“When I got them,” said Mr. Zwemer, “the whole eighteen huddled together in the middle of the floor, like jack-rabbits, and every time I came close, they huddled a little nearer. They mistrusted every one. On each little cheek-bone was the brand of the slave’s iron, and for months and months they had known nothing but hatred and beatings, and had been shut down in the hold of the slave-ship, in order that they might make no noise and betray their presence.”
As Mr. Speer saw them they looked happy and confident, and they sang for him, “Jesus loves me, this I know,” looking as if the realization that all their blessings had come from that divine Source had already sunk deep into their hearts. (Text.)
(1907)
LOVE, FILIAL
A boy of thirteen was often brought to Judge Lindsey’s Juvenile Court in Denver, charged with truancy. Notwithstanding the judge admonished him many times, it did not seem to do him any good. The teacher kept writing, “Tim will stay out of school to work.”
Once, when reproving him, the judge told him that there would be time enough to work when he was a man. “My father was a man,” replied the boy, “and he did not work. He went off and left mother and me. I guess that’s what killed her.”
Finally, Tim appeared in court one day with a happy face, and pulling a soiled and crumpled paper from his pocket, handed it to the judge. “I’m goin’ to remember all the things you told me and I’m goin’ to school regular, now I got that done,” he said, with some pride. Judge Lindsey examined the paper, which proved to be a receipted bill, and found that, little by little, Tim had paid fifty dollars for a headstone at his mother’s grave.
“My boy, is that what you’ve been doing all these months?”
“I wanted her to have a monument, judge.” Tim furtively wiped away the moisture in his eyes. “She done a lot for me; that’s all I could do for her now.”
(1908)