St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-01-21
A Sabbath Among the Lowly.
y ALEXANDRIA, VA. Jan. 10 IS1,

yesterday. and us they seem of more
than usual interest. il has occurred to
me that they might he of interest To our
Vermont friends also. Therefore will
give You Il short sketch of the events as
they took place.
Our first work yesterday morning was
to visit Il Sunday School on the south
side of the city. The day WAS bcauti-
ful, and the Sabbath bells rang ont
gladly on the air. All nature seemed
III harmony with the day. Alas not
50 with man for aS we passed down
the street, we noticed groups of Young
men standing in front OF drug stores.
and around corner groceries and liquor
saloons. The front dooIS were closed.
but the side doors we've easy of access.
From within we could hear sounds of
mlrth and j"llity not i'll keeping with
the SolcmnitN of the day. We found in
the Sabbath school II large number of
small scholars. very bright and inter
eSting, but We We're >orry to note the
absence of Older scholars All the
boys present were under the age of
twelve wears. and there were no classes
of young men or Young women. These
Deficiencies are not peculiar to this
school alone, but seem to he Il general
feature of the schools we have visited.
We had Il very pleasant talk with the
children, cNhorting them to honesty.
temperance. and godlincsS: askirg
them to give their hearts to the dear
Saviour i'll their youth. After which
we listened to their little songs which
sounded very Sweetly.
We next went to the Jail to visit the
prisoners. thirtN-thrce in number. En-
quiring of the .jalor if all were well :.s
usual he answered. mo. Miss. one of
our prisoners is very sick. Yesterday
morning he was apparently as well aS
any one. when he was suddenly taken
with bleeding ut the lungs. which has
continued ut intervals ever since The
doctor says that unless Il change for
can not live
'Oh. JailoI." said |. lis he Il Chris
tiam? Is he prepared for that eternal
world 50 near at hand -
NO, that is the worst part Of it, He
Is not IL Christian. and he seems To he
i'll great distress about his soul"
Can | see him Can SAY a few
words To him -
Yes, Miss. know he would hc glad
to have N"u.''
As followed that .iailor no one but
God knew my feelings, or how earnest
WAS the PRAYER. "Oh Lord. strengthen
me! help me. speak through me to
this poor soul for Jesus sake"
There he lay. stretched on an iron
hed->tcad. with almost the death pallor
III his face. Pressed close to his mouth
was Il napkin. covered with crimson
stains. His eyes unclo>cd aS | entered
and eager assent WAS given to the quc>-
tlon if lac would like To have me read
to him some thing from Gods word. |
read the parable of the plodi.al SON. and
of the thief on the Gloss Then of the
pardoning love of Jesus. His ewes
filled with tears. Great SoIs shook his
frame. As went on could see he
WAS graSpin% every word. | tried t"
tell him the glad news that the pardon
was purchased and that all we had to
do was simply to accept and trust this /
Jesus as our saviour. lie muImurcd. /.
Il TW try. and kneclimg on the stone
floor We asked the dear Lord To come
into his heart, drive out all evil and ill
it with his blessed presence.
We left him with the promise .hat
We would come again should he grow
worse and send for us
Going below. We spoke with and gave
tracts To the other prisoners. and talked
and prayed with IL man sentenced To Ice
hung for murder. 1t was then I2M
After going home for lunch. we start
ed for our downtown PRAYER meeting. |
which is held in the worst pant of the
city said To bc equal to the Five Points |
III New York. The meeting is held |
every day in an old saloon. closed now,
but open at fishing times. On our way
we met the Rev. J. W. ChickeIin", ID. !
d., of Washington. Rev. W. Bird. pas
tor of il Presbyterian church in this !
city, and some other Christian friends
who, we were delighted to find, were
also going to attend the meeting. Al
irving at the building we found il crowd
of people, but to our aStonislment. the
doors were not opened. The person in
charge of the building said that the
owner had come and without il mo-
mcnt's warning, taken away the key,
saying that our holding meetings there
would increase the insurance. And al
though the agreement WAS that we
should have the Use of the building
until the first Of March, yet he bad
changed his mind and we could not
have it. This poor excuse but i'll con-
ccaled the true reason, which was that
our plain temperance talks were pro-
ducing an effect which might materially
lessen his profits when the saloon was
re-opened.
But as we were all there and must
hold Il meeting that time ut least, we
were obliged to wait until brother went
TO his house and with some difficulty