That best portion of a good man's life--
His little, nameless, unremembered acts
Of kindness and of love.
--Wordsworth.
The Methodist locomotive engineer had died joyful. "I am so glad to
go," he said. "I am like a boy when there's a circus in town; I've got
the price, and my baggage is checked clear through."
I was holding a memorial service for him in his old home town, and at
the close a big, broad-shouldered man came forward to the altar rail
and quietly said, "You did not know that man."
The remark startled me a little, for I had been acquainted with him
for many years; in fact, had once been his pastor.
"I thought I did," replied I.
"No, you never really knew him," was the insistent rejoinder; "let me
tell you something about him. Years ago I was not living as I ought,
and I had all sorts of trouble. My wife was very sick, and we were
living in a bit of a shack back here a little way where she finally
died. I was down and out. The fellows wanted to be good to me, and
they were--in their way of thinking--but it did me no good. They would
say, 'Come, brace up, old fellow, have a drink and forget your
troubles.' But there are some troubles drink will not drown; mine was
one of them.
"One night our friend came up to my shack, and having visited a while
he said: 'Old man, you're up against it hard, ain't you?' I replied,
'Yes, I am, just up to the limit.' 'Well, let's pray about it.' I told
him I didn't believe in prayer. 'All right,' said he, 'I do, and I'll
pray any way.' You should have heard the prayer he made. It was about
like this: 'God, here's my friend, Charley; he's in an awful fix.
We'll have to do something for him. I've done all I can; now, it's up
to you to see him through. Amen.'
"Then he arose from his knees and, handing me his check book, he said,
'My wife and I ain't got much, only a couple o' thousand in the bank;
but here's this check book all signed up; take it and use it all if
you need it, and God bless you!'
"But," added the narrator of the story, "I couldn't use money like
that."
The tears were fast falling over his bronzed cheeks as he told with
tenderness the story, and as I looked into his eyes I knew that
through knowledge of the dead engineer's kingly kindness had come to
him the knowledge of the new life.