A little ragged boy aged nine years was discovered on the fourth day of the outward voyage of a vessel from Liverpool to New York, and carried before the first mate, whose duty it was to deal with such cases.
When questioned as to the object of his being stowed away, and as to who had brought him on board, the boy, who had a beautiful sunny face, and eyes that looked like the very mirrors of truth, replied that his stepfather did it, because he could not afford to keep him, nor to pay his passage out to Halifax, where he had an aunt who was well off and to whose house he was going.
The mate did not believe the story, in spite of the winning face and truthful accents of the boy. He had seen too much of stowaways to be easily deceived by them, he said; and it was his firm belief that the boy had been brought aboard and provided with food by the sailors. The little fellow was very roughly handled in consequence.
Day by day he was questioned and re-questioned, but always with the same result. He still affirmed that he did not know a sailor on board, and that his father alone had secreted him, and given him the food which he ate.
At last the mate, wearied by the boy’s persistency in the same story, and perhaps a little anxious to inculpate the sailors, seized him one day by the collar, and dragging him to the forehatch, told him that unless he confessed the truth, in ten minutes from that time he would hang him on the yardarm. He then made him sit down under it on the deck.
All around him were passengers and the sailors of the midday watch, and in front of him stood the inexorable mate with his chronometer in his hand. The officers of the ship were by his side.
It was the finest sight, said our informant, that we ever beheld, to see the pale, proud, sorrowful face of that noble boy, his head erect, his beautiful eyes bright through the tears that had fled.
The mate had told him that he had but two minutes, and advised him to speak the truth and save his life; but he replied with the utmost simplicity and sincerity, by asking the mate if he might pray.
The mate said nothing, but nodded his head. All eyes turned on him, this brave and noble fellow, this poor waif whom society owned not, and whose own stepfather could not care for; there he knelt with clasped hands and voice upraised, while he prayed to the Lord Jesus to take him to heaven.
Sobs broke from strong hard hearts, as the mate sprang forward to the boy and clasped him to his bosom, and kissed him and blessed him, and told him how sincerely he now believed his story and how glad he was that he had been brave enough to face death and be willing to sacrifice his life for the truth of his own word.
The little stowaway believed on the Lord Jesus and stood for the truth.
ML 08/09/1931