The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1910-05-20

Before he left, as he stretched out his
hand to bid me good-by, said, Nov,
before you 90, want you to kneel
down with me: we will pray for Gods
blessing in the step you are taking"
A look Of bewildered terror. swept
across his face. Evidently this was
not In his line, for he gasped out, "Oh
no! I couldn't, I never prayed in nv
whole life." But seeing the look of
resolution In my face, he added polite.
IT, We'll, I'll kneel down, but you will
have to do the praying" So we knelt
together In the presence of the One
VINO can gather In his tender and Low.
ing hands the broken and contrite
hearts OF men, changing them and
CITING them with the wondrous new
things Of life. My friend knelt hold
Ing tight to his hat for moral support,
while his eyes. wide open, were fixed
upon my face, ready to take alarm at
any unexpected religious manifesta-
tlon' and l tried to talk as simply and
naturally as I could to the God whom
knew to be very near at hand.
When he left me, knew that Jumbo
would turn up at Hope hall, and that
he would give the new life at least a
fair trial. What a wonderful change
was wrought in the next few months.
Jumbo became a very earnest. indus.
tr1ous member Of our Hope hall fam
lily. He came forth truly converted
man, and his heart was filed with a
simple, earnest faith which made him
realize that after all, religion was very
much In his line, when that line was
to lead him to a straight path and
honest work for living.
The day came at last when Jumbo
was to graduate and take a new place
In the world, and might say that
now he was known by his own name.
and his prison nickname dropped from
MIN to be used only by few Of those
whom he had known In the old life.
Again he was announced at my Office.
Again wrote him a letter Of intro
ductfon. this time to the emplover
who was to give him his first chance.
and then as he arose to leave me he
held me tightly in his clasp. and tears
gathered in his eyes as he said. Little
Mother, can't tell you all the dear
Home has meant to me, or how crate.
ful am, but am going out to nv
new life to prove it. tell Won tho
Hope Hall boys shan't be ashamed of
me. l will be worthy of the trust
placed In me; I will be a credit to the
Home, and make it easier for those
that come after me-" Again I said
as l had said before, Shall we kneel
together and ask Gods blessing on
this new step you are taking?" His
face lit up with Joy. Indeed we will.
Little Mother" he responded. and aa
we knelt to pray he opened his heart
to his God with the simple, unstudied
fervor of child. He went to his new
place full Of hope and ambition and
letters full of his new experience came
to me through the mails. Verv ori1-
inal and very earnest reports thew
proved to be.
I was starting for a visit to Sing
Sing one day about six months later.
and for lack Of time at the Office. I
brought quite batch Of mail to read
on the train. It so happened that In
the mail there were two letters about
Jumbo, one from his employer, one
from himself. both of them such a
revelation Of his new life that I de-
termined to share them with my Vol
unteer League Boys" who would be
gathered in the prison chapel to meet
me. When the time came, told the
story as have told it here, of the man.
ner OF the mans coming, avoiding
only the name. Then I read the letter
from his employers in which they
thanked me for sending them such a
man, so earnest, so hard.working. so
Christian in his life. that, they added.
he had been a blessing to them all.
Then came the letter from the man
himself. 1t was written as a Bowerv
boy would write, with plenty of quaint
humor between the lines. But there
was one sentence especially calculated
to strike that audience. He was speak.
OF what it meant to be trusted after
all his years of haunting distrust. and
then said. "Just think, Little Mother.
what happened to me to-day! was
working with my employer at a far
away part Of the farm, and he had to
go In before me, but wanted me to
be on time for the noon meal. and
what do you suppose he did? Why he
LETT his gold watch with me to see
the time by! What do you think of
that?' To understand fully the DUR
port of this, the reader should know
that this boys specially in his crooked
career had been what is known BY the
profession as lifting Watches" He
had had many peoples watches in
his keeping in the past, but they had
never been loaned to him willingly. 40
that act on the part of his EMPLOYER
appeared to him the very climax Of
trust and confidence. All through the
story those hundreds of boys in my
THE PRlMI