Prisons and Prayer; Or, a Labor of LoveWheaton, Elizabeth Ryder
Religion
Prisons and Prayer; Or, a Labor of Love
Wheaton, Elizabeth Ryder
Evangelistic work; Prisons
From Boise City we went to Salt Lake City. When we arrived at the
penitentiary there and mentioned our desire to hold a service the
warden's kind wife said: "The warden is in the city and they are under
contract and must get their work done immediately--but you lie down
and rest--you are worn out" (and I was). So I slept until I heard her
tender voice, saying, "Mrs. Wheaton, lunch is ready and the warden
says he will give you forty minutes after dinner in the chapel with
the men." I was so glad and said: "This is all through your kindness
and God will reward you." I found the men seated, waiting for me, in
the chapel and thankfully I improved that opportunity, knowing that
eternity would reveal the results of that service. I was permitted to
see the two men under death sentence and sing and pray with them, and
tell them of a Savior "mighty to save and strong to deliver;" then
with sad heart I left them--never to meet them again till the trumpet
should sound. Precious in God's sight were those poor, forsaken,
criminals! And, reader, as I write these lines down in the slums of
Chicago, I see opposite me the saloon open day and night luring men
and women inside, fitting them also for the prison and perhaps for the
scaffold!
Leaving the prison at Salt Lake, we hurried to the county jail, held
services in two departments, and had a good time with the prisoners;
then left for the city jail. Did what work we could there in the
Lord's name and hurried to the depot, only stopping on the way to get
a little lunch for the long journey before us. Weary and faint we
reached the train just as it was leaving. Too weak to go further I got
in the first car, which proved to be a dining car. I said: "The boys
will allow me to sit here awhile," and I heard a voice saying: "Come
in, mother, sit down. You are welcome in my car and you must have
something to eat. You look tired and hungry"--and wasn't I? And when I
told him of my friend in another car he had me bring her also and gave
us both a good supper, and was I not thankful to God for that kind
welcome from the dining car conductor, who knew me? Surely God will
reward him. I hope to meet and know him in that land where we shall
never get weary and hungry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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