Deacon Hepworth kept a little fish market.
“Do you want a boy to help you?” asked Frank Shaw one day.
“Can you give good weight to my customers and take good care of my
pennies?”
“Yes, sir,” answered Frank.
Forthwith he took his place in the little store, weighed the fish and
kept the room in order.
“A whole day for fun, fireworks and noise tomorrow!” exclaimed Frank, as
he buttoned his white apron about him the day before the Fourth of July.
A great trout was thrown down on the counter by Ned Tant, one of Frank’s
playmates.
[Illustration: “YOU HAVE FORGIVENESS, FRANK.”]
“Here’s a royal trout, Frank. I caught it myself. You may have it for
ten cents. Just hand over the money, for I’m in a hurry to buy my
firecrackers,” said Ned hurriedly.
The deacon was out, but Frank had made purchases for him before, so the
dime spun across to Ned, who was off like a shot. Just then Mrs.
Sinclair appeared.
“I want a nice trout for my dinner tomorrow. This one will do; how much
is it?” she asked as she carefully examined it.
“A quarter, ma’am,” and the fish was transferred to the lady’s basket
and the silver piece to the money drawer.
But here Frank paused.
He thought to himself: “Ten cents was very cheap for that fish. If I
tell the deacon it cost fifteen cents he’ll be satisfied, and I shall
have five cents to invest in firecrackers.”
The deacon was pleased with Frank’s bargain, and when the market was
closed each went his way for the night.
But the nickel buried in Frank’s pocket burned like a coal. He could eat
no supper, and was cross and unhappy. At last he could stand it no
longer, but, walking rapidly, tapped at the door of Deacon Hepworth’s
cottage.
The old man was seated at a table, reading the Bible. Frank’s heart
almost failed him, but he told the story and with tears of sorrow laid
the coin in the deacon’s hand.
Turning over the leaves of the Bible, the old man read:
“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and
forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
“You have forgiveness, Frank,” he said. “Now go home and confess to the
Lord, and remember you must forsake as well as confess. Here, you may
keep this coin as long as you live to remind you of your first
temptation.”
[Illustration: A MONUMENT TO A BLACK MAN]
In the city of Columbus, Georgia, there was erected in the year 1904 a
monument to the memory of a colored man named Bragg Smith. Mr. Smith
lost his life in the autumn of 1903 in an effort to save the life of the
city engineer of Columbus, who had been buried under an excavation in
the street. A large crowd of colored men was at work digging deep
trenches in which were to be placed pipes for running water about the
city. In some way the sides of the narrow trench had not been properly
supported by planks or otherwise, and by-and-by a great stretch of dirt
caved in. Unfortunately the city engineer, a white man, was caught
underneath the falling dirt. Bragg Smith did not stop to say: “Oh, it’s
a white man; let him die!” but at once jumped down into the ditch and
tried to pull the white man from under the heavy dirt. It was while he
was engaged in this work that the dirt fell from both sides a second
time, and Bragg Smith, in his effort to save the life of the white man,
lost his own life. The Bible says: “Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man will lay down his life for a friend.”
The city council at its first regular meeting after the accident voted
to erect a suitable monument to the memory of Mr. Smith. The monument
was dedicated in April, 1904. The monument is of Vermont and Georgia
marbles, and bears on one side this inscription:
“Erected by the City of Columbus to mark the last resting place of Bragg
Smith, who died on September 30, 1903, in the heroic but fruitless
effort to save the life of the city engineer.”
On the other side appears this quotation from Alexander Pope:
“Honor and fame from no conditions rise;
Act well your part; there all the honor lies.”