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
Among those who received marked benefit was the sewerman, who occupied a
back "parlour" for his family and the yard for rats which he caught in
the "shores" (sewers) and brought home in a bag attached to the inside
of his coat. The smell of rats was always strong upon him, and as he had
a blinking peering look he was far from popular with his neighbours.
When, however, in his earnestness to hear, he pressed forward into the
meeting room, several smiled pleasure at seeing him, and he was motioned
to a seat. After this he was constant in his attendance, and a gradual
change of appearance was noticed. That he washed himself in right good
earnest was evident, and the lighting up of his countenance, with effort
to join in the singing, proved that his soul also was stirred by the
glad and to him new tidings of the Saviour's mercy. He avoided
conversation upon his spiritual state, as he knew not how to express his
feelings, and nothing could induce him to attend with respectable people
at public worship (he may have considered himself offensive), but he got
to love the little meeting, and it became evident that he had attained
to peace in believing.
To the Missionary and his helpers this was a time for rejoicing; but
they had also their discouragements and anxieties. A folded letter, for
instance, of strange shape, and bearing the impression, "Dartmoor
Convict Establishment," was delivered at one of the meetings; and upon
opening it the following printed instructions met the eye: "In writing
to the convict, direct to No. 2484 (_a._ 1, 2)." This was evidently the
number of the young thief whose companion had asked the Missionary to
reform him upon his first visit to the Court, on the ground of his being
"unlucky." That effort had been made in earnest; for the mother and the
Missionary upon the next discharge morning took their stand at the
iron-barred gate of Coldbath Field's prison, and waited until the heavy
lock was opened and the ponderous bolt withdrawn. Then the jail-birds
issued out helter-skelter, looking well, and rejoicing in their liberty
as if bent on pleasure. Some were received by their "pals," unmistakable
members of the criminal class, and were conducted in a sort of triumph
to their former dens, with the prospect of a little wild pleasure,
another crime, and then a longer term of imprisonment. Our bird, a
sharp-looking, well grown youth of seventeen years, was seized by his
mother, and hastily informed "that this ere gent had come to reform
him." A keen glance at the reformer and a movement of the eyelid,
understood by such people as "the knowing wink," expressed his
reluctance to undergo the process. He then, in a surly way, said to his
mother, "I wants some bacca and some beer: that's what I wants; and I'll
have it!" As he glanced at a group of persons who had hurried from the
prison-gate to the public-house, the mother evidently felt that the
required refreshment was the only means of keeping her son. She
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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