A lady living in one of our large cities was passing a saloon some time ago, just as the keeper of it turned a man into the street. He was quite young, and his face showed he had been drinking and was on the way to ruin. He was swearing most dreadfully, and shaking his clenched fist at the man who had thrust him out of the saloon. He was so blinded with passion that he did not see the lady who stood near him till she laid her hand on him, and asked in a gentle, loving voice,
"What is the matter?"
The young man started as if a heavy blow had struck him. He turned quickly around, paler than before, and trembling from head to foot. He looked at the lady for a moment, and then said,
"O, I thought it was my mother's voice; it sounded so strangely like it. But her voice has long been hushed in death."
"You had a mother then that loved you?" said the lady. He burst into tears as he said,
"O, yes, I had a kind mother, who loved her boy. But since she died everything has gone against me. I am lost, lost to everything that is good—lost forever."
"No, not lost forever; for God is merciful and gracious, and His pitying love can reach the chief of sinners," said the lady, in a kind sweet voice; and her words seemed to have a powerful effect upon the young man.
As the lady passed on her way the young man followed her. He noticed the number of the house she entered, and wrote it down, and the name on the door plate, in his pocketbook. Then he went on his way with new thoughts and feelings stirring his whole soul.
Years rolled along their course, and the kind lady had almost forgotten this, among many kind incidents of her life, when one day a stranger called at her house and sent in his card, asking permission to see her.
Wondering who it could be, she saw a noble looking, well-dressed man. He rose respectfully to meet her, and holding out his hand, said,
"Pardon me, madam, for this liberty. I have come many miles for the pleasure of heartily thanking you for the great service you rendered me a few years ago."
"I am puzzled to know what you mean, sir, for I do not remember having seen you before."
"I have changed so much that I do not wonder you have forgotten me," replied the man. "But though I saw you only once, I would have known you anywhere, and your voice too, is so much like my mother's."
The moment these last words were spoken, the lady remembered the poor young man to whom she had spoken kindly in front of the saloon long ago.
He wept, and she wept with him. He soon wiped away his tears, and then told the lady that the kind words she spoke to him that day had been the means of saving him from ruin, and making him a different man.
'Those words, 'not lost forever,' followed me wherever I went; and it always seemed my mother's voice speaking to me from the grave. I have repented of my sin and am trusting in Jesus, and am thankful to say by the grace of God, I have been able to resist temptation, and to do some good in the world."
"I never dreamed there was so much power in a few words," said the lady.
But we know there is. There is great power in kindness, and this is the reason why we should learn and practice it.