"Wait here," said the visitor; and then he entered the house, and passed into the tap. It was filled with low men, several of whom appeared confused at his seeing them there. He however addressed one of them in a friendly manner, and said, "You men had better be careful; there is some one outside."
"Who can it be!" exclaimed several of the men, looking uncomfortable.
"A White Sergeant," was the reply, and the announcement produced a roar of laughter. To explain the reason of the merriment a digression is necessary. Well, then, a "White Sergeant" in the tap-room parlance is a wife who fetches her husband out of the public-house. This is considered a great offence, and men who submit to such an exercise of "women's rights" are much joked at by their companions. Many of the quarrels between husband and wife result from this cause. One Monday morning, in a court he visited, the Missionary saw five women with black eyes, all received through efforts to get their husbands home with their full week's wages. The announcement that a "White Sergeant" was waiting for one of them outside was therefore considered a capital joke.
As soon as their merriment had subsided, the visitor said gravely, "And this 'White Sergeant' is a woman of whom any man might be proud—pleasant-looking and neat in her dress, with a dear little baby in her arms; and in my opinion the man who would bring such a woman to cry outside a public ought to hang his head for shame."
The selfishness of men who for their own pleasures would act in this way, was enlarged upon, until a man rose and quietly left the room. A few tracts were distributed, and then the visitor also went out, and saw the man walking away with the "White Sergeant." He approached them and spoke kindly to the man, saying that he would like to call and give picture-books to his children. In a surly way he was told that he might "do as he liked," and he therefore went with them to their door.
Next Sunday the visitor called, and after a pleasant chat, opened the Bible to read to them, when one of the children began to cry. The father, without saying a word, took off his rough cap and threw it at the child with such force as to knock it heavily upon the floor. The poor child crawled into a corner, and, from fear, remained quiet. The parable of the Prodigal Son was read, and the man was deeply interested in it, and with the exposition showing the love of the Father. As the reader proceeded, the man looked kindly towards the child, and then went and took it into his arms. The visitor was pleased with this act, as it showed him that the man could be influenced for good. As he was leaving, the man addressed him thus,—
"You didn't know me, guv'nor, when you saw me in the tap; but I knowed you as the chap as made my pal religious, as I used to play pitch-and-toss with when a boy, and used to go out on the drunk with after we got to be men; and when I seed him a-dyin', said he to me said he, 'Bob, get religion, as it ain't no good a-goin' on bad, as Jesus Christ is our Saviour. And my old woman will tell the tract man to have a say with you out of his Book.' Well, when you comed into the tap in that 'ere way, and talked sensible, thinks I, that's 'im, and it's my Beck outside; so I misselled (slipped out), and shouldn't mind if you made Beck and me religious, that I shouldn't."
The meaning of the word "conversion" was explained to him in simple language, and an appointment made for further instruction. These visits were continued for some months, and a marked change for the better had taken place, until he one night yielded to temptation, got drunk, and became worse than he had ever been before. He stripped the house of every comfort, and all the labour appeared to have been lost upon him. He was, however, met with one afternoon when hawking crockery, and induced to sign the pledge. This he kept for three months, and again relapsed. His friend had come to the conclusion that his case was hopeless, when he received an unexpected visit from the man.
"Please, mister," he said with some confusion, "I am a-comin' to live right agin you. I seed a room with a loft over a stable and I took it, and I shall feel strong like bein' agin you, and shan't be near my pals as gets me to drink. It 'tain't 'pertinent like, is it, my comin' here?"
The poor man was commended for his strange but wise resolution, and his friend called to see them very frequently. As a result, the children were sent to a Sunday school, and the man was seen in the free seats at church, clean, but in his hawker's clothes. The reformation went on with him, and he became sober and well conducted. One morning he called upon his friend, and said, "I never cared, sir, for my children, for I was a drunkard, and I didn't know nuffin' of our souls and religion, and Beck and I wants the young uns to be christened, that we does, and we are goin to stick to church like as if we was made new inside, as is religion."