listened with absorbed attention to all that had been said, and who
now seemed strangely agitated. In a moment he arose, and then he
spoke.

"I presume that no one here remembers a poor boy who nearly fifty
years ago left this place to seek his fortune. Fatherless, motherless,
with no claim upon any one here, I wandered away with a heavy heart to
earn my bread. Many a time have I been exhausted, discouraged, almost
hopeless; but my mother had taught me to pray--her dying gift to me
was her own Bible. It has gone round the world with me, and God has
never forsaken me. I have long been a rich man, and I have come once
more to these grand hills--my childhood's home--to testify my
gratitude to my Maker for all his goodness. I never intended to speak
as I am now doing; but after what I have heard and witnessed, I should
be most ungrateful if I did not give my testimony and belief in the
abounding love and mercy of God. O friends! take me back! Let me be
one with you in this most sweet and touching service, and when I leave
you, pray that I may never be ungrateful for the earthly blessings he
has heaped upon me, and for the far more priceless gift of his Son,
Jesus Christ."

Every one had listened to the stranger in deep silence. Every heart
had thrilled responsive to his words. It seemed as if the very breath
of Heaven had entered into the little church, cleansing and purifying
each soul present, and filling it with inexpressible devotion, when,
like a soft, trembling wave, the pure young voice came floating down
the aisles, and we heard the solemn acknowledgment,--

"A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify;