Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, the pioneer missionary to Turkey, was one day
crossing the Galata Bridge in Constantinople when his attention
was attracted to a crowd. He prest into it to see its object of
interest and found a cursing American sailor dying of cholera.
The missionary asked him a few questions and was answered by
oaths. He had the man removed to a house, and after a few
months’ nursing by the Christians of the mission he was able
to ship for America. On the morning he left, he called on Dr.
Hamlin and said, “I have been a very wicked man, and have done
all the evil I could in the world, and now I am going to do all
the good I can.”
Three years later, the mission received this letter from him:
“Dear Mr. Hamlin: Thank God, I will survive the dead! I
am here workin’ and blowin’ the gospel trumpet on the Eri
Kanal.
Yours Brown.”
Twenty-five years later Dr. Hamlin met a gentleman in Paris who
had just returned from Honolulu. Said he, “I met a man named
Brown who has done a great deal of good among the sailors in
the Pacific. He can go everywhere and anywhere with the Bible.
He told me that once he was dying, a blasphemous dog, in the
streets of Constantinople, and you picked him up and saved him
soul and body.”
(2708)
* * * * *
The worth of man is independent of conditions of life or color of skin.
An exemplification of that fact is recorded in the history of a rescue
in Hongkong harbor:
While the cyclone was at its highest and it was still a question
whether the largest steamers in the port would survive the
storm, the officers of the _Schuylkill_ noticed a vague
pencil of light through the sheets of rain, lighting up a
confusion of loose and drifting shipping. For the first two or
three flashes they thought they were menaced with the new peril
of lightning, but no detonation followed the flash. A lull
in the rain showed that the search-light of the second-class
British cruiser _Azelia_ was following one of her boats
while it made a desperate struggle to reach the crew of a
foundering Chinese junk. The pencil of light, now bright, now
dim, followed the boat as it was pulled by a crew of stout
British tars and managed with almost incredible cleverness by
its officer. They saw it alongside the junk, saw the Chinese
tumble into it half dead with fright and fatigue, and disappear
beyond the rays of the search-light. Next morning they learned
that the Chinese were landed safely farther down the harbor, but
that the boat was crusht like an eggshell against the sea-wall,
tho the sailors were saved to a man.
(2709)
* * * * *
Many straying souls who have lost the way may be but fallen angels,
whom love and kindness might restore.
George MacDonald tells of a young woman who had been led astray.
A minister found her one night on his doorstep, and brought her
into his house. His little daughter, who was up-stairs with her
mother, asked, “Mama, who is it papa has in the library?” Her
mother replied, “It is an angel, dear, who has lost her way, and
papa is telling her the way back.”
(2710)
* * * * *
This incident has been related of the eminent divine, Edward Irving:
When a boy in Scotland with his little sister he went down on
the sands of Solway Firth to meet his uncle, who was coming to
visit their home. When the tide comes in there, it flows in with
a rush. It sweeps on like a flood. All the people there know
this danger of the onrushing sea and guard against it, but these
little children forgot the time and tide. They were playing in a
little pool of water. Suddenly a horseman dashed down from the
mountain side. Without a word he came up on a run, secured the
two children to the saddle and started for the hills. Faster and
faster followed the rising tide, but at last the horseman and
his precious load were saved.
The Christian must waste no time if he would save imperilled men.
(Text.)
(2711)
* * * * *
A policeman shouted to a boy in the Lancaster Canal at Preston,
England, “Hullo! Why are you bathing there?” “Please, sir, I’m
not; I’m drowning,” was the boy’s answer, and he promptly sank.
The policeman dived and rescued him.
Many persons who are supposed to be having a good time in the world are
really losing their lives.
(2712)
See KONGO MISSIONARY; LISTENING FOR SIGNALS.