The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1904, Page 14

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14

The Lutheran Pioneer.

A Worker’s Prayer.

Lord, speak to me, that I may speak
In living echoes of Thy tone;

As Thou hast sought, so let me seek
Thy erring children, lost and lone.

O lead me, Lord, that I may lead

The wandering and the wavering feet;
O feed me, Lord, that I may feed

Thy hungering ones with manna sweet.

O strengthen me, that while I stand
Firm on the Rock, and strong in Thee,
I may stretch out a loving hand
To wrestlers with the troubled sea.

O teach me, Lord, that I may teach
The precious things Thou dost impart;

And wing my words, that they may reach
The hidden depths of many a heart.

O give Thine own sweet rest to me,
That I may speak with soothing power
A word in season, as from Thee,
To weary ones in needful hour.

O fill me with Thy fullness, Lord,
Until my very heart o’erflow
In kindling thought and glowing word,
Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show.
F. R. Havergal.
_——>oo——_____—__

The Bible in the Dugout.

A Texas ranger had ridden hard all day on the
track of cattle thieves. At sunset, weary with
his ride, he turned his horse toward some curling
smoke, the only sign of life in that wide expanse.
‘*Hello!’? he shouted, riding presently up to the
door of an uninviting dugout. ‘‘Hello yourself!’’
came back a gruff voice.

‘“Where can I get a lodging for the night?”
asked the stranger. :

‘‘Forty miles ahead of ye,’’ was the. curt reply.

Tired, hungry, and not well pleased at the
prospect of a forty-mile ride across the prairie,
the ranger tightened his rein and turned his horse
away from the dugout.
lowed him.

‘Take your critter down thar in the hollow and
tether him, and come in here,”? it said.

The ranger did as he was told, and returned to
the dugout. It was a sort of armed neutrality that
prevailed there. He himself was well equipped

with revolvers. Two long bowie knives dangled
from the belt of his host, and a gun stood ready to
his hand. They eyed each other with mutual dis-
trust. -

But the gruff voice fol-:

“What are you after ’way out here in this part
o’ the prairie?’’ questioned the host.

It occurred to the ranger that this might be one
of the very men he was in search of, and the gleam-
ing eye told that he was not a man to be trifled
with. So he parried the question, explaining that
he had some business among the cowboys, and to
give his companion more confidence he unstrapped
his revolver belt und laid it aside. Then another
rough-looking fellow, loaded with knives and re-
volvers, entered the dugout, and with the words,
“Son, this here stranger happened by just ’fore
night, and I gave him welcome,”’ was introduced
to the stranger.

Father and son proceeded to prepare supper,
all the time watching the stranger, who, in turn,
kept his hand on a knife hidden beneath his coat.
Supper over, the old man said, ‘‘Stranger, we go to
bed right after supper, and before we go we always
read out o’ this little book. The old woman died
and left us two years ago. She always read out
of it. We’ve been powerful broke ever since she
died, and we put her out yonder. When we read out
o’ her book it keeps us from losin’ heart about her.”’

He took a tiny Bible from a mustard-box, and
by the flickering firelight read a chapter from the
old book. Under its spell the men forgot their dis-
trust of each other.

The ranger felt that the influence of a God-fear-
ing woman reigned in the prairie dugout, and he
had no further fears for his life. He stretched him-
self out in trustful sleep, and without any anxiety
took the rest he needed. — Sel.

————_—~:.______

The Farmer and the Infidel.

There is a story of an old German farmer in
Pennsylvania who, meeting a young infidel that
was to speak at the schoolhouse in the evening,
said, ‘‘Is you de young man vhat is to shpeak dis
evening???

“Yes, sir; I am.”

‘Vell, vhat you shpeak about???

“‘My subject, sir, is this: Resolved, that I will
never believe anything that I do not understand.”

“Oh, my! is dot it? Vell, now you shoost take
von leetle example. There, you see dat field, my
pasture, over dere? Now, my horse, he eat de
grass, and it come up all hair over his back. Then
my sheep he eats de same grass, and it grows wool
allover him. And now vot you think? My goose
he eats de grass too, and sure’s I tell you, it come

all over him feathers. You understand dot, hey???
Herald.