A YOUNG man put up a board in front of an empty house of which he was the owner, on which were inscribed the following words:
This House
Will Be Given Away Gratis
To the First Man
Who Applies.
He was a better judge of human nature than many, as several days intervened ere any one made application for the place. The fact was, the people believed that it was a practical joke, and never imagined that the owner intended to make a present of it to anybody.
A few days after the notice board was exhibited, he was called upon by an old negro, who left his whitewash brush and pail at the door, and with a broad smile on his face saluted him, and asked if anyone had been there before him.
“Why?” replied the gentleman, “what do you mean?”
“O,” the colored man answered, “I mean ‘bout the house and lot on Locust Street.”
“No,” said the owner, “there has not been anybody yet; but you don’t suppose that I would give my house and lot to an old darkie like you.”
Scratching his head for a moment, his face brightened up, and then he answered,
“Well, I don’t suppose you’re g’wine to break your word even to a poor darkie like me.”
The young man was completely cornered by the old fellow, and with a hearty laugh he exclaimed,
“Well, I declare, you deserve to have the house, and you shall have it. I can’t afford to break my word even to a poor old darkie like you.”
The negro was, as the world would say, “simple enough” to believe the word of the young man. He claimed his promise, and he got the property on “Locust Street.”
The most terrible sin you can be guilty of, is not to believe God.
Think of calling God a liar! What wickedness! Yet every unsaved sinner is doing it. Believe, then, in the Lord Jesus Christ; and you will be the happy possessor of peace, pardon, and every blessing that is treasured up in Him.
ML 06/29/1924