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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59220 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece:
+  1. A Camp Kitchen.  2. Lumber Jacks in the Bush.]
+
+
+
+
+  TRAIL-TALES OF
+  WESTERN CANADA
+
+  BY
+
+  F. A. ROBINSON, B.A.
+
+
+
+  MARSHALL BROTHERS, LTD.,
+  LONDON, EDINBURGH & NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+  TO THE REVEREND ROBERT JOHNSTON, D.D.,
+  MINISTER OF THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN
+  CHURCH, MONTREAL, AND TO FRIENDS IN
+  HIS CONGREGATION WHOSE UNFAILING
+  INTEREST AND KINDNESS HAVE FOR YEARS
+  BEEN AN INSPIRATION IN THE WRITER'S
+  LIFE-WORK.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+This book has this virtue among others, that it is a true rescript of
+events that have happened in the author's personal experience.  It is
+made up of human documents that deal with matters of surpassing
+interest.  The book tells in simple and vivid style the story, always
+fascinating and thrilling, of the triumph of the Gospel in the souls of
+men.  It is a heartening book and a moving.  It will bring courage and
+hope to those who read it, and awaken in their hearts a deeper passion
+to share in God's great mission to men.
+
+The new west is full of the broken driftwood of humanity, showing the
+marks of the attrition of time and conflict and defeat--good stuff it
+is, but waste and lost.  This book tells of its salvage to the infinite
+joy of men, and to the glory of God.
+
+The author has the further distinction of having seen himself a large
+part of the events he describes.
+
+The book will do good wherever it goes.
+
+CHARLES W. GORDON.
+  ("Ralph Connor.")
+
+WINNIPEG, CANADA.
+  _October_ 5_th_, 1914.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+Old Ken's Round-up
+
+Charl
+
+The Banner Mines
+
+The "Hop"
+
+"Thy Touch has still its Ancient Power"
+
+"If a Man be Overtaken"
+
+The Superintendent's Visit
+
+The Cookee
+
+The Regeneration of Bill Sanders
+
+The Snake-room
+
+The Bush Fire
+
+Ruth and the Prodigal
+
+The Cord of Love
+
+Nell's Home-going
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+FRONTISPIECE.
+
+  A camp kitchen.  Lower half, Lumber Jacks in the
+  Bush.
+
+FACING PAGE 42.
+
+  1. A young miner before his dark and dingy cabin.
+  2. A mine and bunk-house. 3. "They buried her
+  half a mile from the camp" (see page 48).
+
+FACING PAGE 43.
+
+  1. Company house in a mountain mining town.  2. He
+  said he was "The only gentleman in the place"
+  (see page 34).  3. An open-air meeting in British
+  Columbia mining camp, between shifts.  4. Miners
+  at entrance to a British Columbia mine.
+
+FACING PAGE 90.
+
+  1. A prairie shack.  2. A copper miner's shack.
+  3. A bachelor's shack.  4. A shack on the hillside.
+  5. A mountain-side shack.
+
+FACING PAGE 128.
+
+  1. A western lumber camp.  2. Lumber camp
+  group in Sunday attire.  3. The day's work ended.
+  4. A typical bar-room.
+
+FACING PAGE 156.
+
+  1. Part of a town site after being swept by bush fires.
+  2. A bush fire getting under way.
+
+FACING PAGE 157.
+
+  1. Improvised dwellings; cover districts into which
+  people have fled for safety.  2. The long line of coke
+  ovens (see page 183).  3. The fire rapidly approaching.
+
+FACING PAGE 204.
+
+  1. British Columbia miners off shift.  2. Wrecked
+  through a wash-out.  3. A section of a mountain
+  mining town.
+
+FACING PAGE 205.
+
+  1. An exhausted prospector.  2. A miner's washing
+  day.  3. Ready to start for the hills to inspect a
+  mine.  4. Miners off to their daily toil.
+
+
+
+
+  TRAIL-TALES
+  OF WESTERN CANADA
+
+
+
+OLD KEN'S ROUND-UP
+
+Old Ken was "down on his luck."  For well-nigh fifty years he had "gone
+the pace" in a district where certain men say glibly, "there's no God
+west of the Rockies." The old prospector had been, according to those
+who knew him best, in one of three conditions for some years.  He was
+either "getting drunk, drunk, or sobering up."  And yet in spite of his
+weakness and sin, and in spite of the curses he got, there was no more
+popular man in the whole camp than Old Ken, although likely he was not
+conscious of it.  One of the miners had once expressed a conviction
+about Ken that was dangerously popular.  It was at the time Frank
+Stacey's mother died, in the East, and Frank had not "two bits" to his
+credit.  As might have been expected, it was Old Ken who started the
+hat to wire that Frank was leaving on the next train, and to see that
+he had "enough of the needful to do the decent thing."  "It's his last
+chance, boys," said Ken, as he made the rounds during the noon hour.
+"I got twenty-two dollars since eleven o'clock, so I guess, with what
+you fellers is a-going to do, the old camp's on the job, as usual, when
+a chap like Frank wants to pay his last respects."  There was some
+mystery about those twenty-two dollars until Andy the bar-tender told
+how Old Ken had "got it out of the boss" on the solemn promise that for
+two weeks he would "work like a Texas steer" without touching a cent
+until the debt of thirty dollars, minus eight for board, was
+discharged.  Then it was that one of the boys expressed himself thus
+about Ken: "By gosh, fellers, he's white clear through, that same old
+soak is, when there's any trouble on.  He's a pile decenter than his
+thirsty old carcase 'll let him be."
+
+On a particular morning some months ago the old prospector stood at the
+little station a mile or so away from the camp centre.  The "mixed" was
+winding her way slowly around the curves of the summit of the Rockies.
+From the windows of the solitary passenger car a young man looked
+somewhat anxiously across the valley below.  A few shacks nestled among
+the poplar brush, and in the distance an unpainted building stood, with
+distinct outline, towering against the dark background of the mountain
+range opposite.  The young man knew well enough, from his work among
+the miners and loggers, that yonder building was as a moral cancer
+eating out the best life of the community.  The outlook was not bright,
+but he was on the King's Business, and he knew that he had in his care
+the mightiest thing, and the greatest remedy, the world knows of.
+
+Alone he stepped off the train, and being the only arrival he received
+the entire benefit of Old Ken's curious but not unfriendly gaze.  The
+new-comer, who was conducting special services at selected mining and
+lumbering camps that were considered especially needy, looked around
+for a district missionary who was expected to act as his pilot for a
+few days.  No one but Old Ken and the station agent were in sight, so
+after friendly greetings to the former the young preacher made known
+the purpose of his visit.  Old Ken listened courteously.  "Well,
+stranger, you've hit the right spot alright; we kin stand the gospel in
+big doses here for sure; most of us is whiskey soaks or bums, and some
+of us is both.  I wish you luck, partner, but I'm feared most of us is
+incurable.  Yes, partner, I'm feared you've come too late, too late."
+
+The Frenchman who was hotel-keeper, professional gambler, lumberman and
+mine-owner, was not enthusiastic about allowing the sky-pilot to board
+in his notorious hotel and gambling den, but eventually accommodation
+was secured.
+
+The dance-hall was procured for the services, and Ken volunteered the
+information that the preacher wouldn't likely be disturbed, because
+there were only four women left in the camp, and he added, "two of 'em
+can dance like elephants and one's got ingrowing toenails or something
+else, so there's only one on duty, and that ain't enough variety for a
+good hop."
+
+A few days after the services commenced, Old Ken managed to replenish
+his treasury by the fortunate desire on the part of two men to get a
+haircut.  The old man boasted that he knew how to do most things.  "I'm
+never idle, preacher," he said with a wink; "when I ain't doing
+something I'm a-doing nothin', so I'm always a-doing something you see."
+
+No sooner were the locks shorn than the old man made his way to the
+bar-room.  He was emerging from his favourite haunt when the preacher
+met him.  "'Taint no use pretending I'm what I ain't, preacher," he
+said after a few minutes' conversation.  "I'm an old fool and I know
+it, but what does it matter?  Who cares?"
+
+"It matters a good deal to you, Ken," the preacher replied quietly,
+"and there are some of us who care.  Ken, if you would give God as big
+a place in your life as you've given whiskey there wouldn't be room for
+the things that have made you call yourself an old fool.  I know He
+could make a mighty good man of you, Ken."
+
+"Thank you kindly, preacher, but you don't know me: I'm the hardest old
+guy in this country; the fellers around here think they can go it some,
+but let 'em all get as full as they kin hold and I'll take as much as
+any one of 'em and then put twelve glasses more on top of that to keep
+it kind of settled, and then pile the whole gang under the table and
+walk out like a gentleman.  Yes, sir, I kin do it; and if a feller's as
+big as a house I'll whittle him down to my size and lick him.  Yer
+intentions are good, partner, but you're about fifty years late on this
+job."
+
+The days allotted to the mission were rapidly passing away, and while
+not a few had given evidence of seeing "the vision splendid," there
+were some after whom "the little preacher," as he had come to be
+generally spoken of in the camp, greatly longed.
+
+Coming down the stairs one day he saw Old Ken standing with his back to
+the stair rail.  Putting his hand on the old man's shoulder he entered
+into conversation.
+
+"Ken, you haven't been to one of the services yet, and I want you to
+come to-night."
+
+"Lord bless you, preacher, if I went to a religious meeting the roof
+'ud fall in for sure, and I don't want to bust up the dance-hall."
+
+But the little preacher was not in a mood to be "jollied" that day.
+"Ken," he continued, "I'd like you to give God a chance.  Do you know,
+I like the look of you, and----"
+
+The old prospector cut the sentence short, straightened up, and gazed
+appreciatively into the speaker's eyes.  "What's that you said,
+preacher?  What's that you said?  You like the look o' me!  Well,
+siree, that's the decentest thing that's been said to me in thirty
+years!  Yes, sir, it is: I'm treated like a yaller dog around here; but
+you speak decently to a yaller dog, he'll wag his tail.  He likes it,
+you know.  Say, preacher, when you need me just you whistle and I'm on
+the job!"
+
+"I take your offer, old man," said the preacher.  "I've been here for
+some time and I've heard a good deal that I didn't want to hear.  Some
+of you fellows have been cursing pretty nearly day and night since I
+came.  I didn't want to hear it, but I couldn't get away from it.  I've
+heard the boys; it's only fair they should hear me.  Ken, you round
+them up and bring them to the dance-hall."
+
+Ken's hand was extended.  "Here's my hand on it, preacher; I'm yer man.
+If the boys ain't there you'll see my head in a sling in the morning."
+
+At 7.30 Ken organized himself into an Invitation Committee.  There were
+rumours that he even brushed his coat.  At any rate, at 7.45 he stood
+at the door of the gambling den, and with an air of unusual importance
+he succeeded in getting silence long enough to tell "the boys" that
+there was "a religious show on in the dance-hall."  "The procession
+will form in ten minutes," he continued, "and every ---- man in this
+place has got to be in it."  A few laughed; some cursed at the
+interruption, and others were so engrossed in their game that they
+appeared not to have heard.
+
+In a few minutes Ken entered the barroom and started his round-up.
+After telling one or two quietly that it was "up to him" to get the
+boys to the religious show, he made his proclamation.  "Come out of
+this, you ---- fellers, and come up to the ---- dance-hall and give the
+---- little preacher a fair show, or I'll kick the ---- hide off you."
+The writer has no apology to make for blasphemy either in the East or
+West, but like classical music, to some ears, Old Ken's blasphemous
+language was not so bad as it sounded.
+
+After the old man had brought into use all his remarkable reserve of
+Western mining camp vocabulary, there was only one man besides the
+bar-tender who failed to join the procession.
+
+The services had become well advertised throughout the entire district
+by this time, so that when Old Ken arrived with his company the little
+hall was fairly well filled.  But the old man was "going to see this
+thing through," and so, despite the protestations that almost upset the
+gravity of the preacher conducting the preliminary song service, the
+gang was coaxed and forced to the front seats.  Ken directed the
+seating operations in a way that suggested his ownership of the entire
+place.  In a stage whisper he instructed the boys to "get a squint at
+the preacher's hair."  With pride he continued, "mighty good cut that,
+I performed the operation this afternoon."
+
+At the close of the service he came to the platform.  "Say, preacher,
+that was a great bunch.  There ain't a ---- (excuse me, preacher, I
+forgot you don't swear), but say, there ain't a man of 'em but's done
+time.  I'll tell you, preacher, we'll run this show together.  I'll
+round 'em up and you hit 'em;" then with a swing of his big arm he
+added, "and hit 'em hard.  See here, preacher, you take a tip from me;
+us old sinners don't want to listen to none of yer stroke-'em-down-easy
+preachers; we wants a feller what 'll tell us we're d---- fools to be
+hoodwinked by hitting the pace, and what'll help us to get up after he
+shows us we're down."
+
+A few nights later the preacher had Ken's "bunch" particularly in view
+as he delivered his message.  Near the close he asked during one of
+those times of reverent silence that may be felt but not described:
+"Are not some of you men tired of going the pace?  You know it doesn't
+pay.  Many a time you curse yourselves for being fools, and yet you go
+back to the old ways that blast your life.  Men!  God knows how some of
+you are tempted, and He is ready to help.  His Son came into the world
+to save sinners.  He stood in the face of the fiercest temptations, and
+with the command of a conqueror He said, 'Get thee behind Me.'  And,
+Men!  He is ready to stand alongside of every passion-torn man to-day
+and to help him to overcome.  Isn't there some man here to-night who
+wants to do the decent thing, and who will accept His offer of help in
+the biggest fight any man has?"
+
+The words were simple and commonplace enough, but the One who uses
+stumbling lips was present that night.  Unexpectedly one man arose,
+pulling himself up by the back of the seat in front of him--a
+sin-marred man, trembling as a result of daily dissipation--and said in
+a muffled voice, "I want to do the decent."  A confirmed gambler not
+far away stood up and merely said, "Me too, Bob."  Another, in a tone
+of despair, cried, "God and me knows there's nothing in this kind of
+life!  Oh the d----, d---- whiskey, it's ruined me."  Late into the
+night the preacher walked along the trail with one of these sin-wrecked
+men; but the transformation of that life and other lives must
+constitute a separate story.
+
+A few days before the mission closed Old Ken came to the preacher and
+announced his intended departure from the camp.  "You see, stranger,
+the camp's pretty quiet, and I ain't a-making enough money to buy a
+dress for a humming-bird.  I ain't got the wherewithal for a ticket,
+but if I strike the right kind of conductor I guess I'll make the
+grade.  You see they can't put a feller off between stations in this
+country.  So I'll get one station along anyway, and if they chuck me
+off I'll wait for the next train, and a few chucks and I'll get to
+N---- anyway."
+
+The following morning prospector and preacher walked together down the
+railway track to the little station.  A farewell word was spoken, and a
+farewell token slipped into the big hard hand.  Old Ken stood a moment
+or two on the steps of the car.  There was a far-away look in the old
+man's eyes as he gazed in the direction of the distant Cascade range.
+"Good-bye, preacher.  Yes, maybe, maybe we'll strike the main trail
+that leads home.  I hope so--God knows--maybe it ain't too late for me
+yet.  I kinder think lately that God wants Old Ken.  Good-bye,
+preacher; God bless you."
+
+Three months later "the little preacher" received a letter from a
+British Columbia miner.  One paragraph may be quoted here: "Poor Old
+Ken was burned to death in a hotel fire in S---- three weeks ago.  He
+was the kindest old man I ever met, and as long as I live I shall thank
+God for the night he rounded us up and brought us to your meeting in
+the dance-hall."
+
+
+
+
+CHARL
+
+When Charlie Rayson passed out of the dance-hall in the little mountain
+mining town a few nights after Old Ken's round-up, he was on the
+border-line between despair and hope.  Was there any chance?  For years
+he had apparently worked with the logging gang only that he might give
+full rein to the lusts that devoured him; and if he remained in the
+bush the whole winter it was with an impatience for the days to pass so
+that the spring might bring him to the bar-rooms and dens of vice,
+where the awful monotony might be relieved in a spring-long spree.
+Nobody had any particular interest in Charlie, and no one knew from
+whence he came.
+
+And yet there seemed to be some slight ray of hope to-night.  He had
+listened for the first time since boyhood to the pearl of the parables,
+and then Old Ken had asked the preacher to "sing that there Wandering
+Boy piece."  Charlie knew not if his mother still lived, but the words,
+"Oh! could I see you now, my boy, as fair as in olden times," came like
+his mother's call through the sin-stained past.  For thirteen years he
+had cut himself entirely off, so far as his whereabouts was concerned,
+from that one who had never ceased to love him.
+
+In a few minutes after the close of the service Charlie and the
+preacher were alone on the mountain trail.  Suddenly Charlie stopped
+and said, "Good God, preacher, you can't, you don't understand what I'm
+up against.  For nineteen years I've been in the hands of the doctor or
+the policeman--my passions rip me to pieces--men can't help me; I
+wonder if God can?  I want to believe what you said to-night is true,
+but I've always wanted to do the thing that damns me, worse than I have
+wanted to do anything else, and yet I never do it without something
+saying 'don't.'"
+
+In the silence of the lonely hills the two men stood, while one asked
+Him who is the Help of the helpless to be the Refuge of the
+passion-pursued man.  Poor Charlie could utter but few words: "God, oh,
+God," he sobbed, "I'm like that prodigal, and I'm sick of it all.  Oh,
+God, can you help me?  I want to see my old mother."  With the mention
+of the word mother the man burst into a passion of weeping.  For
+several minutes no word was uttered, as the preacher steadied the
+trembling man.  It was no easy task for Charlie to do what he was
+counselled to do after he had made the Great Decision.  But that night
+he read, from the Testament given him, a portion of the third chapter
+of St. John's Gospel, and knelt by his bunk and asked for strength
+sufficient.  To kneel down and pray in certain Western mining camp
+bunk-houses is a man's job, but Charlie had realized that only One was
+able to deliver from the passions that rend, and to that One he
+appealed.
+
+A fortnight later an old woman in a far-away Ontario village received a
+letter bearing a British Columbia postmark.  She was a poor, lonely,
+half-crippled individual, but the message of that letter enriched and
+cheered her and quickened her footsteps as nothing had done in years.
+To everybody she knew, and to a good many people she did not know, she
+told of her new joy.  In her trembling old hands she held the precious
+letter.  "Do you know, I've got a letter from my Charl.  I thought he
+was dead.  I haven't heard from him in thirteen years, but he's in
+British Columbia, and he says he's a Christian man now, and he wants to
+see his mother--and he's going to save up so's he can come home, and
+till he comes he's going to write every week--and he sent me some
+money.  Oh, how good God is to give me back my Charl!"  The poor old
+soul seemed raised as if by a miracle from her invalidism.
+
+Charlie toiled on in the logging gang, and when pay-day came the
+hotel-keeper reaped the usual harvest from most of the men, and was
+hoping that Charlie and Bill Davis, two of his best customers, would be
+coaxed back to their old habits.  Bill had been known as the "little
+devil" of Primeau's gang, and his professed change of heart was a thing
+incredible to the entire community.  But Charlie and Bill had been a
+good deal together of late, and the latter had told Charlie all he
+purposed to do and be with God's help, and so the two men became
+mutually helpful.
+
+Five months passed, and besides having purchased new clothes, Charlie
+Rayson had one hundred and fifty dollars in the savings bank at Brandon
+Falls.
+
+And so at last the home journey was to be made.  It would be hard to
+say who was the more excited, Charlie or his loyal friend Bill Davis.
+For some time Bill thought he would "pull out" when Charlie went, but
+later he decided to stay on his job a few months longer.  Nothing would
+do but that Charlie should take "just a little remembrance" of $25 from
+Bill to the aged mother.
+
+On Saturday afternoon the final arrangements were made, and Bill did a
+score of things to make Charlie's get-away easier and pleasanter.
+While Bill was purchasing a few little necessities at the company
+store, Charlie stepped across the threshold of the bar-room for the
+first time in months.  He wanted to say good-bye to Andy the
+bar-tender.  A number of Charlie's old pals were sitting or lounging
+around, some of them well on the way to their terrible monthly debauch.
+Numerous hands were extended and not a few glasses offered to Charlie.
+"Not for me, boys--I've cut it out for good, thanks all the same," was
+Charlie's firm response.
+
+"Oh, come off," cried one, "you ain't a-going back on your old pals
+just 'cause you've got a new suit o' clothes."
+
+Numerous sallies followed this, but to each one Charlie gave a similar
+reply, and backed towards the door.  It has always been supposed that
+it was Primeau himself who tripped Charlie, but be that as it may,
+somehow Charlie stumbled backwards to the bar-room floor; and when Bill
+Davis was returning through the hall some of the men were holding
+Charlie while others were pouring whiskey through his lips, "just to
+give him a lesson in sociability."  Bill Davis could scarcely believe
+that the boys had tried to make Charlie drink, but when he realized
+what had happened, his indignation prompted the profanity that had
+become a life habit.  He checked the words, however, and shouted at the
+scoffing group to leave Charlie alone or somebody would get a headache.
+There was a laugh from one and a muttered "mind your own d----
+business" from another.  And then Bill took a hand in the affair.
+
+The following day the affray was being generally discussed.  One or two
+men who were participants in it were careful to keep out of the public
+gaze.  Bill had not selected places where they should fall when he was
+defending Charlie.  To a little group in the bar-room Andy gave the
+information that "There was something doing alright, when Bill started
+in to look after Charlie.  Say! the feathers was a-flying.  Bill ain't
+such a blamed good Christian that he's forgot how to fight."
+
+The taste of whiskey had aroused the old craving in Charlie, and long
+after the east-bound train had pulled out he was fighting his battle
+with Bill by his side.
+
+Never had the two men felt more alone, and never had they more needed a
+friend than now.  All Charlie's confidence in his ability to stand firm
+seemed to be shaken.  "Bill!" he said, "I swallowed some, and it seems
+like it was running all through me to find some more to keep it
+company.  Bill! for God's sake don't leave me.  I feel as if I was
+going to lose the game."
+
+Bill hardly knew what to say or do.  The fight in Charlie's behalf and
+the disappointment over the delayed journey had left a great
+depression.  Neither of the men went down to the evening meal.  To pass
+the bar-room door and to face the men again seemed more than Charlie
+dare undertake.
+
+The next train for the East passed through at 3 a.m., and after
+thinking over the events of the afternoon, Bill made up his mind that
+they would flag Number 56, and that he would journey a hundred miles or
+so with his sorely-tempted chum.  In the darkness of midnight, the two
+men passed quietly out of the building and along the trail to the
+railway station.  At last they were really on the train, and having
+found an empty double seat the men made themselves as comfortable as
+possible, and were soon, like their fellow-passengers, getting such
+fitful sleep as one may obtain on the average "local."
+
+It was the season of the year when "washouts" make journeying
+dangerous, and frequently in Western Canada trains are delayed many
+hours, and sometimes days, by the swelling of the mountain streams
+which in their onward rush sometimes carry culverts and ballast from
+beneath ties and track.
+
+The train had pulled out of Sinclair, and was making her usual time
+through the eastern section of the Pass, when passengers were suddenly
+thrown from their seats by a terrific jolt.  Lamp glasses crashed to
+the aisle, and baggage was dislodged from the racks.  Charlie pulled
+himself to his feet almost instantaneously, despite the knocks he had
+received.  The lamps were flickering and smoking, but fortunately there
+appeared no danger of fire.  The brakeman, hatless and with a bleeding
+face, came rushing through the cars seeking to allay the fears.  "Stay
+in the cars, please--there's no danger of fire.  You're better here
+than outside.  Doctors will be here soon."
+
+Bill had not escaped serious injury.  He found it impossible to rise,
+and as tenderly as he knew how, Charlie pillowed his head and stooped
+beside him as he lay in the aisle.  "I'm feared I'm pretty badly
+hurted, pardner," groaned Bill.  "There was something kind o' crushed
+inside.  Guess I'll just lie here for a bit."
+
+The engine had plunged through an undermined piece of track, and
+engineer and fireman were terribly cut and scalded, while the
+baggage-man had been pinned beneath some heavy trunks that had shot
+forward and downward when the engine crashed into the washout.
+
+"It's the hospital for you, my man," said the doctor kindly, after a
+hurried examination of Bill's injuries.  "We'll make you as comfortable
+as we can before the 'special' pulls out, but you need a little
+attention that you can't get in the camp even if you were able to stand
+the journey."
+
+Charlie got permission to accompany his pal, and for Bill's sake he
+kept a brave heart, although the events of the past twenty-four hours
+robbed him of the lightheartedness that had been his in anticipation of
+the home-going.
+
+Two days later Charlie decided to continue his journey eastward.  The
+doctors were still anxious about Bill, but there was nothing Charlie
+could do, and he knew the old mother was waiting for her boy.
+
+It was a touching farewell as the sick man's hand was clasped.  A score
+of times Charlie had expressed his sorrow that he had ever let Bill
+accompany him, and yet each time in his own way he thanked Bill for
+standing by him when he was "near bowled out."
+
+Bill tried to say that he was glad Charlie was going home, but his tone
+and look revealed his sense of loss and loneliness at the prospect of
+his pal's departure, and Charlie's eyes needed a good deal of
+attention, which they received surreptitiously.
+
+Motioning for Charlie to come nearer, the sick man whispered: "You're a
+brick, old pard, to stay by me this long.  I guess she's getting
+anxious for yer.  Say, Charlie, when yer away down there I'll be kind
+er lonely; how would it be if yer made a bit of a prayer once in a
+while for me?"  Then with a last pressure on the still clasped hand, he
+added, "Good-bye, old pal, God bless yer; maybe we'll hit the trail
+together again some day, but say, Charlie!" (the voice was throbbing
+with emotion, and the eyes reflected well-nigh a mother's
+tenderness)--"say, Charlie! we'll stay by it, won't we?  If the whole
+world goes back on Jesus Christ we two'll stick to him, 'cause we know
+what He can do; don't we, Charlie?"
+
+Thus they parted.  Inside of three days the one was clasped in a
+mother's arms and there was great joy in the little village home; and
+almost at the same hour the other reached his Father's Home, and there,
+too, was great joy.
+
+
+
+
+THE BANNER MINES
+
+Charlie Rayson was the man who first suggested the holding of special
+services at the "Banner."  "Oh! boys, but it's a hard spot.  I mind
+when Old Ken hit the trail to get a job there.  Somebody brought word
+they was paying six bits an hour for rough carpentering, and next
+morning Ken took over the mountain with his pack.  He never stopped
+even long enough to get on a spree.  In about a week he was back at the
+old spot.  That night he was in the bar-room telling the boys about his
+trip.  I mind he told 'em they could judge what it was like when he was
+'the only gentleman in the place.'"  Those who knew Ken needed no
+further report of conditions at the Banner Mines.
+
+When the District Superintendent heard that the men were planning to go
+to the "Banner," he wrote to tell them not to be too much discouraged
+if it took a week's hard work to get half a dozen hearers.  "The spot
+is known to many as the 'hell-hole of the Province,' and the Church
+does not begin to figure in importance with the corner grocery, but
+with two special workers and the amount of earnest prayer that is
+everywhere being offered.  I am hopeful that the heartrending
+indifference may be overcome."
+
+And so on a certain Monday morning the missioners made their way to the
+Junction, and then took the dirty work-train up the gulch to the camp.
+In a community where men have for years read anti-church,
+anti-religious literature, and where "parasite" is hissed under the
+breath every time a minister of the Gospel is seen, it could scarcely
+be expected that anything approaching a welcome would be given the
+new-comers.
+
+Inside of an hour the work of getting acquainted was commenced.  On the
+trail, along the railway track, at the tipple, at the entrance to the
+mines, in the washroom, wherever men could be met, the missioners
+sought to enter into conversation with the miners.  Some answered
+civilly, a few were almost cordial, many were surly, and many others
+either absolutely indifferent and silent, or openly antagonistic.  Dave
+Clements, a disabled miner, who looked after the wash-room, expressed
+himself thus: "Religion ain't no good here; most of the mine-owners is
+supposed to hev got it, and so the rest of us don't want it.  Look at
+the houses what they make us live in--my missus has been sick most all
+winter--jest frozen, that's why!  We pays eighteen dollars a month for
+the ---- places.  The company owns everything around here: land,
+houses, stores, train--even the air belongs to 'em, 'cause it's full of
+their coal-dust.  We has to pay about three times the proper price for
+things; but, then, that's what helps 'em to be religious; that's what
+gives 'em the front seats in the synagogue, you bet; we fellers sweat
+to buy church organs and plush cushions, and then the parasite parsons
+pat the mine-owners on the pate and give thanks for such generous
+brethren.  If anybody needs revivalling, stranger, it's that gang of
+hypocrites back yonder what makes us poor devils raise the wind to blow
+their glory trumpets."  Yet even Dave was compelled to say of Him whom
+the missioners sought to exalt, "I find no fault in this man."
+
+In response to an invitation to attend an evening service one miner
+replied: "Meeting, eh?  Any booze going?  No?  Any dance after?
+Something better than that?  Gee! it must be swell!"  Then the tone was
+contemptuous: "No, siree; you couldn't get me into a religious meeting
+with a couple of C.P.R. engines."
+
+Yet the daily conversations and invitations were not all in vain, for
+when there is a real concern on the part of Christians for
+non-Christians, that concern is likely to be imparted to those whom
+they seek to win.
+
+Moses Evans, a Welsh miner, listened somewhat impatiently to the
+missioner's words, as he stood leaning against a telephone pole.  Then
+with apparent weariness he answered, "Look here, young fellow, there
+ain't a ---- man in this country can live a Christian life in this
+camp.  I've tried it; you ain't.  I know; you don't.  I used to be a
+Christian in Wales--leastwise, I think I was--but you can't be here."
+The interview ended, however, with a promise on Moses' part to be
+present on the following night.  Three nights later he knelt, at the
+close of the service, behind the old piano, and brokenly asked God to
+make him "different again."  "Forgive my sins," he continued, "and help
+me like You did in Wales."
+
+Near the end of the week the missioners planned to hold an open-air
+service a mile and a half down the gulch, at a spot called "Spanish
+Camp," where nearly two hundred miners lived.  It was hoped that by
+arranging the meeting between "shifts" a number might hear the Gospel
+message, who had not previously been reached.  Every tent and shack was
+visited twice preceding the meeting, and hand-printed signs were posted
+wherever likely to arrest attention.  At the time for the meeting to
+commence there were five children and eight dogs present.  It was not a
+"dignified" course to pursue, and probably merited the disapproval of
+the "church fathers," but one of the missioners, yearning to get a
+hearing for his message, got possession of a large tin can from a
+nearby rubbish heap, and with the aid of a club succeeded in getting
+considerable noise from its emptiness.  The people may have appreciated
+his advertising ability, or it may be they preferred to hear the Gospel
+rather than the noise that was coming from the tin can; but, at any
+rate, in a few minutes a circle of thirty or forty gathered around the
+speakers.
+
+A few minutes after the meeting had commenced the limping figure of
+Moses Evans might have been seen on the mountain-side near No. 3 Mine.
+Hurrying down the trail he crossed the rustic bridge over the little
+mountain stream, and came to where the crowd had gathered.  Without any
+hesitation he pushed through the circle and stood in the centre.
+Reverently removing his miner's cap, he said, "I'd like to pray."  A
+few faces expressed a sneer, but Moses clasped his hands and uttered
+his petition, which was written down immediately thereafter.  "Oh, God,
+you know as how the devil has been at me all day, saying as I dasn't
+stand out in the public air and confess Thee.  You know, oh, my God!
+that I want to be a good man again.  You know I can't read nor write in
+English, but You've put words in my mouth; put them into my heart, and
+keep it clean, for Jesus' sake.  Amen."
+
+Moses Evans and other men, who with him made open confession of Jesus
+Christ, were again and again spat upon and cursed, as they passed along
+the "entry" at their daily toil in the mine.  "But it's a great thing,"
+wrote the school-teacher, "that these men can be by tongue damned
+higher and damned lower than anything else in this world, and yet stand
+firm.  Increase the number of such men, and you have a leaven of
+righteousness that will eventually permeate this whole mining
+community.  This is our only hope of rescue from the mire of sensuality
+and vice into which many of our miners have sunk.  Moses says to please
+tell you that the words of the hymn you used to sing are true in his
+own experience:--
+
+  'Through days of toil, when heart doth fail
+    God will take care of you;
+  When dangers fierce your path assail,
+    God will take care of you.'"
+
+
+
+
+THE "HOP"
+
+It was the acceptance of the challenge to attend the "Hop" at the
+Bonanza Camp that popularized the services at the Banner Mines.
+
+[Illustration: 1. A Young Miner before his dark and dingy cabin.
+  2. A Mine and Bunk-house.
+  3. "They buried her half a mile from the camp."  (see page 48).]
+
+After the open-air meeting a number of men lounged around one of the
+shacks discussing the question of religion.  When one of the preachers
+approached the group to invite them to the meeting in the Hall, "Smut"
+Ludlow at once began to air his grievances against the Church, and to
+inform the preacher that there were "more ---- rascals in the Church
+than in any other organization on earth."  Then Frank Stacy contributed
+his bit of condemnation: "See here, preacher!  The last time I was back
+East, I thought I'd see what sort of a show they was still running in
+yer House o' God, and so I went in.  Just over the archway inside was a
+fine piece of writing, something about 'the rich and the poor meeting
+together, and going snooks.'  I thought it sounded pretty good, so I
+made myself as comfortable as I could in one of them soft seats.  After
+a while some dude started to play the organ, and folks dressed up fit
+to kill strutted into their seats and bobbed their heads down and
+pretended to say their prayers.  Then I watched an old guy trying to
+get his overcoat off: I mind how his other coat well-nigh come off with
+it; he sure was scared when he saw his shirt sleeve, and he hustled
+both his coats on again like he'd been caught stealing.  Just then
+somebody tapped me on the shoulder, and a coon with a silk tile in his
+hand told me to sit at the back where the seats weren't rented.  I went
+back looking like a fool, but you bet I didn't stop for a back seat: I
+decided I'd take an outside berth, and it'll be a few hundred years
+before this chicken gets caught again.  Rich and poor meet together,
+and go snooks!  It looked like it, didn't it?  See here, preacher,
+ain't it about time you fellers stopped talking one thing and serving
+up another?  The whole thing is tommy-rot, that's what I say."
+
+[Illustration: 1. Company Houses in a Mountain Mining Town.
+  2. He said he was "The only gentleman in the place" (see page 34).
+  3. An Open-air Meeting in British Columbia Mining Camp, between shifts.
+  4. Miners at entrance to a British Columbia Mine.]
+
+Hal Rinnell was not antagonistic, but objected to an illustration that
+the preacher had used.  "Say, preacher, warn't that there story about
+the Bishop and the silver candlesticks a bit fishy?  You mind you said
+about the feller swiping 'em after the Bishop had give him a bed, and
+then he got away with 'em through the night; and when the p'liceman saw
+him with 'em next morning, and know'd they belonged to the Bishop, they
+jest nabbed him and brought him back.  And you mind you said the Bishop
+told 'em the man didn't swipe the candlesticks, but got 'em from him as
+a present.  Then when the p'lice was gone, the Bishop called the thief
+'brother,' and made him keep his haul and promise to be square from
+that on.  Now that ain't reasonable: it ain't human nature.  I'd like
+to see the pumpkin-head what would swipe my candlesticks, if I had any,
+arter I'd give him a decent bed.  He'd hev his next breakfast in Hades,
+you bet.  Some o' you preachers ain't reasonable; you kinder get yer
+wires crossed."
+
+The cross-firing ended by a proposition from "Smut."  "There's going to
+be a hot old time to-morrow night at the Bonanza, preacher.  I'll make
+a deal with you.  You don't like our style; we don't like your hot air.
+You attend the ball at Bonanza, we'll attend your show, providing you
+start when we start, and leave when we leave, and get home as soon as
+we do.  How's that, boys?"  The "boys" trusted Smut's judgment, and
+knew by his wink that the proposition was safe, hence their unanimity
+to make it a "go."  None of them dreamed that the proposal would be
+accepted, but after a moment's conference with his fellow-worker the
+preacher agreed; and in order that there should be no misunderstanding,
+he repeated Smut's proposition.
+
+The following evening the six-mile walk to the Bonanza was commenced,
+and the second party to the contract followed the leaders.  The first
+mile of trail was familiar to the preacher, then the way led over
+rarely-travelled paths.  Carefully he took his bearings when that was
+possible, for few landmarks existed.  He observed the whisperings and
+smiles when the way was wide enough for two or three of the men to walk
+together, and surmised that he was the subject of the conversation.
+
+At last the Bonanza was reached, and already the gaudily-decorated
+dining-room of the boarding-house resounded with laughter and shouting
+from well-nigh a hundred guests.  From all corners of the district they
+had gathered, for where social opportunities are so rare the camp ball
+is a great event.
+
+The "band" consisted of violin, cornet, and horn, accompanied by the
+rhythmic pounding of the performers' feet.
+
+Women were scarce in the district, and most of the men desired to dance
+with every woman present, so that the periods of rest were few and
+short.
+
+Liquor was dispensed freely, and some of the dancers became hilarious
+and others quarrelsome.
+
+Only once was there anything approaching a fight.  "Nell" Webster, a
+notorious character, who was once well known in the crime colony of an
+American city because of her more than ordinary attractiveness, had
+passed through many degrading experiences, and had eventually taken up
+her abode at the Bonanza.  Excessive use of drugs and liquor had
+wrecked her attractiveness, but a dance was considered incomplete
+without her, and when excited by intoxicants she could "hold the floor
+with any of them."  It was through one miner attempting to monopolize
+Nell's dances that the quarrel arose.  Heated words, then curses and
+threats, created an ugly situation, until a few of the more sober
+managed to separate the angered ones.  It was the last night they would
+quarrel over Nell.  Her mad race was ended.  The girl of beauty had let
+sin become her taskmaster, and now for years her cup of pleasure had
+contained only the dregs.  Step by step the progress had been downward.
+Once, "respectable" men with refined brutality had made her think she
+was their valued companion, and then, like an orange from which the
+sweetness had been extracted, they had cast her off.  For a time she
+gained notoriety by being the wife of Len Walsh, counterfeiter,
+burglar, confidence-man, and all-round crook.  At that time she was
+known as "Len Walsh's woman," but when Len lapsed from clever crime to
+simple drunkenness, she left him and took another name.  And now for
+years her associates had been drunks and crooks.
+
+Once during the revelry, as an opportunity presented itself, the
+preacher spoke a few words to her about her terrible mode of living.
+He thought there was a shadow of remorse as, with a forced smile, she
+replied, "I don't give a d---- now; better try it on somebody younger."
+
+Two days later the preacher was asked to return to the Bonanza and
+"make a last prayer over Nell."  They had found her lifeless body the
+morning following the camp ball.  Her grimy shack was littered with
+bottles and glasses, and there were evidences of a fracas--sin-marred,
+sin-mauled Nell lay on the filthy floor in the dress she had worn at
+the dance.  They buried her half a mile from the camp, and one of the
+boys crudely carved the word "Nell" on a cedar post, and placed it at
+the head of the solitary grave amid the lonely mountains.  Few sadder
+moments has the preacher ever spent than the ones occupied in the
+burial of Nell.  Again and again were her last words to him
+recalled--words that have since become an appeal in behalf of the
+wandering: "I don't give a d---- now; better try it on somebody
+younger."
+
+But to return to the dance.  It was long past midnight when the
+"Banner" contingent started for home.  There was something of interest
+that Smut had to confidentially communicate to each man.  Then there
+was a hurried shout, "All right, boys," and the crowd immediately
+disappeared in the darkness.  Thus far the preacher had kept his part
+in the agreement, but Smut Ludlow was planning that on the homeward
+journey the rest of the contract must be made impossible.
+
+The miners struck a furious pace, and the preacher was for a few
+minutes unable to see the winding way, but he stumbled along as rapidly
+as the hindmost of his fellow-travellers.  Very soon he realized that
+many of the men could not maintain that pace for long, and so,
+refraining from conversation, he held himself well in reserve, being
+content to take his pace from the slowest in the line.  For half an
+hour no change in position took place.  The foremost men were chuckling
+to themselves over "shaking" the preacher, and were wondering how far
+back on the trail he was, and whether he would spend the next few hours
+in the woods waiting for daylight.  But their mirth was short-lived.
+The preacher decided that it was his move next.  He could hear the
+panting of the men immediately ahead of him, and at a favourable
+opportunity he increased the length and speed of his stride, and passed
+two of the boys.  At each widening of the trail he performed the same
+feat, until only Smut remained ahead.
+
+Smut was mightily amazed when he discovered who was his nearest
+fellow-traveller, and an oath escaped him.  With vigorously swinging
+arms he made every effort to keep the lead, trying for a while to do a
+"jog-trot," but his feet began to drag heavily, and once or twice he
+stumbled.  No word was exchanged, for Smut was being pressed to the
+utmost expenditure of his strength, and the other contestant had never
+more longed for victory.  More than once he had received the cheers of
+the thousands when he was the favourite on McGill's field-day, but
+somehow he felt to-night larger issues were at stake than the athletic
+glory of a college.  He was still comparatively fresh, for he had been
+only an onlooker at the dance, and had no alcohol in his system.
+Narrating his final contest to his fellow-worker, he said, "If ever I
+prayed Samson's prayer with all my heart it was right then: 'Strengthen
+me, I pray Thee, only this once, O God.'"
+
+At last the two men were side by side, but only for a few seconds.
+With the enthusiasm of a victor the preacher quickly lengthened the
+distance, and managed to spare enough breath to call back, "Come on,
+boys; it's no use hanging around here all night."  At the first winding
+of the trail he broke into a run, and kept it up until he reached the
+bunk-house.  With all possible speed he unlaced his boots, threw off
+his coat, made himself as comfortable as possible, and when the boys
+filed in he was sitting alongside of the dining-table with his feet on
+a box and a book in his hand, looking as though he had been having a
+quiet night of reading.
+
+Poor Smut!  If ever a man had it rubbed in, it was Smut Ludlow.  Even
+before the camp was reached the attack commenced.  "Smut, you're a ----
+fool, and you've made ---- fools of every ---- man in the camp,"
+started Frank Stacey.
+
+But with characteristic Western fair-play the preacher's stock went up
+rapidly.  "That sky pilot ain't no slouch."  "Gee! whiz! you should
+have seen him give Smut the go-by when he was plunging around like a
+whale in shallow water, and puffing like the 'dummy' when she's trying
+to make the grade with too big a haul."  Many similar expressions went
+the round the next day, and the preacher was no longer regarded as the
+under-dog.
+
+"Say, pilot," said Frank at the noon hour, "where d'you learn that gait
+you struck last night?"  With a smile came the quiet reply, "I was
+brought up on the farm, and used to drive the calves to the water."  As
+Frank walked away he remarked, "Yer guv'nor must have raised blamed
+good calves."
+
+The most annoying result of the whole incident, so far as the men were
+concerned, lay in the fact that they were in honour bound to attend the
+evangelistic meeting.  To some it was so exasperating that they
+suggested the violation of the contract.  But that was not to be
+thought of in the opinion of the majority.  "We was licked, and we'll
+take our medicine, though it's ---- hard to swaller," said Hal Rinnell.
+
+For the meeting that night the hand-printed signs gave the information
+that a series of lantern slides would be exhibited at the commencement
+of the service.
+
+A few minutes after the opening, and while a popular Gospel hymn was
+being sung, about a dozen men availed themselves of the mercifulness of
+the semi-darkness, and slipped into back seats.  By the time the lights
+were turned up they had become accustomed to their surroundings, and
+bore with fair grace the suggestive glances that were directed towards
+them.
+
+The appeal was based on the words: "I find no fault in this Man."  All
+the controversial weaknesses of the Church were dismissed, and the
+great problems of heart and life were dealt with in a manly,
+sympathetic manner, and men's thoughts were directed to that One whose
+name still occupies its splendid solitary pre-eminence.  Before any
+person left the building, the speaker was in his accustomed place at
+the door to speak a personal word and give a handshake.  Frank Stacey
+clasped the proffered hand with genuine cordiality, and in a voice that
+was heard by all, said, "You're playing a bully good game, preacher.
+You hit as good a pace to-night as last night, and if you keep it up
+you'll lick us to a finish before your innings is out."
+
+Smut Ludlow was not in good humour, and as the boys sat around the
+bunk-house stove having their last smoke for the day, he was clearly
+disgusted and maddened at the changed attitude of the camp toward the
+preacher.  Once he expressed himself after Frank had praised the
+preacher for his "grit."  "You're a ---- lot of turncoats; things are
+in a ---- of a mess if you fellows can be bamboozled by one of these
+---- parasites."
+
+"Well! we ain't the only ones what were bamboozled, Smut.  He sure put
+it all over you last night, and if you had enough brains to fill a
+thimble you'd keep your fool mouth shut."  Never in their long
+acquaintance had Frank opposed Smut to the extent of this deliverance,
+but there was no question but that the preacher had overcome Frank's
+opposition and aroused his admiration.  "Anyhow," he continued, "that
+chap's a different brand to most of 'em, and I kinder think he can put
+up the genuine goods."
+
+Frank threw his clothes over the line and clambered into his untidy
+bunk, and long after the heavy breathing of wearied men had become
+general he lay with strangely new thoughts.  He agreed with the
+preacher that it wasn't a square deal to "find no fault in this Man,"
+and then to deliver Him to be crucified.  And that night the preacher
+had, by numerous illustrations, compelled the worst of men to pay their
+tribute to Him who was the highest that humanity has known; and yet
+were they any "squarer" to Him than Pilate was?  Had they not much more
+evidence than Pilate had, and yet, in the face of an absolutely
+unanimous verdict of "not guilty," they pronounced what was equal to
+the death penalty.  Again and again Frank said to himself "That ain't
+square."
+
+There was not a seat to spare in the dance-hall during the subsequent
+nights.  Frank Stacey missed no service, and when, at the mission's
+close, a meeting was called of those interested in the organization of
+a Church and the erection of a building, he was one of the little
+company.
+
+When six months later they were ready to occupy the new church, Frank
+was insistent that Mr. ----, "the man who showed Smut where to get
+off," should be the preacher for the day.  "Impossible," said a number;
+"it would cost over thirty dollars for railway fare alone."
+"Impossible nothing!" was Frank's response; and twenty-four hours later
+he handed fifty dollars to the Treasurer for railway fare and pulpit
+supply, and after two weeks of correspondence the announcement was made
+that the desired speaker was coming.
+
+No one enjoyed the day of the opening more than Frank.  The building of
+the church had absorbed all his interest, and now the effort was
+crowned with success.  For several nights a dozen Welsh and English
+miners had practised the hymns "to give the thing a good send-off."
+They sat in the corner near the reading-desk, and led the music with
+increasing confidence as the day's services progressed.
+
+"I guess the devil over-reached himself when he tried to make a fool of
+the preacher the night of the dance," said Frank, as a group stood
+outside at the close of the afternoon's Communion service.  "'Tain't
+often he gets as hard hit in the neck by his friends as he was that
+night."
+
+The Church at the "Banner" has had its ups and downs during the past
+three years.  One of the mines has closed, and many shacks are now
+unoccupied.  Frank Stacey has gone over to Vancouver Island, and some
+of the "charter members" have ceased their earthly labours; but each
+Sabbath-day a few faithful ones, "the salt of the earth," gather for
+worship in the Church that Smut Ludlow unwittingly caused to be built.
+
+
+
+
+"THY TOUCH HAS STILL ITS ANCIENT POWER"
+
+Jack Roande was on one of his periodical sprees.  For eight years he
+had been going the pace.  They had been long, weary years to the one
+whom Jack had vowed to love and cherish.  Night after night, through
+these long years, she had listened for the awful home-coming.  There
+were few in the little mining town but had often seen her eyes reddened
+by weeping, and all knew of the Eastern home she had left.  Among those
+who had joined in the "send-off," nearly fifteen years ago, were two
+men whose names are still honoured household words throughout the
+Dominion.  There was no note of sadness that day, for Jack was a "model
+young man," and every one agreed that there was "no finer girl than
+Nell."
+
+Jack blamed his downfall to dabbling in politics.  "Politics are rotten
+in this province," said he, as he endeavoured to excuse his condition;
+but perhaps, as a chum of Jack's said, he only blamed politics "'cause
+a fellow generally tries to find a soft place to fall."  Whatever the
+cause, at least the fact was plain to all in the town that Jack was
+"down and out."
+
+The business men said so, and agreed with the authorities that Jack was
+a nuisance to the town.  Some of those who had assisted in his downfall
+spoke of him as a "dirty loafer," and even the bar-rooms, where he had
+"spent all," tolerated his presence only when the cruel pity of some
+patron called him in for a treat, or when he could exhibit some coin.
+
+It was through the "tender mercies of the wicked" to Jack that there
+were three empty stockings in the Roande home on the recent Christmas
+Eve.  "For the children's sake," there had been a tearful plea that the
+husband would be home Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  With glad
+expectancy the meagre resources of the pantry were combined by loving
+hands to give the nearest possible approach to a feast.  From the
+near-by woods the children had brought cedar and pine for decorative
+purposes, and these, with stray bits of brightly-coloured tissue paper,
+had done much to give the home a Christmas appearance.  The usual notes
+had been written to Santa Claus, and the mother-heart had lovingly
+suggested a curtailment of such requests as Santa might find it
+difficult to grant.  The little ones had thrown their letters into the
+fire, and watched some of the gauzy ashes carried up the chimney to the
+mysterious but generous friend of the children, who would soon be
+loading his sleigh somewhere in the far north.
+
+Jack appeared to respond to his wife's pleadings, and so on account of
+her many home duties she confided to him some of the requests the
+children had made, and how the much-coveted toys were parcelled and
+waiting to be called for at one of the down-town stores.  No word was
+spoken of the sacrifice the purchases had involved, nor of the sting
+love had endured when for the children's sake she began to take in
+sewing.  It was therefore agreed that Jack should bring the parcel home
+shortly before tea on Christmas Eve, and in the darkness it could be
+hidden away until the little ones were asleep.
+
+Jack was true to his word, and started for home with the precious toys
+under his arm, in ample time for the evening meal.
+
+"Merry Christmas, Jack," called a voice as Jack was rounding the saloon
+corner; "come on in and have one."
+
+"Guess I'd better get home," was the hesitating reply.  It needed
+little persuasion, however, to get Jack inside, and after a second
+treat he lost all anxiety to reach home, and was ready for a night's
+debauch.
+
+During the tea-hour the bar patrons became fewer, and Jack's chances
+for further drinks were far apart.  In response to a request to "chalk
+up a couple of whiskeys," he received an emphatic "not on your life"
+from the bar-tender.
+
+There was a momentary conflict within Jack, and then the beast became
+lord over the man.  Going to the corner he brought his parcel from the
+bench and placed it on the bar.  "How much can I draw on for that?"
+There was a wild determination in the voice.  Unwrapping the parcel
+beneath the bar, the bar-tender at once knew what the contents meant.
+
+"I don't want 'em, Jack: you better get home to your kids."  But Jack
+was insistent, and gradually the other weakened.  "Well, it's your
+property, and if you're going to sell 'em I guess I may as well buy 'em
+as anybody else.  I'll chalk you fifty cents."  The articles were worth
+three times the amount offered, but Jack was being consumed with that
+hellish thirst that he had developed through many years, and he at once
+started to use up his credit.
+
+A mile away an anxious wife awaited Jack's return.  Cheerfully she had
+gone about her work until the hour for the evening meal, but with the
+passing moments the husband's absence caused her fears to increase.
+
+With forced smiles she did her best to bring into the home the gladness
+that belongs to Christmas Eve, but the heart was heavy, and the little
+ones saw now and again the tears that could not be suppressed.
+
+Bedtime was prolonged to two hours beyond the customary time, but still
+there was no sign of the father.  Once the mother expressed the fears
+that were in her heart when she suggested that sometimes Santa Claus
+did not get to homes when the father was away, at which suggestion
+there were tearful little eyes and oft-expressed wishes that "daddy"
+would come home.  Bravely the mother gathered the three children around
+her chair for their good-night sing.  Favourite hymns of the Sabbath
+School were sung, and all the time four pairs of ears were alert for
+the sound of Jack's return.
+
+It was while Grace's favourite hymn, "I am so glad that our Father in
+Heaven," was being sung, that footsteps were heard at the door.
+Instantly the little ones ceased their singing, as Grace joyously
+shouted, "It's daddy; Santa Claus will come now, won't he, mother?"
+
+For a minute or two before Grace's glad shout two men had stood an the
+darkness outside the Roande home.  After he had been turned out of the
+"Kelby House," Jack had staggered and stumbled around the streets for
+some time, and at last lay prostrate in the snow not far from the home
+of one who had often befriended him.  A woman hurrying along the street
+suddenly saw the dark form on the snow, and with a cry of fear ran to
+the near-by house.  The minister who resided there, at once recognizing
+poor Jack, dragged him into the house, and after securing a neighbour's
+sleigh and a driver, started for Jack's home.
+
+From the sleigh to the house he managed to conduct Jack safely, but
+when the strains of "I am so glad" from childish voices reached his
+ears, he stood still for a moment.  How could he take such a father
+home at such a time!  Yet it was impossible for him to remain long
+outside with Jack as he was, and so he guided the poor drunken father
+onward.  Jack stumbled and fell heavily against the door just as
+Grace's glad shout silenced the hymn-singing.  The minister was dragged
+almost to the floor as the door sprang open and Jack lurched into the
+room.
+
+Few words were spoken, for all hearts were sad as the stupefied man
+almost immediately fell asleep on the floor of the sitting-room, and
+filled the air with the drunkard's stench.  The little ones were
+tenderly told to go to their beds.
+
+"Had he a parcel when you found him?" whispered the mother as soon as
+she could control her voice.  Then followed the narration of her plans
+to fill the three stockings that had already been hung up at the back
+of the stove.  And now it was too late to find out what had happened to
+the parcel.  The minister looked into the mother's face, and then at
+the three empty stockings with their mute appeal for a visit from Santa
+Claus.
+
+"I could bear this, hard as it is," she continued, glancing at the
+drunken sleeper, "but the poor children----."  The head dropped on her
+arms which were resting on the table, and quietly she wept over the
+bitter disappointment the little ones must bear on Christmas morning.
+
+"Mrs. Roande"--a hand touched her shoulder lightly--"if you are not too
+wearied to wait up I'll do my best to locate the parcel."  The look
+from the grateful mother was all that was needed to send the minister
+forth on his errand of love.
+
+The store from which the toys were secured was closed, but the
+proprietor had not yet retired, and was able to reassure the midnight
+visitor that Jack had procured the parcel shortly before supper-time.
+It was not long before the clue led the minister to the home of the
+bar-tender.  Wearied, but with mingled sorrow and anger, he rang the
+door bell.  The man he was looking for came downstairs partly disrobed,
+and was manifestly surprised at a pastoral call, especially at such an
+hour.  The minister stepped unasked into the hall.  "Mr. Klint, I
+apologize for disturbing you, but Mr. Roande left a parcel somewhere
+that I must find to-night, and I understand he was in your bar-room.
+Do you know anything about it?"
+
+The answer not being satisfactory, a further question was put.
+
+"No, sir, he left nothing; we had a square deal, but that's nobody's
+business but mine and his."
+
+"May I then ask if a parcel containing toys had any place in that
+deal?"  No answer being given, the minister said with quiet firmness,
+"I must have an answer to that question before I leave this house.  Mr.
+Klint, this is Christmas Eve!  There are three empty stockings hanging
+in the room where Jack Roande lies drunk, and the things intended for
+those stockings must be there before morning."
+
+"I'm not obliged to tell you or anybody else anything about my
+business," answered Klint surlily; "but if you are so anxious to know,
+then I can tell you that I bought that parcel to oblige Jack, and it
+was his deal, not yours."
+
+"This is not the time for much talking.  Be good enough to tell me
+where the parcel is now, and what you paid for it."  Again there was
+hesitancy, and again there was pressure.  At last the information was
+elicited that the toys were beneath the roof that sheltered them, and
+that the price paid was fifty cents.
+
+"Be good enough for the children's sake, if not for your own, to take
+back your fifty cents and let me take the parcel."
+
+Eventually the deal was consummated.  When the toys were safely in his
+possession the minister said, "Mr. Klint, if you were dealt with as you
+deserve, you would spend Christmas day, not in your own comfortable
+home, but in the hospital or in jail: I only hope you are not as
+contemptible as your deed.  I shall see you again, some other day."
+
+The hand-clasp from the thankful mother was ample repayment for the
+midnight search, and in the early morning the exclamations of delight
+from her little ones in turn lifted something of the burden from her
+trouble-worn life.
+
+Thus had it been, sorrow after sorrow, for poor Nell Roande for over
+eight years, and at times she felt there was little hope of any change,
+but the new day was soon to come, and the night of weeping was to be
+turned into the morn of song.
+
+On the Tuesday night following the commencement of special services, as
+a little group of young men were leaving the Pool-room adjoining the
+Opera House, Jack Roande came stumbling along.  It was a great joke, so
+Bill Thornton thought, to "jolly" Jack into believing that there was a
+"free show in the Opera House, with pretty girls and swell dancing."
+Within a few minutes Jack was sitting with eyes as wide open as he
+could get them, ready to take in the "swell dancing."  He quickly
+realized that he had been fooled, and catching the word "religion" he
+shook his fist as he departed saying, "Religion! it's all d----d rot.
+There's nothing in it."  The missioner was down the aisle in a few
+seconds, and as Jack was passing through the swinging doors a kindly
+hand was laid upon his shoulder, and a voice, made tender by
+acquaintance with the Friend of sinners, said "Good-night, friend; you
+have the marks of a gentleman although you have made a slip to-night.
+I hope you will come again."
+
+Returning to the platform he continued his message, but it was easy to
+see that the speaker's heart was out in the night whereever Jack was.
+Was it that yearning that brought Jack back again in less than half an
+hour?  Be that as it may, the man who had left with a curse, staggered
+in again before the closing hymn, and made not the slightest
+disturbance after he reached a seat.  At the close he conversed in as
+intelligent a way as his intoxication permitted.  The conversation need
+not be recorded.  It was one of several.  Five nights later, twenty
+minutes after the clock had made its lengthiest strike, a subdued knock
+was heard at the door of the home in which the missioner was being
+entertained.  The burner of midnight oil hurried downstairs.  Jack
+stood in the doorway.  "Mr. Williams, I've got to settle it, and I've
+got to do it now."  Two souls tarried in the upper room, and while they
+tarried He came.  At last the broken cry ascended, "My Father, I want
+to get back to Thee.  Help me to walk in the paths of righteousness,
+for Jesus' sake.  Amen."
+
+It was a great night for the fisher of men.  Like the wearied disciples
+of old, he said "It is the Lord."
+
+The following night, Jack Jr., Mamie and Grace accompanied their father
+to the service, and happily united their voices in the service of
+praise.
+
+Grace--they called her "Gay," for that was the best pronunciation wee
+Jean, now departed, could once give--told several of her schoolmates
+confidentially in her mother's words, that she had a "new daddy."  And
+the subsequent days have proven the truth of her assertion.
+
+The closing night arrived.  The Opera House was crowded, and from the
+opening words, "Our Father," until the "And now I commend you to God,"
+every one present seemed to feel that this was no ordinary religious
+gathering.  An opportunity was given for a word from new converts.
+Tenderly, prayerfully, these were urged to in some way publicly confess
+their new-found Lord.  There was a hush as Jack stood erect.  In a low,
+clear voice he addressed himself particularly to the half-hundred young
+men at the back.  "I do not need to tell you what I was.  Two weeks ago
+it would have been inconceivable to you and to me that the change I
+have experienced could take place.  There is only One who could do it,
+and He has done it.  I cannot say more now, but if you want to know all
+about it, come to me at the close of this service, or come to my home."
+
+The eyes of the wife at his side were red again, but the tears were
+tears of joy.  "It is very wonderful: we are all so happy.  Oh, how
+glad I am that these services have been held," were her farewell words.
+
+Jack's hand was the last one the missioner clasped.  "Jack, you will be
+God's man.  I go, but He remains.  This change is all His doing, and He
+will hold you fast if you only trust Him.  Many a day I'll pray for
+you, Jack.  Remember that your feelings may change, but your purposes
+must endure.  Good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye, Mr. Williams; God helping me I won't fail.  It'll be no easy
+business, but I'm not in the fight alone; God's in it too.  Good-bye."
+
+And the years that have passed since these words were spoken have shown
+clearly enough that Jack is not fighting alone.  Once again prayerful
+hearts are returning thanks for the touch that "has still its ancient
+power."
+
+
+
+
+"IF A MAN BE OVERTAKEN"
+
+George fell--all the people knew that was what would happen.  When he
+told in the church that he was going, with God's help, to be a
+Christian and "act the square," there was only one at the close of the
+meeting to say an encouraging word to him; the rest left him alone.  On
+the whole, they did not believe in "results" from Special Services,
+and, despite the Pastor's frequent appeals for their unprejudiced and
+whole-hearted support, none were enthusiastic over the effort being put
+forth, and many were antagonistic.  In the opinion of the majority the
+regular, "well-ordered" Sabbath services gave ample opportunity for
+those who wanted to lead different lives, and so far as reaching the
+outsiders was concerned, the endeavour to invite personally the
+non-churchgoers was quite unnecessary--all such knew they were welcome,
+because the fact had been on the announcement board outside the church
+for over ten years.
+
+The missioner was told on all sides what a notoriously untrustworthy
+man George was: "You see, we know his past, and you have been here only
+two weeks, or you'd know better than to put any faith in what he did
+and said last night.  It was just a passing emotion, and it won't mean
+anything."  So George fulfilled their expectations when he returned
+from the city uproariously drunk one night three weeks after the
+mission closed.
+
+The morning following the outbreak the minister's wife made a special
+trip down street.  The door of the carpenter's shop was fortunately
+open, and George was leaning against his bench looking, as he felt, far
+from happy.  Pleasantly the little woman greeted him, and passed on.
+Then, with an exquisite piece of deception, she appeared to have a
+sudden after-thought, and turning quickly, she said, "Oh, George, the
+doors in the pantry cupboard are so swollen that I cannot close them.
+Could you fix them for me?"
+
+The carpenter looked wearily at her.  "I ain't feeling much like fixing
+anything, Mrs. Lamb, but I'd try to do most anything for you."
+
+"Thank you, George," was the reply, "I believe you would; come as soon
+as you can."
+
+George had said what was true; he believed in Mrs. Lamb, and what was
+still better, he felt that she believed in him.  When, on the night of
+his confession, she took his hand and said, "I'm so glad, George," he
+valued her word and tone, and look and hand-clasp, as only the
+friendless man can.
+
+But George was thoroughly disheartened to-day.  Everybody knew what he
+had said in the meeting, and by now they would know that he had failed.
+Yet no one would blame him more than he blamed himself.  He called
+himself a fool for going to the city.  The business could have been
+done equally well by correspondence.  From the time he decided to go he
+feared that he would return home intoxicated.  He was quite aware of a
+terrible craving, that he knew only too well made it dangerous for him
+to frequent the old haunts so soon, but in spite of inner warnings he
+made up his mind to go, so that the battle was lost before the
+temptation was actually met.
+
+Twice that afternoon George took up a few tools to go to the Manse in
+response to Mrs. Lamb's request, and twice he put them down again.  The
+prison cell would have been entered with less fear than the Manse that
+day.  He felt he had betrayed one of the best friends he ever had.  And
+so night came, and the pantry doors were untouched.
+
+Family prayers were about to be conducted at the Manse.  Baby Jean was
+on mother's knee, and Harold's chair was close to father's.  Just
+before kneeling the good wife said quietly: "Please remember George,
+papa."  There were tears in her eyes when the petition was offered "for
+those who have failed," and a whispered "Amen" followed each clause
+that was uttered in behalf of George.
+
+The following morning George made his way to the Manse and attended to
+the pantry doors.  When the work was finished, Mrs. Lamb led the way
+through the dining-room to the front door.  Her hand rested on the
+door-knob, and she seemed in no hurry to let George out.  It was
+evident she wanted to say something, but the words did not easily come.
+
+At last George broke the silence, and his voice quivered with penitence
+as he looked for a moment into Mrs. Lamb's sympathetic eyes.  "I
+suppose you've heard all about it, Mrs. Lamb, and the mess I've made of
+things?"
+
+"Yes, George, I know, and I'm so sorry; but you are going to win yet:
+God's going to help you win.  Perhaps, George, you trusted too much in
+your own strength, and you forget how weak we all are when we stand
+alone.  You know the hymn that says--'Christ will hold me fast'?  You
+cannot get along without Him, George.  Tell Him all about it, when you
+and He are alone, and ask forgiveness, and, George, I know God can and
+will make you a good, strong, true man; He loves you, and we love you."
+
+"You are going to win yet," and "He loves you, and we love you," were
+sentences that gave the man, overtaken in a fault, new hope.  Deep
+yearnings were in his heart as he walked back to the shop.  He believed
+his better moments were his truest moments, and yet it seemed to him
+that no one except Mrs. Lamb credited him with noble aspirations.  He
+knew very well that there were Christian people who were suspicious and
+unsympathetic toward him, and so his better nature seemed to retire in
+their presence.
+
+Later on he told how he used to feel like saying, "Why won't you
+believe in me, and stand by me, and give me a fighting chance?"  Often
+he felt like a man who had been injured, and who needed support until
+he could reach a place of safety; and yet few did more than look with
+disgust on him, and think it unlikely that he could make the journey
+without falling.  But, despite his weakness and his sin, George
+believed there were possibilities of noble living even for him.
+
+The following Sabbath he was back in his place in church, a humble,
+penitent man.  The sermon that day was different from the ones the
+people were used to hearing; not that it was better, for all Mr. Lamb's
+sermons were of a high order, but it had an element that was unusual,
+an element of great tenderness.  The text was: "Go, tell His disciples
+and Peter."  Peter's past, traitorous conduct was graphically pointed
+out, but so also was his weeping.  "We cannot think too harshly of our
+sins," said the preacher, "but we may think too exclusively of them.
+Peter thought of his sins, but he also thought of His Saviour, and when
+he saw his Risen Lord, the erring but penitent disciple said: 'Thou
+knowest that I love Thee,' and the Master forgave all and sent him out
+to service."
+
+The God whom the Minister was accustomed to preach about was a
+splendid, strong, but rather pitiless Being; now they heard of a
+loving, pitiful Father who was ever seeking those who had turned from
+Him, and who was more than ready to receive them as they turned again
+home.  All He wanted was to hear from their own lips, "Father, I have
+sinned."  That confession opened Heaven's wardrobe for the man made
+disreputable by wandering.
+
+At the close of the evening service George accepted Mrs. Lamb's
+invitation to "slip in and have a cup of cocoa."  "Just the three of
+us," she added.  "You know the way; walk right in."  Hurriedly she
+passed on to give kindly greetings to a few strangers she had noticed.
+
+For nearly two hours George and the Minister sat in the glow of the
+firelight.  It was a great relief to the disheartened man to be with
+those who knew all, and who yet loved him, and who, by their faith in
+him, gave him a little more faith in himself and in God.
+
+Referring to his drinking habit, he said, "Sometimes I feel I'd rather
+drop dead in my tracks than touch it again; and then there are other
+days when it seems as if some slumbering devil had awakened within me,
+and I'm so crazy for it that I'd give the whole of Canada, if I had it,
+for another drink."  Then, after a pause, he continued, "I suppose a
+man shouldn't try to blame his sin on others, but one of the earliest
+things I can remember, Mr. Lamb, is being held in my mother's arms and
+putting my hands around the beer jug while she gave me a drink.  Many a
+night, when I was 'knee-high to a grasshopper' as we say, I have clung
+to her skirt, as she dragged me from bar to bar, around High Street and
+George Street in old Glasgow.  I guess my father and mother were drunk
+every Saturday night for five years.  One night I can remember as clear
+as if it was only yesterday.  It was the time of the Glasgow Fair, and
+I was wishing they'd go home.  I must have been about six years old,
+and my sister Janet was two years younger, and then there was a baby
+they called Bobbie.  Mother had Bobbie fastened around her with an old
+shawl.  She and father had been on a spree all the evening.  Father was
+leaning against a lamp-post, just drunk enough to say the fool things
+that amuse some of them folks who don't think anything about the big
+price somebody is paying for that kind of fun.  Maybe you think it's
+queer of me to talk that way, when God knows I've been guilty enough
+myself.  Well! let me finish my story, anyway.  My mother was dead
+drunk, sitting on the curbstone near him, and maybe Bobbie was
+stupefied with liquor like I had been many a time.  Once in a while
+she'd rouse up, and press her hands against her maddened head and
+shriek all kinds of curses.  Police! why, Mr. Lamb, the Glasgow police
+couldn't have handled the crowds that was drunk them days.  I've seen
+hundreds of drunken men and women in one night around Rotten Row and
+Shuffle Lane, and other streets near the corner of George and High
+Streets: so long as they didn't get too awful bad the police let them
+alone.  Mother was a very devil when she got fighting.  I've heard
+father brag about what she could do in that line.  When she used to
+roll up her sleeves for a fight, she was like a maddened beast.  I tell
+you, there isn't much in the fighting line I haven't seen; but it makes
+me kind of shudder yet when I think of how she'd punch, and kick, and
+scratch, and all the time she'd be using language that would make a
+decent man's blood run cold.  You were saying something about 'sacred
+memories around the word "mother"' in one of your sermons, but that was
+the kind of mother I had, Mr. Lamb.
+
+"It must have been near Sunday morning when somebody helped to get us
+home.  Janet and me had been sleeping in the gutter, and I can remember
+the time they had getting father and mother up the stairs in the
+'Close.'  Somebody slipped near the top, and there was a heap of us
+jammed against the wall at the turning of the stairs.  But we children
+were used to bruises, and we learned to keep quiet, or we'd only get
+more for our trouble.  I likely cried myself to sleep on the rotten old
+floor, and I suppose I'd never have remembered any more about it if it
+hadn't been for Bobbie.  In the morning the poor wee chap was dead.  He
+must have died through neglect; pretty close to murder I call it.  Did
+the death make any difference to the parents?  Not likely!  At least I
+never remember them any different.  I was ten years old when my mother
+died, and she died through stumbling in a drunken fight; her head
+struck the curb-stone, and she never spoke again.  After her death I
+was taken care of in one of the Orphanages until I was sent to Canada,
+But what I often wonder about, Mr. Lamb, is whether God will be hard on
+those of us who've had parents like that, and who've been brought up
+where we didn't get a fair chance.  God only knows what we kids had to
+see and hear and suffer.  People don't make any allowance for bad
+blood, and bad food, and bad treatment, except in cattle.  I wonder if
+God does?  Yes, I know I'm having a chance now, and yet God must pity
+even me when He knows how I've been handicapped for these years; but
+some of those boys live and die right there, and they don't get even
+the chance I've had.  It's easy for folks who know nothing about it to
+say the people should get out of such places; but some of them are like
+heathen, they don't know there's anything better.  What did I know
+about a different kind of life?  Where could I have gone?  Who would
+have wanted me?  How could a street youngster get out of the place,
+where a good many of his meals were picked off the streets and out of
+the ash-barrels, and he never had two coppers ahead?  And there were
+thousands like I was.  I think about these things once in a while, when
+I'm alone in the shop, and I've sometimes thought it was well-nigh a
+crime to allow children to be born in such hell-like places.  And there
+are some people have no right to be fathers and mothers at all."
+
+It was only rarely that George unburdened his mind to such an extent;
+but Mr. Lamb gave him "right-of-way" that night, and many perplexities
+were expressed with a candour that gave the Minister a larger sympathy
+with the handicapped man, and a resolve to deal more tenderly with men
+of George's type who had such terrific battles to keep the body under.
+
+At the close of the conversation the evening prayer especially
+commended George to the Father's care, and while the encouraged man was
+walking back to his dwelling-place with thankful heart, Mr. and Mrs.
+Lamb were kneeling together, and in earnest petition were placing their
+home and all they might ever possess at the service of the One in whose
+hands things commonplace may be mighty with blessing.
+
+The missioner has been permitted to visit again the Manse where George
+did a bit of carpentering.  It was a great pleasure to find that George
+was one of those invited to the evening meal.  During the after-supper
+conversation he spoke confidentially to the visitor of the mistress of
+the Manse.  "She's the greatest little woman in this country.  God
+knows I'd have still been on the down-grade but for her; she never let
+me go.  She told me one night how she'd told God that she couldn't go
+to heaven and leave me outside, and thank God He's taking her at her
+word."
+
+The midnight chat which ministers are accustomed to have on such
+occasions revealed the story of George's many and sore temptations and
+hard battles, and of how the unfailing faith and patience of one in the
+Manse had heartened the discouraged man, had led him into active
+service, and had brought a new sense of responsibility and possibility
+to many of the church members who were beginning to practise Paul's
+injunction: "If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual
+restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself,
+lest thou also be tempted."
+
+
+
+
+THE SUPERINTENDENT'S VISIT
+
+
+    "Hope to visit your field Wednesday, February nineteenth--arrive
+    M---- Station midnight, eighteenth.  Andrew Ransom."
+
+
+The Western minister had been "house-cleaning" his study, and in
+separating the valued from the useless he ran across the above
+telegram, which had been buried away for several years.  He handled it
+almost reverently and then put it away in his Home Mission folder for
+future reference.  The story connected with it was told one night as
+the missioner sat after the evening's service in the quiet of the
+prairie manse, exchanging reminiscences of one of the greatest and best
+loved men that ever crossed the prairie provinces--Andrew Ransom, the
+great Home Missionary Superintendent.
+
+Within fifteen minutes from the time the student missionary received
+the above message, the people in McLean's general store, in Stevenson's
+boarding-house, and in Mallagh's blacksmith's shop had heard the good
+news, and all knew that Wednesday the nineteenth would be a great day
+for those whose homes the old Doctor could visit, and for the people
+who could get into the little church at night.
+
+[Illustration:
+  1. A Prairie Shack.  2. A Copper Miner's Shack.
+  3. A Bachelor's Shack.
+  4. A Shack on the Hillside.  5. A Mountain-side Shack.]
+
+Those who had met and heard Dr. Ransom before, vied with each other in
+recalling events connected with his former visits.  They remembered his
+appeal for their "fair share" of money to help build the little church.
+Everybody said the amount could not be raised until Dr. Ransom came,
+but after he had painted his word-picture of their glorious
+heritage--after he had pleaded that that heritage should never become
+"the wild and woolly West"--after he had shown the Gospel as the
+"antiseptic influence" in the life of the great Westland--after he told
+them what they got their land for and what it was worth that day, and
+after that strong voice, with its downright sincerity, had been lifted
+in prayer, everybody in the dining-room of the boarding-house knew the
+amount was raised.
+
+And then that hand-clasp, and that identification of himself with the
+poorest settler's problems, and sorrows--who could forget these things?
+
+"D'ye mind," said Dick McNabb, "the time he was here just after Alex.
+McLaren's son was killed on the railway?  Well, sir, I'll never forget
+seeing them two old men standing with hands clasped.  The Doctor looked
+as if it might 'a been his own boy what was killed.  "McLaren," he
+said, "I'm sorry for you.  I once lost a boy, and I know what it
+means;" then he whispered something, and Alex. wiped away the tears as
+he still clung to the old Doctor's hand, and I guess they stood that
+way for two or three minutes."
+
+"Well, sir, you bet Grant Sinclair won't miss Wednesday night," put in
+Dan McLean from behind the counter.  "D'ye mind when Dr. Ransom was
+here, Grant couldn't walk at all!  Say! will I ever forget that day in
+the Fall when he fell off the fence on to the scythe he was carrying?
+The gash was a foot long, and there was no doctor within thirty miles,
+and the road wasn't as good as it is now, and it ain't anything to
+write home about even yet.  Bill Grayson was the only one who had the
+grit to sew the gash up, and it was fourteen hours before the doctor
+got here.  Nobody thought Grant would get over it; he lost so much
+blood.  He'd been on his back about two months, I mind, when Dr. Ransom
+came.  It was one of them dirty days when it don't know whether to snow
+or rain, but the old Doctor had heard about Grant and was bound to get
+out there.  The folks said he did him more good than the regular doctor
+did.  Jim Sinclair and the boys had rigged up a pair of crutches so's
+to get Grant a-moving around, but they didn't make a very swell job of
+it.  Well, sir, about three weeks later the slickest pair of crutches
+you ever set eyes on come out here with some express of mine.  They was
+addressed to Grant and marked 'Rush.'  Mind you, they come from
+Toronto, and they fitted Grant as if he'd been measured for them.
+Jimmy said after they got the crutches he remembered the old Doctor
+kind o' spanning the quilt along Grant's side while he was talking, but
+he never paid no particular attention to it, but he says that's how he
+must 'a got the measure."
+
+The days between the thirteenth and the nineteenth were spent by Mr.
+Stewart, the student missionary, in covering the district, so that all
+the scattered settlers should know of Dr. Ransom's visit.  On Tuesday
+morning he borrowed an extra robe, and, hitching up his team of
+bronchos, started on his journey to M---- Station.  The roads were
+heavy, and twenty-five miles was a hard journey through the unpacked
+snow.  By mid-afternoon he reached the railway, and soon had his ponies
+comfortably stabled in a near-by barn.
+
+About midnight he tramped through the deep snow to the dimly-lighted
+station.  The night operator reported the train as an hour late, with
+the additional information that she would probably lose a little more
+time on the grade which lay about ten miles away.
+
+Shortly before two o'clock the welcome whistle was heard, and in a
+minute or two the midnight express slowed down for M----.  The tall
+figure of the Superintendent was behind the brakeman, on the steps of
+the day-coach, and there was a wave of recognition before the cordial
+hand-clasp and words of greeting could be given.  "We'll just wait till
+she pulls out," said the Superintendent, as Mr. Stewart started to move
+away after the exchange of greetings.  "Yon operator has the tongue."
+His duties performed at the baggage car, the operator returned to the
+office dragging a heavy trunk along the plank platform.  "Man! but
+that's a great muscle you have," said the Doctor genially, and in less
+than a five-minute conversation he knew the man's name, Old Land home,
+length of time in Canada, and church relationship.  As he gripped the
+hand in bidding good-night, he got in a message that the operator has
+never forgotten.  In recalling the visit to the writer many months
+later, he said, "He's a gran' man that: he'd be a wechty man gin he
+lived in Edinburgh.  He mak's you think."
+
+"Well, Doctor," said Mr. Stewart as they neared the place where a bed
+had been prepared, "you'll be glad enough to get right to rest."
+
+"How far are we from your field, Mr. Stewart?"
+
+"About twenty-five miles," was the reply.
+
+"Well, then, if your team is fit, I think we'll not bother about bed
+just now, but get out there."  Despite the protests that were made in
+the Doctor's interests, there was a kindly insistence that resulted in
+the bronchos being immediately harnessed for the return journey.  In
+the month of February, with deep snow and zero weather, a twenty-five
+mile drive between 3 and 8 a.m. is by no means a pleasure trip.  As the
+little animals ploughed their way through the drifts, the
+Superintendent every now and again raised his mouth above his coat
+collar to express his admiration.  "A gr-reat team that--a gr-reat
+team."
+
+The day was dawning as on Wednesday the 10th the student missionary and
+the eagerly-looked-for visitor, frost-covered and shivering, drove up
+to Mackenzie's barn.  Mackenzie and his wife were just getting on the
+fires, and were not a little surprised at the early arrival of their
+distinguished guest.  Embarrassment could not, however, remain long in
+any home where Dr. Ransom entered.  Everybody but the indolent admired
+and loved him, and there seemed to be no circumstance or combination of
+circumstances but he could adapt himself to.
+
+After breakfast Mr. Stewart was ready enough to get a few hours' rest,
+and having conferred with Mrs. Mackenzie regarding the readiness of the
+spare room for the Superintendent, he invited the latter to retire.
+"Did you think I came out here to get a sleep, my boy?  When would we
+visit the field?  No! no! thank you."  Protests were again futile.  "I
+have to meet two Committees on Saturday, in Winnipeg, and you must get
+me back to M---- Station in time for the 11.30 to-morrow morning.  What
+about a horse?  Can we get right away?"
+
+"Ain't the old Doctor a horse to work," said MacKenzie to Stewart while
+hitching up his best driver.
+
+Hurried but helpful and purposeful calls were made until it was time to
+return for the evening service.  The visit that stands out most clearly
+in the Missionary's memory was one made at the noon-hour.  Alex.
+McDonald's place was the one spot in the whole district where no man
+who had any respect for his stomach would ever dream of dining.  Few,
+indeed, cared even to enter the dirty little shack.  And so it was not
+to be wondered at that the Missionary was planning to pass McDonald's
+on the up trip, and to reach one of those bright, clean centres of
+hospitality that are usually to be found in even the most isolated
+district.  But "the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley."
+
+"Who lives in the shack on the hillside?" asked the Superintendent.
+
+"A family named McDonald," was the reply, "but they never enter a
+church---they live like pigs, and I think we had better leave calling
+there until we see how our time holds out."
+
+"We'll go there for dinner," was the almost brusque response of the
+Superintendent.  Stewart laughed incredulously.
+
+"I don't think you could swallow a homoeopathic pill in that shack,
+Doctor."
+
+"We'll go there for dinner, Mr. Stewart.  It'll do them good."
+
+"No finer missionary stands in shoe-leather than Caven Stewart" was a
+testimony that all who knew him heartily agreed with, but Stewart had
+an absolute horror of dirt, and it was with feelings of distressful
+anticipation that he dragged open McDonald's rickety apology for a
+gate, and drove across the rough swamp to the dilapidated shack on the
+hillside.
+
+The barking of the dog brought faces to the little four-paned window.
+"Drive slowly!  Give them time, give them time," said the
+Superintendent, as the faces quickly disappeared.  A few fowls
+fluttered from within the shack, and a family pet in the shape of a pig
+grunted disapproval at being forced to take an outside berth.  For
+fully three minutes there was such a house-cleaning as the old shack
+had not known for many a month.
+
+Alex. McDonald, pulling a dirty corduroy coat around him, sauntered
+over to where the visitors were getting out of the cutter.  He
+"guessed" that the Superintendent and the student could find
+accommodation for their horse, and a bite for themselves during the
+noon hour.  "We ha'ena got much of a place," he said, as the
+Superintendent lowered his head to enter the miserable shack.
+
+Each member of the family received a cheery greeting from the magnetic
+superintendent, who never seemed at a loss to say the fitting word.
+Mrs. McDonald was profuse in explanations and apologies.  "We wesna
+expectin' onybody, and these dark mornings it seems to be noon afore
+you can get turned round."  The visitors entered sympathetically into
+the various reasons why things "wesna just straight."
+
+To this day Caven Stewart remembers the deepened convictions that came
+to him of the Superintendent's possibilities, as he watched him enjoy
+his dinner.  By various excuses Stewart had reduced his own portion to
+the minimum when the pork and potatoes were dished up, and even then
+more food went to his pocket than to his mouth.  But not so with the
+Superintendent.  Not only did he have a liberal first supply, but
+actually passed back his plate for more, meantime complimenting
+McDonald on the gr-reat potatoes he grew and the fine pork he raised,
+and incidentally remarking that the best potatoes and the finest pork
+were easily spoiled in the hands of an incompetent cook.  When he told
+Mrs. McDonald that the dinner was just as he liked it--well-cooked and
+plain--his place in her highest esteem was fixed.  That he was a man of
+excellent judgment she had no doubt.
+
+McDonald's Old Land home was well-known to the Superintendent, and as
+scenes familiar to both were recalled, geniality prevailed.
+
+At the close of the meal the Doctor asked for "The Book."  Anxious
+looks were exchanged by the occupants of the shack, and ere long three
+members of the family were uniting in the search.  When at last, to the
+great relief of the searchers, a dusty but unworn Bible was produced,
+the Superintendent held it reverently in his outstretched hand.
+Looking squarely at the head of the home, he said with a yearning that
+no man could miss, "Eh, mon, but I'm sorry--sorry it's not worn more.
+It's the best piece of furniture you have in the house.  If any man
+ought to have a well-worn Bible it's a Highland Scotsman."  A few
+verses were impressively read, and then for the first time in its
+history the miserable shack contained a group kneeling in the attitude
+of prayer.
+
+There were no meaningless pleasantries when the little company arose.
+It seemed as though the place was hallowed ground.  A man and his Maker
+had been in communion.  The invitation to "cast thy burden upon the
+Lord" had been heeded, and with an exquisite tenderness the anxieties,
+the problems, the hopes and the fears of the little home were brought
+to the Great Burden Bearer.
+
+The parting was little short of affectionate.  The last hand-clasp was
+McDonald's.  "McDonald, I can scarcely believe you've never darkened
+the kirk door, and you an Aberfeldy man.  I want you to give me your
+word for it that next Sabbath morning you and the good wife and the
+bairns will make a new start and be found worshipping God.  Six months
+from now I expect to hear from Mr. Stewart that you've been regular in
+attendance at the house of God.  McDonald! give me your word that
+you'll not disappoint me--nor Him!"
+
+No words came from McDonald's lips, but there were moistened eyes and a
+lingering hand-clasp that made the Superintendent's heart glad.
+
+When, nine months later, Stewart was leaving the field for college, and
+was reporting conditions to the Superintendent, he wrote as follows:
+"You will remember the visit I did not want to make at the McDonalds.
+May God forgive me for my lack of interest and of faith!  Since last
+February McDonald, with some of his children, has never missed a
+service.  At the Communion in June, Rev. Mr. Rowatt came over from the
+Fort and welcomed seven new members, John McDonald, his wife, and their
+son Bruce being among the number.  The Bible you helped them to
+resurrect has been much 'thumbed' since then.  I am thankful I stayed
+the year on this field.  To have seen the change that has taken place
+in the shack on the hillside has done more for me than the whole year's
+course in Apologetics."
+
+
+
+
+THE COOKEE
+
+It had been a bitterly cold drive across what was known as "The
+Plains," and the student missionary was thankful when his pony reached
+the shelter of the jack-pines.  After a few miles of bush a small
+"clearance" was reached.  The low-roofed shack standing at the back of
+it never looked more inviting than to-day; but though twenty-five miles
+from the "highway of commerce," there were homes still more remote that
+had been expecting a visit from the little preacher for some time, and
+so, despite his pony's protest against driving by even poor shelter in
+weather like this, he had regretfully to tell her she might not turn in
+that road to-day.  As was the missionary's custom in passing any
+dwellings, he waved his greeting in the direction of the humble shack.
+Before he had gone many yards the good-natured pioneer farmer was
+outside shouting his "halloos," and, on being heard, signalled for the
+preacher to stop.  Making his way through the snow, he said, "Ain't you
+going to give us a call to-day?  Better come in and get thawed out;
+soon be grubbing time."
+
+"Not to-day, Mac, thanks," was the reply.  "I've been to your place
+pretty often, and I thought I ought to make the end of this road
+to-day."
+
+"Well, if you won't come in, I'll tell you what I was a-wanting to ask
+you.  There's a fellow I'd like you to see awful well.  Say! do you
+call on anybody else except Protestants?  You do, eh?  Well, I wish
+you'd see Jimmy Hayson.  He's in a bad fix.  They shipped him home from
+the camp.  He was cookee there, and I guess he couldn't stand that kind
+of life.  His stummick's gone on a holiday.  Anyway, he's most all in.
+It ain't much of a trail to follow, but after you pass Marston's you'll
+see a wood road, and then, if you keep your eyes skinned, on the north
+side you'll see, about forty rod along, a foot track--Jimmy ain't got
+any team--just follow the track, and you'll stumble into his shack."
+
+The second stop that afternoon was at Hayson's.  It was a poor place
+for a sick man to be in.  The entire furnishings of the home would not
+have been a bargain at five dollars.  The wife was most grateful for
+the visit, and before the missionary had spoken to the invalid, she
+said, "You are the only preacher ever in our house; and will you make a
+bit of a prayer for Jimmy?"  A few flour sacks had been made into a
+curtain, and the faithful wife pulled them aside and gazed lovingly at
+the sick man, and then questioningly at the missionary.  The missionary
+felt that not many prayers would have to be made for Jimmy, and perhaps
+there was an increased tenderness in the voice as it was lifted to the
+Friend of the weary and heavy-laden.  The five children were not very
+clear as to what was going on, and during the devotions the dog kept up
+a low growl of distrust at the whole procedure, but the wasted form of
+poor Jimmy, and the subdued sobs of the wife, overshadowed minor
+disturbances.
+
+It was the first of almost a dozen calls during the next two months.  A
+round trip of thirty-two miles once a week meant something over
+unbeaten tracks; but Jimmy was in need, and there was only One Helper:
+other helpers had failed, and Jimmy was pathetically eager for
+something he had not hitherto received.
+
+On the occasion of the fourth visit, the wife called the visitor as far
+away from the sick bed as the dimensions of the little shack permitted.
+"Would you"--the voice was agitated--"would you----.  Oh! please, you
+won't mind me asking, but would you stay for dinner; we've never had a
+minister take a bite in our house, and Jimmy'd be so pleased?"
+
+The invitation was most gladly accepted.  What a time ensued!  How the
+poor soul exerted herself to prepare that meal!  It was over an hour
+before the "bite" was ready, and in that hour one child had gone over
+two miles.  The preacher saw her fluttering rags as she ran across the
+snow.  He saw her come back with a little newspaper package.  It
+contained a knife and fork--two miles, that the preacher might have a
+knife and fork!  The meal was not appetizing, but after the trouble it
+had cost, no man with a heart could leave a morsel which it was
+possible to dispose of.
+
+Day by day Jimmy weakened, and it was evident that he needed attention
+and quiet, such as was not possible in the one-roomed shack.  Could he
+gain entrance to the distant hospital, and was it possible to provide
+anything like a satisfactory conveyance in which the sick man could
+safely make the journey from that pioneer district?  These
+possibilities especially occupied the mind of the missionary on a
+subsequent visit.
+
+He talked to the now worn-out wife about the matter.  Prejudices
+against hospitals were very real in that remote district, and it was
+some time before she could be convinced that such a course would be in
+the interest of the family.  The few neighbours did much coming and
+going for the next two days, and such blankets and wrappings as the
+community afforded were provided for the cold journey.  Bricks and
+hardwood sticks were to be heated and placed around Jimmy to keep him
+as warm as possible.  Henry Wallis was to make the trip the day before
+to arrange for the replenishing of these, and for some nourishment for
+the sick man, at three selected stopping-places.
+
+It was late in the evening when the sleigh pulled up in front of the
+hospital.  The sufferer had stood the journey better than was expected.
+The "Sisters" soon had Jimmy in the most comfortable bed that he had
+occupied for years.
+
+Two days later the missionary called at the hospital as early in the
+morning as he was permitted to.  Jimmy knew his end was not far
+distant.  He could speak but little, and in order to hear the feeble
+whisper it was necessary to put an ear close to the patient's lips.
+Very slowly the words came: "Say--about--Shepherd."  Once more the
+Shepherd Psalm was repeated with its message for those whose lives are
+overshadowed.  Jimmy's eyes spoke his thanks, and tenderly the student
+wiped the tears off the sunken cheeks.  Something else was wanted.
+Again the whisper was with difficulty understood: "Tell--about--rest."
+It was the words that only the publican Matthew has recorded that Jimmy
+wanted to hear.
+
+Slowly they were repeated: "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are
+heavy laden, and I will give you rest."  Once again the parched lips
+moved: "If--I--could--see children--that's all."  The eyes were so
+irresistibly pleading that the student could only reply, "I'll try,
+Jimmy."
+
+A few words were spoken to the nurse.  How long would Jimmy be here?
+She thought he might go that night.  Certainly within three days the
+end would come.  It was no small undertaking to bring a family such as
+the Haysons into town.  Clothing had to be procured in order that the
+little ones might be protected on the longest journey any of them had
+ever taken.  Their own scanty attire would afford little protection
+from the cold wind.  And so hurried visits were made to a few homes,
+and to the stores of one or two merchants.  The case was briefly
+stated, and a dozen hearts instantly kindled into kindness for the
+needy ones in the lonely home.  A wardrobe, such as the Hayson family
+had never dreamed of, was soon stowed away on the missionary's "jumper."
+
+Inside of two hours the long, cold drive was commenced.  At each shanty
+and shack word was given as to the sick man's condition, and what the
+present journey was for.  Within five miles of the lonely home, which
+would soon be the abode of the fatherless and widow, the missionary
+stopped for the night.  In the dimly-lighted shack of Sandy MacGregor
+Jimmy's last request was made known.  MacGregor rose from a nail-keg on
+which he was sitting, and said slowly and emphatically, "Well, if Jimmy
+wants to see the children, he's a-going to see 'em."
+
+The student grasped the roughened hand of the speaker gratefully.  "I
+knew I could count on you, Mac.  Thanks.  I'm tired, so I'll say
+good-night.  I can sleep now that that's settled."
+
+Before the missionary appeared the next morning, Mac had everything
+ready for driving Jimmy's family into the town where the husband and
+father was rapidly nearing his end.
+
+The horses were driven as hard as was consistent with mercy.  Jimmy was
+still alive, the Sister told them as they stood in the hall.  In a
+moment they were beside the bed.  It was one of those scenes that live
+in the memory.  The sobbing wife, kissing again and again the poor, wan
+face.  The little ones weeping, perhaps more in sympathy with the
+mother than on account of their own realization of the coming sorrow.
+Quietly the large screen was placed around the group at the bedside,
+and for a few moments the family was left alone.  The journey had been
+accomplished just in time.  In less than an hour Jimmy was gone.  His
+last request was for the passages of Scripture mentioned above.  "Yes,
+that's it," he whispered, "rest--rest."  The wasted arm was raised a
+little as if he would put it around the missionary's shoulder, but the
+poor Cookee's strength had departed.  They saw he would say something
+more, and ears were alert to catch his every word.  "I--think----"
+Then there was a long pause, and the sunken eyes turned from face to
+face as though seeking to tell them what the tongue refused to utter.
+They waited with tear-bedimmed gaze, but no other word was uttered.
+Ere long there was a rattling in the throat, and the death-pallor
+increased; a few short and long-separated gasps and the Cookee had
+finished his course.  They laid him away in the quiet little cemetery
+during an almost blinding snowstorm.
+
+With less than five dollars in cash, and a rough bit of land heavily
+mortgaged, the mother went back to the lonely shack to toil through
+weary days to provide for her five little children.  With occasional
+help from other settlers, the struggle for existence was made a little
+less severe.
+
+* * * * *
+
+Ten years have passed away.  The poverty-stricken pioneers of earlier
+days have cleared large sections of land, and the earth has brought
+forth her fruit.  Prosperity abounds.  Where Jimmy Hayson's shack stood
+is an attractive modern farm-house.  A mother looks proudly at her
+farmer son as she introduces him to a city pastor who is visiting the
+mission field of his student ministry.  A few hours later, in the quiet
+of eventide, she stands with the visitor exchanging incidents of bygone
+days.
+
+"It's been a pretty hard road to travel, sir, but the neighbours were
+just as good as they could be after Jimmy went.  But I often say to my
+boy Allan that there is only One who can help us in such times as I
+passed through then."
+
+
+
+
+THE REGENERATION OF BILL SANDERS
+
+A severe snow-storm had raged for over twelve hours, and the home
+missionary was twenty miles away from head-quarters.  His little Indian
+pony was "all grit," as one of the settlers said, but with darkness
+only two hours away, the preacher began to reconsider his decision to
+make The Valley and home that night.  Not a few days "Queenie" and her
+driver had travelled fifty miles, but to-day the drifting snow almost
+blinded man and beast, and with eleven miles of unbeaten path on the
+storm-swept plain immediately before him, the missionary hesitated.  At
+best it would be dark before he reached the bush, and he had not
+forgotten a former experience, when anxious hours were spent in a
+similar storm seeking to find the rarely-travelled road that led from
+the plain through the bush to The Valley.
+
+One reason out of several that made him anxious to get home was the
+fact that Widow Nairn's wood-pile needed replenishing.  She was a poor
+friendless old woman, who had remained on a plot of ground to which she
+had only "squatter's rights," and while the few scattered neighbours
+were kindness itself, the widow was, as Grayson said, so "blamed
+peculiar" that it was "hard to know how to do anything for her without
+making her mad."  Perhaps she could get along for one more day, and the
+missionary resolved to drive directly to her shack the next morning.
+
+The decision being made, he spoke cheerily to his pony, and after a
+little manoeuvring, the cutter was turned around and Queenie was headed
+towards the spot where two solitary pines rose like sentinels from the
+underbush.  The road to Pearson's was not far beyond these landmarks,
+and the home was one of the few he knew in this rarely-visited district.
+
+An hour later he peered anxiously through the storm.  The snow melting
+around his eyes made seeing difficult, and he began to fear he had
+taken a wood-path instead of the one intended.  Pulling up his pony, he
+listened for the jingle of bells, the bark of a dog, the call of a
+settler, or anything that might help him to locate some abode, but no
+sound except that made by the winter wind reached him.  Tying his pony
+to a poplar, he plunged ahead in an endeavour to find out something
+about the road he was on.  In a few minutes he saw that the trees
+closed together again, and knew that the pony had taken the wrong track.
+
+Once more the cutter was turned around with considerable difficulty.
+It was a hard return journey; every sign of their own recently-made
+track was gone, and the snow was still falling.
+
+No more welcome sound had been heard by any ears that day than when
+distinct, though somewhat distant, the tired traveller heard the bark
+of a dog.  Stopping his pony, he engaged in a barking contest, until he
+was sure of the direction from which the sound came.  "We are all right
+now, thank God," he said aloud.
+
+Through the trees a light flickered a few minutes later, and soon a
+pioneer's home came into view.  The little clearance with its
+low-roofed log-house was not one the missionary had seen before, but
+where there was a house there was hospitality on a night like this.
+
+Bill Sanders was soon assisting the traveller to unhitch, and with the
+aid of a "bug"[*] Queenie was crowded into the roughly constructed
+stable.  There were times when it would have been both difficult and
+dangerous to have put her into such quarters, but that night she seemed
+to understand, and behaved herself accordingly.
+
+
+[*] A tin lard pail fixed to hold a candle and to serve as a lantern.
+
+
+The occupants of the little home consisted of father, mother, two boys
+and two girls.  When the missionary introduced himself there was
+manifest embarrassment on the part of the wife, and the children gazed
+in wonderment from "the room" door; they were unwilling to run any
+risks through getting too close to this human novelty until they saw
+how he acted.  "You see, sir, we don't have many people here, and they
+aren't used to strangers: I guess you are the first minister that's
+been in this house; and then, as the husband went to bring in a fresh
+supply of firewood, she added half apologetically, "but I was praying
+all week that God might send somebody in here that loved Him.  When I
+used to work for Home Missions in Ontario, I never thought how much I'd
+long for the visit of a missionary myself some day; it's very lonesome
+sometimes."
+
+Before the missionary retired to his allotted space on the floor, he
+asked permission to read a few verses of Scripture.  There was no
+response from the father: the mother said, "Yes, please."
+
+The Scripture and prayer were for the encouragement of the heavy laden,
+and tears were wiped away from the mother's eyes as the little group
+arose from kneeling.
+
+When prayers were mentioned after breakfast the next morning, Bill
+Sanders deliberately left the shack.  "Two doses of religion within
+twelve hours" were too many for him, as he often said in after years
+when recalling the missionary's visit.  "We've a lot to be thankful
+for," said the much-tried wife, as the visitor spoke a few words of
+encouragement.  The missionary glanced at the mud floor, at the
+roughly-hewn table, at the round blocks used for chairs, at the
+newspaper curtains, at the flour-sacks that partitioned off the
+bedroom, at the miscellaneous and damaged collection of dishes and tins
+that rested on the coverless table, and wondered wherein the "lot to be
+thankful for" lay.  "We don't get along well with the farm; somehow
+Bill don't----."  The words were checked, and nothing suggestive of
+complaint at the husband was uttered.  "The children are well," she
+continued, "and they are obedient," and then, with a fine reticence
+that cannot be written, she added slowly, "I am trying to teach them
+about God; and I often tell them that if the shack isn't a credit to
+us, we must try to be a credit to it.  You see, sir, I'm not strong,
+and with the little ones to look after, I can't work outside as much as
+a settler's wife ought; but anyhow, I'd rather leave my children a good
+character than anything else.  Yes, God knows I would."
+
+Late in the morning the storm was over, and with a promise on the part
+of the missionary to return again as soon as possible, and on the part
+of the children to come to a Sunday School being started in the
+four-mile-distant schoolhouse, good-byes were said.
+
+Many weeks passed before the missionary could visit again the lonely
+little home.  This time the mother, pale and trembling, was struggling
+from the stable with a pail of milk.  Inside the house lay a
+four-days'-old baby boy.  The missionary's heart was heavy.  Since his
+last visit he had heard of the faithfulness and goodness of the wife
+and mother, and of the brutality of the husband and father, but he
+found it hard to believe that any man would compel his wife to do what
+this poor creature had been made to do in such a physical condition.
+
+At first there was fight in the missionary's heart, but when the lazy,
+cruel husband returned from his rabbit-snaring, the fighting spirit had
+been replaced by a great yearning for this man's salvation.  To angrily
+rebuke Bill might only add to the wife's burden, while "the soul of all
+improvement is the improvement of the soul."  Bill's need was of a
+changed heart.
+
+A prayer for guidance was breathed forth as he walked to meet one who,
+a few years ago, had promised to protect and love the wife whose spirit
+was crushed and whose heart was well-nigh broken by neglect and abuse.
+
+The two men stood talking for some time on the evening of that now
+memorable day.  Often the pale face of an anxious, prayerful wife
+looked out through the tiny window.  Perhaps the prayer within was
+mightier than the simple message spoken without, but at any rate new
+desires and purposes were awakened in Bill's heart that night.  There
+was no sudden "light of glory," or ecstatic condition, but during the
+next few weeks it was evident that this man was being changed.  When
+the missionary suggested getting his pony hitched, Bill urged him to
+remain overnight.  At retiring time, it was the father who handed a
+much-soiled Bible to the preacher.  Strange that so simple an act as
+that should cause the wife to weep, but at that hour she saw the
+dawning of a new day.
+
+Three weeks later the scattered settlers "visiting" outside the
+schoolhouse on Sunday afternoon were amazed to see Bill Sanders
+bringing his wife to church on the "jumper."
+
+The singing in the little service was usually more hearty than
+harmonious.  For two or three years it had been an unsettled and vexed
+question as to whether Sam Gadsley or Martha McLeod was the finer
+singer.  One faction deemed the matter settled beyond all controversy
+when a late arrival at the service confided to a few friends at the
+close that he "could hear Sam, good, clear across the concession,"
+while he "couldn't have told whether Martha was there at all, at all."
+Martha's friends felt keenly the consequent verdict of the community,
+deposing their champion.
+
+To-day the missionary broke all his own previous records in the singing
+of "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."
+
+People said "it was a great sermon that the little parson preached"
+that day.  Although the congregation may not have known it, the
+preacher almost broke down in prayer, his heart was so filled with
+gratitude.  When he shook hands with Bill, there was a grip that
+thrilled new-comer and preacher alike.  To the wife he managed to say,
+"I'm so glad," and the now happy woman looked as though the opening
+doxology had become a large part of her very self.
+
+* * * * *
+
+The visit of the Home Mission Superintendent is always a great day in
+these isolated places, and when on his next visit he welcomed the new
+members into full communion, and took father, mother, and two children
+from the little log-house, not a few felt it was the greatest day the
+schoolhouse had seen.
+
+During the subsequent days of the missionary's term of service,
+whenever there was work to be done, Bill Sanders could be counted on.
+
+* * * * *
+
+In the summer of 1912, after a lapse of ten years, the missionary stood
+once more in The Valley.  As is true of most Western communities,
+everything was changed.  A little city had arisen--the old schoolhouse
+was no more, and the once well-known places could no longer be located.
+But there stands a beautiful little church not far from where the old
+schoolhouse once stood, and one of the honoured elders bears the name
+of William Sanders.  Two of his daughters teach in the Sabbath School,
+and of the five children, a well-known business man said, "Why, you'd
+just be proud of every one of them, if they were your own."
+
+In the churchyard a marble slab bears the name, "Mary Perry Sanders,"
+and near the base, "She hath done what she could."  As was her desire
+in the days of struggle and isolation, the patient, faithful mother had
+left the precious legacy of a good character to her children.
+
+Thus had the seed sown brought forth its fruit after many days.  Among
+hallowed memories, few are so precious to the missionary as that of the
+day when his now old friend "Queenie" took the wrong road.  And
+whenever on lonely prairie, in quiet hamlet, or noisy city, he hears a
+congregation sing Cowper's hymn, "God moves in a mysterious way, His
+wonders to perform," he thinks of that distant, stormy winter day when
+a barking dog led him to a home that is now transformed, and to a
+darkened life that was in God's goodness guided into that light "that
+shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
+
+
+
+
+THE SNAKE-ROOM
+
+The hotels in the town on the "boundary"[*] were crowded.  For several
+days the men had been returning from the bush after the winter's cut,
+until over a thousand "lumber-jacks" from the various camps in the
+immediate vicinity had taken possession of the place.  For most of
+these men the bar-room was the only social centre, and the arrival of
+each gang meant the recognition of old friends and the celebration
+thereof in a call for "drinks all round."
+
+
+[*] Boundary line between U.S. and Canada.
+
+
+In a hallway adjoining a popular bar-room the missioner stood sadly
+watching the procession of hard toilers losing at the one time their
+winter's earnings and the control of their faculties.  It seemed
+useless to plead with the men either collectively or individually.
+
+"It's the only way we've got to let off steam, boss--it's a fool way,
+you bet, but here goes."  The speaker was a man of not over thirty
+years of age.  With unsteady step he entered the bar-room again, and
+pushed his way to the double line that kept the bar-tenders perspiring
+as they sought to respond to the sometimes cursing demands for more
+rapid service.
+
+[Illustration:
+  1. A Western Lumber Camp.  2. Lumber Camp Group in Sunday Attire.
+  3. The Day's Work Ended.   4. A Typical Bar-room
+  "In some districts fully 75% of shanty men's earnings
+  goes over the bar.  One bank paid out 38,000 dollars
+  in wages.  Within a week a near-by bar-room deposited
+  22,000 dollars."]
+
+
+Along the hallway were men in various stages of intoxication, and the
+missioner knew from past experiences that some of the men were only at
+the beginning of a debauch that would last for several days, perhaps
+weeks.  Much had been done by the lumber companies to improve the
+conditions in camp and to brighten and turn to good account the long
+winter evenings.  Then, in order to protect the earnings of the men at
+paytime, arrangements were made to furnish immediate facilities for
+banking or for remitting home; yet everything proved ineffective in the
+case of some.  The open bar with its foolish and dangerous treating
+system had led to what had become known around town as "the
+lumber-jacks' annual spring spree."
+
+The cashier of one of the companies sauntered through the crowd, and
+the missioner entered into conversation with him, questioning him about
+the men thronging the bar-room.  "Yes, Reverend, I know most of the
+boys; I make out pay-checks for over two hundred of them, and in my
+time I've run across thousands, and most of them are splendid fellows
+if you can only keep the booze away from them.  They look pretty well
+damaged just now, eh?  And they'll be worse yet.  When they get started
+you can't stop them till they're at the end of their tether.  See that
+fellow lighting his cigar in Ern. Dean's pipe?  Wait till he turns
+round a bit--there! now! his ear's half gone, see?  He's some fighter,
+believe me!  A year ago last month somebody got a few bottles of
+whiskey into the camp on the q.t.  We try to keep it out, but you might
+as well try to keep out mosquitoes in June.  Well, sir, that night Bill
+got into a fight with a chap called Frenchy, and in about ten minutes
+Frenchy needed an identification label on him.  Bill was clean plump
+crazy, and as Frenchy had been looking for a scrap for weeks the boys
+let them have their innings for a while.  Just before the boys prised
+them apart, the two of them took a deuce of a tumble to the bunkhouse
+floor, and somehow Frenchy got his teeth on Bill's ear.  We couldn't
+patch the thing together, so Bill had to foot it nearly thirty miles to
+the nearest town, and you see what the crossbones had to do to trim off
+his receiving apparatus?  Bill gets ninety dollars a month--I handed
+him a check for four hundred and fifty last Saturday, and it would be
+safe to bet the whiskies he hasn't fifty dollars left right this
+minute.  He doesn't know what he's done with it--quite likely a pile of
+it has been swiped when he was dead to the world.  Between ourselves,
+Reverend, there's lots of dope served out right here, and when the boys
+come to, a good part of their boodle is gone.  Just the other day Dick
+Booth was yelling blue murder around here, and Bertois came from the
+office and hooked his arm into Dick's and said, 'Come on, Dick, and
+have one on me.'  In less than five minutes there wasn't so much as a
+chirp from Dick, and he looked like the dickens for a few seconds, and
+then he slid down the wall to the floor, and Bertois and Sam carried
+him into the snake-room.  You bet Bertois fixed Dick's drink alright.
+The trouble comes between season when the boys are off a few weeks.
+They come into town to kill time, but it works the other way round."
+
+Two days later the missioner was sitting writing at the hotel table
+when Bill, blear-eyed, unshaven and dirty, came staggering toward him.
+The voice was almost terrifying in its intensity of appeal, "For God's
+sake give me something to eat; I've had nothing but that stuff
+(pointing toward the bar-room) for three days."
+
+Before anything more could be said, Bertois, the proprietor, hurried
+from behind his desk, and grabbing Bill by the shoulder, uttered an
+oath, and dragged him to a door at the end of the hall.  Unfastening
+the door with his latch-key he gave Bill a vigorous shove, and the
+intoxicated man, stumbling over some object, fell heavily to the floor.
+Banging the door, Bertois turned to the basement stairway just around
+the corner, and in a sharp voice called "Sam."  Sam immediately
+responded to the call.
+
+"How in the ---- did Bill Bird get out of there."
+
+"Didn't know 'e was out, sir," was the reply.
+
+"Did you give anybody your key?"
+
+"Hi did not, sir."
+
+"Well, then, you must have left the door unlocked; mind you don't let
+any more of them d---- fools out."
+
+As calmly as was possible the missioner protested against the treatment
+Bill received.
+
+"What would you do with them?  Would you want them around the house?"
+was the gruff reply.  "Give them a bed?  Not much!  We don't keep beds
+for that brand.  The only thing you can do is to kick 'em into the
+snake-room.  You don't know anything about Bill's kind.  He's seeing
+life; them fellows have been counting on this blow-out for months."
+
+An hour or so later the missioner found Sam alone in the basement.  The
+old man was worthy of a better job than the doing of the dirtiest and
+most objectionable work around a lumber-town hotel, but times had gone
+hard with him of late years, and his few relatives were on the other
+side of the Atlantic.
+
+"No, sir, hit ain't the kind of place hi expected to be in at my hage,
+but beggars mustn't be choosers, you know, sir, and after hi cut me
+foot half off with a hax I ad to take wot I could get, especially as me
+rheumatiz bothered me a lot.  Wot's the snake-room like, did you say?
+Hit just depends oo's hin it.  Hit's chuck full these days, I'm sorry
+to say, and it hain't a sight yer reverence would like to see.  You
+want a peep hin, eh?  Well, hi don't know as how you'd be allowed; the
+boss is rather perticlar about who sees 'is customers hin the
+snake-room.  It hain't a very good hadvertisement, hin my opinion."
+
+Nevertheless Sam agreed, if the territory was clear, to show the
+missioner the snake-room.  By way of apology, the old man explained
+that he had often told his boss that it was a shame to put men into
+such a place without any kind of bed, with no food, and frequently, in
+decidedly cold weather, without any heat.
+
+When the opportunity afforded itself, Sam and the missioner went
+quietly upstairs and, unseen, entered the snake-room.  Accustomed as he
+had been to see the effects of alcohol and evil-living, the scene
+before the visitor was a fresh and terrible revelation of their
+destructive power.
+
+The room was probably fifteen feet square.  Its furnishings consisted
+of one table and two framed pictures--the latter being advertisements
+of "popular brands of whiskies," which were said to have "stood the
+test for nearly one hundred years."  Some results of the test were upon
+the floor.
+
+In order to get inside, Sam had pushed hard against the door, crowding
+back the feet of the man nearest.  There was scarcely more floor space
+than the two men needed to stand on.  Curses, snores and groans came
+from the filthy, stench-laden mass of men that covered the floor.
+Several boards in the wainscotting were spattered with human blood.
+One man with a recently made gash across his forehead was lying on his
+side, and with eyes closed, kept striking out with his fist, sometimes
+hitting the leg of an old man who seemed absolutely paralysed with
+liquor, and sometimes hitting the partition.  Every blow was
+accompanied by profanity.
+
+Partly under the table lay two camp cooks.  One of them, Heinrich
+Lietzmann, was a most generous individual, and a great favourite with
+his fellow-workers.  Because of his appearance he was dubbed
+"Roly-Poly" Lietzmann.  His broken English was very attractive, and
+nothing pleased the younger men better than to "get him going" on
+international politics.  Judging from his terribly bruised face, he had
+either fallen heavily or been in a fight.  Poor Heinrich made several
+attempts to raise himself to a sitting posture, each time falling back
+with a disturbing effect on the men nearest him, and receiving
+therefore their muttered curses, which he returned in full measure.
+
+Along the table, on his back, lay Chris. Rogers.  Nobody knew the
+history of Chris. although, because of a remarkable gift of speech
+which he manifested when excited by liquor, the report that he had once
+been a "Shyster lawyer" in a Western State was generally believed.  He
+was far above the average lumber-jack in knowledge, but far below in
+vice.  After the discovery of an unusually mean trick, Bill Bird had,
+in the opinion of the camp, fittingly described Chris, when he said,
+"That dirty rascal is so near mongrel dog, that if he had a bit more
+hair on him he'd start running rabbits."  Just why Chris. had been
+given charge of the camp stores was a mystery, but for nearly two years
+he had held the position.  He was a slender, wiry man with a singularly
+repulsive face.  His teeth were gone, and his long pointed moustache
+drooped alongside of the hard mouth that was continually stained with
+tobacco juice.  His coat and vest were plastered with grease from
+careless eating and his whole appearance suggested a dirty
+demon-possessed man.
+
+Bill Bird, the fighter, had managed to get into a corner, and was
+sitting with arms on knees and drooping head--a picture of
+wretchedness.  Once he managed to look up, and for a moment gazed in a
+dazed way at the missioner: "By God!  I wish I was dead:" then there
+was a prolonged cry on the word "Oh," as of a man in great agony.  A
+few of the stupefied men roused themselves enough to utter a curse in
+Bill's direction.  Gazing once more at the missioner, Bill cried out:
+"Oh! oh! the devil's got me for sure."
+
+Sam laid his hand on the missioner's arm; "We'd better slip out now,
+sir, or there might be trouble."
+
+With a sigh and a heavy heart the missioner passed into the hall and up
+to the room he had been occupying for ten days.  With a whispered cry,
+"How long, O Lord, how long?" he fell on his knees at his bedside, and
+then in silence he pleaded with his God that at least Bill Bird might
+be released from the grip of the Evil One.
+
+After the regular service that night, a few Christian people met for
+prayer.  The missioner confided in those present, and with sadness told
+of his visit with Sam to the snake-room.  "What are we doing," he
+asked, "either as a church or as individuals, for these men?  Has Satan
+any opposition from us as he enslaves our fellow-countrymen?  Surely it
+is not a matter of indifference to us when these men are wrecking their
+own and other lives, in dens of vice that have been allowed to plant
+themselves in this town, and that can only thrive as manhood and
+womanhood are debased?
+
+"Several lumbermen in this district say that in the past fifteen years
+there has been a steady deterioration in the men employed in the woods.
+After every pay-day, by their debauchery, seventy-five per cent. unfit
+themselves for the work to be done, and take from two to eight weeks to
+get back to normal condition.  There is much that may and must be done
+along social lines if we are going to arrest these degrading
+influences, but in the meantime is it not possible for us as
+individuals to get into personal touch with some of these boys, and
+throw around them the protection of our Christian friendship and
+hospitality?  Preaching is not the only means for advancing the
+Kingdom.  So much may be done if Christian people will put themselves
+and their possessions at the service of humanity, and learn to love the
+lowest as well as the best of the race.  Some of these lumber-jacks
+might go back to camp changed men if we gave God a fair chance to use
+us.  Perhaps some of you business men, or some of you ranchers, could
+get alongside of at least one poor fellow from that snake-room, and
+live for his reclamation.  There are many ways of keeping in touch with
+these men, even when they return to the bush, and, in this land of
+investments, you would find nothing yield such a dividend as the
+investment of your time in the attractive presentation of the love and
+power of Jesus Christ.  Will you at least make the effort, and leave
+the results to your Master?"  The words were spoken and the question
+asked with an earnestness that had been intensified by the
+heart-rending appeal of the broken manhood that the speaker knew was
+represented by what he had looked upon in the snake-room.
+
+In the prayerful atmosphere and the silence that followed the question,
+one man said in his heart, "I will."  That man was George Clarke.
+
+George Clarke had a small ranch a short distance from the town.  He was
+one of the most industrious men in the Province, but his industry had
+not resulted in the prosperity that most of his neighbours enjoyed.  He
+had met with enough reverses to absolutely dishearten the average man,
+but he had borne them all bravely, keeping his disposition unsoured,
+and his character clean.  His extreme reticence, however, often led
+strangers to misjudge him, and to underestimate his worth.  In public
+affairs he treated himself as though he had no right to anything but
+the most inferior position, and to have given expression to his own
+opinion before even a small audience would, in his own judgment, have
+resulted fatally.  Once, under great pressure, he had consented to pass
+the collection plate at a church service, but after getting on his
+feet, "everything was a blur."  The boys at the rear vowed that he
+stumbled against every bench-end but one, and that by the time he was
+half way down the aisle "he didn't know which side of the plate should
+be up."  In replacing the plate on the organ, to the great surprise of
+the organist, he unceremoniously deposited most of the offering in her
+lap, and was too much overcome with embarrassment to assist her in
+replacing it.  During the closing hymn he made his escape to a quiet
+spot in the bush, where he could wipe his profusely perspiring brow and
+where he could solemnly promise himself not to be entrapped again.  But
+despite his reticence he was an exceptionally intelligent man, and when
+any individual could get George to express himself on questions of
+importance, it was not long before "this is what George Clarke thinks,"
+was passed from mouth to mouth throughout the community.  All through
+the years he had resided in the West he had been absolutely upright in
+his dealings and conduct, and though his reticence prevented him from
+taking an aggressive part in certain moral reforms that were advocated
+from time to time, yet there was never a shadow of a doubt as to which
+side he would be on.  The cynical individual who stated that "every man
+has his price," was compelled to make an exception in the case of
+George Clarke.
+
+And so it will not be deemed irreverent if we say that when George
+Clarke said in his heart "I will," God knew he could trust him.
+
+Very thoughtfully George passed, with his wife, from the meeting out
+into the darkness.  "I'm going to look for Bill Bird, Mary, and if I
+get him I'll bring him home--how would it do if you go on with the
+Frasers?"  The suggestion was all that Mrs. Clarke needed, and her
+neighbours, without any questioning, cheerfully made room for her in
+their democrat.
+
+George halted several times on his way to the hotel shed where his
+horse and buggy had been left--he was wondering how best to carry out
+his resolve.  That resolve was to do his utmost to help Bill Bird to a
+new life.  Years ago in the East he had been on very friendly terms
+with the Bird family, and though he had once or twice tried to show
+Bill a kindness, yet he knew he had not measured up to his
+opportunities and he felt condemned.  Quietly he walked down the
+roadway to the rear of the Imperial Hotel.  The shouts and oaths of the
+drinking and the drunken, and the clatter of glassware reached his ears
+as he passed along.  Was Bill still inside, and if so, how could he get
+hold of him?  A side door opened, and George stepped back into the deep
+shadow of the building.  Bertois, the proprietor, and some man whom
+George did not know, came to the step and stood in the light for a
+moment.  Then the door was pulled to, and the men stood silent as if
+listening to assure themselves they were alone.  Under ordinary
+circumstances George would have spoken to Bertois, but this night he
+deemed it wiser to remain unobserved.  The men conversed in low tones
+at first, but after a while Bertois' words reached him:
+
+"Don't play too swift a game for a start: give 'em plenty of bait;
+they'll keep on biting till we land 'em.  We can easily clear five
+hundred from those three suckers if you watch yourself.  Dick knows the
+drinks to dish out.  Here's for luck!  Come on."
+
+Re-entering they closed the door quietly, and George still waited,
+hoping that Sam would come out, and that the old man might be persuaded
+to get Bill Bird into the yard.  Many times during the next fifteen
+minutes the door opened, and each time George Clarke got, in some form
+or other, information of the hell that was inside.  The hour was late,
+yet he felt he must remain longer.  Bill Bird was in his keeping, for
+like those near the blind beggar of old, George had heard the call from
+the Great Physician, "Bring him hither to Me."
+
+To face the crowd of men he knew would be inside the hotel was more
+than he felt equal to, and he knew that in all probability any attempt
+to get Bill out under such circumstances would fail.
+
+Once more the side door opened--this time slowly and unsteadily.  A man
+leaned against the jamb for a few seconds as if needing support.  Then
+some one from within slammed the door against him, and he slipped
+heavily down to the narrow platform.  There was a curse and a drunken
+hiccough, and then the words the missioner had heard were uttered
+again, "By God, I wish I was dead."
+
+George Clarke did not immediately recognize the voice, but he did
+immediately step near to his needy brother-man, and said
+sympathetically, "What's the matter, mate?"
+
+Taken by surprise the man asked, "Who in the ---- are you?"
+
+George recognized the voice and the form and said, "I'm George Clarke,
+and I'm your friend, Bill Bird."  His hand was laid upon the shoulder
+of the sickened man, and in a kindly voice he persuaded him to
+accompany him to his home.  "The place here is crowded, and we've got
+lots of room at our place and can give you a comfortable bunk for the
+night: come along, Bill, for old time's sake."
+
+Linking his arm in Bill's, he led the staggering man to the drive-shed,
+and after some difficulty and a few arguments, got him safely into his
+buggy, and not a soul in the place was the wiser.
+
+Mrs. Clarke was a worthy helpmeet for George, and though her household
+cares were many, she grudged no extra labour that would please her
+husband and help a fellow-being.  And so everything necessary for the
+comfort of the fallen man had been done.  A supper had been prepared,
+and the guest-room made ready.  Bill ate as freely as his condition
+would allow, and then very willingly acted on the suggestion that he
+should "creep in."  George gave the dirty, tired, whiskey-soaked man
+such assistance as he felt would be advisable.  Once Bill raised his
+heavy eyelids and appeared to be trying to understand the "why" of
+things.  "This is no place for me, George Clarke--by God, no!"  The
+body wobbled wearily, and Bill could think and talk no more.  And so
+with most of his clothes on, filthy from his stay in the snake-room,
+Bill Bird was placed in the best bed in the best room of one of the
+truest homes with which the district was blessed.
+
+Before retiring himself, George Clarke went to a wicker-basket in the
+parlour, and searched through the family collection of photographs.  At
+last he found the one he sought.  It was of the Bird family, and was
+taken shortly before the oldest boys went West.  George took it out to
+his wife, who was still working in the kitchen.  Pointing to the face
+of a bright manly boy who stood with hand upon his mother's shoulder,
+he said to his wife, "If Bertois and his gang changed a boy's face as
+terribly as Bill's has been changed, and did it in a few minutes, they
+would be sent to the 'pen' for five years, and yet we let that same
+gang take their time on the job, and do it in hundred lots, and
+scarcely raise so much as a finger to stop it--and I'm as guilty as the
+rest of them.  Poor Bill! he used to be as decent a little chap as you
+could find in the County of Addington."
+
+The photograph was returned to the parlour, and dropped somewhat
+carelessly upon the table, but the unthinking, and yet perhaps not
+unguided act was the first of many influences that brought better days
+to Bill Bird.
+
+Long into the morning the occupant of the guest-room slept on.  George
+Clarke had opened the door quietly at breakfast time, but the heavy
+breathing caused him to leave the wearied man undisturbed.  About the
+middle of the forenoon, after much yawning and stretching, Bill's
+consciousness slowly returned.
+
+He pushed back the white coverlets and gazed around the room.  Many
+times he had awakened in a drive-shed, twice in the police cell, more
+than once in the "snake-room."  But this morning everything was
+different.  What had happened?  Was he dreaming?  The room was the most
+attractively furnished of any he had slept in for years, and his soiled
+clothes on the chair at the bedside were strangely out of harmony with
+the surroundings.
+
+He had confused memories of events since he came out of the camp, but
+he knew he had spent his money in the way most of his earnings had gone
+for the last few years, and he condemned himself for having been a fool
+again.  With a half-consciousness of some one being near, he looked to
+the opposite side of the room.
+
+The bedroom door had been quietly opened and a bright "good-morning"
+greeted him.  There need be no hurry, he was told, but whenever he was
+ready he might just as well have a bite of breakfast.
+
+No word was spoken in explanation of his presence, nor in regard to the
+trouble George had had in getting him away from the "Imperial" the
+night before.  Slowly and with mingled feelings of embarrassment and
+disgust, Bill attempted to clean himself up a little.  He knew he was
+in George Clarke's home, and in his own words, "felt like a fool and
+looked the part to perfection."
+
+It was not easy to face those he knew had befriended him, for sin had
+not yet lost its shame to Bill Bird.
+
+His bedroom door opened into the parlour, and he stood alone for a few
+seconds.  Then his eyes fell on the old photograph.  His hands trembled
+as he held it and gazed into the faces of mother and brothers and
+sister.  Pictures of the old home and of happy family relationships of
+past years crowded themselves upon his memory.
+
+He remembered how his widowed mother had toiled and struggled to bring
+up her six boys aright and give them the best equipment possible for
+the battle of life.  He recalled his own setting out from home--from
+the home to which he had never returned, and to which he had rarely
+written.  The "Western fever" had gripped him in his early twenties,
+and nothing could induce him to stay on the Homestead.  And so ere long
+the property had to pass into other hands, because there were no boys
+left to work the place.  The mother's sorrow over the parting with her
+"Willie" had rested very lightly on him the morning he started
+Westward.  Yet to-day he viewed it in a different light, and he lived
+the parting over again with very different feelings.  The last
+breakfast had been prepared in silence by the one who had never ceased
+to love him.  More than once she had tried to speak, but the lump in
+the throat prevented.  At last they stood in the hall, and her words
+were uttered with sobs as she clung to her "baby boy."  "Good-bye, my
+Willie, and remember, that as long as your mother has breath she will
+pray every day for her boy, and ask God to take care of him."  He had
+assured her he could take care of himself.  He remembered the last
+flutter of the handkerchief as she stood on the milk-stand watching the
+buggy disappear from the sideroad on to the "gravel."  He had "taken
+care of himself," and a mighty poor job he had made of it, and there
+seemed little chance of any improvement.
+
+While he was in the midst of such thoughts, George Clarke entered.
+Bill was still holding the photograph.  With moistened eyes he looked
+into the face of his hospitable friend.  "George Clarke," he commenced,
+"it takes a man a long time to own up that he has made a botch of
+things; it's too late now to make a fresh start, but I've been looking
+at this picture, and God knows I'd like to have as good a character as
+I had when that was taken.  That woman is as good a mother as any boys
+ever had, and I haven't shown her the gratitude of a dog."
+
+To this day, George Clarke feels that he never made a poorer attempt at
+trying to speak a helpful word to a discouraged man than on the morning
+when Bill Bird stood in his little parlour on the old ranch.  One
+result of the conversation, however, was the decision on Bill's part to
+accept the invitation to remain at the Clarke ranch for at least a few
+weeks, and during those weeks he saw demonstrated the best type of
+Christian living with which he had ever come in contact.  On several
+occasions he accompanied George to the hall in which the special
+services were being held.  Rather to the surprise of the Clarkes, he
+made no response to the appeals from the missioner, which seemed to
+them so powerful.  One Sabbath evening, however, as they sat around the
+stove, Bill expressed himself in such a way as to bring a thrill of joy
+to the hearts of those who were greatly concerned in seeing him make
+the "Choice of the Highest."
+
+"George Clarke," said Bill, "I haven't taken much stock in religion,
+but if there's a kind that makes a man do what you and your missus did
+for me when I wasn't fit company for a pig, I guess I ought to go in
+for it."  Then in a lower and subdued tone he added, "For anybody to
+take an interest in me is a stunner, the dirty tough that I was."
+
+It was Bill's own opinion that for him life in the bush was no longer
+safe, and so, until his future was fully decided, he agreed to assist
+the Clarkes with the work on the ranch.  When a few months later,
+through the death of a brother in the East, George Clarke decided to
+make his home in Nova Scotia, Bill Bird said in effect, "Where thou
+goest, I will go."
+
+And it so happens that to-day, down by the Eastern sea, the former
+lumberjack is building a home, a business and a character.  He has not
+again returned West, but he has often told intimate friends that there
+is a rancher's small home in the distant province which he never
+forgets; and he thanks God for those who valued a dirty, wrecked, but
+God-loved man more than furniture and carpets, and whose hospitality
+and service awakened desires that have transformed a life.
+
+But it was not to Bill Bird alone that an uplift came.  Let George
+Clarke speak for himself.  His words were spoken as he renewed his
+acquaintance with the missioner two years later.  The audience had
+dispersed, and George and the speaker walked down the street of the
+little fishing village.  Bill Bird was the main subject of their
+conversation.  For a long time they stood in the darkness as George
+narrated all that had transpired after the missioner's departure from
+the Western town.  When his story was ended, the missioner clasped his
+hand and said, "God bless you, Clarke, for what you did in Bill's
+behalf.  If only we could multiply that kind of effort we could redeem
+this dominion."
+
+George clung to the extended hand as he said, "You are very good, sir,
+to say that to me, but I tell you honestly, when I tried to do that
+little bit for Bill Bird, I did a deal more for George Clarke.  I have
+had my ups and downs as you know.  Since I've been in the East I've
+done pretty well on the whole, but honestly, sir, the palmiest days
+I've ever had, and the best returns my bank-book ever showed, are as
+nothing in value compared to the satisfaction that came to me and my
+wife when we saw Bill Bird solidly on his feet as a Christian man.  If
+you're going back by the Intercolonial, try to stop over at C----.
+Bill would be mighty glad to see you, and you'll see what the Lord can
+do with a man who has gone even as far as the "snake-room."
+
+[Illustration:
+  1. Part of a Town Site after being swept by Bush Fires.
+  2. A Bush Fire getting under way.]
+
+[Illustration:
+  1. Improvised Dwellings: cover districts into which
+  people have fled for safety.
+  2. The long line of Coke Ovens.  (See page 183.)
+  3. The Fire rapidly approaching.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BUSH FIRE.
+
+"Bush fires are said to be raging throughout the vicinity of Lundville."
+
+This bulletin was one of several occupying the boards in front of "The
+Journal" building in Carlton Mines--a British Columbia mining town.  As
+Lundville was thirty miles south-west, no unusual anxiety was felt by
+those who read the brief announcement about noon-tide on an August day.
+The atmosphere had been heavy with smoke for the past forty-eight
+hours; but that was not at all uncommon during that month.
+
+By nightfall, however, the town was enveloped in a dense cloud of
+smoke; and from the roofs of high buildings on the outskirts the
+atmosphere seemed to be penetrated by the lurid glow of the raging
+fires which now extended for several miles.  Telephone communication
+with Lundville had been impossible since noon, and from Burnt River,
+only fifteen miles away, the last message received told of the whole
+population being engaged in a desperate effort to effectively check the
+fire which threatened to wipe out the village.  From Burnt River to
+Carlton Mines there were unbroken timber lands, a fact which caused
+deep anxiety to many of the inhabitants of the mining town.  Not a few
+retired that night with forebodings that made anything but fitful and
+troubled sleep impossible.  Many were the fervent hopes that ere
+morning the heavens might open and send forth an abundance of rain upon
+the sapless woods and withered grasses.  Nothing but a heavy downpour
+of several hours' duration would penetrate the parched earth far enough
+to quench the fire which was well into the root-filled soil.
+
+Fire rangers, assisted by many citizens, including nearly a hundred
+miners, spent the night in the woods at the edge of the town, cutting
+down as much bush as was possible, and clearing it away from such
+points as were considered dangerous connecting links with Carlton
+Mines.  By dawn it was felt that the night's hard toil and the
+precautions taken had left the town fairly secure.
+
+Shortly after daylight, however, the rough trail into Carlton Mines was
+dotted for miles with settlers hurrying distractedly, they scarcely
+knew where, before the cruel flames that had driven them from their
+homes, and that had by this time destroyed those homes and many other
+results of several years of hard labour.
+
+All sorts of vehicles, from home-made toy wagons to dump-carts and
+ranch-wagons were loaded with household effects, some of which had to
+be left behind, when a few hours later, all that most people could hope
+to save was life itself.
+
+By six o'clock, fire, church, and school-bells clanged out their
+general alarm, calling every available citizen to the fire-fighting,
+that perchance united effort might save the town.  Already huge sparks
+were raining upon the south-west section, but fortunately in that
+section the shacks and buildings were few and far between.  Yet it was
+soon apparent that the fire-fighters could not hold their position,
+even there, but would have to take up a fresh stand nearer the town's
+centre.  Every household was on guard; tubs, barrels, pails, milkcans
+and kitchen utensils were filled with water, and for a time the falling
+sparks were quenched almost as quickly as they fell.  Straddle-legged
+on the ridge of the roofs in the fire zone, boys and men with dampened
+clothes were kept busy extinguishing the sparks that would so easily
+ignite shingles upon which no rain had fallen for five weeks.
+
+Throughout these long anxious hours, when men were toiling side by side
+for the protection of their town and their homes, no man had acquitted
+himself more worthily than the stalwart minister of St. Paul's Church.
+Until that night no one knew how he could make the chips fly from the
+tree trunk, and when the most needed work was the turning over of sods
+to arrest the fire running through the dry grass, no hands were readier
+than those of the Reverend Walter Nicholson, and when his palms began
+to blister and to peel, no one knew of it except himself.
+
+When, after the general alarm, reinforcements arrived, he felt he could
+no longer leave his loved ones without some word of the probable and
+immediate danger.  Stopping at only one or two homes on the way, he
+hastened to the manse.  Despite the seriousness of the situation, Mrs.
+Nicholson could not restrain her laughter, as her husband stood,
+coatless and vestless, at the door of the dining-room.  Pieces of
+coarse string had been substituted for certain important buttons which
+had been lost in his strenuous activity at the fire-fighting.  The
+all-night's toil in the dirt and the smoke, amidst falling ashes, had
+transformed the immaculately clean husband into a dirt-begrimed
+labourer.
+
+"It looks as if the town was doomed, Jess," he commenced.  "The
+brewery's gone (though that's no particular loss), and a number of
+shacks are already burnt down.  I must get right back with the men, but
+in the meantime you'd better get what you value most into a couple of
+valises.  You'll need a few extra clothes for the youngsters and
+yourself.  Put my marginal bible and my black suit in if you can.  It's
+of no use trying to take much, as we may have to foot it for quite a
+distance.  The 'Eastbound' hasn't come in yet, and it's hard to get any
+information because the wires are down, but it looks as if some of the
+bridges had been burned, so there isn't much hope of getting out by
+rail.  You can count on me being back in about half an hour."
+
+Mrs. Nicholson, as a bride, had brought to her Western home the
+handiwork of three busy years, and when the furnishing had been
+completed and her "extras" tastefully arranged, the minister and his
+young wife had looked with grateful pride upon the attractiveness of
+the manse.  During the ten subsequent years her enthusiasm in keeping
+that home orderly, clean and cosy, had never failed.  And now she had
+less than half an hour in which to select what she most desired from
+that home that had become endeared by ten years of effort to keep it,
+as it had been kept, a radiant centre of helpfulness--and that
+selection from their entire earthly possessions must fit the narrow
+compass of two valises.
+
+The reader who is able to imagine Mrs. Nicholson's feelings on that
+memorable nineteenth day of August will readily believe that a few
+minutes were lost in the feeling of helplessness as to what was best to
+select.  A glance through the window at the smoke-filled street, and
+occasional sparks, put an end to her hesitancy.  Whatever was to be
+done must be done quickly.  Her husband's request was first complied
+with, then such clothing as she and the children might need was
+included, and a small supply of food for immediate needs.  Within a few
+minutes she had gathered together the few articles of jewellery she
+possessed, a package of business papers, a bit of silverware, one or
+two photographs, and an "encyclopædic" scrapbook which contained, among
+many other interesting items, several newspaper clippings of the work
+and doings of the Rev. W. Nicholson.  From her much-prized secretary, a
+Christmas gift from the children in her Sunday School class, she took a
+locket in which was a small curl of hair--her mother's hair.
+
+In her hurried packing she had not forgotten that at least two things
+must be included from her box of relics and sentimental treasures in
+the attic.  The first pair of baby shoes ever worn in the manse were
+among Mrs. Nicholson's most valued reminders of the happy days spent in
+caring for Baby Dorothy--now a bright girl of eight years.  Whenever a
+visit had been made to the box in the attic, the little shoes were
+always taken out and looked upon with a loving smile.
+
+There were many other articles of much greater value than what was Mrs.
+Nicholson's final selection, but she could not leave "dear little
+Hugh's favourite toy."  How he had loved that little horse!  Even after
+the terrible accident that had left the "gee gee" noseless, nothing
+could ever displace it in his affections.  For at least a year it had
+shared his bed without one night's exception, and though it was usually
+taken from his arms after the little lad had fallen asleep, it was
+always placed on the chair at the bed-side, so that on awakening he
+might immediately find his valued wooden friend.  And when, during his
+long and fatal illness, he was unable to take an interest in any other
+toys, the wasted hand would rest for hours across the back of the
+broken toy-horse.  And so the noseless little animal, with its stand
+minus two wheels, found a place among the most valued things that were
+chosen from the well-furnished manse when but a brief half-hour was
+given in which to make a final choice.
+
+The thirty minutes had not fully elapsed when Mr. Nicholson came
+rushing in to say there was not a moment to lose.  The wind by this
+time had increased well-nigh to a hurricane, and no force of men could
+have protected the buildings from the fiery embers that were being
+hurled in large quantities in all directions.
+
+Walter Nicholson went forth with the two valises strapped over his
+shoulders, while on his left arm he carried his eighteen months old
+baby boy.  Close behind him came his wife with a few extra wraps thrown
+over one arm, and her free hand clasping that of the trembling little
+Dorothy.  Thus the Nicholson family departed from the manse, that
+twelve hours later was nothing but a heap of smouldering ashes.
+
+The streets were filled with terror-stricken people laden with such of
+their worldly possessions as their strength would allow.  The fierce
+wind hastened them on in their frenzied race for life.  Shouts,
+shrieks, agonized cries and prayers greeted the ears of the minister
+and his wife as they joined the homeless throng on the streets of
+Carlton Mines.  "Every house in Freeman's Terrace is burning."  "The
+Methodist Church is ablaze."  "The Opera House was on fire when we came
+by."  "Oh, my God! what'll we all do?"  "There won't be a house left in
+town."  "God have mercy on us!"  Such were the cries from scores of
+voices in the terrified crowd.
+
+Here and there aged and sick folk were being borne in the arms of loved
+ones or neighbours, although each one rendering such willing service
+knew that the delay involved was imperilling his own life.  Perhaps the
+saddest sight in the whole sad procession was that of a poor Italian
+woman, whose little girl had died the previous morning.  The father was
+working in a construction gang several miles away, and the word of the
+child's death had not yet reached him.  When the fire had spread to the
+humble dwelling, the distracted and sorrow-stricken mother could not
+endure the thought of leaving her darling to the devouring flames.
+Tenderly lifting the little one from the casket, she wrapped a shawl
+around the lifeless form and struggled with her burden alongside of
+some who knew not what she carried.  Cries and prayers in her native
+tongue were intermingled with her broken English.
+
+Walter Nicholson had forgotten for the moment that the previous
+afternoon he had heard of the poor woman's sorrow and had fully
+intended to at least call and offer such sympathy and help as was
+possible.  But the call to the fire-fighting had caused everything else
+to be put aside.  When, however, he heard the pathetic wail, "Oh, ma
+Annetta, ma leetle Annetta," and glanced at the strange-looking bundle
+the Italian woman was carrying, he at once surmised the meaning of it
+all.
+
+Burdened and anxious though he was, he walked alongside of the lonely
+mother that he might share her burden also.  The sad-eyed woman looked
+into his face, and in an appealing tone said, "Please not mak' her go
+from me--ma dear leetle Annetta.  Da father, he no come yet.  Oh! he
+must come first!"  Walter Nicholson hurriedly readjusted his baggage
+and then held his baby boy so as to leave his right arm free to give
+the poor Italian woman such support as was possible.  The assistance
+given was only slight, but his sympathetic words and the touch of his
+hand soothed a little the aching heart of one who felt that day the
+loneliness of a bereaved stranger in a strange land.
+
+Information was passed through the fleeing crowd that the work-train
+was taking the people out of danger as rapidly as possible, and that
+the best course to pursue was to make for the railway station.  In any
+case, the railway track eastward would be the safest highway down the
+Pass, as the mountain stream two miles away might be reached on foot if
+necessary.  A place of at least temporary protection would be found
+there.
+
+Before the station-house was reached, another member was added to the
+Nicholson party.  A lad of not more than five years had either wandered
+away from his home before his friends had felt the necessity to leave,
+or had become separated from them on the way.  At any rate, he was
+doing his very best to make everybody acquainted with the fact that he
+was lost.  To attempt to locate his friends was out of the question.
+Mrs. Nicholson bent over him for a moment, and her words and looks
+produced a quieting effect on the little lad, who at once did as he was
+bidden, and clung to one of the wraps on the arm of his newly-found
+guardian.
+
+By the time the railway station was reached the fire had made such
+headway that it would have been impossible to make a safe return as far
+as the manse, which had been left less than fifteen minutes before.
+The frame buildings of which most of the town was composed made the
+onrush of the flames the more rapid.
+
+The station platform was packed with an impatient crowd awaiting the
+return of the work-train which had already made two trips as far as the
+coke-ovens at Twyford.  The line was single track, and the only
+rolling-stock available consisted of an antiquated engine and two dingy
+passenger cars with rough board seats lengthwise beneath the windows.
+The morning of the fire there had been added to these cars a few open
+coal trucks.  The old engine could not make the grades with anything
+but a light train, so that it was seen by many how improbable it was
+that all those then waiting could find transportation before the
+buildings around them would be licked up by the approaching fire.
+Surrounding roofs had been saturated by the station fire-hose, but the
+gauge-ball on the water-tank was rapidly lowering, and the engineer at
+the pump-house had been compelled to leave his post half an hour
+before, so that at best their protection by water was a matter of only
+an hour or so.
+
+Yet it needed no small amount of courage to isolate oneself from the
+throng and to pass out of sight in that heavy cloud of smoke which
+prevented one seeing more than a short distance ahead.  The fire now
+seemed to have gained headway in other directions, so that even if they
+went forth they might soon find themselves in a position where advance
+and retreat were alike impossible.  Frequent explosions and loudly
+crackling timbers added to the anxiety of those who awaited the return
+of the work-train.
+
+The Rev. Walter Nicholson was soon surrounded by a group of those
+anxious to hear any suggestion he had to make.  The Station Agent
+assured him that even if the track remained clear, at least two
+additional trips would need to be made before all on the platform could
+be removed to a place of safety.  "Then the wires are dead, Mr.
+Nicholson, and we've no news of any other train being on the way, so
+there isn't a minute to spare."  He explained that the station-yard
+might be a comparatively safe place for a while, yet, in view of the
+extent of the fire, those remaining might find themselves hemmed in and
+have difficulty in getting over the burned and burning earth for many
+hours.  Several buildings west of the station had already collapsed,
+blocking certain portions of the road-bed.
+
+A number decided to follow the minister's lead and start on the journey
+along the eastward track.  Mrs. Nicholson refused to remain for the
+train, preferring to share the fortunes or misfortunes of her husband,
+while the poor Italian woman, still clinging to her precious burden,
+followed every move her sympathizer made.  Would she not wait and try
+to get on the train?
+
+"Oh, no, please me walk wid you.  I will be so strong!"  Even the
+little lad refused to be transferred to the care of others, and as none
+were particularly anxious to add to their responsibilities, there was
+nothing for it but to take him along.  It was no easy task that the
+Nicholsons had undertaken.  The usual heat of mid-August was
+intensified by many miles of burning bush, while the smoke added
+greatly to the discomfort.  Then the poorly ballasted track made
+walking exceedingly tiresome.  Yet no complaints were uttered: even the
+children realized that every effort must be made to reach the stream
+before the resistless enemy overtook them.  Little more than half a
+mile had been covered when the whistle and rumble of the work-train
+announced that it was returning for its third load of passengers.  A
+glance at the cars as the train passed was sufficient to show that fire
+had broken out further east, at some point between the pedestrians and
+Twyford.  The old paint was covered with blisters, and many of the
+windows were badly cracked through intense heat.  A few minutes later
+the train returned with every foot of space occupied, even to the steps
+of cars and engine.  A number of passengers tried to let their slower
+fellow-travellers know that the station-house was in flames, but the
+noise from the train drowned most of their words.
+
+The inhabitants of Carlton Mines who had not driven or walked out
+earlier in the day or been conveyed on the railway were now hastening
+to the limit of their powers in the direction of Twyford.  Fortunately
+for the almost exhausted pastor, the last half-mile of his journey was
+made a trifle easier by the voluntary assistance of a rugged Galician
+girl who had been well known at the manse.  One small coarse bag
+contained her few belongings, and accustomed as she had been to long
+walks and heavy loads when she had lived on the Saskatchewan prairie,
+the carrying of the baby boy would make small difference to her.
+
+And so at last the mountain stream was reached, and after crossing the
+bridge the wearied refugees laid down their burdens on the pebbly bed
+at the water's edge.  At that point the width of the open space between
+the stream-divided bush was only about a hundred feet, so that in case
+the fire continued its course the danger would still be very great.
+Already they had seen showers of sparks carried much farther than the
+short distance that separated the banks between which they stood, and
+there was every probability that the timber on each side of the stream
+would be ablaze simultaneously.
+
+But to continue their flight through the thick bush that lined both
+sides of the track for miles might be to place themselves in a much
+worse plight.  Where they now stood was an abundance of water, and
+fortunately it was shallow enough to make it safe for all to stand in
+the centre when that time became necessary.  It would then be a matter
+of endurance against the stifling heat.
+
+Within five minutes the number of those seeking refuge at the stream
+side was considerably over a hundred.  The Station Agent was the last
+one to arrive, and reported that when the third train-load was leaving,
+the railway yards and the station-house was seen to be on fire,
+everyone had immediately set out on foot.  He had kept in the rear to
+be sure that no one was missing.
+
+Except for an attempt on the part of some to safeguard certain
+belongings by burying them in the gravel, there was nothing to do but
+wait--and to many the moments seemed as hours.  It was a race between
+old Dave Minehan, the driver on the antiquated engine from the East,
+and the devouring elements from the south-west.  Which would reach them
+first?  A few men acted as sentinels, and paced the track to discover
+the progress of the fire.  The wind had dropped a little, but the
+flames were still making rapid headway, and very soon no report was
+needed from the outposts--the fire's own voice could be heard only too
+plainly.  The agent figured out that the work-train had been due over
+ten minutes--something must have happened!  Surely the train-crew
+realized the need of the courageous ones who had voluntarily walked,
+and of the others for whom no accommodation was possible.
+
+Flames were now visible to all who were close to the bridge, and the
+scorching heat, the stifling smoke, and the ash-laden wind combined to
+make waiting almost unendurable.  Brows of fainting ones were being
+bathed in the merciful stream, and the strongest were becoming fearful.
+
+"Thank God, she's coming!"  The shout was from the throat of the
+Station Agent who had been down the track listening for the return of
+the work-train.  The words had scarcely ended when the shrill whistle
+from the little engine confirmed the statement.
+
+When a few days later a number of men were discussing the disaster, one
+of them spoke for each individual at the stream when he said, "Say!  I
+used to hate that blooming raspy whistle, but that day it was the
+finest bit of music I ever heard."
+
+Dave Minehan slowed up as he neared the bridge, and the Agent signalled
+him to stop, and at once scrambled aboard to let him know that
+everybody had reached the bridge and that there was no need to try to
+go farther.  Old Dave was trembling with excitement and irritation, but
+just then he had no time to tell of the fretful delay over a hot box,
+and all the trouble entailed in putting in a new "brass" at
+Twyford--and neither then nor later did he tell of the terrible strain
+that he had endured in taking his train through a piece of blazing bush
+three miles down.
+
+The eager, frightened people were rushing up the banks, but Dave kept
+his train moving until it was about midway on the bridge.  From the cab
+he shouted to them to "keep off."  The moment he brought his train to a
+standstill he leaped from his engine and again thundered the same
+prohibition.  Sharply he yelled to the men to line up and form a
+bucket-brigade.  The fireman passed a dozen buckets from the tender,
+and Dave, with harsh and hasty commands, got the men on their job.  For
+about five minutes, with a rapidity that would have done credit to a
+trained brigade, the double line passed the buckets and old Dave dashed
+the water over such portions of the cars as in his judgment needed the
+protection.  In the meantime he had ordered the rest of the men to soak
+a few camp blankets that he had taken the precaution to bring along.
+"There's one bad spot where you'll maybe need to cover yourselves a
+bit: it'll be raining fire by when we get back--better give your coats
+and hats a dip too, boys!  Get a move on!"
+
+It was no longer possible to remain on the bridge.  The old engineer
+shouted "All aboard," and hurried back to his engine.  The women and
+children were rushed into the passenger car.  At one end stood the
+Nicholsons, while in the corner the bereaved Italian mother sat with
+her lifeless child.  More than once had the minister felt that he must
+insist on her leaving her burden behind, but each time that he glanced
+at the sad face and saw the passionate pleading of her eyes, and
+observed the tender clasp of the mother arms, his courage deserted him.
+
+The last foot was scarcely off the ground when old Dave reversed the
+lever and opened the throttle, and with a jerk the train started once
+more.
+
+Let the brakeman tell the story of the return trip, as we heard it from
+his lips months after in one of the temporary buildings that had arisen
+among the ash-heaps of Carlton Mines.
+
+"Yes, siree, you just bet it kept me firing that morning.  The
+west-bound express was away late, or it could have got the whole crowd
+out in two trips.  I never thought "Old 98" would stand the gait she
+did that day.  On that last trip we hit a clip both ways that would
+make your hair stand.  Davie was bound to get them people to Twyford.
+We got a scorching on the up-trip let me tell you.  Gosh! it seemed
+like we was running through Nebuchadnezzar's furnace.  I wondered if
+Davie would face the return trip, 'cause the blaze was getting worse
+every minute.  I moved over to him and asked him if he was going to try
+it.  Whew!  I wish you could have seen him!  He hadn't cooled off from
+the mad he had on at Twyford.  We had to put a 'brass' on the front
+car, and when the boys down there couldn't find their jackscrews, Davie
+got rip-tearing mad, 'cause he knew what the rest of the crowd at
+Carlton was up against, and he was scared he might be too late.  Well,
+sir, he dumped all the bad language what was in his system on me.  It
+was the kind you don't put in mother's letter.  He finished up with the
+sickliest kind of smile I ever set eyes on, and yelled, 'You fool: do
+you think I'm up here on a Sunday School picnic?'  But Davie knew what
+was what when we reached the bridge.  He lined up the bosses and
+parsons and the rest of that crowd like he was a British General.  And
+he got his orders obeyed in double-quick time too.
+
+"But it was that last down-trip that this child won't need a diary to
+remember by!  Gee! you know that curve about a mile and a half below
+the bridge?  Well, we'd got most all the head on we could carry, and I
+was feeling about as safe as if I was having a smoke on a can of
+dynamite.  I was watching for Dave to slow up for the curve, but blame
+me if he didn't open the throttle another notch.
+
+"As Billy S---- would say, 'Religion isn't my long suit,' but I got
+ready to say my prayers; I backed up a bit into the coal-bunker, and
+gripped the side of the tender, and I told the Almighty I hadn't
+bothered Him much for a long time, but that if He'd keep the cars on
+the track around the curve I'd be much obliged.  Seemed to me like some
+of them cars jumped clean off the rails, and I thought we were on the
+home stretch to Kingdom-come, but Davie brought us through O.K.  Did we
+pass through much fire?  Well, I should say!  There wasn't a rail or
+post for half a mile that wasn't burning.  If it hadn't been for the
+way Davie soused them cars, and got the fellows to fix their coats and
+the blankets, we'd never have made it.
+
+"Did you see the watch they gave Davie?  Get him to show it to you!
+It's a dandy--solid gold--got a whole lot of writing on the
+back--something about 'a tribute to Mr. Dave Minehan's courage and
+skill in the face of grave danger and difficulty.'  He don't say much,
+but he's as tickled about it as the fellow what got a Christmas-box of
+sealskin underclothes.  Davie's alright, you bet.  I'd rather fire for
+him on 'Old 98' than for any guy I know on a big Mogul.  He's a bit
+rough-like sometimes, but if he can help anybody he's on the job; he'd
+break his neck to do somebody a good turn."
+
+Such was the brakeman's narration of Dave Minehan's final race on "Old
+98," on the day that Carlton Mines was levelled by the bush fire.
+
+* * * * *
+
+The shadows of evening had fallen over Twyford on what is still
+regarded in Carlton Mines as "disaster day."  The afternoon had been a
+busy one for the inhabitants of the almost verdureless village that is
+known chiefly for its long lines of coke-ovens.  Generous hearts had
+made shacks and homes have an expansive hospitality that would have
+seemed incredible before the homeless throng arrived.  But after every
+available lodging device had been resorted to there were many people
+unprovided for.  And so the coke-ovens were the best accommodation that
+could be offered those still unhoused.
+
+In one of these unusual lodging-houses a candle cast its dim light over
+the figures of two men and a woman who were kneeling in the attitude of
+prayer.  In one corner a black box rested on two backless chairs.  It
+had been made an hour or two before by the local carpenter, and covered
+with black cloth by the kindly hands of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson.  Little
+Annette was to be laid away in the early morning, and this was the best
+that loving hearts could devise in that place and under those
+circumstances.  The manse valises had made their contribution to the
+final robing of little Annette, and the weeping mother, looking upon
+what Christ-like friends had done, clasped and kissed the hands that
+had dealt so kindly with her and her "leetle Annetta."  For nearly
+eight hours the father had walked seeking his wife, and now they were
+kneeling together in the presence of their dead child.
+
+Walter Nicholson's voice was tremulous with sympathy as he commended
+the sorrow-stricken strangers to the all-pitying Father.  The mourners
+did not understand all that was uttered, but they understood the spirit
+that was manifested and were deeply grateful.  A few words of comfort
+were spoken, and the minister passed out into the darkness to another
+oven in which his own loved ones were awaiting his return.  Mrs.
+Nicholson was sitting on a box with Dorothy on her knee.  Angus and the
+five-year-old stranger had fallen asleep on the ashy floor.  No trace
+had been discovered of the lad's friends.  He could give little
+information beyond the fact that his name was Hans Kuyper, and that he
+was "losted."  Mrs. Nicholson had quieted the wee chap's fears, by
+assuring him that his mother would come soon, and though, with darkness
+at hand and no sign of mother, a few tears had been shed, it was not
+long before the wearied and worn child was asleep.
+
+The husband and father sat alongside of his loved ones in sympathetic
+silence for a few minutes.  The all-night's toil, the hours of
+solicitude for others, the heat of the day, the burdens carried, the
+sympathy extended and the discomforts endured, had combined to produce
+a feeling of depression.  "We have lost everything, Jess: maybe I'll
+feel better by morning, but to-night I've lost my courage as well as
+everything else, and I can scarcely bear to think of the future."
+
+Little Dorothy placed herself between her father's knees, and looking
+lovingly into eyes where the unbidden tears had forced themselves, said
+quietly, "Isn't it a good thing, daddy, that you haven't lost mamma and
+Angus and me?"
+
+Walter Nicholson enfolded the child in his big arms and kissed the
+curl-encircled face.  "Yes!  God bless you, little sunbeam, that is a
+good thing, and maybe daddy was forgetting.  Now let us say the
+twenty-third Psalm and have our good-night prayer."
+
+With sometimes unsteady voices the three repeated the Psalm they had so
+often joined in at home under such different circumstances.  Then
+father, mother and child knelt beside the box, and a prayer of
+thanksgiving and a cry for strength came from a thankful but needy
+heart.  Walter Nicholson's arm rested on Dorothy's shoulder, and his
+voice quivered again as he thought of the little black box in the
+near-by oven; and prayed for those to whom the past hours had brought a
+double sorrow that had left them homeless and childless.
+
+As was her custom, Dorothy offered up her own prayer at her mother's
+knee.  A sweet confidence in religious matters had always existed
+between child and mother, and there was never any restraint in the
+expression of the little one's thought toward God.  Tired though she
+was, her "poetry prayers," as she called them, were said in full, and
+then her own additions followed.  "Thank you for taking care of us all,
+and we are glad that papa and mamma and Angus and Dorothy are all here.
+Help the little boy's mamma to find him, and please to take care of the
+poor Italian woman now that her little girl is gone to heaven.  Bless
+papa and mamma and Angus, and make me a good girl, and please help us
+to get another home soon, for Jesus' sake.  Amen."
+
+The fire had almost spent itself by nightfall, and with the dawn the
+long-wished-for rain began to fall.  By the middle of the forenoon the
+danger of any further outbreak was past.  The construction gang from
+the East, and a number of section men from the West, were immediately
+put to work at clearing the track and repairing culverts and bridges.
+
+By the middle of the afternoon a number of men who had fled from the
+burning town were able to make the return trip.  For four or five miles
+the outlook from the car-windows was a very dreary one.  The underbrush
+had been entirely burned up, and of the standing timber little but
+charred, jagged remnants of tree-trunks remained.  Only here and there
+had a telegraph pole escaped, and even the protruding ends of many of
+the railway ties had smouldered to the ballast.
+
+The entire business section of Carlton Mines was destroyed.  A few
+isolated buildings in the residential portion north-west, and a few in
+the north-east had escaped, but all the rest had been reduced to ashes.
+What could be done under such circumstances?  Who would have the
+courage to attempt a fresh start and face all the difficulties arising
+out of such a disaster?  Who?  _Every man who that afternoon stood
+gazing at those ash-heaps_.  With that inextinguishable optimism that
+has its headquarters in Western Canada, they began then and there to
+formulate their plans.  Several contracts for rebuilding were signed
+before night, and ere the ashes were cold, men started to rear a new
+and better town.
+
+The preacher, with the rest of the impoverished ones, went back to his
+job.  Not only did he assist in clearing away the debris, in
+preparation for a new church and manse, but many a lift did he give to
+others who were busily engaged in getting a roof over their heads.
+
+During the months of rebuilding he preached successfully in the
+open-air, in shack-restaurant, sawmill, hotel, opera-house, and
+finally, after many disappointments and discouragements, in the new
+church.
+
+Among the interesting contributions received by Mr. Nicholson for the
+Building Fund, was one from the mother of the boy who was "losted."
+When on the morning of the fire she was compelled to hastily leave her
+dwelling, she felt quite sure her little lad was with some of his
+playmates in a neighbour's home.  On the way she discovered that her
+friends had already departed, but she was still hopeful that her boy
+was in their care.  And so she had very gladly accepted a ride in one
+of the last vehicles leaving the town, and, after a rough and rapid
+drive, had reached a mining camp a mile or two south of Twyford.  Her
+friends had gone in a different direction, and it was over twenty-four
+hours before she found them.
+
+They could give her no news of her lost boy, and she began to fear that
+he had never left the town.  Two days later, without having received
+any word of his whereabouts, she suddenly saw him, riding "pickaback"
+with arms twined around the neck of the Rev. Walter Nicholson.
+
+Mr. Nicholson still delights to tell how the mother and child were
+unexpectedly brought face to face as he was turning the corner of a
+building.  He professes to have confused memories of certain details,
+but states that before he had a chance to get the lad from his
+shoulders or extricate himself, he was the centre of the most vigorous
+hugging and kissing imaginable.  When the overjoyed mother learned all
+that had taken place, her gratitude to those who had befriended her boy
+was simply unbounded.  For some months after the fire she struggled
+along in a small shack several miles away from Carlton Mines.  The
+following letter from her to Mr. Nicholson is reproduced exactly as
+written, except for corrections in spelling:
+
+
+"DEAR SIR,--I shall thank you very much for what you have done to me.
+Never will I not forget it.  It is sorry for me that I not can write
+much English.  Dear Sir, I am well here, but the work is very still and
+so we not can get money.  I went to the church on all the Sunday.  I am
+glad to be a better woman.  I wish you my blessing and Hans do it too.
+After 25th I will send you $1.00 for your another church.--G. KUYPER."
+
+
+The one dollar arrived in due time, and knowing the sacrifice it
+involved, it was valued out of all proportion to the amount.
+
+Walter Nicholson's courage in facing the future did not fail.  He
+stayed at his post until his work was completed.  To "preach to a
+procession," as the work in some districts has frequently been
+described, to face an appalling indifference on the part of some, and a
+cynical antagonism on the part of others, and to struggle along with an
+inadequate income, constitutes a task that only the bravest can face
+year after year, yet in the face of all this he said cheerfully, "I've
+seen a lot of preachers come and go, but I think God wants me here, and
+the need is call enough for any man, so here I stay as long as He
+wills.  I've had many rewards, and I thank God I've had the chance to
+do my bit in this great Westland."
+
+
+
+
+RUTH AND THE PRODIGAL
+
+THE PRODIGAL
+
+"Isn't he awful looking, Mother?  Why does daddy let him come in so
+much?  I don't like the way the study smells after he's been in."
+
+Little Ruth, of a village manse, made many other observations, and
+asked many other questions as a poor, wretched-looking man shuffled
+across the lawn in the early evening of an autumn day.
+
+The mother's smile changed quickly to a look of sadness, and giving the
+wee girl a kiss, she said, "Mother will tell Ruthie all about it at
+story-time to-night."
+
+From the Children's Bible Story Book that night the mother read of the
+Prodigal Son.  There were a number of interruptions from the occupant
+of the little bed: "Why didn't he go home before he got so dreadful
+hungry, Mother?"  "Where was his mother?"  "Why did his father run so
+far?"
+
+After answering many questions the mother continued: "There are lots
+and lots of prodigal sons still living; men who have been bad, and who
+then, like some little children who have been naughty, run away from
+those who love them best.  And all the time those who love them are
+wishing so much that they would come back, and say they are sorry and
+that they will try to be better.  God is our Father, and He loves
+everybody; you know what we often say when daddy has prayers: 'For God
+so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
+believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'  Well,
+darling, you wanted to know why daddy let poor Mr. Gage come in so
+often?  He lets him come because God would let him come.  The poor man
+thinks that God doesn't want him because he's been so bad, and because
+he's gone, oh! so far away, and daddy is trying to tell him that God
+does want him, and that God will take care of him if he will only love
+Him and trust Him, like you trust daddy and mother to take care of you.
+Mr. Gage is awful looking because sin is awful, and he has let sin be
+his master instead of God.  But mother's darling will be nice and kind
+to him, because God loves him, and we must love those whom God loves.
+Perhaps some day you will see him look as much different as the
+Prodigal Son looked after he came back home."
+
+Ruth did not altogether forget her mother's words, and when the
+half-drunken man was brought to the Manse for a meal a little later on
+in the week, she somewhat timorously handed him two or three asters
+that she had picked from the garden.  John Gage looked a little
+embarrassed, and at first seemed inclined to leave them in Ruth's
+possession, but the little hand remained outstretched, and with sweet
+winsomeness the child told him she had picked them for him.
+
+"Picked them for me!  Well, well! then I guess I'll take them.  Thank
+you."
+
+On several occasions, as he sauntered around the village, his attention
+was arrested by a childish voice calling him by name, so that he came
+to feel he had a friend in the minister's little girl.
+
+There were many head-shakings among the village wiseacres regarding the
+minister's interest in John Gage.  It was generally agreed that while
+the preacher was well meaning enough, his knowledge of human nature was
+not very keen.  The village constable knew John so well that he felt
+able to speak authoritatively on the matter.  "'Tain't no use, young
+man," he said to the preacher.  "We wus talking about him the other day
+in Cyrus Haag's blacksmith shop, and every man says the same as I do.
+He's just a-bleeding you, that's all.  Five years' hard labour is what
+he needs; s'long as you'll take care of him when he's drunk, and feed
+him when he's broke, he'll just bum around.  Don't I know the whole
+bunch?  Didn't me and the county constable arrest his father when he
+pretty nigh murdered Sam Collins?  Ain't his brother in Kingston
+Penitentiary this very minute?  The only way to improve them fellers is
+to hang 'em."
+
+The authoritative information having been given the preacher, there was
+no further need of sympathy for him if he wilfully rejected the
+constable's gratuitous, labour-and-money-saving counsel.
+
+And the passing of the weeks seemed to confirm the "'tain't-no-use"
+judgment.  People living near the Manse reported everything that
+happened, and a good deal that did not happen, in connection with the
+visits of John Gage and others of his type, for it was generally known
+that the preacher was "easy."  But the preacher went on with his work,
+and whatever the results of his efforts might be, nobody ever doubted
+his belief in the Gospel he preached.
+
+Every Sabbath evening, in some form or other, he dealt with the Fact of
+Sin and its Soul-destroying power.  He knew that "sin and punishment go
+through the world with their heads tied together," but he knew also,
+and he preached it as a fact that for him was beyond all controversy,
+that by immediate act of God salvation might come, and had come,
+delivering the life from the gripping, enslaving, murderous power of
+sin.
+
+* * * * *
+
+The year was drawing to its close.  The little village had its share of
+Christmas festivities, and family reunions were taking place.  There
+were men from the East, and men from the West, back in the old haunts
+for the holiday season.  Wonderful stories of material success were
+told as "the boys" from the West expounded the opportunities of the
+prairie provinces.  As is too often the case, the bar-room was the main
+social centre of week-day life in the village, and John Gage was always
+ready to fall into line when the prosperous ones gave the all-inclusive
+invitation, "Come on, boys."  And so long as John helped to swell the
+receipts, his drunken presence was tolerated around the bar.  Scores of
+times did he join in the greeting "A Merry Christmas," and the merrier
+it seemed to be to the frequenters of the Derby House bar, the sadder
+it really was to the homes from which they came.
+
+
+
+THE PRODIGAL'S DELIRIUM
+
+Weeks of drinking, followed by the revelry of Christmas, brought John
+to such a condition that when the bar-room closed on Saturday night he
+was turned out of the house, and a little later dragged out of a corner
+of the drive-shed, and told to "get clean away" from the premises.
+
+There was a strange look about the man on this particular Saturday
+night--a wild, almost savage appearance.  He stood a moment on the
+sidewalk as if uncertain of his whereabouts, and then turned and walked
+in the direction of the Manse.
+
+The minister answered the door-bell, and without a word John walked
+right in and through the hall to the study.  At last he spoke.
+"You--told--me--to--come--any--time.
+I--want--to--stay--here--to-night."  Then, with body bent, and as if in
+pain, with arms crossed, he rocked himself to and fro.  "Oh, God! but
+I'm sick; three days nothing but whiskey: I've got it to-night for
+sure."
+
+After much persuading the minister had the man in bed.  The mistress of
+the Manse had prepared strong coffee as fast as her trembling body
+would let her.  Once before she had passed through a night such as she
+feared this would be, and the prospect might well make her timorous.
+But the Manse and its furniture had three years ago been pledged to His
+service, and she murmured not.
+
+The doctor had been sent for, but he was on a country call, and was not
+expected back until eleven.
+
+At one end of the bedroom the minister sat watching John Gage.  In some
+way the drink-inflamed man had placed under his pillow an old revolver
+and a short stiletto.  After a time the hands clasped these with a
+vice-like grip.  Suddenly standing out on the carpet he looked at the
+preacher, and said, "Why in the devil don't you go home?  D'you want a
+fight?  Say!  I could rip you so's they'd have to pick you up in
+baskets."
+
+A little later he imagined he was once more on the South African
+battle-field.  With a sickening shudder he pointed to where his deluded
+eyes saw again the wounded and bleeding.  "My God! see that poor devil
+with his leg nearly off!  Look! ain't that awful.  See that one
+squirming!--him yonder with his head half open!"  Then straightening
+himself, he said, as if addressing some audience, "Friends, I say, and
+I know, _war is hell_!"
+
+From time to time, under persuasion, he would return to his bed.  Once
+he imagined he was driving down the old concession road near his
+grandfather's farm as in boyhood days.  The sheets were jerked and
+handled as if reins.  "Well, now, this _is_ a slow horse.  It will,
+ladies and gentlemen, be quite appropriate to sing we won't get home
+till morning.'  I tell you what I'll do--I'll put the horse in the rig,
+and I'll get in the shafts, and then there'll be a horse in the buggy
+and an ass in the shafts, but we'll make better time."  Then followed a
+weird burst of laughter.
+
+The doctor arrived about midnight.  For a couple of hours he watched
+the effect of his treatment, but rest would not come to the occupant of
+the guest-room.  The eyes would appear to be closing in sleep, and then
+would suddenly open wide as if their owner were in terror of some
+impending disaster.  Then the danger spot seemed to have been located,
+and with a series of jerks the head was raised higher and higher until
+John was sitting up in bed.  Never once did the gaze leave the corner
+of the room.  With the utmost stealth, first one foot and then the
+other was pushed from under the bedclothes to the floor.  Very slowly
+and noiselessly, with knife still gripped, the demon-possessed man
+glided toward the corner.  With great caution, as if measuring the
+distance, he bent the left knee, and at the same time lifted the right
+hand ready to strike.  Then with blasphemous exclamations he stabbed
+the imaginary monstrosities.  Again and again he seemed hurled back as
+by some real enemy in the fight.  At last the knife went deep into the
+floor, and he seemed to have conquered.  Never once taking his gaze
+from where the knife stood he backed slowly toward the bed.  "Ah!  I
+got him that time!  See him! see him!"  Then followed a blood-chilling
+burst of profanity at the wriggling object of his delirium.  "But he
+can't get up!  No! no! no! it's through his neck."
+
+And so the long night wore on, and the wearied preacher, looking upon
+what drink could do with "God's Masterpiece," vowed anew to fight the
+cursed traffic in intoxicants as long as life lasted, and never
+knowingly to have his home defiled by such a life-blasting beverage.
+
+It was nearly seven o'clock on Sabbath morning when John Gage fell
+asleep.  At ten o'clock the bell of the adjoining church awakened him.
+The minister had anticipated the awakening, and was at the bedside.
+John seemed dazed for a time, but in a little while conversed with the
+one who had befriended him.  He was urged to remain quietly in bed, and
+after a few words the minister clasped the hand of the outcast man, and
+kneeling at the bedside, laid the burden of his heart upon the One who
+is mighty to save.  As the Amen was uttered Ruth approached the door.
+"Alright, little one, come and see your friend John," were her father's
+words.  Ruth was ready for church, and with garments and face alike
+attractive, laid her little hand in the big hand of the sin-wrecked
+man.  Who can understand the power of the touch of a child's hand?
+Closing his fingers over the dainty, wee hand, John Gage turned his
+face to the wall and sobbed aloud.  Little Ruth hardly knew what to do.
+Gently she placed the other hand on the dirty, unshaven cheek, and
+merely said sympathetically, "Don't cry."
+
+John turned his head back again long enough to say brokenly, "God bless
+you, little gal."
+
+[Illustration:
+  1. British Columbia Miners off shift.
+  2. Wrecked through a wash-out.
+  3. A section of a Mountain Mining Town.]
+
+Leading Ruth out the room, the minister gathered up his books and went
+to the morning service.  When he returned John Gage had departed.
+Early Monday morning Allan Short, a near-by farmer, called to tell him
+that John was out at his place cutting away at the winter's wood-pile.
+Allan promised to do what he could for John, but incidentally remarked
+that he did not see why a man couldn't "take a glass of beer without
+making a fool of himself."
+
+[Illustration:
+  1. An Exhausted Prospector.
+  2. A Miner's Washing Day.
+  3. Ready to start for the hills to inspect a mine.
+  4. Miners off to their daily toil.]
+
+A day or two later the minister drove by the Short homestead,
+presumably to make a call at the Meen's farm, where he had several
+faithful church-goers.  As he passed, he recognised John at the
+saw-horse, and waved a greeting as to a friend.
+
+On his return he drove up the road to the Short Farm, and John at once
+came forward, with the customary Canadian courtesy, to tie up or
+unhitch the horse, according to the visitor's wish.  After a few
+pleasantries the minister went to the house and made a call on such
+members of the Short family as were home, and then returned to where
+his horse was tied.  Hesitating a moment, he turned and walked to the
+wood-pile, and after complimenting John on his ability to swing the
+axe, spoke a few encouraging words.  For a moment the hand rested on
+John's shoulder as he said, "You will be one of God's good men yet,
+John.  I know it's a terrible fight, but God knows all about it, and
+with Him you can conquer.  Come and see us any time you are in, but for
+the life of you don't loiter around the village, and do keep clear of
+the men who would be likely to make it easy for you to get what you
+know is ruinous to you.  And don't forget we are your friends always,
+always."
+
+As he turned the corner of the side road, he met Allan Short returning
+from a trip to the village.  Referring to John Gage the farmer said,
+"He's been as straight as a British Columbia pine since he came out;
+but, say! it's kind o' pitiful, after all, the way he craves for
+whiskey.  Me and the Missus watched him yesterday.  She's been keeping
+her eyes open.  Well!  John was taking a breathing spell, after he had
+done a fine lot of splitting (and he's no greenhorn with the axe, let
+me tell you!), when all of a sudden he went to the fence-post where his
+coat was hanging, and putting it on as he walked, he made down the
+road.  He got about ten rod and then stopped like as if he'd forgotten
+something, and then he started back, took off his coat, and pitched
+into that wood-pile as if it was sure death if he didn't get it
+finished by night.  The missus says he's done the same thing three
+times to her knowledge, and once he went so far she was sure he was
+gone for good.  But she says he sure did 'lambaste' them blocks when he
+got back."
+
+
+
+RUTH'S ILLNESS
+
+The following Sunday morning little Ruth was missing from the Manse
+pew, and her absence from that service was so unusual as to cause many
+inquiries.
+
+"Nothing serious," said the mother.  "Just a little throat trouble, and
+as she seemed somewhat feverish we thought we had better leave her at
+home.  Lizzie is taking care of her."
+
+But on Monday morning the doctor looked very anxious after an
+examination of Ruth's throat, and in departing advised the minister to
+keep out of the child's room until an examination a few hours later.
+
+On Tuesday morning it was a bit of village news that was passed from
+mouth to mouth, that the minister's little girl had diphtheria, and
+that the house was placarded.  The occupants of the Manse were deeply
+touched during the following days by that spontaneous expression of
+practical sympathy that is characteristic of village life.  But perhaps
+no one stirred the deepest emotions as did John Gage.  Darkness had
+fallen over the village on Tuesday before he had heard of Ruth's
+sickness.  There was some look of solicitation on Mrs. Short's face
+when John "guessed" he would stroll to the village.
+
+He answered the look by saying almost curtly, "I'm going to the Manse."
+
+The little patient's symptoms showed severe infection, and a second
+doctor was in consultation when the minister heard a very gentle rap on
+the door.
+
+"Sorry I can't ask you in, John," he said, as he saw John standing on
+the verandah.
+
+"How is she?" asked the caller, in a tone that revealed a great concern.
+
+"She is a very sick little girl, John.  Dr. Dodds is with Dr. Burnett
+just now.  We can only give her the best care possible, and hope and
+pray.  It is good of you to call, and when the wee girl is better she
+will be pleased to know you came.  The poor little soul has been
+restless and feverish all the afternoon."
+
+"Poor little gal!  Tell her John hopes she'll soon be alright.  I ain't
+much of a friend, God knows, but all the same I've been that lonesome
+like, since I heard she was sick, I don't feel as if I want to do
+anything, but just wait around.  If there's any job I can do to help, I
+give you my word I'll be in trim to do it as long as the little gal
+needs me."
+
+For two weeks John's "little gal" caused anxious days and nights--some
+of them days and nights when tearful prayers were sobbed out in the
+solitariness of study or bedroom--times when the physicians found no
+hopeful signs, and the little life seemed to be passing beyond human
+reach.  It was on one such night that John brought a few delicacies
+from the farm for the minister's household, and waited for the report
+from the sick-room.
+
+"The doctor has been with her an hour, John, and the wee girl is alive,
+and that's all we can say."  The voice broke into a sob as the last
+words were spoken.
+
+The two men stood in silent sympathy for a few minutes, and then John
+broke the silence.  "She was friendly to me, sir, and I'll never forget
+it.  Lots of folks what thinks they're big toads in the puddle treats
+me as if I was dirt, but the little gal is the biggest Christian of the
+lot, and she's done me more good than the whole gang of 'em.  Say! the
+way she put her little hand on my face that Sunday morning was better'n
+any sermon I ever heard.  Queer, ain't it, but it broke me all up."
+Then in response to a request from the minister John continued, "I'm
+afeared it wouldn't count much if I tried to pray, sir; but there ain't
+anything I wouldn't try my hand at for her."
+
+The following day there was better news, and two days later the little
+sufferer was able to smile in response to the tokens of love that were
+showered upon her.
+
+The physicians' faces relaxed, and they were delighted that
+professionally they were winning the battle, and the big-hearted senior
+physician rejoiced for other reasons.  "By the way," he said that night
+in the Manse study, "I have met that fellow John Gage several times
+lately, and his interest in Ruthie is really remarkable.  I didn't
+think it was in the man to care for anybody.  And stranger still, he
+was sober each time.  The little girl may yet be the salvation of the
+poor chap, and do what no one else has been able to do."
+
+Shortly before St. Valentine's Day the Manse was thoroughly fumigated,
+and the placard removed.  Ruth was amusing herself cutting out the
+kindergarten suggestions for Valentines, and sending them to selected
+friends.  On a crudely shaped heart in poorly fashioned letters that
+she had learned to print, were the words, "Ruth loves John."  On
+February the 14th, John Gage received the tiny envelope containing his
+Valentine.  Nothing he had received in years pleased him quite so much.
+
+"Now, ain't that great," he confided to Mrs. Short, "'tain't worth a
+cent, I suppose, but just this very minute they're ain't enough money
+in the whole village to buy it."
+
+
+
+THE PREPARATORY SERVICE
+
+The quarterly communion service was about to be conducted in St.
+Andrew's Church.  The usual invitations had been given from the pulpit,
+and a few had called at the Manse to discuss the question of
+membership.  It was always a time of prayerful concern on the part of
+the minister lest any should take the step without realizing its
+obligations and privileges.  At the minister's invitation, John Gage
+had spent over an hour in the study.
+
+"Nothing less than an out and out surrender will do, John.  You have
+had your way, and the devil has had his way, now you must be willing to
+let God have full control.  There must be an entire breaking away from
+past associations, and you must take the step that can never mean
+retreat.  Unless you do that the path back to the old ways will be too
+attractive, and too easy."
+
+Once again the two men read passages from well-thumbed pages in the
+study Bible, and again the shepherd of souls called on the One who is
+Mighty to Save, and then John prayed, and as the long silence was
+broken and a wanderer in a far country turned his face to his Father
+and uttered penitent words, the minister's tears of joy could no longer
+be restrained.  As they rose from their knees, hands were clasped, and
+those feelings, too deep for words, found expression in the pressure of
+a protecting and a trusting hand.
+
+In the eyes of the majority of the Kirk Session, there was little risk
+in receiving into membership the well-to-do respectable sinner, but
+when the minister narrated the conversations he had had with John Gage,
+and suggested his name as a candidate for membership, eyebrows were
+raised and heads shook ominously.
+
+"Wad it no' be better to put him off for a few months to see whether he
+could stan' alone first?" was the question of John McNair, the senior
+elder.
+
+Colonel Monteith, who was greatly burdened with the responsibility for
+maintaining the dignity of the Presbyterian Church, wondered whether
+"this rather disreputable man Gage would not find more congenial
+associates down in the Free Methodist Hall."  Tom Rollins didn't know
+"how the people would take it."
+
+Murray Meiklejohn, characterized by his reticence and good common
+sense, moved that "John Gage be received," and stammeringly added that
+so far as leaving John to stand alone was concerned, he "guessed" they
+had been doing that ever since he came to town, ten years ago.
+
+And so with some misgivings, and with some wounded pride, the Session
+included John Gage in its reception list.
+
+On Friday night, an hour before the time for preparatory service, John
+called at the Manse.  "I'm a-trembling all through," he said to the
+minister, "and I was half-minded not to come.  If it hadn't been for
+what you said about the hospital being a place for sick folks, I
+wouldn't had the courage to face it."
+
+The preparatory service of that night is still spoken of in the quiet
+village.  Perhaps the atmosphere was created by one who had prayed much
+that day that the congregation might receive a new vision of the
+Redeemer, through the words of one for whom not an individual in the
+entire congregation had any hope six weeks before.
+
+The sermon over, the minister and elders extended the right hand of
+fellowship to the little company occupying the front seats.
+"To-night," said the minister, as he returned to the platform, "I have
+asked my friend Mr. John Gage to say a few words."  The lecture-hall
+had probably never known stiller moments than those immediately
+following the announcement.
+
+John Gage, pale and trembling, not daring to look at his audience,
+stood facing the platform.  In a low voice he said, "Well, friends, I
+have been a bad man--that's no news to anybody, but God helping me I'm
+going to be better.  Seems like a miracle, don't it, that John Gage has
+been sober for five weeks?"
+
+As he sat down, the "Let us pray" of the minister preceded a petition
+for "our brother," that made most hearts tender and prayerful.
+
+"It's a new day for St. Andrew's," said Murray Meiklejohn, as he shook
+the hand of the minister after the benediction.  "Nothing like
+to-night's meeting in my memory.  Looks as if we were going to stop
+singing 'Rescue the Perishing' and get on the job."
+
+It is no easy task for the average Presbyterian elder to utter a
+fervent "God bless you," but that night hearts were stirred and tongues
+were loosened, and John Gage felt that after all the world was not so
+unfriendly as he had imagined.  Hand after hand was extended in genuine
+welcome.  But the finest thing of all, as the minister said a little
+later, was the way the Colonel warmed up to John.  He had never been
+seen to manifest the same cordiality in the Church before.  "A manly
+step to take, sir--a manly step--needs courage to fight that kind of a
+battle.  Personally I am glad to welcome you to St. Andrew's."
+
+When story-time came at the Manse on the following evening, Ruth was
+all attention as her mother told of the homecoming of another prodigal,
+and of all it might mean.
+
+Ruth's prayer had two additional words that night.  The closing part
+was uttered more deliberately than usual, as if in anticipation of the
+seriousness of the added petition.  "Bless daddy and mamma,
+and--all--the--friends--I--love--_and John_, for Jesus' sake.  Amen."
+
+
+
+THE TEMPTATION
+
+John Gage secured temporary work in the village delivering freight for
+a local carter.  Whenever opportunity afforded, the _habitués_ of the
+bar-rooms did not spare him their sneers and jeers.  "Folks say you're
+a hell of a good preacher, John."  "When are you going to wear the
+starched dog-collar, John?"  Calling him to a little group on the
+sidewalk, one of his former chums said, with mock solemnity, "Let us
+pray."  A roar of laughter followed, as John, crimson-faced, walked
+away.
+
+There were days when the sting in some of the taunts was hard to
+bear--days when only One knows the conflict in that will that had
+become enfeebled by sin.  But John Gage was steadily gaining the
+victory, and the visits to the Manse and the new friends around the
+church were displacing the former associations.
+
+Signs of a material prosperity that John had never before known were
+gradually appearing.  The village tailor took particular pride one
+morning in showing the minister a piece of blue serge, "as fine a bit
+of goods as is imported.  I'm cutting a suit out of it for John Gage,
+and it will be as good as I can make it.  Did you ever think how much
+the tailor can co-operate with God in fixing a man up?"
+
+But not all the villagers were desirous of co-operating with God in the
+reformation of John Gage.  A little crowd had gathered one night in
+McKee's barber shop, and the minister of St. Andrew's was being harshly
+criticized for his frequent attacks on the liquor traffic.  The
+proprietor of the pool-room, who attended St. Andrew's at the time of
+the Lodge annual parade, announced his intention of absenting himself
+unless the minister "minded his own business."  Others made similar
+threats, which in the aggregate might bring the minister to the proper
+frame of mind which became one who "received his bread and butter from
+some of the very people he had been abusing."
+
+Then the case of John Gage was discussed, and uncomplimentary terms
+were freely applied.  McKee thought "it would be a d----d good joke on
+the Presbyterian preacher if John could be made as full as a goat, and
+then sent to the Manse."  To the lasting disgrace of the barber, he
+attempted to perpetrate the "joke."
+
+Bud Jenks was a willing tool of anybody who would reward him with a
+whiskey, and when McKee offered him all he could take at one standing
+if he got Gage to take a drink, he was ready to at least make the
+attempt.  And so on a day when John had shovelled coal from car to
+waggon and waggon to cellar for eight hours, and was warm, tired and
+thirsty, Bud appeared with a little pail, as if coming from the town
+pump.  John was at the grating tramping the coal further into the
+cellar, and his head was about on a level with the sidewalk.
+"Good-day, Bud," he called up as Bud stood for a moment.
+
+"Good-day, John; warm job, eh?"
+
+"You bet it's warm," was the reply, as the coal-begrimed brow was wiped.
+
+"Take a drink o' water?" asked Bud.
+
+"Sure I will, and thank you," answered the thirsty toiler with hand
+extended to the pail, which was placed on the sidewalk.  Quickly Bud
+removed the lid, and gave the pail a tilt as the rim came near John's
+face.  Just a touch of froth from the lager beer was carried to John's
+lips, but instantly he pushed back the pail with an exclamation almost
+of pain.  At the same moment he slid further into the cellar, and
+kneeling on the coal, with hands clasped against the wall, cried out
+again and again, "Oh, my God, help me, help me, help me!"
+
+Bud peered into the darkness and called several times to John.  At last
+John approached the grating again.  "Bud," he said quietly, "for God's
+sake go away and leave me alone; I'd rather drop dead than put another
+drop of that to my lips."
+
+Bud did not immediately depart, despite the pleading of the man in the
+cellar, and not until a passer-by had entered into conversation with
+him, and the two had moved off together, did John pull himself to the
+sidewalk and drive away.  "Oh, the smell of it near drove me mad for a
+few minutes," he said, as he confided the occurrence to his friends at
+the Manse.  "If it wasn't for the little gal, and coming up here, I'd
+get far enough away from this place, so's I wouldn't have the same
+temptations."
+
+"Temptation is not a matter of locality, John, and you would not escape
+it by crossing a continent, and besides, we need you right here.  If
+you win out and give God the glory, you will do more to prove His power
+than a year of sermons could."
+
+
+
+THE COLONEL'S OUTBREAK
+
+"Bully for Colonel Monteith!  He's a brick, by jinks he is!  The words
+were uttered in an excited voice by the young minister on his return
+from one of his daily trips to the Post Office.
+
+"Why, daddy," exclaimed the wife, "I'll report you to the Session for
+using bad language.  But what has happened anyway?"
+
+It was several minutes before the cause of the "bad language" could be
+satisfactorily narrated.  The conversation in McKee's barber shop was
+related, and the indignation of the mistress of the Manse was all that
+could be desired.
+
+"Well," continued the minister, "somebody who heard it happened
+casually to tell Colonel Monteith.  Within half an hour, the Colonel
+was in the shop.  McKee was lathering Lawyer Taskey, but that didn't
+seem an important matter to the Colonel, for without waiting until he
+was through he at once faced him with what he had heard, and asked if
+it was true.  At first McKee tried to evade the question, but the
+Colonel pressed for an answer.  'Well, suppose I did.  Is it any of
+your business?' replied McKee.  Then with a sneer he added, 'And
+anyhow, I didn't know that you and _Mister_ John Gage were such bosom
+friends.'  'Look here, McKee,' and the voice of the Colonel trembled
+with emotion, 'I hold no brief for this man Gage any more than I do for
+any other man in the village, but when a fellow puts up a fight like he
+has for the last two months--a fellow, as you know very well, with
+veins full of bad blood--it is in the highest degree reprehensible for
+any man to be even a party to such a devilish scheme as you tried to
+work out by making a poor sot like Bud Jenks your catspaw.  And nobody,
+sir--I say, sir, nobody but a contemptible cur would attempt such a
+dastardly act.'  And then the barber got impudent and told the
+dignified elder to go on a long trip.  Moving nearer to him the Colonel
+said, 'Before I go there, McKee, there's a place I wish to accompany
+you,' and quick as a flash he grabbed McKee and tried to drag him to
+the back of the shop.  McKee didn't know what was going to happen, and
+naturally objected some, but Jim Morton, who saw it, says the Colonel
+was 'mad from the toes up,' and after laming a few chairs, and damaging
+a mirror in the scuffle, he got the rear door open and pulled McKee
+after him down the bank to the creek.  The barber likely surmised what
+was the next item on the programme, and not caring for cold baths in
+March, he did some furious scuffling, but though the Colonel's hat and
+a few buttons had disappeared, he was able to report progress.  Jim
+says the language of McKee as he got near the water has never been
+surpassed in Emsdale.  Lawyer Taskey felt like going to McKee's rescue,
+as he doubtless earnestly desired to have his shave finished, but when
+he got his hat on and started down the bank the Colonel thundered
+something at him that caused him to decide it would be pleasanter to
+remain in the shop.
+
+"Unfortunately the Colonel could not part company with McKee at the
+critical moment, and the two of them fell into the water together.  The
+Colonel stood the shock well enough to have sufficient presence of mind
+to immediately grab the barber and duck him thoroughly, and then the
+two of them scrambled out, and the air is still blue around McKee's
+place; but taking a conjunct view of the entire affair, the Colonel
+appeared satisfied.
+
+"Jim says that the Colonel's language was not what would be expected
+from an elder, and that when there was the final scuffle at the edge of
+the creek, he heard him call McKee 'a blawsted skunk.'  I suppose
+that's terrible in a member of St. Andrew's Session, but I'm sinner
+enough to be glad that McKee got a small percentage of his deserts, and
+my backbone feels stiffer and I shall carry my head a little higher
+because Colonel Monteith's on my Session."
+
+The minister jumped to his feet, and swinging his arm in a circle above
+his head shouted, "Bully for Colonel Monteith, the man who turned
+McKee's 'joke' into a boomerang."
+
+The eyes of the minister's wife had sparkled with interest as she
+listened to what had happened to McKee, and the minister was satisfied
+when at the conclusion of the incident she said quietly, "I am so sorry
+Colonel Monteith fell in the creek.  Ask him up for dinner to-morrow,
+or some day soon.  I'll do my very best to show my appreciation of his
+well-meaning defence of our John."
+
+
+
+THE VALENTINE
+
+Some weeks later John procured a position in a distant city.  Ruth and
+her father went to the station to bid him farewell, the latter assuring
+him of the unfailing interest of his friends at the Manse, and uttering
+a few words of counsel, now that distance would prevent the frequent
+visits of the past.
+
+For a while all went well, and encouraging reports reached the village
+Manse.  Sometimes the letter was addressed to the Minister, but oftener
+to Ruth, and all of them revealed the strong hold the little one had
+upon the reforming man.
+
+Then came word of dull times and scarcity of work and loneliness.  It
+was after a letter that revealed unusual despondency, that an urgent
+invitation was sent for John to return to the village and spend a few
+weeks at the Manse until labour conditions improved.
+
+No answer came to this invitation, but two weeks later a letter came
+from John's boarding-house, which read as follows:--
+
+
+"Dear Sir,--I take the liberty of writing you, because there is a Mr.
+Gage boarding at my place, and he is real sick and don't seem to have
+no friends near here, and I can't take care of him no longer.  He says
+you are his best friend, and so I thought you would tell me what to do,
+as he hasn't got no money, and I am a hard-working woman and can't
+afford to do without it.  He ought to go to the Hospital, I guess, but
+he don't take to the notion.  Please do something right away.--Mrs.
+JOHN McCAUL, 14, St. Lawrence Lane."
+
+
+The following morning the minister started for the city, and late that
+afternoon stood at the door of No. 14, St. Lawrence Lane.  The lane
+consisted of a long, monotonous row of dingy little houses on the one
+side, and a miscellaneous group of stables and sheds on the other.
+Factory buildings, with their "insolent towers that sprawl to the sky,"
+overtowered the whole, shutting out much light, and pouring forth from
+their immense chimneys the smoke that usually hung like a pall over the
+narrow lane.
+
+Mrs. McCaul was greatly relieved by the presence of the minister, and
+as they sat in the ventilation-proof parlour she told him of John's
+hard luck, interspersing most of her family history in the narration.
+"He's terrible discouraged," she added, "and the doctor says he'd
+oughter be in some more cheerfuller place, although I'm doing the best
+I can."
+
+It was a poorly furnished dark bedroom into which the minister was
+ushered, and the surroundings of the whole place reminded him of a
+popular description of certain American city boarding-houses, which are
+said to "furnish all the facilities for dying."
+
+John clasped the extended hand with gratitude, and the visitor's
+presence did much that medicine had failed to do.  As he stood talking
+to the sick man, his eyes rested a moment on a little red Valentine
+that had been inserted between the glass and the frame of the tinselled
+mirror.
+
+"I see you're looking at me Valentine," said John.
+
+"Yes!  I did notice it."
+
+"Well, sir, many a day the last few weeks I've wondered whether I could
+hold out.  When a fellow ain't got a job, and money and friends is
+scarce, it seems like it's easier for the devil to get th' inside
+track.  There was some days when it seemed as if all the devils in hell
+was after me a-trying to get me back to the old life, and I used to
+come up here and look at me Valentine.  I've stood before that there
+glass a good many times lately, and looked at the red heart what Ruthie
+cut out, and said, 'God help me to be faithful to the little gal.'"
+
+After a good deal of persuasion John consented to go to the hospital,
+so that he might receive proper care.
+
+For seven weeks the disease, which was a part of "the wages of sin,"
+held sway.  Once John thought the end was near, and that probably, ere
+many days, he must pass away.  He expressed his fears in a broken voice
+to the nurse, and then asked for the Valentine.  Tears filled his eyes
+as he gazed at the trifling token of a child's love.  With an effort he
+controlled his voice and said huskily: "If anything happens, nurse, I
+want to have that Valentine with me.  You know what I mean, don't you?"
+
+The nurse nodded her head.
+
+"You see, nurse, it was sent me by a little gal--the minister's little
+gal.  I was pretty far gone a year ago, and if ever God sent an angel
+into this world to help lift up a poor wretch of a man, it was when
+that little gal started to be my friend.  And when them little hands
+cut out the heart for my Valentine and sent it to me, and I read 'Ruth
+loves John,' I felt as good as if I'd been sent a fortune."
+
+The news of John's sickness had its effect on Ruth's nightly prayer:
+"Please, God, make John better, because he's very sick.  For Jesus'
+sake.  Amen."
+
+John's sickness was not unto death.  Slowly he regained health and
+courage, and as soon as he was able to work he secured a position in a
+city factory.  Much of his leisure is being given to City Mission Work.
+
+He has often been seen on a street corner joining in an open-air
+service.  Not long ago he was telling a crowd of men what the Gospel
+had done for him.  "Say, fellows, when I think of it--think of what I
+was--I just know He's able for anything.  I'm ashamed of myself, but
+I'm proud of Him."
+
+As he finished his testimony a workman in the same factory, who was
+standing at the rear of the crowd, called out, "Yes, and John's the
+decentest feller in the factory, so he is."
+
+The red heart has faded almost to a brown.  It no longer occupies its
+place on the mirror.  A stranger picking up John Gage's Bible might
+wonder why a soiled and worn bit of paper in the shape of a heart
+should be pasted on the front inside page; but often a tired workman,
+reading his "verses" for the night, turns first of all to the front
+inside page, and reads three words that light and time and dirt have
+almost effaced--"Ruth loves John."
+
+Sometimes the gaze is long, and sometimes the fading words are still
+further dimmed by tears, but the faded Valentine is fragrant with
+precious memories of a child's love that resulted in the homecoming of
+the prodigal.
+
+
+
+
+THE CORD OF LOVE
+
+A transcontinental express was speeding across the prairies to its
+Pacific Coast terminus.  Two hours before it shrieked its approach to a
+foothill city, the local police received a message which, being
+interpreted, read: "Detain Lavina Berson, travelling on No. 96; age
+about fifteen, black hair, very attractive.  Travelling in company of
+two men when train left B----."
+
+When No. 96 pulled into the depôt, two plain-clothes officers boarded
+the train and soon located the girl wanted.  At first the flashing
+black eyes looked defiantly into the face of Staff-Inspector Kenney as
+he requested her to accompany him.  But the law must be obeyed, and on
+being shown a detective's badge the little runaway passed with her
+escort comparatively unnoticed into the city street.
+
+At the police-station she sat in the ante-room with the matron, while
+the inspector, the staff-inspector and the plain-clothes detective
+discussed the case.  The girl's youthfulness and attractiveness
+appealed to their sympathies.
+
+"It's too blamed bad to send a pretty youngster like that to the
+cells," said one.
+
+"Why not send her to that new Rescue Home till we get more particulars?
+They'll take care of her.  There's a woman there that knows her job
+alright."
+
+And so to the Redemptive Home Lavina was sent, the authorities giving
+the usual instructions governing such a case.  For a few hours the
+new-comer was silent, but few girls could long be silent in the
+presence of the big-hearted, winsome Superintendent of that Home.  It
+was a new experience for Lavina; the only kindness she had known was
+the traitorous type, and it was hard for her to believe that there was
+such a thing as unselfish love.  Forty-eight hours from the time she
+crossed the threshold of the Home, the hand that was almost ready to
+strike any one who seemed to have co-operated in checking her reckless
+career was slipped along the forearm of the Superintendent.
+
+"Everybody thinks I'm bad, and I guess I am, but I believe if I had
+lived with you I might have wanted to be good."
+
+The words did not come easily, but when the Superintendent stroked the
+black hair and put an arm around the wanderer, drawing the head to her
+shoulder, she realized that love had won its first battle in that
+misguided life.
+
+The following morning a young man rang the door-bell of the Home in an
+impatient manner.  When the Superintendent appeared he said, "Is this
+where Lavina Berson is?"
+
+"Yes," was the reply.
+
+"Well, I want her, and I want her d----d quick.  She's a d----d
+nuisance.  She's never been any good.  Nobody can do anything with
+her."  Then, drawing a rope from his pocket, he said, "I'll bind the
+little devil with this, and if that won't do I've something else in
+here (putting his hand over his hip-pocket) that will settle her."  His
+face was red with passion, and his eyes flashed with anger.  "Oh! you
+needn't tell me," he continued.  "I know all about her; I'm her
+brother.  I'm sick of getting her out of difficulties.  I say she's a
+d----d nuisance, and I ain't going to let her forget this trip I've had
+to take, not on your bottom dollar I ain't.  I've got something else to
+do than to be chasing over the country after her."
+
+"You cannot get possession of your sister to-day," answered the
+Superintendent.  "Even if I were not under obligation to the
+authorities to detain her, pending their instructions, I could not let
+her go with you just now.  She is a friend of mine, and I love her.
+She has told me her story; she is only just sixteen.  Ropes and pistols
+and policemen are not the remedy, sir; she needs a brother--a real
+brother.  If you call in the morning I shall be glad to have a quiet
+talk with you."
+
+Ten days later, in her own town, the court-room was crowded when the
+case of Lavina Berson was called.  The trial resulted in a mass of
+evidence to show that she was bad.  There seemed no other course open
+to the Judge but to send her to a reformatory.  She had associated with
+the fastest boys and girls, and with the most lawless men and women her
+town had known.  The policeman, giving evidence, made it clear that the
+town would be well rid of her.  Not one witness, even to the girl's
+mother, had any hopeful word to speak.
+
+In the face of such evidence there seemed only one course open.  When
+the word "reformatory" reached the girl's ear she broke into a passion
+of weeping, so that the Judge hesitated a moment.  Then there was some
+movement and whispering near the witness-box.  The Superintendent
+mentioned had journeyed Eastward to be present at the trial, and she
+was now conferring with the Morality Inspector.
+
+The weeping girl looked appealingly through her tears at the one who
+had befriended her.  "Oh, please," she whispered, in a voice broken
+with sobs, "don't let them send me to that awful place.  It'll only
+make me worse; take me with you.  I'll do anything you tell me; please,
+oh! please, Miss Moffatt."
+
+Turning to the Judge the Superintendent said, "Your Honour, I am a
+stranger to you, but as a representative of the Women's Council of the
+---- Church in Canada may I say a few words?"  The Judge nodded assent,
+and with a heart full of love for the wayward, Miss Moffatt made one of
+the most impassioned appeals conceivable.  In closing, she said, "I ask
+your Honour to give this girl into my charge for one year.  In view of
+the evidence given, may I be allowed to say that she has been brutally
+sinned against.  No man who has spoken has referred to her partners in
+sin, nor has any man suggested that the stronger sex has any
+responsibility to be a brother and protector of girls.  The evidence
+reveals the fact that plenty of men co-operated in her downfall;
+apparently not one made any effort to uplift.  Some of her betrayers
+are still counted as respectable men, while she receives all the blame
+and the shame.  One remedy does not seem to have been tried, and in the
+name of the One who long ago said, 'Neither do I condemn thee; go, and
+sin no more,' I ask you to be gracious enough to allow me to try a
+corrective which I believe will be more effective than what has been
+suggested."
+
+The Judge caught the light in those eyes, and with manifest emotion
+addressed the accused: "Lavina, you have found a friend; so long as you
+are true to her you will not again be called to appear before this
+Court.  May Heaven's blessing rest upon such women as the one who has
+spoken in your behalf!  The case is dismissed."
+
+Once again Lavina journeyed Westward.  Once again she was on No. 96,
+but no longer with betrayers.  By her side was the Superintendent with
+her sweet, sheltering influence.
+
+And so life began again for Lavina in the Redemptive Home.  In view of
+her past life, it was worth crossing a continent to see the gladness in
+her eyes when one day Miss Moffatt put her hand upon her shoulder and
+said playfully, "Lavina is my right-hand girl; I think she'll soon be
+Assistant Superintendent."
+
+As one of the workers was passing along the hallway upstairs some
+months later she was arrested by the sound of a pleading voice--some
+one was offering a prayer.  Noiselessly she drew near the room from
+which the voice came.  The last petition was being uttered, "O God,
+please help the other girls to be good like You helped me, for Jesus'
+sake.  Amen."  The little dark-eyed girl was kneeling by the bedside
+with arm around the shoulder of a young Hungarian maiden who had been
+rescued from a life of shame.  It developed later that these two
+rescued ones were daily praying for others who were being sheltered in
+the Home.
+
+How it all reminds one of that far-away scene!  "No man could bind him;
+no, not with chains; because that he had been often bound with fetters
+and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the
+fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him....  Jesus
+said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit."  And the
+modern evil spirit and its rebuke is like unto that.  "Nobody can do
+anything with her; I've got this rope to bind the little devil with."
+And then this: "O God, please help the other girls to be good like You
+helped me, for Jesus' sake.  Amen."  On the heels of the failure of all
+others Jesus comes and reveals Himself to-day, as of old, as the master
+of demons.
+
+What the future days hold for Lavina Berson we know not, but the height
+of her ambition to-day is that she be accepted for training, so that
+some day she may work among those of the class to which she once
+belonged.
+
+
+
+
+NELL'S HOME-GOING
+
+St. Andrew's Church was losing its respectability.  It was one of the
+oldest in the Province, and the town in which it was situated had for
+some years prided itself in being a "Society" town.  The select few who
+had for so long been undisturbed by the "common" people were having to
+endure the presence, in near-by pews, of some who had no entrance into
+the best social circles--and the shocking part of it was that the new
+minister, who was reported to have come from one of the best families
+in Montreal, rather gloried in this condition of affairs.
+
+Two families had already withdrawn from the membership of St.
+Andrew's--two of the wealthiest and gayest--and that within six months
+of the minister's induction.  The withdrawal of the Farsees and Shunums
+happened on this wise.  A few Sabbath evenings previous to the
+"interview" that Mrs. Farsee had had with the minister, a young woman
+of unsavory reputation had dared to enter St. Andrew's.  Perhaps the
+minister was not aware of what he did, but there was no denying the
+fact that he shook hands with the said young woman, and hoped she would
+"always feel welcome at St. Andrew's."  After seeing, with her own
+eyes, a second and a third visit, and a second and a third welcome,
+Mrs. Farsee, with the moral backing of Mrs. Shunum, had her now
+much-talked-of interview with the Rev. Thomas Fearnon.
+
+"Mr. Fearnon," she commenced in an agitated tone, "there is a matter
+that so greatly affects our church that, although it is rather a
+delicate subject, I felt I must be frank enough to speak with you about
+it.  Do you know--but of course you don't know--the character of the
+young woman who has been sitting in Mrs. Greatheart's seat for the past
+three Sunday evenings, and to whom you have given three distinct
+welcomes to St. Andrew's?"
+
+"Yes," was the reply, "I think I know something of her character and
+past, and it is very sad."
+
+"But, Mr. Fearnon," exclaimed Mrs. Farsee, "you surely cannot sanction
+her attendance at _our_ church!  What _will_ people say?"
+
+"Mrs. Farsee," was the quiet rejoinder, "I wonder what my Master would
+say if I did not sanction the presence of any for whom He died.  For
+whom are our services, if not for the sinful?"
+
+"Yes, but, Mr. Fearnon, that kind of person should go to some other
+place--for instance, there's the Salvation Army."
+
+"Thank God there is the Salvation Army, but so long as Thomas Fearnon
+is pastor of this church, yonder doors shall never be too narrow to
+admit the sin-burdened."  Thomas Fearnon's voice thrilled with emotion
+as he uttered these words.
+
+"Well, I suppose it's no use saying anything more," said Mrs. Farsee
+with an injured air, "but it's hard to hear people sneer at one's
+church, and twice lately I've heard people--and prominent society
+people too--say that our church was getting to be a 'House of Refuge,'
+and I tell you that kind of thing goes hard with people who have taken
+the pride we have in St. Andrew's Church."
+
+"To me," said Mr. Fearnon, "that report is encouraging, and I covet
+that intended sneer as a permanent tribute to any church of which I may
+be pastor--a House of Refuge is what I want St. Andrew's to be.  Surely
+the young woman you have named needs a place of refuge?"
+
+"Then I understand you will still allow her to attend our church,
+despite the wishes of two of the most loyal and best-giving families
+you have, Mr. Fearnon?"  Mrs. Farsee placed an unmistakable emphasis on
+"best giving."
+
+"Your understanding is quite correct, Mrs. Farsee, and if ever St.
+Andrew's Church closes its doors on any man or woman, in like
+circumstances to the one you refer to, I care not how sinworn and
+wretched, it closes them at the same time on Thomas Fearnon--we go out
+together."
+
+"If that is your decision," replied Mrs. Farsee haughtily, "please
+remove the names of Mr. and Mrs. M. T. Farsee and Miss Lucy Farsee from
+the membership roll, and I am also authorized by Mrs. Shunum to tell
+you that all the Shunums withdraw from the church for the same reason."
+
+Thomas Fearnon retired that night sad at heart--not that the loss of
+these two families from the membership roll gave him much concern, for
+to tell the truth he was more concerned to know how they ever came to
+be put on the roll, but he was concerned to find that kind of spirit
+among the membership of the congregation to which he had come with such
+high hopes, fresh from college.  So far as losing members was
+concerned, he reminded himself that, in God's arithmetic, subtraction
+often produced an increase.  Perhaps of his congregation the words of
+Scripture were true, "The people are yet too many."  Nevertheless, the
+offended families needed His Saviour and the ministry of the church as
+much as, perhaps more, than the poor creature whose very presence they
+thought defiled their heretofore select congregation.
+
+The following Sabbath morning the text was Luke xix. 10, "For the Son
+of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."  Those who had
+attended Mrs. Farsee's "afternoon bridge" on the preceding Thursday
+knew that the sermon was the outgrowth of the "interview."  None of
+them used their favourite adjective "lovely" of Thomas Fearnon's sermon
+that morning; the mission of the Master and the consequent mission of
+His church was presented with a clearness and an earnestness that made
+not a few decidedly uncomfortable.
+
+"I charge you, my fellow workers," he pleaded, "never to degenerate
+into dilettante church parlour triflers, but strike out for God in hard
+work to recover the lost.  There are those whose life's roses are
+turned to ashes, those who have almost forgotten how to smile, those
+from whose hearts all music has fled.  What an incomparable joy to tell
+them of, and seek to lead them to, the One who with divine delicacy
+said, 'Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more.'  That welcoming
+Saviour would speak through us to those whom too often we, professedly
+His followers, would cast out.  If every individual in this world
+treated the fallen as you do, my friend, would it be easy or hard for
+that one to get into the Kingdom of God?  Where shall the wanderers be
+welcome if not in the Father's House?  Where shall those whom He
+created and for whom He died find friendship and help, if not in that
+company of worshippers who cry 'Our Father'?"
+
+To not a few the message of that morning seemed intensely personal.  In
+that inner judgment hall, where the prisoner and the judge are one,
+some verdicts were arrived at, and the verdicts were "guilty."
+
+"If every individual in this world treated the fallen as you do, would
+it be easy or hard for that one to get into the Kingdom of God?"
+
+Thomas Fearnon had asked that question with an intensity of feeling
+that revealed itself in the whispered words, and that produced a
+profound silence throughout the sanctuary.  And it was not in vain that
+he had put his best into prayer and preparation for that morning's
+message.  At least one in the congregation asked to be forgiven for
+passing by, like priest and Levite, needy ones to whom there should and
+could have been a ministry of mercy.
+
+Jessie Buchanan saw the "vision splendid" that morning, and no longer
+could she be satisfied with her life of elegant ease.  From that very
+hour her life and all the trappings of life were promised fully to her
+rightful Lord--no longer would she hope to have Him as _Saviour_ but
+reject Him as _Lord_.
+
+* * * * *
+
+A peaceful Sabbath day's services had closed, and in the quiet of her
+beautiful and cosy little "den" Jessie Buchanan sat talking to a friend
+before the flickering embers in the fireplace.  Three months had passed
+away since Thomas Fearnon's sermon on Luke xix. 10: three months of
+sometimes perplexing but always joyous service to Jessie Buchanan.
+Already several lives had been gladdened and helped by the radiating
+influence of her consecrated life.
+
+The Buchanan home on the hillcrest had gladly opened its doors during
+these three months to some who had never expected to cross its
+threshold.  And so to-night, for the third time, the young woman who
+had unknowingly caused the departure of two families from St. Andrew's
+Church, sat in the fire-light with her new-found friend.
+
+Wisely and unostentatiously Jessie Buchanan had made her acquaintance,
+and their meetings had been invariably away from the public eye.  But
+into the broken life was coming the conquering power of an unselfish
+love.  To-night, as the flames diminished, the young woman unfolded a
+little of her life.
+
+"Please don't hate me for it--I had to tell some one.  Oh! if only some
+one like you had helped me when I first went to the city; but it was my
+own fault.  Still, if you do wrong, there seem so many more to help you
+to keep on in the same way than there are to help you back."
+
+For some minutes she talked on, and then Jessie Buchanan moved her
+chair a little closer and laid a hand sympathetically upon the girl's
+shoulder.
+
+"You think my name is Flossie, don't you, Miss Buchanan?" the girl
+asked slowly.  "Well, it isn't.  Nobody here knows either of my right
+names, but I'm going to tell you: my right name is Nellie Gillard; and
+Miss Buchanan, I want to be good again, and maybe get back home
+soon--only, I am afraid, for I haven't even written for nearly a year."
+Tears were wiped away as the memory of the old home was revived in the
+light of new desires.
+
+* * * * *
+
+Another week was nearing its close, and Jessie Buchanan was as usual
+making her plans for a hospitable Sunday.  Glancing down the driveway,
+she was surprised to see Nellie Gillard approaching the house.  This
+was the first daylight visit Nellie had made, and Saturday morning was
+so unusual a time that Jessie Buchanan was at the door before the
+bell-handle could be pulled.  A cordial greeting and Nellie was
+accompanied to the now familiar den.  As the door closed the visitor at
+once made known the purpose of her visit.  "Miss Buchanan, I'd like to
+go home, but I cannot--I dare not go alone."
+
+"Oh!  I'm so glad you have decided.  How soon do you wish to go, dear?"
+Jessie Buchanan's voice and face revealed her joy and thankfulness.
+
+"I'd like to go right away" was the reply.
+
+Within a few hours Nellie and her new-found friend were on their way to
+the railway station.
+
+The "local" was nearly three hours late when almost at midnight it
+pulled into a little flag station in North-Western Ontario.  It was
+over two miles to the Gillards' home, and Jessie Buchanan suggested the
+desirability of getting the station agent to assist them in procuring a
+vehicle and driver.
+
+The night was clear and bright, and Nellie urged that if it was not too
+tiring for her companion she would much rather walk.  "I know every
+step of the way, and--and--well you are the only one I want with me
+just now."
+
+In the moonlight of that early October night two young women might have
+been seen walking along the fifth concession.
+
+At a turn of the road Nellie pointed to a little building: "There is
+the schoolhouse I attended."  When a church spire stood out clear
+against the sky, there was a sob in the voice, "I used to teach in that
+Sunday School and sing in the choir."
+
+The gate of the old homestead was reached at last.  The wanderer's hand
+clung for a moment to the top rail and the head rested on her forearm.
+
+"I wonder--I wonder if Father will let me in; I don't deserve it, but I
+believe he will."  And she was not mistaken.
+
+At the side of the old roughcast dwelling, two bedroom windows had been
+raised a few inches.  Beneath these the only daughter of the home
+called out in a trembling voice, "Father."  There was no response.
+Could anything have happened?  A second time on the silent night the
+voice anxiously uttered the same word.  Immediately thereafter they
+heard a movement and a man's head appeared at the window.  "Father!
+it's Nell: I want to be your Nell again.  Will you let me come home?"
+
+"Let you come home?  You bet I will, Nell--you bet I will."  The last
+words were re-uttered after the head had disappeared.
+
+The only other words they heard were, "Ma!  Ma!" uttered in a voice
+trembling with joy.
+
+No pen can adequately describe that home-coming.  Jessie Buchanan was
+forgotten for the moment, but as she saw the daughter's head resting
+first on father's and then on mother's shoulder, and heard the old man
+say again and again, "My Nell: oh! my Nell," her cup of joy was full.
+
+It was not what one could call a praying home, but on that early
+Sabbath morning four people knelt in the little sitting-room, and
+Jessie Buchanan's first audible prayer was offered in thanksgiving for
+the home-coming of the wanderer.  And to-day, in the little church in
+the grove, one of the regular worshippers is Nellie Gillard.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Trail-Tales of Western Canada, by F. A. Robinson
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59220 ***