The Washington herald., 1917-01-12
A Little Child Shall Lead
Them
By ORIsON SWEET MARDEN.

David Starr Jordan somewhere re-
lates touching incident of a little
child and certain human wreck who
was so far gone that no one would
dcign to notice him. In desperation,
as last resource, this unfortunate
called at the home of man who has
the reputation of never having turned
anybody down. While waiting to
see, this man little girl came up to
the poor derelict and put her hand
out to him as trustingly as though
he had been king. "And | think
that the man was so touched by this
act of sweetness, innocence and kind
ness that he reformed. 4 know now,
he said, why Jesus could liken the
Kingdom of God to little child"
The most hopeless cases, apparent
ly, cases where all other reform
methods have failed, have been
reached and reformed by loves sway.
l have heard of an English soldier
in India who seemed to be hopeless
drunkard. Time and again he had
been brought before his superior Off
Ger for drinking. He had been put
in solitary confinement, had even
been fiogged and disgraced, and the
officers were tired of disciplinins
him.
Here he is again" said his senior
officer one day, when the man was
brought before him by sergeant.
"Flogging, disgrace, solitary conhne-
ment, everything we know how to
try, has been applied to this man, and
it is no use. He is hopeless"
Pardon me, sir" the sergeant
said, "but there is one thing that we
haven't tried yet" "Well, sir, what
is it." said the officer. "He has never
been forgiven, sir" "Forgivenw
shouted the officer, with look of
blank astonishment. But turning to
the culprit he said: what have you
to say to this charge" Nothing, sir"
replied the man; only, am awfully
sorry for having got drunk again"
WELL" said the discouraged senior
officer, 1--WE certainly have tried every
thing with you, and now we are going
to do as the sergeant suggests, try
one more thing; we are going to for
give you"
Tears streamed down the mans
face as if he were child, and, thank
ing the officer, he retired, apparently
a hopeless victim of drink. But no;
this first kindness of his colonel
touched his heart, and he resolved
that he would never drink again. The
chaplain of his regiment, who told
the story, said that the man became
model soldier, and never again had
to be reprimanded for drinking.
Over and over again it has been
found that love, with its wonderful,
healing power, will reform a man,
when 'condemning him, furnishing
him for his faults, will only harden
his nature and drive him farther and
father from God which is Good. Love
is an infinitely more potent force
than any other we know of.
"If ever a man shall live who has
infinite power" said Ebert Hubbard,
he will be found to be one who had
infinite love" The life of the Christ
is perpetual example of the infinite
power of love.
Did you ever lose anything by help
ing the helpless, smoothing the path
of the unfortunate? Did you ever re-
grct Tightening the burden of the dis
tressed, encouraging those who have
lost heart?' Did you ever miss the
little time spent, the little effort
made to scatter sunshine and flowers
as you go along life's pathway? Have
you not on the contrary always felt
an added power, an increased uplift
and enthusiasm, a new impetus in
your life after every kindly deed?
This is perfectly clear when we
realize that the Bible injunction to
love one another means really to love
ourselves also, because our neighbor
is ourself. We are all one, made of
one blood, one spirit, just as the diff
ferent electric bulbs express the same
force. They vary only in degrees of
power and the color of the globe.
We are all expressions of the one
mind, and when we help a neighbor,
some poor down and out, We are help
ing ourselves.
All humility is but the beating of a
single heart, the infinite heart. The
one message which the Creator has
for US, the message which throbs in
every living creature, is the message
of love-