The Use and Need of the Life of Carrie A. Nation [29]
lost all taste for these, and stopped making
fashionable calls, for I have seen the vanity and wickedness in fashionable
society and costly dressing. I educated myself to look at things as I
thought God would, and this change came about after that transaction
between my soul and God, at the Methodist church, which I know was the
"Baptism of the Holy Ghost;" but did not know then what it was. I had
been born in the Christian church, and was taught that only the Apostles
had received that gift. I never knew what to call this experience until
three years after when I went to Kansas, and had it explained to me by
the Free Methodists, and where God gave me a witness that it was true.
We had quite a drought in Texas, everything was parched and burning
up, and great concern was felt by all. Charlien said to me one day:
"Mamma why don't you pray for rain?"
I was so struck with the idea that I went to the church that night and
proposed that we pray for rain. So four ladies were elected to appoint
a special meeting. The minister's wife, Mrs. Todd, Mrs. Blakely and myself
were the four. We met and we said the first thing is to agree. The
minister's wife began to cry and said:
"I have read of so many thunderbolts lately, that I am almost afraid
to pray;" and Mrs. Blakely repeated the same, but I told the women this
was doubting God in the beginning.
" 'If you ask for bread, will He give you a stone.' I am willing to
trust God who said: 'Ask and ye shall receive,' and let Him send the
rain any way He pleases." This was finally agreed upon, and the next
afternoon the citizens of the town were called to the church to pray for
rain.
After the meeting, we were standing on the platform in front of the
church, and a sprinkle of rain out of a cloudless sky fell on the platform,
and on the shutters of the house. This was nothing but a miracle, and
was very astonishing to us all. The next day the clouds began to gather
in the sky, and the moisture began, at first, to fall like heavy dew. There
was no lightning or thunder and the rain came down in the gentlest manner
and continued in this way three days. With this marvelous manifestation
in direct answer to prayer, many people said "we would have had the
rain any way." Truly the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's
crib, but my people doth not know, my people doth not consider."
I began to think what I should do to fulfill my vow to God, for I
vowed to return to Him something for rain, to show my gratitude that I
had seen done. There was an old man, about seventy years old, entirely
destitute, whose name was Bestwick. I went to see him, asked him to
come to the hotel and make his home there. There was also a poor German
girl, named Fredricka. I also gave her board at the hotel. These two
stayed with me free of charge as long as I lived in Richmond.
There were two political factions in Richmond at this time, one called
the "Jaybirds" and the other "Peckerwoods". The latter were people
that were in favor of the negro holding offices. This party had control of
the country for some time. The head of this party was Garvey, the
sheriff. The head of the former was Henry Frost, a saloon-keeper, and
to this belonged nearly all the young men of Richmond.
Mr. Nation was correspondent for the Houston Post and he wrote
a letter speaking of the bad-influence and conduct of these young men the
night before; screaming about the streets and disturbing the peace generally.
He went down to meet the trains about twelve o'clock at night. The
next night after the article appeared in the Post, he came in and woke
me up saying: "Wife get up; I have been beaten almost to death;"
and lighting a lamp, I found that his body was covered with bruises.
I bathed him in cold water and otherwise tried to relieve him. He
was too faint to tell me the trouble, only the boys had beaten him. I knelt
down by the window to pray to God. I began by calling on God to send a
punishment on people that would do such a mean, cowardly act. I prayed
until I
fashionable calls, for I have seen the vanity and wickedness in fashionable
society and costly dressing. I educated myself to look at things as I
thought God would, and this change came about after that transaction
between my soul and God, at the Methodist church, which I know was the
"Baptism of the Holy Ghost;" but did not know then what it was. I had
been born in the Christian church, and was taught that only the Apostles
had received that gift. I never knew what to call this experience until
three years after when I went to Kansas, and had it explained to me by
the Free Methodists, and where God gave me a witness that it was true.
We had quite a drought in Texas, everything was parched and burning
up, and great concern was felt by all. Charlien said to me one day:
"Mamma why don't you pray for rain?"
I was so struck with the idea that I went to the church that night and
proposed that we pray for rain. So four ladies were elected to appoint
a special meeting. The minister's wife, Mrs. Todd, Mrs. Blakely and myself
were the four. We met and we said the first thing is to agree. The
minister's wife began to cry and said:
"I have read of so many thunderbolts lately, that I am almost afraid
to pray;" and Mrs. Blakely repeated the same, but I told the women this
was doubting God in the beginning.
" 'If you ask for bread, will He give you a stone.' I am willing to
trust God who said: 'Ask and ye shall receive,' and let Him send the
rain any way He pleases." This was finally agreed upon, and the next
afternoon the citizens of the town were called to the church to pray for
rain.
After the meeting, we were standing on the platform in front of the
church, and a sprinkle of rain out of a cloudless sky fell on the platform,
and on the shutters of the house. This was nothing but a miracle, and
was very astonishing to us all. The next day the clouds began to gather
in the sky, and the moisture began, at first, to fall like heavy dew. There
was no lightning or thunder and the rain came down in the gentlest manner
and continued in this way three days. With this marvelous manifestation
in direct answer to prayer, many people said "we would have had the
rain any way." Truly the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's
crib, but my people doth not know, my people doth not consider."
I began to think what I should do to fulfill my vow to God, for I
vowed to return to Him something for rain, to show my gratitude that I
had seen done. There was an old man, about seventy years old, entirely
destitute, whose name was Bestwick. I went to see him, asked him to
come to the hotel and make his home there. There was also a poor German
girl, named Fredricka. I also gave her board at the hotel. These two
stayed with me free of charge as long as I lived in Richmond.
There were two political factions in Richmond at this time, one called
the "Jaybirds" and the other "Peckerwoods". The latter were people
that were in favor of the negro holding offices. This party had control of
the country for some time. The head of this party was Garvey, the
sheriff. The head of the former was Henry Frost, a saloon-keeper, and
to this belonged nearly all the young men of Richmond.
Mr. Nation was correspondent for the Houston Post and he wrote
a letter speaking of the bad-influence and conduct of these young men the
night before; screaming about the streets and disturbing the peace generally.
He went down to meet the trains about twelve o'clock at night. The
next night after the article appeared in the Post, he came in and woke
me up saying: "Wife get up; I have been beaten almost to death;"
and lighting a lamp, I found that his body was covered with bruises.
I bathed him in cold water and otherwise tried to relieve him. He
was too faint to tell me the trouble, only the boys had beaten him. I knelt
down by the window to pray to God. I began by calling on God to send a
punishment on people that would do such a mean, cowardly act. I prayed
until I