The Man with the Book; or, The Bible Among the People.Weylland, John Matthias
History
The Man with the Book; or, The Bible Among the People.
Weylland, John Matthias
City missions; London City Mission
"The Traveller's Rest" was situated in a low back street, with several
courts in it, and a passage at the end. The road was offensively dirty,
as the Missionary passed down at two o'clock upon the next afternoon.
The swarms of children were of the gutter, shoeless, tattered, and
filthy. At many of the doors women of debased countenances were
squatted, smoking short pipes. A fiddler was playing in the doorway of a
low beerhouse--"The Dan O'Connell,"--while men, women, and children were
dancing inside and out, to an Irish jig. Out of two windows were long
poles with bills underneath, announcing the pleasing fact that a "clean
shave and a wash could be had within for one halfpenny." These were no
doubt rival barbers. "The Rest" was one of several, and was offensively
dirty. In the back, or common room, were two tables and several forms,
the company consisting of eight women and five men. Three of these were
at the fireplace, one holding a number of sprats upon a long skewer,
another a red herring, and the third was frying steak and onions. They
regarded the stranger with what he knew to be a professional look, and
one woman in the same breath told him that "the sojer was upstairs, and
that she was very ill, and almost a skeleton with starvation;" and then
she took a bottle of medicine out of her pocket, and to prove how bad
she was, invited him to taste it. This he courteously declined, and
ascended to the bedroom, the air of which was horribly offensive. A row
of old mattresses upon the dirty floor formed the beds, while the walls
were shockingly dirty. But as the "soldier" said, "What 'commodation can
a chap expect for twopence, when you has the use of fire and water?" To
the disappointment of the visitor, the man began to wriggle out of his
promise to let the boy go to a Refuge; and when pressed he became
impertinent, and said, "With my eyes bloodshot and the boy a-looking
ill, we can get lots; and I shan't starve for him." When leaving, the
reader re-entered the common room, and secured the attention of the
people to the parable of the good Samaritan; and then, holding up the
pocket Bible, he said, "It's in here, and many other things which the
blessed Jesus spoke."
Some weeks after this the visitor saw the boy huddled up in a night
coffee-house, the father being fast asleep. The lad told him that a lady
in Upper Brook Street had been very kind to them, but his father drank
away all the money. The address was taken down, and next day the
Missionary called upon the lady, who was so good as to express her
thanks, and they together planned the rescue of the boy. By threats and
entreaty the father was prevailed upon to let him enter the Refuge in
Commercial Street, and the night visitor took him there in triumph.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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