Scripture Verse

Introduction

Anecdote

A gen­tle­man tra­vel­ing in Chi­na found at Ma­cao a com­pa­ny of gam­blers in a back room on the up­per floor of a ho­tel. At the table near­est him was an Am­eri­can, about twen­ty years old, play­ing with an old man. While the gray-haired man was shuf­fling the cards, the young man, in a care­less way, sang a verse of One sweet­ly so­lemn thought, to a ve­ry pa­the­tic tune.

Several gam­blers looked up in sur­prise on hear­ing the sing­ing. The old man, who was deal­ing the cards, gazed stead­fast­ly at his part­ner in the game, and then threw the pack of cards un­der the ta­ble.

Where did you learn that song? he asked. The young man pre­tend­ed that he did not know what he been sing­ing. Well, no mat­ter, said the old man, I have played my last game, and that’s the end of it. The cards may lie there till dooms­day, and I’ll ne­ver pick them up.

Having won a hun­dred dol­lars from the young man, he took the mon­ey from his pock­et and, hand­ing it ov­er to the lat­ter, said, Here, Har­ry, is your mo­ney; take it and do good with it; I shall with mine.

The tra­vel­er fol­lowed them down­stairs, and at the door heard the old man still talk­ing about the song which the young man had sung.

Long af­ter­ward a gent­le­man in Bos­ton [Mas­sa­chu­setts] re­ceived a let­ter from the old man, in which he de­clared that he had be­come a hard work­ing Chris­tian and that his young friend al­so had re­nounced gam­bling and kin­dred vic­es.

Sankey, p. 211