The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1906, Page 6

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6 The Lutheran Pioneer.

/ “Only a Few Days More.’’

A merchant was hurrying one stormy New
Year’s morning through a strange city, thinking
of his heavy losses in the past year, when his atten-
tion was arrested by a hoarse voice: “Matches! fine
matches! two boxes for a fip!” He turned and
saw on the street corner, before a little stand, an
old colored man bracing himself against the wind.
His hair was as white as the snow falling at his feet,
but he had a good, pleasant face, and the stranger
stopped to buy matches. While passing over the
change, he kindly asked the old man whether the
cold did not prove too much for him. He replied
that he was quite used to it, having made his living
for many years by selling matches. He grew quite

talkative and spoke of his humble cabin in which .

_ he had lived seventeen years, always content. with
- the little he had.

The gentleman, who for many years had found
his own comfort in the Gospel of Christ, could not
pass on without expressing a hope that the poor
old man had something beyond this world to cheer
him. At this the old man’s face lighted up, and
he said that he had — that his trust was in Jesus,
the Savior of sinners, and that through God’s Word
he was sure of everlasting rest and happiness as
soon as his little toil here was ended. He smiled
as he added, in the same husky tone, “Only a few
days more, sir, only a few days more!”

As the merchant went on his way, a change
passed over him. His cares were gone. As a Chris-
tian he had wished to teach the poor old colored
man, but he had taken away more than he gave.
He had learned the lesson of contentment and of
sure hope, and this filled his heart with joy when
far away. He could see with a brighter eye the
peace and joy awaiting him in the eternal home,
and when sorrows came, he would think of that
poor old colored man and would say to himself,
“Only a few days more, only a few days more!”

Father Mitchell’s Opinion.

Under the leadership of Prof. Booker T. Wash-
ington a conference of colored men is held annually
at Tuskegee, Ala., the home of Mr. Washington’s
great Industrial College. At one of these con-
ferences an address was delivered by “Father” Mit-
chell, a gray-haired colored farmer, in the course
of which he gave utterance to the following inter-
esting remarks, as reported in The Colored Ameri-
can: —

“T tank God I is livin’ yet.... I is a hard-
workin’ man. I’se got sons and daughters. . . .
De nigger race can make de best people in de world.
Jest allow me to call you niggers, case you’se all
black. We can get land if any people can. We
knows how to work and make a happy home and
a good school. I has learned more in de last five
years ‘since dese conferences started, dan I ever
knowed before in all my sixty years... .

“De people don’t count as much on religion as
dey ought. Religion is a mighty nice thing if you
use it right. It takes a pious man to live religion.

De longer de world stands de wiser it grows.
Some of our people is gettin’ too wise. Many likes
to dance too much. De jail-house is full and we is
runnin’? excursions. We hollers and shouts too
much, and jumps like we was crazy. Our churches
is plumbfull of hypocrites. If a.man preaches de
pure Gospel, dey don’t want to hear it.... Dey
tinks more of a bad parson dan dey does ob a good
one. You let a man preach de true Gospel an’ he
won’t git many nickels in his pocket; but if he
hollers und jumps he gits all de nickels he can
hold, and chickens besides. . . .

“Now, Mr. President, I fotch you a hog yester-
day to help feed dis conference. I hoped to see
eight or nine in de pen, but mine is de only one.”

There is homespun truth in “Father Mitchell’s”
remarks. What he says about the world getting
wiser, must, of course, be spelled to read: Some few
people in the world are getting wiser, while the
great majority is growing more foolish, the longer
the world stands. But this aged colored father de-
serves to be heeded by his race.

There ought to be a million “Father Mitchells”
among the colored people of the South, for if there
were, many things would be better than they are.

: K. K.

A Christian Farmer.

I know of a Christian farmer that wanted to
sell a cow, but could not agree with the purchaser
on the price. The latter considered it too high and
swore that he could not pay so much. “If you can-
not give it, well and good,” said the farmer, “but
you should not take God’s name in vain on that
account!” The purchaser laughed, resumed his
haggling, but finally agreed to pay the price that
the owner had asked. “No,” said the latter now,
“you cannot have my cow; I do not want to be the
cause of your swearing falsely.” And to this he
adhered.—Hachange.