"I'll try!" he said. "Honest, I will! Now behooves me get a mite o' sleep. But first—"
The room was a small and plain one, in a meek by-street which had to work hard to prove that it was not a slum, but did prove it. There were curtains in most of the windows, faded, patched, darned, but whole and clean (Mrs. Morrissey's were Nottingham lace, the street would have you know, but then Mr. Morrissey was on the Force), and not a house but had a geranium or a straggle of nasturtiums in window-box or tin can or broken pitcher.
Besides all this, not a lodging room in the street but had a Bible; the Gideons had seen to that. Pippin took the fat black book from the little light-stand beside the bed. He had his own little Testament that Elder Hadley had given him, but this was handy by, and besides, he admired to read about them Old Testament guys. Elijah was "some," he thought; as for Elisha, he had no opinion of him. Gettin' them kids all stove up just because they was a mite cheeky! Likely he was bald-headed!
The volume opening at the title page revealed a printed slip pasted inside the cover, on which Pippin read as follows:
This Holy Book, whose leaves display
the Life, the Light, the Truth, the Way,
is placed in this room by
The Gideons,
The Christian Commercial Travelers' Association of America,
Aided by
The Christian Forces of this City
with the hope also that by means of this Book
many may be brought to know the love of
Christ which passeth knowledge.
- The Ancient Gideon's Test and Triumph—Judges 6 and 7.
- The Modern Gideon's Motto—Judges 7:21.
- The Greatest Sermon ever preached—Matthew 5, 6, and 7.
- BLESSED TRUTH—ACCEPT IT—Luke 19:10; John 3:16.
- The Supreme Sacrifice for all—Isaiah 53.
- The Universal Invitation to all—Isaiah 55.
- If lonesome or blue and friends untrue, read Psalms 23 and 27, Luke 15.
- If trade is poor, read Psalm 37, John 15.
- If discouraged or in trouble, read Psalm 126; John 14.
- If you are all out of sorts, read Hebrews 12.
- If you are losing confidence in men, read I Cor. 13.
- If skeptical, read John 6:40, 7:17; Phil. 2:9-11.
- If you can't have your own way, read James 3.
- If tired of sin, read Luke 18:9-14, 35-43, John 9.
- If very prosperous, read I Cor. 10:12, 15.
- The WONDERFUL RESULT—Isaiah 35—Psalm 121—Romans 12.
We earnestly solicit free-will offerings for the aid of our
Bible work.
Christian Traveling Men, Join Us, Help Us.
For particulars, inquire of any man wearing the button, or
THE GIDEONS,
22 West Quincy Street, Chicago, Ill.
"Green grass!" said Pippin. "Now wouldn't that—" He read it again, slowly and carefully. "Now wouldn't that—well, the reverse of give you a pain! Lemme see! What fits me special in this outfit?" His finger following the table of contents, Pippin knit his brows and set his teeth, murmuring as he went, "'If trade is poor,'—that ain't me! I made three dollars to-day, and two yesterday. Fifteen a week wouldn't be far from it, and five of that in the bank reg'lar every week. I tell you!