A WHISTLING MINISTER

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 17, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 58.

A WHISTLING MINISTER.

A SUCCESSFUL pastor must possess the grace of human sympathy and brotherly love, as well as the gifts of oratory and eloquence. During a late conference in New York, the question of increasing church membership came under discussion, and the pastor of a prominent Presbyterian Church in a neighboring city was asked to give his opinion. With a humorous twinkle in his eyes, he related in reply the following episode of his own experience:—

While taking a morning stroll in the suburbs of Buffalo, he came across a bright-faced little boy of about five years, who returned his good-morning greeting by taking his hand and chatting with the innocent candor of trusting childhood. He narrated, among other matters, that he had almost lost his pet dog the day before, because when it had gone out of sight he did not know how to whistle it back.

"Not know how to whistle, my little man!" said the minister. "Why, how does that happen?"

"'Cause nobody hain't had the time to teach me," was the answer, given with quivering lips.

"Well, well; I shall take the time to teach you," and in a few minutes the little fellow was seated on his kind friend's knee, solemnly engaged in mastering the mysteries of the great art of whistling, both teacher and pupil too much engrossed to notice that they were the center of an admiring audience.

"I had intended to use strong moral persuasion," said the pastor in conclusion, "to bring the godless residents of that portion of the city under the influence of the church, but that simple act of kindness, through the grace of God, worked out a highly favorable result. I was dubbed the whistling parson, and under the protecting shelter of that sobriquet was allowed the freedom of many homes which would otherwise have been closed to me and to the message I was bound to deliver."—N. Y. Observer.