SOME twenty years ago a few of us engaged a room where we could spend the Sunday afternoon together in reading the Bible. We thought it would be a very quiet room, but soon found this was a mistake. The first meeting had only just begun when a large stone was thrown at the door, and then the latch was lifted and in peered a pair of curious eyes.
We could not get on in this way, so we opened the door and invited the children, dirty and ragged as they were, to come in, and we held our first Ragged School. Two of my friends gave them short addresses, and then it was my turn to speak. I tried my utmost to gain their attention and interest, and was just getting them nicely quiet, when suddenly in rushed a boy and cried, “Please, sir, Tommy has got his head in the steps and cannot get it out.”
This quite spoilt our little meeting, and caused all my listeners to run to the door to see how it was. We went down and soon got his head out from the awkward position, but only about half a dozen children returned to the room, and we then tried to teach them John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16).