He said that every Thursday,
when the steamer from the West Indies arrives, he arranges his work so
as to be at the wharf, ready to welcome immigrants, especially young
people, and to advise them, if they are strangers without settled
destination. He was led to do this by his own experience. For three
years after he came to New York, he went from church to church without
ever receiving a word of welcome or invitation to come again. Finally he
found a church home; but the homesickness and loneliness of those years
made him feel that so far as he could help it, no one else from the West
Indies should have a similar experience. So he made himself free to
speak to the young men, and always invited them to church. He had been
the means of aiding many to establish themselves, and had saved many
immigrants from being lured away into evil. He said the place to get the
heart of the foreigner was when he first landed. It was a simple story,
told without any false modesty. Plainly his heart was in the work. He
was a home missionary, doing a definite service of importance, and
setting an example that inspired that company. They could not help the
round of applause that followed his statement.
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