All He Knew | Page 5

sat under the
church window during a revival meeting.
"If He don't, we'll do without," said Sam, "but I guess we won't suffer
while I can work."
"Dad converted!" muttered Tom. "Dad converted! d'ye hear that?" said
he, hitting his brother to attract attention. "I must go down to the hotel
an' tell Jane; she'll steal me a glass of beer for it. Converted! I'll be
ashamed to look the boys in the face."
CHAPTER III.
The Kimper family thinned out, numerically, as soon as the frugal
evening meal was despatched. Tom and Billy disappeared separately
without remark; Mary put on a small felt hat which added a rakish air

to her precocious face, and said she was going to the hotel to see if
sister Jane had any news. Half an hour later, the cook, all the
chamber-maids, waiters, bar-keepers, and stable-boys at the hostelry
were laughing and jeering, in which they were led by Jane, as Mary
told of her father's announcement that he had been converted and
would have no more stealing done in the interest of the family larder.
The fun became so fast and furious that it was obliged to end in sheer
exhaustion; so when Tom came in an hour later, he was unable to
revive it sufficiently to secure the stolen glass of beer which he had
coveted.
Sam Kimper did not seem to notice the disappearance of the more
active portion of the family. Taking the baby in his arms, he sat with
closed eyes while his wife cleared the table. Finally he said,--
"Nan, ain't you got nothin' else to do?"
"Nothin', that I know of," said the wife.
"Come an' set down alongside o' me, then, an' let me tell you about
somethin' that come about while I was in the penitentiary. Nan, a man
that used to come there Sundays found me a-cryin' in my cell one
Sunday; I couldn't help it, I felt so forlorn an' kind o' gone like. I'd felt
that way lots o' times before, when I was out an' around, but then I
could get over it by takin' a drink. There's always ways of gettin' a
drink,--sweepin' out a saloon, or cuttin' wood agin' winter, when the
saloon'll need it. But there wasn't no chance to get a drink in jail, an' I
was feelin' as if the under-pinnin' of me was gone.
"Well, the man said he knowed a friend that would stand by me an'
cheer me up. His name was Jesus. I told him I'd heerd of Him before,
'cause I'd been to revival meetin's an' been preached to lots by one man
an' another. He said that wasn't exactly the way he wanted me to think
about Him,--said Jesus used to be alive and go around bein' sorry for
folks that was in trouble, an' He once comforted a thief that was bein'
killed in a most uncomfortable way, though Jesus was havin' a hard
time of it Himself about that time.

"That hit me where I lived, for I--well, you know what I was sent up for.
He said Jesus was God, but he came here to show men how to live, an'
he wanted me to think about Him only as a man, while I was in trouble.
He said the worse off a man was, the more sorry Jesus was for him: so I
said,--
"'I wish He was here now, then.'
"'He is here, my friend,' said the man. 'He's here, though you can't see
Him. He ain't got nothin' to make out of you: neither have I: so you
needn't be afraid to take my word for it. I'll tell you some of the things
he said.' Then he read me a lot of things that did make me feel lots
better. Why, Nan, that man Jesus was so sorry for men in jail that He
went back on some high-toned folks that didn't visit 'em: just think of
that!
"After a while the man said, 'You seem to be feelin' better.'
"'So I am,' said I.
"'Then believe in him,' says he, 'an' you'll feel better always.'
"'I've been told that before,' says I, 'but I don't know how.'
"The man looked kind o' puzzled like, an' at last says he,--
"'What's yer politics?'
"'I'm a Jackson Democrat,' says I.
"'All right,' says he, 'but Andrew Jackson's dead, ain't he?'
"'So I've heerd,' said I.
"'But you still believe in him?' says he.
"'Of course,' said I.
"'Well,' says he, 'just believe in Jesus like you do in Andrew Jackson,

and you'll be all right in the course of time. Believe that what He said
was true, an' get your mind full of what He said, an' keep it full,
remindin' yourself over an' over again