TRUE TO PRINCIPLES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2020, 4 March 1907, Page 1

TRUE TO PRINCIPLES.

At tlm World’s V.M.C.A. gathering tlie following story was told by one who bad travelled eight thousand miles to attend the meetings: “My father was a .rancher on a small scale in Argentina. Ho had only a thousand sheep or so, and a couple of square miles of run for a pasture, lie was an English emigrant of sturdy yeoman stock, and while tile free life of a shepherd had taught him tolerance and kindness, ho remained true in principle to the strict lessons of bis early years. “The nearest neighbor or station was ton miles away, but tho ranchmen used Lo think nothing of riding thirty or forty miles to a centrallylocated farm on Saturdays to spend the night ill carousal, and ride back on Sunday.

“The isolation was so depressing and tiio boat so exhausting that when tho moil on mo together once a week in ibis way, drinking and gambling seemed inevitable. Jn the kindled passion and excitement of these coarse pleasures they thought they might forget for a few bouts the suffering and privation of their lot. “At last it was my father’s turn to entertain. He must invite the borders of tho ranchos within a radius of nearly fifty miles. “ ‘Boys,’ said lie to his two sons, my brother and myself, ‘it’s the pm ting of tlie ways. Wo either live as we have lived, ill the fear of God, minding our business, paying our debts, if wo can, saving our money if possible, and being cut by every man round here, or wo fall into tho ways of our neighbours, and drink and gamble ourselves into perdition. I am not going to break your mother’s heart, and I say, “No,” even if they burn us down. “It was tho critical moment of our lives. I could have - fallen at my father’s foot and worshipped him when he made that decision. He looked like a god—determined and invincible.

“So it came about that my brother aiul-I divided,the circuit between us and I rode to the north and he to the south. To every ranchman this message went: ‘Father invites you far Saturday and Sunday as usual. There will be no cards or liquor—only a quiet talk about old England and tho welfare of the colony.’ “We waited that Saturday afternoon with trembling, not expecting a single guest. But suddenly one rode up, and then another and another, until the whole section was represented. There had never been so large a gathering. They came in curiosity and with respect. “Witii mother opposite him, father said grace at the table, and we boys saw tears flow clown rugged cheeks. That night the men talked long about bushmen and rabbits and fonces and drought and how to stand by each other. “The next morning, as he did every Sunday morning, father conducted prayers, this time before 50 of tlie roughest men I bad ever seen assembled; and there was singing of hymns, broken hero and there by sobs and tears. When they parted my father, although a recent coiner among them, was the acknowledged leader in the community’. “That section became the most prosperous section in 'all the country round. And I thought if Christian courage could accomplish that, it was good enough for mo to live and die b>-. My father’s ‘No’ was the one tiling needed to save that country, and it saved it.”