The mother and father met Mr. Tibbals, and in the parlor the coffin was opened for identification. It was the body of the only son of that proud family. The father gave one look, one great sob, then seized his hat and fled. The mother said, “O Mr. Tibbals, you think I am grief-stricken over his death! But I am not even sorry. This son has been a drunkard from childhood. We could not keep him at home, for he would steal everything he could carry away and sell it for whisky. Since we lost sight of him, I have never opened a paper without fearing I should read his name in connection with some awful crime. No, I am relieved. I shall know where he is. I have often gotten into my carriage and have had the driver go up and down this street (which was then covered with cobblestones) as fast as the law permitted him to drive, and I have screamed and screamed my heart out. I have gone to the seashore to scream to let off my nervous strain. Had I given just one such scream in my own house, I would this day be in a mad house. Oh, no, for this death, after what you hope was a conversion, I am deeply grateful to God!”
And yet people wonder at Carrie Nation. It is a wonder that grief like that does not make iconoclasts of all mothers whose sons go down the Jericho road.
The following testimony, given in the winter of 1911, by one who had stood on many rounds of the social ladder, a man who accepted redemption, and is now kept by the power of God:
A REMARKABLE TESTIMONY
“When Brother Wheeler requested me to address this meeting, I felt somewhat nervous, for the simple reason that I had never in my life addressed a religious meeting before, and I so stated to Mr. Wheeler. However, I could not refuse him, and here I am.
“True, in years gone by, while down South, I have spoken to political gatherings. Since I got religion, I stopped that. If I should ever make a political address again, it will be in the interest of the Prohibition party. I regret that I have no experience in addressing a religious meeting, and I, therefore, ask you to be patient with me, especially as, due to previous engagements, I was unable to prepare myself, except in so far that I have decided to make a few remarks on personal salvation, and by the term personal I have my own in mind.
“I want to tell you something about my own experience, how I had lost my God and found Him again. A man born and reared on the Bowery or any of its side streets in New York City, a man who from his childhood on has been influenced by evil-minded and sinful people, has never heard of Christ, and in the course of time becomes a hardened criminal, such a man may be condemned by mankind, but never by God.
“A man born and raised in a comfortable, refined home, who has been taught the doctrines of Christ, has confessed his belief that Christ is His Saviour, has a full knowledge of right and wrong and of the duties he owes his fellow-man—if such a man becomes a willing victim to sensual pleasures, he may not be condemned by mankind, but God will condemn him, unless he repents and starts to lead a new, clean life.
“Only too often men are so completely wrapped up in their personal matters, as, for instance, in their business affairs, that they absolutely lose sight of the obligations they owe God, and also their fellow-men, and, as a natural result, neglect their souls.
“I honestly believe that such a man is more to be pitied than the ones who, either through their own fault or being victims of circumstances, have lost their hold in life and finally found themselves 'down and out.' A man may temporarily be without food and shelter, but this is nothing compared to trying to live without God. However, a man who is a wanderer on the face of the earth and who has lost his God, is indeed a wretched being. I am speaking from experience.