the evils that had never before appeared to him as sin were painted with
the blackest dyes. He had not meant to be wicked, but he suddenly
realized that his life had been wasted; and he concluded that he was not
ready to meet Christ. But John believed that Christ would come to the
earth, and he felt that he would give anything to be ready to meet Him.

As John, whenever he was perplexed or troubled, had been in the habit
of doing, he reached down into his pocket and drew out a large plug of
tobacco and began biting off a piece to chew. But what was the matter?
The tobacco did not taste as it had in the past and it appealed to him
so differently. It was now actually disgusting and repulsive to him; and
he thought: "What a filthy habit! And to think of the time and money
that it has cost me! Why have I been so foolish?"

The next instant he resolved that he would never again taste the horrid
stuff. And very soon a few scenes of things that happened when he was
under the influence of whisky came to his mind, and he shuddered. Never
again would he touch that stuff, he determined. In fact, the greater
part of the night John spent in reviewing his life; and he found that
the larger portion of the things he had been doing were things he would
not want to be found doing at the Savior's coming.

The following day John could hardly wait until the time came when he
could again return to the little brown school house to hear more of the
beautiful story that had so charmed him. And night after night found
John in one of the seats in the rear of the building. It was not long
until he discovered the pathway to heaven; he saw it bathed with
heaven's sunshine and could see that it was for him to walk upon.
But the next thing was for him to make the start.