{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36732/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36732","id":"gutenberg_36732","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36732","summary":null,"tags":["Baptism -- Juvenile literature","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Children -- Death -- Juvenile literature","Christian life -- Juvenile literature","Church of the Brethren -- Biography -- Juvenile literature","Newcomer, Charlie Martin, 1880-1893 -- Juvenile literature","Siblings -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Larry B. Harrison, Archives and Special\nCollections, University Libraries, Ball State University\nand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttp://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n  _Jno. 3:16._          _Jno. 3:16._\n                 OUR\n      Missionary Reading Circle.\n\n  SHORT COURSE OF MISSIONARY\n  READING FOR COMMON PEOPLE\n  YOUNG AND OLD.\n\n    =_What is said of it by many_=:\n\n        \"_It will be very beneficial_,\"\n\n        \"_I would heartily recommend it_,\"\n\n        \"_I am glad my children are taking it up_,\"\n\n        \"_I consider the books first class_,\"\n\n        \"_It's just what I've been looking for_,\"\n\n        \"_Can safely recommend the books to all_,\"\n\n        \"_I wish you God-speed_,\"\n\n        \"_The idea is a good one_.\"\n\n    For books, address the Librarian,\n\n    For plan and methods, address Secretary.\n\n  JAS. M. NEFF, Lib.,      EDITH R. NEWCOMER, Sec.,\n  Covington, Ohio.         Waynesboro, Pa.\n\n\n\n\n  CHARLIE NEWCOMER\n\n  BY\n  WILBUR B. STOVER\n\n  JAS. M. NEFF, PUBLISHER\n  LIBRARIAN OF OUR MISSIONARY READING CIRCLE\n  COVINGTON, OHIO\n  1894\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nI knew Charlie Newcomer, and I loved him. To me he seemed to have a\nbright future. And that other children may be led to take his good\nexample in uniting with the church while they are yet children, I take\npleasure in telling the story of his life. I have told that story\noften from the pulpit, in children's meetings, and I tell it now, in\nthis way that a larger congregation may be reached.\n\nIn the home of Charlie and Bessie's parents at Ringgold, I wrote every\nword of this sketch. It is with considerable hesitancy, too, that the\nparents allow the facts to be told, since it enters right into their\nhome life, and since some might misjudge their intention concerning\ntheir children.\n\nMay his heart's desire now be realized--to be a missionary.\n\n  W. B. S.\n\n  _Edgemont, Md., Feb. 2, 1894._\n\n\n\n\nCHARLIE NEWCOMER\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nAT THE RINGGOLD SCHOOL.\n\n\n\"Hurry up Charlie, for as soon as we get our dinner over, we want to\nplay base-ball, and you're on our side, you know,\" called one of the\nscholars of the Ringgold school to Charlie Newcomer, as he was going\nhome at noon for his dinner. Charlie's home was only a few rods from\nthe school house, and on the same side of the road.\n\n\"All right, boys, I will,\" he answered in return, and in a minute more\nhe was home.\n\nDinner was not ready when he reached home, for his mamma had been\nputting out her washing that forenoon. So he brought the water and\nthen went to the cellar for the bread and butter while his mamma made\nthe gravy, and dinner was soon on the table. While they were eating,\nCharlie said, \"Do you think, mamma, I can get up head this afternoon?\nI've studied my lessons very well.\"\n\n\"I don't know, indeed,\" said his mamma, \"you cannot unless some one\nabove you should make a mistake, and the other scholars are as anxious\nto stand well as you are.\"\n\n\"They're awful hard lessons, and surely some one will miss, and I'm\njust waiting for a chance like that. You know I hate to be foot,\" he\ncontinued, \"and if I hadn't 'a' missed that day three weeks ago, I\nwould have been head now.\"\n\nHe had finished his dinner before his mother and little sister, and\nwas off to school while they were yet at the table.\n\nThe boys in the play ground had changed their minds about playing\nbase-ball, from the fact that some wanted to begin playing right away,\nwhile others wanted to wait for the return of those who had gone home\nfor dinner. Some wanted to choose new sides, and others wanted to\nremain as they had been the day before; and yet others, as they said,\n\"didn't want to play anyhow,\" and in the midst of so many voices, they\nall went to playing \"Drop the handkerchief,\" girls and boys together.\nCharlie was especially fond of playing \"Drop the handkerchief,\" and\nwhen he saw it was that game instead of ball, it did not take long\nuntil he was at it with all his might. Adding his kerchief to those\nalready afloat, he ran around the large circle never faster.\n\nGrown up people sometimes wonder how it is that children are willing\nto play until they are all in a perspiration, but children just as\nwell wonder at grown up people for working with the same result.\n\nThe ringing of the school bell brought the game to a close. Nearly all\nof the scholars went at once into the house, while a few lingered on\nthe porch to get a drink of water and cool off a little before going\nin.\n\nHow quiet it seems just after all the boys and girls are called from\nthe play-ground to their books.\n\nThe school building at Ringgold is at one end of the town, and the\ntown is a little, long one, right on the top of a large, long hill. On\neither side you can see the mountains, and from Ringgold to the\nmountain eastward, even away up on the side of the mountain, are\nthousands and thousands of peach trees.\n\n[Illustration: THE RINGGOLD SCHOOLHOUSE.]\n\nWithin the school house is work. Class after class is called up to\nrecite, and in some of them not many changes are made as to the standing\nof the pupils. In most of the classes the method of trapping is used.\nWhenever any one mis-spells a word or makes a mistake on a problem, the\nnext one below him has a chance at it; if he misses, the next has a\nchance, and so on until the one is found who can make right the error,\nthen that one traps and goes up above all who have missed.\n\nEver since Charlie had been absent that one day, he had been working\nespecially hard to win his accustomed place at the head of his\nclasses, for whoever missed a day had to \"go foot.\"\n\nThat afternoon because the lessons were rather difficult, he hoped to\nget near to his old place, if not to reach it altogether. When the\nfirst class was called, his heart beat just a little faster than while\nhe was preparing his lesson. As he arose from his seat to go, he\nbreathed a little prayer to God, that he might remember well what he\nhad just been learning.\n\nSeveral problems were missed and as many times somebody trapped up. But\nnot every problem that others had mistaken reached Charlie. One time he\nthought he would now trap three, when he himself missed, and another got\nit. In trapping, however, the close of the recitation found him \"third\"\nbut not \"first.\" And so the class was dismissed for that day.\n\nThe last in the afternoon was the spelling class. The teacher\nfrequently began to pronounce the words on the lower part of the page\nfirst. \"Tournament\" was the first word to-day. The next was\n\"constitute.\" \"Coadjutor\" was Charlie's first word to spell.\n\"Inaugurate\" was mis-spelled near the foot of the class. \"Sumac\" was\nmissed, and the scholars below were eager. \"Ducat\" enabled the one\nabove Charlie to trap two. \"Joust\" was spelled correctly. \"Oolite\" and\n\"vocable\" were missed several times. The lesson was almost closed.\n\n\"Compass,\" said the teacher.\n\n\"Fortnight.\"\n\n\"Revolt.\" That was Charlie's.\n\n\"Caoutchouc.\"\n\n\"C-a-o-u-t-c-h--c-h--can't spell it,\" said the little man next below\nCharlie.\n\n\"Next,\" said the teacher.\n\n\"C-a-o-u-t-c-h-o-u-c-e.\"\n\n\"Next.\"\n\n\"C-o-o-c-h-o-o--o-o--.\"\n\n\"Next.\"\n\n\"C-h-o-o--\"\n\n\"Next,\" and Charlie began to wish he had been foot now, so he could\nget up more than one at a time.\n\n\"K-a-u-o-t-c-h.\"\n\n\"Next,\" and all eyes began to look toward the head of the class, for\nthe unfortunate word was sure to go there.\n\n\"Caoutchouc,\" again pronounced the teacher, clearly. The bright little\ngirl at the head of the class was a good speller, but hearing so many\nefforts, she became confused with the word, and although spelling\nslowly at it, she missed it.\n\n\"Next.\"\n\n\"Caoutchouc, is it, teacher?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir.\"\n\n\"C-o-u-t-c-h-o-u-c.\"\n\n\"Next.\"\n\n\"C-o-u-t-c-h-a-o-u-c.\"\n\n\"Next,\" and every kind of a way was given to spell that word. It\npassed on down the class to Charlie. He was waiting, not a little\nanxiously for it.\n\n\"C-a-o-u-t-c-h-o-u-c caoutchouc,\" and he marched up head with a smile\nthat showed gladness for himself, and love for those in the class at\nthe head of which he now stood.\n\nSome words more and the lesson was recited.\n\n\"Charlie,\" said Earl Rinehart after the bell rang, and they were\npassing out of the door, \"I was glad you got that word right.\"\n\n\"Why so, Earl?\"\n\n\"Because I'd rather have you head than any one else, even if I do have\nto be second or third.\"\n\nAnd having crossed over the stile, five of them joined in a row and\nran a footrace down the little hill, past Bell's and Newcomer's, on\ndown the road,--save one, who turned off to the right quickly and\nhurried into the house to tell his mamma of his good fortune in the\nspelling class.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nA SUNDAY AT WELTY'S CHURCH.\n\n\nThe sun was shining brightly on Sunday morning, and all was still and\nquiet in Ringgold and the country round about. Charlie had buttoned\nhis sister Bessie's shoes, and they both were now sitting on the back\nporch of their home, talking.\n\nTheir papa was in the front room reviewing his Sunday school lesson,\nand their mamma was re-arranging some things in the kitchen. It was\nnot time to go yet, but the carriage was standing at the gate and the\nhorse was in the stable, harnessed.\n\n\"Bessie,\" said Charlie, \"don't you wish you were going to be baptized\nto-day!\"\n\n\"Why, Charlie, you know I'm too little,\" said Bessie.\n\n\"How old do you think you ought to be first, anyhow!\"\n\n\"Oh, I don't know.\"\n\n\"I was just thinking about how nice everything is this morning, and I\nwonder how it was in the garden of Eden.\"\n\n\"Children, are you ready for Sunday school? Papa is hitching up.\"\n\n\"All right, mamma, we're coming,\" they answered, and were off together\nvery soon.\n\nOn the way to church, no one had much to say. Charlie was sitting on\nthe front seat with his papa, and he was the driver too, while Bessie\nand mamma sat on the second seat.\n\nThe church is down in the valley between the long Ringgold hill and\nthe mountain to the east, and by the time they reached it, several\nother carriages were already there. The superintendent of the Sunday\nschool had just gotten there a short time before, and all who were\nthere were gathering in to spend a little while in singing before time\nfor Sunday school to begin. The first hymn they sang that morning was\n\n    \"Jesus, when he left the sky,\n    And for sinners came to die,\n    In his mercy passed not by\n      Little ones like me.\"\n\nand all the other verses.\n\nAfter they sang them they all kneeled down and the superintendent led\nin an earnest prayer. Then they read the lesson, verse about, and the\nteachers began work with their classes.\n\nGrown-up people sometimes think the Sunday school is just for the\nchildren, and even here at Welty's there were some who seemed to think\nthat way, and the Sunday school consisted mostly of children.\n\n[Illustration: WELTY'S MEETING-HOUSE.]\n\nCharlie's teacher took his class to the one end of the church, into\nan adjoining room, where they could learn so much better, not being\nannoyed at all by the talking of the other classes. Here in this\nlittle room, teacher and class regularly study the Word of God for a\nhalf hour every Sunday.\n\nA half hour seems but a short time, and indeed it is, but that is only\nthe recitation period, and that is long enough for such as have\nstudied the lesson well. It takes a good while to tell what we don't\nknow, but not very long to tell what we do know.\n\nSunday school was over and five minutes later church services began.\nNearly all the scholars remained for church. Several ministers were\nthere, and the one who preached talked about the love of God for\neverybody. He said God loved boys and girls as well as men and women.\nHe loved bad people and good people. He even loved heathen people, and\nHe wants every one everywhere to love Him in return. He said God\nwants all of us to serve Him, and if we do not serve Him, we can not\nlove Him. He said, too, that the more we serve Him, the happier we\nare, and the less we do for Him, the more unhappy we are.\n\nHe talked about prayer, too. He said some Christians pray and some\nChristians do not, and how that the best Christians always pray the\nmost.\n\nThe preacher was an old man whose beard was already gray with the\nlabors of many years, and everybody said it was a good sermon.\n\nAfter the meeting there was no haste to go home. Every one seemed\ndesirous of staying there and shaking hands and talking a while. The\nsuperintendent nearly always tried to get several to accompany him\nhome, so that they might spend the afternoon together. All the members\nof that church did in the same way. The children were out on the\ngrass talking with each other and waiting until parents and friends\nwere ready to start for home.\n\nCharlie was among the last to leave, and as he and his papa walked out\nto the carriage, where mamma and Bessie were waiting for them, he\nsaid, \"I don't know why I like church so well, papa, I just wish it\nwould last all day.\"\n\nHis papa said, \"Before you could walk we always took you with us to\npreaching.\" \"I'm glad you did,\" answered Charlie, as he ran to untie\nthe horse before his papa was quite there.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTRYING TO FIND SOMETHING.\n\n\nOne day a little fellow was seen walking back and forth on the road\nfrom the store to his home, looking serious, and with eyes close upon\nthe ground. A wagon going by, the man called out, \"Charlie, what are\nyou doing?\"\n\n\"Oh, I lost something, and I'm just trying to find it.\"\n\nAnd he kept hunting a long while between his home and the store to\nfind whatever it was he had lost. His mamma had sent him to the store\nto get some groceries for her. He received the change into his hand, a\nnickel, and coming home he lost it. His mamma thought he could not\nfind it, but he continued seeking until he did.\n\n\"Mamma, I found it,\" he came in saying, \"I knew I could. You thought I\ncouldn't, now you might give it to me.\" His mamma laughed and then\nasked him to bring in some water. After he had set the bucket of water\non the table he said, \"What do you think I was thinking about when I\nwas hunting for that five cents?\"\n\n\"I can't tell, son.\"\n\n\"Well, mamma,\" he said, \"I would like to be a Christian, can't I? I\nwould like to be baptized soon.\"\n\nHis mamma always prayed that her children might grow in grace as they\ngrow in years, but this was unexpected. She answered: \"I am glad you\nthink about that, Charlie, but you are too young now.\"\n\n\"How old must one be first?\"\n\n\"Well, that varies a good deal, I know.\"\n\n\"I'm _nine_ years old.\"\n\n\"Yes, I know.\"\n\n\"Ain't nine old enough?\"\n\n\"But you must think about it more, Charlie.\"\n\n\"More! I've been thinking about it a long time a'ready.\"\n\n\"Well I'll talk to papa about it, and we'll see what he says. You know\nwe want you always to do right,\" said his mamma, and he got his\nmagnet, and put pins together and magnetized a needle, and made it\nswim, and point north and south.\n\nThat night after both children were asleep, their parents talked a\ngood deal about what Charlie had said.\n\n\"Charlie wants to unite with the church.\"\n\n\"He does? When did he say so?\"\n\n\"Just to-day, and he is in deep earnest about it, too. I don't know\nwhat to think, hardly.\"\n\n\"I hardly think he realizes fully, what he wants to do.\"\n\n\"Poor little fellow, what do you think I had better tell him?\"\n\n\"I don't know. Suppose he should come and then not hold out. You see\nthat would be bad.\"\n\n\"Yes, and then, papa, what wrong has he done?\"\n\n\"That's so.\"\n\n\"But you remember four years ago when a certain lady was here on a\nvisit, how she happened to express her unbelief in God. No one thought\nthe children heard a word of it. Charlie was gone in a moment, we\nthought to play, when he brought in the Bible and laid it on her lap\nand said, 'Read that, it will tell you what to do.' I always did think\nCharlie would be a Christian very early in life.\"\n\n\"Yes, I am glad for it, too,--but I guess we'd better wait a while\nanyhow, and see if he really wants to come,\" said his papa, and the\nmatter was dropped, and other things were talked about.\n\nSeveral days passed by till the subject was brought up again. Then\nCharlie said:\n\n\"Nine years; old enough to go to school, old enough to do work, old\nenough to do good or bad, and not old enough to be baptized. Mamma, I\ndo wish I could.\"\n\n\"Charlie, you never did anything bad.\"\n\n\"Must I do something bad before I can join the church?\"\n\n\"No, no, but you're so young, you don't need to yet.\"\n\n\"Well, I can't see--\" he said, and then, with tears in his eyes, he\ntook Bessie by the hand, and went down across the lot to the old apple\ntree, where they had a swing and spent often many happy hours.\n\nIn a day or two after that, Charlie mentioned at the table, his desire\nto be a child of God. \"I am sure I would hold out,\" he said, \"and if I\ncouldn't I'd be just where I am now. But I could, for Jesus helps,\ndon't He?\"\n\nThen nothing more was said for several months about his becoming a\nchild of God. It seemed as if he had forgotten his desire to find\nsomething of heaven so young.\n\nThe summer was over. All the peaches on the side of the mountain and in\nthe valley had been gathered. The leaves of the trees were yellow and\ngolden, and many had already found their resting place upon the ground.\nCharlie and Bessie had both been going to school for six weeks already.\nIt was Saturday. There was to be preaching at Welty's that day, and a\nlove-feast in the evening. Charlie had been thinking about the\nthirteenth chapter of John and the fifteenth, and when all were about\nready to go to the meeting he said, \"Now, if you had let me join the\nchurch last summer, when I wanted to, I could have enjoyed this meeting.\"\n\n\"Why, my dear boy,\" said his mamma, \"you can enjoy it anyhow, can't you?\"\n\n\"No,\" said he, \"not as I'd like to.\"\n\nAnd they all four got into the carriage and started off to the\nmeeting, not saying very much.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nQUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.\n\n\nServices continued longer one Sunday than usual, and after the meeting\nwas over quite a number of those who had come a distance, upon\ninvitation, decided to stop with others who were not so far from home.\nTwo carriages drove over to the big spring. The Newcomers went with\nthe Sunday school superintendent, and others went elsewhere.\n\nThis manner of visiting after the meeting on Sunday, is sometimes a\ngood thing and sometimes it is not. It is good if the occasion is used\nfor the spiritual benefit of those concerned. Sunday is the Lord's day.\n\nIn the afternoon, at the superintendent's house, the conversation\ndrifted about on the various phases of religious life, church work,\nBible study, educational work, the conversion of children, missionary\nwork, books, papers, and present day life.\n\nThe little folks were out somewhere, engaging themselves as they saw\nproper. Sometimes they came into the room and remained a short time,\nthen out they would go all together.\n\nCharlie remained, however. There may have been _two_ boys who\npreferred to stay in the house.\n\nToward evening Charlie came to one of those who had been talking with\nthe rest, and leaning over on his knee, he wanted to ask some\nquestions. He had been hearing and not saying anything, and now he\nwanted some things explained.\n\n\"Tell me,\" he said, \"how old is old enough to join the church.\"\n\n\"That varies, Charlie, according to the intelligence and teaching of\nthe child. Some are more fit when they are ten years, than others at\ntwenty.\"\n\n\"Well, but, am I old enough?\"\n\n\"I think so, don't you?\"\n\n\"Yes, I do, but another thing. Does an education make a person good?\"\n\n\"No, it will make you better if you are good, but if a bad man gets\neducation, that doesn't make him good.\"\n\n\"Then is it any use to study so hard to get a good education?\"\n\n\"Why certainly.\"\n\n\"Tell me.\"\n\n\"Education, Charlie, is just development. You know what development\nmeans?\"\n\n\"Yes sir.\"\n\n\"Well, development gives strength.\"\n\n\"You have noticed that large tree out in the orchard. It was only a\nchestnut once, but now it is developed. That tree is only an educated\nchestnut. Which is stronger,--the chestnut tree or the little\nchestnut?\"\n\n\"The tree, of course,\" said he, \"but I heard some one say, I think it\nwas just last Sunday, that education spoils some people.\"\n\n\"The right kind of an education will never spoil any one.\"\n\n\"I'm going to get a good education. Papa and mamma said they'd help\nme, but I want to earn the money myself, and then go a long time.\"\n\n\"And then you'll be a missionary won't you?\"\n\n\"Could I?\"\n\n\"You can if you choose.\"\n\n\"What must I do?\"\n\n\"You must be a good Christian at home, and do all you can for Jesus\nnow. Whoever is not good at home is the same away from home. Do things\nso people will all love you. If your associates and acquaintances do\nnot love you, it is not likely the heathen will, and love is a great\ndeal of the missionary's preparation. And give. If you have not much,\ngive a little, and if you have more, give proportionately. But it is\nnot all in giving. There is more even in living for the Lord, and just\nletting one's self be all His.\"\n\nCharlie seemed to be thinking of something else then, and he spoke out\nin earnest:\n\n\"Doesn't the Bible say we ought to send missionaries everywhere in the\nworld?\"\n\n\"It says we must '_Go_', yes.\"\n\n\"Were there heathen fifty years ago?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Well, then why didn't we send lots of missionaries fifty years ago? I\nwish I could go.\"\n\n\"Do you want to know, Charlie, how you can tell if you can be a\nmissionary when you are a man?\"\n\n\"Yes sir,\" said Charlie.\n\n\"Be a little missionary now. Be a Christian. Get new scholars to come\nto Sunday school. Live for other people all you can. One little person\nquit eating candy, and gave the money for the Lord, another bought a\ndozen eggs and raised chickens and sold them for the Lord. A little\nfarmer boy raised potatoes on a little corner of land his papa said he\ncould have, and then sold them for missionary money, and there are\nmany other ways.\"\n\n\"Oh, I know, I know what I'll do!\" said several at once. \"I'm so\nthirsty.\"\n\n\"So am I.\" \"No, wait.\" \"Come on.\"\n\n\"We can all do something, then, can't we? I'm dry too.\"\n\nAnd the one who was answering questions, together with for six little\npeople, who had gathered around him, went out under the grape arbor,\nand down by the row of evergreens to the spring, and they all drank\nheartily from the old tin cup.\n\nAn hour later all the visitors had their faces turned toward home, and\nthe children were thinking about being little missionaries at home.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nA CHILD OF GOD.\n\n\nA good many months had passed since Charlie lost the nickel between\nthe store and his home. He had often spoken about his desire to be a\nreal Christian. He was going to school every day, and had more than\nthe average of school-boy-liveliness.\n\nSeveral years had passed since he and one of the little Sunday school\ngirls swinging in the shade of the old apple tree, had each promised\nthe other to begin to be a Christian while they were young in years.\nThe little girl was first to fulfil her promise, and was now an active\nlittle member of the church, praising God by her daily life. He\nthought more of her for her decision, but he himself was not yet a\nmember of the church, and was already twelve years old.\n\nBrother Early had been preaching every night in Waynesboro for several\nweeks. A good many people, who lived not too far away from Waynesboro,\noften drove in to attend the meetings. Charlie was usually on hand, an\nattentive listener.\n\nOn the way home one Sunday night Charlie broke the monotonous rumble of\nthe carriage by asking, \"Mamma, do you think I'd be saved if I'd die?\"\n\nAnd his mamma answered, \"Well Charlie, indeed I don't know what to\ntell you,\" and no one said anything further for a moment, which seemed\never so long.\n\n\"What do you say about it, papa?\" continued Charlie in a very earnest,\npleading tone of voice.\n\n\"You have asked a pretty hard question,\" said his papa. \"Just at this\ntime of your life we cannot know. God is just, and may be you'd be\nsaved--may be not.\" After several minutes, which seemed almost like\nhours, as the carriage moved slowly up the hill, his mamma, ever\nanxious about her boy, as all mammas are, said, \"Why do you ask such\nquestions, Charlie?\"\n\n\"Well, mamma,\" he answered, \"I can't stand it any longer. My heart\npretty near breaks when we are at meeting. I do wish I could join the\nchurch.\"\n\nNow, his parents had talked the matter all over by themselves, and they\nhad decided to allow Charlie to come at this time, if he really wanted\nto, and they would also encourage their son. When he had thus spoken,\nthey told him the words that his boyish heart had been aching to hear\nfor already so long a time, that he should \"come now,\" if he wished.\n\nThe next evening Charlie lost no time in publicly coming out on the\nLord's side.\n\n\"Brother Oller,\" said he, \"I'm coming. It's decided. I want to be\nbaptized and live a Christian.\"\n\nThe aged elder stooped to the eager boy before him, and tenderly\nanswered, \"Well, Charlie, the Lord bless you. The lambs are always\nwelcome in the flock. I hope you will be able to be a valiant soldier\nfor Christ. The Lord bless you, my dear boy.\"\n\nOn the way home that night, Charlie's heart was glad within him. How\ndifferent it was from the night before. He was soon to be a soldier\nfor Jesus. It did not seem to take long at all to go home, and the\nhills did not seem so steep, and the night did not seem so dark. He\ncould now see the bright side of life, better than ever before.\n\nWhile his papa was out at the barn, putting away the horse and\ncarriage, Charlie was talking to his mamma in the house.\n\n\"I wish now we had family worship. Mamma, why don't we have family\nworship, anyhow?\"\n\n\"Well, I don't know, Charlie, just why we don't,\" said mamma.\n\n\"Well, mamma, papa ought to have it. Other members do, don't they?\"\n\n\"I guess papa feels a little timid about leading in prayer,\" said his\nmamma. \"That's all the reason I know.\"\n\n\"Well, I tell you, I'll do my part. I'll take my turn always, if we just\ncan have family worship every day. Won't you ask papa? I think he will.\"\n\nSunday was the day for baptism. Two of the brethren came on a visit to\nexamine those to be baptized, before the day for baptism, to learn if\nthey were ready for the holy ordinance, and if they were willing to\ntake the New Testament as the rule of faith and practice, and to walk\nin harmony with the church.\n\n[Illustration: THE STREAM BELOW THE BRIDGE.]\n\nCharlie's answers were clear and well-defined. The brethren had\nquite a pleasant visit with him, and they went away feeling that\nchildren were very fit subjects for the church, \"for of such is the\nkingdom of heaven.\"\n\nThere were thirteen baptized that day, and a large number of people\nwitnessed the scene. It seemed, as we read about it in the Bible, like\napostolic times, as one after another was led down into the stream of\nwater near the bridge, and was there buried in baptism.\n\nWhen Charlie arose from his knees, while they were yet in the water,\nthe minister, Brother Price, greeted him with a kiss.\n\nAfter the baptisms, all the people soon went away to their homes, but\nof all that number, thirteen went away feeling the joy of having\nentered into a blessed experience, which they had not known before.\n\nThat Sunday night the voice of prayer was heard in the home of the\nNewcomers. Family worship was a daily service there from that time on.\nEvery evening before going to bed the little family would sing a hymn,\nread a portion of Scripture, and then all kneel down together and\npray. And Charlie, true to his promise, and but a boy, yet a\n_Christian_ boy, would always take his turn, in reading, in leading in\nprayer, and in closing with the Lord's prayer.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nA SATURDAY AT HOME.\n\n\nAfter we are once six years old, the most of us have to spend more\ndays, as children, in the school than out of it; and whether Saturday\ndoes us very much good, I do not know. The lessons are nearly always\nnot as well prepared on Monday as on other days, for too much time to\nprepare is about as bad as too little. And then, too, we sometimes\nforget over Sunday, what we have studied for Monday; but, it is better\nnot to know the lessons on Monday, than to study them on Sunday.\nSunday is the Lord's day. The best way of all, however, is to study on\nFriday and Saturday nights, and then get up a little earlier on Monday\nmorning and review before school time.\n\nSaturday is an off day generally. Girls have a good deal of work to do\nabout the house and boys have a good deal to do about the barn, and\nsometimes they have to work pretty hard.\n\nCharlie had finished his chores as soon as he could that day and was\nin the house.\n\nBessie was very busy fixing her dollies' dresses, for she had five\ndollies, and they always were so hard on their clothes.\n\n\"Boys will be boys,\" grown up people often say, and Charlie oftentimes\nwould give vent to his boyish nature by just teasing whoever would be\nteased. He teased Bessie a good deal, and mamma too. He made Dash, his\ndog, stand in the corner.\n\nHe would hide in the evening when his papa came home, until he would\nhear what he would say upon missing him, then come out from behind the\nstove, behind the door, or under the table, laughing heartily.\n\nOn this particular Saturday, Charlie was through with his work, and\nwhile he was helping his mother a good deal in the house, he took to\nteasing her.\n\nPresently she said, \"Charlie, don't do that, for it is not right.\"\n\nHe said nothing to this correction, but went quietly out of the house.\n\nAfter a little while he came hurriedly in again saying: \"Mamma, you\nsaid I was doing wrong. I went out to the barn, and crawled up into\nthe hay mow, and I prayed to God to forgive me, for I don't want to do\nwrong. Will He forgive me, mamma, and will you?\"\n\n\"Certainly I will forgive you, Charlie, and God will too. Try not to\ndo it any more,\" answered his mother, as she was wondering if she had\nnot spoken too harshly to her boy.\n\nSome schoolmates came in then and they all went down to the swing\nunder the apple tree, where they had a good time together.\n\nAfter they all had a turn swinging, they played \"catcher\" around the\nhouse, and \"hide and seek,\" and other games as all children know. At\nabout five o'clock the little visitors all went home.\n\nSome men passed along the road talking very loud and swearing. One of\nthem had been drinking. Charlie and Bessie were looking at their mother\nas she was doing some evening's work when, in a very thoughtful mood,\nCharlie said: \"Mamma, don't you wish you'd 'a' never had any children?\"\n\n\"No, Charlie. Why?\" said she.\n\n\"Well, so many people are so bad,--swearing and getting drunk. Suppose\nI should turn out that way. Really, I wish I'd die while I'm little.\"\n\n\"So do I,\" said Bessie.\n\n\"Why children, children, you must not talk that way. What would your\npapa and I do?\" said their mother, almost choking on her words, for\nCharlie had said that a number of times before. \"Who made you?\" she\nasked.\n\n\"God\" they answered.\n\n\"Well then,\" continued their mamma, \"you ought to want to live as long\nas you can, so you could serve Him more. He wants us to do all the\ngood we can.\"\n\nBoth children went into the sitting room, and Charlie got his little\naccount book and figured up how much money he had on interest, and how\nmuch the interest was, and counted how much he had in his bank, and\nthen added it all up together. \"Bessie\" he said, \"when I get big I'm\ngoing to go to college and pay my own way. See if I don't.\" Then they\nplayed together till they got into a little difficulty, and both ran\nout to \"tell mamma\" all about it.\n\nThat night Bessie did not go to sleep as soon as usual. 'Twas the same\nthe night before. She seemed troubled. Her mamma thought she was\nsick. Presently Charlie suggested, \"Mamma, I'll bet I know what's the\nmatter with Bessie.\"\n\n\"Well, why don't you tell me, Charlie? I do want to know,\" said their\nmamma.\n\n\"Bessie wants to join the church,\" he replied, and his little sister\nbegan crying in earnest, and soon cried herself to sleep.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nCHARLIE'S LAST DAYS.\n\n    \"They who seek the throne of grace\n    Find that throne in every place;\n    If we live a life of prayer,\n    God is present everywhere.\"\n\n\nThat much dreaded disease, scarlet fever, was the unwelcome visitor to\nmany homes. Bessie was taken by it. While she was ill, Charlie was\nkept from school, lest other children should take it of him. Often he\nwould steal over to the school house during school hours, and peep in\nat the window, unobserved, to learn who stood first in his classes. He\noften watched the spelling class as they stood up in recitation, could\ntell each pupils' standing, but he himself dared not enter. Those\nwere long, long weeks for Charlie, that Bessie's illness continued.\nShe grew very, very sick. Sometimes it seemed her little life was\nsuspended on a silken thread,--a touch might cause it to snap, and she\nwould be gone forever.\n\nChildren converted are children still. Charlie was a boy, although a\nChristian. Often he came softly into the house, and when he would meet\nhis mamma out of the sick room, he would say, \"Don't you wish you had\nleft Bessie be baptized when she wanted to? Suppose she should die.\"\nAnd his poor mother, almost broken down with care for her little girl,\nwas made sick at heart by questions like that.\n\nOn the doctor's daily visit Charlie met him at the gate, and would tie\nhis horse for him, and then come with him into the house.\n\nBessie had lain ill already four weeks. On Tuesday morning the doctor\ntied his horse himself and came in alone. Charlie was sick. The doctor\nsaid to him, \"Well, Charlie, you've got it now. Does it scare you?\"\n\n\"No sir, it don't scare me,\" he said, \"but I hope I won't have to be\nsick as long as Bessie.\"\n\nBoth were soon hanging in the balances, Bessie in one room, Charlie in\nanother. Charlie wanted to be taken over into Bessie's room, that they\nboth might be sick together.\n\nDay and night the two little patients were closely watched. Charlie\nwas heard making a noise, and they listened to catch the voice. He was\nsuffering great pain but humming the tune in the hymnal, number\n118,--not saying the words, but just humming the tune. Often he would\nease his pain with this heaven medicine. Twice he was heard to speak\ndistinctly. Once he said \"Lord\" and again it was \"heaven.\" His lips\nwould move but no sound was heard. The sound was heard in heaven, I\nsuppose. Angels responded to the call of that little child of God. On\nFriday morning, even before the rays of morning light began to come,\nhis spirit was borne away to be with Jesus in the heavenly land.\n\nIn the morning Bessie's papa was sitting by her bedside, looking sadly\non the little form of his only child. \"Papa,\" she said \"why don't you\nhave the door open in Charlie's room? He'll be so lonely with the door\nshut.\" But he made no reply. \"Papa,\" she continued \"why do you stay\nhere with me? Take care of Charlie. I'm afraid he's going to die.\"\n\nLittle by little her papa told her then, all about it, and she bathed\nher fevered pillow with her tears.\n\nThe doctor came. He knew the fact without being told, and he sat down\nand wept.\n\nSunday, Charlie's little form was laid away to rest in the cemetery\nat Waynesboro. And at the same time when that sorrowful little company\nwere journeying thither, the little readers of the _Young Disciple_\nwere reading his letter all over the land. The letter is given below,\nbut we will add the date, not the date that it was written, but the\ndate it was read, the date of his burial.\n\nHis life is closed in this world, but the influence of it will go on\nforever. Three dates will tell the story of that life.\n\n        Birth, March 31, 1880.\n\n      Second Birth, Nov. 27, 1892.\n\n    Borne to glory, March 10, 1893.\n\n\nTHE LETTER.\n\n  Ringgold, Md.\n\n  March 12, 1893.\n\n    Our family consists of a dear kind papa and mama, sister Bessie\n    and myself. We all attend church and Sunday-school regularly. Our\n    Sunday school has closed for this season, but will open again in\n    the spring. Papa and mamma and myself are members of the Brethren\n    church. I am twelve years old. I am studying hard to get a good\n    education, and I hope to grow up to be a good man; and when Bro.\n    W. B. Stover goes to India, I feel as though I would like to go\n    out to him in his missionary work. I will close now by asking an\n    interest in the prayers of all the faithful.\n\n  Charlie Martin Newcomer.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nBESSIE.\n\n\nFour weeks after the close of the life of her little brother, Bessie\nwas able to be out of bed and around about the house once more. With\nthe return of her health grew her anxiety for the church. And in a\ncomparatively short time, Bessie was received into the church by\nbaptism. She was but a mere child, 'tis true, and that is what she is\nyet. But what is to be done with the children? Is the church not for\nthem? Did Christ not die for them? Does \"all the world\" exclude\nchildren? What does \"in\" signify, in \"bringing up children in the\nLord?\" What does \"come\" mean, when the Savior says \"Suffer the\nchildren to come unto me, and forbid them not\"? and what is the\nmeaning of those last three words?\n\nIn the Antietam church were a good many good Christians who looked\nrather doubtfully on the question of children in church. The little\ngirl spoken of in the beginning of chapter five was the first of the\nchildren in that congregation to join the church. Others followed, and\nwhen Charlie died _in the church_, all were so much rejoiced in his\ntriumphant faith, that the matter was practically no longer a question\nat all. Very many little Christians now bring blessing to the\ncongregation, and they are often the best in the family to which they\nmay belong.\n\nI questioned Bessie the other day to learn more of her present\nposition, now that she is in the church. I will give to all, the\nbenefit of her good answers.\n\n\"How old are you, Bessie?\"\n\n\"Ten years.\"\n\n\"Some people think ten years is too young to be a member of the church.\"\n\n\"I don't think so.\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"Because I think they can do right just as good as older people.\"\n\n\"When were you baptized?\"\n\n\"Last summer in July.\"\n\n\"How do you know that you love Jesus?\"\n\n\"Because,--well, I just know it.\"\n\n\"Suppose sometime you should sin, then what?\"\n\n\"I'd just pray to God to forgive me.\"\n\n\"Are you sure He'd forgive you?\"\n\n\"Yes sir. The Bible says so.\"\n\n\"How does it come you did not want to wait till you grew up, like many\nothers do?\"\n\n\"Because I might die and not be saved.\"\n\n\"Suppose at school some of the other scholars tease you, then what?\"\n\n\"I wouldn't say nothing.\"\n\n\"How long did you want to join the church before last summer?\"\n\n\"O, I often thought about it. I was under conviction a good while.\"\n\n\"What does it mean to be under conviction?\"\n\n\"Well,\"--and I saw that I had asked a harder question than I thought.\nAfter thinking a moment she said, \"I just feel like crying all the time.\"\n\n\"What about, Bessie?\"\n\n\"About things I done wrong.\"\n\n\"What things?\"\n\n\"O well, little things in school. I'd get angry sometimes, and do\nwrong things at home, and I was not very good, and-and--I wanted Jesus\nto forgive me.\"\n\n\"What did you want to be baptized for?\"\n\n\"For the remission of my sins.\"\n\n\"How did you learn to give that for the reason?\"\n\n\"I read it in the Bible.\"\n\n\"Are you sure, Bessie, you realize what you're doing?\"\n\n\"Yes sir.\"\n\n\"How often do you pray?\"\n\n\"Every evening and often in the day time.\"\n\n\"Do your parents have family worship?\"\n\n\"Yes sir.\"\n\n\"What part do _you_ take?\"\n\n\"We all read verse about, and then papa and mamma take turn about in\nleading in prayer, and I always close with the Lord's prayer.\"\n\n\"Didn't any body coax you to join the church?\"\n\n\"No sir. Charlie and I used to talk about it a good many times when we\nwere by ourselves. That was before either of us was converted.\"\n\n\"Now, then, are you happy, Bessie?\"\n\n\"Yes sir.\"\n\n\"What are you going to do when you grow up?\"\n\n\"Be a seamstress, I guess. I'd like to be a missionary if I could.\"\n\n\"Do you realize a change of heart?\"\n\n\"Yes sir.\"\n\n\"How does it seem?\"\n\n\"It seems nice.\"\n\n\"But, think well, and tell me several points wherein you are different\nnow from what you were before you became a Christian.\"\n\n\"I feel more happier, and--and--I love Jesus more, and--He loves me\nmore, and--and--I don't want to do any wrong things, and--\"\n\n\"What would you be willing to do for the Lord?\"\n\n\"Most anything.\"\n\n\"Suppose the church should ask you to do something you did not want to\ndo?\"\n\n\"I'd just do it.\"\n\n\"What part of the Bible do you like the best?\"\n\n\"The New Testament.\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"'Cause it tells more about Jesus.\"\n\nThen Bessie added that she likes that about green pastures, and at\nonce repeated the entire twenty-third psalm.\n\nChildren in the church is no late idea. Children, I mean, not babes\nnor infants. Polycarp, who afterward was bishop of Smyrna, and a\nmartyr, was converted in the year 80, when he was nine years old.\n\nJustin Martyr says many, in early days, became disciples in childhood\nand were uncorrupted all their lives.\n\nMatthew Henry, whose commentary is so highly regarded by all Bible\nstudents, was converted in his eleventh year.\n\nIsaac Watts, whose hymns abound in all hymn books, was converted in\nhis ninth year.\n\nBro. James Quinter was converted when he was 17 years old, and was\ncalled to the ministry at 22, and the present secretary of our General\nMission Board was converted at the age of 12. And I doubt not, many\namong our best workers were converted very early in life.\n\nYesterday I received a letter from a little child just entered upon\nher ninth year. She says:--\"Dear brother Stover, I can answer your\nletter and say I am on the Lord's side. How happy I am, how I would\nlike for you to have been here when I was baptized. I could hardly\nwait till the time came. I have got what I have been wishing for two\nyears, and that is to work for the Lord. I go to prayer meeting, and\nalways try to have a verse.\n\n  \"---- ----.\"\n\nChildren, too often, do not receive all the credit they deserve in\nsome directions. In a little book on the \"Conversion of children\" the\nfollowing incident is given. A father was reproving his son for not\ngiving attention to the sermon.\n\n\"Father, I heard all the minister said.\"\n\n\"I do not believe it. You were gazing all over the church during the\nservice.\"\n\n\"But, father, I heard all the minister said.\"\n\n\"I cannot believe it, for it seemed to me you hardly looked at the\npreacher; your eyes were oftener fixed upon the rafters than the pulpit.\"\n\n\"But, father, I did hear all he said, and I can tell it to you.\"\n\n\"Let me hear you try it.\"\n\nHe then began and astonished his father by giving the text, the heads\nof the sermon, and _much_ that was in it.\n\n\"I declare, you did hear the sermon after all.\"\n\n\"I told you I did, father, and now I can tell you exactly how many\nrafters there are in the roof, for I counted every one of them during\nthe sermon!\"\n\nThe Lord Jesus told Peter to feed His sheep, but before that He said,\n\n    \"FEED MY LAMBS.\"\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\n\n  * Spelling and punctuation errors have been corrected.\n\n  * Text enclosed between equal signs was in bold face in the\n  original (=bold=).\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Charlie Newcomer","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":7867}