rtunates, there would be less crime and misery." I knew that
was true, and I'm praying for the day when we can have just such a
place, and God is going to give it in His own good time.

I had won the boys, and I stayed in that Mission over six years and saw
lots of men and women saved and living good lives. Many times
well-dressed men will come into my place and say, "Mr. Ranney, don't you
know me?" and when I can't place them they will tell me how I was the
means of saving their lives by letting them stay in out of the cold, and
giving them a cup of coffee and a piece of bread in the morning. I could
count them by the hundreds. Praise His name!

A POOR OUTCAST

One night just as the doors opened, there came into the Mission a woman
who evidently had seen better days. She was one of the poor unfortunates
of Chinatown. She asked if she might sit down, as she was very tired and
did not feel well. "Go in, Anna," I said, and she went in and took a
seat. When I passed her way she said, "Mr. Ranney, will you please give
me a drink of water?"

Now this woman had caused me lots of trouble. She would get drunk and
carry on, but when sober she would be good and feel sorry. I gave her a
cup of water and she said, "Thank you, Dan, and may God bless you!" An
hour after that I gave her another cup, and she thanked me again,
saying, "God bless you for your patience!" The next time I looked at her
she had her head on the seat in front and I thought she was sleeping.
Now I never wake any sleepers. I feel that an hour's sleep will do them
good, for when the Mission closes and they go out they have no place to
sleep. They have to find a truck or a hallway or walk up and down the
Bowery all night. I've been there, and it takes one that has been
through the mill to sympathize with the "down-and-outs." So I did not
disturb this woman.

The meeting was over and the people were all out, when I noticed Anna
still in the same position. I went over and called her, and receiving no
answer shook her a little, but she never moved. I bent over and raised
her head; a pair of sightless eyes seemed to look at me, and I knew she
was dead. I never had such a start in my life. Two hours before
alive--now dead! I learned that she was from a town in Connecticut, of
good parents, who took her to her last resting-place in the family
plot--a wayward girl who ran away from home. Her "God bless you, Dan!"
still rings in my ears and her dead face I'll never