Dusty Diamonds Cut and Polished: A Tale of City Arab Life and Adventure by - (best self help books to read txt) đ
- Author: -
Book online «Dusty Diamonds Cut and Polished: A Tale of City Arab Life and Adventure by - (best self help books to read txt) đ». Author -
For Mrs Twitter was a wise, unselfish woman, as well as good. At a certain point she ceased to act, and said, âMrs Frog, go to your own Hetty, and she will tell you what to do.â
And Mrs Frog went, and Hetty, with joyful surprise in her heart, and warm tears of gratitude in her eyes, pointed her to Jesus the Saviour of mankind. It was nothing new to the poor woman to be thus directed. It is nothing new to almost any one in a Christian land to be pointed to Christ; but it is something new to many a one to have the eyes opened to see, and the will influenced to accept. It was so now with this poor, self-willed, and long-triedâor, rather, long-resistingâwoman. The Spiritâs time had come, and she was made willing. But now she had to face the difficulties of the new life. Conscienceânever killed, and now revivedâbegan to act.
âI must work,â she said, internally, and conscience nodded approval. âI must drink less,â she said, but conscience shook her head. âIt will be very hard, you see,â she continued, apologetically, âfor a poor woman like me to get through a hard day without just one glass of beer to strengthen me.â
Conscience did all her work by looks alone. She was naturally dumb, but she had a grand majestic countenance with great expressive eyes, and at the mention of one glass of beer she frowned so that poor Mrs Frog almost trembled.
At this point Hetty stepped into the conversation. All unaware of what had been going on in her motherâs mind, she said, suddenly, âMother, Iâm going to a meeting to-night; will you come?â
Mrs Frog was quite willing. In fact she had fairly given in and become biddable like a little child,âthough, after all, that interesting creature does not always, or necessarily, convey the most perfect idea of obedience!
It was a rough meeting, composed of rude elements, in a large but ungilded hall in Whitechapel. The people were listening intently to a powerful speaker.
The theme was strong drink. There were opponents and sympathisers there. âIt is the greatest curse, I think, in London,â said the speaker, as Hetty and her mother entered.
âBah!â exclaimed a powerful man beside whom they chanced to sit down. âIâve drank a lot onât anâ donât find it no curse, at all.â
âSilence,â cried some in the audience.
âI tell âee itâs all barn wot âeâs talkinâ,â said the powerful man.
âPut âim out,â cried some of the audience. But the powerful man had a powerful look, and a great bristly jaw, and a fierce pair of eyes which had often been blackened, and still bore the hues of the last fight; no one, therefore, attempted to put him out, so he snapped his fingers at the entire meeting, said, âBah!â again, with a look of contempt, and relapsed into silence, while the speaker, heedless of the slight interruption, went on.
âWhy, itâs a Blue Ribbon meeting, Hetty,â whispered Mrs Frog.
âYes, mother,â whispered Hetty in reply, âthatâs one of its names, but its real title, I heard one gentleman say, is the Gospel-Temperance Association, you see, theyâre very anxious to put the gospel first and temperance second; temperance beinâ only one of the fruits of the gospel of Jesus.â
The speaker went on in eloquent strains pleading the great causeânow drawing out the sympathies of his hearers, then appealing to their reason; sometimes relating incidents of deepest pathos, at other times convulsing the audience with touches of the broadest humour, insomuch that the man who said âbah!â modified his objections to âpooh!â and ere long came to that turning-point where silence is consent. In this condition he remained until reference was made by the speaker to a manânot such a bad fellow too, when soberâwho, under the influence of drink, had thrown his big shoe at his wifeâs head and cut it so badly that she was even thenâwhile he was addressing themâlying in hospital hovering between life and death.
âThatâs me!â cried the powerful man, jumping up in a state of great excitement mingled with indignation, while he towered head and shoulders above the audience, âthough how you come for to âear onât beats me holler. Anâ it shows âow lies git about, for sheâs not gone to the hospital, anâ it wasnât shoes at all, but boots I flung at âer, anâ they only just grazed âer, thank goodness, anâ sent the cat flyinâ through the winder. Soââ
A burst of laughter with mingled applause and cheers cut off the end of the sentence and caused the powerful man to sit down in much confusion, quite puzzled what to think of it all.
âMy friend,â said the speaker, when order had been restored, âyou are mistaken. I did not refer to you at all, never having seen or heard of you before, but there are too many men like youâmen who would be good men and true if they would only come to the Saviour, who would soon convince them that it is wise to give up the drink and put on the blue ribbon. Let it not be supposed, my friends, that I say it is the duty of every one to put on the blue ribbon and become a total abstainer. There are circumstances in which a âlittle wineâ may be advisable. Why, the apostle Paul himself, when Timothyâs stomach got into a chronic state of disease which subjected him, apparently, to âfrequent infirmities,â advised him to take a âlittle wine,â but he didnât advise him to take many quarts of beer, or numerous glasses of brandy and water, or oceans of Old Tom, or to get daily fuddled on the poisons which are sold by many publicans under these names. Still less did Paul advise poor dyspeptic Timothy to become his own medical man and prescribe all these medicines to himself, whenever he felt inclined for them. Yes, there are the old and the feeble and the diseased, who may, (observe I donât say who do, for I am not a doctor, but who may), require stimulants under medical advice. To these we do not speak, and to these we would not grudge the small alleviation to their sad case which may be found in stimulants; but to the young and strong and healthy we are surely entitled to say, to plead, and to entreatâput on the blue ribbon if you see your way to it. And by the young we mean not only all boys and girls, but all men and women in the prime of life, ay, and beyond the prime, if in good health. Surely you will all admit that the young require no stimulants. Are they not superabounding in energy? Do they not require the very oppositeâsedatives, and do they not find these in constant and violent muscular exercise?â
With many similar and other arguments did the speaker seek to influence the mass of human beings before him, taking advantage of every idea that cropped up and every incident in the meeting that occurred to enforce his adviceânamely, total abstinence for the young and the healthyâuntil he had stirred them up to a state of considerable enthusiasm. Then he said:â
âI am glad to see you enthusiastic. Nothing great can be done without enthusiasm. You may potter along the even tenor of your way without it, but youâll never come to much good, and youâll never accomplish great things, without it. What is enthusiasm? Is it not seeing the length, breadth, height, depth, and bearing of a good thing, and being zealously affected in helping to bring it about? There are many kinds of enthusiasts, though but one quality of enthusiasm. Weak people show their enthusiasm too much on the surface. Powerful folk keep it too deep in their hearts to be seen at all. What then, are we to scout it in the impulsive because too obvious; to undervalue it in the reticent because almost invisible? Nay, let us be thankful for it in any form, for the thing is good, though the individualâs manner of displaying it may be faulty. Let us hope that the too gushing may learn to clap on the breaks a littleâa very little; but far more let us pray that the reticent and the self-possessed, and the oh!âdearânoâyouâllâneverâcatchâmeâdoingâthatâsortâofâthing people, may be enabled to get up more steam. Better far in my estimation the wild enthusiast than the self-possessed and self-sufficient cynic. Just look at your gentlemanly cynic; good-natured very likely, for heâs mightily pleased with himself and excessively wise in regard to all things sublunary. Why, even he has enthusiasm, though not always in a good cause. Follow him to the races. Watch him while he sees the sleek and beautiful creatures straining every muscle, and his own favourite drawing ahead, inch by inch, until it bids fair to win. Is that our cynic, bending forward on his steed, with gleaming eyes and glowing cheek, and partly open mouth and quick-coming breath, and so forgetful of himself that he swings off his hat and gives vent to a lusty cheer as the favourite passes the winning-post?
âBut follow him still further. Donât let him go. Hold on to his horseâs tail till we see him safe into his club, and wait there till he has dined and gone to the opera. There he sits, immaculate in dress and bearing, in the stalls. It is a huge audience. A great star is to appear. The star comes onâmusic such as might cause the very angels to bend and listen.
âThe sweet singer exerts herself; her rich voice swells in volume and sweeps round the hall, filling every ear and thrilling every heart, until, unable to restrain themselves, the vast concourse rises en masse, and, with waving scarf and kerchief, thunders forth applause! And what of our cynic? There he is, the wildest of the wildâfor he happens to love musicâshouting like a maniac and waving his hat, regardless of the fact that he has broken the brim, and that the old gentleman whose corns he has trodden on frowns at him with savage indignation.
âYes,â continued the speaker, âthe whole world is enthusiastic when the key-note of each individual, or class of individuals, is struck; and shall we be ashamed of our enthusiasm for this little bit of heavenly blue, which symbolises the great fact that those who wear it are racing with the demon Drink to save men and women, (ourselves included, perhaps), from his clutches; racing with Despair to place Hope before the eyes of those who are blindly rushing to destruction; racing with Time to snatch the young out of the way of the Destroyer before he lays hand on them; and singingâay, shoutingâsongs of triumph and glory to God because of the tens of thousands of souls and bodies already saved; because of the bright prospect of the tens of thousands more to follow; because of the innumerable voices added to the celestial choir, and the glad assurance that the hymns of praise thus begun shall not die out with our feeble frames, but will grow stronger in sweetness as they diminish in volume, until,
Comments (0)