Jimmie Moore of BucktownTrotter, Melvin E. (Melvin Earnest)
General
Jimmie Moore of Bucktown
Trotter, Melvin E. (Melvin Earnest)
Christian life -- Fiction; Missionaries -- Fiction; Poor families -- Fiction
Whatever Fagin's plans were, he had forgotten them. Never were
two voices better adapted for this sort of music. Gene's tenor
voice blended perfectly with Floe's rich alto. But, what is
more essential in the singing of the Gospel, they both knew
what they were singing about and to whom they were singing.
The best story teller on earth can not tell a story well unless
he knows it, neither can the best singer on earth sing the Gospel
well unless he knows it. The question so often asked to-day,
Why are there no conversions in our church? could be answered
sometimes by a glance into the choir loft.
Every one stood spellbound as Floe and Gene put their very souls
into the song:
"Hide me when my heart is breaking, with its weight of woe,
When in tears I seek the comfort, Thou canst alone bestow."
Every word was a prayer and Floe was singing to God alone; she
seemed to forget the crowd and the place; she remembered the
time she had taken her broken heart to Jesus with its weight
of woe. Gene was self-conscious, but no one knew it, as every
eye was upon Floe. She stopped playing and stood up as they
very softly sang the chorus the last time. Falling upon her
knees, she said: "Let us pray. O Father, we thank Thee, that
Thou hast given us a chance to praise Thee in this room. In
former days, in this same place, we blasphemed Thy Holy Name.
We thank Thee for forgiveness, for peace, for power to overcome
sin, and now, O Father, our prayer is for the people in this
room. We know that Thou lovest them all; may they realize to-night
that Jesus is the sinner's Friend. For the habit-bound ones,
we pray, set them free, O God!" With tears streaming down her
cheeks she prayed for Dave Beach, Fagin, Mike, Ike Palmer, and
the girls that were living lives of shame; the plea she made
to God for Fred Hanks would almost melt a heart of stone. "Forgive
these men for getting poor, weak Fred drunk to-night," she prayed.
"He is trying hard, but Mr. Fagin and his helpers are doing
all they can to kill him; for Jesus' sake stop them, for the
sake of his heart-broken wife and his little boy, stop them.
May every man, woman and child here to-night be saved for Jesus'
sake. Amen."
Not a person moved during the prayer; every word went straight
to the hearts of the people; many of the women were weeping
and the men were fighting back their tears with more or less
success.
After Fagin had consented to allow a meeting in his place he
and his crowd had gone after Fred and filled him full of liquor.
At the right time he was to be brought into the room and introduced
as one of Morton's converts. This was to be the signal for the
crowd to break up the meeting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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