Grand Rapids morning telegram., 1885-07-30
4 SOUTHERN PREACHER
TIE History "a >asas Jeass. "a - sktss
4 - Ihs Georgia tharehss.


sason "a Coz Ptaaieipbsa Ei1nss.l
lE Is "A 1ncoaaEnsa Ialaz Tor . man
aos -oFth . taoas4nd dallars, - % lives %
a small country te~n Ia . = zia hose a9t
fuly pad fsr G. refuse Eav slfg ~ q sl9.
90 hoase Ia large CITY, and ysg thai =
~nat sam Joass did tee otheT day IL
Mash slile. And sho Is san goDsss
Wristsa ga tue conference nlinates =
reals. -Sala asl F4rkss Jones. sgeat Or
phsns' Hone" but notoiy writes bim
reverend aud every bo.iy calls hin san
he - q .rty SIX years Odd. ~zs born IA
Alabama nas brought ap Ia 6sorg "a Ills
father Was ls~Fer and his mother -
seaside e. inteiiigeuE al.a excellent y oman
sam ~as a preeocioas boy. lie Was al
ways ready for = lively time. dog hght.
a nslieun. hshlag frolie or a speech
When be ~as i've years old he - as booked
Tor a speech at a school exhibition He
ended bis speech with the prophecy
some dAy y0u'u hear in thunder tones
fne famous name of sammy Jones.
He went 70 tue best schools aud took in
what be learned by absorption Nobody
sa~ him study. bat be knew more than
any Of his fellows TIE teachers loved
him, laughed at him and lathered him.
lie was fun Of mische', and was about
>teen years old when be began to fall
into bad ways lie was no vagabond.
never a gambler. a thief OF a coward, Tut
he would get on sprees, much 10 the grief
OF his good mother and IA her.
His father took him into his Office and
sam soon was - +. Jones, Esq, attor-
ney-at-law" lie had no practice and no
girl ani married her. He ran an engine
aud drove a dray 10 make a living. One
day Sam, who was employed Ia running
al eng ne which was connected with an
ore-crusher at furnace, was much an
nOyed by those who fed the erusher put
ting pieces Of rex into the hopper and
throwing the whole o. the machinery out
OF gear. Sam declared very emphatically
his intention % knock the head of the
next man who did it. IL was done direct
ly. and by burly Irishman. Sam seized
hammer aud knocked the Irishman
down. Next day Sam was coming from
his cabin. and in open space. some dis
tanee from everyone, stood his antagonist
of the preceding day.
"Ye struck me Yesterday" said Pat;
''no mon ever strikes me Onct who does
not strike me again"
Now. Pat" said Sam, ''we are about
even. You did what | told you not TO do,
aad knocked you, as l said | would; |
don't bear malice; let's drop the mat
ter"
But the Irishman declared his deter
mina;ion TO have fight then and there.
The Irishman had only one eye Sam
locke at him with perfect coolness.
"Pat," he said; 81 don't want TO fight
you; can't; you colld whip me in a
minute; but | tell you what | will do,
you've got but one eye and. if you
lay your hand on me, sure as you are
living, L will gouge your eye out. and
you will be as blind as bat"
That settled it. Pat knew his man, and
muttering "The mon that will gouge is
coward" 10 Sam alone.
Oae day Captain j mes fell sick, and i'm
a little while the prodigal Sam stood by
diving father He was broken with re-
morse. The father died and great
change came over Sam. He gave up his
bad habits. aud in two weeks he was
getting ready to preach. That fall | saw
him for the first time-a sallow, thin
faced slouchy little fellow, with keen
black eye; he came TO the conference for
a circuit. He got one. He went TO il. He
did not know much about theology them
ia tru h, he don't know much now
but he knew men and he knew their needs,
and he began TO reach what he knew.
He made men laugh and he made men cry
and be made men angry, and one day he
lost his temper and came very near whip-
ping blacksmith who angered him. He
was rather unmerciful to men whose re-
ligion was all mouth or all tears.
In two years we took Sam into the con-
ference, and settled il that he would do.
Since then he has won his way. He can
draw a larger audience i'm Atlanta to-day
than Cough could, or Edwin Booth did
He went TO Memphis, to Huntsville, to
Knoxville, to Brooklyn, and at last TO
Nashville. They tuilt him great tent
there. They abused him, placarded him,
threatened him, and rallied around h m
| The result Of three weeks meetings was
one thousand new members to the church
IS and two thousand conversions.
Sam Jones' sayings have become com
mon property. They are his own. They
/ are gathered from all sources, and they
/ always have point Brother jones'"
said a nervous brother, "what makes you
chew tObaccoY'' "To get the juice out"
said Sam Sam Jones is like no one and
no one l. like him. He is simply Sam Jones
Vho loves the good, scorns the mean, and
! helps the weak