The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1915-01-14
THE MANIFESTATION
OF THE HAND OF GOD
INCIDENTS CITED IN WHICH DIVINE
HAND MUST HAVE BEEN PRESENT
The Greatest Success 0btainabIe by Man
Is Attained When One has Learned to
be Master of Himself; When he has
Become Master OF His Passions
By H. s, Med.

rails the express train thundered on
its way. In the pullmans the peo-
pie laughed, joked, smoked and
whiled away the time al various
games of amusement. Everybody
felt perfectly safe and secure from
danger. No one ever thought that
there was only two thin rails of
steel between them and destruction.
Suddenl Y there was mighty shock;
passengers were thrown from their
seats; men swore, and women faint
ed; all was confuslon; in the smoker
an old man, with long. white whisk-
ers, be walled the broken meerschaum
pipe and he continued searching for
the missing part long after the rest
of the passengers had regained their
seats. The conductor came through
the train assuring all that the dan
ger was over. A great catastrophe
had been averted by the cool and
level headed engineer, who had sue
ceeded in stopping the train just as
the engine pilot was overhanging a
burned out bridge. Had he desert
ed his post Of duty at the critical in
slant who can say how many lives
would have been snuffed out in the
twinkling of an eye. For time
nothing was spoken of except their
miraculous escape, but gradually,
such is the fickleness of human ma
ture, the laughter and joking COM
menced again; and many of those
aboard the train that night never so
much as thought of thanking their
Creator for their deliverance. They
had been told the engineer had saved
them and that was all they cared to
know. But was it the engineer who
saved them. or was it the great
Engineer of the universe? Had He
willed otherwise, methinks that the
puny arm of the engineer would
have been powerless, and the train
with it's load of careless humanity
would have gone down to destruc-
ton; but God willed not that they
should perish, and His will it was
that inspired the engineer to do his
duty, and thus the calamity was
averted.
A western power-house used a
battery of six boilers to supply the
needed steam for their engines. At
least three men were constantly en-
ployed in the boiler room. The
boilers had all been tested by the
state boiler inspector and notices to
that effect were conspicuously post
ed on the walls of the boiler room.
The head fireman was very proud
of his boilers and kept everything
about them bright and shining. One
noon hour just after the engines
were shut down and all was made
secure in the boiler room, the fire.
men took their dinner pals and
went out and seated themselves on
an old dump car which stood about
sixty feet from the boiler room.
Hardly were they seated when the
air was rent by a terrific explosion
and pieces of wood and iron flew
around them and rained down upon
them. One of the boilers had ex-
ploded wrecking the entire boiler
house. None of the firemen were
seriously injured, although all of
them received minor injuries. Had
they eaten their dinner in the power
house the same as they had always
done before, not one of them would
have escaped with his life, for the
boiler room was entirely demolished
and the remaining boilers were
buried under the wreckage. Each
of those men will tell you that it
was luckT thug that they decided
to eat their dinner out on the old
dump car. All of that is well and
good, but what prompted them on
that of all days to eat outside the
boiler room? Verify we believe it
was the hand of an all-wlse Father
that beckoned them forth from
danger!
A number of years ago, seven
men stood before a saloon bar, in a
small city of nearby state; they
were drinking and generally enjoy
ing themselves. Only they and the
bartender were in the saloon. With
out warning the old grout structure
collapsed. The bartender was kill