The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-03-24
A Lover Of God.

A Lover Of God.
NO matter what the calendar said
the month ended uniformly on q Sat.
urday night at Saints, Rest. This
was because the mine operators
counted on two or three days idle.
ness after payday, and thought II
well that Sunday should be among
iNem.
They had experimented- once OF
twice, paying all the men in new one.
dollar bills. There were about two
hundred men. and the average waa.
fifty dollars to- man. Before the
bank closed on Monday afternoon
the numerous saloons had deposited
more than six hundred Of those new
bills. But the monthly wage oil
Theophilus Lloyd was not among
them.
Yet when he had lived near Scran.
ton, there was; not a wilder man N
the mines: than The, nor, one Wild
drainedsa deeper glass, till the Sal.
walton Army got hold of him, and
helped him on his feet But he fell
again and again, for his companions
in evil were many, and the habit
was strong upon him. And so one
day he came home with a months
pay in his pocket, gave half OF 1t ia
his mother, and with the rest paid
his way to the new Saints Rest mine
in East Tennessee; for he was deter.
mined to make one last effort to re.
form. And before he went ne gave
his testimony in. the Army meeting
that he waBI leaving homessober and
in the fear of God, and he asked the
prayers of all his friends tina. he.
might be faithful to- the end.
His mother encouraged his going
yet wept2in his arms, He was all she
had. Some one had told her that the
name Theophilus, which she foundsf1
her Testament, meant Lover OF
Cod" She had given her boy that
name-her only boy, born after his.
fathers death.
Somehow she lived through the
years Of his childhood, and till he,
was big and strong, and could dig as
many tons Of coal a day as the best
of them. And he was true to his
name till he got to earning money
and drinking. After that came bit
ter years, but years Of hope, for she
never could bring herself to believa
that some day he would not be what
she had named him.
Once a month from the Saints
Rest mine came, the surplus OF his
wage, and it left no margin for. bad
habits. The letters were full of hope,
and written with increasing strength
of will. From the day OF his arrival.
Theophilus had taken his stand as O.
sober man and q Christian, and that
made it not so hard. At Scranton
they all knew his past, but here 1t
was as If he had always been sober.
The superintendent encouraged him;
the mine S"bCss" b~efriended him; the
best men were his associates. 1t was
not always easy to go by the saloons,
but it was not impossible, and he did,
it.
Two years went by, and the time
was in sight when Theophilus would
return home. Payday was to coms
next Saturday. He would collect HIS
last months pay and return to his
mother.
Then out Of a clear sky came the
message to his mother, Theopn1ius
had been killed In a drunken fight.
20 Cod cried the. agonized moth
er, lis this the answer to my play.
ers?" ~ 800
Theophflus was shot on Saturday
night and buried on Sunday after,
noon. While the minister preached
above his grave,sa group OF drunken
miners near by quarreled over a-keg
of beer, until they came to a fight.
and the defeated portion of the con-
pany took refuge from pursuit in the
assembly, and so augmented the fu-
neral company. And one, bullet
struck the tree which stood at the
minister's { back. II the conditions
were not favorable to pulpit oratorys
they gave added point to the temper
ance sermon. And back in Scranton
q mother ,wept, and said, 20 God. i
could give him up willingly, almost
gladly, If he hadinot fallen!"
But in the quiet of the Sabbath
evening, as. she prayed, there came
a strange peace, and conviction
which brought comfort. Her boy had
not fallen She would not believe 1t
He hadriFemained true these TWO
years; she Swoal not believe that he
had failed at tho last moment.
It was "Wednesday before she knew
the whole story. The minister wrote
it out and, sent it to her, and the
perintendent of the mine added a let
ter confirming it. Theophilus had
collected his months wages, nearly
seventy dollars, and had the money in
his pocket. He was returning to his
boarding-place when a fight occurred,
and he attempted to make peace, and
was shot. He played tie part Ola
brave man to the end, and left a
clean record behind him. .,
The superintendent sent the
money, and the minister forwarded a
letter, sealed and ready for the mail,
which they found in his pocket. He
had intended that 1t should precede
him by a few hours, and assure his
mother that he was on his way. just
what it contained, only the mother
knew; but it brought her comfort,
and she knew that her boy had died.
as during the years Of trial he had
lived, a lover of. God.-Youth's COM
panion.
Turn to the Cross.
The cross is the great centre OF