IF I CAN ONLY HAVE SOMETHING TO EAT.
By T.
A FEW days since the superintendent of our Helping Hand Mission was showing me through its building. When we reached the basement, which former tenants had left in a none too tidy condition, a man followed us in from the street. He had the unmistakable evidence of intelligence in his face, and, while his clothing was much the worse for wear, yet it was plain that he did his best to keep neat and clean. He said to us, “Don’t you want some one to whitewash and clean up this basement?” And, observing some breaks in the walls, he added, “I can fix that up too, as I am a plasterer.” The superintendent told him that friends of the mission were volunteering their services, and that but very little help was being hired. Well, he says, “I’ll help too, if I can only have something to eat.” So he was set to work. In conversing with him and watching how willingly, earnestly, energetically, and intelligently he took up the work, one could not avoid the conviction that by only a little help such men might be lifted up and made very useful members of society. But the poor fellows get down, their clothes get badly soiled, and the cold world can see nothing in them but a “tramp” that every one should kick. Don’t spurn these poor souls; let us join in trying to help them. When a man is willing to work, he ought to have a chance to thus be helped to something to eat. True, many whom we thus seek to help will fail to be benefited by the work we do for them. But on a certain occasion the Master healed ten lepers and only one “returned to give God glory.” Yet our Lord did not cease His benevolent work. He kept right on, healing, helping, and cheering all who came. When just one man is saved, what a wonderful work it is! “What is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?” And while we are seeking so intently to gain this world’s goods, if we not only are lost ourselves, but fail to use our God-given powers to rescue others, what a redoubled calamity it is! T.