Sharp County record., 1881-08-11
Sunday.SchOOl Lessons.
A Remarkable Change.

A remarkable instance of a change
from wicked courses and the pursuit Of
a nefarious bus ness has lately come to
our knowledge 1t is connected with
so beautiful an incident from nature as
to have pathos all its own, and it con-
veys to mothers a most encouraging
thought.
Nearly fifty years a-o there lived on
New England farm lad Of eight or
nine, whose cot-oed every ght was in
rough, unfinished chamber, near to a
large, old fashioned chimney. In this
chimney, as is often the case all over
these States, the swallows built the r
nests; and heoid rumble Of their WINS
in the due, and the plant.ve rbse-clce-
c5ee-chee of the sooty little nestings,
were the sounds which in summer
nightly luIled the boy to sleep, At this
season the swallows seem frequently to
feed their young by night. Every even
inc, too, Denny's mother, wLO was an
earnest religious woman, came to his
bedside to take his hand, and to hear
h m say the Lords Prayer Or if he
were too sleepy, she would say it Ior
him and then, with an added PRAYER
that God would bless and make him a
good man, she would Did him good
night and 90 away very still.
1t is not strange that the swallows
should have become closely associated
in the boys mind with his evening
prayer and his mothers love.
Years passed. The mother had 4 ed.
The lad had become q sailor, and mate
of a merchantmen to the distant Ind es
and to the gold cpat of Africa He
was a stalwart fellow, and withal q very
resolute and determined character.
A few years later, he had become so
deblsed by evil associations, so cruel
and 50 callous to humane feelings, as to
have been selected to command fast
"sailing SLAYER which at tha5 tine
Piled betwxt the River Congo and
Cuba. The horrors of this traffic have
been but too o ten and too graphica y
portrayed to require re cital here. Little
resemblance could now be traced be-
tween the guileless lad of eight, repeat
inc his evening PRAYER, and the hard
eyed, iron nerved man of tn rty, ready
at the least sign OF insuDordination To
shoot down his men, or, in case of torn
or pursuit by the British cruisers, to
throw overheard a cargo Of negroes 10
tighten his ship. Yet in the notorious
"Captain Goddard there still survived
little OF the lad Denny" along with
q tender memory Of his mother and her
pray ers for him.
Late one night, after discharging
three hundred negroes from his vessel
somewhere on the Cuban coast, he went
with eight or ten of his men to pass the
night at an old building, formerly a
barrack, near the landng-place.
FaJigued by the labor OF the day, he at
first slept soundly; but as early as three
in the mo'ning, a strangely fam liar
sound half awoke him the fu'ter of
chimney swallows wings, and the old.
time chee-chee-cbe4 of their Young up in
the roof of the deserted barrack. The
sounds, coming t. his ear in sleep, for
a time caused him to dream that he was
still a boy; again he felt his mothers
caressing hand and walked himself
dreamlly repeating, "Our Father, who
art in Heavenm
Starting up with an oath of astonish-
ment at himself that such words should
have strayed into his mouth, he looked
upward and it seemed to him that the
swallows of his childhood were there
come all the way from dis ant New En-
gland to speak to him Of his mother ana
her prayers.
As he listened. remOrse entered his
heart. Then, seized by apowerul con-
vict.on of duty, he walked his associates
and told them that he could no longer
continue with them, and lCby. They,
thinking he meant treacherv, would
have murdered him, if they had not
feared his great strength and unerring
aim
Tuning his back on them, the man
made his way TO Havana and thence
sal ed for the North.
So complete was the change that but
one idea now had possession of him,
and that was how he might best atone
for the wrong he had been doing the
negro, and he is now said to be engaged
in Home Missionary work among the
Freedmen.