Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1894-02-10
Ben Hazards Guests.


The following poem has had & wide
circulation. For school and Sunday
school rectations we know nothing bet
ter:
Ben Hazards hut was smoky and cold,
Ben Hazard, half blind, was black and
old,
And he cobbled shoes for his scanty
gold.
Sometimes he sighed for a larger store
Wherewith to bless the wandering poor;
For he was not wise in worldly lore;
The poor were Christ's, he knew no
more.
One night cry from the window
Ben Hazard was sleepy and tired and
lame
'Ben Hazard, open" it seemed to say,
Give shelter and food, l humbly
pray"
Ben Hazard lifted his woolly head
TO listen. CTS awful cold,'' he said,
And his old bones shook in his ragged
bed,
"But the wanderer must be comforted."
Come in, in the name of the Lord, he
cried,
As he opened the door and held it wide.
A milk-white kitten was all he spied,
Ben Hazard, amazed, stared up and
down:
The stout house-doors were carefully
shut,
Safe bolted were all but old Ben's hut.
81 thought that sombody called, he
said,
"Some dream or other got into my
head
Come then, poor pussy, and share my
bed.
Then out from the storm, the wind, and
the sleet,
Puss ioyfully lay at old Bens feet.
Truly it was terrible storm,
Ben feared be should never more be
warm;
But just as he began to be dozy,
And puss was purring soft and cozy,
A voice called family before his door:
Ben Hazard, Ben Hazard, help, !
implore
Give drink, and crust from out your
store"
Out from his bed he stumbled again
Come in, in the name of the Lord, y he
said
"With such as 1 have, thou shalt be
fed
Only a little black dog he saw,
Whining and shaking a broken paw.
"Well, WELL" he cried, II must have
dreamed:
But verify like voice it seemed.
Poor creature" he added, with husky
tone,
"Thou shalt have the whole ofmy mar
row bone
He went to the cupboard, and took
from the shelf
The bone he had saved for his very self.
Then, after binding the broken paw,
Half dead with cold went back to his
Under the ancient blue bedquilt he
crept,
His conscience was white and again he
slept
But again a voice called, both loud and
clear:
d" Ben Hazard, for Christ's sweet sake
come hercl
Once more he stood at the open door,
And looked abroad, rs he looked before.
This time, full sure't was vote he
heard.
But all that he saw was storm-tossed
bird.
Come in, in the name of the Lord, :"
he said,
Tenderly raising the dropping head,
And, tearing his tattered robe apart,
Laid the cold bird on his own warm
heart.
The sunrise flashed on the snowy
thatch,
AS an angel lifted the wooden latch.
Ben woke in flood of golden light,
And knew the voice that had called all
night.
"Thrice happy is he that blesseth the
poor.
The humblest creature that sought thy
door,
For Christ's sweet sake thou hast COM
forted."
NAY, t was not much" Ben humbly
said,
with Fuelul Suahe VI Ills oiu soy
head.
''Who giveth all of his scanty store
In Christ's dear name, can do no more.
Behold, the Master who waiteth for
thee,
Saith Giving to them thou hast Civ
en- to Me-
Then, with heavens light on his face,
Amen,
l come in the name of the Lord" said
Ben.
"Frozen to death, the watchman said,
When at last he found him in his bed.
With q smile on his face so strange and
bright;
He wondered what old Ben saw that
night.
-4nna p. Marshall, in the Congrcga-
tiond(iSt
A FINE assortment ofTOYSand CHRIST
N MAS GOODS at prices TO suit the times
., SIAYMAKER'S.