It was in the town of Goulbourne, New South Wales, Australia, that
I began my career in life. Until I reached the age of four years, a
prosperous father provided the comforts of a good home, but a great
change took place upon my suddenly being left fatherless. A few months
later found me in a little town on the St. Lawrence River, in the
Providence of Ontario, Canada. I had accompanied my mother to this
place, but she soon placed me with a strange family and went to a
distant city.
As I was now separated from every family tie, life began in real
earnest. It was also the beginning of a record of many interesting and
often sad experiences extending over a number of years. In my wanderings
in different parts of Canada and in many localities of the United
States, the incidents varied all the way from being rescued from
drowning to landing in jail as a vagrant. Space forbids a detailed
account of my experience, which to me affords material for interesting
and often regretful recollection. It may, however, all be summed up and
described as analogous with the casting of an innocent infant into the
mighty Niagara River to be swept along at the mercy of the on-rushing
and maddening current, which knows no relenting, but bears its victim to
an untimely end over the brink of the mighty falls. There destruction
on the ragged rocks below awaits it unless an unseen hand should
miraculously dip into the water and save that form for life and service.
Thank God, in his tender mercy he stretched forth his hand to rescue my
poor, lost, helpless soul from the turbulent rapids of sin when I was
seventeen years of age. He set me on the solid rock of his truth and
gave me the Holy Spirit as an eternal guide and propelling power. He has
proved to be a comforter in whom I can safely put my trust when stemming
the rising tide of unbelief and doubt.
It is with thanksgiving that I can at the present time recount the divine
care of which I have been the object, so far in my pilgrimage through
life. I rejoice to be a partaker of the Father's love, which is pure,
warm, and changeless. There is an abiding assurance of safety so long as
I walk in the path of obedience to his will and trust implicitly in his
mighty power to keep my feet while I take steps toward the threshold of
heaven. I am grateful, also, for a soul-conviction that the most worthy,
most desirable and glorious life is the one that finds its outlet in the
glad service of love to God and discovers complete happiness in serving
others. A soul without Christ is like an idle straw driven at the mercy
of the wind, but the soul redeemed through the blood of Jesus will
experience a sweet essence that turns the unfruitful life into a garden
of unspeakable delights.