HIGGINS—A MAN'S CHRISTIAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 77

HIGGINS— A MAN'S CHRISTIAN.

A GLIMPSE AT UF& IN A -LUMBER CASIP. N ~ j Mr Norman Duncan writes in Harper's ' Magezine of a hew-wbo is, leading a ' life of devotion and. sacrifice in the lumber camps of the West." His article on Hig-"" gins is a revelation, sa-ys the editor — an unsought tribute to a militant Christian who is striving against tremendous odds to carry on his Master's work among those neglected ones who most need his help: "Twenty thousand of the 30,000 lumber- , jacks and river-pigs of the Minnesota woods are hilariously m pursuit of their own ruin for lack of something better to do in town. They Are not nice, enlightened men. of course ; the debauch is the traditional diversion — the theme of all the brave tales to which the youngsters of th© bunk-houses listen in the lantern-light and dwell upon after dark. J — The Lumber- jacks.— ' "The lumber-jacks proceed thus — being fellows of big strength in every physical way — to the uttermost of filth and savagery and fellowship with every abomination. It is done with shouting and laughter "and that large good humour which is bedfellow with the bloodiest brawling, and it has for a bit, no doubt, its amiable aspect ; but the merry shoutere are presently become like Murray the Beast, that low, notorious brute who, emerging drunk and hungry from a Deer River saloon, robbed a bulldog of his bone and gnawed it himself — or, Kke Damned Soul Jenkins, who goes moaning into the foi-est, after the spree in town, conceiving himself condemned to Toast forever in hell, without hope, nor even the ease which his mother's prayers might win froSn a compassionate God. "They can't help themselves, it seems. Not all of them, of course, but most. . . , — The Pilot and the Men.— j "A big, clean, rosy-cheeked man in a Mackinaw coat and rubber boots — hardly distinguishable from the lumber-jack crew, except for his quick step and high glance and fine resolute way — went swiftly through a Deer River saloon toward the Gnake-room in search of a lad from Toronto who had in the camps besought to be preserved from the vicissitudes of the town. " There goes the Pilot,' sadd a lumberjack at the bar. 'Hullo, Pilot!' " ' 'Lo, Tom !' " 'Ain't ye goin' t' preach no more at Camp Six?' "'Sure, Tom!' '"Well— when the h— l?' '"Week from Thursday, Tom,' the vanishing man called back :_ 'tell the boys I'm coming.' " 'Know the Pilot?' the lumber-jack ' asked. j "I nodded. j " 'Higgins '6 job,' said he, earnestly, 'is keepin' us boys out o' hell an' he's the only man on the job.' "Of this I had been informed. "'I want t' tell ye friend,' tbe lumberjack added, with honest reverence, 'that he's a d d good Christian if ever there •was' one. Ain't that right, Billy?' j "•'Higgins's a square man,' the bartender agreed. > "'Hey, Billy!' the lumber-jack cried severely, reverting to the previous interest 'where d'ye put that bottle?' — Higgins's Task. — "Higgins is used to picking over the ! bodies of druniken men in the snake-room heaps — of entering sadly, 'but never re--luctaSitly (he said), in search of men who have been sorely wounded in brawls, or are taken with "pneumonia, or in whom there remains hope of regeneration. He I carries them off on his back to lodgings — j or he wheels them away in a barrow — | and he washes them and puts them to { bed and (sometimes angrily) restrains th&m j ■until their normal minds return. It has never occurred to him, probably, that this ■ is an ;lmazing exhibition of primitive Christian feeling and practice. i ' 'It it is a simple situation. .There are 30,000 men — more or less of them according to the season. — making the wages of men in th© woods. Most of them accumulate a hot desire to wring some enjoyment from life in returr for the labour they do. They have no care about money -when they have it. They fling it in gold over th© bare (and any sober man may rob. their very pockets) ; they waste in a night what they earn in a winter — and then crawl back' to the woods. ' Naturally the lumber towns are crowded with parasites upon thek lusts . and prodigality — ■with gamblers and saloon-keepera and purveyors of low passion. Some— larger capitalists, more" acute' and more acquisitive, of a greed l«e nice — profess the three occupations at once. — Higgins and the Parasites. — i "They are the men of real power in the remoter communities, makers of mayors and chiefs of police and magis-

f trates— or were until Higgins came along to dispute them. Single-handed, not long ago, he cleansed the town of Bemidji of its established and flaunting wicked, ness. 'Boys,' said he to the keepers of places, Tm going to clean you out. I want to be fair to you — and co 1 tell you. Don't you ever come sneaking up to me and say I didn't give you warning!' They laughed at him when he stripped off has coat and go 4 to work. But when the fight was over, wher the shutters were up for good — so had he compelled the respect of these men — 'they came to the preacher, saying, 'Higgins, you gave us a show ; you fought us fair — and we , want to shake hands." " 'That's all right, boys/ said Higgins. —An Efficient Worker.— "To confuse Higgins with the cranks and freaks of the country would be most injuriously to wrong him. He is not an eccentric ; his hair is cropped, his finger nails are clean, there, is a. commanding achievement behind him, he has manners, a mind variously interested as the polite world demands. Nor is he a fanatic ; I -he would -spit cant fronr his mouth in i- disgust if ever it ehaneed within. He is a reasonable vand highly efficient worker — a man -de^ang .with active problems in ,an intelligent psid thoroughly practical way ; and ne is as self-respecting and Tespected in his peculiar field as any pulpit parson of the cities — and oe sane as an engineer. , — Higgins the Man. — "He is a big, jovial, rotund, rosy-cheeked Irish-Canadian (pugnacious upon, occasion), I with a boy's smile and eyes and laugh, with a hearty voice and way, with a head held high, with a man's olean, confident soul gazing frankly from unwavering eyes ; sft 9in and 2001b to him (which allows for a little rippling fat). He is big of body and heart and faith and outlook and charity and inspiration and belief iin the work of his hands ; and his life jis lived joyously— notwithstanding the dirty work of it — though deprived of the common delights of life. He has no church ; he straps a pack on his back and tramps the logging roads from camp to camp, whatever the weather — 12 miles in # a blizzard at 40 below — and preaches every* day — and thrice and three times a day — :n: n the bunk-houses ; and he buries the boys — and marries them to th kind of women they know — and scolds and beseeches and thrashes them, and banks for them. "It used sometimes to be difficult for Higgins to get a hearing in the camps ; this was before he had fought and preached his way into the trust of the j lumb&r- jacks." j