Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1884-04-25
A Man With a PURPOSE

When General Charles Gordon" Chi
nese" Gordon-was installed governor
general of the Soudan, whittier he has
now gone again to rescue the country
from the False Propet, in 1877, he was
expected to make speech at the end of
the imposing ceremony. He simply said: :
"With the help of God l will hold the
balance level"
This speech delighted the people more
than if he had spoken for half an hour.
Gordon kept his word. During the years
that he governed in the Soudan, and kept
his eye on Abyssinia, he "held the
balance level" " so we'll that at the end of
his administration he could sum up the
results of his labors in this brief and
truthful sentence:
81 have cut off the slave. dealers in
their strongholds, and have made the
people love me-"
In all Gordon's wonderful career there
is nothing more striking than his deep
and earnest piety. His religion is of the
most practical kind. 1t has sustained him
in difficulties that would have appalled,
other men. When treachery has been all
about him, when his own officers were
| plotting against him, when he has been
left with but handful of soldiers to
cope with immense armies as we'll dis
ciplined as his own, he never faltered or
feared what the result would be.
Possessed of rare personal courage, he
has always gone into the thickest of
every fight, armed with nothing but a
small cane, which his soldiers in China
used to call Gordon's ''magic wand of
victory"
For six years after his great achieve
ments in China he was commanding
engineer for the construction of the de-
fences of the River Thames, at Graves
end. There his piety took the form OF
the most liberal charity and benevolence.
1t is written of him that ''his house was
school, hospital and almshouse in turn u
Boys without number were rescued from
the streets and the gutter, fed, cleaned,
clothed and instructed. until Gordon
could get them employment,
He called these boys his 'klngs." Ht
followed their wandering, and stuck pins
in map of the world that hung over his
mantel piece, to indicate where they
were. and moved the pins from point to
point. Daily, too, he prayed for these
Youngsters as they went over the world.
But Gordon is soldier and devoted to
mis- profession. With all his piety and
love of man, he can be stern and even
summary in his methods. He had great
trouble in the Soudan from the wizards.
Many times he was in great peril from
the natives, led by these religious fanatics.
On one occasion he was left with but
thirty men against great horde of bar,
barians.
He determined to make a strategic
move to the rear, and strangely enough
he was not molested. Only one old
wizard stood on a rock "and grinned
and jeered and vaticinated" as Gordon
was giving orders. Borrowing a rife
and pointing it at the wizard, he fired.
81 don't think that's healthy spot
from which to deliver an address, he
quietly remarked. The wizard had fallen
dead.
Like many other men who are guided
in their acts by religious fervor ant
simple trust in God, Gordon regards him
self as an agent of the divine WILL ant
he does not fear that any harm will com,
to him until his work is done, YOUTH
Companion.