Many years ago, a gospel meeting was held in the city of Brighton. A hymn was sung, a prayer was made, asking the blessing of God on the message, and then, before the speaker could announce his text, a big man in sailor’s uniform stood up and asked if he could tell a story. Then he turned and faced the crowd and told this tale.
“There was once a sailor who lived a very wicked life. I suppose he neither knew, nor cared to know, anything about God. He was often drunk, and his words and ways were very wicked. He had one little boy called Jack. Poor little Jack! When his father was drunk he didn’t care whether his boy was hungry or not, and so it often happened that his boy went without food, while his father spent his money in drink.
“One evening they were walking together on the wharf; the father drunk as usual, and the poor little fellow crying for bread. ‘I want bread,’ he wailed again and again. The cruel father told him to be quiet and slapped him so hard he nearly fell into the water. But poor little Jack was really hungry, and soon he began crying again, ‘I want bread.’
“At last, thoroughly angry, the hardhearted father picked up the crying boy, raised him over his head and dashed him out into the sea, and then turned away in his drunken fury and laid down to sleep. After a few hours’ sleep, he awakened and thought of his boy. Then his awful deed came back to him. He was a murderer! Yes, his conscience told him that he had murdered his boy. Here we must leave the father as he paces up and down the wharf in anguish, and we shall see what became of the boy.
“When he fell into the cold deep sea, there was a boat full of sailors on their way out to their ship which was anchored at some distance off shore. The sailors heard the splash and were able to fish out the poor little half-drowned boy.
“What could they do with him? Their ship was ordered abroad and they had no time to spare, so they decided to take him on board. Soon Jack found himself fixed up with dry, warm clothes and a good hot meal in front of him. As he ate hungrily, the sailors asked him, “‘What is your name?’
“‘Jack.’
“‘Jack what?’
“‘Just Jack. I don’t think I have any other name.’
“The sailors were rough men, but they were kind-hearted, and treated Jack very well, so that he felt quite happy in his new ship-board home.
“As he grew older, he was taken into the cabin to wait on the officers, and there they taught him to read and write. It was not all quiet work on board, though, for it was a time of war, and several times they met with enemy ships.
“One time the ship had been attacked by the enemy, and many of the sailors were wounded and some were killed. Jack was sent below to do what he could to take care of the wounded seamen. He quickly went from one to the other, doing everything possible to make them comfortable. Some of the men were new to Jack, as they had just added some new sailors to their crew at the last port.”
ML 05/17/1953