p. 10 | THE PRAYING ENGINEER

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 24, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 37.

THE PRAYING ENGINEER.

ONE winter, several years ago, there was a great deal of religious interest in a certain American town, and among those who joined the church was Allie Forsythe, a little fellow twelve years of age. His mother was a widow, and had removed four years before from their home in Vermont to this town in Wisconsin.

On the evening of the Sabbath when he joined the church, Allie was sitting in the twilight with his mother, and presently she said: "Allie, tell me what led you to want to be a Christian? Was it your home teachings, your lessons in Sabbath school, the regular preaching of the pastor, or has it all come through the influence of the revival meetings?"

Looking up into his mother's face, he replied: "Mamma, it was none of these. But do you remember when we were coming from St. Albans to live here, that I wanted to go on the engine and ride with the engineer? You were afraid to let me till the conductor, whom you knew well, told you that the engineer was a remarkable man, and that I was just as safe on the engine with him as in the parlor car with you."

His mother assured him that she remembered the circumstances very well.

"Then," continued Allie, "you allowed me to ride on the engine, where I was to stay until you or the conductor came after me. When about ready to start from the station where I first got on the engine, the engineer knelt down for just a little bit, and then got up and started his locomotive.

"I asked him many questions about its different parts and about the places which we passed by, and he was very patient in answering. Soon we stopped at another station, and he knelt down again, just a moment before we started. As he did this often, I tried to see what he was doing; finally, after we had passed a good many stations, I made up my mind to ask him. He looked at me very earnestly, and said, 'My little lad, do you pray?'

"I replied, 'Oh, yes, sir! I pray every morning and evening.'

"Well, my dear boy,' said he, 'God has allowed me to hold a very responsible place here. There are, perhaps, two hundred lives now on the train, intrusted to my care. A little mistake on my part, a little inattention to signals, might send all or many of these souls into eternity. So at every station I kneel just a short while, and ask the Master to help me, and to keep from all harm, until I reach the next station, the lives he has put in my hands. All the years I have been on this engine he has helped me, and not a single human being, of the thousands that have ridden on my train, has been harmed. I have never had an accident.'

"I have never before mentioned what he said, but almost daily I have thought about him, and resolved that I would be a Christian too."

For four years the life and words of this praying engineer had been constantly present with this lad, and became at length the means of leading him into a Christian life.—Congregationalist.