Chapter TEN: Columbus Ohio Prison

[Ohio Penitentiary News]

The Rev. George L. Herr, prison evangelist, returned yesterday from St. Louis, where he went in the interest of the men "behind the bars." The Rev. Mr. Herr also had a delightful visit with his son, of St. Louis. Mr. Herr, on his return home, received the following letter from the Rev. D. J. Starr, D.D., chaplain at Columbus, O., penitentiary:

Dear Brother: I thank you for your letter informing me that you will spend Sunday, March 8, with us at this prison. We intend to make good use of you for the Master's cause. We will wish you, unless it will weary you to do so, to speak to our Sunday-school at 8 o'clock; address the prayer meeting at 9 o'clock; preach in chapel at 10 o'clock; attend Female Bible class and talk at 3 p.m., and men's Bible class at 7 p.m.

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"I was in prison, and ye came unto me."--Matt. 25:36.
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The Courier-Journal republishes herewith from the Ohio Penitentiary News an editorial by the Rev. D. J. Starr, D.D., chaplain at the Columbus, O., prison:

"The Rev. George L. Herr, whose address delivered in our chapel last Sunday morning was charmingly refreshing, is a man whose vicissitudes of life lead through a labyrinth that would require a half century of years to make its journey at an ordinary pace. But George L. Herr is not the man to do anything in an ordinary way. The itinerary of his life shows few curves--mostly acute angles. He was born in an old Kentucky family of the city of Louisville. His ancestral stock was golden, and his infancy was fed with a golden spoon on sugar and cream. When he was three months old his Christian mother went to be with God. When he was 18 years old his father, Richard S. Herr, a capitalist of Louisville, died and left George the heir of a large patrimony.

"The orphan was genial, sportive, rich and without domestic restraint. Men seized the opportunity to take advantage of his tendencies and youth to filch from him his wealth. He yielded, and threw on the neck of appetite the slackened rein and became woefully dissipated. He mounted the toboggan and went down the slide, landing in a few years in the gulch of destitution and near the precipice of suicide.

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Teach me thy way, O Lord.--Ps. 86:11.
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"Here in destitution and despair on the day after Christmas, 1893, the Rev. S. P. Holcombe, of Louisville, found the prodigal and led him into the Union Gospel Mission, where he sought and came to know God as a personal Saviour. What a change! New bottles for the new wine of the Spirit! As language cannot picture the degradation of the prodigal, neither can it picture the exaltation of the son restored to the Father. George was as whole-hearted in his new life as in his old. He had beauty for ashes and a spirit of praise instead of heaviness. After nearly five years of the new life George L. Herr, in the city of his fall and his recovery, was married by the Rev. Dr. Carter H. Jones, pastor of Broadway Baptist Church, to Miss Lillie M. Joyce. George says that if a man ever outmarried himself he's the man. He says God gave him this priceless treasure of a Christian wife in answer to prayer. Those who know Mrs. Herr speak of her as sweet-spirited, noble, devout, gifted in song and speech and one in spirit with her husband in the work of saving those who are out of the way. Their home is filled with the aroma of grace and their united lives are spent in doing good. How wonderfully God fulfills His ancient promise to present-day prodigals: 'As ye were a curse, so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing.'"

The Big Ohio "Pen" Week by Week

Weekly Budget of Personal, Local and Other Newsbits.

To-morrow in the Chapel.

Sunday School 8 A.M.
Prayer Meeting 9 A.M.
The Great Congregation 10 A.M.
Entry March Band
(Thomas McCaskie, Leader.)
Gloria Patri Entire Congregation
(Directed by Choirmaster Prof. J. H. Chavers.)

Invocation.

Songs By Miss Luale Bethel

"A Rose in Heaven."
"Life's Lullaby."

First Scripture Lesson.

Anthem Choir
Morning Prayer Chaplain
Lord's Prayer Response by Choir

Second Scripture Lesson.

Hymn No. 3 Choir

"Within Thy Courts."

Sermon Rev. George L. Herr
Hymn No. 355 Choir

"Calvary."

Doxology. Benediction.

Band. March. Exit.

Chapel Services

In the Bible-school at 8 o'clock through the doorway of life beyond, which Christ left open that men might both look in and go in, the 300 students saw some of the things that "God hath prepared for them that love Him." The germinal thoughts of John 14:1-14 are that heaven is a place--a roomy place, a prepared place, a place where the Lord abides and where he will have his prepared people to abide with him. And that in this doctrine is the cure for human sorrow. "Let not your heart be troubled * * believe."

At the 9 o'clock meeting the quotation of Scripture verses appeared like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Rev. George L. Herr was introduced and the hearts of hearers beat warm under their jackets as the speaker sang and talked to them of Jesus and His love. It was good to be there.

The Great Congregation gathered at 10 o'clock and was welcomed with the stirring notes of the band men. The many voices lifted in the chant, "Gloria Patri," showed how grand the effect would be if all would join in the song. Why not all?

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Give me understanding.--Ps. 119:34.
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"A Rose in Heaven," and "Life's Lullaby," were admirably sung by Miss Lucile Bethel with her sister Miss Bethel as accompanist at the piano. The anthem, "Ashamed of Jesus? Never, No Never," was sung by the choir as the author of the song might have wished to hear it rendered.

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That old story of the prodigal son was the subject on which Rev. George L. Herr of Louisville, Ky., preached to the inmates of the penitentiary Sunday morning in the chapel, but it was the twentieth century prodigal who formed his main theme.

Mr. Herr is known all over the country as the prison missionary. He has all the vivacity and warmth of the Southerner. He illuminated the old parable with the story of his descent from the position of a son of a wealthy Kentucky home, possessing a large estate, to the destitution of a linen duster for a December coat, and from a seat in a Pullman to riding the bumpers of a cattle train. That was his condition sixteen years ago. The men enjoyed the object lesson and cheered the moral heroism evinced in the life-story of the missionary.

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I am understanding.--Prov. 8:14.
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The Courier-Journal republishes herewith from the Evangel an editorial by the Rev. L. B. Haines at Columbus, O.:

"The editors of the Evangel were pleased to meet Mr. George L. Herr while in Columbus a few days ago. He addressed the prisoners at the Ohio penitentiary and was heartily received by all who heard him. He is doing a noble work in the prisons all over our country. We spent a pleasant afternoon together, visiting the sick in the prison hospital, and we believe God blessed the seed sown. The Evangel wishes him and his dear wife God speed in their self-sacrificing efforts for the lost. We take great pleasure in calling the attention of the readers of the Evangel to Herr's new book entitled "The Nation Behind Prison Bars," a notice of which you will find on another page of this issue.--Eds."

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For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.--Jno. 3:16.
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