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HOW JOHN BECAME A MAN
Life Story of a Motherless Boy
By
ISABEL C. BYRUM
[Illustration: Learning to Pray]
Author's Preface
In presenting this little volume, the author hopes that it may be useful
in suggesting to the minds of young boys the great wrong there is in
indulging in evil habits.
We read, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," and this is
true concerning most boys who form habits that are harmful both to body
and soul.
The story of John's life is a true one; and his earnest prayer that it
may be the means of helping some boys from Satan's snares and prove a
blessing to them, I trust, will be answered.
Isabel C. Byrum
Year 1917
Contents
Chapter
I The Prairie Pasture
II In the Sod Cellar
III What the Big Chest Contained
IV Early School Days
V The Card Parties
VI Visitors and Pastimes
VII Leaving Home
VIII With the Circus
IX Caught Unawares
X A Child Again
XI How John Became a Man
ILLUSTRATIONS
Learning to Pray
Opening the Chest
A Card Party
Leaving the Old Homestead
CHAPTER I
The Prairie Pasture
Out on the prairie in one of the western states where buffaloes and
wild horses once had roamed at their pleasure and where cacti and
yuccas still thrived and bloomed could be seen a small two-story frame
building. There was nothing strange in this except that the house was
different from the average house of the plains; for at this particular
time the greater part of the dwellings were made of sod, mud, and brush.
The people, generally speaking, were of that type who think principally
of getting all the enjoyment from their every-day lives that it is
possible to obtain. There was, therefore, little thought among them of
the hereafter, when men must give an account of themselves before a just
and living God. In fact, the younger generation scarcely knew that there
was a God who took note of all their ways.
The building, so different from the ordinary dwellings upon the prairie,
was the home of a tiny lad named John. It was a happy home; for both
his parents were living, and the love that bound their hearts together
brought peace and happiness to each member of the little household. But
could this happy group have known of the presence of a grim monster just
outside the door, who at that very moment was seeking an entrance, their
joy would have given place to sorrow. Death was soon to destroy the
light and comfort of that home. The devoted wife and mother was not
strong; and after a severe illness lasting but a few short days, her
spirit left the ones she loved and her lifeless body was carried to
its last resting place in the cemetery a few miles away.
Little John was, of course, too young to realize the true meaning of the
change; but that something dreadful had happened he very well knew, and
his large pathetic eyes spoke the grief that he did understand and could
not express. During the three years of his short life he had known the
care of a tender, loving mother, whose ambitions were high and noble.
Although not a Christian, she had often expressed her wish that her
little brown-eyed boy might grow up to be an honor to his father and
mother, and a blessing to his country. After her death his papa's eyes
were often filled with tears, for he loved and pitied his little boy.
One evening when the lights were dim and the hands of the clock were
pointing to the bedtime hour, John felt his father's arms tenderly
encircled about him and heard him softly saying: "My little John, we are
left all alone now, and you must hurry up and become a man as soon as
you can; for I need you to help me. Mama has gone away and left us, and
she cannot teach you the things that she had planned that you should
know; so we will have to do the best that we can, but you must help me.
First of all, I want you to learn how to pray; for there is a God in
heaven, who made you, and of whom your mother expected to tell you.
Before Him we should bow down and pray every night before we go to
sleep."
"Does He hear all the words we say?" asked little John in an awed tone,
quite unable to comprehend his father's meaning, "and does He look at us
when we are asleep?"
"Yes," his father answered; "God sees and knows everything. Now, I will
tell you the short prayer that I used to say when I was a little boy
like you--the prayer that my mother taught me."
Thus it was that John, kneeling beside his little bed repeated the
prayer that has been lisped by thousands of other baby voices:
"Now I lay me down to sleep;
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take."
As the days and weeks sped by, John thought often of his dear mama and
wished that he might see her; but he as often would recall his father's
words to be a little man, and with all his strength he endeavored to be
what he considered a man ought to be. But although he tried, in his
childish way, to be one, he was often very lonely; and had it not been
for frequent visits to his uncle's home, several miles distant, he would
have missed his precious mother even more than he did. While at his
uncle's, he could play with his two cousins, Will and Charley. At last
it was decided that it would be best for John and his father to go and
make their home with the uncle until John was older.
Now Charley was just about John's age; but as Charley was a cripple,
John had chosen Will, who was several years the oldest, to be his
closest friend and companion. Regardless of these facts, however, the
three boys generally played together. Their playground was the vast
dooryard extending far out over the prairie.
In time they were given the responsibility of herding the cows. To herd
the cows meant to see that the cattle did not wander about in the
neighborhood corn, wheat, and barley fields that were scattered about
here and there over the prairies and that were in but few instances
fenced, and to see that they were driven to some water-place at certain
intervals and were brought home at the milking hour.
The watering places were known as "buffalo-wallows," for they had been
made by the buffalos in wallowing. These basins were usually kept filled
with water by the rains. Some of the "wallows," or "ponds," were rather
deep, and were treacherous because of sudden "drop-offs"; but they were
usually shallow, and it was generally safe for the children to play
along the edge.
After the first sharp edge of his grief was dulled, John's father did
not feel it so keenly his duty to instruct his child and to teach him
to reverence his Creator; and when John was about six years of age, the
father was kept so busy with his work that he had but little time to
spend with the child. John's aunt, too, although a good woman, was too
much occupied with housekeeping to do her duty by her own two boys, much
less by a third. So John and his cousins had spent nearly all of the
three years that they had been together in doing as they pleased, and in
finding as much enjoyment in living as it was possible for them to find.
It was, therefore, not strange that they had learned and invented many
new ways to get amusement, and that some of these were evil; for Satan,
as he always does in such cases, had lent them a helping hand.
The work of attending to the cows did not, of course, occupy nearly all
their time, and the boys found it great sport to play around the wallows
and in them.
On one occasion Will said:
"Say, boys, did you ever hear the story about the man who walked upon
the water? I don't remember just how the story went; but I heard
somebody say that the man's name was Jesus, and that another man got out
of a boat to go and meet Him. The first fellow did all right, but the
second one came very near drowning because he looked down at the water.
Maybe he wanted to see how deep the water was, and I guess he would have
got drowned if they hadn't been close to the shore. Now, I am going to
do like Jesus did. Want to see me?"
Naturally both the boys wanted to see him perform a feat like that, and
Will quickly scampered into the water. Now, the wallow was very shallow
all the way across, and Will was soon on the opposite side. The smaller
boys, not knowing the depth of the water, supposed that it was deep and
that Will had actually done some marvelous thing. Will did not know that
he was doing wrong by speaking lightly of one of the Savior's miracles;
for he had never been in Sunday-school, and his parents had not taught
him the sacredness of the words and acts of the Savior. He simply wanted
to play a joke on his companions.
The smaller boys talked the matter over when they were alone, and John
said:
"Say, Charley, what do you suppose held Will up the other day on that
water? That wallow must have been deep out in the middle. Let's try it
some time for ourselves when Will isn't around. I believe we could do it
as well as he did."
Charley was agreed, and the two smaller lads watched their chance. One
day when Will was not with them, they chose a wallow that they thought
would answer their purpose. "I'll go first," Charley said, and he
hurried forward as rapidly as his little crippled limb could carry him,
to the water's edge and out into the pond.
Suddenly poor little Charley disappeared. John saw his cousin as he
went down into the deep water, and realized his danger. He knew that
something must be done and done at once, and with a bound he sprang in
after his companion. He did not, however, go beyond the shallow water,
and when his cousin came to the surface, he reached out his hand and
caught him by the hair; and as Charley had not lost the power to help
himself, he was soon able, by John's assistance, to scramble to a place
of safety.
The boys decided that they would say nothing about the accident; and as
they remained away from the house long enough for Charley's clothing to
dry, no questions were asked. But was the scene unnoticed? No. He who
notes the sparrow's fall was watching over these little boys; He had not
forgotten John's little prayer that had been taught him by his father.
God was caring for these little untaught children in that vast prairie
pasture.