_MR. BROWN’S FAMILY--MR. STEELE._
Whilst the Steele family was descending deeper and deeper into sin and
degradation, the family of Mr. Brown was advancing in virtue, honor and
holiness. Henry and Eliza were faithful members of Christ’s visible
Church--they had been taught to love the Saviour in the Sunday-school;
they were now teachers in the same, and by their love and practical
instructions, their humble piety and fervent prayers, they led more
than one to the Fountain of Life.
Henry, like his father, was a noble-looking man, of very prepossessing
appearance. His taste for the beautiful and true increased with
his years, and his knowledge of many subjects became extensive and
thorough--thus was he fitted for almost any position of honor and trust.
Eliza’s naturally amiable disposition was developed to advantage
under Christian influence, and she married a man whose high moral
and religious excellence made him eminently worthy of her. Living in
anticipation of joys to come, she could not help being happy.
Passing over a few more years, we will look, for a time, at the little
Mary of other days. In a forlorn old hut, far away from any other
house, we find her crouched upon the floor, shivering with the cold,
and in almost a starving condition; her father had left her some weeks
previous, under the pretence that he was going in search of work; her
brother had long since gone from the place, with little or no purpose
in view; she knew nothing of his whereabouts, and it seemed to her
that she was now utterly forsaken, for she had received no word from
her father during his absence. She wished that she might die--not
thinking or caring what the consequence would be. As she sat thus,
musing over her sad lot, Providence seemed to direct the steps of Mr.
Brown, whose business called him to that part of the country, to the
old hut; his heart was touched at the sight of her sufferings, and it
was not long before he made arrangements for her removal to his own
house; and he and his wife exerted themselves to win this wandering
child to the straight and narrow path. Although it took a long time
for her to break up her old habits, she at length became a follower of
the meek and lowly Jesus. Mr. and Mrs. Brown were father and mother to
her, and she endeavored in every possible way to show her gratitude for
kindness so freely bestowed.
Time passed on, and Mary, not hearing anything of her father, grieved
for him as dead; although she never knew to any certainty that such was
the case.
On a clear, cold morning, about a year after Mr. Steele had left his
daughter, as a party of hunters were crossing a prairie many miles
distant from Clear Creek Settlement, they found the body of a man who
had evidently been frozen to death. Any one could see at a glance
that he had been a drinking character, and most probably under the
influence of liquor at the time of his death. The hunters took the body
to the nearest settlement, and made inquiry as to who it might be;
none knew excepting a grocer, who came forward and stated that this
man had chopped wood for him on the day previous, and, according to
his own request, took his pay in whisky; after this no one remembered
having seen him, but it was supposed by those present at this time,
that he had become intoxicated, and after wandering on for some
time, had fallen down in a drunken stupor, from which he never awoke
in this world. Whether or not the grocer, who had been an actor in
this tragedy, had any compunctions of conscience at this time, we are
unable to say; he interested himself, however, in procuring a rough box
in which the remains of Mr. Steele (for it was he), were placed, and
buried by those who never had known him in life. Thus ended the career
of one who depended upon his own strength to resist temptation, and
set himself up in opposition to the means employed for the furtherance
of God’s cause. This may be an extreme case, but it is not the first
instance in which God has visited retribution in this world.
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