Then he turned and said: "Do you think there is any hope for me?" "I was at once on ground where I could speak without hesitation," said Mr. Herr, "and I told him simply that if he was through with an evil life, if he was tired of wrong-doing and was determined to do right, there was a love that could forgive him, and a power that could help and keep him in the future. When at last we knelt together there I prayed that God, who could bring light into our darkness, might dispel the thick clouds that had shut in this soul from hope, and bring to him the revelation that would change his life. There were tears in our eyes as we parted, and, taking my hand in his he said: "I will try, Brother Herr."
"He did try, and, more than that he conquered. At first it was a stern battle of an awakened will and conscience fighting against desperate odds. The feeling that friends were watching and waiting anxiously for good reports proved an undoubted incentive. It was not long before he sought and found Christ as his Saviour, and he became an earnest Christian, and to-day is an ordained Methodist minister, at the head of a great rescue work in an Eastern city, and also chaplain of a model penal institution."
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life."—John 3:16.
To Brother George L. Herr
By Joseph M. McGuire
The days are long and dreary,
And the hours go slowly by,
While the prisoner, sad and weary,
Longs for the time to fly.
But one brings joy and sunshine
To the prisoners sad at heart,
And it is but a short time
'Till with him we'll have to part.
We cannot find another,
Search, I care not where,
Who will do as much for a brother
As our Bro. George L. Herr.
He comes early in the morning,
And never leaves till night;
He always seems untiring,
Helping wayward men do right.
He is always up and willing
Whene'er a prisoner call,
To go and do the bidding
Of a man behind the wall.
And then there is another,
Who shares his joy and strife;
She is called by the prisoners "Mother,"
And is Bro. Herr's good wife.
Early Sunday morning,
In rain, snow, sleet, or hail,
You will find him holding meeting
In the Jefferson County Jail.
I love to hear him tell the story
Of the "Prodigal Son,"
And of the "Mighty Prince of Glory,"
From whom salvation sprung.
Round his good face there seems a halo,
His work is for One on high,
He makes sunshine out of sorrow,
Whenever he is nigh.