The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1871-09-01

tell:
NEARER HOME.
| One sweetIy solmemn thought
| Comes to me Ger and DER;
I'm nearer to my home to-day
Than ever have been before.
Nearer my Fathers house,
Where the many mansions be;
Nearer the great white throne,
Nearer the crystal sea;
Nearer the bound of life,
Where we lay our burdens down,
Nearer leaving the cross.
Nearer gaining the crown.
But the waves of that silent sea
Roll dark before my sight,
That brightly the other side
Break on q shore of light.
o, If my mortal feet
Have almost gained the brink.
IT il be am nearer home,
Even to-day than / think,
Father, perfect my trust,
Let my spirit feel in death
That her feet are firmly set
On the Rock of living faith.
A gentleman in China, entrusted
with packages for young man from
his friends in the United States, learned
that he would probably be found in a
certain ambling house. He went
sat down and waited, in hope that he
might come in. The place was bed
lam of noises, men getting angry over
their cards, and frequently coming to
blows. Near him sat two men-one
young, the other 40 years of age. They
were betting and drinking in terrible
way, the older one giving utterance
continually to the foulest profanity.
Two games had been finished, The
young man losing each time. The
third game, with fresh bottle of
brandy, had just begun, and the young
man sat lazily back in his chair while
the oldest shuffled his cards. The man
was long time dealing his cards, and
about the room, began to hum a tune,
He went on till at length he began to
sing the hymn of Phoebe Cary above
quoted. The words, says the writer of
the story, repeated in such vile place,
at first made me shudder. A Sabbath
school hymn in q gambling den! But
while the young man sang, the elder
stopped dealing the cards, stared at the
signer a moment, and throwing the
cards on the floor, exclaimed:
''Harry, where did you learn that
tuner" "What tune? ?" "Why, that one
you've been singing? "The young man
said he did not know he had been sing
ing, when the elder repeated the words,
with tears in his eyes, and the young
man said he had learned them in Sun
day school in America. Come" said
the elder, getting mp, "come Harry,
here's what I've won from you; go and
use it for some good purpose. AS for
me, as God sees me, have played my
last game and drank my last bottle. /
have misled you, Harry, and / am sorry.
Give me your hand, old boy, and say
that for old Americas sake, if no other,
you will quit this Internal business"
The gentleman who tells the story
Originally published in the Boston
Nelcs) saw these two men leave
the gambling house together, and
walk away arm in arm; and he
remarks: 1t must be a source of
great joy to Miss Cary to know that
many Christian hearts, have been the
means of awakening in the breasts of
two tempted and erring men on the
other side of the globe resolution to
lead better life" 1t was q source of
great joy to Miss Cary, as we happen
to know. Before US lies private letter
from her to an aged friend in this city,
with the printed story enclosed, and
containing this comment: "1 enclose
the hymn and the story for you, not be-
cause am vain of the notice, but be-
cause thought you would have a pc
culiar interest in them when You know
that the hymn was written Is years ago
(1S42) in your house. composed il in
the little back third-story bedroom, on
Sunday morning, after coming from
church; and it makes me happy to
think that any word / could say has
done a little good in the world"
The very last literary work of Miss
Cary was her tender and affectionate
sketch of her sister Alice, written for
the Ladies' Repository and reprinted
a few days since in the Tribune. It
was a fitting close of her useful life,
and, though we may regret that she
was not spared to write, as she intend
ed, a more complete biography, to &C.
company an edition of her sisters latest
poems, we must bow to the Divine will
with the resignation SO happily ex-
pressed in her own words:
al am what am, and my life for me
Is the best-or 1t had not been, hold"