oods of Iowa about lazy men. He was all
discouraged in his efforts to convert lazy men, and I said to him, "Did
you ever know of a lazy man being converted?" "Yes," said he; "I knew of
one, but he was so lazy that he didn't stay converted but about six
weeks." And that is as near as I ever heard of a lazy man being
converted.

-- I remember, I was talking with a man one day and an acquaintance of
his came in, and he jumped up at once and shook him by the hand--why I
thought he was going to shake his hand out of joint, he shook so
hard--and he seemed to be so glad to see him and wanted him to stay, but
the man was in a great hurry and could not stay, and he coaxed and urged
him to stay, but the man said no, he would come another time; and after
that man went out my companion turned to me and said, "Well, he is an
awful bore, and I am glad he's gone." Well I began to feel that I was a
bore too, and I got out as quickly as I could. That is not real love.

WORD PICTURES.

The Prodigal Son.

The boy got his money, and away he went. He feels very independent; he
can take care of himself; he can work his own way. I don't know where he
went to. Perhaps he went away down to Memphis, and perhaps he went to
Egypt--got as far away from home as he could. When he went away he soon
commenced to go down to ruin. When he gets down to that part of the
country he suddenly becomes very popular with a certain class of men.
Perhaps he was very popular with the men who hung around the opera
house, or the theatre, or the billiard halls. A great many courted his
company. Perhaps he was a good talker, perhaps he was a good singer and
could sing a comic song; perhaps he was a literary man, and entertained
them with his wit, and all were delighted with him. But as we would say,
he got to the end of his rope, and when his money went his friends
disappeared: The poor fellow was in a blaze of glory while his money
lasted, but when it had gone he woke up to find himself without friends.
A man in New England said while his money lasted he had friends, but
when he was ruined and in prison he found out who his real friends were.
Not one of his old friends came near him, but the Christian people came
and spoke to him words of kindness and comfort, and it was then he made
the discovery who his true friends were. So this young prodigal didn't
get his eyes open till his money was all gone. No one in that foreign
country loved him then, no one in that