall never forget the man that was +speaking. What he said sounded like the truth. It was the greatest +sermon I ever listened to. He was telling how much God had done for him, +saved him from drink and made a Christian man of him. I knew it was the +truth. I went home that night to wife and children, and told my wife +where I had been. She laughed and said, 'Dan, you are getting daffy.' +From that night on I have been a better husband and father.</p> + +<p>"I left home one night about six o'clock and went down Cherry Street to +a saloon where the gang hang out. I had been telling the boys about the +things I had heard at the Mission. A young man said, 'Sullivan, there +was a young preacher down at my house and asked me to come to a young +people's meeting at the Sea and Land Church. I promised I would go, but +I haven't got the courage.' In a moment I got churchy. I had never been +in a church in New York. I said, 'Come on,' and we went to that meeting. +I am glad I did. That night I met my friend Ranney. As I was passing out +of the meeting he greeted me—he was the sexton—with a handshake and a +'Good-night, old pal; come again!' There is something in a handshake, +and as we shook I felt I had made another friend. I'll never forget that +night. We became fast friends. There is no one that knows Ranney better +than Sullivan. I have watched him in his climb to the top step by step +to be in the grand position he fills, that of Lodging House Missionary +to the Bowery under the New York City Mission and Tract Society.</p> + +<p>"One day we were going up the Bowery and passing a Mission went in. We +heard the testimonies, and I turned to Ranney and said, 'Are you a +Christian?' He said, 'I am.' I said, 'Get up, then, and tell the men +what God has done for you.' Now here I was a gambler telling this man to +acknowledge God, and I did not do it myself! Ranney rose and turned all +colors. He finally settled down to that style of talking which he alone +possesses. He told his story for the first time. I have heard him +hundreds of times since, but to me that night fifteen years ago was the +greatest talk he ever gave, telling how God saved him from a crooked and +drunken life. It had the ring! I loved him from that night on. When he +got through I said, 'Dave, God met you face to face to-night. You will +be a different man from now on. God spoke to-night, not you. It was the +best talk I ever heard. It took you a long time to start, but nothing +can stop you now. One word of advice, pal, I'll give you: Don't get +stuck on yourself. God will use you when He won't others among your own +kind. He will make a preacher of you to men of your own stamp.' And +Ranney is to-day what I said and thought he would be.</p> + +<p>"You would think that a man who had been the pal of Ranney for three +years would never say an unkind word to one that he loved, but that is +what I did. We had a misunderstanding, and I said things to Dave Ranney +that he never will forget. I called him every name on the calendar. He +was speechless and I thought afraid of me. He never said a word. I left +him standing there as if petrified—his friend and pal talking to him +like that, his pal that sang with him, and joked with him!</p> + +<p>"I went home and swore that never again would I have anything to do +with a Christian. I had forgotten for the moment all the little +kindnesses he had done and how after I had been on a drunk he had been +at my bedside, how he had spoken words of cheer and comfort and said, +'Dan, old man, cheer up. Some day you are going to cut out drink'; and I +want to say right now that I have not drank in over twelve years. I'd +forgotten all that. I only thought of how I might hang the best fellow +on this earth. I came to myself ten minutes after I left him, but the +work had been done, and I made up my mind I'd never see or speak to him +again. I'd go back to my old life of gambling and cheating, and I did.</p> + +<p>"Five months passed. I had not seen Ranney in all that time. I was +playing poker one night, the 16th of September, 1899, with no more +thought of Dave than if he had never lived. It was in the old —— —— +Hotel on Water Street, a little before eight in the evening. My partner +and I were having a pretty easy time stealing the other men's +money—some call it cheating—when my thoughts turned to my old +Christian pal Ranney. It was the eighth anniversary of his conversion. +Quick as a flash I jumped to my feet and said, 'Boys, I'll be back in an +hour. I've got to go!' My partner thought I had been caught cheating and +was going to cash his chips. I said, 'I'll be back in a little while.'</p> + +<p>"I ran all the way up to the Bowery to the place where Ranney was +holding his meeting. The Mission was packed. There were a lot of +big-guns on the platform. No one saw me that knew me. Ranney was asking +for those testimonies that would help the other fellow. I got on my feet +and faced him. He turned pale. He thought I was going to set him out +then and there. He looked me straight in the eye and began to come +slowly toward me, and when I had finished we had one another by the +hand. This is part of what I said that night:</p> + +<p>"'I make no pretense at being a Christian. I am a gambler. But the man +standing there—Dave Ranney—was once my chum and pal. We had a little +misunderstanding some five months ago, and I am here to-night to ask his +forgiveness. Forgive me, Dave. I just left a card-game to come up to +your anniversary and help make you happy. I know you don't believe I +meant what I said. I love you more to-night than any time since I first +met you. Why, men, I would lay down my life that Ranney is one of the +best and whitest Christians in New York to-night. It ain't the big +things that a man does that show his real character. No, it's the little +things. I have watched Ranney, been with him; his sorrows are my +sorrows, his joys my joys. I can't say any more to-night.'</p> + +<p>"Dave begged me to stay. Mr. Seymour came down to speak to me, but I'd +done what I came to do, and I had got out quick—from Heaven to Hell, +from my Christian pal to my pal in crime at the card-table.</p> + +<p>"I've never been converted. If I was I'd go like my pal Ranney out in +the world and tell how God saved me, and not let the ministers do all +the talking. At present all I can say is, 'God bless my pal! and some of +these days perhaps I'll be with him on the platform telling what God did +for me. God speed the day!'"</p> + + +<h4>TRIED IN THE FIRE</h4> + +<p>I had been sexton for over five years, and had been greatly blessed, +when my wife became ill. Things did not always run smoothly, for there +are ups and downs even in a sexton's life, and I had mine. When Mary and +I took up again I determined to do all in my power to make amends for my +former treatment of her, to make life as pleasant for her as I could, +and I did. When she was first taken sick I sent her and the boy over to +Ireland to visit her parents, thinking the change would do her good. She +was better for a little while, but on the 14th of March, 1902, she died. +My boy and I were at her bedside and promised to meet her on the other +side, and with the help of God we are going to keep our word.</p> + +<p>You know there are always "knockers," and I knew quite a few. In every +church and society there they are with their little hatchets ready to +trim and knock any one that goes ahead of them. Some of these people +said of me, "Oh, Ranney is under Christian influences. He is sexton. He +is afraid. Wait until he runs up against a lot of trouble, then he will +go back to the Bowery again and drink worse than ever." I do think some +of those people would have liked to see it happen. I've seen one of them +in a sanitarium to be treated for drink who was my worst knocker, and I +told him I would pray for him. I'm not talking of the good Christian +people. They don't know how to "knock," and I thank God for all such. I +had a thousand friends for every "knocker," and they were ready to help +me with kind words, money, or in any other way when I was in trouble.</p> + +<p>Just as an illustration of this take the act of the poor fellows of the +Midnight Mission in Chinatown when my wife died. They wanted to show +their sympathy and their love, and a delegation of them came in a body +and placed a wreath on Mary's coffin. I learned afterwards how they all +chipped in for the collection—some a few cents, some a nickel. Don't +think for a moment that the Bowery down-and-out has no heart, for it +isn't so. Many a tough-looking fellow with a jumper instead of a shirt +has one of the truest hearts that beats. I only wish I could help them +more than I do.</p> + +<p>When God took Mary away I thought it was hard, and I was sore and ready +to do anything, I didn't care what. There was a lady, Miss Brown, a +trained nurse, who had been with Mary all through her illness, whose +cheering words did me a wonderful lot of good. One thing she said was, +"Trust." God bless her!</p> + + +<h4>A TESTING TIME</h4> + +<p>My old friend the Devil was in evidence during this hard time in all his +pomp and glory. I could hear him say, "You see how God treats you! He +don't care much or He wouldn't have taken Mary away. What did He do it +for? Why, He don't know you even a little bit. Come, Dan, I'll be your +friend; didn't we always have a good time together on the Bowery? Go get +a 'ball'; it'll do you good and make you forget your troubles. You have +a good excuse even if any one sees you." I was tempted, but I said, "Not +this time, you old Devil: get behind my back!" People said, "Keep your +eye on Ranney; he's up against it; now he will start to drink and go +down and out."</p> + +<p>I'm going to tell you how God came and helped me in my hour of need. It +was the day of the funeral, the 17th of March, 1902. The people who were +helping had gone home to get ready to attend the service, and my boy and +I were left all alone with the dead. We were feeling pretty bad. My boy +had lost the best friend he ever had or would have in this world. Some +fathers are all right and love their children, but it isn't like a +mother's love. No wonder he was weeping and feeling badly.</p> + +<p>We were walking about the room saying nothing, just thinking, and +wondering what would happen next. We happened to meet just at the head +of the casket (God's doing), and stood there as though held by some +unseen power, when my boy opens up like this: "Pop, you don't want me to +smoke any cigarettes, do you?" I looked at him, astonished at such a +question at this time, but I said, "No, Willie, I don't want you to +smoke and hope you never will." Then he said, "Father, you don't want +me to drink, do you?" I wondered at these questions, and looked at him +with tears in my eyes. I said, "No, Bill, my poor boy, I would rather +see you dead and in your coffin beside your poor mother, and know you +were going to be buried to-day, than to know you would ever drink or be +like your father was. Bill, don't you ever take the first glass of beer +or whiskey! Ask God to keep you from it."</p> + +<p>I wondered what was coming next, but I didn't have to wait long. The boy +said, "The people are watching you and say you won't come back from the +grave without having a drink, and that you won't be sober a week from +now. Pop, trust in the God that saved you ten years ago, won't you? You +know we promised to meet mother. Fool these people and let them see that +you are the man and father I love."</p> + +<p>I straightened up, looked at the lad, and out went my hand. We shook +hands and I said, "Son, with the help of God I'll never drink again." +And there at the head of the coffin we knelt and asked God to help us +and make us men such as He would have us be; we asked it in the name and +for the sake of the Christ who died for us.</p> + +<p>That was March 17, 1902, and we have kept the faith up to the present +time.</p> + +<p>I'll never forget that prayer. Don't you think it pays to be on the +level with God? If you ask Him to help you He will. Just trust Him and +have a little backbone, and you will win out every time. I know now that +this experience was God teaching me a lesson and drawing me closer to +Him.</p> + +<p>Things went differently now; I could not run the church very well alone, +so after a few months I handed in my resignation. The trustees wanted me +to stay, but I couldn't; sad memories would come up, and I simply had +to go. I left the old church where I had spent so many happy days with a +record of ten years that money could not buy. I go there once in a while +even now.</p> + +<center> +<img src="images/image-8.jpg" width="600" height="471" alt="THE CHURCH OF SEA AND LAND." title="THE CHURCH OF SEA AND LAND."> +</center> +<div class="caption"><center>THE CHURCH OF SEA AND LAND.</center></div> + +<center> +<img src="images/image-9.jpg" width="600" height="471" alt="MIDNIGHT MISSION, CHINATOWN." title="MIDNIGHT MISSION, CHINATOWN."> +</center> +<div class="caption"><center>MIDNIGHT MISSION, CHINATOWN.</center></div> + + + +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a><h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE MISSION IN CHINATOWN</h3> +<br /> + +<p>About two years previous to my wife's death a man, Mr. H. Gould, called +on me and asked me if I was the Ranney that was converted on the Bowery. +I said, "Yes, I was saved about ten years ago." He said, "I've a +proposal to make. I hear you are a natural-born leader of men, and I +think you look it. I'm one of the trustees of the Midnight Mission in +Chinatown. It's a hard place, but will you come and take charge of it? I +can't keep any one there longer than a few weeks; they get drunk or are +licked or done up some way. I want some one with backbone; will you take +it?" I thanked him. He had said enough to make any one refuse a job like +that, but I knew all the ins and outs of that quarter, and I thought +I'd like the work. I asked God's guidance, and I spoke with Mr. +Dennison, the pastor of the Church of Sea and Land, and he said it was +wonderful the way God was leading me. "Go and see what it's like," he +said. "Try it. You can run the church also, but if you see you can't get +along, give it up."</p> + +<p>My wife and boy were planning to go on a visit to Ireland to see if it +would improve her health, and when I told her of Mr. Gould's proposal +she did not want me to go: she was afraid I'd get killed. But I said it +would help to pass the time away until she came back. So in 1900 I took +charge of the Chinatown Midnight Mission, remained there six years, and +left to be a lodging-house missionary.</p> + +<p>I well remember the first night. There sat some of the old gang. They +gave me the glad hand, and asked me if I was going to be the bouncer; if +so, I could count on them. I said. "Yes, I'm to be the 'main guy,' +bouncer, etc." They were pleased, and gave me credit of always being on +the level. I made lots of friends while there.</p> + + +<h4>LEADING A MEETING</h4> + +<p>I never had to use force to keep order but once while in that Mission. I +had been in charge two months or so when I got notice that the leader +would not be there that night, so it was up to me to lead the meeting. +I'll never forget that night. There are some things a person can't +forget, and that was one of them.</p> + +<p>It was snowing and very cold outside, and the Mission was packed with +men and a few women. These poor creatures had no place to go, no home; +they were outcasts, there through various sins, but mostly through love +of rum. I hoped some visitor would come in and I would get him to lead, +but no one came, and it was up to me to give the boys a talk. I had +never forgotten my first sermon at the church, so, asking God to help +me, I went on the platform. I read the story of the Prodigal Son. That +was easy; the hard part was to come later on. I asked if some one would +play the piano, and a young fellow came up that looked as though he +hadn't had a meal or slept in a bed in a month, but when he touched the +keys I knew he was a master. I found out later that he was a prodigal, +had left home, spent all, and was on the Bowery living on the husks.</p> + +<p>We began by singing a hymn, after which I got up and began to talk to +the men. I gave my testimony, how God had saved me from a life of +crookedness and crime, and that I was no better than the worst man on +the Bowery, except by the grace of God. There was one big fellow sitting +in the front row who was trying to guy me. While I was talking he would +make all sorts of remarks, such as, "Oh, what do you know about it? Go +away back and sit down," etc. I asked him to keep still or he would +have to get out. I went on trying to talk, but that man would always +answer back with some foolish remark. He was trying to stop the +meeting—so he told me afterwards.</p> + +<p>There I was. I could not go on if he did, and I told him that when I got +through I would give him a chance to talk. Now there were over four +hundred men looking at me, wondering what I would do. Some of my old +pals shouted, "Put him out, Danny!" and the meeting was in an uproar. I +knew if I did not run that meeting, or if I showed the "white feather," +I was done as a leader or anything else connected with that place. I +said to him, "My friend, if you don't keep still I'll make an example of +you." I could have called the police and had him locked up, but I didn't +want any one to go behind bars and know that I had him put there. I had +been there and that was enough. I've never had one of these poor men +arrested in my life. I used kindness.</p> + +<p>I began to talk again, and he started in again, but before he got many +words out of his mouth I gave him a swinging upper cut which landed on +the point of his jaw, lifting him about two feet, and down he went on +his back. My old pals came up to help, but I said, "Sit down, men; I can +handle two like that fellow." I called out a hymn; then I told him to +get up, and if he thought he could behave himself he might sit down, if +not, he could get out. Well, he sat down and was as good as could be.</p> + +<p>That was the making of me. The men all saw it. They knew that I was one +of them, they saw that I could handle myself, and I never had any +trouble after that. And the man I hit is to-day one of my best friends.</p> + +<p>I told the men that the Devil sent in one of his angels once in a while, +the same as to-night, to disturb the meeting-place of God. I said, "You +men would be a marker for God if you would only take a stand for God +and cut out your sins. I never in my palmy days disturbed a meeting, +drunk or sober. I always respected God's house. If I didn't like it I +went out, and I think, fellows, that's one of the reasons He picked me +up when I was away down in sin and made me what I am to-night. He will +do the same for any one here; why not give Him a chance?"</p> + + +<h4>SOMETHING NEW</h4> + +<p>This was something new for the men. Here was a man that they knew, no +stranger, but one of themselves eight years before. He had been in +prison with them, drunk with them, stolen with them, and in fact had +done everything that they did, and now here he was telling his old pals +how they could be better men, how God would help them if they would only +give Him a chance.</p> + +<p>God was with me that night. It didn't seem to be Ranney at all. I asked +who wanted to get this religion, who wanted me to pray for them, and +about seventy-five hands went up. A number of men came forward and took +a stand for Jesus. It was early in the morning when the meeting closed. +It was cold and snowing outside.</p> + +<p>It is a hard matter to get these men to declare themselves, for they are +afraid of the laugh, but I told them not to mind that; that my pals gave +me the laugh when I started out. "If we are honest and have sand and +help ourselves after asking God's help," I told them, "we will take no +notice of a grin or a sneer. My companions wagged their heads when I +started out in the new life in September, 1892. They said, 'Oh, we'll +give Danny a couple of weeks. He's trying to work the missionary; he'll +be back again!' Don't you men see I'm still trusting? and there isn't a +man in the Mission right now that can say I'm not on the level, that +I've drank whiskey or beer or done an unmanly act since I gave my life +into His keeping. Why? Because I'm trusting, not in man or woman, but +I'm honestly trusting in God."</p> + +<p>I was satisfied that among the whole roomful of men there were not half +a dozen that had a bed to sleep on that night. I didn't have the money +to put them to bed, but I departed from the rules, and calling them to +order, said, "Boys, how many of you would like to be my guest for the +night?" You ought to have seen them look at me! Never such a thing had +been known. It set them to thinking. The saloon-keeper wouldn't do it; +what did he care for them? I said, "Boys, I'm not doing this; I don't +want you to think so. It's God through me."</p> + +<p>Many's the night after that I kept the Mission open and let the poor +fellows sleep there, on the chairs and on the floor, and they +appreciated it. I was winning them through kindness. When I was ready to +go home to my nice warm bed, I'd read them a little riot act telling +them there were always a few among a lot of men that would spoil a good +thing, ending up, "Be good, boys, and have a good sleep. Good-night," +and they would say so heartily, "Good-night, Danny! God bless you and +keep you!"</p> + +<p>Letting the men stay didn't cost me a cent, and there was a big fire to +keep them warm and it meant much to them, poor fellows. I had the Board +of Health get after me quite a few times, but I'd explain things to +them, and they would go away saying, "You're all right." Big hard men +said, "If people who want to do good would only get a place to house the +poor unfortunates, there would be less crime and misery." I knew that +was true, and I'm praying for the day when we can have just such a +place, and God is going to give it in His own good time.</p> + +<p>I had won the boys, and I stayed in that Mission over six years and saw +lots of men and women saved and living good lives. Many times +well-dressed men will come into my place and say, "Mr. Ranney, don't you +know me?" and when I can't place them they will tell me how I was the +means of saving their lives by letting them stay in out of the cold, and +giving them a cup of coffee and a piece of bread in the morning. I could +count them by the hundreds. Praise His name!</p> + + +<h4>A POOR OUTCAST</h4> + +<p>One night just as the doors opened, there came into the Mission a woman +who evidently had seen better days. She was one of the poor unfortunates +of Chinatown. She asked if she might sit down, as she was very tired and +did not feel well. "Go in, Anna," I said, and she went in and took a +seat. When I passed her way she said, "Mr. Ranney, will you please give +me a drink of water?"</p> + +<p>Now this woman had caused me lots of trouble. She would get drunk and +carry on, but when sober she would be good and feel sorry. I gave her a +cup of water and she said, "Thank you, Dan, and may God bless you!" An +hour after that I gave her another cup, and she thanked me again, +saying, "God bless you for your patience!" The next time I looked at her +she had her head on the seat in front and I thought she was sleeping. +Now I never wake any sleepers. I feel that an hour's sleep will do them +good, for when the Mission closes and they go out they have no place to +sleep. They have to find a truck or a hallway or walk up and down the +Bowery all night. I've been there, and it takes one that has been +through the mill to sympathize with the "down-and-outs." So I did not +disturb this woman.</p> + +<p>The meeting was over and the people were all out, when I noticed Anna +still in the same position. I went over and called her, and receiving no +answer shook her a little, but she never moved. I bent over and raised +her head; a pair of sightless eyes seemed to look at me, and I knew she +was dead. I never had such a start in my life. Two hours before +alive—now dead! I learned that she was from a town in Connecticut, of +good parents, who took her to her last resting-place in the family +plot—a wayward girl who ran away from home. Her "God bless you, Dan!" +still rings in my ears and her dead face I'll never forget.</p> + +<p>Here was a case that, so far as I knew, did not come under the influence +of God's Spirit, and I could only say, "God have mercy on her poor +soul!" but there have been scores of other women whom I have been able +to reach and help by the grace of God. I shall never forget the "white +slave."</p> + + +<h4>RESCUED FROM A DIVE</h4> + +<p>When I had charge of the Chinatown Mission a party of three came down to +see the sights and do a little slumming in the district, and they asked +me to show them around. Now there wasn't a hole or joint in Chinatown +or on the Bowery that I didn't know, but I didn't as a rule take women +to such places. I don't like the idea of their looking at other people's +misery, and there's nothing but woe and want to be seen when you go +slumming. Lots of it is brought on by the people themselves, but still +they are human and do not like to be looked at.</p> + +<p>However, this night was an exception, and away we went to see the +sights. I took them to the Joss House—the temple where the Chinese pray +to Confucius—and other places down on Cherry Hill. But they wanted to +see something hard, so I took them to a place that I thought was hard +enough. If you were a stranger and went into this place and displayed a +roll of "the green" you would be done up.</p> + +<p>We went into one of the worst places on the Bowery, the women being as +anxious to go as the rest. The waiter piloted us to a small round table, +and we sat down and called for some soda. I'd been there before to +bring out a man or a woman or a girl as the case might be, and was +pretty well known as "Sky-Pilot Dan."</p> + +<p>The party with me were astonished and wondered how such things as they +saw could exist in a city like New York. There were all classes in the +place, sailors, men, women, and girls, who had lost all self-respect and +thought of nothing but the drink and the dance.</p> + +<p>While sitting there the lady's attention was drawn to a girl at the next +table who sat there looking at the lady, with the tears streaming down +her cheeks. The lady said, "Mr. Ranney, what is the matter with that +girl? Ask her to join us." I got another chair and asked the girl to +come over and sit beside the lady, who asked her how she came to be +there, and why she was crying.</p> + +<p>At that the girl began to cry harder and sobbed as though her heart +would break. After she became a little more quiet she said, "You look +like my mother, and I'll never see her again! Oh, I wish I was dead!" We +asked her why she didn't go home to her mother. She cried out, "I can't! +They won't let me! And if I could get away how could I get to +Cincinnati, Ohio, where my mother lives?"</p> + +<p>We got her story from the girl, and this is how it ran: She got into +conversation with a well-dressed woman in Cincinnati one day who said +that she could get her a position as stenographer and typewriter at a +fine salary. After telling her mother about it, she and the woman +started for New York, the woman paying the fare. The woman gave her an +address of a party, but when the poor girl got there, there was no job +for a typewriter; it was a very different position. The young girl had +been lured from home on false promises, and here she was a "white slave" +through no fault of her own.</p> + +<p>A difficult situation confronted us. The girl was in trouble and needed +help, and what were we going to do about it? She was as pretty a girl as +I ever saw, with large black eyes, a regular Southern type of beauty, +and just beginning the downward career. That means, as the girls on the +Bowery put it, first the Tenderloin, then the white lights and lots of +so-called pleasure, until her beauty begins to fade, which usually takes +about a year. Second, Fourteenth Street, a little lower down the grade. +Third, the Bowery, still lower, where they get nothing but blows and +kicks. The fourth and last step, some joint like this, the back room of +a saloon, down and out, all respect gone, nothing to live for; some +mother's girl picked up some morning frozen stiff; the patrol, the +morgue, and then Potter's Field. Some mother away in a country town is +waiting for her girl who never comes back.</p> + +<p>God help the mothers who read this, for it's true. Look to your girls +and don't trust the first strange woman who comes into your house, for +she may be a wolf in sheep's clothing. She wants your daughter's fresh +young beauty, that's her trade, and the Devil pays good and plenty.</p> + +<p>I asked the girl whether she had any friends near, and she said she had +an aunt living on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, that she thought might +take her. Then looking around the room she said, "But he won't let me go +anyhow." I followed her look, and there standing with his back to the +wall was a man I knew. Here was this young girl made to slave and earn a +living for this cur! There's lots of it done in New York—well-dressed +men doing no work, living on the earnings of young girls.</p> + +<p>We got the address of the aunt in Philadelphia, and I went out and sent +a message over the wire, asking if she would receive Annie if she came +to Philadelphia. I received an answer in forty-two minutes saying, +"Yes, send her on. I'll meet her at the station."</p> + +<p>I hurried back, thanking God for the answer, and found them sitting at +the same table. Annie was looking better than when we first met her. I +said, "It's all right; her aunt will take care of her; now all we have +to do is to get her to the ferry and buy her ticket."</p> + +<p>There was a tap on my shoulder, and looking around I saw the man she had +pointed out, and he said, "You want to keep your hands off that girl, +Dan, or there's going to be trouble." Now I knew this kind of man; I +knew he would do me if he got a chance, and he was a big fellow at that; +but I thought I could hold my own with him or any of his class. I didn't +mind what he said; all I was thinking about was getting the girl to +Cortlandt Street Ferry.</p> + +<p>When we got on our feet to make a start he came over and said, "She +don't go out of this place; if she does there's going to be trouble." I +said, "Well, if you're looking for trouble you will get all that's +coming to you, and you'll get it good and plenty." And I started toward +the door. He came after me, asking me what I was going to do. I said, +"I'm not going to bother with you, I'm merely going to get a couple of +'Bulls'—policemen—and they will give you all the trouble you want. But +that girl goes with me."</p> + +<p>He weakened. He knew his record was bad and he did not want to go up to +300 Mulberry Street (Police Headquarters), so he said, "All right, +Danny, take her, but you are doing me dirty."</p> + +<p>We got down to the ferry all right, and the lady and I went to +Philadelphia and placed Annie in her aunt's house and bid her good-by.</p> + +<p>Frequently I get a letter from Cincinnati from Annie. She is home with +her mother, and a team of oxen couldn't pull her away from home again. +She writes, "God bless and keep you, Dan! I thank God for the night you +found me on the Bowery!"</p> + + +<h4>"TELL HER THE LATCH-STRING IS OUT"</h4> + +<p>I was in a Baptist church one Sunday night speaking before a large +audience and had in the course of my talk told the above story. The +meeting had been a grand one. I felt that God had been with us all the +way through. I noticed one man in particular in the audience while I was +telling this story. Tears were running down his cheeks and he was +greatly agitated. I was shaking hands all around after the meeting was +over when this man came and said, "Mr. Ranney, can I have a little talk +with you?" I said, "Yes." "Wait till I get the pastor," he said, and in +a few minutes the minister joined us in the vestry. The man could not +speak. I saw there was something on his heart and mind, and wondered +what it could be. I've had lots of men come and tell me all about +themselves, how they were going to give up stealing, drinking, and all +other sins, but here was something different, so I waited. He tried to +speak, but could only sob. Finally he cried out with a choking sob, +"Sister!" The minister's hand went out to his shoulder, mine also, and +we tried to comfort him; I never saw a man in such agony. After a little +he told this story:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Ranney, I am sure God sent you here to-night. I had a lovely +sister; she may be living yet; I don't know. Seventeen years ago she +went out to take a music lesson, and we have never laid eyes on her +since, and have never had the first line from her. Oh, if I only knew +where she is! She was one of the sweetest girls you ever saw, just like +the girl you spoke about to-night. She was enticed away from home by a +man old enough to be her father, who left his own family to starve. I've +hunted for them all over. I've never passed a poor girl on the street +without giving a helping hand, always thinking of my own sweet sister, +who might perhaps be in worse circumstances. Mr. Ranney, will you +promise me whenever you tell that story—which I hope will be very +often—just to mention that girl who left a New Jersey town some years +ago? Say that mother is waiting for her daughter with arms open. Say the +latch-string is out and there's a welcome. Perhaps—who can tell?—you +may be the means of sending that daughter back to home and mother!"</p> + +<p>He gave me his name and address, the girl's name also, and I promised +what he wanted. Would to God this book might be the means of uniting +these separated ones and sending the gray-haired mother home to heaven +rejoicing! Oh, how many a mother's girl is in bondage to-night for the +want of a helping hand and some kind friend to give advice!</p> + +<center> +<img src="images/image-10.jpg" width="600" height="475" alt="READING ROOM, SQUIRREL INN." title="READING ROOM, SQUIRREL INN."> +</center> +<div class="caption"><center>READING ROOM, SQUIRREL INN.</center></div> + +<center> +<img src="images/image-11.jpg" width="600" height="484" alt="MEN'S CLUB AT CHURCH OF SEA AND LAND." title="MEN'S CLUB AT CHURCH OF SEA AND LAND."> +</center> +<div class="caption"><center>MEN'S CLUB AT CHURCH OF SEA AND LAND.</center></div> + + + + +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>BOWERY WORK</h3> +<br /> + +<p>God moves in a mysterious way to work out His ends, and I can testify +that His dealings with me have been wonderful indeed,—far beyond +anything that I have ever merited. During all the years since my +conversion I had always kept in touch with Dr. A. F. Schauffler, +Superintendent of the City Mission and Tract Society, visiting him at +his office once in a while, and he was always glad to see me. He would +ask me about my work and we would have a little talk together.</p> + + +<h4>LODGING-HOUSE MISSIONARY</h4> + +<p>One day I said, "Dr. Schauffler, do you know I'm a protégé of the New +York City Mission?" He said, "I know it, and we have kept our eyes on +you for the last ten years, and have decided to make you Lodging-House +Missionary to the Bowery, if you accept."</p> + +<p>Praise God! Wasn't it wonderful, after thirteen years of God's grace in +my life, to get such an appointment! Lodging-House Missionary—I +couldn't understand it! It struck me as being queer in this way; the man +who under God was the means of my salvation, who was a missionary when I +was converted, had resigned a few years after to become a minister, and +now here was Ranney, the ex-crook and drunk, being asked to take the +same position!</p> + +<p>We don't understand God's ways and purposes; they are too wonderful for +us; but here I am on the Bowery, my old stamping-ground, telling the +story of Jesus and His love. And I don't believe there's a man in this +big world that has a greater story to tell of God's love and mercies +than I have. I'm writing this seventeen years after being saved, and +I'll still say it's a grand thing to be a Christian. I would not go +back to the old life for anything in the world.</p> + +<p>Part of my work has been in Mariners' Temple, corner of Oliver and Henry +Streets, Chatham Square, New York City, right on the spot where I did +everything on the calendar but murder. There I could see the men every +night, for we had a meeting all the year round, and every day from 1 to +2 P. M. We invited all those who were in trouble to come, and if we +could help them we gladly did so. If they wanted to go to the hospital +we placed them there and would do whatever we could for them, always +telling them of Jesus the Mighty to save.</p> + + +<h4>FROM NOTHING TO $5000 A YEAR</h4> + +<p>I remember and love a man who was my partner in the Tuesday night +meetings in the Mariners' Temple, when we fed the poor fellows during +the winter—a fine Christian gentleman. You would never think to look +at him he was once such a drunkard! He told me his story. He had spent +months hanging out in the back room of a saloon on Park Row, only going +out once in a while to beg a little food. He had sold everything he +could sell and he was a case to look at. He must have been, or the +proprietor would never have said, "Say, you are a disgrace to this +place! Get out and don't come in here again!" The poor fellow went out. +He was down and out sure enough! He thought he would end it all, and he +bent his steps toward the East River, intending to jump in, but was +chased from the dock by the watchman.</p> + +<p>He passed a Mission, heard the singing, and went in. He heard men that +were once drunkards get up and testify to the power of God to save a +man. He knew a few of the men and thought, "If God can save them He +surely can me!" What a lot there is in testimony for the other fellow!</p> + +<p>He went out that night and slept in a hallway. He waited until the +Mission opened, and going in, heard the same thing again. When the +invitation was given he went forward and was gloriously saved. He did +not walk the street that night nor has he since. He went to work at his +trade—he was a printer—and he and his dear wife, who had always prayed +for her husband, were united and are now working together in the +Master's vineyard.</p> + +<p>This was over three years ago. Today this man has a position at a salary +of $5000 a year! Three years ago ordered out of a Park Row saloon as a +disgrace! Doesn't it pay to be a Christian and be on the level! I could +go right on and tell of hundreds that have come up and are on top now. +God never leaves nor forsakes us if we do our part.</p> + +<p>The Bowery boys are queer propositions. You can't push or drive them; +they will resent it and give you back as good. But if, on the other +hand, you use a little tact spiced with a little kindness, you will win +out with the Bowery boy every time.</p> + +<p>It was a kind word and a kind act that were the means of saving me, and +I never tire of giving the same.</p> + + +<h4>A MISSIONARY IN COURT</h4> + +<p>I remember a few years ago a fellow was arrested for holding up a man on +Chatham Square. Now this fellow was an ex-convict and had a very bad +record, but he came to our meeting one night to see the pictures of +Christ, and was so touched by them that he came again and finally raised +his hand for prayers, and when the invitation was given went up to the +mercy seat and was saved. At the time he was arrested he had been a +grand Christian for two years.</p> + +<p>He used to pump the organ. On this Sunday night when he was arrested I +had gone over to the Chinatown Mission with him. When he left to go to +his lodging-house it was 10:30, and he was arrested right after leaving +the meeting on the charge of robbing a man on the Bowery at 9:30 P.M.</p> + +<p>When he was arrested he sent for me and told me why he was arrested. Now +I knew he had not robbed any one while he was with me.</p> + +<p>The day of his trial came on. Judge Crane was the judge—a good clean +man. After the man had sworn that J—— was the man who robbed him I was +asked to go on the stand and tell what I knew. I told him I was a +missionary to the Bowery, and that J——, the man arrested, was not the +man who did the robbing, for he was with me at the time the robbery took +place.</p> + +<p>Judge Crane asked my name. I told him and gave him a brief history of my +past life. He was amazed. Then I spoke a few words to the jury. The case +was then given to the jury, and after twenty minutes they came in with +a verdict of not guilty.</p> + +<p>My dear readers, suppose Reilly (Ranney), the crook of sixteen years +before, had been on that witness-stand. The Judge would have asked my +name and when I'd said, "Reilly, the crook," they would have sent both +of us off to prison for life. But the past has been blotted out through +Jesus, and it was the word of the redeemed crook that set J—— free.</p> + +<p>There are lots of cases I could write about where men are arrested and +send for me. I go to the Tombs to see them, and as I go up the big stone +steps where the visitors go in, the big barred gate opens, and the +warden touches his hat and says, "How do you do, Mr. Ranney," and I go +in. There's always a queer feeling comes over me when that gate is shut +behind me. I realize that I am coming out in an hour or so, but there +was a time when I was shoved through the old gate, and didn't know when +I would come out.</p> + + +<h4>A COUNT DISGUISED AS A TRAMP</h4> + +<p>One night in Mariners' Temple, on Chatham Square, I was leading a +meeting for men; it was near closing time and the invitation had been +given. There were three men at the front on their knees calling on God +to help them.</p> + +<p>I look back to that night as one I never can forget. One of the men who +came up front had no coat; it had been stolen from him in some saloon +while he was in a drunken sleep, so he told me. After prayer had been +offered and we got on our feet we asked the men to give their testimony. +In fact, I think it is a good thing for them to testify, as it helps +them when they have declared themselves before the others. They each +gave a short testimony in which they said that they intended to lead a +better life, with God's help.</p> + +<p>The man without a coat said he had but himself to blame for his +condition, and, if God would help him, he was going to be a better man.</p> + +<p>I saw to it that the man had a lodging and something to eat, when out +from the audience stepped a fine-looking man with a coat in his hand and +told the man to put it on. I looked at the man in astonishment. He was +about five-feet-ten, of fine appearance, a little in need of a shave and +a little water, but the man sticking out of him all over.</p> + +<p>It is not the clothes that make the man, for here was a man who hadn't +anything in the way of clothes, but you could tell by looking at him +that he was a gentleman. I just stood and looked at him as he helped the +other fellow on with the coat. I thought it one of the grandest acts I +ever saw. He was following Christ's command about the man having two +coats giving his brother one. I saw the man had on an overcoat, but, +even so, it was a grand act, and I told him so.</p> + +<p>I did not see him again for some time, when one night, about a week +after the coat affair, I saw him sitting among the men at the Doyer +Street Midnight Mission, of which I had charge. I went over where he was +sitting and while shaking hands with him said, "Say, that was the +grandest act you ever did when you gave that man your coat. What did you +do it for? You don't seem to have any too much of this world's goods. +How did it happen? Are you a Christian? Who are you?" He looked at me a +moment and said, "Mr. Ranney, if I can go into your office I'll tell you +all about it."</p> + +<p>We went into the office, and he said, "How did you find me out?" Well, +the question was a queer one to me. How did I find him out? I didn't +know what he meant, but I didn't tell him so; I just smiled.</p> + +<p>Well, he said he was a French Count (which was true), over here writing +a book about the charitable institutions in the United States. He had +been in Chicago, San Francisco, and in fact, all over the States, for +points for his book. He told me what he had and hadn't done. He had +worked in wood-yards for charity organizations; had given himself up and +gone to the Island; stood in bread-lines; in fact, he had done +everything the tramp does when he is "down and out."</p> + +<p>I took quite a fancy to him. He took me up to his room in Eighteenth +Street, showed me his credentials, and we became quite chummy. We used +to do the slums act, and I would put on an old suit of clothes so I +wouldn't be known. We would stand in the bread-line just like the rest +of them and get our roll and coffee. It reminded me of my old life, and +sometimes I would imagine I was "down and out" again, but it's different +when you have a little change in your pocket. A dollar makes a big +difference, and you can never appreciate the feelings of a poor "down +and out" if you never were there yourself.</p> + +<p>We had been going around together for about three or four weeks when +one day he showed me a cable dispatch from Paris telling him he was +wanted and to come at once. We had had a nice time together and I was +sorry he was going.</p> + +<p>He asked me for one of my pictures to put in his book, which I gave him. +Then he wanted to know what he could do for me. I thought a moment, then +said, "Give the poor fellows a feed Sunday night." I was the Sunday +night leader and I wanted him on the platform. He said, "All right. Be +at the Mission Sunday afternoon."</p> + +<p>About 5 P. M. there drove up to the Mission door a carriage with a man +in it who said, "Is this 17 Dover Street, and is your name Mr. Ranney?" +I said, "Yes." He had four large hampers filled with sandwiches, which +we carried into the Mission. He said he was the Count's valet and the +Count wished him to make tea for the men. I said, "All right." I +thought it would be a change for the men, although coffee would have +been all right.</p> + +<p>The tea was made and everything was ready for the feed. I wanted the +papers to know about it, so I sent my assistant to the office and told +the reporters that a real French Count was going to give a feed that +night. They were on hand and the next day the papers all had an account +of it.</p> + +<p>As soon as the doors opened the men came in and the place was jammed to +the limit. The meeting was opened with prayer, then the sandwiches and +tea were passed around. The Count, wearing a dress-suit, was sitting on +the platform. I introduced him as the "man of the hour" who had given +the lay-out to the boys. They thanked him with three cheers.</p> + +<p>I asked the men to look him over and see if they had ever seen him +before. Now the Bowery men are sharp, and over seventy-five hands went +up. They had seen him somewhere, in Mission bread-lines and different +places.</p> + +<p>The Count spoke for about five minutes and then sat down. He sailed on +the following Tuesday and I never met him again. He may be in London for +all I know, studying up something else. But I'm sure he enjoyed himself +when feeding the men. And I have often thought, no matter who or what he +was, he had his heart in the right spot. God wants men of his stamp, for +He can use them for His honor and glory.</p> + + +<h4>A MUSICIAN WON TO CHRIST</h4> + +<p>There isn't a week passes in my work that there are not some specially +interesting happenings. One Wednesday night about six months ago we were +having our usual Wednesday night meeting. I found I did not have any one +to play the piano; my player had not yet come. I did not worry over +that, however, as sometimes we had to go on and have a meeting without +music. I generally asked if any one could play, and I did so this night. +Presently a man came up the aisle. I asked, "Can you play?" He said, "A +little. What number shall I play?" I said, "I guess we will sing my +favorite hymn, 'When the Roll Is Called up Yonder, I'll Be There.'" He +found the hymn and when he began to play I saw that he was a real +musician. He made that old piano fairly talk. "Ah," said I, "here is +another 'volunteer organist.'" I had seen the man and talked with him +lots of times before, but always took him for a common drunkard. You +can't tell what an old coat covers.</p> + +<p>After the meeting I had a little talk with him and asked him why he was +in such a condition. "Oh," he answered, "it's the old, old story, Mr. +Ranney—the drink habit. I know what you are going to say: why don't I +cut it out? Well, I can't. I have tried time and again. I'll go on +drinking until I die." I told him to stop trying and ask God to help +him, just to lean on His arm, He wouldn't let him fall. I left him +thinking it over, and I kept track of him, getting in an odd word here +and there and giving him food and lodging.</p> + +<p>In four weeks we won out and he became a good Christian man. Now he +plays at our meetings and takes a share in them, giving his testimony. +I've had him over to my home many times. He takes great delight in our +garden there and waits with longing for Thursday to come, for that's the +day he visits us, the best one in the week for him. There's nothing like +the country for building a man up.</p> + +<p>This man came from a good German family, and can play three instruments, +piano, violin, and clarinet. I asked him if he was married. "No," he +answered, "thank God I never was married. I have not that sin on my +soul! I've done nearly everything any one else has done: been in prison +many a time, drank and walked the streets lots of nights. I've written +home to my mother and told her I had taken her Jesus as mine, and, Mr. +Ranney, here's a letter from her." I read the letter. It was the same +old letter, the kind those loving mothers write to their wayward boys, +thanking God that she lived to see her boy converted and telling him the +door was always open, and for him to come home. How many mothers all +over the world are praying for their boys that they have not seen for +years, boys who perhaps are dead or in prison! God help those mothers!</p> + + +<h4>SAVED THROUGH AN OUTDOOR MEETING</h4> + +<p>Part of my work consists in holding outdoor meetings. Through my friend +Dan Sullivan I received a license for street preaching, so whenever an +opportunity opens I speak a word for the Master, sometimes on a +temporary platform, sometimes standing on a truck, and sometimes from +the Gospel Wagon. It is "in season and out of season," here, there, and +everywhere, if we are to get hold of the men who don't go near the +churches or even the missions.</p> + +<p>One night while holding an outdoor meeting on the Bowery at Bleecker +Street, I was speaking along the line of drink and the terrible curse it +was, how it made men brutes and all that was mean, telling about the +prodigal and how God saved him and would save to the uttermost. There +were quite a number of men around listening.</p> + +<p>The meeting ended and we had given all an invitation to come into the +Mission. One young man, well dressed, came up to me and, taking my hand, +said he believed every word I said. I saw at a glance he was not of the +Bowery type. I got to talking to him and asked him into the Mission. He +said he had never been into a place like that in his life and did not +take any stock in them, but my talk had interested him. He could not +understand how I had given up such a life as I said I had led and had +not taken a drink in sixteen years. I said I had not done this in my own +strength, but that God had helped me win out, and that God would help +any one that wanted to be helped.</p> + +<p>We got quite friendly and he told me all about himself. He had just got +his two weeks' salary, which amounted to $36.00. He was married and had +two sweet little children and a loving wife waiting for him uptown. He +told me he had taken a few drinks, as I could plainly see, and he was +going down to see the Bowery and do a little sight-seeing in Chinatown. +I knew if he went any further he would be a marker for the pickpocket or +others and would know nothing in a little while, so I tried to get him +into the Mission, and after quite a while succeeded, and we took a seat +right by the door. He was just tipsy enough to fall asleep, and I let +him do it, for a little sleep often does these men a great deal of good, +changing all their thoughts when they wake. When he woke the testimonies +were being given. I rose to my feet and gave my testimony, and sat down +again. The invitation came next, for all those that wanted this Jesus to +stand. I tried to get him on his feet, but he would not take a stand; +still the seed had been sown.</p> + +<p>He told me where he was working and where he lived—wrote it down for +me. He was bent on going, so I said I would go up to the corner with +him. He wanted one more drink—the Devil's temptation!—but at last I +coaxed him to the Elevated Station at Houston Street. He said, "I wish +you could see my home and family. Will you come up with me?" It was 10 +P. M. and going would mean home for me about the early hours. But I went +up to the Bronx, got to his home, saw him in, was bidding him +good-night; nothing would do but I should come in. He had a nice little +flat of five rooms. I was introduced to his wife, who was a perfect +lady. He wanted to send out for beer. I objected, and his wife said, +"George, don't drink any more! I think you have had enough."</p> + +<p>Now was the time for me to get in a little of God's work, so I told him +my life, and what drink did for me, and I had an attentive audience. +When I finished, his wife said, "I wish my husband would take your +Jesus, Mr. Ranney. I'm a Christian, but, oh, I'd give anything if George +would take Christ and give up his drinking!" He made all kinds of +objections and excuses, but we pleaded and prayed. God was working with +that man, and at 3 o'clock in the morning we knelt down, the wife, the +husband and I, way up in the Bronx, and God did mightily save George. He +went to his business on Monday sober. That was three years ago, and he +has held out well. He has been advanced twice, with a raise in salary, +and comes down to help me in my work on the Bowery. God has blessed him +wonderfully, and He will any one who has faith to believe.</p> + + +<h4>JIM THE BRICKLAYER</h4> + +<p>Where I meet so many men every day and have so many confessions and try +to lend a helping hand in so many places, I do forget some of the men, +for it seems as though there was an endless procession of them through +the Bowery. But some cases stand out so prominently that I shall never +forget them. I remember one man in particular who used to come into the +Mission. He was one of the regulars and was nearly always drunk. He used +to want us to sing all the time. He was a fine fellow, but down and out, +and every cent he could earn went to the saloons. I would talk to him +nearly every night and ask him why he did not stop his drinking. He +would listen, but the next night he would be drunk just the same.</p> + +<p>There was good stuff in him, for he was a good bricklayer and could make +from $5.00 to $6.00 per day. He told me he was married, and his wife and +two children were in Syracuse, living perhaps on charity, while he, +instead of making a living for them and giving them a good home, was +here on the Bowery drinking himself to death.</p> + +<p>He would often say, "Danny, if I could only sober up and be a man and go +back to my family, I'd give anything. But what's the use of trying? I +can't stop, and I wish sometimes that I was dead. And sometimes, Mr. +Ranney, I'm tempted to end it all in the river."</p> + +<p>I reasoned with this man time and time again, but with no effect. He +knew it was the right way to live, but thought it was not for him, and I +thought that if a man was ever gone it was that young man.</p> + +<p>One night as the invitation was being given I caught his eye and I +said, "Jim, come up front and get rid of that drink." But he said, +"What's the use?" I went down, took him by the hand, led him up front, +and we all knelt down and asked God to save these poor men. I asked them +all to pray for themselves and when I got to Jim I said, "Jim, now +pray." And he said, "Lord, help me to be a man and cut the 'booze' out +of my life for Jesus' sake. Amen."</p> + +<p>He meant business that night and was as sincere as could be. We all got +up from our knees, and I put the usual question to them all, now that +they had taken Jesus, what were they going to do? It came Jim's turn, +and he said, "Mr. Ranney, I've asked God to help me, and I'm going out +of this Mission and I'm not going to drink any more whiskey." Then +almost in the same breath he said, "I wonder if God will give me a pair +of pants." That created a smile in the audience. I knew I could get Jim +a pair of pants, and he needed them badly. Just imagine a man six feet +tall with a pair of pants on that reached just below the knees, and you +have Jim.</p> + +<p>I said, "Jim, you have asked God to help you, and He will if you let +him. If you keep sober until Friday night, and come in here every night +and give your testimony, no matter how short, God will send you a pair +of pants." This was on Monday night, my own special night. I knew if Jim +came in every night sober, something was doing. Tuesday night came, and +sure enough there was Jim with his testimony. He got up and thanked God +for being one day without taking a drink. I said, "Praise God! Keep it +up, Jim!" Wednesday night Jim thanked God for two days' victory. He was +doing finely. Thursday came, and Jim was there with his testimony of +three days saved. He had one more day to go before he got his pants. +Friday night came and I had gone up and got the pants, but no Jim made +his appearance. Near closing time the door opened and in walked Jim. He +stood back and just roared out, "Danny, I'm as drunk as a fool; I've +lost the pants!" then walked out.</p> + +<p>I did not see him for a couple of nights, then he came into the Mission, +sat down and was fairly quiet. I reached him in the course of the +evening and shook hands with him, but I did not say a word about his +going back. That worried him a good deal, for he said, "Dan, are you mad +with me?" I said, "No, Jim, I'm mad with the Devil, and I wish I could +kick him out of you and kill him." Jim smiled and said, "You're a queer +one."</p> + +<p>I did not give Jim up, but I did not say anything to him about giving up +the drink again for about a week. He would always be in the meeting and +I would notice him with a handshake and a smile. I could see he was +thinking quite hard and he was not drinking as much as he had been. I +was praying for that man, and I was sure that He was going to give me +Jim.</p> + +<p>One night about a month after Jim had tried the first time, I was giving +the invitation to the men, as usual, for all who wanted this salvation +to come forward and let us pray with them. After coaxing and pleading +with them there were six fellows that came forward and knelt down, when +to my astonishment who came walking up the aisle but Jim! He knelt down +with the others and prayed. I did not know what the prayer was, but when +he rose he went back and took his seat and said nothing.</p> + +<p>A month went by to a day. There were testimonies every night from all +over the Mission about what God had done and was doing, but Jim never +gave the first word of testimony. I often wondered why. This night he +got on his feet, and this is what he said: "Men, I've been everything +that's bad and mean, a crook and a drunkard, separated from wife and +children, a good-for-nothing man. I want to stand here before you +people and thank God for keeping me for one whole month; and, men, this +is the happiest month I've spent in my life. I asked God to help me and +He is doing so. I only wish some of you men would take Jesus as your +friend and keeper the same as I have. I'm going to stick, with God's +help. I want you Christian people to keep on praying for me, as I feel +some one has," and he sat down. Oh, how I did thank God for that +testimony! You know a person can tell the true ring of anything, gold, +silver, brass, everything, and I knew the ring of that testimony.</p> + +<p>Jim stayed after the meeting and we talked things over pretty well. He +was a mechanic, but his tools were in pawn. I said, "Jim, I'll meet you +to-morrow and we will go and get your tools out." In the morning Jim and +I went down to the pawnbroker in New Chambers Street, and Jim produced +the tickets, paid the money due, with interest, and received his stock +in trade, the tools.</p> + +<p>The next thing was a job. I knew a boss mason who was putting up a +building in Catherine Street. We saw the boss and he took Jim on. He +went to work and made good. He would always come and see me at night, +and always testify to God's keeping power. He would ask me, "Do you +think I can get back to my wife and children again?" "Yes," I would +answer; "wait a little while. Have you written to her?" "Yes." "Got any +answer?" "Yes, a couple of letters, but I don't think she takes any +stock in my conversion. Dan, can't we have our pictures taken together? +I have written my wife a lot about you. I told her you were worse than I +ever was. Perhaps if she sees our faces and sees how I look, she may +think of old times and give me one more chance."</p> + +<p>Jim had been four months converted at this time, and God had him by the +hand. It was great to see that big strong man, like a little child in +God's love. We went out and had our pictures taken and Jim asked me to +write and urge his wife to give him one more chance. I did as Jim wanted +me; in fact, I wrote her about everything he said and enclosed the +picture.</p> + +<p>Every night Jim would come around with the question, "Danny, any word +from up State yet?" "Not yet, Jim: have a little patience, she will +write soon." We finally got the longed-for letter, but it wasn't +favorable. Among other things she said she took no stock in her husband, +and that she knew he was the same old good-for-nothing, etc. It was hard +lines for poor Jim, who was reading that letter over my shoulder. I +looked at him. I could see some of the old Devil come into his eyes. The +wife little knew what an escape Jim had then and there. I cheered him up +and we got on our knees and prayed good and hard, and God heard the +prayer and Jim was sailing straight once more and trusting Jesus.</p> + +<p>A thought flashed through my mind, and I said, "Jim, have you any +money?" "Yes," he said, "I have over sixty dollars." He gave me the +money and we went to the postoffice and I took out a money-order to Mrs. +Jim, Syracuse, N. Y., for sixty dollars and sent it on signed by Jim and +took the receipt and put it in my pocket.</p> + +<p>Five days after I was sitting at my desk in the Mission. A knock came to +the door. I said, "Come in," and a woman with two little girls entered. +I placed a chair and waited. She said, "You are Mr. Ranney. I recognize +you from your picture." She was Jim's wife, as she told me. Then she +began about her troubles with her husband: he was a good man, but he +would drink. She said, "I begin to think that Jim has religion, for if +he hadn't something near it, he would never have sent me the money. Do +you think he is all right, Mr. Ranney?" To which I answered that I +really believed he was, and that he would be a good husband and father. +I asked her if she was a Christian, and she said, "Yes, I go to church +and do the best I can." I told her going to church was a good thing, but +to have Jesus in your heart and home is a better one.</p> + +<p>She wanted to see Jim, so we went round to where he was working. There +he was up four stories laying front brick. I watched him, so did his +wife. Finally I put my hands like a trumpet and called, "Hello, Jim!" +Jim looked down, seeing me, and then looking at the woman and children a +moment he dropped everything, and to watch that man come down that +ladder was a sight. He rushed over, threw his arms around his wife, then +took the little girls in his arm, and what joy there was! There was no +more work that day.</p> + +<p>Jim showed her the saloons he used to get drunk in, and he did not +forget to show the place where he was converted, and on that very spot +we all had a nice little prayer-meeting, and as a finale, Mrs. Jim took +Jesus, saying, "If He did all that for Jim, I want Him too."</p> + +<p>They are back in Syracuse, living happily. Jim has a class of boys in +the Sunday-school and is a deacon in the church. I had the pleasure of +eating dinner in their home. I often get a letter from Jim, telling of +God's goodness. He says he will never forget the fight he made for the +pants or his friend Danny Ranney.</p> + +<center> +<img src="images/image-12.jpg" width="800" height="444" alt="ONE OF MR. RANNEY'S OPEN-AIR MEETINGS." title="ONE OF MR. RANNEY'S OPEN-AIR MEETINGS."> +</center> +<div class="caption"><center>ONE OF MR. RANNEY'S OPEN-AIR MEETINGS.</center></div> + + + +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a><h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>PRODIGAL SONS</h3> +<br /> + +<h4>A CESSPOOL</h4> + +<p>The Bowery has always been a notorious thoroughfare. Twenty years ago +there were few places in the world that for crime, vice and degradation +could be compared with it. Many changes for the better have taken place +in the last few years, however. Following the Lexow Commission +investigation, scores of the worst haunts of wickedness were closed and +vice became less conspicuous. The Bowery, however, still maintains its +individuality as a breeding-place of crime. It is still the cesspool for +all things bad. From all over the world they come to the Bowery. The +lodging-houses give them cheap quarters, from 7 cents to 50 cents per +night. These places shelter 30,000 to 40,000 men and boys nightly, to +breathe a fetid and polluted air. Those who have not the price—and God +knows they are many—homeless and weary, "about ready to die," sleep in +hallways, empty trucks, any place for a lie-down.</p> + +<p>Some of the lodging-houses are fairly respectable and run on a good +scale, and others are the resort of the lowest kind of human outcasts. +On one floor, the air poisoned beyond description, the beds dirty, will +be found over a hundred men, of all classes, from the petty thief to the +Western train-wrecker, loafers, drug-fiends, perhaps a one-time college +man, who through the curse of drink has got there. But they are not all +bad on the Bowery. No one not knowing the conditions can imagine what a +large class there is who would work if they could get it, but once down +it's hard to get up. A few weeks of this life wrecks them and makes old +men of them. No one but God can help them, and most of them go down to +early graves unknown.</p> + + +<h4>A REMARKABLE DRUNKARD</h4> + +<p>I knew once one of the best lawyers of his day, living here a little off +Chatham Square, in a lodging-house, brought there through rum. I've +known men, lawyers, coming to see this man and getting his opinion on +legal matters. He had many such visitors in his room, but he wasn't +worth anything unless he was about half full of whiskey. These men would +know that. They would bring a couple bottles of the stuff, as though for +a social time, and then ask him questions pertaining to the case in +hand. Then he would imagine himself the lawyer of old days, and plead as +he saw the case, and he was right nine times out of ten! Oh, what a +future that man had thrown away for the Devil's stuff, rum! Those +lawyers would go away with advice from that man worth thousands of +dollars, bought with a few bottles of whiskey. He told me he had left +his wife and family to save them from shame. He has sons and daughters +in good standing. They never see him want for anything and pay his +room-rent yearly, only he must not go near them.</p> + + +<h4>FORGIVING FOR CHRIST'S SAKE</h4> + +<p>Where I am located at this writing, at the Squirrel Inn, No. 131 Bowery, +is a grand place for my work. I come in touch with all classes, and when +I see a man or a boy that I think will stick, I rig him up, put a front +on him and back him until he gets work. I wish I had more clothes so I +could help more men, but at least I can give them a handshake, a kind +word, and a prayer, and that, by God's grace, can work wonders for the +poor fellows. There's not a man or boy comes in that I do not see, and I +mingle with them and get their hard-luck stories, also their good-luck +ones. Sitting there at my desk, I glance down the room, and I can tell +at a glance the newcomers and the regulars. I can tell what has brought +them there.</p> + +<p>Over at one of the tables trying to read sat one day a man about fifty, +his clothes worn and threadbare, but wearing a collar, and that's a good +sign. I beckoned him to come over to me and I pointed to a chair, +telling him to sit down. If that chair could only speak, what a tale it +could tell of the men who have sat there and told their life stories!</p> + +<p>I asked him how he came to be there, and he told me the same old story +that can be summed up in one word—drink! He came from up the State, at +one time owned a farm outside of Oswego, and was living happily. He was +a church member and bore a good name. "I used to take an odd drink, but +always thought I could do without it," said he. "Eighteen years ago I +lost my wife and to drown my sorrow I got drunk. I had never been +intoxicated before, and I kept at it for over three months, and when I +began to come to myself, I was told that I had to get out of my home. I +couldn't understand it, but I was told I had sold my farm and everything +I owned for a paltry $200 to a saloon-keeper, who I thought was my +dearest friend!</p> + +<p>"That happened eighteen years ago, and I've been pretty near all over +the world since then, sometimes hungry, sometimes in pretty good shape, +but I'll never forget that saloon-keeper. I'll see him again, and he +will pay for what he did!"</p> + +<p>I gave that man a ticket for lodging and a couple of meals. We talked +about his early life, and I asked why he didn't start out and be a +Christian and not harbor a grudge; to let God punish that saloon-keeper. +I told him I'd been through something like the same experience, a man +whose word I trusted selling me some Harbor Chart stock and making me +think he was doing me a good turn, and I lost several hundred dollars. +That was in the years when I first started to be a Christian. I had the +hardest time to forgive this man, but thank God I did!</p> + +<p>I reasoned with that man day after day and saw that the light was +breaking in his heart. Weeks went on, and he came to a point where he +took Jesus as his guide and friend, and to-day he is a fine Christian +gentleman. I have had him testifying in the church to the power of +Christ to save a man. He tells me he has forgiven that saloon-man for +Christ's sake.</p> + + +<h4>SAVED ON THE THRESHOLD OF VICE</h4> + +<p>One afternoon about 5 o'clock I was sitting at my desk at the Mission +Room when I noticed among the men who came there to read and rest and +perhaps take a nap, a young man, a boy rather, clean and wearing good +clothes. I looked at him a moment and thought, "He has got into the +wrong place." I spoke to him, as is my habit, and asked him what he was +doing there. I brought him over and got him to sit down in that old +chair where so many confessions are made to me and said kindly, "Well, +what's your story?" I thought of my own boy, and my heart went out to +this young fellow.</p> + +<p>He said, "You are Mr. Ranney. I've often heard about you, and I'm glad +to see you now." He told me how he had given up his job on Eighth Avenue +around 125th Street the day before. He had had a "run in," as he called +it, at home, and had determined to get out. His mother had married a +second time, and his stepfather and he could not agree on a single +thing. He loved his mother, but could not stand the stepfather. He had +drawn his pay at the jewelry store where he was working and had spent +the night before at a hotel uptown, intending to look for a job the next +day.</p> + +<p>He had risen at 8 A. M. intending to get work before his eight dollars +was all gone. Well, the money was burning a hole in his pocket. He +wanted to see a show and he came down on the Bowery and got into a cheap +vaudeville show, and quite enjoyed himself. "I came out of that show," +he said, "and went into a restaurant to eat, and when I went to pay the +cashier I did not have a cent in my pocket. The boss of the place said +that was an old story. He was not there to feed people for nothing. I +said I had been robbed or lost my money somehow, but he wouldn't believe +me. He wanted his twenty cents, or he would have me arrested. Oh, he was +mad for fair, Mr. Ranney. He got me by my coat-collar and shook me and +said I was a thief, and he finished up by kicking me through the door, +and here I am down on the Bowery homeless."</p> + +<p>Another young fellow gone wrong! Could I help him? I urged him to go +back home, but he didn't want to. The night before was pay-night, and he +was always expected to give in his share towards the home expenses, and +now here was his money all gone. What could he do?</p> + +<p>I took him around the room and pointed out the hard cases there, +wretched, miserable specimens of men, and asked him if he wanted to be +like them, as he surely would if he went on in the course he was +starting. He said, "Indeed I don't!" "Well, then," I said, "take my +advice and go home. Be a man and face the music. It will mean a scolding +from your father, but take it. Tell them both that you will make up the +money as soon as you get work, and that you are going to be obedient and +good from now on."</p> + +<p>At last he said he would go if I would go with him, but I couldn't that +night, for I had a meeting to address. I told him I would give him a +lodging for the night, and we would go up to Washington Heights the next +day. I put him in about as tough a lodging as I could get, for I wanted +him to realize the life he would drift into, told him to meet me at one +o'clock the next day, and said good-night to him.</p> + +<p>The next day I met him; we had something to eat, and I asked him how he +had slept. "Oh," he said, "it was something awful! I could not sleep +any, there was such a cursing and drinking and scrapping. Oh, I wish I +was home!"</p> + +<p>We went up to Washington Heights, around 165th Street, and found the +place. We got there about six o'clock. I went in and knocked at the +door, which opened very quickly. The mother and father came forward; +they had been crying, I could see that. "Oh, has anything happened to my +boy!" she cried, when I asked if she had a son. "Tell me quick, for +God's sake!" I told them that Eddie was all right, and I called to him. +He came in, and like a manly boy, after kissing his mother, he turned to +his stepfather and said, "Forgive me; I'll be a better boy and I'll +make everything all right when I get a job. This is Mr. Ranney, the +Bowery missionary." I went in and was asked to stay for supper, and we +had an earnest talk, leading to the father giving up beer. What he was +going to drink for supper was thrown into the sink. I see these people +occasionally, and they are doing well.</p> + + +<h4>THE PRODIGAL SON ON THE BOWERY</h4> + +<p>Here is a picture story of a boy who left home and took his journey to +the "far country." It is a true story.</p> + +<p>Away up in northern New York there is a rich man whose family consists +of a wife, two sons and a daughter, all good church members. It is of +the younger boy I want to speak. He is a little wayward, but good at +heart, and would do anything to help any one.</p> + +<p>Now, there has lately come back from New York a young man who has +started the drink habit. This man is telling all about New York, what a +grand place it is, and, if a fellow had a little money, he could make a +fortune. He succeeds in arousing the fancies of this young boy, and he +believes all the fellow says. People up the State look on a man as sort +of a hero because he has been to New York.</p> + +<p>Tom thinks he would like to go to the city, and when he gets home he +broaches the subject to his mother. He says, "I'll get a job and make a +man of myself." The mother tells him he had better stay at home and +perhaps later on he would have a chance to start a business in the +village where he was born. No, nothing but New York will do for him. He +teases his father and mother nearly to death, until his father says, +"Well, my boy, if you will, you will." Then he gives him a couple +hundred dollars and a letter to a merchant whom he knows.</p> + +<p>Tom packs his valise and is all ready to start. I can see the mother +putting a Testament into her boy's hand and telling him to read it once +a day and be sure to write home often. Oh, he promises all right, and is +anxious to get away in a hurry. I can see them in the railroad station +when the mother takes him to her bosom and kisses him. There's a dry +choking in the father's throat when he bids him good-by—and then the +train is off!</p> + +<p>Now, Tom has a chum in New York, so at the first station at which they +stop he gets off and sends a telegram to his friend, saying: "Ed, I'm +coming on the 2.30 train. Meet me at the Grand Central Station." You may +be sure Ed meets him at the station—Ed is not working—and he gives him +the hello and the glad hand. He takes Tom's grip and they start for the +hotel. I can see them going into a saloon and having a couple of beers, +then going to the hotel, getting a room and supper, and having a good +time at the theatre and elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Time goes on. Two hundred doesn't last long. I can see Ed shaking Tom +when the money is running low. I can see Tom counting the little he has +left and going to a furnished room at $1.50 a week. Tom is beginning to +think and worry a bit. He has lost the letter to the merchant his father +gave him, and he doesn't know where to find him. No wonder he is down in +the mouth! He looks for work, but can't get anything to do.</p> + +<p>Now, all he has to do is to write home and tell his father the facts, +and he will send back a railroad ticket. But Tom is proud, and he hasn't +reached the point where, like the prodigal, he says, "I will arise and +go to my father." No, he has not as yet reached the end of his rope. I +can see him pawning the watch and chain given him by his parents. This +tides him over for a little while. When that money is gone, his overcoat +goes, and, in fact, everything he has is gone.</p> + +<p>He goes down and down, and finally reaches the Bowery, where they all +go in the end. He is down and out, without a cent in his clothes, +walking the streets night after night—-"carrying the banner." Sometimes +he slips into a saloon where they have free lunch and picks up a piece +of bread here and a piece of cheese there. Sometimes he is lucky to fill +in on a beef stew, but very seldom.</p> + +<p>Now, if that isn't living on husks, I don't know what you call it! His +clothes are getting filthy and he is in despair. How he wishes he had +never left home! He hasn't a friend in the big city, and he doesn't know +which way to turn. He says, "I'll write home." But no, he is too proud. +He wants to go home the same as he left it. And the longer he waits the +worse he will be. No one grows any better, either bodily or morally, by +being on the Bowery. So the quicker they go to some other place the +better.</p> + +<p>But the Bowery draws men by its own strange attraction. They get into +the swing of its life, and find the company that misery loves. God +knows there's plenty of it there! I've seen men that you could not drive +from the Bowery. But when a man takes Jesus as his guide he wants to +search for better grounds.</p> + +<p>Well, Tom had hit the pace that kills. And one night—about five years +ago—there wandered into the Mission where I was leading a meeting a +young man with pale cheeks and a look of utter despair on his face, +looking as though he hadn't had a square meal in many a day. It was Tom. +I didn't know him then. There are so many such cases on the Bowery one +gets used to them. But I took particular notice of this young man. He +sat down and listened to the services, and when the invitation was given +to those who wanted to lead better lives he put up his hand.</p> + +<p>Now there was something striking about his face, and I took to him. I +thought of my own life and dreaded the future for him. I spoke to him, +gained his confidence by degrees, and he told me his story as written in +the preceding pages.</p> + +<p>Here was a prodigal just as bad as the one in the Bible story. Well, he +was converted that night and took Jesus as his helper. He told me all +about his home, mother, and friends who had enough and to spare. The +servants had a better time and more to eat than he. "Tom," I said, "why +don't you go home?" "Oh, Mr. Ranney," he said, "I wish I could, but I +want to go back a little better than I am now." And God knows he was in +bad shape; the clothes he had on you couldn't sell to a rag-man; in +fact, he had nothing!</p> + +<p>I pitied the poor fellow from my heart. I was interested. I got his +father's address and sat down and wrote him a letter telling him about +his son's condition, etc. In a few days I received a letter from his +father inclosing a check for $10, and saying, "Don't let my son starve; +do all you can for him, but don't let him know his father is doing +this."</p> + +<p>Can't you see plainly the conditions? Our Father in heaven stands ready +at all times to help, but we must do something—meet the conditions. +Tom's father was ready to forgive and take him back, but he wanted Tom +to make the surrender.</p> + +<p>I looked after Tom to a certain extent, but I wanted him to learn his +lesson. There were times when he walked the streets and went hungry. I +corresponded with his father and told him how his son was getting along. +I got Tom a job washing dishes in a restaurant—the Bowery's main +employment—at $2.50 per week, and he stuck.</p> + +<p>I watched him closely. He would come to the Mission nearly every night +and would stand up and testify to God's goodness. He was coming on +finely. Many's the talk we would have together about home. The tears +would come to his eyes and he would say, "Oh, if I ever go home I'll be +such a different boy! Do you think father will forgive me, Mr. Ranney?"</p> + +<p>Well, eight months went on, and I thought it was time to get him off the +Bowery—he had had his lesson. So I wrote his father, and he sent the +necessary cash for clothes, railroad ticket, etc. And one night I said, +"Tom, would you like to go home?" You can imagine Tom's answer! I took +him out and bought him clothes, got back his watch and chain from the +pawnbroker, and went with him to the Grand Central Station. I got his +ticket, put him on the train, said "Good-by and God bless you!" and Tom +was bound for home.</p> + +<p>I receive a letter from him every month or so. I have visited his home +and have been entertained right royally by his father and mother. I +visited Tom last summer, and we did have a grand time fishing, boating, +driving, etc. I asked him, "Do you want to go back to New York, Tom?" +and he smiled and said, "Not for mine!" If any one comes from New York +and happens to say it's a grand place to make your fortune, Tom says, +"New York is a grand place to keep away from." You couldn't pull him +away from home with a team of oxen.</p> + +<p>"He arose and went to his father." Tom fed on husks. He learned his +lesson—not too dearly learned, because it was a lasting one. He is now +a man; he goes to church and Sunday-school, where he teaches a class of +boys. Once in a while he rings in his own experience when he was a +prodigal on the Bowery and far from God, and God's loving-kindness to +him.</p> + +<p>There are other boys on the Bowery from just as good families as +Tom's—college men some of them—who are without hope and without God's +friendship or man's. What can you and I do for them?</p> + + +<h4>LAST WORDS</h4> + +<p>I have married again, and have a good sweet Christian as companion, and +we have a little girl just beginning to walk. I'm younger, happier, and +a better man in mind and body than I was twenty years ago. I've a good +home and know that all good things are for those that trust.</p> + +<p>I remember one night, when I was going home with my wife, I met a +policeman who had arrested me once. He had caught me dead to +rights—with the goods. After awaiting trial I got off on a technical +point. I said, "Helen, let me introduce you to the policeman that +arrested me one time." He had changed some; his hair was getting gray. +He knew me, and when I told him I was a missionary, he said, "God bless +you, Reilly" (that's the name I went under), "and keep you straight! You +did cause us fellows a lot of trouble in those days."</p> + +<p>Indeed I did cause trouble! There wasn't a man under much closer watch +than I was twenty years ago. Just one incident will illustrate this and +show what a change God brings about in a man's life when he is soundly +converted. It was in 1890 that a pal of mine and I were told of a place +in Atlantic City where there was any amount of silverware, etc., in a +wealthy man's summer home, so we undertook to go there and see if we +could get any of the good things that were in the house. We reached the +city with our kit of tools, and my pal went and hid them a little way +from the station, waiting till night, as we did not want to carry them +around with us. Tom said, "Dan, I'm hungry; I'll go and see what I can +get in a bakery." We were not very flush and could not afford anything +great in the way of a dinner. Off he went, and I was to wait till he +came back.</p> + +<p>I sat down in the waiting-room, when a man came up and sat down beside +me, giving me a good-day. "Nice weather," said he. I said, "Yes." Said +he, "How's little old New York?" "All right," I answered. "Have you got +your ticket back?" said he. I thought he was a little familiar, and I +said, "It's none of your business." He was as cool as could be. "Oh, +yes," he said, "it is my business," and turning the lapel of his coat he +held a Pinkerton badge under my nose, at the same time saying, "The +game's called, and I know you. Where's the tools?" I told him I did not +have any. "The only thing that saves you," said he. "Now you get out of +here when that next train goes, or there will be a little trouble." My +pal came in at this time, and I winked at him to say nothing. He +understood. We took that train all right, and lost our tools.</p> + +<p>I never saw Atlantic City again until 1908, when I was asked to speak at +the Y. M. C. A. I told this story in my talk. I've been back four times; +I've been entertained at one of the best hotels there, the Chalfonte, +for a week at a time. What a change! Twenty years ago, when I was in the +Devil's employ, run out of town; now, redeemed by God, an invited guest +in that same place. See what God can do for a man!</p> + +<p>It's a hard thing to close this record of the grace of God in my life, +for I feel as though I was leaving a lot of friends. If at any time you +are on the Bowery—not down and out—and want to see me, why, call at +No. 131, the Squirrel Inn Mission and Reading Room, and you'll find a +hearty welcome.</p> + +<br> +<br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAVE RANNEY***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 13889-h.txt or 13889-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/8/13889">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/8/8/13889</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution.</p> + + + +<pre> +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +<a href="https://gutenberg.org/license">https://gutenberg.org/license)</a>. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">https://www.gutenberg.org</a> + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext06/</a> + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/13889-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/13889-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b4a82f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/old/13889-h/images/image-1.jpg b/old/13889-h/images/image-1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..25bf6c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/images/image-1.jpg diff --git a/old/13889-h/images/image-10.jpg b/old/13889-h/images/image-10.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a8b6258 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/images/image-10.jpg diff --git a/old/13889-h/images/image-11.jpg b/old/13889-h/images/image-11.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..44607b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/images/image-11.jpg diff --git a/old/13889-h/images/image-12.jpg b/old/13889-h/images/image-12.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5156988 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/images/image-12.jpg diff --git a/old/13889-h/images/image-2.jpg b/old/13889-h/images/image-2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..655552c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/images/image-2.jpg diff --git a/old/13889-h/images/image-3.jpg b/old/13889-h/images/image-3.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6ccac4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/images/image-3.jpg diff --git a/old/13889-h/images/image-4.jpg b/old/13889-h/images/image-4.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..65c592d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/images/image-4.jpg diff --git a/old/13889-h/images/image-5.jpg b/old/13889-h/images/image-5.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d820e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/images/image-5.jpg diff --git a/old/13889-h/images/image-6.jpg b/old/13889-h/images/image-6.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2f937f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/images/image-6.jpg diff --git a/old/13889-h/images/image-7.jpg b/old/13889-h/images/image-7.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8eaa481 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/images/image-7.jpg diff --git a/old/13889-h/images/image-8.jpg b/old/13889-h/images/image-8.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..23e449b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/images/image-8.jpg diff --git a/old/13889-h/images/image-9.jpg b/old/13889-h/images/image-9.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3e5f547 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889-h/images/image-9.jpg diff --git a/old/13889.txt b/old/13889.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d760cc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3660 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Dave Ranney, by Dave Ranney, et al + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Dave Ranney + +Author: Dave Ranney + +Release Date: October 29, 2004 [eBook #13889] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAVE RANNEY*** + + +E-text prepared by Steven desJardins and Project Gutenberg Distributed +Proofreaders + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 13889-h.htm or 13889-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/8/13889/13889-h/13889-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/8/13889/13889-h.zip) + + + + + +DAVE RANNEY + +Or, Thirty Years on the Bowery + +An Autobiography + +Introduction by Rev. A. F. Schauffler, D. D. + +1910 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover of Dave Ranney] + + + +This story of my life is dedicated to + +DR. A. F. SCHAUFFLER + +Who stuck by me through thick and thin + + + + Honest endeavor is ne'er thrown away; + God gathers the failures day by day, + And weaves them into His perfect plan + In ways that are not for us to scan. + + --Lucy Whittemore Myrick, 1876. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The autobiography which this book contains is that of a man who through +the wonderful dealings of Providence has had a most remarkable +experience. I have known the writer for about seventeen years, and +always most favorably. For a number of years past he has been Bowery +Missionary for the New York City Mission and Tract Society, and has +shown himself faithful, capable and conscientious. His story simply +illustrates how the gospel of the grace of God can go down as far as man +can fall, and can uplift, purify, and beautify that which was degraded +and "well nigh unto cursing." + +As a testimony as to what God can work, and how He can transform a man +from being a curse to himself and to the world into being a blessing, +the story is certainly fascinating, and ought to encourage any who have +lost hope to turn to Him who alone is able to save. It ought also to +encourage all workers for the downfallen to realize that God is able to +save unto the uttermost all who come to Him through Jesus Christ, the +all-sufficient Saviour. + +With confidence I recommend this book to those who are interested in the +rescue of the fallen, knowing that they will praise God for what has +been wrought and will trust Him for future wonderful redemptions. + +A. F. SCHAUFFLER. + +New York City. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION + + I. BOYHOOD DAYS + II. FIRST STEPS IN CRIME + III. INTO THE DEPTHS + IV. "SAVED BY GRACE" + V. ON THE UP GRADE + VI. PROMOTED + VII. THE MISSION IN CHINATOWN +VIII. BOWERY WORK + IX. PRODIGAL SONS + + + + + "Let me live in a house by the side of the road, + Where the race of men go by. + Men that are good and men that are bad, as good and as bad as I. + I would not sit in the scorner's seat, + Nor hurl the cynic's ban. + Let me live in a house by the side of the road + And be a friend to man." + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BOYHOOD DAYS + + +I have often been asked the question, "Why don't you write a book?" And +I have said, "What is the use? What good will it do?" I have thought +about it time and time again, and have come to the conclusion to write a +story of my life, the good and the bad, and if the story will be a help, +and check some one that's just going wrong, set him thinking, and point +him on the right road, praise God! + +I was born in Hudson City, N. J., over forty years ago, when there were +not as many houses in that town as there are now. I was born in old +Dutch Row, now called Beacon Avenue, in a two-story frame house. In +those days there was an Irish Row and a Dutch Row. The Irish lived by +themselves, and the Dutch by themselves. + +Quite frequently the boys of the two colonies would have a battle royal, +and there would be things doing. Sometimes the Dutch would win out, +sometimes the Irish, and many's the time there was a cut head and other +bruises. Sometimes a prisoner would be taken, and then we would play +Indian with him, and do everything with him except burn him. We were all +boys born in America, but if we lived in Dutch Row, why, we had to be +Dutch; but if, on the other hand, we happened to live in Irish Row, we +had to be Irish. I remember moving one time to Irish Row, and I wondered +what would happen when I went to play with the old crowd. They said, "Go +and stay with the Irish." I did not know what to do. I would not fight +my old comrades, so I was neutral and fought with neither. + +We had a good many ring battles in those days, and many's the fight we +had without gloves, and many's the black eye I got, and also gave a +few. I believe nothing does a boy or girl so much good as lots of play +in the open air. I never had a serious sickness in my life except the +measles, and that was easy, for I was up before the doctor said I ought +to get out of bed. Those were happy days, and little did I think then +that I would become the hard man I turned out to be. + +I had a good Christian mother, one who loved her boy and thought there +was nothing too good for him, and I could always jolly her into getting +me anything I wanted. God bless the mothers! How true the saying is, "A +boy's best friend is his mother." My father I won't say so much about. +He was a rough man who loved his cups, and died, as you might say, a +young man through his own waywardness. I did love my mother, and would +give anything now to have her here with me as I am writing this story. +She has gone to heaven, and I was the means of sending her to an early +grave through my wrong-doings. She did not live to see her boy saved. +Many's the time I would promise her to lead a different life, and I +meant it too, but after all I could not give up my evil ways. + + +THE FIRST TASTE FOR DRINK + +I remember when I first acquired the taste for drink. My grandfather +lived with us, and he liked his mixed ale and would send me for a pint +two or three times a day. In those days the beer was weighed so many +pounds to the quart. Every time I went for the beer I used to take a +swallow before I came back, and sometimes two, and after a while I +really began to enjoy it. Do you know, I was laying the foundation right +there and then for being what I turned out to be--a drunkard. I remember +one time--yes, lots of times--that I was under the influence of the vile +stuff when I was not more than ten years of age. + +I received a public school education. My school-days were grand good +days. I had all the sport that comes to any boy going to school. I would +rather play ball than go home to dinner. In those days the game was +different from what it is at the present time. I was up in all athletic +sports when I was a boy. I could jump three quick jumps and go +twenty-eight and a half feet; that was considered great for a schoolboy. + +There was one game I really did enjoy; the name of it was "How many +miles?" It is played something like this: You choose sides, and it +doesn't matter how many there are on a side. Of course each side would +be eager to get the quickest and fastest runner on their side. How I did +like that game! We then tossed to see who would be the outs and who +would chase the outs, and many's the mile we boys would run. We would be +late for school and would be kept in after three o'clock; that would +break my heart, but I would forget all about it the next day and do the +same thing again. + +Our teacher, J. W. Wakeman--God bless him!--is living yet, and I hope he +will live a good many years more. A boy doesn't always like his teacher, +and I was no exception; I did not like him very much. He gave me more +whippings than any other boy in the school. All the learning I received +was, you might say, pounded into me. He used to say to me, "David, why +don't you be good and study your lessons? There is the making of a man +in you, but if you don't study you will be fit for nothing else than the +pick and shovel." How those words rang in my ears many a time in after +years when they came true, when I had to use the pick and shovel! I am +not saying anything against that sort of labor; it has its place. We +must fill in somewhere, in some groove, but that was not mine. + +How I did enjoy in after years, when I was roaming over the world, +thinking of my old schoolmates! I could name over a dozen who were +filling positions of trust in their own city; lawyers, surrogates, +judges, and some in business for themselves, making a name and doing +something, while I was no earthly use to myself or to any one else. Some +people say, "Such is life; as you make your bed so you must lie." How +true it was in my case! I made my bed and had to lie on it, but I can +truthfully say I did not enjoy it. + +There are many men that are down and out now who had a chance to be +splendid men. They are now on the Bowery "carrying the banner"--which +means walking the streets without a place to call home--without food or +shelter, but they could, if they looked back to their early life, see +that they were making their beds then, or as the Bible reads, sowing the +seed. Listen, young people, and take heed. Don't believe the saying, "A +fellow must sow his wild oats." The truth is just this: as you sow so +shall you reap. I was sowing when I was drinking out of the pail of +beer, and I surely did reap the drunkard's portion--misery. + + +A TRUANT + +I was a great hand at playing hookey--that is, staying away from school +and not telling your parents. I would start for school in the morning, +but instead of going would meet a couple of boys and we would hide our +books until closing-time. If any boy was sent to my home with a note, I +would see that boy and tell him if he went he knew what he would get. He +knew it meant a good punching, and he would not go. I would write a note +so that the boy could take it back to the teacher saying that I was sick +and would be at school when I got better. + +I remember how I was found out one time. We met as usual--the +hookey-players, I mean--and started down to the Hackensack River to have +a good day. Little did I know what would happen before the day was +over. One of the boys with us went out beyond his depth and was drowned. +I can still hear his cries and see his face as he sank for the last +lime. We all could swim a little, and we tried our best to save him, but +his time had come. + +That wound up his hookey-playing, and you would think it would make me +stop too; but no, I went right along sowing the seed, and planting it +good and deep for the Devil. + +I recollect the first time I went away from home. It happened this way: +The teacher got tired of receiving notes saying I was sick, and she +determined to see for herself--for I had a lady for teacher in that +class--what the trouble was. + +One afternoon whom should I see coming in the gate but my teacher, and +now I was in a fix for fair. I knew if she saw mother it was all up with +me, so I ran and met her and told her mother was out and would not be +back until late. She asked me how I was getting on. I said I was better +and would be at school in the morning. She said, "I am glad of that." + +When she turned to go I could have flung my cap in the air and shouted. +I thought I had fooled her and could go on playing hookey, but you know +the old adage, "There's many a slip." Just at this time my mother looked +out of the window and asked who was there and what she wanted. Well, +mother came down, and things were made straight as far as she and the +teacher were concerned; but I was in for it; I knew that by the way +mother looked at me. The jig was up, I was found out, and I knew things +would happen; and I did not want to be around when mother said, "You +just wait!" I knew what that meant, so I determined to go out into the +world and make my own way. + +I was a little over thirteen years of age, and you know a boy does not +know much at that age, but I thought I did. I went over the fence with +mother after me. If dad had been home I guess he could have caught me, +that is if he had been sober. Mother could not run very fast, so I got +clear of the whip for that time at least. I got a good distance from the +house and then I sat down to think. I knew if I went home a whipping was +waiting for me, and that I could do without. + +There was a boy just a little older than myself, Mike ----,[1] that was +"on the bum," as we used to say. The boys would give him some of the +lunch they had brought to school, and I thought I would join forces with +and be his pal. I saw Mike and told him all about the licking, and Mike +said, "Don't go home; you are a fool if you do." We went around, and I +was getting hungry, when we thought of a plan by which we could get +something to eat. Mother ran a book in a grocery store, and Mike said, +"Go to the store and get a few things, and say you don't have the book +but will bring it when you come again." I went to the store and got a +ham, a pound of butter, two loaves of bread and one box of sardines. + +[Footnote 1: Where proper names are left blank they refer to real +persons or places.] + +Some people will ask how I can remember so many years back. I remember +my first night away from home as though it was yesterday, and I'll never +forget it as long as I live. After I got the things the grocer said, +"Where is the book?" I told him mother had mislaid it, and he said, +"Bring it the next time." We built a fire and cooked the ham and had +lots to eat. + +Up to this time it had all been smooth sailing; it was warm and we had a +good time in general. We had a swim with some other boys, and after +telling them not to say that they saw me, we left them. I asked Mike +where we were going to sleep, and he said, "I'll show you when it's +time." + +After a while Mike said, "I guess we had better go to bed." Off we +started across the lots until we came to a big haystack, and Mike +stooped down and began to pull hay out of the stack and work his way +inside. Remember I was green at the business; I had never been away from +home before; and Mike, though only a little older, was used to this kind +of life. Well, I pulled out hay enough, as I thought, and crawled in, +but there was no sleep for me. I kept thinking and thinking. I would +call Mike and ask him if he was asleep, and he would say, "Oh, shut up +and let a fellow sleep!" + +I am no coward, never was, but I was scared that night for fair. About +midnight I must have dozed off to sleep when something seemed to be +pushing at my feet. I was wide awake now, and shook Mike, but he only +turned over and seemed to sleep all the sounder. I could hear the +grunting and pushing outside all the time. My head was under and my feet +covered with the hay, when something took hold of my foot and began to +chew. My hair stood on end, and I gave a yell that would have awakened +"The Seven Sleepers." It woke Mike, and the last I heard of him that +night he was laughing as though he would split his sides, and all he +could shout was, "Pigs, pigs!" as I went flying toward home. I got there +as soon as my feet would carry me. I found the house up and mother and +sister crying, while father was trying to make them stop. When I shook +the door it opened and I was home again, and I was mighty glad. + +The reason for the crying was that when it got late and the folks began +to look for me, one of the boys said that the last time he saw me I was +swimming with Mike ----. When I did not come home they thought surely I +was drowned, but I was born for a different fate. Sometimes in my years +of roaming afterwards I wished I had been drowned as they thought. They +were so glad to see me again that there was no whipping, and I went to +school next morning promising to be a better boy. + + +A BASEBALL GAME + +I was fast becoming initiated in the ways of the Devil. There was +nothing that I would not do. I remember one time when mother thought I +was going to school but found out I was "on the hook." She decided to +punish me, and that night after I had gone to sleep she came into my +room and took all my clothes except my shirt. I certainly was in a fix. +I had to catch for my team and I would not miss that game of ball for +anything in the world; I simply had to go. In looking around the room I +found a skirt belonging to my sister that I thought would answer my +purpose. I had my shirt on and I put the skirt on over my head. Then I +ripped the skirt up the center and tied it around each leg with a piece +of cord--anything for that game!--and there I was with a pair of +trousers manufactured out of a girl's skirt. But I had to catch that +game of ball that day at any cost. Getting to the ground was easy. I +opened the window and let myself down as far as I could and then +dropped. I arrived all right, a little shaken up, but what is that to a +boy who has a ball game in his head! + +I got to the game all right and some of the boys fixed me up. I don't +remember which side won that game, but when it was finished I went home +and met mother, and the interview was not a pleasant one, though she did +not give me a whipping. + +I used to read novels, any number of them, in those days--all about +Indians, pirates, and all those blood-and-thunder tales--lies. You can +not get any good out of them, and they do corrupt your mind. I would +advise the young people who read these lines, and older folks also, if +this is your style of reading, to stop right where you are. Get some +good books--there are plenty of them--and don't fill your mind with +stuff that only unfits you for the real life of the years to come. + +[Illustration: A NOON SHOP MEETING ADDRESSED BY MR. RANNEY.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +FIRST STEPS IN CRIME + + +I was getting tired of school and wanted to go to work. I had a good +Christian man for my Sunday-school teacher, Mr. M., a fairly rich man, +and I did think a good deal of him. I liked to go to Sunday-school and +was often the first in my class. The teacher would put up a prize for +the one that was there first. Sometimes it would be a baseball bat, +skates, book, or knife. I would let myself out then and would be first +and get the prize. + +I asked Mr. M. to get me work in an office. After a few weeks he called +and told my mother he had got me a job in Jersey City, in the office of +a civil engineer, at $3 a week. I was a happy boy as I started in on my +first day's work. It was easy; all I had to do was to open up and dust +the office at 8 A. M., and close at 5 P. M. I used to run errands and +draw a little. But after a few weeks the newness of work wore off and I +wished I was back at school again, where I could play hookey and have +fun with the other fellows. + + +THE FIRST THEFTS + +I had lots of time on my hands, and you know the saying, "Satan finds +some mischief still for idle hands to do." He certainly found plenty for +me. The boss was a great smoker and bought his cigars by the box. He +asked me if I smoked, and I said no, for I had not begun to smoke as +yet. Well, he left the box of cigars around, always open, so I thought I +would try one, and I took a couple out of the box. See how the Devil +works with a fellow. He seemed to say, "Now if you take them from the +top he will miss them," so he showed me how to take them from the +bottom. I took out the cigars that were on top, and when I got to the +bottom of the box I crossed a couple and took the cigars, and you could +not tell that any had been taken out. That was the beginning of my +stealing. The cigars were not missed, and I thought how easy it was, but +this beginning proved to be just a stepping-stone to what followed. + +I did not smoke the cigars then, but waited until I got home. After +supper I went out and met Mike ----, and gave him one of them, and I +started in to smoke my first cigar. Mike could smoke and not get sick, +but there never was a sicker boy than I was. I thought I was going to +die then and there and I said, "No more cigars for me." I recovered, +however, and as usual forgot my good resolutions. That turned out to be +the beginning of my smoking habit, and I was a good judge of a cigar +when I was but fourteen years of age. I went on stealing them until the +boss tumbled that some one was taking them and locked them up for safe +keeping. I never smoked a cigarette in all my life. I know it takes +away a young fellow's brains and I really class cigarettes next to drink +and would warn boys never to smoke them. + +I had been in the office now about three months. At the end of each +month I received a check for $12. It seemed a fortune to me and I hated +to give it in at the house. The third month I received the check as +usual, made out to bearer. Well, I went home and gave the check to +mother, and she said I was a good boy and gave me fifty cents to spend. + +I watched my mother and saw her put the check in an unused pitcher in +the closet on the top shelf. It seemed as though some one was beside me +all the time telling me to take it and have a good time. It belonged to +me and no one else had a right to it, Satan seemed to say. And what a +good time I could have with it! They would never suspect me of taking +it, and I could have it cashed and no one would ever know. + +So I got up in the middle of the night and started right there and then +to be a burglar. I went on tiptoe as softly as I could, and was right in +the middle of the kitchen floor when I stumbled over a little stool and +it made a noise. It was not much of a noise, but to me it seemed like +the shot out of a cannon. I thought it would wake up the whole house, +but nobody but mother woke, and she said, "Who's there?" I said nothing, +only stood still and waited for her to fall asleep again. As I stood +there a voice--and surely it was the voice of God--seemed to say, "Go +back to bed and leave the check alone. It is not yours: it belongs to +your mother. She is feeding and keeping you, and you are doing wrong." I +think if the Devil had not butted in I would have gone to bed, but he +said, "Now you are here no one sees you, and what a good time you can +have with that check!" That settled all good thoughts and I went up to +the closet, put my hand in the pitcher, took the check and went back to +bed. That was my first burglary. + +Did I sleep? Well, I guess not! I rolled and tossed all the balance of +the night. I knew I had done wrong. But you see the Devil was there, and +I really think he owned me from the time I stole the cigars--"that +little beginning." + +I got up the next morning, ate my breakfast and went to work. I still +had the check, and all I had to do was to go to the bank and get it +cashed. But I was afraid, and how I wished that the check was safe in +the old pitcher. I worried all that day, and I think if I had gotten a +chance that night after I got home, I would have put the check back. But +the old Devil was there saying, "You fool, keep it! It is not missed, +and even if it is no one will accuse you of stealing your own money." I +tell you, the Devil had me hand and foot, and there seemed to be no +getting away. Oh! if I could have had some person to tell me plainly +what to do at this time, it might have been the turning-point in my +life! Anyway, the check didn't get back to the pitcher. I had it and the +Devil had me. + +Next day I disguised myself somewhat. I made my face dirty and put on a +cap. I had been wearing a hat before, so I thought the teller at the +bank would not know me. I had been there often with checks for my boss. +Well, the teller just looked at the check, gave me a glance, and passed +out the $12. It did not take me long to get out of the bank. I knew I +had done wrong, and I felt it, and would have given anything if I could +have undone it; but it was too late, and my old companion, the Devil, +said, "What a nice time you can have, and wasn't it easy!" + +When I went home the first question was, "Did you see your check?" My +dear mother asked me that, never thinking that her boy had taken it. +Oh! if I had had the courage to tell her then and there, how much misery +and trouble it would have saved me in after life! But I was a moral +coward, and I said, "No, mother; where did you put it?" I had her +guessing whether she really put it in the pitcher or not. + +There was a regular hunt for that check, and I hunted as much as any +one, but it could not be found. Mother did not know much about banks in +those days, but some one told her about a week after that she ought to +go to the bank and stop payment on the check. That sounded good to +mother, and she said, "Dave, you and I will go to the bank and stop +payment on that check." I was in it for fair this time. The only chance +I had was in the teller not recognizing me. + +We went to the bank, and mother told the teller about the +lost--stolen--check, and for him to see that it wasn't paid. He said, +"All right, madam, I'll not pay it if it is not already paid." He looked +over the books and brought back the lost check. I had stood in the +background all this time. Then my mother asked him whom he paid it to. +He said it was hard for him to recall just then, "But I think I paid it +to a boy," he said. "Yes, it was a boy, for I recollect that he had as +dirty a face and hands as ever I saw." Mother pulled me up in front of +him and told him to look at me and see if I was the boy. He looked at me +for a minute or so--it seemed to me like an hour--then said, "No, that +is not the boy that cashed the check, nothing like him. I am sure I +should know that boy." In after years, when I was lined up in front of +detectives for identification for some crime, identified or not, I +always thought of a dirty face being a good disguise. + +On the way home from the bank mother asked me all sorts of questions +about boys I knew; if they had dirty faces and so on, but I did not +know any such boys, so the check business died out. She little thought +that her own boy was the thief, and she blamed my cousin, who was +boarding with us at the time. + +My grandfather was still with us, and he had quite a sum of money saved. +He wanted some money, and he and I went to the bank and he drew out +fifty dollars in gold. There was a premium on gold at that time, and he +received two twenty-dollar gold-pieces and one ten. Well, that night he +lost one of the twenty-dollar gold-pieces and never found it. There was +a hot time the next morning, for he was sure he had it when he went to +bed. My father was blamed for that, so you see the innocent suffer for +the guilty. + +I had quite a time with the money while it lasted, went out to the old +Bowery Theatre, and had a good time in general. I little thought then +that in after years I would be sitting on the old Bowery steps, down +and out, without a cent in my pocket and without a friend in the world. + + +LOSING A POSITION + +I was a boy of fourteen at this time, working in a civil engineer's +office for three dollars per week, but I knew, young as I was, that as a +profession engineering was not for me. I knew that to take it up I +needed a good education, and that I did not have. I didn't like the +trade, anyway, and didn't care whether I worked or not. That is the +reason I lost my job. + +One afternoon my employer sent me up Newark Avenue for a suit of clothes +that had been made to order. He told me to get them and bring them back +as soon as I could. I must say right here that my employer was a good +man, and he took quite a liking to me. Many a time he told me he would +make a great engineer out of me. I often look back and ask myself the +question, "Did I miss my vocation?" And then there comes a voice, which +I recognize as God's, saying, "You had to go through all this in order +to help others with the same temptations and the same sins," and I say, +"Amen." + +After getting the clothes I went back to the building where I +worked--No. 9 Exchange Place, Jersey City--and found the door locked. I +waited around for a while, for I thought my employer wanted his clothes +or he would not have sent me for them. Finally I got tired of waiting, +and after trying the door once more and finding it still locked, I said +to myself, "I'll just put these clothes in the furniture store next door +and I'll get them to-morrow morning." I left them and told the man I +would call for them in the morning, and started for home. + +I was in bed dreaming of Indians and other things, when mother wakened +me, shouting, "Where's the man's clothes?" I couldn't make out at first +what all the racket was about. Then I heard men's voices talking in the +yard, and recognized Mr. M., my Sunday-school teacher, and my employer, +the man that was going to make a great engineer out of me. I went out on +the porch and told him what I had done with the clothes, and he nearly +collapsed. He was very angry, and drove off, saying, "You come to the +office and get what's due you in the morning." I went the next morning, +got my money, and bade him good-by. That was the last of my becoming one +of the great engineers of the day. + +I was glad, and I went back to school determined to study real hard, and +I did remain in school for a year. Then the old craze for work came on +me again. Father had died in the meantime, and mother was left to do the +best she could, and I got a job with the determination to be a help to +her. + + +AT WORK AGAIN + +I got a position as office boy at 40 Broadway, then one of New York's +largest buildings. The man I worked for was a commission merchant, a +Hebrew, and one of the finest men I ever met in my life. He took me into +his private office and we had a long talk, a sort of fatherly talk, as +he had sons and daughters of his own. I loved that man. I had been +brought up among the Dutch and Irish, and had never associated with the +Jews, and I supposed from what I had heard that they were put on earth +for us to get the best of, fire stones at, and treat as meanly as we +could. That was my idea of a Jew--my boy idea. Yet here was a man, a +Jew, one of the whitest men I ever met, who by his life changed +completely my opinion of the Jews, and I put them down from that day as +being pretty good people. + +My mother did some work for his wife, and when he heard that I wanted to +go to work he told her to send me over to his place of business, and +that is how I got my second position in this big world. + +I went to work with the determination to make a man of myself, and +mother said: + +"Now, Dave, be a good boy, and one of these days you will be a big +merchant and I shall be proud of you." That was what I might have been +if I had had the grace of God to make my life true. I am acquainted with +some men to-day that started about the same time I did. They were boys +that looked ahead, studied and went up step by step, and are to-day some +of the best-known bankers in America. + +They say "Hell is paved with good intentions," and I believe it is. We +start out in life with the best intentions, but before we know it we are +up against some temptation, and unless we have God with us we are sure +to fall, and when we fall, why, it's the hardest thing in the world to +get back where we tumbled from. I only wish I had taken the Saviour as +my helper years ago. Oh! what a change He did make in my life after I +did accept Him, seventeen years ago! + +I started in to work at four dollars a week, and, as I said, I intended +to be a great merchant. I meant well, if that was any consolation. My +duties were to go to the postoffice and bring the mail, copy the +letters, and run errands, and I was happy. + +I was out one day on an errand, when whom should I meet but my old +friend Mike ----, my chum of the pig incident. He said, "Hello, Dave, +where are you working?" He had a job in a factory in Maiden Lane, at the +same wages I was getting. I hadn't seen much of Mike lately, and to tell +the truth I didn't care so much about meeting him. I am not +superstitious by any means, but I really thought he was my Jonah. We +talked a while, and we promised to meet and go home together. Like a +foolish boy, I met him that night and many a time after. + + +TOUCH NOT, TASTE NOT + +Mike was just learning to play pool, and one evening we had to go in and +play a game. That night I had the first glass of beer I ever took in a +saloon. Mike was getting to be quite a tippler, and he said, "Let's have +a drink." I said I didn't want any, and I didn't. But he said--I really +think the Devil was using Mike to make me drink--"Oh, be a man! One +glass won't hurt you; it will do you good." And he talked to me about +mother's apron-strings, and finally I took my first drink outside of +what I drank when grandfather used to send me for beer. + +Do you know, as I stood there before the bar, with that beer in my hand, +I heard a voice just as plain as I ever heard anything, saying, "Don't +take that stuff; it's no good, and will bring you to shame and misery. +It will spoil your future, and you will never become the great merchant +you started out to be. Put it down and don't drink it." That was +twenty-five years ago, and many a time I have heard that voice since. +How I wish now that I had listened to that voice and never taken that +first drink! It is not the second or the one hundred and second drink +that makes a man a drunkard, but the first. + +I started to put the glass down, and with that Mike began to laugh, and +his laugh brought the other fellows around. Of course Mike told them I +was a milk-and-water boy. I could not stand it to be laughed at, so I +put the glass of beer to my lips, swallowed it, and never made a face +about it. Then the fellows said, "You're all right! You are initiated +now and you're a man!" + +I didn't feel very much like a man. I felt as though I was some fellow +without a single spark of manhood in my whole make-up. I thought of +mother; what would she say if she knew I had broken my promise to her? I +had promised her when father died never to take a drink in all my life. +I knelt at her dear side, with her hands upon my head, and she prayed +that God would bless her boy and keep him from drink. I had honestly +intended to keep that promise, but you see how the Devil popped in and +once more made me do what I knew was wrong--drink that first cursed +glass of beer. + +I went home, walking all the way, and trying to get the smell out of my +mouth. I could not face my dear mother, so I went to my room without +supper. I thought that all she had to do was to look in my face and she +would know that I had broken my promise, and I was ashamed. She came up +later and asked me what was the matter, and I said I had a headache. If +I had had the courage to tell her then, things might have been +different! She brought me a cup of tea and bade me good-night. + +The next night the Devil steered me into the same saloon. I drank again +and again, till finally I could drink as much as any man, and it would +take a good deal to knock me out. + +I was still working for the merchant on Broadway, and my prospects were +of the brightest. They all liked me and gave me a raise in salary, so I +was now getting five dollars a week. But, you see, I was spending money +on pool and drink, and five dollars didn't go so very far, so I began to +steal. I had charge of the stamps--the firm used a great many---and I +had the mailing of all the letters. I would take out fifty cents from +the money and balance the account by letters mailed. I began in a small +way, and the Devil in me said, "How easy! You're all right." So I went +on until I was stealing on an average of $1.50 per day. I still kept on +drinking and playing cards. I had by this time blossomed out as quite a +poker player and could do as many tricks as the best of them. I used to +stay out quite late, and would tell mother that I was kept at the +office, and little did she think that her only son was a gambler! + +The Bible says, "Be sure your sin will find you out," and it proved true +in my case. One night I was out gambling, and had had quite some luck. +The fellows got to drinking, and in fact I got drunk, and when I started +for home I could hardly walk. I fell down several times, when who should +come along but mother and sister, and when they saw me staggering along +they were astonished. I heard my mother say, "Oh! my God, my boy, my +only son, oh! what happened to you?" Mother knew without asking what the +matter was. She had often seen father reeling home under the influence +of drink. But here was something she could not understand. Here was her +only son beastly drunk, and she cried bitter tears. She took hold of one +arm and my sister the other, and we finally reached home. I was getting +pretty well sobered up by this time, and knew I was in for a lecture. +My mother hadn't whipped me of late, but I dreaded her talk, and then I +wished I had never met Mike ----. + +Mother didn't say anything until we got home. She put me to bed, brushed +my clothes, and told me to go to sleep. About two o'clock I woke up. +There was mother kneeling by my bedside, praying God to save her boy and +keep him from following in his father's footsteps. I lay there and +listened and said amen to everything she asked God to do. Finally I +could stand it no longer; I jumped out of bed and knelt beside my mother +and asked God to forgive me. I threw my arms around mother's neck and +asked her to forgive her boy, which she did. I determined right then and +there to do better and never to drink any more. + +I really meant to start all over again, but I didn't take Jesus with +me--in fact, I think the Devil owned me for fair. I was pretty good for +about a month, kept away from Mike and the other fellows, and mother +was delighted. But this did not continue long; I met Mike again, and +fell into the same groove, and was even worse than before. + +Barnum was running his circus in New York then, and Mike and I decided +to see the show and took a day off to go. I had not got leave of absence +from work, so on our way home we planned what we could tell our bosses +when we went to work the next morning. + +When my employer came in that morning I told him I was sick the day +before and not able to get out of bed. He just stood there and looked at +me, and said, "What a liar you are! You were seen at the circus +yesterday! Now, why didn't you tell me the truth, and I would have +overlooked it? I can't have any one in my employ that I can't trust." So +I had to look for another job. I was sorry, but it was my own fault. +There I was, without a job and without a recommendation. What was I +going to do? Surely "the way of the transgressor is hard." + +I tell the men in the Mission night after night that I would rather deal +with a thief than a liar, because you can protect yourself against a +thief, but a liar--what can't a liar do? If I had only told the truth to +my employer that day, why, as mother said afterwards, he would have +given me a lecture, and it would have been all over. + + +DEEPER IN THE MIRE + +Now what was I to tell my mother? You see, if you tell one lie you are +bound to tell others, and after you have lied once, how easy it is! My +side partner, the Devil, was there by my side to help me, and he said, +"Don't tell your mother." So I said nothing, and took my carfare and +lunch money every day, went out as if I were going to work, and hoped +that something would turn up. That's the way with the sinners; they are +always hoping and never doing. So it was with me, always hoping, and +the Devil always saying, "Don't worry; it will be all right." + +I used to dread going home at night and meeting my mother, and when she +would say, "How have you got on to-day?" I was always ready with another +lie, telling her I was doing finely, that the boss said he was going to +give me a raise soon. He had--he had raised me right out of the place! + +I was getting deeper and deeper into difficulty and could not see my way +out. Oh! if I had only told my mother the truth, how different my life +might have been! Saturday night was coming, and I did not have any money +to bring home, and I did not know what to do. I thought of everything, +but could not see my way out, when the thought came to me, "Steal!" My +sister was saving up some money to buy a suit, and I knew where she kept +it and determined to get it. That night I entered her room and took all +the money she had saved. No one saw me but God, but the Devil was there +with me, and said, "Isn't it easy? Don't be a coward! God doesn't care." +I knew right down in my heart that He did care, and in after years when +I was wandering all over the States I found out how much He really +cared, and I said, "Praise His name!" + +[Illustration: A BACK YARD ON THE BOWERY.] + +[Illustration: ONE OF RANNEY'S FORMER HAUNTS.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +INTO THE DEPTHS + + +After I had taken this money from my sister I knew that I was suspected. +I was accused of taking it, but I was getting hardened; I had lost my +job through lying; I was getting tired of home; I didn't care very much +how things went. + +About this time my elder sister was married and moved to New York. Her +husband was a mechanic and made good money. He liked me, and when the +theft was discovered I went and put up with him, staying there until I +made money enough to leave, then I got out. All this time I was going +from bad to worse, my associates being thieves and crooks and gamblers. + +I shall never forget the first time I was arrested. I was with a +hardened crook, and we had made a haul of some hundred dollars. But as +luck would have it we were caught and sent away for nine months on a +"technicality." If we had received our just dues the lowest term would +have been five years each. I thought my time in prison would never come +to an end, but it did at last, and I was free. But where was I to go? My +mother had moved to New York to be near my sister, so I went and called +on them. Mother asked me where I had been. I made some kind of an +excuse, but I could see by mother's eye that she did not take much stock +in it. + +I remained at home, and finally got work in a fruit house on Washington +Street, at eight dollars a week. I was quite steady for a while, and +mother still had hopes of her boy. But through the same old company and +drink I lost that job. + + +MARRIAGE + +About this time I ran across a girl who I thought would make a good +wife, and we were married. I was then in the crockery business in a +small way, and if I had stuck to business I should be worth something +now. I'll never forget the day of the wedding. The saying is, "Happy is +the bride the sun shines on," but there was no sunshine that day. It +rained, it simply poured. Mother tried to get the girl to throw me over; +she told her I would never make her a good husband; and I guess Mary was +sorry afterward that she did not take her advice. + +The night of the wedding we had quite a blowout, and I was as drunk as I +could be. I'd ring in right here a bit of advice to my girl readers: +Don't ever try to convert a man--I mean one who drinks--by marrying him, +for in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred you won't succeed. In my case +I was young and did not care how the wind blew. I stayed out nights and +neglected my home, but I must say, bad as I was, I never hit my wife. I +think any man that raises his hand to hit a woman is worse than a cur, +and that he will certainly be punished in some way for it. + +Things went from bad to worse, and one day I came home to the store and +there was no wife. She had gone. Married and deserted in two months! I +felt sore, and all I thought about was to get even with my wife. I sold +out the business, got a couple hundred dollars together, and started +after her. I found out that she had gone to Oswego, and I sent her a +telegram and was met at the station by her brother. It did not take me +long to get next to him. In a very short time I had him thinking there +was no one like Ranney. Mary and I made up and I promised never to drink +again, and we started for New York. My promises were easily broken, for +before we got to Syracuse both her brother and I were pretty drunk. + +After reaching New York we went to mother's house and stayed there until +we got rooms, which we did in a few days. Mary's brother got work in a +lumberyard. I hunted as usual for a job, praying I wouldn't get it. I +went hustling lumber and worked two days, leaving because it took the +skin off my hands. Finally I could not pay the rent, was dispossessed, +and then went to live in "Hell's Kitchen," in Thirty-ninth Street, where +my son was born. Our friends thought the baby would bring Mary and me +closer together, as it sometimes does. But what did I care for a baby! + +I got work on Jake Sharp's Twenty-third Street cars, and Mary would +bring me my dinner and do everything she could for me. But when drink is +the idol--and it was mine--what does one care for love? Nothing. I +certainly led Mary a hard life. At last I came home one night and she +and the kid were gone. The baby was then two months old, and I never saw +him again until he was a boy of nine. I was not sorry at their going. I +wasn't any good in those days. I imagined I was "done dirty," as they +say, but I knew the girl couldn't do anything else for herself and baby. +I sold out the little furniture the rooms contained, got a few dollars, +and jumped the town. + + +WANDERINGS + +I started out with every one's hand against me and mine against every +one's. I struck Marathon, N. Y., and had quite a time there. I worked in +Dumphy's tannery, got a few weeks' pay and a few other articles, and +jumped out for fear of being arrested. I reached Syracuse and struck a +job in McChesney's lumberyard, at $1.35 per day. + +I stayed in Syracuse quite a while and learned a little of the lumber +business. I had quite a few adventures while there. I had struck up an +acquaintance with a New York boy, and one evening after work we were +sitting on the grass in front of one of the hotels, and seeing the +patrol wagon passing, I made the remark, "Some poor bum is going to get +a ride," when it pulled up in front of us and we were told to get in. I +tried to argue the point with the captain, but it was of no use. We were +taken to the station, and the others were sent below while I was kept up +for examination. They put me through a light "third degree," measuring +me and noting the color of hair and eyes, size of feet, etc. + +Finally they stopped measuring and asking questions, and I waited. I saw +my friend come up and go out of the door; he did not take time to bid me +good-by. I asked the captain if he was through with me, and he did not +know what to say. He apologized, and explained that I had been arrested +because I looked like a man that had escaped from Auburn. + +I felt rather sorry for the captain, not because I was not the escaped +prisoner, but because he was so nervous. I could not leave him without a +jolly, so I said, "Captain, if you'll come up to the corner I'll treat," +patting my pocket in which I had a few pennies. He thanked me and said, +"No." I met the captain every night taking his men as far as Salina +Street, and we always saluted one another. + +My new pal couldn't be got up on Main Street to the postoffice again for +anything, and as soon as he earned money enough he took the train for +"little old New York." I've met him on the Bowery since I became a +missionary there, and we did smile about that ride in the "hurry-up +wagon" in Syracuse. + +Finally I came back to New York, after being away quite a time, got work +in a carpet factory, and was quite steady for a while. + +My poor dear mother was sick, sometimes up and oftentimes in bed. I can +still see her and hear her say, "David, my poor boy, I do wish you would +stop your drinking. I've prayed for you, and will pray until I die. Oh, +Dave! I'd die so happy if my only son would stop and be a man!" But that +cursed appetite, what a hold it had on me! It seemed as if I couldn't +stop if I had been given all the money in the world. + +I did love my mother dearly; I didn't care for any one in the world but +her. Still, one of the meanest acts I ever did was to my mother. And +such a good mother she was; there are not many like her! + +She was in bed and had only a few weeks to live. One day she called me +to her bedside and said, "Dave, I am going to leave you, never to see +you again on this earth, but oh! how I wish you were going to meet me on +the other side. Now, Dave, won't you promise me you will?" I said, "Yes, +mother, sure I will." And she made me promise then and there that when +she was dead, and waiting burial, I would not get drunk, at least while +her body was in the house. I went down on my knees and promised her that +I'd meet her in heaven. + +She died, and the undertaker had been gone but a short time when I began +drinking, and the day of the funeral I was pretty drunk. That was one of +the meanest things I ever did. But I am sure that sometimes my dear +mother looks over the portals of heaven, and sees her boy--a man now, a +Christian--and forgives me. And some day, when my time comes, I am going +to join her there. + +I went from bad to worse, wandering all over, not caring what happened. +I took a great many chances. Sometimes I had plenty of money, and at +other times I wouldn't have a nickel I could jingle against a tombstone. +I boated on the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans, then up on the +Lakes. I was always wandering, but never at rest, sometimes in prison, +and sometimes miles away from human habitation, often remorseful, always +wondering what the end would be. + +I recollect, after being eighty-two days on the river to New Orleans, +being paid off with over $125. I left the steamer at Pittsburg, and the +first thing I did was to go and get a jug of beer. Before I got anywhere +near drunk I was before Judge White, and was fined $8.40, and +discharged. I wasn't free half an hour before I was arrested again, +brought before Judge White, and again fined $8.40. After being free for +about fifteen minutes, I was again brought before Judge White, who +looked at me this time and said, "Can't you keep sober?" I said, "Your +Honor, I haven't had a drink since the first time." And I hadn't. But he +said, "Five days," and I was shut up for that time, and I was in hell +there five days if ever a man was. + +Out of jail, I drifted with the tide. I was arrested for a trick that, +if I had got my just dues, would have put me in prison for ten years, +but I got off with three years, and came out after doing two years and +nine months. + +When a person is cooped up he has lots of time to think. It's think, +think, think, and hope. Many's the time I said, "Oh, if I only get out +and still have my health, what a change there will be!" And I meant it. + +Isn't it queer how people will say, "I can't stop drinking," but when +they're in jail they have to! The prison is a sanitarium for drunkards. +They don't drink while on a visit there. Then why not stop it while one +has a free foot? I thought of all these things while I was locked up, +and I decided that when I was free I would hunt up my wife and baby and +be a man. + +Prison at best isn't a pleasant place, but you can get the best in it if +you behave. There's no coaxing you to be good. They won't say, "If you +don't behave I'll send you home." It isn't like school. You have to +behave or it's worse for you, for they certainly put you through some +pretty tough things. Many's the time I got on my knees and told God all +about it. If a man is crossing the street, sees a car coming, and is +sure it will hit him, the first thing he says is, "Oh, God, save me!" +The car misses him by a foot, and he forgets how much he owes. He simply +says, "Thank you, God; when I'm in danger I'll call on You again." It +was so with me. Out in the world again, I forgot all about all the +promises I made in prison. + +[Illustration: A BOWERY LODGING-HOUSE.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +"SAVED BY GRACE" + + +Twelve years later, after a life spent on the road and in prison, I +found myself on the Bowery, in the fall of 1892, without a friend, "down +and out." After spending my last dollar in ----'s saloon, I was sitting +down in the back room of that place, wondering if I dared ask ---- for a +drink, when in he walked. He looked at me, and said, "Now, Danny, I +think you had better get a move on! Get out and hustle. You are broke, +and you know I am not running this place for fun." + +I took it kind of hard, but looked at him and said, "All right." I got +up from the chair where I'd been sitting and walked out, not caring what +I did, but bound to get some money. Now, ---- was a good fellow in his +way; they all are if you have the price; but saloon-keepers are not +running their places for the benefit of others, and when a man's money's +gone they don't want him around. I had spent all I had, about twenty +dollars, and now I was turned out, and it served me right. + +Now there's something in rum that fascinates, something we can't +understand. I wanted whiskey, and was ready to do anything to get it. +The appetite in me was fierce. No one knows the terrible pangs, the +great longing, but one who has been up against it. And nothing can +satisfy the awful craving but whiskey. + + +THE TURNING-POINT + +Many's the time I've stood on the Bowery and cursed God and the day I +was born, and wished that I was dead. But here I was! Nobody cared for +me, and why should they, for I did not care for myself. I did not even +think God cared much or He would have done something. I imagined the +Devil thought he had me for keeps, and so he did not exert himself very +much either. I was out of the saloon, on the street, and little as I +imagined such a thing would ever happen, I never entered ----'s saloon +again. All unknown to me the turning-point in my life had come. + +Sizing up the situation, I knew I must have a drink, but how was I to +get it? Up to this time I'd done everything on the calendar except +murder, and I don't know how I missed that. I've seen men killed, have +been in a few shoot-ups myself, and bear some scars, but I know at this +writing that God and a mother's prayers saved me from this awful crime. + +Among the many accomplishments suited to the life I was leading was that +of a "strong-arm man," and I determined to put it into use now, for I +was desperate. + +The rule in this dastardly work is always to select a man smaller and +weaker than one's self. As I looked about I saw a man coming up the +Bowery who seemed to answer to the requirements, and I said to myself, +"This is my man!" I walked up to him and touched him on the shoulder, +but as he straightened up I saw that he was as big as myself, and I +hesitated. I would have taken the chances even then, but he started back +and asked what I wanted. I said I was hungry, thinking that he would put +his hand in his pocket, and then, having only one hand, I could put the +"strangle hold" on him. But he was equal to the situation. He told me +afterward that I looked dangerous. + +I asked him if he was ever hungry. He said, "Many's the time." I told +him I was starving. "Come with me," said he, and we went over to Chatham +Square, to a place called "Beefsteak John's." + +We went in and sat down, and he said, "Now order what you want." On the +Bowery in those days you could get a pretty good meal for fifteen +cents--all you wanted to eat. The waiter was there to take my order. I +knew him and winked to him to go away, and he went. He thought I was +going to work the young fellow for his money. + +The young fellow said, "Why don't you call for something? I thought you +were starving." + +Now here I was up against it. I'd panned this man for something to eat, +and he was willing to pay for anything I wanted, and for the life of me +I could not swallow any food. When a man is drinking he doesn't care to +eat at a table. Give him a square meal, and he doesn't enjoy it. I know +men to-day who spend every dollar they earn for drink, and eat nothing +but free lunches, handed out with their drinks. That was what was the +matter with me. All I wanted was drink. The young man had called my +bluff, and I had nothing to show but lies. I sat there wondering how I +was going to get out of this hole. I was looking at the man and he at +me, when the little good that was in me cropped out, and looking him +square in the eye I said, "Young fellow, I've lied to you. I could not +eat the first mouthful." I told him I'd gone up to him thinking he would +dig down in his pocket and give me a little change. I did not mention +the fact that I intended to "put him up in the air" and rob him. Then I +sat back in my chair and waited for the "come-back." Finally he said, +"Have some coffee and sinkers"--rolls. But I could not go even that! + +We got to talking, and he asked me where I was living. I smiled at the +idea of my living! I wasn't even existing! I told him I lived any place +where I hung up my hat: that I didn't put up at the Astor House very +often; sometimes at the Delevan, or the Windsor, or in fact, any of the +hotels on the Bowery were good enough for me--that is, if I had the +price, fifteen cents. You can get a bed in a lodging-house for ten +cents, or if you have only seven cents you can get a "flop." You can +sit in some joint all night if you have a nickel, but if you haven't you +can do the next best thing in line, and that is "carry the banner." +Think of walking the streets all night and being obliged to keep moving! + +The man took a fifty-cent piece out of his pocket, held it in his hand, +and asked me if I would meet him at the Broome Street Tabernacle the +next morning at ten-thirty. Now I wanted that half-dollar, I wanted it +badly! It meant ten drinks to me at five per. I would have promised to +meet the Devil in hell for drink, and fearing the young man might put +the money in his pocket again, I said I'd be there. He gave me the +half-dollar, we shook hands, and I never expected to see that man again. + +I didn't go back to ----'s, but to ---- Bowery--another place that has +put more men on the down-grade than any place I know. It's out of +business now, and as I pass there every day I pray that all the saloons +may go. I drank the half-dollar up in quick time, for with the Bowery +element it's divy even with drinks. + + +BROOME STREET TABERNACLE + +Morning came, and I wondered what I should do for the day. How I loved +to stand and smell the liquor, even when not drinking! But now I hate +it! Oh, what a change when Christ comes into a man's heart! I had stood +there all night in that saloon and didn't feel a bit tired. I went out +to "do" some one else, when I thought of the fellow of last night. I +thought I had sized him up and that he was easy, so I started for the +meeting-place, the Tabernacle. I went there to see if I could work him +for a dollar, or perhaps two. + +I got to the church and looked for a side door and found a bell which I +rang. I did not have to wait long before the young fellow himself opened +the door. Out went his hand, and he gave me such a shake that one would +have thought he had known me all my life. There's a lot in a handshake! +"I'm glad to see you!" he said. "I knew you would keep your promise. I +knew you would come." + +That took me back a little. Here was a man I had never seen till the +night before taking me at my word. I wondered who he was. We went into +the church. He was talking to make me feel at home. Finally he looked me +over from head to feet and said, "Are those the best clothes you have?" +I said, "These are the best and only clothes I have." I had my trunk on +my back, and the whole kit, shoes and all, wasn't worth fifty cents. The +way of the drunkard is hard. I had helped put diamonds on the +saloon-keeper and rags on myself, but if there are any diamonds now I'll +put them on my own little wife and not the saloon-keeper's. The young +man said, "I've a nice suit that will fit you. Will you let me give it +to you?" + +Here was a situation that puzzled me. I was an old offender, had "been +up" many times and was well known to the police. My record was bad, and +whenever there was a robbery or hold-up the police would round up all +the ex-convicts and line us up at headquarters for identification. Give +a dog a bad name and it sticks. I was suspicious; a man that has "done +time" always is; and when the young man said he had clothes for me, I +put him down as one of the "stool pigeons" working in with the police. +Since I'd graduated to the Bowery doing crooked work I imagined every +one was against me. It was a case of "doing" others or they would "do" +me. And I wondered why this man took such an interest in me. The more I +thought the more puzzled I got. + +I looked about me. I was in a church; why should he do me any harm? Then +I thought that if I put on the clothes he might slip an Ingersoll watch +into the pocket, let me get on the street, and then shout "Stop, +thief!" I'd be arrested and then it would be away up the river for a +good long bit. However, I'm a pretty good judge of human nature, and I +thought I'd take a chance. It was a fine suit; and I could just see +myself putting it in pawn, so I said I'd take it. But "there's many a +slip 'twixt the cup and lip," and there was a strange slip in my case. + +The young fellow said, "Don't you think you had better have a bath?" +Well, I did need a bath for fair. A man sleeping in one bed one night +and a different one the next, walking the streets and sitting around on +park benches, gets things on him, and they are grandparents in a couple +of nights. Of course I needed a bath! I was a walking menagerie! He gave +me some money, and I went out and had a bath and came back with the +change. He showed me where I could change my clothes, and there was a +whole outfit laid out for me, underwear and all. + +I thought the man was crazy. I could not understand. At last I got into +the clothes, and I felt fine. I got a look at myself in the glass, and I +looked like a full-fledged Bowery politician. I said as I looked, "Is +this me or some other fellow?" I weighed one hundred and ninety pounds +and was five feet ten inches tall. + +I went into the young man's study and sat down. I did not know what was +coming next, perhaps money. I was ready for anything, for I took him for +a millionaire's son. + +Up to this time he had said nothing to me about God. Finally he opened +up and asked my name. I told him Dave Ranney, but I had a few others to +use in a pinch. And I told him the truth; kindness had won. + +He said, "Dave, why are you leading such a life? Don't you know you were +cut out for a far better one?" I was no fool; I knew all about that. I +had learned it in Sunday-school, and how often mother had told me the +same thing. I knew I was put into the world to get the best, and glorify +God; and I was getting the worst, and it was all my own fault. Here I +was. I felt that no one wanted anything to do with me, no one would +trust me, because I was a jail-bird. But I have found out since there +are people that are willing to help a man if they see he is on the +level. + +"Why," I said, "a man that has no backing has no show in 'little old New +York.' You even have to have a pull to get a job shoveling snow, and +then you have to buy your own shovel! What does any one care? The +politicians have all they want and are only looking for more graft. They +need you just twice a year to register and vote. I know I'm crooked, and +it's my own fault, I admit, but who's going to give me a chance? Oh, for +a chance!" + +The young fellow listened, then said, "Dave, there's One that will +help." + +I did not catch on to his meaning, but said I was glad and thanked him +for what he had done. I thought he meant himself. "Not I," he said; "I +mean God. Why don't you give Him a chance? Talk about men giving you a +chance--why, God is waiting for a chance to help you!" + +Just then my old friend the Devil came in; he always does when he thinks +he is going to lose a convert; and he said in his own fine way, "Oh, +what rot! Why didn't God help you before this? Don't bother about it; +you have a nice suit; get out of this place and sell the duds and have a +good time. I'll help you. I'll be your friend." He's sly, but I put him +behind me that time. + +It was easy enough for this man to talk about God giving me a chance, +but he didn't know me--a hard, wicked sinner, who if half the crimes I +had committed were known I'd be put in prison for life. Would God help +such a one? I knew I was clean and had a good suit of clothes on, but, +oh! how I wished God would give me another chance! But I felt as if He +had no use for me. + +The man put his hand on my shoulder and said, "I want to be your friend; +will you let me?" I said I'd be proud of such a friend. "Now, Dave," he +said, "there's One better than I who will stick to you closer than a +brother; will you let Him be your friend?" I said I would, though I +doubted if He wanted any part of me, but I was going to make a try; and +the young man and myself knelt down in the Tabernacle, corner of Broome +Street and Centre Market Place, on the 16th of September, 1892, and I +asked God to have mercy on me, cut the drink out of my life, and make a +man of me, if such a thing could be done, for Christ's sake. I kept +praying that over and over again, the man still kneeling with me, when +all of a sudden I heard a voice say, "I will, Dave; only trust Me and +have faith." I heard those words just as sure as I am living, and +writing this book. None but a Christian can understand this voice; +others would say we are crazy who say such things; but it's true: only +have faith, and all things are yours. I've proved it! + + +A NEW MAN IN CHRIST JESUS + +I rose from my knees a changed man. I can't explain it, but I felt as I +hadn't felt in years--lighter, happier, with a peace that was great in +my heart. I thought of mother and only wished she could see me then, but +she did all right. + +"What will your friends say?" there was the old Devil saying. "Get out +of this place, and don't be a fool; be a man." + +I stood there listening to the tempter, when the young fellow said, +"Dave, what are you going to do now that you have taken Jesus?" + +I said, "I've knelt here and asked God for Christ's sake to make me a +sober man, and I fully believe that He will. Drink has brought me down, +and I'll die before I'll take another drink." And at this writing I'm +over seventeen years off the stuff. + +I asked the young fellow what his name was, and found that he was +Alexander Irvine, lodging-house missionary to the Bowery under the New +York City Mission of which Dr. Schauffler is the head. We shook hands, +and before we parted we made a compact that we would be pals. + +Isn't it wonderful what God can do? I don't believe there's a man or +woman, no matter how wicked, no matter what sin they've done, but God +can and will save, the only conditions being: Come, believe, and trust. +"For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that +whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting +life."--John 3:16. But you have to have some sand of your own. + +[Illustration: READING-ROOM IN A LODGING-HOUSE.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +ON THE UP GRADE + + +Mr. Irvine paid for my lodging and meals for a week at 105 Bowery. I +thought he was great; I'd never run up against anything like him. He +said, "We must get you a job of some kind, and that quick. Will you +work?" Well, what do you think of that! Would I work? It struck me as +funny. Work and I had fallen out long ago. I could lie down beside work +and watch the other fellow do it. I had reached the point where, like a +good many others, I felt the world owed me a living, and I was bound to +get it. I had toiled hard and faithfully for the Devil, and taken a +great many chances, and I never thought of that as work. And I got the +wages the Devil always pays--cuts, shot, prison: I was paid good and +plenty. Here I was up against another proposition--work--and I hated +it! + +Irvine said, "You must have something to occupy your mind and time, for +you know the Devil finds mischief for idlers." I said I'd tackle +anything; I'd work all right. A few days later he told me he had a job +for me. "Good," I said. I wondered what kind of work it was. I knew it +was not a position of great trust, not a cashier in a bank; that would +have to come later on. Well, the job was tending a furnace--get up steam +at 5 A. M., do the chores, and make myself generally useful; wages +$12.00 per month and my breakfast! + +I did not like this for a starter, and I told Mr. Irvine so, and he had +to do some tall talking. He finally got angry and said, "Ranney, you +started out to let God help you. Well, you know God helps the man that +helps himself." That was so. I had asked God to help me, and here I was +at the start refusing to give Him a chance. That clinched it, and I +took the first honest job I had had in a good many years. I thank God I +did take it, for it was a stepping-stone. + + +FISHING FOR A DINNER + +I started in working and was getting on fine, but I always felt I wasn't +getting money enough. I tried in my leisure time for another job, but in +all the places I was asked the same question: "Where did you work last?" +I could not tell them, "In prison and on the road," and that queered me. +So I stuck to the furnace, was always on time, and was pretty well liked +by the people. I had been there about two weeks, and seen the cook every +day and smelled the steak, etc., about noontime and at supper, but the +cook never asked me if I had a mouth on me. She was a good-natured +outspoken Irish woman with a good big heart, and I thought about this +time that I'd jolly her a little and get my dinner. One day I came up +from the cellar carrying a hod of coal in each hand, and going into the +kitchen I tried in every way to attract her attention, but she was busy +broiling a steak and never looked around. Finally I got tired and said, +"Cook, where will I put this coal?" Well, well, I'll never forget that +moment in years! She turned and looked at me and began, "I want you to +understand my name is Mrs. Cunningham. I'm none of your cooks, and if +you dare call me cook again while you're in this house I'll have you +sacked--discharged!" I thought I had been hit with a steam car. I did +not answer her back, and she kept right on: "I'm a lady, and I'll be +treated as such or I'll know why!" I never saw a person so mad in all my +life, and I couldn't understand why. There she was cooking, and yet she +was no cook! I thought to myself, "I guess she doesn't like her job." I +didn't blame her, because I didn't like mine either. + +My heart went down into my boots. Here I had made a play for a dinner +and got left. About a week after this I was doing a little job in the +laundry when I ran across the cook, and she said, "Young man, would you +like a little bite to eat?" I answered quickly, "Yes, thank you, Mrs. +Cunningham," just as sweet as anything. No more "cook" for mine. I'll +never call people by their occupation again as long as I live. I'd had +my lesson; but I had won out on my dinner too. A short time after she +asked me if I could read, and would I read the news to her while she was +peeling potatoes. I answered very sweetly, "Yes, Mrs. Cunningham," and I +got my supper. + +I would see Irvine once in a while, and I was always ready to give up my +job, but he would say, "Stay six months, get a recommend, and then you +can get something better. Just let God take care of you, and you'll come +out away on top of the heap. God is going to use you in His work. Just +keep on trusting and don't get discouraged." He always had a word of +cheer, and I thank God that I did trust, and things came out better than +I even thought. + +You readers who are just starting out in the Christian life, just let +God have His way. Don't think you know it all. Go right ahead, have a +little sand, and trust Him. He will never leave you, and you will have +the best in this life and in the life to come. It's an everlasting joy, +and isn't it worth working for, boys? + + +PRAYERS IN A LODGING-HOUSE + +I remember, when I knelt down in 105 Bowery beside my cot to ask God's +blessing and guidance, how a laugh used to go around the dormitory. +There were about seventy beds in the place, and it was something unusual +to see a man on his knees praying. But when I started out to be a man I +meant business, and I said I would say my prayers every night. I don't +think God can think much of a man who says his prayers lying on his +back, unless he's sick. I believe God expects us to get on our knees, +for if a thing is worth getting it's worth thanks. I didn't mind the +laugh so much, but I did some: it was sort of cutting. I'm no coward +physically, and can handle myself fairly well at the present time, but +when it came to getting on my knees I was a rank coward. + +A lodging-house is a queer affair. Men of all nations sleep there--some +drunk, some dreaming aloud, others snoring. The cots are about two feet +apart--just room for you to pass between them. It takes a lot of grit +and plenty of God's grace to live a Christian life in a lodging-house. I +go in them every day now to look after the other fellow: if he is sick +or wants to go to the hospital I'll see to that; but I never can forget +the time when I was one of those, inmates. + +One night I had just got on my knees when boots, shoes, and pillows +came sailing at me; one boot hit me, and it did hurt for fair. Then a +whiskey flask hit me, and that hurt. I was boiling with rage. I got up, +but I didn't say anything; no one would have answered me if I had; they +were all asleep, by the way. We call such business hazing, but it's mean +and dirty. + +I went to work as usual the next day, and thought and planned all day +how to catch one of those fellows. I figured out the following plan: I +did not go to bed that night until quite late; the gas was turned down +low, and I made noise enough for them to hear me. When I was ready for +bed I knelt down and turned my head as quick as a flash to catch the +throwers, for I knew they would throw again. Just as I turned I caught +the fellow in the act of throwing a bottle. It seemed as though the +Devil had got me for fair again, for I made a rush for that fellow, got +him by the throat, pulled him out of bed and jumped on him, and I think +if it hadn't been for the watchman I would have killed him; but he said, +"Dan, for God's sake don't kill him!" I let up, and, standing upon that +dormitory floor, beds all around, every one awake, about 11 P. M., I +gave my first testimony, which was something like this: "Men, I've quit +drinking--been off the stuff about two weeks, a thing I have not done in +years unless locked up. I've knelt and asked God to keep me sober and +have thanked Him for His kindness to me. Now if you men don't let me +alone in the future I'll lick you or you will me." + +I went to my cot and knelt down, but I was so stirred up I couldn't +pray. I wondered if there was going to be any more throwing, but that +night finished it. I went up in the opinion of those men one hundred per +cent. I lived there until the place burned down, and was one of the +fortunate ones that got out alive when so many lost their lives, and I +always said my prayers and was respected by the men. I was making lots +of friends and attending Sunday-school, prayer-meeting, and mission +services. + + +THE STORY OF AN OVERCOAT + +One Thanksgiving-time I was hired to carry dinners to the poor families +by the New York City Mission. Mrs. Lucy Bainbridge was the +superintendent. God bless her, for she was and is one good woman! I +didn't have any overcoat and it was cold; but I didn't mind, as I was +moving about carrying the dinners. This was about two months after I had +decided to follow Christ, and I still had the furnace job when I met +Mrs. Bainbridge. + +She knew me by sight and asked me how I was getting on, and where was my +overcoat? I told her I was getting along all right, but I had no +overcoat. She said, "That's too bad! Come with me and we will see if +there's one in the Dorcas Room"--a place where clothes are kept that +good people send in for the poor who haven't so much. There were quite a +few coats there, any one of which would have suited me, but they didn't +please Mrs. Bainbridge. She said, "David, come into the office." She +gave me a letter to Rogers, Peet & Co., and told me to take it down +there and wait for an answer. + +I went down and gave the letter to a clerk, and it was great to see him +eye me up. I didn't know then how the letter read, but have since +learned that the contents were as follows: "Give this man about the best +overcoat you have in the store." No wonder he looked me over! + +We began trying on coats, found one that suited us, and he said, "You +might as well wear it home." "Not on your natural!" I said. "Put it in +paper or a box." I didn't think that coat was for me, for it was fifty +dollars if a cent. Picture me with twelve dollars per month and three +meals, and a fifty-dollar overcoat! + +I went back to Mrs. Bainbridge, and she told me to try the coat on, +which I did. Then she said, "David, that coat is for you, but listen, +David; that coat is mine. Now I wouldn't go into a saloon, and I want +you to promise me that you will never enter a saloon while you wear it." +I promised, and that coat never went into a saloon, and I wore it for +five years. Then I sent it to old Ireland, to my wife's father, and +perhaps he is still wearing it. I often see Mrs. Bainbridge, and she is +always the same kind friend, God bless her! I have entry to the Dorcas +Room when I need anything to help a man that I'm trying to put on his +feet, and that's often. + + +DELIVERING TELEPHONE BOOKS + +It was coming spring and I was no longer needed at the furnace. I left +with a recommendation for six months and a standing invitation from the +cook for my meals, and she never went back on me. I don't know where she +is now, but if she reads this book I want her to know that I appreciated +all she did for me when I started this new life and I am sure she will +be delighted to know that she helped a little. + +I got another job delivering telephone books. When you see a poor +seedy-looking man delivering these books, give him a kind word, for +there's many a good man at that job to-day hoping for something better. +This job was a hard one and you had to hustle to make a dollar a day, +but I did not mind the hustling: I was strong, the drink had gone out of +me, and I felt good. I was anxious to get a job as porter in some +wholesale house, and delivering these books gave me a good chance to +ask, and ask I did in nearly every store where I delivered a book. I +always got the same reply, "No one wanted." I stayed at this about +three months, and was getting discouraged. It looked as though I'd never +get a steady position. + +I had only a few more days of work, and was just finishing my deliveries +one afternoon. I had Twenty-second Street and North River as my last +delivery, which took me into the lumber district and into the office of +John McC----. I asked the young man in charge of the office if they +wanted a young fellow to work. He asked me what I could do, and I said, +"Anything." Now it's an old saying, "A man that can do everything can't +do much of anything." + +We went down into the yard and he asked me the different qualities of +lumber and their names. I'll never forget the first question he asked +me, which was, "What's the name of that piece of timber?" I said, "Oak," +and I was right. After testing me on the other piles he asked me if I +could measure, and could I tally? I told him I could, and he said, +"I'll give you $9.00. Is that enough?" I said that would do for a +starter, and he told me to be on hand at seven o'clock in the morning. + +I delivered the few books I had left, drew my money, got a shave, bought +a leather apron, and went to bed. I was up and at John McC----'s yard at +6:30. + +He was Police Commissioner then, and one of the whitest men I ever ran +up against. + +I started in at my third job since I had been converted. I was at home +in the lumber yard, as I had learned the business While roughing it in +Tonawanda, Troy, Syracuse, Buffalo, and on the Lakes. And when a man +learns anything, if he isn't a fool he can always work at it again. Here +I was at a business few could tell me much about. + + +TESTIFYING IN A LUMBER YARD + +The lumber-handlers as a rule are a free and easy set, nearly all +drinking men. It's warm work, and when a man is piling all day, pulling +up plank after plank, he thinks a pint of beer does him good. They rush +the can--first the piler, then the stager, and then the ground man, then +the piler again, and so on. I've counted as many as twenty pints in one +day among one gang. I soon got the run of the yard and made friends with +all the men; but if ever I was up against temptation it was there in +that yard, where I worked a long time. They would ask me to have a +drink, but I told them time and time again that I did not care about it; +I was off the stuff. + +Often when I was sweating after pushing down a load of lumber from the +pile and keeping tally at the same time, the Devil would whisper to me, +"Oh, have a glass of beer; it won't hurt you; it will do you good," and +I was tempted to join with the men and drink. I had to keep praying hard +and fast, for I was sorely tempted. But, thank God, I've yet to take my +first drink since 1892! + +God was always near me, and He often said, "Tell the men all about it, +how you have asked Me to help you, and they won't ask you to drink any +more." I wondered what the men would say if I told them. I was a little +timid about doing it. I had testified once or twice in a meeting, but +that was easy compared with this. But after a while I got up courage and +told the men why I did not drink. I said, "I have been a hard man and +loved drink so much that it separated me from family and friends, put me +in prison, and took my manhood away. One year ago I took Jesus as my +helper and asked Him to take away this love for drink, and He did. I +would rather lose my right arm than go back again, and with God's help +I'll win out and never drink again." I often talked with them about it, +told them it was a good way to live, and to think it over. I found out +in a little while that the men thought better of me, and respected me +more than before. I have heard some of them say, "I wish I could give up +the drink," and some did, and are living good lives without the cursed +stuff. + +I've met some of these men on the Bowery, "down and out," and I've stood +by them and tried to point them in the right direction. There's one man, +a fine noble fellow, who used to work with me in my lumber days, who is +on the Bowery at the present time, unable to give up the drink. He is +always glad to see me and says, "God bless you, Dan, and keep you away +from the stuff. I wish I could!" I tell him to ask God and have faith, +and then I slip him a meal ticket and give him a God bless you! + +[Illustration: MR. RANNEY AND ONE OF HIS "BOYS." DAVE RANNEY, ALIAS +DANNY REILLY.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +PROMOTED + + +I had never lost sight of my friend Irvine. We used to see each other +often and have a good chat about things in general. He said he was going +to take charge of the Sea and Land Church and wanted me to come and be +the sexton. It would give me $30.00 per month, rooms, coal and gas. He +thought it would be a good thing for me to become reunited to my wife +Mary, and I thought so too, but she had to give her consent. We had been +separated for a number of years, and though I had been calling on her +for over a year she never took any stock in my conversion. Here I was +fifteen months a redeemed man, trying to get my wife to live with me +again. I prayed often, but I never thought she would consent. + + +CHURCH OF SEA AND LAND + +I was married young, and she was only a girl, and though she loved me +she could not forget the misery and hardships she went through. I never +hit her in my life, but I wouldn't support her: I'd rather support the +rumseller and his family, all for that cursed drink. And I didn't blame +her for being afraid to chance it again. "A burnt child dreads the +fire." I had made her life very hard, and she was afraid. She was glad +to know that I had given up drink, but doubted my remaining sober. +Finally she agreed to live with me again if I remained sober for three +years. I was put on probation--the Methodist way. Now I had been on the +level for fifteen months, and I had twenty-one months more to go. She +was strong-minded and would stick to her word, so I did not see how I +could take the job as sexton. + +I told Mr. Irvine that was the way things stood and for him to get +some one else. He said, "Pretty slim chances, but we will pray about +it." He and I went up to Sixty-seventh Street, where Mrs. Ranney was +working as laundress, and after a little talk we came to the point. I +was a go-ahead man, and tried every way to get her to promise to come +down, but she wouldn't say yes. I'll never forget that night in the +laundry if I live a hundred years; she took no stock in me at all. I was +giving it up as a bad job; she wouldn't come, and that settled it. We +got up to go when Mr. Irvine asked if she would object to a word of +prayer. She said, "No," and we had a little prayer-meeting right there. +We bade Mrs. Ranney good-night and left. + +The next night she came down and we showed her all over the church. The +sexton who had been living there hadn't kept the living apartments +clean, and she did not like them very much, but when she went away she +said, "If I only could be sure you would keep sober I would go with +you, but I can't depend on you. Fifteen months isn't long enough; you +will have to go three years. I don't think I'll come." I said, "That +settles it! But listen: whether you come or not, I am not going back to +the old life." The next day I received a telegram from Mary saying, + + "COME UP FOR MY THINGS." + +I jumped on a single truck, drove up to Sixty-seventh Street, and got +all my wife's things, trunks, band-boxes and everything, and it did not +take me long to get down to the church. Mary was already there, and I +took charge of the Church of the Sea and Land at Market and Henry +Streets, where I remained as sexton for ten years. I would not take +$10,000 for the character I received from the trustees when I resigned. +I always look back with pleasure to those good old days at the church, +the many friends we made, and the many blessings I received while +there. + +It did not take us long to get the run of the place. We sent for our +boy, who was in Ireland with his mother's folks. When he came I didn't +know him, as I hadn't seen him since he was a little baby. What a +surprise it was when at my sister's house, after supper, she went into +the front room, leaving me alone in the kitchen, when a manly little +fellow came in and looked me over and said, "Hello, father, I'm your son +Willie. How are you?" + +I looked at him, but couldn't say a word, for I had almost forgotten +that I had a son. I opened my arms and the boy came with a rush, threw +his arms around my neck, and said, "I love you, dad." + +I want to say here that this boy has never given me any trouble and we +have been companions ever since that night. He married a good Christian +girl and is in his own home to-day. + +I heard a little laugh, and there were my sister and Mary taking it all +in. I could see then that it was a put-up job, this getting me to go up +to my sister's house. + +Time passed and we were doing finely. One day we heard the boy playing +the piano, and we got him a teacher. In a short time he was able to play +for the smaller classes, the juniors. Then my friend Mrs. Bainbridge got +him a better teacher. He improved rapidly, and now he is organist in the +Fifty-seventh Street Presbyterian Church. + +I tell you it pays to be a Christian and on the level. If I hadn't done +anything else but give that boy a musical education, it would have paid. +I'm proud of him. + + +MY FIRST SERMON + +I remember the first meeting I ever led. It came about like this: I had +been sexton of Sea and Land Church about four years, was growing in +grace and getting on finely. One Wednesday night the minister asked me +if I would lead the prayer-meeting the following week, as he was going +away. I told him I did not know how to lead a meeting and I was afraid +to undertake it, as I couldn't preach a sermon. "Oh, that's all right," +he said. "I'll write out something, and all you will have to do is to +study it a little, read it over once or twice, then get up and read it +off." I told him I'd try. I'd do the best I could. So he wrote about ten +sheets of foolscap paper, all about sinners. I remember there was a +story about a man going over the falls in a boat, and lots of other +interesting things as I thought. I took the paper home and studied as +hard as I could to get it into my head. + +The night came on which I was to take the meeting--that eventful night +in my life. I got on the platform, took the papers out of my pocket, +and opened the big Bible at the chapter I was going to read, and laid +out the talk just as I thought a minister might do. I read the chapter, +then we had a song, then it was up to me. + +Do you know I made the greatest mistake of my life that night! I went on +that platform trusting in my own strength and not asking God's help. I +got a swelled head and imagined I was the real thing. But God in His own +way showed me where I was standing and brought me up with a short turn. + +I began reading the article written, and was getting on well, as I +thought, taking all the credit myself and not giving God any. I read +three pages all right, when some one opened the window. It was a March +night, very windy, and when the window was opened something happened, +and I thank God that it did. + +The wind came directly toward me and took the sermon I was preaching and +scattered it all over the room. I didn't know what to say or do. I +forgot everything that was written on the papers, and I knew if I tried +to get them back I would make a fool of myself. + +There was a smile on every face in the congregation. There I stood, +wishing the floor would open and let me through. I certainly was in a +box! + +Just at this moment God spoke to me and said, "David, I did that, and I +did it for your own good. Now listen to me. You were not cut out for a +minister. Just get up and tell these people how God for Christ's sake +saved you, and I'll be with you." + +I listened to the voice, bowed my head in prayer, and it seemed as +though the Lord put the words in my mouth. I told that roomful of people +of my past life and how God saved and had blessed me for four years. We +had a grand meeting and a number were saved that night, and, above all, +I received one of the greatest blessings of my life. + +On his return the minister said, "I hear you had a great meeting. How +did the reading go!" I told him what had happened, and he was +astonished, but saw God's hand in it, and said so. + +From that night on I never wrote up anything to read to my audience, and +I have spoken all over within a circle of fifty miles of New York, and +even farther away, including Boston, Philadelphia, Albany, and Troy. I +tell the Bowery boys I'm what is called an extemporaneous talker. I +don't know the first word I'm going to say when I get on my feet, but +God never leaves me: I just open my mouth and He fills it. Praise His +name! + +It was a lesson to me and I have never forgotten it. + + +THE TESTIMONY OF A GAMBLER + +While I was sexton of the old Sea and Land Church I met among other men +one who came to be a great friend. We called ourselves pals and loved +each other dearly, and yet I have never been able to bring him to +Christ. When I told him I was writing the story of my life he said he +wanted to add a few lines to tell, he said, what I could not. This is +what he wrote: + +"'Lead, Kindly Light,' was the song; I'll never forget it. I heard it on +the Bowery fifteen years ago. I was passing a Mission, and hearing it I +went in--I don't know why to this day. After the singing some one +prayed, and I started to go out when the leader of the meeting called +for testimonies for Christ. I waited and listened, and I heard a voice +that made me sit down again. I shall never forget the man that was +speaking. What he said sounded like the truth. It was the greatest +sermon I ever listened to. He was telling how much God had done for him, +saved him from drink and made a Christian man of him. I knew it was the +truth. I went home that night to wife and children, and told my wife +where I had been. She laughed and said, 'Dan, you are getting daffy.' +From that night on I have been a better husband and father. + +"I left home one night about six o'clock and went down Cherry Street to +a saloon where the gang hang out. I had been telling the boys about the +things I had heard at the Mission. A young man said, 'Sullivan, there +was a young preacher down at my house and asked me to come to a young +people's meeting at the Sea and Land Church. I promised I would go, but +I haven't got the courage.' In a moment I got churchy. I had never been +in a church in New York. I said, 'Come on,' and we went to that meeting. +I am glad I did. That night I met my friend Ranney. As I was passing out +of the meeting he greeted me--he was the sexton--with a handshake and a +'Good-night, old pal; come again!' There is something in a handshake, +and as we shook I felt I had made another friend. I'll never forget that +night. We became fast friends. There is no one that knows Ranney better +than Sullivan. I have watched him in his climb to the top step by step +to be in the grand position he fills, that of Lodging House Missionary +to the Bowery under the New York City Mission and Tract Society. + +"One day we were going up the Bowery and passing a Mission went in. We +heard the testimonies, and I turned to Ranney and said, 'Are you a +Christian?' He said, 'I am.' I said, 'Get up, then, and tell the men +what God has done for you.' Now here I was a gambler telling this man to +acknowledge God, and I did not do it myself! Ranney rose and turned all +colors. He finally settled down to that style of talking which he alone +possesses. He told his story for the first time. I have heard him +hundreds of times since, but to me that night fifteen years ago was the +greatest talk he ever gave, telling how God saved him from a crooked and +drunken life. It had the ring! I loved him from that night on. When he +got through I said, 'Dave, God met you face to face to-night. You will +be a different man from now on. God spoke to-night, not you. It was the +best talk I ever heard. It took you a long time to start, but nothing +can stop you now. One word of advice, pal, I'll give you: Don't get +stuck on yourself. God will use you when He won't others among your own +kind. He will make a preacher of you to men of your own stamp.' And +Ranney is to-day what I said and thought he would be. + +"You would think that a man who had been the pal of Ranney for three +years would never say an unkind word to one that he loved, but that is +what I did. We had a misunderstanding, and I said things to Dave Ranney +that he never will forget. I called him every name on the calendar. He +was speechless and I thought afraid of me. He never said a word. I left +him standing there as if petrified--his friend and pal talking to him +like that, his pal that sang with him, and joked with him! + +"I went home and swore that never again would I have anything to do +with a Christian. I had forgotten for the moment all the little +kindnesses he had done and how after I had been on a drunk he had been +at my bedside, how he had spoken words of cheer and comfort and said, +'Dan, old man, cheer up. Some day you are going to cut out drink'; and I +want to say right now that I have not drank in over twelve years. I'd +forgotten all that. I only thought of how I might hang the best fellow +on this earth. I came to myself ten minutes after I left him, but the +work had been done, and I made up my mind I'd never see or speak to him +again. I'd go back to my old life of gambling and cheating, and I did. + +"Five months passed. I had not seen Ranney in all that time. I was +playing poker one night, the 16th of September, 1899, with no more +thought of Dave than if he had never lived. It was in the old ---- ---- +Hotel on Water Street, a little before eight in the evening. My partner +and I were having a pretty easy time stealing the other men's +money--some call it cheating--when my thoughts turned to my old +Christian pal Ranney. It was the eighth anniversary of his conversion. +Quick as a flash I jumped to my feet and said, 'Boys, I'll be back in an +hour. I've got to go!' My partner thought I had been caught cheating and +was going to cash his chips. I said, 'I'll be back in a little while.' + +"I ran all the way up to the Bowery to the place where Ranney was +holding his meeting. The Mission was packed. There were a lot of +big-guns on the platform. No one saw me that knew me. Ranney was asking +for those testimonies that would help the other fellow. I got on my feet +and faced him. He turned pale. He thought I was going to set him out +then and there. He looked me straight in the eye and began to come +slowly toward me, and when I had finished we had one another by the +hand. This is part of what I said that night: + +"'I make no pretense at being a Christian. I am a gambler. But the man +standing there--Dave Ranney--was once my chum and pal. We had a little +misunderstanding some five months ago, and I am here to-night to ask his +forgiveness. Forgive me, Dave. I just left a card-game to come up to +your anniversary and help make you happy. I know you don't believe I +meant what I said. I love you more to-night than any time since I first +met you. Why, men, I would lay down my life that Ranney is one of the +best and whitest Christians in New York to-night. It ain't the big +things that a man does that show his real character. No, it's the little +things. I have watched Ranney, been with him; his sorrows are my +sorrows, his joys my joys. I can't say any more to-night.' + +"Dave begged me to stay. Mr. Seymour came down to speak to me, but I'd +done what I came to do, and I had got out quick--from Heaven to Hell, +from my Christian pal to my pal in crime at the card-table. + +"I've never been converted. If I was I'd go like my pal Ranney out in +the world and tell how God saved me, and not let the ministers do all +the talking. At present all I can say is, 'God bless my pal! and some of +these days perhaps I'll be with him on the platform telling what God did +for me. God speed the day!'" + + +TRIED IN THE FIRE + +I had been sexton for over five years, and had been greatly blessed, +when my wife became ill. Things did not always run smoothly, for there +are ups and downs even in a sexton's life, and I had mine. When Mary and +I took up again I determined to do all in my power to make amends for my +former treatment of her, to make life as pleasant for her as I could, +and I did. When she was first taken sick I sent her and the boy over to +Ireland to visit her parents, thinking the change would do her good. She +was better for a little while, but on the 14th of March, 1902, she died. +My boy and I were at her bedside and promised to meet her on the other +side, and with the help of God we are going to keep our word. + +You know there are always "knockers," and I knew quite a few. In every +church and society there they are with their little hatchets ready to +trim and knock any one that goes ahead of them. Some of these people +said of me, "Oh, Ranney is under Christian influences. He is sexton. He +is afraid. Wait until he runs up against a lot of trouble, then he will +go back to the Bowery again and drink worse than ever." I do think some +of those people would have liked to see it happen. I've seen one of them +in a sanitarium to be treated for drink who was my worst knocker, and I +told him I would pray for him. I'm not talking of the good Christian +people. They don't know how to "knock," and I thank God for all such. I +had a thousand friends for every "knocker," and they were ready to help +me with kind words, money, or in any other way when I was in trouble. + +Just as an illustration of this take the act of the poor fellows of the +Midnight Mission in Chinatown when my wife died. They wanted to show +their sympathy and their love, and a delegation of them came in a body +and placed a wreath on Mary's coffin. I learned afterwards how they all +chipped in for the collection--some a few cents, some a nickel. Don't +think for a moment that the Bowery down-and-out has no heart, for it +isn't so. Many a tough-looking fellow with a jumper instead of a shirt +has one of the truest hearts that beats. I only wish I could help them +more than I do. + +When God took Mary away I thought it was hard, and I was sore and ready +to do anything, I didn't care what. There was a lady, Miss Brown, a +trained nurse, who had been with Mary all through her illness, whose +cheering words did me a wonderful lot of good. One thing she said was, +"Trust." God bless her! + + +A TESTING TIME + +My old friend the Devil was in evidence during this hard time in all his +pomp and glory. I could hear him say, "You see how God treats you! He +don't care much or He wouldn't have taken Mary away. What did He do it +for? Why, He don't know you even a little bit. Come, Dan, I'll be your +friend; didn't we always have a good time together on the Bowery? Go get +a 'ball'; it'll do you good and make you forget your troubles. You have +a good excuse even if any one sees you." I was tempted, but I said, "Not +this time, you old Devil: get behind my back!" People said, "Keep your +eye on Ranney; he's up against it; now he will start to drink and go +down and out." + +I'm going to tell you how God came and helped me in my hour of need. It +was the day of the funeral, the 17th of March, 1902. The people who were +helping had gone home to get ready to attend the service, and my boy and +I were left all alone with the dead. We were feeling pretty bad. My boy +had lost the best friend he ever had or would have in this world. Some +fathers are all right and love their children, but it isn't like a +mother's love. No wonder he was weeping and feeling badly. + +We were walking about the room saying nothing, just thinking, and +wondering what would happen next. We happened to meet just at the head +of the casket (God's doing), and stood there as though held by some +unseen power, when my boy opens up like this: "Pop, you don't want me to +smoke any cigarettes, do you?" I looked at him, astonished at such a +question at this time, but I said, "No, Willie, I don't want you to +smoke and hope you never will." Then he said, "Father, you don't want +me to drink, do you?" I wondered at these questions, and looked at him +with tears in my eyes. I said, "No, Bill, my poor boy, I would rather +see you dead and in your coffin beside your poor mother, and know you +were going to be buried to-day, than to know you would ever drink or be +like your father was. Bill, don't you ever take the first glass of beer +or whiskey! Ask God to keep you from it." + +I wondered what was coming next, but I didn't have to wait long. The boy +said, "The people are watching you and say you won't come back from the +grave without having a drink, and that you won't be sober a week from +now. Pop, trust in the God that saved you ten years ago, won't you? You +know we promised to meet mother. Fool these people and let them see that +you are the man and father I love." + +I straightened up, looked at the lad, and out went my hand. We shook +hands and I said, "Son, with the help of God I'll never drink again." +And there at the head of the coffin we knelt and asked God to help us +and make us men such as He would have us be; we asked it in the name and +for the sake of the Christ who died for us. + +That was March 17, 1902, and we have kept the faith up to the present +time. + +I'll never forget that prayer. Don't you think it pays to be on the +level with God? If you ask Him to help you He will. Just trust Him and +have a little backbone, and you will win out every time. I know now that +this experience was God teaching me a lesson and drawing me closer to +Him. + +Things went differently now; I could not run the church very well alone, +so after a few months I handed in my resignation. The trustees wanted me +to stay, but I couldn't; sad memories would come up, and I simply had +to go. I left the old church where I had spent so many happy days with a +record of ten years that money could not buy. I go there once in a while +even now. + +[Illustration: THE CHURCH OF SEA AND LAND.] + +[Illustration: MIDNIGHT MISSION, CHINATOWN.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE MISSION IN CHINATOWN + + +About two years previous to my wife's death a man, Mr. H. Gould, called +on me and asked me if I was the Ranney that was converted on the Bowery. +I said, "Yes, I was saved about ten years ago." He said, "I've a +proposal to make. I hear you are a natural-born leader of men, and I +think you look it. I'm one of the trustees of the Midnight Mission in +Chinatown. It's a hard place, but will you come and take charge of it? I +can't keep any one there longer than a few weeks; they get drunk or are +licked or done up some way. I want some one with backbone; will you take +it?" I thanked him. He had said enough to make any one refuse a job like +that, but I knew all the ins and outs of that quarter, and I thought +I'd like the work. I asked God's guidance, and I spoke with Mr. +Dennison, the pastor of the Church of Sea and Land, and he said it was +wonderful the way God was leading me. "Go and see what it's like," he +said. "Try it. You can run the church also, but if you see you can't get +along, give it up." + +My wife and boy were planning to go on a visit to Ireland to see if it +would improve her health, and when I told her of Mr. Gould's proposal +she did not want me to go: she was afraid I'd get killed. But I said it +would help to pass the time away until she came back. So in 1900 I took +charge of the Chinatown Midnight Mission, remained there six years, and +left to be a lodging-house missionary. + +I well remember the first night. There sat some of the old gang. They +gave me the glad hand, and asked me if I was going to be the bouncer; if +so, I could count on them. I said. "Yes, I'm to be the 'main guy,' +bouncer, etc." They were pleased, and gave me credit of always being on +the level. I made lots of friends while there. + + +LEADING A MEETING + +I never had to use force to keep order but once while in that Mission. I +had been in charge two months or so when I got notice that the leader +would not be there that night, so it was up to me to lead the meeting. +I'll never forget that night. There are some things a person can't +forget, and that was one of them. + +It was snowing and very cold outside, and the Mission was packed with +men and a few women. These poor creatures had no place to go, no home; +they were outcasts, there through various sins, but mostly through love +of rum. I hoped some visitor would come in and I would get him to lead, +but no one came, and it was up to me to give the boys a talk. I had +never forgotten my first sermon at the church, so, asking God to help +me, I went on the platform. I read the story of the Prodigal Son. That +was easy; the hard part was to come later on. I asked if some one would +play the piano, and a young fellow came up that looked as though he +hadn't had a meal or slept in a bed in a month, but when he touched the +keys I knew he was a master. I found out later that he was a prodigal, +had left home, spent all, and was on the Bowery living on the husks. + +We began by singing a hymn, after which I got up and began to talk to +the men. I gave my testimony, how God had saved me from a life of +crookedness and crime, and that I was no better than the worst man on +the Bowery, except by the grace of God. There was one big fellow sitting +in the front row who was trying to guy me. While I was talking he would +make all sorts of remarks, such as, "Oh, what do you know about it? Go +away back and sit down," etc. I asked him to keep still or he would +have to get out. I went on trying to talk, but that man would always +answer back with some foolish remark. He was trying to stop the +meeting--so he told me afterwards. + +There I was. I could not go on if he did, and I told him that when I got +through I would give him a chance to talk. Now there were over four +hundred men looking at me, wondering what I would do. Some of my old +pals shouted, "Put him out, Danny!" and the meeting was in an uproar. I +knew if I did not run that meeting, or if I showed the "white feather," +I was done as a leader or anything else connected with that place. I +said to him, "My friend, if you don't keep still I'll make an example of +you." I could have called the police and had him locked up, but I didn't +want any one to go behind bars and know that I had him put there. I had +been there and that was enough. I've never had one of these poor men +arrested in my life. I used kindness. + +I began to talk again, and he started in again, but before he got many +words out of his mouth I gave him a swinging upper cut which landed on +the point of his jaw, lifting him about two feet, and down he went on +his back. My old pals came up to help, but I said, "Sit down, men; I can +handle two like that fellow." I called out a hymn; then I told him to +get up, and if he thought he could behave himself he might sit down, if +not, he could get out. Well, he sat down and was as good as could be. + +That was the making of me. The men all saw it. They knew that I was one +of them, they saw that I could handle myself, and I never had any +trouble after that. And the man I hit is to-day one of my best friends. + +I told the men that the Devil sent in one of his angels once in a while, +the same as to-night, to disturb the meeting-place of God. I said, "You +men would be a marker for God if you would only take a stand for God +and cut out your sins. I never in my palmy days disturbed a meeting, +drunk or sober. I always respected God's house. If I didn't like it I +went out, and I think, fellows, that's one of the reasons He picked me +up when I was away down in sin and made me what I am to-night. He will +do the same for any one here; why not give Him a chance?" + + +SOMETHING NEW + +This was something new for the men. Here was a man that they knew, no +stranger, but one of themselves eight years before. He had been in +prison with them, drunk with them, stolen with them, and in fact had +done everything that they did, and now here he was telling his old pals +how they could be better men, how God would help them if they would only +give Him a chance. + +God was with me that night. It didn't seem to be Ranney at all. I asked +who wanted to get this religion, who wanted me to pray for them, and +about seventy-five hands went up. A number of men came forward and took +a stand for Jesus. It was early in the morning when the meeting closed. +It was cold and snowing outside. + +It is a hard matter to get these men to declare themselves, for they are +afraid of the laugh, but I told them not to mind that; that my pals gave +me the laugh when I started out. "If we are honest and have sand and +help ourselves after asking God's help," I told them, "we will take no +notice of a grin or a sneer. My companions wagged their heads when I +started out in the new life in September, 1892. They said, 'Oh, we'll +give Danny a couple of weeks. He's trying to work the missionary; he'll +be back again!' Don't you men see I'm still trusting? and there isn't a +man in the Mission right now that can say I'm not on the level, that +I've drank whiskey or beer or done an unmanly act since I gave my life +into His keeping. Why? Because I'm trusting, not in man or woman, but +I'm honestly trusting in God." + +I was satisfied that among the whole roomful of men there were not half +a dozen that had a bed to sleep on that night. I didn't have the money +to put them to bed, but I departed from the rules, and calling them to +order, said, "Boys, how many of you would like to be my guest for the +night?" You ought to have seen them look at me! Never such a thing had +been known. It set them to thinking. The saloon-keeper wouldn't do it; +what did he care for them? I said, "Boys, I'm not doing this; I don't +want you to think so. It's God through me." + +Many's the night after that I kept the Mission open and let the poor +fellows sleep there, on the chairs and on the floor, and they +appreciated it. I was winning them through kindness. When I was ready to +go home to my nice warm bed, I'd read them a little riot act telling +them there were always a few among a lot of men that would spoil a good +thing, ending up, "Be good, boys, and have a good sleep. Good-night," +and they would say so heartily, "Good-night, Danny! God bless you and +keep you!" + +Letting the men stay didn't cost me a cent, and there was a big fire to +keep them warm and it meant much to them, poor fellows. I had the Board +of Health get after me quite a few times, but I'd explain things to +them, and they would go away saying, "You're all right." Big hard men +said, "If people who want to do good would only get a place to house the +poor unfortunates, there would be less crime and misery." I knew that +was true, and I'm praying for the day when we can have just such a +place, and God is going to give it in His own good time. + +I had won the boys, and I stayed in that Mission over six years and saw +lots of men and women saved and living good lives. Many times +well-dressed men will come into my place and say, "Mr. Ranney, don't you +know me?" and when I can't place them they will tell me how I was the +means of saving their lives by letting them stay in out of the cold, and +giving them a cup of coffee and a piece of bread in the morning. I could +count them by the hundreds. Praise His name! + + +A POOR OUTCAST + +One night just as the doors opened, there came into the Mission a woman +who evidently had seen better days. She was one of the poor unfortunates +of Chinatown. She asked if she might sit down, as she was very tired and +did not feel well. "Go in, Anna," I said, and she went in and took a +seat. When I passed her way she said, "Mr. Ranney, will you please give +me a drink of water?" + +Now this woman had caused me lots of trouble. She would get drunk and +carry on, but when sober she would be good and feel sorry. I gave her a +cup of water and she said, "Thank you, Dan, and may God bless you!" An +hour after that I gave her another cup, and she thanked me again, +saying, "God bless you for your patience!" The next time I looked at her +she had her head on the seat in front and I thought she was sleeping. +Now I never wake any sleepers. I feel that an hour's sleep will do them +good, for when the Mission closes and they go out they have no place to +sleep. They have to find a truck or a hallway or walk up and down the +Bowery all night. I've been there, and it takes one that has been +through the mill to sympathize with the "down-and-outs." So I did not +disturb this woman. + +The meeting was over and the people were all out, when I noticed Anna +still in the same position. I went over and called her, and receiving no +answer shook her a little, but she never moved. I bent over and raised +her head; a pair of sightless eyes seemed to look at me, and I knew she +was dead. I never had such a start in my life. Two hours before +alive--now dead! I learned that she was from a town in Connecticut, of +good parents, who took her to her last resting-place in the family +plot--a wayward girl who ran away from home. Her "God bless you, Dan!" +still rings in my ears and her dead face I'll never forget. + +Here was a case that, so far as I knew, did not come under the influence +of God's Spirit, and I could only say, "God have mercy on her poor +soul!" but there have been scores of other women whom I have been able +to reach and help by the grace of God. I shall never forget the "white +slave." + + +RESCUED FROM A DIVE + +When I had charge of the Chinatown Mission a party of three came down to +see the sights and do a little slumming in the district, and they asked +me to show them around. Now there wasn't a hole or joint in Chinatown +or on the Bowery that I didn't know, but I didn't as a rule take women +to such places. I don't like the idea of their looking at other people's +misery, and there's nothing but woe and want to be seen when you go +slumming. Lots of it is brought on by the people themselves, but still +they are human and do not like to be looked at. + +However, this night was an exception, and away we went to see the +sights. I took them to the Joss House--the temple where the Chinese pray +to Confucius--and other places down on Cherry Hill. But they wanted to +see something hard, so I took them to a place that I thought was hard +enough. If you were a stranger and went into this place and displayed a +roll of "the green" you would be done up. + +We went into one of the worst places on the Bowery, the women being as +anxious to go as the rest. The waiter piloted us to a small round table, +and we sat down and called for some soda. I'd been there before to +bring out a man or a woman or a girl as the case might be, and was +pretty well known as "Sky-Pilot Dan." + +The party with me were astonished and wondered how such things as they +saw could exist in a city like New York. There were all classes in the +place, sailors, men, women, and girls, who had lost all self-respect and +thought of nothing but the drink and the dance. + +While sitting there the lady's attention was drawn to a girl at the next +table who sat there looking at the lady, with the tears streaming down +her cheeks. The lady said, "Mr. Ranney, what is the matter with that +girl? Ask her to join us." I got another chair and asked the girl to +come over and sit beside the lady, who asked her how she came to be +there, and why she was crying. + +At that the girl began to cry harder and sobbed as though her heart +would break. After she became a little more quiet she said, "You look +like my mother, and I'll never see her again! Oh, I wish I was dead!" We +asked her why she didn't go home to her mother. She cried out, "I can't! +They won't let me! And if I could get away how could I get to +Cincinnati, Ohio, where my mother lives?" + +We got her story from the girl, and this is how it ran: She got into +conversation with a well-dressed woman in Cincinnati one day who said +that she could get her a position as stenographer and typewriter at a +fine salary. After telling her mother about it, she and the woman +started for New York, the woman paying the fare. The woman gave her an +address of a party, but when the poor girl got there, there was no job +for a typewriter; it was a very different position. The young girl had +been lured from home on false promises, and here she was a "white slave" +through no fault of her own. + +A difficult situation confronted us. The girl was in trouble and needed +help, and what were we going to do about it? She was as pretty a girl as +I ever saw, with large black eyes, a regular Southern type of beauty, +and just beginning the downward career. That means, as the girls on the +Bowery put it, first the Tenderloin, then the white lights and lots of +so-called pleasure, until her beauty begins to fade, which usually takes +about a year. Second, Fourteenth Street, a little lower down the grade. +Third, the Bowery, still lower, where they get nothing but blows and +kicks. The fourth and last step, some joint like this, the back room of +a saloon, down and out, all respect gone, nothing to live for; some +mother's girl picked up some morning frozen stiff; the patrol, the +morgue, and then Potter's Field. Some mother away in a country town is +waiting for her girl who never comes back. + +God help the mothers who read this, for it's true. Look to your girls +and don't trust the first strange woman who comes into your house, for +she may be a wolf in sheep's clothing. She wants your daughter's fresh +young beauty, that's her trade, and the Devil pays good and plenty. + +I asked the girl whether she had any friends near, and she said she had +an aunt living on Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, that she thought might +take her. Then looking around the room she said, "But he won't let me go +anyhow." I followed her look, and there standing with his back to the +wall was a man I knew. Here was this young girl made to slave and earn a +living for this cur! There's lots of it done in New York--well-dressed +men doing no work, living on the earnings of young girls. + +We got the address of the aunt in Philadelphia, and I went out and sent +a message over the wire, asking if she would receive Annie if she came +to Philadelphia. I received an answer in forty-two minutes saying, +"Yes, send her on. I'll meet her at the station." + +I hurried back, thanking God for the answer, and found them sitting at +the same table. Annie was looking better than when we first met her. I +said, "It's all right; her aunt will take care of her; now all we have +to do is to get her to the ferry and buy her ticket." + +There was a tap on my shoulder, and looking around I saw the man she had +pointed out, and he said, "You want to keep your hands off that girl, +Dan, or there's going to be trouble." Now I knew this kind of man; I +knew he would do me if he got a chance, and he was a big fellow at that; +but I thought I could hold my own with him or any of his class. I didn't +mind what he said; all I was thinking about was getting the girl to +Cortlandt Street Ferry. + +When we got on our feet to make a start he came over and said, "She +don't go out of this place; if she does there's going to be trouble." I +said, "Well, if you're looking for trouble you will get all that's +coming to you, and you'll get it good and plenty." And I started toward +the door. He came after me, asking me what I was going to do. I said, +"I'm not going to bother with you, I'm merely going to get a couple of +'Bulls'--policemen--and they will give you all the trouble you want. But +that girl goes with me." + +He weakened. He knew his record was bad and he did not want to go up to +300 Mulberry Street (Police Headquarters), so he said, "All right, +Danny, take her, but you are doing me dirty." + +We got down to the ferry all right, and the lady and I went to +Philadelphia and placed Annie in her aunt's house and bid her good-by. + +Frequently I get a letter from Cincinnati from Annie. She is home with +her mother, and a team of oxen couldn't pull her away from home again. +She writes, "God bless and keep you, Dan! I thank God for the night you +found me on the Bowery!" + + +"TELL HER THE LATCH-STRING IS OUT" + +I was in a Baptist church one Sunday night speaking before a large +audience and had in the course of my talk told the above story. The +meeting had been a grand one. I felt that God had been with us all the +way through. I noticed one man in particular in the audience while I was +telling this story. Tears were running down his cheeks and he was +greatly agitated. I was shaking hands all around after the meeting was +over when this man came and said, "Mr. Ranney, can I have a little talk +with you?" I said, "Yes." "Wait till I get the pastor," he said, and in +a few minutes the minister joined us in the vestry. The man could not +speak. I saw there was something on his heart and mind, and wondered +what it could be. I've had lots of men come and tell me all about +themselves, how they were going to give up stealing, drinking, and all +other sins, but here was something different, so I waited. He tried to +speak, but could only sob. Finally he cried out with a choking sob, +"Sister!" The minister's hand went out to his shoulder, mine also, and +we tried to comfort him; I never saw a man in such agony. After a little +he told this story: + +"Mr. Ranney, I am sure God sent you here to-night. I had a lovely +sister; she may be living yet; I don't know. Seventeen years ago she +went out to take a music lesson, and we have never laid eyes on her +since, and have never had the first line from her. Oh, if I only knew +where she is! She was one of the sweetest girls you ever saw, just like +the girl you spoke about to-night. She was enticed away from home by a +man old enough to be her father, who left his own family to starve. I've +hunted for them all over. I've never passed a poor girl on the street +without giving a helping hand, always thinking of my own sweet sister, +who might perhaps be in worse circumstances. Mr. Ranney, will you +promise me whenever you tell that story--which I hope will be very +often--just to mention that girl who left a New Jersey town some years +ago? Say that mother is waiting for her daughter with arms open. Say the +latch-string is out and there's a welcome. Perhaps--who can tell?--you +may be the means of sending that daughter back to home and mother!" + +He gave me his name and address, the girl's name also, and I promised +what he wanted. Would to God this book might be the means of uniting +these separated ones and sending the gray-haired mother home to heaven +rejoicing! Oh, how many a mother's girl is in bondage to-night for the +want of a helping hand and some kind friend to give advice! + +[Illustration: READING ROOM, SQUIRREL INN.] + +[Illustration: MEN'S CLUB AT CHURCH OF SEA AND LAND.] + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +BOWERY WORK + + +God moves in a mysterious way to work out His ends, and I can testify +that His dealings with me have been wonderful indeed,--far beyond +anything that I have ever merited. During all the years since my +conversion I had always kept in touch with Dr. A. F. Schauffler, +Superintendent of the City Mission and Tract Society, visiting him at +his office once in a while, and he was always glad to see me. He would +ask me about my work and we would have a little talk together. + + +LODGING-HOUSE MISSIONARY + +One day I said, "Dr. Schauffler, do you know I'm a protege of the New +York City Mission?" He said, "I know it, and we have kept our eyes on +you for the last ten years, and have decided to make you Lodging-House +Missionary to the Bowery, if you accept." + +Praise God! Wasn't it wonderful, after thirteen years of God's grace in +my life, to get such an appointment! Lodging-House Missionary--I +couldn't understand it! It struck me as being queer in this way; the man +who under God was the means of my salvation, who was a missionary when I +was converted, had resigned a few years after to become a minister, and +now here was Ranney, the ex-crook and drunk, being asked to take the +same position! + +We don't understand God's ways and purposes; they are too wonderful for +us; but here I am on the Bowery, my old stamping-ground, telling the +story of Jesus and His love. And I don't believe there's a man in this +big world that has a greater story to tell of God's love and mercies +than I have. I'm writing this seventeen years after being saved, and +I'll still say it's a grand thing to be a Christian. I would not go +back to the old life for anything in the world. + +Part of my work has been in Mariners' Temple, corner of Oliver and Henry +Streets, Chatham Square, New York City, right on the spot where I did +everything on the calendar but murder. There I could see the men every +night, for we had a meeting all the year round, and every day from 1 to +2 P. M. We invited all those who were in trouble to come, and if we +could help them we gladly did so. If they wanted to go to the hospital +we placed them there and would do whatever we could for them, always +telling them of Jesus the Mighty to save. + + +FROM NOTHING TO $5000 A YEAR + +I remember and love a man who was my partner in the Tuesday night +meetings in the Mariners' Temple, when we fed the poor fellows during +the winter--a fine Christian gentleman. You would never think to look +at him he was once such a drunkard! He told me his story. He had spent +months hanging out in the back room of a saloon on Park Row, only going +out once in a while to beg a little food. He had sold everything he +could sell and he was a case to look at. He must have been, or the +proprietor would never have said, "Say, you are a disgrace to this +place! Get out and don't come in here again!" The poor fellow went out. +He was down and out sure enough! He thought he would end it all, and he +bent his steps toward the East River, intending to jump in, but was +chased from the dock by the watchman. + +He passed a Mission, heard the singing, and went in. He heard men that +were once drunkards get up and testify to the power of God to save a +man. He knew a few of the men and thought, "If God can save them He +surely can me!" What a lot there is in testimony for the other fellow! + +He went out that night and slept in a hallway. He waited until the +Mission opened, and going in, heard the same thing again. When the +invitation was given he went forward and was gloriously saved. He did +not walk the street that night nor has he since. He went to work at his +trade--he was a printer--and he and his dear wife, who had always prayed +for her husband, were united and are now working together in the +Master's vineyard. + +This was over three years ago. Today this man has a position at a salary +of $5000 a year! Three years ago ordered out of a Park Row saloon as a +disgrace! Doesn't it pay to be a Christian and be on the level! I could +go right on and tell of hundreds that have come up and are on top now. +God never leaves nor forsakes us if we do our part. + +The Bowery boys are queer propositions. You can't push or drive them; +they will resent it and give you back as good. But if, on the other +hand, you use a little tact spiced with a little kindness, you will win +out with the Bowery boy every time. + +It was a kind word and a kind act that were the means of saving me, and +I never tire of giving the same. + + +A MISSIONARY IN COURT + +I remember a few years ago a fellow was arrested for holding up a man on +Chatham Square. Now this fellow was an ex-convict and had a very bad +record, but he came to our meeting one night to see the pictures of +Christ, and was so touched by them that he came again and finally raised +his hand for prayers, and when the invitation was given went up to the +mercy seat and was saved. At the time he was arrested he had been a +grand Christian for two years. + +He used to pump the organ. On this Sunday night when he was arrested I +had gone over to the Chinatown Mission with him. When he left to go to +his lodging-house it was 10:30, and he was arrested right after leaving +the meeting on the charge of robbing a man on the Bowery at 9:30 P.M. + +When he was arrested he sent for me and told me why he was arrested. Now +I knew he had not robbed any one while he was with me. + +The day of his trial came on. Judge Crane was the judge--a good clean +man. After the man had sworn that J---- was the man who robbed him I was +asked to go on the stand and tell what I knew. I told him I was a +missionary to the Bowery, and that J----, the man arrested, was not the +man who did the robbing, for he was with me at the time the robbery took +place. + +Judge Crane asked my name. I told him and gave him a brief history of my +past life. He was amazed. Then I spoke a few words to the jury. The case +was then given to the jury, and after twenty minutes they came in with +a verdict of not guilty. + +My dear readers, suppose Reilly (Ranney), the crook of sixteen years +before, had been on that witness-stand. The Judge would have asked my +name and when I'd said, "Reilly, the crook," they would have sent both +of us off to prison for life. But the past has been blotted out through +Jesus, and it was the word of the redeemed crook that set J---- free. + +There are lots of cases I could write about where men are arrested and +send for me. I go to the Tombs to see them, and as I go up the big stone +steps where the visitors go in, the big barred gate opens, and the +warden touches his hat and says, "How do you do, Mr. Ranney," and I go +in. There's always a queer feeling comes over me when that gate is shut +behind me. I realize that I am coming out in an hour or so, but there +was a time when I was shoved through the old gate, and didn't know when +I would come out. + + +A COUNT DISGUISED AS A TRAMP + +One night in Mariners' Temple, on Chatham Square, I was leading a +meeting for men; it was near closing time and the invitation had been +given. There were three men at the front on their knees calling on God +to help them. + +I look back to that night as one I never can forget. One of the men who +came up front had no coat; it had been stolen from him in some saloon +while he was in a drunken sleep, so he told me. After prayer had been +offered and we got on our feet we asked the men to give their testimony. +In fact, I think it is a good thing for them to testify, as it helps +them when they have declared themselves before the others. They each +gave a short testimony in which they said that they intended to lead a +better life, with God's help. + +The man without a coat said he had but himself to blame for his +condition, and, if God would help him, he was going to be a better man. + +I saw to it that the man had a lodging and something to eat, when out +from the audience stepped a fine-looking man with a coat in his hand and +told the man to put it on. I looked at the man in astonishment. He was +about five-feet-ten, of fine appearance, a little in need of a shave and +a little water, but the man sticking out of him all over. + +It is not the clothes that make the man, for here was a man who hadn't +anything in the way of clothes, but you could tell by looking at him +that he was a gentleman. I just stood and looked at him as he helped the +other fellow on with the coat. I thought it one of the grandest acts I +ever saw. He was following Christ's command about the man having two +coats giving his brother one. I saw the man had on an overcoat, but, +even so, it was a grand act, and I told him so. + +I did not see him again for some time, when one night, about a week +after the coat affair, I saw him sitting among the men at the Doyer +Street Midnight Mission, of which I had charge. I went over where he was +sitting and while shaking hands with him said, "Say, that was the +grandest act you ever did when you gave that man your coat. What did you +do it for? You don't seem to have any too much of this world's goods. +How did it happen? Are you a Christian? Who are you?" He looked at me a +moment and said, "Mr. Ranney, if I can go into your office I'll tell you +all about it." + +We went into the office, and he said, "How did you find me out?" Well, +the question was a queer one to me. How did I find him out? I didn't +know what he meant, but I didn't tell him so; I just smiled. + +Well, he said he was a French Count (which was true), over here writing +a book about the charitable institutions in the United States. He had +been in Chicago, San Francisco, and in fact, all over the States, for +points for his book. He told me what he had and hadn't done. He had +worked in wood-yards for charity organizations; had given himself up and +gone to the Island; stood in bread-lines; in fact, he had done +everything the tramp does when he is "down and out." + +I took quite a fancy to him. He took me up to his room in Eighteenth +Street, showed me his credentials, and we became quite chummy. We used +to do the slums act, and I would put on an old suit of clothes so I +wouldn't be known. We would stand in the bread-line just like the rest +of them and get our roll and coffee. It reminded me of my old life, and +sometimes I would imagine I was "down and out" again, but it's different +when you have a little change in your pocket. A dollar makes a big +difference, and you can never appreciate the feelings of a poor "down +and out" if you never were there yourself. + +We had been going around together for about three or four weeks when +one day he showed me a cable dispatch from Paris telling him he was +wanted and to come at once. We had had a nice time together and I was +sorry he was going. + +He asked me for one of my pictures to put in his book, which I gave him. +Then he wanted to know what he could do for me. I thought a moment, then +said, "Give the poor fellows a feed Sunday night." I was the Sunday +night leader and I wanted him on the platform. He said, "All right. Be +at the Mission Sunday afternoon." + +About 5 P. M. there drove up to the Mission door a carriage with a man +in it who said, "Is this 17 Dover Street, and is your name Mr. Ranney?" +I said, "Yes." He had four large hampers filled with sandwiches, which +we carried into the Mission. He said he was the Count's valet and the +Count wished him to make tea for the men. I said, "All right." I +thought it would be a change for the men, although coffee would have +been all right. + +The tea was made and everything was ready for the feed. I wanted the +papers to know about it, so I sent my assistant to the office and told +the reporters that a real French Count was going to give a feed that +night. They were on hand and the next day the papers all had an account +of it. + +As soon as the doors opened the men came in and the place was jammed to +the limit. The meeting was opened with prayer, then the sandwiches and +tea were passed around. The Count, wearing a dress-suit, was sitting on +the platform. I introduced him as the "man of the hour" who had given +the lay-out to the boys. They thanked him with three cheers. + +I asked the men to look him over and see if they had ever seen him +before. Now the Bowery men are sharp, and over seventy-five hands went +up. They had seen him somewhere, in Mission bread-lines and different +places. + +The Count spoke for about five minutes and then sat down. He sailed on +the following Tuesday and I never met him again. He may be in London for +all I know, studying up something else. But I'm sure he enjoyed himself +when feeding the men. And I have often thought, no matter who or what he +was, he had his heart in the right spot. God wants men of his stamp, for +He can use them for His honor and glory. + + +A MUSICIAN WON TO CHRIST + +There isn't a week passes in my work that there are not some specially +interesting happenings. One Wednesday night about six months ago we were +having our usual Wednesday night meeting. I found I did not have any one +to play the piano; my player had not yet come. I did not worry over +that, however, as sometimes we had to go on and have a meeting without +music. I generally asked if any one could play, and I did so this night. +Presently a man came up the aisle. I asked, "Can you play?" He said, "A +little. What number shall I play?" I said, "I guess we will sing my +favorite hymn, 'When the Roll Is Called up Yonder, I'll Be There.'" He +found the hymn and when he began to play I saw that he was a real +musician. He made that old piano fairly talk. "Ah," said I, "here is +another 'volunteer organist.'" I had seen the man and talked with him +lots of times before, but always took him for a common drunkard. You +can't tell what an old coat covers. + +After the meeting I had a little talk with him and asked him why he was +in such a condition. "Oh," he answered, "it's the old, old story, Mr. +Ranney--the drink habit. I know what you are going to say: why don't I +cut it out? Well, I can't. I have tried time and again. I'll go on +drinking until I die." I told him to stop trying and ask God to help +him, just to lean on His arm, He wouldn't let him fall. I left him +thinking it over, and I kept track of him, getting in an odd word here +and there and giving him food and lodging. + +In four weeks we won out and he became a good Christian man. Now he +plays at our meetings and takes a share in them, giving his testimony. +I've had him over to my home many times. He takes great delight in our +garden there and waits with longing for Thursday to come, for that's the +day he visits us, the best one in the week for him. There's nothing like +the country for building a man up. + +This man came from a good German family, and can play three instruments, +piano, violin, and clarinet. I asked him if he was married. "No," he +answered, "thank God I never was married. I have not that sin on my +soul! I've done nearly everything any one else has done: been in prison +many a time, drank and walked the streets lots of nights. I've written +home to my mother and told her I had taken her Jesus as mine, and, Mr. +Ranney, here's a letter from her." I read the letter. It was the same +old letter, the kind those loving mothers write to their wayward boys, +thanking God that she lived to see her boy converted and telling him the +door was always open, and for him to come home. How many mothers all +over the world are praying for their boys that they have not seen for +years, boys who perhaps are dead or in prison! God help those mothers! + + +SAVED THROUGH AN OUTDOOR MEETING + +Part of my work consists in holding outdoor meetings. Through my friend +Dan Sullivan I received a license for street preaching, so whenever an +opportunity opens I speak a word for the Master, sometimes on a +temporary platform, sometimes standing on a truck, and sometimes from +the Gospel Wagon. It is "in season and out of season," here, there, and +everywhere, if we are to get hold of the men who don't go near the +churches or even the missions. + +One night while holding an outdoor meeting on the Bowery at Bleecker +Street, I was speaking along the line of drink and the terrible curse it +was, how it made men brutes and all that was mean, telling about the +prodigal and how God saved him and would save to the uttermost. There +were quite a number of men around listening. + +The meeting ended and we had given all an invitation to come into the +Mission. One young man, well dressed, came up to me and, taking my hand, +said he believed every word I said. I saw at a glance he was not of the +Bowery type. I got to talking to him and asked him into the Mission. He +said he had never been into a place like that in his life and did not +take any stock in them, but my talk had interested him. He could not +understand how I had given up such a life as I said I had led and had +not taken a drink in sixteen years. I said I had not done this in my own +strength, but that God had helped me win out, and that God would help +any one that wanted to be helped. + +We got quite friendly and he told me all about himself. He had just got +his two weeks' salary, which amounted to $36.00. He was married and had +two sweet little children and a loving wife waiting for him uptown. He +told me he had taken a few drinks, as I could plainly see, and he was +going down to see the Bowery and do a little sight-seeing in Chinatown. +I knew if he went any further he would be a marker for the pickpocket or +others and would know nothing in a little while, so I tried to get him +into the Mission, and after quite a while succeeded, and we took a seat +right by the door. He was just tipsy enough to fall asleep, and I let +him do it, for a little sleep often does these men a great deal of good, +changing all their thoughts when they wake. When he woke the testimonies +were being given. I rose to my feet and gave my testimony, and sat down +again. The invitation came next, for all those that wanted this Jesus to +stand. I tried to get him on his feet, but he would not take a stand; +still the seed had been sown. + +He told me where he was working and where he lived--wrote it down for +me. He was bent on going, so I said I would go up to the corner with +him. He wanted one more drink--the Devil's temptation!--but at last I +coaxed him to the Elevated Station at Houston Street. He said, "I wish +you could see my home and family. Will you come up with me?" It was 10 +P. M. and going would mean home for me about the early hours. But I went +up to the Bronx, got to his home, saw him in, was bidding him +good-night; nothing would do but I should come in. He had a nice little +flat of five rooms. I was introduced to his wife, who was a perfect +lady. He wanted to send out for beer. I objected, and his wife said, +"George, don't drink any more! I think you have had enough." + +Now was the time for me to get in a little of God's work, so I told him +my life, and what drink did for me, and I had an attentive audience. +When I finished, his wife said, "I wish my husband would take your +Jesus, Mr. Ranney. I'm a Christian, but, oh, I'd give anything if George +would take Christ and give up his drinking!" He made all kinds of +objections and excuses, but we pleaded and prayed. God was working with +that man, and at 3 o'clock in the morning we knelt down, the wife, the +husband and I, way up in the Bronx, and God did mightily save George. He +went to his business on Monday sober. That was three years ago, and he +has held out well. He has been advanced twice, with a raise in salary, +and comes down to help me in my work on the Bowery. God has blessed him +wonderfully, and He will any one who has faith to believe. + + +JIM THE BRICKLAYER + +Where I meet so many men every day and have so many confessions and try +to lend a helping hand in so many places, I do forget some of the men, +for it seems as though there was an endless procession of them through +the Bowery. But some cases stand out so prominently that I shall never +forget them. I remember one man in particular who used to come into the +Mission. He was one of the regulars and was nearly always drunk. He used +to want us to sing all the time. He was a fine fellow, but down and out, +and every cent he could earn went to the saloons. I would talk to him +nearly every night and ask him why he did not stop his drinking. He +would listen, but the next night he would be drunk just the same. + +There was good stuff in him, for he was a good bricklayer and could make +from $5.00 to $6.00 per day. He told me he was married, and his wife and +two children were in Syracuse, living perhaps on charity, while he, +instead of making a living for them and giving them a good home, was +here on the Bowery drinking himself to death. + +He would often say, "Danny, if I could only sober up and be a man and go +back to my family, I'd give anything. But what's the use of trying? I +can't stop, and I wish sometimes that I was dead. And sometimes, Mr. +Ranney, I'm tempted to end it all in the river." + +I reasoned with this man time and time again, but with no effect. He +knew it was the right way to live, but thought it was not for him, and I +thought that if a man was ever gone it was that young man. + +One night as the invitation was being given I caught his eye and I +said, "Jim, come up front and get rid of that drink." But he said, +"What's the use?" I went down, took him by the hand, led him up front, +and we all knelt down and asked God to save these poor men. I asked them +all to pray for themselves and when I got to Jim I said, "Jim, now +pray." And he said, "Lord, help me to be a man and cut the 'booze' out +of my life for Jesus' sake. Amen." + +He meant business that night and was as sincere as could be. We all got +up from our knees, and I put the usual question to them all, now that +they had taken Jesus, what were they going to do? It came Jim's turn, +and he said, "Mr. Ranney, I've asked God to help me, and I'm going out +of this Mission and I'm not going to drink any more whiskey." Then +almost in the same breath he said, "I wonder if God will give me a pair +of pants." That created a smile in the audience. I knew I could get Jim +a pair of pants, and he needed them badly. Just imagine a man six feet +tall with a pair of pants on that reached just below the knees, and you +have Jim. + +I said, "Jim, you have asked God to help you, and He will if you let +him. If you keep sober until Friday night, and come in here every night +and give your testimony, no matter how short, God will send you a pair +of pants." This was on Monday night, my own special night. I knew if Jim +came in every night sober, something was doing. Tuesday night came, and +sure enough there was Jim with his testimony. He got up and thanked God +for being one day without taking a drink. I said, "Praise God! Keep it +up, Jim!" Wednesday night Jim thanked God for two days' victory. He was +doing finely. Thursday came, and Jim was there with his testimony of +three days saved. He had one more day to go before he got his pants. +Friday night came and I had gone up and got the pants, but no Jim made +his appearance. Near closing time the door opened and in walked Jim. He +stood back and just roared out, "Danny, I'm as drunk as a fool; I've +lost the pants!" then walked out. + +I did not see him for a couple of nights, then he came into the Mission, +sat down and was fairly quiet. I reached him in the course of the +evening and shook hands with him, but I did not say a word about his +going back. That worried him a good deal, for he said, "Dan, are you mad +with me?" I said, "No, Jim, I'm mad with the Devil, and I wish I could +kick him out of you and kill him." Jim smiled and said, "You're a queer +one." + +I did not give Jim up, but I did not say anything to him about giving up +the drink again for about a week. He would always be in the meeting and +I would notice him with a handshake and a smile. I could see he was +thinking quite hard and he was not drinking as much as he had been. I +was praying for that man, and I was sure that He was going to give me +Jim. + +One night about a month after Jim had tried the first time, I was giving +the invitation to the men, as usual, for all who wanted this salvation +to come forward and let us pray with them. After coaxing and pleading +with them there were six fellows that came forward and knelt down, when +to my astonishment who came walking up the aisle but Jim! He knelt down +with the others and prayed. I did not know what the prayer was, but when +he rose he went back and took his seat and said nothing. + +A month went by to a day. There were testimonies every night from all +over the Mission about what God had done and was doing, but Jim never +gave the first word of testimony. I often wondered why. This night he +got on his feet, and this is what he said: "Men, I've been everything +that's bad and mean, a crook and a drunkard, separated from wife and +children, a good-for-nothing man. I want to stand here before you +people and thank God for keeping me for one whole month; and, men, this +is the happiest month I've spent in my life. I asked God to help me and +He is doing so. I only wish some of you men would take Jesus as your +friend and keeper the same as I have. I'm going to stick, with God's +help. I want you Christian people to keep on praying for me, as I feel +some one has," and he sat down. Oh, how I did thank God for that +testimony! You know a person can tell the true ring of anything, gold, +silver, brass, everything, and I knew the ring of that testimony. + +Jim stayed after the meeting and we talked things over pretty well. He +was a mechanic, but his tools were in pawn. I said, "Jim, I'll meet you +to-morrow and we will go and get your tools out." In the morning Jim and +I went down to the pawnbroker in New Chambers Street, and Jim produced +the tickets, paid the money due, with interest, and received his stock +in trade, the tools. + +The next thing was a job. I knew a boss mason who was putting up a +building in Catherine Street. We saw the boss and he took Jim on. He +went to work and made good. He would always come and see me at night, +and always testify to God's keeping power. He would ask me, "Do you +think I can get back to my wife and children again?" "Yes," I would +answer; "wait a little while. Have you written to her?" "Yes." "Got any +answer?" "Yes, a couple of letters, but I don't think she takes any +stock in my conversion. Dan, can't we have our pictures taken together? +I have written my wife a lot about you. I told her you were worse than I +ever was. Perhaps if she sees our faces and sees how I look, she may +think of old times and give me one more chance." + +Jim had been four months converted at this time, and God had him by the +hand. It was great to see that big strong man, like a little child in +God's love. We went out and had our pictures taken and Jim asked me to +write and urge his wife to give him one more chance. I did as Jim wanted +me; in fact, I wrote her about everything he said and enclosed the +picture. + +Every night Jim would come around with the question, "Danny, any word +from up State yet?" "Not yet, Jim: have a little patience, she will +write soon." We finally got the longed-for letter, but it wasn't +favorable. Among other things she said she took no stock in her husband, +and that she knew he was the same old good-for-nothing, etc. It was hard +lines for poor Jim, who was reading that letter over my shoulder. I +looked at him. I could see some of the old Devil come into his eyes. The +wife little knew what an escape Jim had then and there. I cheered him up +and we got on our knees and prayed good and hard, and God heard the +prayer and Jim was sailing straight once more and trusting Jesus. + +A thought flashed through my mind, and I said, "Jim, have you any +money?" "Yes," he said, "I have over sixty dollars." He gave me the +money and we went to the postoffice and I took out a money-order to Mrs. +Jim, Syracuse, N. Y., for sixty dollars and sent it on signed by Jim and +took the receipt and put it in my pocket. + +Five days after I was sitting at my desk in the Mission. A knock came to +the door. I said, "Come in," and a woman with two little girls entered. +I placed a chair and waited. She said, "You are Mr. Ranney. I recognize +you from your picture." She was Jim's wife, as she told me. Then she +began about her troubles with her husband: he was a good man, but he +would drink. She said, "I begin to think that Jim has religion, for if +he hadn't something near it, he would never have sent me the money. Do +you think he is all right, Mr. Ranney?" To which I answered that I +really believed he was, and that he would be a good husband and father. +I asked her if she was a Christian, and she said, "Yes, I go to church +and do the best I can." I told her going to church was a good thing, but +to have Jesus in your heart and home is a better one. + +She wanted to see Jim, so we went round to where he was working. There +he was up four stories laying front brick. I watched him, so did his +wife. Finally I put my hands like a trumpet and called, "Hello, Jim!" +Jim looked down, seeing me, and then looking at the woman and children a +moment he dropped everything, and to watch that man come down that +ladder was a sight. He rushed over, threw his arms around his wife, then +took the little girls in his arm, and what joy there was! There was no +more work that day. + +Jim showed her the saloons he used to get drunk in, and he did not +forget to show the place where he was converted, and on that very spot +we all had a nice little prayer-meeting, and as a finale, Mrs. Jim took +Jesus, saying, "If He did all that for Jim, I want Him too." + +They are back in Syracuse, living happily. Jim has a class of boys in +the Sunday-school and is a deacon in the church. I had the pleasure of +eating dinner in their home. I often get a letter from Jim, telling of +God's goodness. He says he will never forget the fight he made for the +pants or his friend Danny Ranney. + +[Illustration: ONE OF MR. RANNEY'S OPEN-AIR MEETINGS.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +PRODIGAL SONS + + +A CESSPOOL + +The Bowery has always been a notorious thoroughfare. Twenty years ago +there were few places in the world that for crime, vice and degradation +could be compared with it. Many changes for the better have taken place +in the last few years, however. Following the Lexow Commission +investigation, scores of the worst haunts of wickedness were closed and +vice became less conspicuous. The Bowery, however, still maintains its +individuality as a breeding-place of crime. It is still the cesspool for +all things bad. From all over the world they come to the Bowery. The +lodging-houses give them cheap quarters, from 7 cents to 50 cents per +night. These places shelter 30,000 to 40,000 men and boys nightly, to +breathe a fetid and polluted air. Those who have not the price--and God +knows they are many--homeless and weary, "about ready to die," sleep in +hallways, empty trucks, any place for a lie-down. + +Some of the lodging-houses are fairly respectable and run on a good +scale, and others are the resort of the lowest kind of human outcasts. +On one floor, the air poisoned beyond description, the beds dirty, will +be found over a hundred men, of all classes, from the petty thief to the +Western train-wrecker, loafers, drug-fiends, perhaps a one-time college +man, who through the curse of drink has got there. But they are not all +bad on the Bowery. No one not knowing the conditions can imagine what a +large class there is who would work if they could get it, but once down +it's hard to get up. A few weeks of this life wrecks them and makes old +men of them. No one but God can help them, and most of them go down to +early graves unknown. + + +A REMARKABLE DRUNKARD + +I knew once one of the best lawyers of his day, living here a little off +Chatham Square, in a lodging-house, brought there through rum. I've +known men, lawyers, coming to see this man and getting his opinion on +legal matters. He had many such visitors in his room, but he wasn't +worth anything unless he was about half full of whiskey. These men would +know that. They would bring a couple bottles of the stuff, as though for +a social time, and then ask him questions pertaining to the case in +hand. Then he would imagine himself the lawyer of old days, and plead as +he saw the case, and he was right nine times out of ten! Oh, what a +future that man had thrown away for the Devil's stuff, rum! Those +lawyers would go away with advice from that man worth thousands of +dollars, bought with a few bottles of whiskey. He told me he had left +his wife and family to save them from shame. He has sons and daughters +in good standing. They never see him want for anything and pay his +room-rent yearly, only he must not go near them. + + +FORGIVING FOR CHRIST'S SAKE + +Where I am located at this writing, at the Squirrel Inn, No. 131 Bowery, +is a grand place for my work. I come in touch with all classes, and when +I see a man or a boy that I think will stick, I rig him up, put a front +on him and back him until he gets work. I wish I had more clothes so I +could help more men, but at least I can give them a handshake, a kind +word, and a prayer, and that, by God's grace, can work wonders for the +poor fellows. There's not a man or boy comes in that I do not see, and I +mingle with them and get their hard-luck stories, also their good-luck +ones. Sitting there at my desk, I glance down the room, and I can tell +at a glance the newcomers and the regulars. I can tell what has brought +them there. + +Over at one of the tables trying to read sat one day a man about fifty, +his clothes worn and threadbare, but wearing a collar, and that's a good +sign. I beckoned him to come over to me and I pointed to a chair, +telling him to sit down. If that chair could only speak, what a tale it +could tell of the men who have sat there and told their life stories! + +I asked him how he came to be there, and he told me the same old story +that can be summed up in one word--drink! He came from up the State, at +one time owned a farm outside of Oswego, and was living happily. He was +a church member and bore a good name. "I used to take an odd drink, but +always thought I could do without it," said he. "Eighteen years ago I +lost my wife and to drown my sorrow I got drunk. I had never been +intoxicated before, and I kept at it for over three months, and when I +began to come to myself, I was told that I had to get out of my home. I +couldn't understand it, but I was told I had sold my farm and everything +I owned for a paltry $200 to a saloon-keeper, who I thought was my +dearest friend! + +"That happened eighteen years ago, and I've been pretty near all over +the world since then, sometimes hungry, sometimes in pretty good shape, +but I'll never forget that saloon-keeper. I'll see him again, and he +will pay for what he did!" + +I gave that man a ticket for lodging and a couple of meals. We talked +about his early life, and I asked why he didn't start out and be a +Christian and not harbor a grudge; to let God punish that saloon-keeper. +I told him I'd been through something like the same experience, a man +whose word I trusted selling me some Harbor Chart stock and making me +think he was doing me a good turn, and I lost several hundred dollars. +That was in the years when I first started to be a Christian. I had the +hardest time to forgive this man, but thank God I did! + +I reasoned with that man day after day and saw that the light was +breaking in his heart. Weeks went on, and he came to a point where he +took Jesus as his guide and friend, and to-day he is a fine Christian +gentleman. I have had him testifying in the church to the power of +Christ to save a man. He tells me he has forgiven that saloon-man for +Christ's sake. + + +SAVED ON THE THRESHOLD OF VICE + +One afternoon about 5 o'clock I was sitting at my desk at the Mission +Room when I noticed among the men who came there to read and rest and +perhaps take a nap, a young man, a boy rather, clean and wearing good +clothes. I looked at him a moment and thought, "He has got into the +wrong place." I spoke to him, as is my habit, and asked him what he was +doing there. I brought him over and got him to sit down in that old +chair where so many confessions are made to me and said kindly, "Well, +what's your story?" I thought of my own boy, and my heart went out to +this young fellow. + +He said, "You are Mr. Ranney. I've often heard about you, and I'm glad +to see you now." He told me how he had given up his job on Eighth Avenue +around 125th Street the day before. He had had a "run in," as he called +it, at home, and had determined to get out. His mother had married a +second time, and his stepfather and he could not agree on a single +thing. He loved his mother, but could not stand the stepfather. He had +drawn his pay at the jewelry store where he was working and had spent +the night before at a hotel uptown, intending to look for a job the next +day. + +He had risen at 8 A. M. intending to get work before his eight dollars +was all gone. Well, the money was burning a hole in his pocket. He +wanted to see a show and he came down on the Bowery and got into a cheap +vaudeville show, and quite enjoyed himself. "I came out of that show," +he said, "and went into a restaurant to eat, and when I went to pay the +cashier I did not have a cent in my pocket. The boss of the place said +that was an old story. He was not there to feed people for nothing. I +said I had been robbed or lost my money somehow, but he wouldn't believe +me. He wanted his twenty cents, or he would have me arrested. Oh, he was +mad for fair, Mr. Ranney. He got me by my coat-collar and shook me and +said I was a thief, and he finished up by kicking me through the door, +and here I am down on the Bowery homeless." + +Another young fellow gone wrong! Could I help him? I urged him to go +back home, but he didn't want to. The night before was pay-night, and he +was always expected to give in his share towards the home expenses, and +now here was his money all gone. What could he do? + +I took him around the room and pointed out the hard cases there, +wretched, miserable specimens of men, and asked him if he wanted to be +like them, as he surely would if he went on in the course he was +starting. He said, "Indeed I don't!" "Well, then," I said, "take my +advice and go home. Be a man and face the music. It will mean a scolding +from your father, but take it. Tell them both that you will make up the +money as soon as you get work, and that you are going to be obedient and +good from now on." + +At last he said he would go if I would go with him, but I couldn't that +night, for I had a meeting to address. I told him I would give him a +lodging for the night, and we would go up to Washington Heights the next +day. I put him in about as tough a lodging as I could get, for I wanted +him to realize the life he would drift into, told him to meet me at one +o'clock the next day, and said good-night to him. + +The next day I met him; we had something to eat, and I asked him how he +had slept. "Oh," he said, "it was something awful! I could not sleep +any, there was such a cursing and drinking and scrapping. Oh, I wish I +was home!" + +We went up to Washington Heights, around 165th Street, and found the +place. We got there about six o'clock. I went in and knocked at the +door, which opened very quickly. The mother and father came forward; +they had been crying, I could see that. "Oh, has anything happened to my +boy!" she cried, when I asked if she had a son. "Tell me quick, for +God's sake!" I told them that Eddie was all right, and I called to him. +He came in, and like a manly boy, after kissing his mother, he turned to +his stepfather and said, "Forgive me; I'll be a better boy and I'll +make everything all right when I get a job. This is Mr. Ranney, the +Bowery missionary." I went in and was asked to stay for supper, and we +had an earnest talk, leading to the father giving up beer. What he was +going to drink for supper was thrown into the sink. I see these people +occasionally, and they are doing well. + + +THE PRODIGAL SON ON THE BOWERY + +Here is a picture story of a boy who left home and took his journey to +the "far country." It is a true story. + +Away up in northern New York there is a rich man whose family consists +of a wife, two sons and a daughter, all good church members. It is of +the younger boy I want to speak. He is a little wayward, but good at +heart, and would do anything to help any one. + +Now, there has lately come back from New York a young man who has +started the drink habit. This man is telling all about New York, what a +grand place it is, and, if a fellow had a little money, he could make a +fortune. He succeeds in arousing the fancies of this young boy, and he +believes all the fellow says. People up the State look on a man as sort +of a hero because he has been to New York. + +Tom thinks he would like to go to the city, and when he gets home he +broaches the subject to his mother. He says, "I'll get a job and make a +man of myself." The mother tells him he had better stay at home and +perhaps later on he would have a chance to start a business in the +village where he was born. No, nothing but New York will do for him. He +teases his father and mother nearly to death, until his father says, +"Well, my boy, if you will, you will." Then he gives him a couple +hundred dollars and a letter to a merchant whom he knows. + +Tom packs his valise and is all ready to start. I can see the mother +putting a Testament into her boy's hand and telling him to read it once +a day and be sure to write home often. Oh, he promises all right, and is +anxious to get away in a hurry. I can see them in the railroad station +when the mother takes him to her bosom and kisses him. There's a dry +choking in the father's throat when he bids him good-by--and then the +train is off! + +Now, Tom has a chum in New York, so at the first station at which they +stop he gets off and sends a telegram to his friend, saying: "Ed, I'm +coming on the 2.30 train. Meet me at the Grand Central Station." You may +be sure Ed meets him at the station--Ed is not working--and he gives him +the hello and the glad hand. He takes Tom's grip and they start for the +hotel. I can see them going into a saloon and having a couple of beers, +then going to the hotel, getting a room and supper, and having a good +time at the theatre and elsewhere. + +Time goes on. Two hundred doesn't last long. I can see Ed shaking Tom +when the money is running low. I can see Tom counting the little he has +left and going to a furnished room at $1.50 a week. Tom is beginning to +think and worry a bit. He has lost the letter to the merchant his father +gave him, and he doesn't know where to find him. No wonder he is down in +the mouth! He looks for work, but can't get anything to do. + +Now, all he has to do is to write home and tell his father the facts, +and he will send back a railroad ticket. But Tom is proud, and he hasn't +reached the point where, like the prodigal, he says, "I will arise and +go to my father." No, he has not as yet reached the end of his rope. I +can see him pawning the watch and chain given him by his parents. This +tides him over for a little while. When that money is gone, his overcoat +goes, and, in fact, everything he has is gone. + +He goes down and down, and finally reaches the Bowery, where they all +go in the end. He is down and out, without a cent in his clothes, +walking the streets night after night---"carrying the banner." Sometimes +he slips into a saloon where they have free lunch and picks up a piece +of bread here and a piece of cheese there. Sometimes he is lucky to fill +in on a beef stew, but very seldom. + +Now, if that isn't living on husks, I don't know what you call it! His +clothes are getting filthy and he is in despair. How he wishes he had +never left home! He hasn't a friend in the big city, and he doesn't know +which way to turn. He says, "I'll write home." But no, he is too proud. +He wants to go home the same as he left it. And the longer he waits the +worse he will be. No one grows any better, either bodily or morally, by +being on the Bowery. So the quicker they go to some other place the +better. + +But the Bowery draws men by its own strange attraction. They get into +the swing of its life, and find the company that misery loves. God +knows there's plenty of it there! I've seen men that you could not drive +from the Bowery. But when a man takes Jesus as his guide he wants to +search for better grounds. + +Well, Tom had hit the pace that kills. And one night--about five years +ago--there wandered into the Mission where I was leading a meeting a +young man with pale cheeks and a look of utter despair on his face, +looking as though he hadn't had a square meal in many a day. It was Tom. +I didn't know him then. There are so many such cases on the Bowery one +gets used to them. But I took particular notice of this young man. He +sat down and listened to the services, and when the invitation was given +to those who wanted to lead better lives he put up his hand. + +Now there was something striking about his face, and I took to him. I +thought of my own life and dreaded the future for him. I spoke to him, +gained his confidence by degrees, and he told me his story as written in +the preceding pages. + +Here was a prodigal just as bad as the one in the Bible story. Well, he +was converted that night and took Jesus as his helper. He told me all +about his home, mother, and friends who had enough and to spare. The +servants had a better time and more to eat than he. "Tom," I said, "why +don't you go home?" "Oh, Mr. Ranney," he said, "I wish I could, but I +want to go back a little better than I am now." And God knows he was in +bad shape; the clothes he had on you couldn't sell to a rag-man; in +fact, he had nothing! + +I pitied the poor fellow from my heart. I was interested. I got his +father's address and sat down and wrote him a letter telling him about +his son's condition, etc. In a few days I received a letter from his +father inclosing a check for $10, and saying, "Don't let my son starve; +do all you can for him, but don't let him know his father is doing +this." + +Can't you see plainly the conditions? Our Father in heaven stands ready +at all times to help, but we must do something--meet the conditions. +Tom's father was ready to forgive and take him back, but he wanted Tom +to make the surrender. + +I looked after Tom to a certain extent, but I wanted him to learn his +lesson. There were times when he walked the streets and went hungry. I +corresponded with his father and told him how his son was getting along. +I got Tom a job washing dishes in a restaurant--the Bowery's main +employment--at $2.50 per week, and he stuck. + +I watched him closely. He would come to the Mission nearly every night +and would stand up and testify to God's goodness. He was coming on +finely. Many's the talk we would have together about home. The tears +would come to his eyes and he would say, "Oh, if I ever go home I'll be +such a different boy! Do you think father will forgive me, Mr. Ranney?" + +Well, eight months went on, and I thought it was time to get him off the +Bowery--he had had his lesson. So I wrote his father, and he sent the +necessary cash for clothes, railroad ticket, etc. And one night I said, +"Tom, would you like to go home?" You can imagine Tom's answer! I took +him out and bought him clothes, got back his watch and chain from the +pawnbroker, and went with him to the Grand Central Station. I got his +ticket, put him on the train, said "Good-by and God bless you!" and Tom +was bound for home. + +I receive a letter from him every month or so. I have visited his home +and have been entertained right royally by his father and mother. I +visited Tom last summer, and we did have a grand time fishing, boating, +driving, etc. I asked him, "Do you want to go back to New York, Tom?" +and he smiled and said, "Not for mine!" If any one comes from New York +and happens to say it's a grand place to make your fortune, Tom says, +"New York is a grand place to keep away from." You couldn't pull him +away from home with a team of oxen. + +"He arose and went to his father." Tom fed on husks. He learned his +lesson--not too dearly learned, because it was a lasting one. He is now +a man; he goes to church and Sunday-school, where he teaches a class of +boys. Once in a while he rings in his own experience when he was a +prodigal on the Bowery and far from God, and God's loving-kindness to +him. + +There are other boys on the Bowery from just as good families as +Tom's--college men some of them--who are without hope and without God's +friendship or man's. What can you and I do for them? + + +LAST WORDS + +I have married again, and have a good sweet Christian as companion, and +we have a little girl just beginning to walk. I'm younger, happier, and +a better man in mind and body than I was twenty years ago. I've a good +home and know that all good things are for those that trust. + +I remember one night, when I was going home with my wife, I met a +policeman who had arrested me once. He had caught me dead to +rights--with the goods. After awaiting trial I got off on a technical +point. I said, "Helen, let me introduce you to the policeman that +arrested me one time." He had changed some; his hair was getting gray. +He knew me, and when I told him I was a missionary, he said, "God bless +you, Reilly" (that's the name I went under), "and keep you straight! You +did cause us fellows a lot of trouble in those days." + +Indeed I did cause trouble! There wasn't a man under much closer watch +than I was twenty years ago. Just one incident will illustrate this and +show what a change God brings about in a man's life when he is soundly +converted. It was in 1890 that a pal of mine and I were told of a place +in Atlantic City where there was any amount of silverware, etc., in a +wealthy man's summer home, so we undertook to go there and see if we +could get any of the good things that were in the house. We reached the +city with our kit of tools, and my pal went and hid them a little way +from the station, waiting till night, as we did not want to carry them +around with us. Tom said, "Dan, I'm hungry; I'll go and see what I can +get in a bakery." We were not very flush and could not afford anything +great in the way of a dinner. Off he went, and I was to wait till he +came back. + +I sat down in the waiting-room, when a man came up and sat down beside +me, giving me a good-day. "Nice weather," said he. I said, "Yes." Said +he, "How's little old New York?" "All right," I answered. "Have you got +your ticket back?" said he. I thought he was a little familiar, and I +said, "It's none of your business." He was as cool as could be. "Oh, +yes," he said, "it is my business," and turning the lapel of his coat he +held a Pinkerton badge under my nose, at the same time saying, "The +game's called, and I know you. Where's the tools?" I told him I did not +have any. "The only thing that saves you," said he. "Now you get out of +here when that next train goes, or there will be a little trouble." My +pal came in at this time, and I winked at him to say nothing. He +understood. We took that train all right, and lost our tools. + +I never saw Atlantic City again until 1908, when I was asked to speak at +the Y. M. C. A. I told this story in my talk. I've been back four times; +I've been entertained at one of the best hotels there, the Chalfonte, +for a week at a time. What a change! Twenty years ago, when I was in the +Devil's employ, run out of town; now, redeemed by God, an invited guest +in that same place. See what God can do for a man! + +It's a hard thing to close this record of the grace of God in my life, +for I feel as though I was leaving a lot of friends. If at any time you +are on the Bowery--not down and out--and want to see me, why, call at +No. 131, the Squirrel Inn Mission and Reading Room, and you'll find a +hearty welcome. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAVE RANNEY*** + + +******* This file should be named 13889.txt or 13889.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/8/13889 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/13889.zip b/old/13889.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2859b7f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13889.zip |
