Temperance > Autobiography and personal recollections of John B. Gough

EXPERIENCES IN NEW YORK.
37
at the foot of Cortlandt Street, after I left the boat.
Hundreds of people went by, on busy feet, heedless of me,
and I felt desolate indeed. But amidst all my lonely
sorrow, the religious impressions I have just referred to,
—and more especially those which I had derived from the
instructions of my beloved mother,—afforded some rays
of consolation, which glimmered through the gloom.
"Whilst I was standing, pondering whither I should bend
my steps, a man came up to me, and asked where he
should carry my trunk. Then, indeed, the strong sense
of my forlornness came to me, and I scarcely ever remem¬
ber to have experienced more bitterness of spirit than on
that occasion. Fancy me, reader! a boy but fourteenj
years of age, a stranger, in a strange city; with no one to I
guide him, none to advise, and not a single soul to love!
or to be loved by. There I was, three thousand miles
distant from home and friends; a “waif on life’s wave,”
solitary in the midst of thousands, and with a heart yearn¬
ing for kindly sympathy, but finding none. Whilst mus¬
ing on my fortunes, all at once the following passage
entered my mind, and afforded me consolation: “Trust
in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land,
and verily thou shalt be fed.” Shouldering my trunk, I
entered the city; and having left my load in charge of a
person, I repaired to the Brown Jug, a public-house in
Pearl Street; in which place I remained until the Monday
morning following, when I was recommended to apply to
the venerable Mr. Dando, who was then the agent of the
Christian Advocate and Journal. To this gentleman I
told my story; after hearing which, he went with me to
the Methodist Book Concern (then situated in Crosby
Street), where, after some conversation, I was engaged to
attend on the next Wednesday as errand-boy, and to learn |
the bookbinding business; and, for my services, to receive !