“Good—very good,” said the other. “Come in. There, sit you down by the table—and, missus, give us each a cup of tea. Now, you just look over the chimney-piece. There’s one of my walking-sticks: ‘Do the next thing.’ And, now, look over the dresser. There’s the other walking-stick: ‘One step at a time’. And I’ll just tell you how to use them. It don’t require any practice. When you’ve half-a-dozen things as wants doing, and can’t all be done at once, just you consider which of ’em all ought to be done first. That’s ‘the next thing.’ Go straight ahead at that, and don’t trouble a bit about the rest till that’s done. That’s one stick as’ll help you to walk through a deal of work with very little bustle and worry. And, James, just be content in all you do to be guided by the great Master as owns us all, the Lord Jesus Christ, who bought us for himself with his own blood. Just be willing to follow him, and let him lead you ‘one step at a time,’ and don’t want to see the place for the next step till you’ve put your foot where he tells you. You’ll find that a rare stout walking-stick. You may lean your whole weight on it, and it won’t give way; and it’ll help you in peace through the trials of this life, and on the road to a better.”
Such was Thomas Bradly’s kitchen. Many a happy gathering was held there, and many a useful lesson learned in it.
But, besides the rooms already mentioned, there was one adjoining the kitchen which was specially Thomas Bradly’s own. It was of considerable size, and was entered from the inside by a little door out of the kitchen. This door was commonly locked, and the key kept by Bradly himself. The more usual approach to it was from the outside. Its external appearance did not exactly contribute to the symmetry of the whole premises; but that was a matter of very small moment to its proprietor, who had added it on for a special purpose. The house itself was on the hill-side, on the outskirts of the town, as has been said. There was a little bit of garden in front and on either side, so that it could not be built close up to. At present it had no very near neighbours. A little gate in the low wall which skirted the garden, on the left hand as you faced the house, allowed any visitor to have access to the outer door of Bradly’s special room without going through the garden up the front way. On this outer door was painted in white letters, “Surgery.”
“Do you mend broken bones, Tommy Tracks?” asked a working-man of not very temperate or moral habits soon after this word had been painted on the door. “If you do, I think we may perhaps give you a job before long, as it’ll be Crossbourne Wakes next Sunday week.”
“No,” was Bradly’s reply; “I mend broken hearts, and put drunkards’ homes into their proper places when they’ve got out of joint.”
“Indeed! You’ll be clever to do that, Tommy.”
“Ah! You don’t know, Bill. P’raps you’ll come and try my skill yourself afore long.”
The other turned away with a scornful laugh and a gibe; but the arrow had hit its mark. But, indeed, what Thomas Bradly said was true. Broken hearts and dislocated families had been set to rights in that room. There would appointments be kept by wretched used-up sots, who would never have been persuaded to ask for Bradly at the ordinary door of entrance; and there on his knees, with the poor conscience-stricken penitent bowed beside him, would Thomas pour out his simple but fervent supplications to Him who never “broke a bruised reed, nor quenched the smoking flax.” And mothers, too, the slaves of the drink-fiend, had found in that room liberty from their chains. Here, too, would the vicar preside over meetings of the Temperance and Band of Hope Committees.
The room was snugly fitted up with a long deal table, as clean as constant scrubbing could make it, and boasted of a dozen windsor-chairs and two long benches. There were two cupboards also, one on each side of a small but brightly burnished grate. In one of these, pledge-books, cards for members, and temperance tracts and books were kept; in the other was a stock of Bibles, New Testaments, prayer-books, hymn-books, and general tracts. A few well-chosen coloured Scripture prints and illuminated texts adorned the walls; and everything in Bradly’s house was in the most perfect order. You would not find a chair awry, nor books lying loose about, nor so much as a crumpled bit of paper thrown on the floor of his “Surgery,” nor indeed anywhere about the premises.
When a neighbour once said to him, “I see, Tommy Tracks, you hold with the saying, ‘Cleanliness is next to godliness,’”—“Nay, I don’t,” was his reply. “I read it another way: ‘Cleanliness is a part of godliness.’ I can’t understand a dirty or disorderly Christian—leastways, it’s very dishonouring to the Master; for dirt and untidiness and confusion are types and pictures of sin. A true Christian ought to be clean and tidy outside as well as in. Christ’s servants should look always cleaner and neater than any one else; for aren’t we told to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things? And don’t dirtiness and untidiness in Christians bring a reproach on religion? And then, if things are out of their place—all sixes and sevens—why, it’s just setting a trap for your feet. You’ll stumble, and lose your temper and your time, and fuss the life out of other people too, if things aren’t in their proper places, and you can’t lay hold of a thing just when you want it. It’s waste of precious time and precious peace, and them’s what Christians can’t afford to lose. Why, Jenny Bates, poor soul, used to lose her temper, and she’d scarce find it afore she lost it again, and just because she never had anything in decent order. And yet she were a godly woman; but her light kept dancing about, instead of shining steadily, as it ought to have done, just because she never knew where to put her hand on anything she wanted, and everything was in her way and in her husband’s way, except what they was looking for at the time. It’s a fine thing when you can stick by the rule, ‘A place for everything, and everything in its place.’”