These remarks recalled Mr. Percy’s earnest talk to me when he, with both of my hands clasped in his, and tears in his eyes, gazing into mine, begged me, for the love of God and for the sake of my own soul, to keep myself pure and clean. And I remember, too, that never, in all the years of my school days, did our burly principal or the teachers utter a word on a subject that was of infinitely more importance, than all our mathematics or history or our whole school course of study. When I have thought of the ruin of some of my schoolmates, through their ignorance of danger, I have bitterly blamed the whole false or deficient system of education. Only the pure in heart shall see God, but purity is entirely left out of our school education and mostly from the services in the churches. Mr. Jasper continued, “I joined the church of my parents during my college life, and for years afterwards, I accepted the Bible as the inspired word of God, and all that the church taught as direct from Him. I never had a doubt about these things. I often wondered when others spoke of their doubts. The fact was, that I never read or thought of anything contrary to what I had blindly accepted as the truth. I was happy in this state of mind or ignorance. This continued for years. To be as brief as possible: I engaged in business and met with reverses through the betrayal of some men professing to be Christians. What to do I did not know. I was like a man shipwrecked on a desert island, or rather cast away among savages, for those whom I supposed my friends turned against me. Men whom I had assisted begged to be excused, ‘it was not convenient,’ or ‘some other time,’ when I asked for a little assistance. Men whom I had put upon their feet at a sacrifice to myself hardly knew me when we met. Once it was ‘Harry,’ but then, ‘Mister’ of the coolest kind. I was criticised and censured for becoming poor. When a man is down everybody, even his former friends, are ready to give him a kick. Mankind is very much like the vultures we see in India. Not one of them in sight anywhere until a poor brute is wounded, when they are seen coming in every direction to pull their victim to pieces and devour him. The world can forgive anything but poverty. “I expected to find some sympathy and kindness in the church where I had taken a prominent part, but instead, I was told in effect that I had better take a back seat. This seemed to me intensely cruel and unjust.