The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1910, Page 44

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44

The Lutheran Pioneer.

The Strange, Silent Man.

An American pastor spent a winter in a city of
Southern France for his health. He there met an
old man who came every day to the reading-room of
the city. His form was bent, his manner was timid,
and he never spoke to those around him. The pastor
took him for an Englishman as he often found him
reading the London Times. It was impossible not

went to the sick-room. ‘There he found — the
strange, silent man! They had lived under the
same roof, and had met only in the distant library.
The man recognized the pastor at once, and seemed
glad to have an American with him at this solemn
time. He was told that the doctor had no hope for
his recovery and that he probably had but few days
to live. Then came the question:

“Do you believe in the immortality of the soul?”

Colored Lutheran St. Paul’s School in New Orleans.

to notice the gray-haired man, with looks turned
away from others, and an expression of settled sad-
ness upon his face. As month after month passed
without bringing any change in-the man’s conduct,
the pastor despaired of ever knowing anything about
the strange, silent man.

One evening, however, the pastor received a note
from his friend, the Waldensian minister of the city,
asking him to call upon a countryman of his who
was dangerously sick in the same hotel where the
pastor was living. ‘The family had sent for the
Waldensian minister, and as he was too ill to go out,
he asked his friend to take his place. ‘The pastor

“I do most firmly,” was the answer.

“And what is your own hope for the future?”

“T hope to be happy forever in heaven.”

“Will you tell me the ground of your hope?”

“Yes, willingly,” replied the strange, silent man,
who turned out to be also a self-righteous man, as
he went on: “I have never done anything very bad.
in this world. My little faults, such as are common
to all men, I am sure God will overlook. In all
serious matters my account is clear. I depend upon
the exact awards of justice, and expect to receive
for the deeds done in the body a welcome to ever-
lasting life beyond the grave.”