From the gutter to the ministry

Preface

^jpHE writer of these pages, being young in years, does not wish to place himself before the public in a conspicuous manner, but with a prayerful heart he has penciled these pages that by the help of God, the giver of all that is good, he may be enabled to lead the young out of the paths of sin, in which he has traveled, or be used as a signal of danger to the youth who has not yet started aw T ay from home and parental roof into the broad way of sin and destruction, and help him into the glorious life of a Christian, which he now lives and enjoys.

FATHER'S LIFE.

I feel it necessary to give a short history of my father's life before entering upon my own, as I feel it may help the readers of these pages to appreciate more fully what they read, and should they ever come under his vision, help him to a nobler, grander life in this world, and be a means of grace in God's hand to lead him to Christ Jesus the Savior of mankind, the Savior who saves his boy, the boy that he himself has forsaken, that some day they may meet around the throne of God where sin can no more steal in and mar the peace of a home and scatter the inmates never to meet again, as it has in this world.

My father, at one time, was a farmer in Nelson county, Kentucky; at one time bid fair to be one of the wealthiest farmers in that section of country, but taking to hard drink and wandering off into sin such as whisky usually leads to, he continued to drink and mortgage his property until all he had was under mortgage. One morning, hitching a span of horses to the family carriage, and pretending to be going to a neighbor's on business, he drove away, never to be seen by his wife and children again. It was in De-

Fathers Life.

cember of '67, a few mornings before Christmas; I was scarcely three months old. He drove to Louisville, just forty miles from home and sold the span of horses and carriage for one hundred dollars ; he had ofttimes before refused five hundred dollars for the horses alone. He was last seen by those who knew him taking a train at the Louisville and Nashville depot. From that time to the present he has never been seen by his wife or children, nor have they heard of him. He left them almost penniless. What was the cause of it? Ah! it was whiskey, the demon that has robbed so many homes. I believe that from his life I inherited the dark existence of the live years you will find revealed in the following pages.

FIVE YEARS A DRUNKARD.

"Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." Ecclesiastes xi: 9.

I left my home and dear old mother the first day of March, '85. I had determined to cut loose from mother's apron strings, as the boys term it to cut loose from home and Christian environments. I was tired of mother's advice; I started for the great city of Chicago, where I intended, as I thought, to make a man of myself. I reached the great city on the third morning of March, and at once began to wander up and down the streets of vice and immorality, passing and repassing the houses of sin and crime unmentionable. As the sun began to hide itself behind the great tall buildings on the western side of the sinpolluted streets, and the shades of night slowly crept upon the teeming multitudes of that vast city, who were engaged in sin and crime, and though unaware, at this period, the shades of sin and shame crept slowly upon my poor immortal soul, as I wandered

Chapter I — Or First Year

into a so-called private boarding house, and made arrangements for a weeks board and lodging. After the period of one long hour had elapsed I recognized the ringing of the supper bell; I went in and sat down at the table. No thanks were returned to God for His blessings, no mothers' kind voice, no one to call me son; at the foot of the table, instead of the sweet face and gentle smiles of mother, . there sat a stranger; though she was some boy's mother she could be no mother to me. She was laughing (my mother was crying); her baby boy was at home, (my mother's baby boy had deserted her); she with a heart of gaiety, leading her boy astray, (my mother with a broken heart praying God to bring back her boy that had been led astray by another). As these thoughts came rushing into my mind my appetite took its flight and I left the table without tasting a bite of food, and took a seat on the front portico. My mind wandered back upon the day I left my home with much regret, but before I had time to truly repent and resolve to return home the boarders, who were young men from the age of twenty to thirty years, had finished dining and one after another seated themselves around me, until they numbered six, when they with one accord began to make inquiry as to my whereabouts. At this point the evil one (Satan)

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rushed into my mind and heart and dispersed all the thoughts of home and mother, or of ever returning, as I had just been thinking, and I at once began to give a history of my life, which was about as follows : "I am from Louisville, Kentucky. My old mother is one of these old religious cranks. She believes in making a fellow go to Sunday-school every Sunday, whether he wants to or not, and then I have an old step-father that is as mean as he can be to live (there was some truth in the last statement) I have just made up my mind that I will not be tied in any such manner. It is bad enough for one to be tied to mother's apron strings, to say nothing of being dogged around by a step -father. I have just made up my mind to come here where I could be free and do as I pleased."

"Hurrah for you" responded the boys, "we don't blame you. We would not be tied down in any such a way for any body. That is just what we have done, and I tell you it is far better than being at home. We have a good time and do just as we please. We are going for a good time to-night. Get your hat and come go with us."

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Going to have a game of billiards."

"What is that?"

"What, have you never seen a billiard-table. Come and we will show you one."

-Where?"

"In a downtown saloon."

"No boys, I cannot go into a saloon. I have been taught by my mother not to go into a saloon."

"But now look here; we thought that you left home to get away from your mother. Come on, be a man." So I yielded and went, but what a night that proved to be, you may see as you read the following pages. On we went until by-and-by we reached the down-town saloon, and the billiard table. We at once began our game, and of course, my being "green" I lost the game and had to pay for the drinks. The boys drank and I took a cigar; I could not as yet get the consent of my mind to take a drink. So another game was played, and of course I lost, and again I had another game to pay for. But I took another cigar, while the boys took another drink. On and on we played, I having all of the drinks to pay for until I had my pocket full of cigars. Then the boys being anxious for me to take another step began at me to take a drink, with the assurance that it would do me no harm. I again yielded and drank of the awful cup. On and on we played, I still loosing and paying for the games, but instead of cigars, I drank of the

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cup of rum until I was carried to my boarding house about one o'clock that night as drunk as I could have possibly been. The next morning when I awoke, the sun with its golden beams showered down upon my couch, but there was no beauty in it for me. For all within was dark and gloomy. I thought, how could I ever face my boarding house mistress, and how awful it would be if mother knew all that had happened the past night. I thought of going back home, but now the breakfast bell rang and my thoughts for good were blighted. Oh! that I had returned home before another night, the five years of blight and shame I might have escaped. Young men, when you find that you are going wrong, stop, stop! turn! may God help you turn. One night of sin calls for another. I made my way down the stairs and into the dining room. It seemed to me that I would sooner meet any one than meet the boarding house mistress. I had no other thought than to receive a rebuke from her or at least, a word of advice, but to my supprise, she failed to say anything. What a mistake she made. Had she talked to me as a mother should to a child, (whether her child or not she should have remembered that I was some mother's child) and dune as she would wish to be done by, she might have changed my whole life of shame and gloom into one of sunshine.

Mothers, never fail to give some mother's child good advice when the opportunity presents itself, I ate but very little breakfast that morning, for I felt very bad at head and heart. I lef t the house and began ta walk the streets of that great city, but there was nothing to be seen that could ease the pain of heart caused by the results of the tirst night of manhood. Oh, what manhood! I thought of home and mother and of the dreadful night just spent. My head ached, my heart ached, my very soul ached. As the evening shades of another night found place in the great city and I wandered back to my boarding house, the boys had begun to gather in, and soon the supper bell was heard, and as the evening before, we all marched in and seated ourselves around the table. No thanks were offered for the food; no, God's name was not heard, but like animals, we began to eat, just as some professed Christians do now days. One by one we finished eating and left the table and seated ourselves on the front portico as we had the evening before, and after a few vulgar tales w T ere told, another trip to the billiard hail was proposed, but I refused to be one of the party. The trip the night before had not worn off. I was still sick, but I was told by a halfdozen at one time that it would not make me sick this time; but I still refused. But insisting was kept up and for inducement, there was a partner game proposed, and one of the best players of the company proposed playing partner with me, and to this I responded at once and accepted as well, for I was more than anxious to beat some of them that had taken advantage of me the night before.

Ah! the devil knew where to touch my weak point. Truly has the word of God said: 4 'Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." (I Peter, v: 8). Very little did I think that the partnership game was simply a trap of the devil to make a drunkard and a gambler of me, and to lead me to the billiard hall to rob me of my money and manhood. But alas! that was his sole object, and successful was he too. For I yielded to the temptation and followed them to the billiard-hall. The partner game was soon arranged and we at once began to play, but my partner did not play as well as the night before. We lost the first game that was played. We played and drank until early in the morning, myself and partner paying for nearly all of the games, or in fact, I paid for nearly all of them myself, my partner soon being broke and he borrowed from me, which, of course, he owes me yet, for that was the trap the devil used them in laying for me. Dear young men, may God help you to Irani the lesson from this snare of the devil, not every picture painted is a true one. No! no! but every picture painted by the devil is like this one, its bright side is only a snare, only an imaginary ray of sunshine, but like all other pictures it has two sides — "False and true." The true side of satan's pictures is like this one before us. It is the dark side, which means ruin, wreck and despair, and yet, like this picture or snare he (the devil) can always find servants to put them in operation for him, and young men, he does not always have to go to the great city of Chicago to find them. Beware! he has them at your door. That morning I went to my boarding house beastly drunk again. In the morning as the darkness of the night was being dispelled by the bright rays of the rising sun, I awoke, and sure enough I found that the devil had been guilty of telling me one truth. He had said that I would not be so sick the second time, and I was not so sick, physically, and not so sick at heart. Ah! that is the trouble; sin soothes the soul to sleep, soothes the conscience and hardens the heart. I was sick, of course, but not so much as the morning before. I felt remorse, yes, but not so much as the morning before. The fear of meeting the boarding house mistress was no more. I was already convinced that she would say nothing,

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because she had failed to say anything the morning before, and even had she said something, it would not have done the good that it might have done the morning before. Her first opportunity had past, which is always the best opportunity to do good. I thought some of home and mother, but not as I had the morning before. My heart had been hardened some. The devil had made me believe mother would not find it out. Of course that was a lie, as you will see from pages yet to follow. 4 'Be sure your sins will find you oat." I went down to breakfast and ate as usual, and then was off for another day of wandering over the great city. But this time I wandered into a saloon and billiard hall, to watch others play that I might learn, for I had determined to beat the boys at the boarding house. Oh, the fascinating power that evil has on the minds and hearts of the sons of men. No wonder the Master of Heaven and earth would teach us to ' 'abstain from all appearance of evil." (Thes. v: 22). Night soon came again, and after supper the billiard game was again proposed, and I went and played all night and came home drunk in the morning, and as before paid for most of the games. This was kept up for weeks, until like the prodigal spoken of in the bible, I had spent all my living, and as soon as the boys found this out (for they were the first to find it out, because I had do money to pay for the last game of billiards I lost) they at once began to shun me, and would leave the boarding house at night, one by one, without a single invitation to join them. At last the day came when I must pay for another week's board in advance; so, late in the evening, I informed the mistress of the boarding house that I was broke and had no money to pay board with. Very well, was the reply, you will have to find somewhere else to sleep to-night. I cannot afford to run a boarding house on credit. So, after supper, as was the custom, the boys all left again for another night at the billiard hall; there was not one of the number, though they had been the ones who claimed to be my friends, though they were first to to lead me in sin, who offered me a helping hand. Ah, just like satan, he with his servants, always ready to lead you into trouble and forsake you. Dear reader, if you have not already chosen the friend (Christ Jesus) that sticketh closer than a brother delay not, but make the choice at once.

After all the boys had gone, I then went out also. I walked up and down the business streets, looking into the show windows until the city clock struck twelve. Having no where to sleep, no home to go to, no friends to help me, left all alone

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without a penny, I wandered down to the Chicago & Alton freight yards and finding an empty box car on a side track, I crept in so as to let no one see me. I made a pillow out of my dress coat and covered with my overcoat went to bed on the naked floor of the car. I slept none that night, for the night was very cold. I lay on the floor until chilled through and through, then I would walk the car from one end to the other. I thought of by-gone days, my school days, my days at home with mother, the days and nights with the boys at the boarding house, of their cruel treatment to me. I would think of the billiard hall, and whenever I would lie down I would hear the rolling of the balls upon the billiard table. But while I thought of home and mother, they were not thoughts of love or of returning, but of disgust. I only thought to keep my life a secret from those that loved me. Oh, I shall never be able to erase that night from my memory, it was an awful night, but not the worst night I ever spent in sin as you will realize before you conclude reading these pages, but it was my first night in such a manner. I was simply reaping what I had been sowing, as every man must do for God has said, 4 'Be not deceived. God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." (Gal. vi: 7).

But at last the long looked for morning light made its appearance and I again entered upon the busy thronged streets of the great city, I walked the streets too and fro until I became very weak and faint because I had had no morning food and no rest at all through the night. My head ached, my back ached, my heart ached. But I must do something; this will not do; I cannot live at this: here it is almost noon. And while I was standing upon one of the corners of the street I saw a man unloading a load of coal on the opposite side of the street. I walked across to learn to whom it belonged. The driver who was unloading the coal informed me that it belonged to a lawyer who had his office in the third story of the building just at us, and thought that I could get to carry it upstairs for him, w T hich would pay me about fifty cents. So I made my way up the long flight of stairs to the office room. I secured the job and was furnished with a basket that held about a bushel to carry it up with. I made my way back down the stairs and filled the basket with coal, but I soon found that it was more than I could carry, for I was very weak from the loss of sleep and food, so I emptied about half of it and worried on up the stairs basket after basket until about the middle of the afternoon, when I managed to get the last lump up the stairs. Oh, what poor pay

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the Devil is, but he paid me about as well as he ever pays any of his servants. I then made my way to a fiteen cent restaurant where I tried to eat some stuff called food, with the coal dust all over me. I was as black as coal itself.

Pretty soon the shades of another night had enveloped the city, and you could only see, as the electricity shed forth its rays of artificial light upon the crowded streets, people going to their places of abode from their places of labor. I looked for some place to lodge through the night and of course I had to look for some cheap place as thirty-five cents was the amount ir my purse. I looked around for some time and at last found a fifteen cent lodging house. I went in and paid for a bed, got a pan of water and tried to get some of the coal dust off my face and hands, after which I was taken to my room where I was to lodge for the night. It was a room 40x101 feet. It was filled with woven wire cots, just room enough between them for one chair. Every cot was occupied that night by all sorts, sizes and kinds. I suppose it was some better than the box car the night before, for it was warm and I had something to cover with; also lots of bed fellows, commonly known as gray-backs. But there was not much sleeping on my part, there were more folks in one bedroom than I had been used to. I suppose there were as many as one hundred and fifty bedded there that night; some rolling too and fro, some scratching, some grunting and groaning, some dreaming, while others were talking in their sleep. Such a night as this ! One could not think of the past, present or future.

Morning came again by-and-by and I started out for another day. For my breakfast, about ten o'clock, I went into a saloon and bought a glass of beer, and ate the counter lunch. I found no coal to put away that day, so I wandered back to the lodging house again as the shades of night threw themselves upon the earth, and paid my last fifteen cents for another one of those beds in that large bedroom. I got in sooner than the night before, some time before bedtime, weak, tired and hungry, for I had had but one lunch that day. I learned through a conversation with the proprietor that there was a gospel mission up the street a short distance where they gave a pint cup of coffee and a light roll to all who wanted it after each service. So I started out to find the mission, in which I was successful. I listened to the talk, and got my bread and coffee, and went back to the lodging house. Oh, how I can look back on that mission now and see that it was ordained of God.

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How I can see the hand of God trying to lead me to Himself.

Let ns pause a moment and notice the contrast be tween God's servants and satan's. For instance, the boarding house mistress, after taking my money, refused to give me a night's lodging after it was gone. The boys who had led me to the billiard hall would now shun me, but God's servants would feed my body and try to lead me to the Great Shepherd that my soul might be fed. What a contrast. May God help the unsaved readers of these pages to seek the associations of christian people.

After I reached the lodging house I was again ushered to my bed, not the same bed I occupied the night before, however, but in the same room; you were as apt to get one bed as another; here I spent just such another night as I have described. In fact, I wandered about in the great city, carrying in coal, and doing like jobs, eating counter lunches in saloons, going to the mission to get bread and coffee every night and sleeping in the lodging house, or one similar to it, for months. I finally got work in a chair factory running a circular saw, at ten dollars a week.

I worked there until I got twenty dollars ahead, and I then found some more friends, if that is the name for them. One of them, knowing I had some money, began telling me what a grand place Kansas City, Mo. , was, and how easy it was to get work there. He was a professional gambler, and promised to teach me some of the tricks of the profession, which he did, as you will realize further on. I consented to go; so we started, not in a Pullman sleeper by any means. We desired to keep our money, or rather, my money, for I had it all; so down to the Chicago and Alton freight yards we went, found a train going to Kansas City, and boarded one of the box cars just as the engine started out. We traveled this way, keeping ourselves concealed, until we reached Independence, Kansas, where we were put off, but boarding the next train that came through, which was about midnight. We got in a cattle car loaded with lumber, it was about full, with just enough room for us to ride inside, by lying flat on our backs right at the little door on top of such cars.

Just as the train pulled out it began to rain, and I believe it rained as hard as I ever saw rain fall from the clouds, and it rained till we reached Kansas City, the next morning about seven o'clock. We were as wet as water could make us, and almost chilled to death. We went to a first-class lodging house and renting a room started a fire in the stove, then taking off our clothes hung them to the fire to

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dry, and went to bed. Soon we were warm and fell to sleep, and slept all day. It was about dark when we a.rose and dressed ourselves in our half -dried clothing, and started in search of something to eat; after eating supper, we started in search of furnished rooms, finding them I paid eight dollars in advance for the use of the room for two weeks. We then started out to take in the town; we drank but little that night, but managed to get drunk. It was a grade of whisky that took but little to make one drunk. We soon found our way back to our new room and got in bed. The morning light soon came, and after a short consultation with all parties concerned regarding something to eat, we decided to live on a cheap plan until we could find work. So I went out and bought a coffee pot, a pound of coffee, some bread and smoked sausage, and making my way back to the room got in readiness for our first meal in our new quarters.

The next night drew on we got a deck of cards and a quart of rotten whisky. We played cards and drank whisky, my companion teaching me the tricks of the games. We lived thus for two weeks making our coffee and eating smoked sausage and baker's bread, playing cards and drinking whisky at night, I paying all expenses. I looked for work through the day, but found none. I soon found out that it was not so plentiful in Kansas City as had been represented to me by my companion; he (my companion) looked for no work as he was not of the working kind, he was only after the -loaves and fishes; bat by-and-by the end came, there was just forty cents left and one more night in the room. My companion was very anxious to go after the day's rations as I was feeling very bad. I gave him the last forty cents I had in the world to go and get food for the day. He left with it never to return again, and I have never seen him from that day to this. Oh. what a hard paymaster the devil is. I waited and watched for him until about noon, but the bread that I longed for never came. I gave up in despair and left the room. I walked all the day without anything to eat at all. As the shadows began to cluster around me I made my way back to the room for the last time. I went to bed very weak and faint, and rolled and tossed to and fro for hours. At last I fel] off to sleep and slept until the sun had been sending forth its golden beams upon the earth for some time; after I lay and thought for some time I dressed myself, as I knew something must be done. But what was that something? No money, no work, no friends, no food, and I had already been twenty-four hours without a bite to eat, something must be done. After a few. more moments