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m GAINS WITHOUT PAINS. 



TRUE LIFE FOR THE BOYS. 



BY H. 0. KNIGHT. 



PTTBLISHED BY THE 
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAV-STREET, NEW YORK. 



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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 0. R. 
Kingsbury, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern 
District of New York. 



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CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I 

Toe Old Horseshoe — Little Donket — The Mother's 
Prater, ......... 5 

CHAPTER II. 
What to Do— Leaving Home — ^The Apprektioeship, . 27 

CHAPTER III. 
Business Principles and Habits, . . J9 

CHAPTER IV. 
Hidden Life — ^Fire-^The Children — ^Domo Good, . 72 

CHAPTER V. 
The Poor— a Scddbn Stroke— Happy Ending, . 97 



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NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE OLD HORSESHOE— LITTLE DONKEY— THE 
MOTHEE'S PRAYER. 

One day a little boy on his way to school 
picked up an old horseshoe. What did he do 
with it? He carried it three miles to a black- 
smith's shop, and sold it for a penny. It was 
the first penny he ever had. "No gains with- 
out pains," perhaps he thought. He did not 
directly go and spend it. He laid it by ; and 
we will see how he added to it. A short time 
afterwards, a man who had been watching a 
boy carrying dirt from his father's door, called 
Samuel, for that was our little boy's name, and 
told him if he would beat that boy in carrying 

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6 NO PAINS, NO qtAINS. 

dirt, he would give him a penny. Samuel tried 
his hand, and earned the wages. 

"Now," said the man, "if you will show me 
this same penny in a fortniglit, I will give you 
another ; and I will make a mark on it, so as 
to know it." He marked and gave it to Sam- 
uel, for I suppose he knew how boys like to 
spend, and he had a mind to try Samuel on 
this point. In a fortnight he showed the man 
the penny. " There it is, sir," said he. 

" Good," said the man ; " you shall have anoth- 
er ; you know how to keep, as well as to earn." 

Samuel now had three pennies. An English 
penny is two of our cents. He was, therefore, 
according to our currency, worth six cents. 
Perhaps you would like to know a little more 
of his earnings. One day, one of his sisters, in 
drawing molasses, let a quantity run over the 
kettle she was filling on to the floor. She 
took up all she supposed worth saving, and 
was about to wash-up the rest, when Samuel 
asked if he might not have it ; and on his sis- 
ter's giving him leave, he carefully scraped it 
up, and sold it for three half-pence. How 
many cents is that? Three cents : he has now, 
then, nine cents. 



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THE OLD HORSESHOE. 7 

"No gains withont pains," Samnel thought, 
or at least he acted npon the principle, if a 
penny '\ras worth having, it \ras worth the 
trouble of earning. I am afraid all boys do 
not think so. They like the penny, but are not 
willing to work for it; and therefore some 
boys are tempted to get money in very ques- 
tionable ways, which are apt to lead to disgrace 
and ruin. 

"What did Samuel do with his money?" 
some one may have the curiosity to ask. It is 
pleasant to know what people do witii their 
first earnings. As soon as he had enough, he 
bought a book with it, a hjrmn-book ; and then 
he felt as rich and happy as could be. 

Samuel lived in England. He was born in 
the little village of Wrington, ten miles south- 
west of Bristol, in 1794. Bristol is a large city 
in the south-western part of England, one hun- 
dred and fourteen miles west of London. When 
Samuel was seven, his parents moved to Kings* 
wood, a village on the edge of Bristol ; and as 
this was the place where his life was spent, I 
must stop in the story, and tell you a little 
about Kingswood. 

In old times, it was indeed, what its name 

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8 NO PAINS, NO OAINS. 

signifies, a king's wood ; for it was a tract of 
three, or four thousand acres of land, used by 
the king and his nobles for a royal' hunting- 
ground. Besides the wild beasts which roamed 
in this forest, there was a set of wild, lawless 
men, called foresters, who had their haunts in 
it. They were a terror to the country around, 
for they lived by plunder and robbery, and it 
was often dangerous for travellers, unarmed 
and alone, to be found near this wood after 
nightfall. But in the course of years, the deer 
had gradually disappeared, and the forest and 
the foresters. The reputation of the place, 
however, Ead not much improved. The land 
had been turned to better account; for coal- 
mines had been discovered, which supplied 
Bristol and the neighboring towns with fuel, 
and supported a large population of colliers — 
men who work the coal-pits — ^who had gradu- 
ally settled on the soil. Their cottages had 
been put up without much regard to order, 
here and there and everywhere ; so that unless 
very familiar, in trying to find the way among 
them, one was quite sure to lose it among the 
endless number of narrow lanes ; crooked, turn- 
ing, winding, crossing, and branching off in all 



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THE OLD HORSESHOE. 9 

directions. It was indeed a jumble of a town, 
if it could be called a town. And the people 
were as disorderly as their houses were. Bad 
as the foresters had been, the colliers could 
beat them in wickedness. A more ferocious 
and brutal set of men never disgraced a Chris- 
tian land. 

When the famous preacher Whitepield was 
at Bristol, in 1739, and talked of coming to 
this country to convert the Indians, some peo- 
ple said, "What is the need of going abroad 
for this object? Have we not savages enougli 
at home? If you have a mind to convert Ind- 
ians, there are colliers enough in Kingswood." 

These remarks made a deep impression upon 
the mind of this good man. He could not turn 
from his own countrymen. And when he rode 
over to Kingswood, and saw what the state of 
the people really was, he felt his bowels yearn 
over them, for he saw them as sheep without a 
shepherd, given over to the devouring wolves 
of sin and Satan. ' Nobody had cared for their 
souls. They had no schools, no churches, no 
Bibles, no preachers, no prayers. Sunk in deg- 
radation and dirt, people seemed to think noth- 
ing could be done to improve their condition ; 

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10 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

and al though on the edge of a great Christian 
city, Bristol, they had been left year after year, 
and generation after generation, to grow up 
and die in their wickedness. 

But when Whitefield came, and Wesley, and 
their pious coadjutors, a new and better day 
broke upon the darkness of Kingswood ; and the 
success of their labors at Kingswood proved 
that no people are too low or too hardened to 
welcome the faithful preaching of the gospel 
of Jesus Christ. 

"Yes,'' said Whitefield, first on the field, 
"something can and must be done for these 
poor people ; the Lord Jesus Christ came into 
this world to seek and to save the lost ; if so, 
the Kingswood colliers are just the people to 
be saved." 

In this spirit he went one afternoon over to 
the collieries; it was on Saturday, February 
17, 1737, and a memorable day, because it was 
the first day the gospel was ever preached 
there. His church was the open air, and his 
pulpit a little mound of earth. About two 
hundred men, women, and children gathered 
gapingly around to listen. "Who is he?" 
"What does this mean?" they asked one of 



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THE OLD HORSESHOE. 11 

another. "What is he telling about? And 
they run out of their cottages and stared and 
hearkened. 

How much they understood the first day I 
cannot tell, but it is certain that they were 
interested and pleased. His bright eye and 
beaming countenance, the clear, sweet tones of 
his voice, ringing in their ears words of love 
and mercy, words of God and heaven and hell, 
did not fail to attract them. He must have 
seemed like some superior being come on an 
errand of good. And as he passed by, his kind 
look and friendly notice of one and another 
drew hearts towards him. How they looked 
wonderingly after him until out of sight; in 
bow many cottages and ale-houses was he talked 
over that night. 

A beginning of good was then and there made 
at Kingswood. How did it go on ? On White- 
field's second visit, two thousand people throng- 
ed to hear him. On his third visit, from four 
to five thousand. 

" The trees and hedges were full," he said ; 
"all was a hush when I began ; the sun shone 
bright, and God enabled me to preach over 
an hour with great power, and so loud that all 

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12 NO PAINS, NO aAINS. 

could hear me. Blessed be God ! To behold 
such crowds standing together in such awful 
silence, and to hear their singing run from one 
end to the other, was very solemn and striking." 
"And how was I affected," he again says, 
"when I saw the white gutters made by the 
tears which plentifully fell down their black 
faces — black as they came out of their coal- 
pits." 

The poor colliers showed they had hearts to 
feel the force of Bible truths. And the more 
they heard, the more they wanted to hear. 
Sometimes ten, fifteen, and twenty thousand 
people are said to have crowded around this 
remarkable preacher during his field-preaching 
at Kingswood. Many, I suppose, came from 
Bristol in their carriages, and on horseback. 
Many, like Zaccheus, climbed up into the trees. 
On all sides they pressed to hear him. 

Mr. Whitefield, loath to leave this interesting 
and important field of labor, and yet under the 
necessity of leaving to meet engagements else- 
where, wrote to his friend John Wesley, beg- 
ging him to hasten to Bristol. Wesley obeyed 
the call, and came without delay. Preaching 
in the open air, or fi^ld-preaching, as it is called, 

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THE OLD HORSESHOE. 13 

was something altogether new, and what Wes- 
ley had never yet seen. He was not sure 
whether he could approve of it. It seemed to 
him a breach of order and propriety. But 
when he saw how people were hungering for 
the truth, and that no church could hold the 
multitudes eager to hear, he was thankful for 
any opportunity of preaching to them Jesus 
Christ the Saviour of sinners. 

Besides, he remembered how his Lord had 
delivered his sermon on the mount. Accord- 
ingly, the next day he followed the example 
of his friend. He went out into a field, and 
preached to a congregation of three thousand. 
It was something he never was sorry for. " I 
have since seen,'' he tells us, " abundant reason 
to adore the wise providence of God herein, 
making a way for myriads of people who never 
troubled any church, and are never likely to do 
so, to hear that word, which they soon found to 
be the power of God unto their salvation." 

But something more than preaching was nec- 
essary. The children must be cared for — the 
" dear lambs," as Whitefield calls them. Could 
not a school be set up? This Whitefield pro- 
posed to the colliers. The poor men were 

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14 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

much pleased, and promised to help by their 
money or their work, and they begged him to 
stay and lay the corner-stone of a new building 
for that purpose. It did not seem very clear 
where the money was to come from, for people 
were not as ready to give their money for char- 
itable objects then as they now are ; but both 
Whitefield and Wesley had a great deal of 
faith and courage. They acted much upon the 
principle. Where there is a will, there is a way ; 
and therefore they determined to lay the foun- 
dation-stone of the new school, and then to lay 
plans to build upon it. 

Did their preaching produce much effect? 
"By the grace of God, their labor was not in 
vain," says an eye-witness of the change. 
"Kingswood does not now, as a year ago, re- 
sound with cursing and with blasphemy. It is 
no more filled with drunkenness and unclean- 
ness, and the idle diversions they lead to. It 
is no longer full of wars and fightings, of clam- 
or and bitterness, of wrath and envyings. 
Peace and love are there. Great numbers of 
the people are gentle, mild, and easy to be en- 
treated. They do not *cry, neither strive,' 
and hardly is their voice heard in the streets, 

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THE OLD HORSESHOE. 15 

or indeed in their own ward, unless when they 
are at their usual evening devotions, singing 
praises unto God their Saviour." 

Whitefield soon after left to visit the United 
States. The home mission thus begun at 
Kingswood, was carried on by Wesley, and 
afterwards by his successors. 

A marked reformation took place : but great 
and noticeable as it was, a great deal of patient, 
spiritual husbandry was necessary to perfect 
the fruit, and especially to take care of the lit- 
tle seeds and shoots of divine grace, and to 
renew the seeds, and to weed the soil, and nur- 
ture the young plants, and to bring forth a 
harvest that should honor God. The bad hab- 
its and wrong opinions of a large community 
cannot be broken up in a day or a year, and 
good habits and right notions directly formed. 
There were still ale-houses. There were secret 
places where thieves used to bandy together ; 
and there were reckless, lawless fellows, who 
of course hated the reformation which they 
could n'ot prevent, and who tried all they could 
to hinder the progress of religion among their 
companions. 

Chapels had been built, schools had been 

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16. NO PAINS, NO aAINS. 

opened, faithful preachers had labored to bring 
men to repentance and to walk in the fear of 
God ; but when Samuel Budgett and his father's 
family moved to Kingswood, there were still 
many neighborhoods where wickedness lurk^, 
and there was work enough for God's people 
to do. 

The Budgetts were Wesleyan Christians. 
They feared God, and tried to bring up their 
family to love and serve him. They were poor, 
but frugal and industrious, and on coming to 
Kingswood, opened a shop on the " cassy," or 
causeway. Samuel was seven at the time of 
their moving. Here he found the horseshoe, 
and here he went to such schools as the neigh- 
borhood aflforded. How many crumbs of know- 
ledge he picked up we do not know ; but we 
find he was twice punished at dame Stone's 
school : once for picking up an apple under a 
tree, and again for washing his shoe in her pan 
of clean water. And what do you think the 
punishment was? He was put in a corner, and 
had a long, speckled worsted stocking drawn 
over his head, with the foot dangling in his 
face. 

He was afterwards sent to another school, 

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LITTLE DONKEY. 17 

where the chief instruction of the mistress was 
telling the children stories about all sorts of 
hobgoblins ; so I think we cannot call his early 
advantages for schooling very superior ; on the 
contrary, they were very poor. Samuel liked 
the shop better than school ; perhaps he felt he 
learned more there, for he used to observe 
very carefully how business was done, and 
sometimes he ventured upon small bargains on 
his own responsibility. 

One day a woman came into the shop with a 
basket of cucumbers. Samuel asked the price 
not only of one, but of her whole stock. His 
oldest brother Henry, who was in the store, 
thought him very inquisitive and forward, and 
I dare say told him to be off. But Samuel said 
he meant to buy the cucumbers, which he did ; 
he then went and sold them in the neighbor- 
hood, and made ninepence on the sale, whidi 
is eighteen cents of our money. 

A boy-merchant, is he not? Sometimes he 
bought and sold eggs, chickens, pigs, always 
with a fair profit, and once a donkey. 

He met, one day, a man with an old donkey 
and a little one. " How much will you take 
for your little donkey?" asked Samuel, stop- 
No Paia#. 2 

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18 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

ping to examine the animals. " Two shillings 
and sixpence," answered the man. "It is a 
bargain, then," said the boy, who paid the man 
his price, and led the little donkey home. A 
few days afterwards, a woman oflFered five 
shillings for it. She had no money then, she 
said, but promised to pay him in a week. Not 
thinking it safe to trust her promise alone, he 
wanted security. " I have nothing in the world 
to let you have," said she, " but a pair of stays." 
"Very well," said Samuel, "I will take them, 
for they are easily carried." He took them 
home, and told his mother, when Mrs. Miles 
brought the money, to give her back the stays- 
But before the week was out, little donkey died. 
The woman then wanted her stays back. " No," 
said the boy, " the bargain was fair. Donkey 
became your property, and donkey's dying is 
therefore your loss, not mine." And so I sup- 
pose the woman had to redeem her stays with 
five shillings, or he sold thqm elsewhere. 

Samuels parents staid but two years at 
Kingswood, when they gave up the shop to 
Henry, and ipoved to Coleford. Henry was 
Mr. Budgett's child by a former wife, and fifteen 
years older than Samuel. At Coleford they 

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THE MOTHER'S PEAYER. 19 

opened another shop, but business was small, 
the family largo, and it was often difficult to 
make the two ends of the year meet. Poor as 
they were in earthly goods, they had riches 
laid up in heaven ; and their trust in God made 
them thankful and happy with their coarse fare. 
The Wesleyan preachers were often welcomed 
to their frugal table, and when they came, Sam- 
uel loved dearly to listen to their pious conver- 
sation. 

When he was nine years old, passing early 
one morning his mother's chamber, he heard 
her voice in prayer, and he stopped to listen, 
for she seemed praying with more than common 
fervency. And who was she praying for? 
What had sent her at this early hour of the 
morning to the throne of God ? It was for her 
son that this mother prayed. 

" Oh," cried Samuel, " if my mother is so anx- 
ious for my conversion, how anxious ought I 
to be for it myself!^' It struck him to the 
heart. He went away by himself. He thought 
over his many, many faults ; they never looked 
so big and so serious and so awful before. Ho 
saw how oflfensive they were in the sight of 
God. He felt very unhappy. Would he go 

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20 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

away and try to forget them ; or would he seek, 
in penitence and prayer, God's forgiveness and 
favor? 

Samuel did not try to forget; he did not 
want to banish serious thoughts from his mind. 
He wished to be truly penitent ; and he prayed 
God for his dear Son's sake to forgive him, 
and to give him a new heart, a heart to hate 
sin and to love the Saviour, a heart to obey his 
will and keep his holy laws. 

This little boy began on that day to pray, 
meaning his prayer. A great many children 
pray without minding what they say, or caring 
whether God hears them; these are "words 
upon a thoughtless tongue," and such prayer 
cannot be acceptable to God. If you are very 
anxious to have a favor granted to you by your 
father, how carefully and how earnestly you 
ask it; your manner and your tones are such 
as show your interest in the matter. You can 
hardly be put oflf. Your whole heart is en- 
gaged in it. " Please, do,'' is your earnest cry. 
This, you know, is the way to gain your father's 
ear ; he will not turn you oflf ; he will hear, and 
if it is best, how willingly will he grant your 
request, and give you what you need. But G^d 

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THE MOTHER'S PRAYER. 21 

is more ready to hear and to answer your cries 
for forgiveness and heavenly things, than earth- 
ly parents are to give good gifts to their chil- 
dren — rrvore ready. 

But children sometimes say, I have prayed — 
I have prayed a great many times, but God 
did not answer me. I have asked him to make 
me a penitent, believing child ; but alas, I am 
not. 

Did you pray in earnest ? Did you keep on 
praying ? Samuel was in earnest ; Samuel kept 
on praying. And you see how God answered 
prayer in the case of this mother and her son. 
Among all her family cares and labors, what is 
the^r^ thing this mother wants? Her son's 
conversion. That is the most important thing 
of all. What is the first duty which the mother 
of this large family engages in? It is to pray 
God for her son's conversion. 

That mother was in earnest. And what 
does Jesus say? "Ask, and ye shall receive." 
I suppose this mother went to God in simple 
and sincere reliance upon the word of his dear 
Son. And God was as good as his word. The 
mother's prayer fell like a blessing on the little 
boy himself as he passed by her door. He went 

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22 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

away, and carried the blessing with him, for 
God accompanied it by his Holy Spirit; and 
when God blesses, nobody can snatch the good 
from us. And what did it do? It did not 
harden. It touched and softened him ; he shed 
tears of penitence for himself, and it excited 
him to turn unto God with his whole heart, and 
pray for his own salvation. And he became a 
child of God. These feelings did not pass 
away from his mind, like early dew from tlie 
flowers of the garden. He did not go back to 
thoughtlessness and irreligion, as children often 
do after they have been awakened to some de- 
gree of concern for their souls. He kept on, 
for God kept him. " They that seek me early 
shall ^nd me," is the gracious promise of our 
heavenly Father. 

- Will not other children, and will not moth- 
ers also take encouragement from this beautiful 
example of Samuel and his mother, and believe 
in God's loillingness to hear and to answer 
prayer? 

There was a poor woman very sick in the 
neighborhood about this time, whose happy 
experience of the value of religion on a sick 
and dying bed strengthened Samuel in his de- 
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THE KOTHEE'S PEATEE. 23 

sires to secure it. His mother often visited 
poor Betty Coles, and on her return used often 
to describe to the famUj the comfort and joy 
which she experienced in her Saviour; and 
-when she died, it seemed only a step from earth 
to heaven. Samuel thought a great deal about 
the happy death-bed of this good woman, and 
he often went out into the fields in the summer 
evenings to sing to himself the hymns which 
cheered and comforted her ; and as he thought 
and sung, death lost its terrors, and nothing 
seemed more desirable to the boy than to go 
home and live with his Saviour in heaven. 

But Samuel did not die young, for God had 
work for him to do on earth. 

His mother in a few montiis was taken ill, 
and brought very low. One night she was 
thought to be dying. Samuel was suddenly 
called up, old Bob was saddled, and the boy 
was sent in all haste three miles on a dark 
winter night for the doctor. A sorrowful ride 
it must have been. Much as the doctor might 
be able to do for his mother, Samuel believed 
God could do far more, therefore he kept pray- 
ing all the way that her life might be spared, 
and health i^ain return to her. 

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24 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

On his way back the day began to dawn, and 
as he was passing Mells park, a little bird 
struck up a cheerful note just over his head. 
The bird-song sounded most sweetly to him. 
It filled him with feelings of joy and gratitude, 
and seemed almost to assure him thai; God in 
mercy would answer his prayer and restore his 
dear mother to health. On reaching home he 
could not help exclaiming, " Sister Betsey, moth- 
er will get well." "What makes you think 
so ?" she asked. " Oh, 1 feel that God will spare 
her ever since I passed Mells park this morn- 
ing." Sister Betsey saw no good reason for 
laying aside her fears, I dare say, however the 
boy might ; but this morning's ride was a ride 
he loved to remember through his whole life, 
for the experience oijoy which he had in cast- 
ing his load of sorrow upon God, and putting 
his trust in him. God filled his bosom with a 
sweet peace. 

It might seem strange to some, that a poor 
shivering little boy, on a sorrowful errand like 
that, on a dark winter morning, far from home, 
could feel very happy. There was certainly 
nothing in his circumstances to make him hap- 
py. Every thing looked as dark and comfort- 
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THE MOTHER'S PRAYER. 25 

• 

less as could be. But when God fills the soul 
with his joy and his peace, then a person will 
be happy anywhere, no matter if he is in a 
dungeon ; for true religion can make a person 
happy without the aid of any thing else. This 
was a taste of the enjoygient which God's chil- 
dren have. Samuel, by penitence and prayer 
and faith, had become God's child ; and I am 
sure it tasted better than any thing else he 
ever had. It is better than any thing father or 
mother, or brother or sister, or minister or 
friend can give — better than any thing which 
the whole world can offer. The whole world 
and ten thousand worlds cannot give one drop 
of comfort to the soul, like that which God can 
give. 

One of the old prophets said, " Although the 
fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be 
in the vines ; the labor of the olive shall fail, 
and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock 
shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall 
be no herd in the stalls" — a pretty desolate 
picture of a famine it is — " yet," he said, not- 
withstanding this desolation and want, " I will 
rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my 
salvation," 



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26 NO PAINS, NO aAINS, 

Is not a religion that can give so mucli of 
just what the heart craves, the hearts of chil- 
dren as well as grown-up people, genuine happi- 
ness — is not such a religion worth having, 
worth making sure of? Samuel thought so, as 
we shall see. 

Did his mother get well? Yes; and one 
day when he went to walk with her, he told 
her of his sweet experience of God's goodness 
on his ride by Mells park. And was she not 
glad? yes; for happy indeed are those 
parents whose children trust in the Lord, fear- 
ing him and keeping his law. 



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WHAT TO DO. 27 



CHAPTER II. 

WHAT TO DO— LEAVING- HOME— THE APPREN- 
TICESHIP. 

Samuel was now fourteen years old, and the 
question had 6ften been agitated in the family 
councils, " what he was going to do." A more 
serious question than this often comes up about 
boys of this age, which occasions more perplex- 
ity and many more anxious days to decide ; it 
is this, "What is the boy going to he V That 
is the greatest question. What is he going to be ? 
A weak, thriftless, irresponsible man; or a 
prompt, energetic, reliable one? An industri- 
ous, painstaking, God-fearing man ; or an idle, 
slovenly, irreligious one? A man worth some- 
thing, or a man worth nothing? ' A poet says, 
" The boy is father of the man f which means, 
that the germs of the future man are growing 
in the boy. The seeds of future character are 
no doubt there, and it is precisely this which 
makes the tastes, tendencies, and habits of 
boyhood a matter of such weighty concern to 
parents. What the boy is going to do, is second 



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28 NO PAINS, NO GAINS 

to what he is going to be; for what l>e doesj will 
very greatly depend upon what he is. 

It is not so important what kind of business 
a man engages in, provided it is an honest 
one, as upon what principles it is conducted — 
how much energy, prudence, foresight, and 
prayer he throws into it. It is upon such foun- 
dations that true success is built. It is such 
elements which make business good — good for 
the master, good for his men, good for the com- 
munity in which he lives. • 

By the time Samuel was fourteen, the ques- 
tion what he was going to be, occasioned no 
anxiety in the minds of his parents ; that was 
pretty nearly decided, although every body, 
perhaps, did not discern the real merits of the 
little fellow. But what was he going to do ? 
Samuel had a choice in the matter. He want- 
ed to become a missionary, he longed to preach 
the gospel. That was his strong desire, one 
day to be a preacher. He was not, however, 
too young to see there were many serious ob- 
stacles in the way. He was poor, and poorly 
educated even in the branches of a common 
education; then he doubted his capacity: he 
hardly thought he had talent fit for such an 



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WHAT TO DO. 29 

oflSce. Besides, his parents needed help, and 
was it not his duty to qualify himself to assist 
them as soon as possible? 

Many days and nights he pondered this ques- 
tion of duty. One day as he was riding along 
on his father's horse thinking these matters 
over, he fell to musing, and imagined himself 
transported to some foreign land as a mission- 
ary, engaged in preaching the gospel to the 
heathen ; and he almost fancied himself kneel- 
ing under the bushes and among the rocks, 
drawing down blessings by faith and prayer. 
For a time he forgot where he was. And 
when at last he awoke from his dream, he 
found the bridle loose on the horse's neck, and 
the hors6 standing under a large tree in a lane, 
eating grass. It appeared to him that for 
some time he had been surrounded by a great 
congregation, whom he had been begging to 
flee from the wrath to come, and who accepted 
salvation through Jesus Christ. One thing 
was certain, he had been weeping a great deal, 
for the pommel of his saddle and the horse's 
shoulders were wet with his tears ; and he rode 
home with a sweet feeling of peace such as 
could not be described. 



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30 NO PAINS, NO aAINS. 

Then the uppermost thought was to give up 
all idea of trade, and devote himself to study 
for the gospel ministry. 

But a different path lay out before him. And 
the final decision was, that he should go into 
his brother Henry's store at Kingswood, and 
serve with him a regular apprenticeship of 
seven years. 

Samuel had laid up at this time the sum of 
thirty pounds, the fruit of his own earnings and 
savings — a handsome sum for a boy of his age 
to be master of. Now, what do you suppose he 
did with it? Invested in bank-stock at six 
per cent., it would have been a nice little capi- 
tal to have started business with at twenty- 
one. He did invest it, but not in bank-stock. 
On leaving home, he made a present of it to his 
mother. And he always considered it the best 
investment he ever made, for he says, " JVb in- 
vestment under the sky is so sure as a parents 
bkssing" 

Let the boys think of that. It should be 
written in letters of gold. " There is no in- 
vestment under the sky so sure as a parent's 
blessing." 

With such a parting gift to his dear mother, 

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LEAVINa HOME. 31 

Samuel started for Kingswood. His brother's 
shop was a variety-store, containing almost 
every thing which might be wanted in the 
families of the colliers. It was called the 
" great shop on the cassy." All around wep e 
the rude and humble houses of the collier pop- 
ulation. Some were thrifty and comfortable, 
others poor and comfortless ; the people, as a 
class, were ignorant and degraded ; there were 
many circumstances which hindered thfeir moral 
and social improvement, and nourished the 
worst passions of the human heart. Almost in 
the immediate neighborhood were nests of rob- 
bers, who prowled by night around the farms 
and hamlets of the vicinity, and stole whatever 
they could lay their hands on. Many a time, 
when the farmers and constables were search- 
ing their premises for stolen goods, the thieves 
would show them their own pigs and poultry, 
dead and picked, and defy them to prove their 
property. 

This was home heathenism. If Samuel there- 
fore wanted opportunities to do missionary 
work, Kingswood offered ample room for all 
labors of the kind. Indeed, every young per- 
son with a heart to do good, can find a great 

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32 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

deal of good to do not very far from his own 
door. 

Samuel soon found his hands full of shop- 
work, from morning till night, all the week. 
By six in the morning he was expected to be on 
duty, and often his labors were not closed until 
ten or eleven at night. The work was very 
hard ; there was a great deal of heavy lifting, 
and many errands to be done in Bristol, requir- 
ing a swift foot. It was work, work, work, 
with hardly interval enough for rest, or any 
leisure to improve his mind by reading, except 
on Sunday,' and Sunday was a welcome aild 
precious day to poor Samuel. Its sacred hours 
he highly prized ; its opportunities for improve- 
ment he diligently cultivated. 

There was a little chapel close by his broth- 
er's, where 4ihe family worshipped ; and there 
Samuel used to go every Sabbath morning, eager 
to hear the preaching, and delighted to engage 
in the devotions of the people of God. The 
sermons were a great treat to him, and lest he 
should forget any thing by the way, or have his 
mind diverted from the truth by hearing foolish 
or unprofitable talk, he often stopped his ears 
on his way home. In pleasant weather he 

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THE APPRENTICBSHIP. 33 

would betake himself to the solitude of an old 
quarry behind the house, and there, seated* upon 
a piece of slag, would review the sermon, study 
his Bible, and learn sacred poetry, striving to 
store up treasures of divine truth to feed his 
soul upon during the week. No gains without 
pains, Samuel felt, in heavenly as well as in 
earthly gettings. 

I am sure Samuel must have been a good 
boy — ^faithful and diligent you are ready to 
believe. But for some cause or other he failed 
to satisfy his brother ; and his brother, after 
two or three years' trial, gave hhn notice to 
qpit, allowing him a month to look out for 
another situation. It was a heavy blow to the 
poor boy. What could he do ? If his brother 
turned him away, what reasonable expectation 
was there of his getting another place? He 
however heard of a vacancy in a store in Bris- 
tol, and resolved to apply for it without delay. 
When he reached the door, his heart failed 
him^ for he knew his size and appearance and 
clothes were all against him. Samuel was 
small of his age, and not very stout. Plucking 
np courage, he ventured in, and offered his ser- 
vices. 

No Paioa. 3 

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34 NO PAINS, NO aAlNS. 

'^ I am afraid you are not strong enough for 
my situation," said the shop-keeper. 

" do try me, sir ; I am sure I can do," said 
the boy. 

"Can you write your address?" asked Mr. 

B . 

. Samuel was not quite sure what "address" 
meant, but he said, "I can write an invoice, 
sir." Do the boys who read this know what 
"invoice" means? 

"Very well," said the shop-keeper, "write 
eighty-six pounds of bacon, at nine and a half 
pence per pound." 

Samuel wrote it, but the reckoning was 
wrong. He tried a second time, and failed. 
How badly he felt. Just then a young man, 
tall and well-dressed, entered the shop on the 
same errand for which Samuel was on trial. 
What hope was there for him? The shop- 
keeper's wife, however, was pleased with the 
boy's looks, and she urged a word in his favor. 

"He is not strong enough," said the shop- 
keeper; "he could never carry those heavy 
cheeses." 

" Do try me, sir," pleaded Samuel ; " I am sure 
I can do it." And instantly going to work 



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THE APPRENTICESHIP. 35 

among the cheeses, he showed so mucli spirit 
that the man concluded to take him. 

He was dismissed from his brother's store on 
the score of "want of ability," as was found re- 
corded on Henry's books. The result will show 
that masters may be mistaken in the capacities 
of their apprentices, and that boys, even if they 
do their best, need not be discouraged if they 
fail to suit their first employers. 

Before going to Bristol, he determined to pay 
his parents a visit at Goleford, and a younger 
brother, who was an apprentice in Bristol, got 
leave to go with him. Leaving Kingswood 
under such circumstances, was a sore trial to 
poor Samuel. He felt it something in the light 
of a disgrace. Before leaving, he asked his 
brother for a character, for I suppose he was 
conscious of having done as well as he could. 
Henry gave him one. At first he was afraid to 
open the paper and look at it, but turning into 
a little gate by the roadside to hide his agita- 
tion, he ventured to peep in, and was greatly 
relieved to find his want of strength given as 
a reason fo^his dismissal. 

The boys started on their journey on foot. 
And how do you suppose they employed their 

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36 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

time ? The younger brother had been at better 
schools, and his stock of learning, small as it 
probably was, was superior to Samuel's. Sam- 
uel therefore determined to take advantage 
of his brother's knowledge ; and as they trav- 
elled, they practised addition, multiplication, and 
division on all the bacon, butter, cheese, and 
chickens they could think of. Samuel was anx- 
ious to become a ready and accurate reckoner, 
and a persevering use of even his slender ad- 
vantages he well knew would increase his skill. 
" No gains without pains," was his maxim. 

The boys were so much interested in their 
arithmetic, that they lost their reckoning of the 
road. Night overtook them far from Coleford, 
but near the friendly warmth of a coke-kiln ; 
and tired enough, they concluded to lie down 
and pass the night by the fire. Early the next 
morning, a cartman passing that way, offered 
the boys a ride, which they were very thankful 
to accept, for the ride carried them home in 
good season for breakfast. 

A family meeting as happy as unexpected, it 
no doubt was. The boys had much to tell, their 
parents much to hear, and the little children 
many questions to ask. If Samuel's pleasure 

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THE APPRENTICESHIP. 37 

was at all damped, and I suppose it was by 
his brother's course, it received a farther check 
by the signs of hard times which he saw at 
home. His father, some years older than his 
mother, was well along in life, and perhaps 
could do little for the family maintenance. 
PoTcrty sometimes pinched. He was afraid 
that the struggle must sometimes be severe, 
and he felt deeply for his mother, whose cares 
and labors were outrunning her strength. How 
he longed to be in a situation to help her ; how 
he longed to lift from her the load of care, and 
place her in ease and comfort. Samuel's cour- 
age revived. He was determined to do his 
best. He would, God willing, be something. 
His resolution took a fresh start. His affec- 
tions fired up all the energy of his character, 
and after a few days' visit, he left Coleford to 
try his fortune in Bristol. 

On the journey back, he met a man with a 
jay to sell. The pretty bird attracted his notice, 
and he bought it for six cents. Having a few 
hours to spare after reaching Bristol, he took 
his stand on the bridge where there were many 
passers-by, and offered his jay for sale. Nobody 
seemed disposed to buy. The day was wearing 



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38 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

away, and the bird unsold. He then left his 
stand, and offered it from house to house ; this 
succeeded, and he sold it at a profit of eighteen 
cents. "No gains without pg^ins," Samuel 
thouglit. 

The next morning he went to his new mas- 
ter. Both the man and his wife received him 
kindly. They soon discovered his worth, and 
prized his services. Samuel was greatly en- 
couraged, and very happy was he with theso 
good people. While in his brother^s employ- 
ment, he had no opportunity of earning any 
thing extra for himself. But by some means or 
other, we find him at this time the possessor of 
fifteen shillings, which is nearly four dollars of 
our money. You remember how he invested 
bis thirty pounds. Perhaps you would like 
also to know how he disposed of this. 

Two of his sisters came to live in Bristol ; 
they were trying to maintain themselves, per- 
haps by sewing, and Samuel, of course, was 
desirous to lend them a helping hand. One 
day he went to a coal-pit, and laid out all his 
money in coal, to be carted to his sisters' lodg- 
ings. So ready was he to answer the calls of 
family affection* 



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THE APPRENTICESHIP. 39 

In Mr. Arthur's life of Samuel Budgett there 
are some remarks upon earning and giving 
money, whiqh I want every one who reads this 
to have the benefit of. Rev. Mr. Arthur is an 
English gentleman, who wrote a large and in- 
teresting boof called "The Successful Mer- 
chant," which I hope you will get and read. 
He says John Wesley, in a powerful sermon 
on the use of money, lays down these three' 
rules : " Make all you can ; save all you can ; 
give all you can." Both from natural disposi- 
tion and early habit, Samuel seemed when a 
boy to understand and act upon these princi- 
ples, whether he had then ever heard the ser- 
mon or not. To make, to save, to give, he set 
himself. To make without saving, is useless 
and absurd ; to save without giving, is miserly; 
to make and then save, is wise ; to save and 
then give, is Christian. 

Which did Samuel do? I want you to stop 
and think about his course, because it is worth 
remembering. If you ever do business, it is 
very important to have some definite notions, 
some clear Christian principles, in regard to 
the value and the use of money. 

He had not been long away from Kingswood 

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40 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

before Henry Budgett was sensible what a loss 
he had met with, and what a mistake he had 
made, in parting with his brother. He bitterly 
regretted it, for nobody could supply his place, 
and he was bent upon having him back. Very 

naturally Mr. B was loath lo give Samuel 

up, for a better clerk, of his age, he had never 
had in his employment. Indeed, he could not 
•think of parting with him, and was'^illing to 
give him high wages to stay. Very naturally 
Samuel was loath to leave. He was thoroughly 
appreciated, had received great kindness, and 
was very happy in his Bristol home. 

But Henry urged that it was his doty to 
serve out his apprenticeship, according to the 
old agreement; and Samuel, always tender 
and scrupulous on every point of duty and con- 
science, yielded at last to this argument — if 
sound argument it was, for his dismissal would 
seem to relieve him from any thing like moral 
obligation to return. In doing so, he gave up 
a good salary for a bare support until the close 
of his legal stay, at twenty-one. 

Samuel then went back to the old shop in 
Kingswood, for which perhaps he felt a linger- 
ing affection ; for his parents first opened it, and 



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^ THE APPEENTICESHIP. 41 

there he spent some of the most interesting 
days of his childhood. He was now about 
eighteen. If his brother was glad of his return, 
the customers certainly were also : he was so 
obliging, so attentive, so anxious to do the best 
for you ; there was so much heart in every 
thing he did. The old market-women rather 
wait a long time in order to be served by him ; 
indeed, they thought he gave better weight and * 
measure than any body else. The people all 
around loved him as a son and brother. Many 
a choice apple and bunch of gooseberries from 
nice little gardens were brought to him. And 
very grateful was he for these little gifts, but 
he never ate them : they were delicacies whicli 
he denied himself, and hoarded up to take over 
to a poor old pious aunt living in Bristol ; so 
thoughtful and interested was he in the smallest 
things which could administer to the comfort 
and gratification of others. 

Whatever Samuel did, he did with his might. 
All the minute details of business he carefully 
and faithfully attended to. No slipshod, half- 
way work ever came frpm his hands, ^e 
always used to say, in whatever calling a Chris- 
tian is found, he should strive to be the best in 



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42 NO PAINS, NO aAINS. 

his calling : if only a shoeblack, he ought to 
be the best shoeblack in the neighborhood^ 

The apostle sums up this principle in a short 
verse, which is of amazing value ; it is this, 
" Whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as unto the 
Lord." These few words are charged with a 
great deal of hidden power. 

You know how much more circumspectly 
children behave, and how much more faithfully 
they do their work, if they know their parents 
are looking on. What energy a boy often 
throws into his studies, if he feels that the 
teacher ^s eye is fixed upon him. And so, with 
what diligence, what fidelity, what painstaking 
are those likely to enter upon their work who 
truly feel that God gave it to them to do, and 
that he is constantly minding just how they 
do it. 

On SamuePs return to Kingswood, his mis- 
sionary zeal found an outlet, and we are thank- 
ful to follow him into more direct efforts to do 
good in the neighborhoods around him. I told 
you about a nest of thieves not very far from 
Hdhry Budgett's ; they lived at a place called 
Cockroad, and were called Cockroadites, the 
terror and dislike of all decent people. And 

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THE APPRENTICESHIP. 43 

their scores of children were growing up in all 
the vices of their parents, like the very hea- 
then. Could any thing be done in their be- 
half? Wlwt could be done? These were pretty 
serious questions agitated by the pious people 
of Kingswood. Ought they to be longer neg- 
lected? "No, they ought not," said Henry 
Budgett; "we must make efforts to reclaim 
them ; we must give them the gospel/' It was 
proposed to establish a Sabbath-school on the 
spot, and Samuel entered into the plan with 
all the earnestness of his character. We can 
readily suppose no person was better suited to 
visit the parents, and conciliate their good-will, 
than he. The school was opened in July, 1812 ; 
and to their surprise, on the first day seventy- 
five children made their appearance, fifty-eight 
of whom did not know their alphabet. Was 
not the effort worth making? 

" Many of them," says one of the teachers, 
" are children of the notorious tribe of Cock- 
roadites, some of whose fathers are now in 
prison ; and many of them, with their parents, 
are entirely dependent on a system of robbing 
and plunder for their support." 

Here then was a field of Christian usefulness 

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44 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

demanding patience and prayer, and a true love 
of souls for Christ's sake. Of children Samuel 
was very fond. His kind and genial manners 
won their affections. He entered into their 
circle of sympathies and interests. He made 
them his study. He understood how to talk 
with them, and was always on the watch for 
suitable anecdotes and stories to illustrate and 
impress the truth. His power over them be- 
came very great ; and few people could inter- 
est audiences of children, hold their attention, 
and touch their consciences, like Mr. Samuel 
Budgett. For you remember he acted upon the 
principle, that every thing worth doing, was 
worth doing in the best way possible; and 
although he had had small advantages for edu- 
cation and mental improvement, he became an 
excellent, devoted, and successful Sabbath-school 
teacher — one of the best sort. " No gains with- 
out. pains." No excellence without effort. 

Pew young men, perhaps, realized more the 
value of time, and consequently few made a 
better use of it. How did he learn its value? 
I will tell you the principle upon which this 
valuation was made ; it is an important one. 

"You think," he wrote to a friend, "that if 

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THE APPRENTICESHIP. 45 

you were obliged to labor from morning till 
night, this would teach you the value of time. 
Is not this a mistake? Can any thing so eflfec- 
tually teach us its value as a deep conviction 
that it is not our cvm^ but an important talent 
put into our hands, for which we must give a 
strict account at the great, the general audit of 
all our accounts with our Maker? If so, of 
how little importance is it to us what may be 
the nature or number of our engagements, so 
long as we may secure at last the blessed plau- 
dit of 'well done' from Him whose approba- 
tion alone it is that gives real value to every 
thing in heaven or earth." 

Here is a letter, written towards the close of 
his apprenticeship, which will help to disclose 
more of his character. 

"KiNGSYTOOD Hill, August 29. 

" Mr VERY DEAR Friend — Your aflfectionate 
letter I received last week. After I had dis- 
missed the business of the day, I retired to my 
room, sat down, and began to think — How long 
is it since I received Mr. M 's book of. ex- 
tracts? How long since he asked me to s^d 
him a plan for keeping a commonplace-book? 
Turning to my little library. Why did I place 

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46 NO PAINS, NO aAINS. 

SO many books on those shelves? I asked. The 
feelings of my mind on that occasion I cannot 
describe to you ; I believe it was something like 
one awaking from a dream who ought to have 
been on an important journey some hours be- 
fore. I saw that all my powers had been in a 
state of dormancy. I began to reflect on your 
past kindness, and considered that I had not 
even read all your book, though I intended copy- 
ing a great deal of it. How plainly did I see, 
and to my sorrow feel the truth of your obser- 
vation, that the mind once enlightened and hav- 
ing lost the love of God, is in a more inactive 
state than ever. I saw that my mind had been 
swallowed up in business, to the great neglect 
of my spiritual and mental concerns. I con- 
sidered that I had been but little different for 
seven years ; and from your letter, I thought 
you appeared to be sinking into the same state. 
After passing some time — for I took no sup- 
per that night, but stayed in my room reason- 
ing and endeavoring to think on what had pass- 
ed till bedtime — I thought, What a deplorable 
state we are in. What can be done ? And I 
determined to do something. I took up my 
pen, and wrote down a few little things that I 



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THE APPRENTICESHIP. 47 

had neglected, and resolved to execute them in 
order, and as fast as possible, praying for the 
blessing of God on my weak endeavors. 

" Join with me, my dear friend, join with me 
in praying that the Lord may add his blessing 
to my resolutions, and I believe we shall soon 
see better days. Let us look to that God who 
has promised, * I will instruct thee, and teach 
thee in the way which thou shalt go ; I will 
guide thee with mine eye.' *I am the light of 
the world ; he that foUoweth me shall not walk 
in darkness, but shall have the light of life.' 
Surely we err in not following him more closely ; 
perhaps we have not thought highly enough of 
our calling. Let us begin to double our diligence, 
and henceforth walk as children of the light. 

** Inclosed you have a small book with the in- 
dex to Locke's commonplace-book ruled in it, 
of which I must beg your acceptance as a small 
token of my love and affection for you. I have 
not written a list of my books yet, but hope to 
do so, and will send it to you in my next. 

" As it respects my coming to Prome, I thank 
you for your kind invitation. I have intended 
going, but I assure you, when it comes to the 
point, I have no inclination to go anywhere ; 

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48 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

for if I cannot find happiness at home, it is in 
vain to seek it anywhere else. I think, if I 
were to come with the determination to enjoy 
the company of my friends by going to any 
places of recreation or amusement, though I am 
very fond of such kind of enjoyments, particu- 
larly where religion and real happiness is the 
subject of conversation, yet it may tend rather 
to divert my mind from God as the source of 
my happiness, than unite it to him. But for 
one thing I have long felt an earnest, though 
secret desire ; which is, to spend a little time 

with you and Mr. T alone, where no object 

but God could attract our attention ; that we 
may, by devout conversation, by humble, fer- 
vent, faithful prayer, get our souls united to 
each other, and to God our living head, by the 
strongest ties of love and affection. 

"Pray for me, my dear friend. I have only 
one more request to make ; that is, that you 
will write soon, and believe me your affection- 
ate friend, 

«S. B." 

This letter is worth many readings. How 
many young men, young men professing piety, 
find their own feelings answer to its sentiments? 



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BUSINESS PEINCIPLES AND HABITS. 49 

CHAPTER III. 

BUSINESS PRINCIPLES AND HABITS. 

When Samuel completed his apprenticeship, 
and was free, his brother hired him for three 
years, on a salary of forty pounds for the first 
year, fifty for the next, and sixty for the third. 
At the end of the three- years, he had saved 
from this, one hundred pounds, or five hundred 
dollars. 

What did he do with it? The investment 
which he made of his thirty pounds, and of his 
fifteen shillings, you readily remember. They 
were put in the bank of family affection. And 
this went the same way. His brother Henry 
had engaged in a banking speculation, which 
proved to be a failure. His credit and prop- 
erty wete in danger. Samuel went to him and 
begged him to accept his one hundred pounds ; 
which he did, and which relieved him of his 
difficulties. The young man's care and love 
for his family were very great ; doing W them 
was like doing for himself. 

NaFaina. 4 

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60 NO PAINS, NO aAINS. 

At the close of the three years, Henry took 
him into partnership, and this opened a wider 
scope to his powers. Already the business had 
thriven through his insight and energy; and 
more immediately under his control, it was des- 
tined to increase more and more. It was one 
of his favorite maxims, that " business is what 
it is made to be ;" good, bad, indifferent, hon- 
est, or dishonest— just what it is made to be by 
the master-mind which conducts it. 

The first great principle on which business 
was conducted by the Budgetts was cash pay- 
ments. Do you know what that is? Goods 
were not bought or sold on credit. Articles 
were not charged on the books, to be paid for at 
some future time — often very future. They were 
paid for at the time of buying, in cash, or at 
least at a given time not many weeks or days 
oflF. In this way they avoided many "bad 
debts;" that is, losses from customers who, 
after three, or four, or six months, might find 
themselves in no situation to pay at all. The 
consequence of this system is, that merchants 
and traders know, with some degree of cer- 
tainty, just where they are, in almost every 
stage of their business. 

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BUSINESS PRINCIPLES AND HABITS. 51 

The store began small, and gradually en- 
larged. When Samuel first entered it, it was 
only a small retail shop. A great many of the 
customers Were women, who came from the 
neighboring villages on donkeys; and often- 
times a great crowd of donkeys testified how 
many customers there were on hand, making a 
smart day's business behind the counters. Sam- 
uel thought, why not go around into the villa- 
gesy and get the orders of their customers ; it 
would save them trouble, it would secure their 
custom, and it would open ways to extend 
business. When Samuel joined the firm, he 
proposed this. Henry objected ; he liked the 
old way of doing things. Samuel, however, pre- 
vailed over him, and gained his point ; and soon 
he might have been seen setting ofif alone at 
stated times, going the rounds of the little vil- 
lages in the vicinity, Pucklechurch and Doyn- 
ton, and I do not know how many others, to 
meet his customers and get their orders for 
goods; his kind cheerful manners won upon 
every body who saw him, and he made friends 
wherever he went. From supplying families, 
he soon talked of supplying goods to the small- 
er shops. "It would be a great benefit to 

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62 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

US," said the small shop-keepers. But Henry 
interfered. " Don't let us think of going into 
the wholesale trade," he said ; " let us stick to 
the old course." 

" We can but try a little extension in a small 
way," urged Samuel ; " there is no risk." Henry 
was again obliged to give way, for there was 
no resisting a mind so ardent and resolute as 
Samuel's. And before long, the Budget ts sup- 
plied groceries to a large number of little shops 
dotting the country round ; for England, you 
know, is more thickly settled than this country 
is, and there was a large population in and 
around Bristol. 

An opportunity soon opened for further ex- 
tension. And it is the work of a sagacious 
mind to perceive these opportunities when they 
occur, and to take advantage of them. It is 
this which promises success to the merchant. 

The firm bought a large quantity of butter 
very cheap ; in a few days, a rise in the price of 
butter took place in the market. "I will take 
this occasion," said Samuel, " to visit some of 
the large stores and offer to trade, for in this 
case it will evidently be for their advantage to 
buy." With him to purpose was to act, and 

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BUSINESS PEINCIPLES AND HABITS. 53 

therefore he undertook h journey into some of 
the large towns ; but when it came to the point, 
he felt a little hesitation about facing men more 
largely engaged in trade. He however soon 
dashed that away ; but he encountered, as he 
feared, many rudenesses and rebuffs. " Where 
are you from?" asked a man, in reply to his 
offers of the butter. "Kingswood," answered 
Samuel. " Kingswood !" cried the man scorn- 
fully ; "you had better go back to Kingswood 
and mind your shop, and noLtry to sell us goods 
at Frome." Kingswood, you know, had a poor 
reputation, and people were slow to believe 
any good thing could come out of Kingswood. 
These rebuffs did not discourage the young 
man — not they. Besides, he succeeded in get- 
ting a few orders for his butter, for there were 
sensible men found who were willing to lay 
aside their pride, and candidly to acknowledge 
it was for their advantage to buy even from 
a shop at Kingswood. In a month he went 
around again, visited the same stores, met with 
pretty much the same sort of treatment, served 
faithfully his few customers, and perhaps got 
one or two more. Little by little he gained 
upon the prejudices of the people. Nothing 

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64 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

damped him. " Try, try again/' was his motto. 
"No gains without pains." 

Never a single customer was neglected. The 
humblest was served with the same promptness 
and attention as the largest. With such reso- 
lution and energy, no wonder that business 
grew surprisingly, and that the foundation of a 
wholesale trade was laid on a firm footing. 
People began to stare, and look astonished. 
"What are the Budge tts about?" they said; 
and what was still more remarkable, they 
thought every body that dealt with them seem- 
ed to thrive also, for I suppose the firm 
breathed its own energy into every body that 
came in contact with it. That is the great 
advantage of being connected with men of 
thorough business habits ; you get their habits. 
Of Samuel's perseverance you have had good 
proof; now let us glance at his notions of 

HONESTY. 

At the time he began business, pepper in 
England lay under a heavy tax. In conse- 
quence of it, pepper was commonly adulter- 
ated ; in almost every grocery store there 
might be seen a cask labelled P. D., (pepper 
dust,) filled with dust resembling pepper, with 

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BUSINESS PRINCIPLES AND HABITS. 55 

wbich real pepper was mixed before it was 
sold ; of course, a very much adulterated arti- 
cle. It had grown into a custom of the trade, 
and men regarded honest did it without stop- 
ping to think, or to question the principle 
which it involved. 

A cask with P. D. marked on it was also 
found in Henry Budgett's store. As soon as 
Samuel had a responsibility in the store, his 
conscience began to grumble. That "every 
body did so," was an argument of no weight 
with him. If every body did vyrong, it became 
him, then, to do right. It was " only a irick 
of the trade.'' But he did not believe in a trade 
that had tricks, or that could stoop to tricks, in 
order to live. The more he thought of it, the 
more he hated the sight of that ugjy cask. It 
was neither more or less than a hypocrite, and 
he liked genuine things, goods or men. Besides, 
he was very sure he could not dare ask the hless" 
ing of God upon the use it was put to, and this 
decided him. He resolved instantly to act. It 
was night. He went into the store, rolled out 
the cask down to the old quarry where he used, 
when a boy, to pass a portion of his Sabbaths, 
and there he stovo it in, and scattered the 

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56 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

P. D. to the four winds. His conscience was 
clear. After he got home and was in bed, he 
remembered the staves ; there was no need of 
wasting them, he thought ; and the first thing 
the next morning he went to the quarry, gatli- 
ered them up, and put them aside for a better 
use. 

This is what Christian principle does. It is 
often said, there is more or less deception in 
trade, and that few articles are genuine where 
there can be clever cheating. We should be 
very sorry to believe this, or to suppose that 
success in business must in any way depend 
upon deception; or that the many Christian 
men engaged in trade would for one moment 
lend themselves to underhand dealings, or to 
any practices that would shun the daylight of 
common honesty.* 

On another occasion, a man professing to be 
a Christian came to Samuel one day, oflfering 
to tell him a secret which would put him in the 
way of making a good deal of money. Upon 
what conditions the secret was disclosed, I do 
not know ; but it proved to be a receipt for 
making sham vinegar at a very slight cost. 

" What," cried Samuel Budget, when he fairly 

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iifl'j|i'fiilll!l^ 




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BUSINESS PEINCIPLES AND HABITS. 57 

found out what it was, " do you want to lead me 
into a dealing like this ? If you are resolved 
to go to hell yourself, why should you try to 
drag me with you?" 

The man found himself at the wrong coun- 
ter to peddle sham wares. And the young 
merchant's honest indignation he did not prob- 
ably soon forget. Indeed, he believed there 
was a right way to do almost every thing. 

See what principle he infused into, and what 
a value he put upon a virtue too much neg- 
lected, if not quite despised, in these days, 
but a virtue of great pricey the virtue of 

ECONOMY. 

Passing through a chamber in one of his 
warehouses one day, where a new hand was at 
work cutting out paper bags to be used in the 
shop, he immediately saw that the boy did not 
do his work in the best manner, for he wasted 
both time and paper. He stopped and kindly 
showed the lad how — ^how to improve — how to 
make paper hags right, cutting out several bags 
himself, and pointing out the economy to be 
used in the use of the material,* for even paper 
was not to be wasted. 

" Of course," he said to the youth, " it would 



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58 NO PAINS, NO aAINS. 

be wronging me for you to continue to make the 
bags your way, and I suppose you would not 
wish to injure your employer, even in so small 
a thing as this. But think for a moment of 
the injury you would be doing to yourself if, 
when you have a business of your own, you 
have not learned how to manage it with econ- 
omy ; and you must take your first lessons in 
economy in things of this kind." 

Even an old nail had its value. Two or three 
boys were kept in the establishment, after it 
became large, whose sole business was to pick 
up and hammer out old nails. This was the 
first thing a boy was set to do. If he ham- 
mered out old nails well, he was put to mend 
bags under the master bag-mender ; this was his 
first step in promotion : if he mended bags well, 
he was promoted to be a messenger ; and so he 
rises from step to step, according to his ability 
and industry. But \hQ foundation of promotion 
and success is laid in doing the best you can at 
the anvil, or on the old bags. 

Little things were never for one moment to 
be neglected because they were little. Boys, 
as clerks or in work-shops, often grumble at 
the small and insignificant things which they at 



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BUSINESS PRINCIPLES AND HABITS. 59 

first are often employed about. They do not 
know that these are tests of their ability and 
disposition to work. They do not know how 
much depends upon doing these well — taking 
pains to do them well. And many a boy has 
left a good place from a false notion that he 
was not doing much, because his tasks were 
humble ; forgetting that fidelity to these was the 
only sure stepping-stone to higher duties. Let 
boys try always to remember that little habits, 
like all little things, more than make up by 
their number what they seem to lack in indiyid- 
nal importance. They are the true seeds of 
character. We might' as weU plant acorns and 
not expect them to grow, as cherish small tIccs 
and bad habits, and not expect them to increase ; 
or as reasonably expect to see the fine and no- 
ble oak where no acorns were planted, as true 
greatness and success in life where the seed- 
lings of a thousand habits of industry and vir- 
tue had not been first carefully cultivated. 

PuNCTUAUTY was another of these little 
habits to which Samuel Bndgett attached great 
importance in all the great and small affiairs of 
life. And punctual himself, he took pains to 
make his clerks and workmen so. As business 



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60 NO PAINS, NO aAINS. 

increased, a large number of persons were em- 
ployed. " When I first knew the business/' said 
an old man, "it had only five men and three 
horses ; now, three hundred men and one hun- 
dred horses are no more than enough." And 
all these he was anxious to educate into that 
measure of promptness and efficiency which 
would make their services of value. His own 
example must have been powerful. But I 
suppose he found something more was neces- 
' sary to stimulate dull minds and quicken lag- 
ging feet, and he accordingly adopted a plan, 
which Mr. Arthur thus describes. "At six 
o'clock work began. By the side of the gate 
\<^hich admitted the men into the wide enclo- 
sure where business was transacted, hung a 
black-board divided into squares ; each square 
was numbered and contained a nail, and on 
this nail hung a little copper plate. Each man 
had his number, and as he went out for the 
night, he took his plate with him, leaving of 
course his number exposed on the board. As he 
entered he hung the plate on his nail, so covering 
his number. The moment the bell ceased ring- 
ing — ^for there was a bell for business hours — 
the board was taken down, and all whose num- 

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BUSINESS PRINCIPLES AND HABITS. 61 

bers were not covered were marked defaulters. 
Those whose names were not found on the list 
of defaulters at the end of the year, were hand- 
somely rewarded." The men liked it ; it braced 
them up, and although many came three or four 
miles, they made it a point to be in season. 

Mr. Budgett never allowed himself to be a 
minute late in keeping his engagements ; he felt 
he had no right to steal others' time: and if 
any thing providentially did hinder him on the 
way, he made sincere apologies, even to a child. 

With all this punctuality came dispatch. 
During the busy season, after their business 
had greatly increased, the men were often kept 
at work until ten or eleven o'clock at night. 
This greatly troubled Mr. Samuel Budgett ; he 
could not bear to have it so. 

" The men ought to be at home with their 
families," he would say ; " they ought not to be 
here." By rearranging matters, the bell to 
leave off work was rung at half past eight. But 
this did not long satisfy him. " I do not like to 
see you here," he would say; "you must be at 
home evenings ; you must have time for read- 
ing ; you must have opportunity to take care of 
your souls ; we must get done sooner here." 



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62 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

He then fixed upon seven o'clock to leave : 
that, people said, was impossible ; business could 
not be finished. But that which was best and 
right to do, Mr. Budgett thought covld be done. 
He did not stick at small difi&culties, or create 
impossibilities out of mere difficulties. He 
meant to do right by his men, whether or no. 
He finally pitched upon six o'clock as the reg- 
ular hour to quit work. And such was the 
energy, method, and dispatch infused into every 
department of labor throughout this great ware- 
house, one hundred and eighty feet long, by 
three hundred and fifty feet at its greatest 
depth, that six o'clock found the clerks, sales- 
men, porters, wagoners, coopers, and I do not 
know how many others, with their day's work 
done, and loell done. As you pass from loft to 
loft, office to office, yard to yard, visit the sta- 
bles where forty or fifty horses are stabled, the 
carpenter's shop, the cooper's shop, you perhaps 
wonder how they ever get through. What mul- 
titudes of cheeses ; how many tierces of sugar ; 
then the bags of coffee, heaps of canary-seed, 
chests of tea, flour-barrels and flour-bags, rai- 
sins, etc. The Budgetts were "general pro- 
duce merchants," and you can guess the variety 

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BUSINESS PElNClPLES AND HABITS. 63 

and the quantity of things housed under their 
ample roof. 

"But are not the men hurried and flurried?" 
Nothing was more remarkable about this gigan- 
tic hive, than the "marvellous order" which 
everywhere prevailed. There was no confu- 
sion, no clashing. And it was very evident 
that every body, from the boy who was picking 
up crooked nails to the soberest clerk at his 
desk, felt each that he had a responsible work 
to do ; and that it was his interest and happi- 
ness, no less than his duty, to do it well. 

Well-doing had its reward.. Mr. Budgett 
knew the characters of the men in his employ- 
ment. He made their characteristics and hab- 
its a study. He sympathized with them, invit- 
ed their confidence, counselled them, visited 
their families, and showed them that he was 
not only or merely the head of aflfairs, but their 
friend, and their best interests he wished to 
further as well as his own. 

One of his men said he would get twice as 
much out of them as any other master. How ; 
by overworking them? We have seen that 
was not the way, but by teaching them how to 
work skilfully; by an honest sympathy with, 

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64 NO PAINS, *N0 aAINS. 

and a hearty appreciation of their labors, and 
by rewarding theja according to their diligence 
and improvement. 

" Remember the gothic door," was sometimes 
whispered into the ear of an idler — ^if idlers 
were indeed allowed a place there, which may 
be doubted — at any rate, into the ear of any 
showing a disposition to shirk or lag. 

"Eemember the gothic door." What did 
this mean ? The gate, I suppose, through which 
the men passed out at night, was of a gothic 
form ; for here Mr. Budgett was often found 
standing on Friday night, his pocket looking 
very portly, and a basket in hand filled with 
small packages. As the men passed him, he 
gave a parcel to one and to another, which on 
being opened when they got home, were found 
to contain five shillings, or three shillings, or a 
crown, or half a crown,, or something to show 
his estimate of their industry and faithfulness. 
Nor were the boys forgotten. They also re- 
ceived their pennies, as few or many as their 
diligence deserved; for the deserving were 
never overlooked. 

" He never had a good year, but I was the 
better for it when stock-taking came," said one. 

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BUSINESS PRINCIPLES AND HABITS. 65 

" At stock-taking he has sometimes given me 
a hundred pounds/' said another who had been 
long in his service, after relating the pains Mr, 
Budgett had taken to make him what he was, 

" He was a man as had no pleasure in muckin 
up money," adds another. "Why, he would 
often in that way give, aye, I believe, twenty 
pounds on a Friday night — well, at any rate, 
fifteen." 

To his clerks and other men in the employ- 
ment, he would often reply, " JIfy business? It 
is not my business, but ours" He wanted every 
body to feel a joint interest in the concern, an 
aflFectionate participation in all its fortunes. 

After stock-taking, which began at twelve 
o'clock on a certain day, and was all finished 
up long before twelve at night, a supper was 
usually given to the men, besides on other oc- 
casions when they were gathered together for 
social enjoyment and recreation. Here is a 
short notice of one of these occasions^ taken 
from a Bristol paper, which will give you some 
idea of what they were. You will see it was 
after Mr. Budgett had been long in business, 
and after his store had been removed from 
Kingswood to Bristol, the occasion of which I 



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66 HO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

shall relate to you. His home always remained 
at Kingswood. 

"On Friday last," says the newspaper, " the 
neighborhood of Nelson-street was enlivened 
by a gay and busy movement in the establish- 
ment of Messrs. Budgett. The annual festival 
given to their men was on this occasion pro- 
vided for them at the country residence of one 
of the partners, Samuel Budgett, Esq., of Kings- 
wood Hill. Coaches, omnibuses, and carriages 
of nearly every description, were put in requi- 
sition to carry the inmates of this hive of in- 
dustry to the spot. Ample preparation was 
there found for the recreation both of the body 
and the mind. At two o'clock, about two 
hundred of their business staff sat down to a 
sumptuous dinner in the open air on the lawn 
near the house, where the * good cheer ' found a 
cordial welcome and a hearty dispatch. This 
being ended, the party was soon joined by their 
wives and friends, to spend with each other the 
remainder of the day. There were athletic exer- 
cises, games, and a band of music. The pleas- 
ure-grounds, fruit-garden, and shrubberies were 
all thrown open to the company, and never was 
there a sceAe of greater enjoyment and social 

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BUSINESS PEINCIPLES AND HABITS. 67 

union. In the evening were three or four hun- 
dred assembled for tea under a large covered 
building, after which some animated speeches 
were delivered by the gentlemen present, among 
whom were the clergy and ministers of each 
denomination in the village. 

"The day closed only too quickly, and we 
cannot do better than recommend a similar 
experiment to all who wish to cherish in their 
business one common feeling of interest, which 
ought always to exist between employers and 
the employed." 

Among the evergreens used to decorate these 
occasions, we pick out some capital mottoes. 
Let us keep a few of them. "Perseverance 
surmounts diflBculties.^ "May poverty be al- 
ways a day's marcli behind us." " The blessing 
of the Lord maketh rich." "In all labor there 
is profit." " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to 
do, do it with all thy might." " Diligent in 
business, fervent in spirit." 

But we must penetrate a little further into 
Mr. Budgett's character, and into the more se- 
cret places of this great establishment. There 
is one more habit to be spoken of— a habit, I 
am afraid, seldom found in places of business. 

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68 NO P-\INS, NO GAINS. 

It is one which gives a hidden power to all 
other good habits, increasing their excellency, 
tempering their edge, and directing them as 
means to a great and wise end. It is the habit 
of daily prayer. 

Every year, as soon as the brothers had taken 
their account of stock and struck the balance, 
they retired to an inner office, and kneeling 
down before God, acknowledged his hand in 
all the allotments of his providence, accepting 
success with gratitude, and disappointment and 
failure with humble submission to his holy will. 

" I well remember," said a gentleman, " how 
grateful to my own heart was the discovery 
that every youth in that establishment had his 
own private sleeping-room, with the express 
understanding that this arrangement was made 
in order that he might feel himself alone with 
liis Father which is in heaven, when at suitable 
times he might wish to retire to read his Bible, 
meditate, and pray." 

" A habit of daily prayer," Mr. Arthur tells 
us, " existed in the concern from the beginning. 
When the business was only retail, all were 
gathered together as a family ; and wjien it 
branched out, a portion of the premises at 



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BUSINESS PEINCIPLES AND HABITS. 69 

Kingswood was set apart as a 'chapel/ and 
still stands there, serving many sacred pur- 
poses. After their removal to Nelson-street, 
in Bristol, this admirable habit was maintain- 
ed, and a room was devoted to this purpose. 
One of those who knew every joint of the es- 
tablishment, who had risen with it, and loved it 
as his own, remarked how this practice tended 
to make the men orderly and regular in their 
ways, even where decided piety was not known, 
'Besides, sir,' said the man, *in this way the 
men get to pray for the blessing of God on the 
business, and there is a great deal in that. 
Many would like to be as we are, but* they can- 
not without the same blessing.' " 

In a religious paper of 1847, we find the fol- 
lowing interesting article : 

•^EXAMPLE TO MERCANTILE ESTABLISH- 
MENTS. 

<* < Not slothful in J|>iisines8 ; fervent in spirit.' 

" On the second of November, after a drive 
of several miles from the country, at half-paSt 
seven in the morning, I dropped unintention- 
ally into the extensive and long warehouses of 
the Messrs. Budgett, in Nelson-street. I heard 
singing, the ' voice of rejoicing and salvation,' 

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70 KO PAINS, NO aAINS. 

in one of the upper rooms. The senior clerk 
said to me, * Our men eSte engaged in morning 
prayers; will you not step up? Do, sir/ I 
did so, and entered a room thirty or forty feet 
long, furnished with benches having comforta- 
ble backs, closely placed ; and at the upper end 
was a table and large fire. I was surprised 
and delighted to find from fifty to one hundred, 
for every seat was occupied, chiefly porters in 
their white frocks, all sitting in the stillness 
and seriousness of family devotion. At the 
table sat an interesting, devout laborer, giving 
out one of our beautiful hymns with a tender- 
ness and pathos which touched my heart. After 
singing, I was requested to lead their devotions. 
The Bible lay open on the table at the twenty- 
fifth chapter of Matthew. I read the appro- 
priate parables of the virgins and the talents. 
We then fell on our knees and worshipped the 
God of all commerce in earth or seas, when 
every man arose to attend the call of active 
dflty. I felt it no common privilege to join 
with those praying porters and devout clerks ; 
and the scene, so good, and coming so unex- 
pectedly, has left an impression upon me which 
I shall not soon forget. Is not this an example 

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BUSINESS PEINOIPLES AND HABITS. 71 

to all commercial establishments — an eicample 
worthy of general imitation ? Here is a noble 
room for the daily worship of God in the heart 
of a range of warehouses, and the large num- 
ber of hands employed therein have a regular 
portion of time allotted- to them for that holy 
purpose. Precision, order, energy, and exact- 
ness, are principles -engraved on every depart- 
ment of the vast business conducted here. But 
every thing is * sanctified by the word of God 
and prayer ;' and therefore it is no matter of 
surprise to those who have faith in the Bible, 
that the proprietor of this exemplary mercan- 
tile establishment, in addition tohis having 
much peace and piety among his men, has risen 
from low and small beginnings to great wealth 
and prosperity. * Him that honoreth me, I will 

honor.' 

«A WESLEYAN MINISTEE." 



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72 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

HIDDEN LIFE— FIRE — THE CHILDREN— DOING 
GOOD. 

You will perhaps like to leave business and 
follow Mr. Budgett home, or go with him by 
the way, and observe him in his daily paths. 
Soon after he entered into partnership with 
Henry, he married a worthy young woman, 
and took a little cottage in a lane opposite the 
shop. Was he mainly bent on getting ahead 
in the world? Did his business chiefly occupy 
him ? Let us see. A little record was found, 
which discloses his inward thought at this, in- 
teresting period, when the young couple were 
beginning the journey of life together. It is 
dated Jan. 24, 1822. 

" Resdvedy 1. To seek a deeper sense and 
clearer discovery of my awful state through sin. 

" 2. To seek to get satisfactory evidence that 
I am accepted through Christ. 

" 3. To make the service of God, and obedi- 
ence to the dictates of his Spirit, the supreme 
object of my life. 

" 4. To begin to redeem time ; to be more 



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gIDDEN LIFE. 73 

moderate in my eating, drinking, and sleeping, 
and to endeavor to make one word pass for 
two, in order that my soul may grow in grace 
and be happy ; and all this I would do in hum- 
ble dependence on the continual help of the 
Holy Spirit. 

" 5. To read erery day a chapter or two of 
Scripture." 

Let every one read and ponder these. The 
young merchant set apart seasons for rigid 
self-examination. He remembered there was 
a Judge on high who was an exact, though not 
a hard master, to whom the thoughts and the 
intents of the heart are known. 

The following account with himself was found 
in pencil among his papers, dated a few years 
after the last. 

" Sunday Evening, Aug. 3, 1823. 
1. I am conscious I have thought of myself 
more highly than I ought to think. - ^ 

"2. I have sacrificed to my own net, and 
burnt incense to my own drag. 

" 3. I have ascribed my success to my own 
wisdom. • 

" 4. I have boasted of what I have received 
as if I had not received it. 



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74 NO PAINS, NO G-AINS. 

" 5. I have gloried in very many things, save 
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

" 6. I have desired the praise of man, and 
taken pleasure in it. 

" 7. I have repeatedly given way to foolish 
desires. 

" 10. I have often allowed myself to speak, if 
not lies, yet what was not, in the strict sense, 
truth in the love thereof. 

" 12. I have not labored to do whatsoever I 
did to the glory of God. 

" 13. I have indulged my bodily appetites." 

You see how strict and searching he was 
with himself. Secret sins, lurking within the 
soul, he hunted out, brought to light, and was 
greatly oppressed on account of them. 

" I shall never be happy," he says, " until I 
find a Saviour from the love, the power, the 
guilt, and the sad effects of sin. I believe such 
a Saviour is provided, but he is not my Saviour ; 
yet I am resolved to try if I cannot find him. 
I will seek him first and oftenest, and with the 
utmost diligence, for I am in danger till I do 
find him." 

With all the prosperity which began to roll 
in upon the firm after Samuel joined it, he did 

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A FIRE. 75 

not neglect to make the prosperity of his soul 
of chief account. He never lost sight of his 
treasure in heaven, or forgot that it was of iar 
higher value than any earthly riches. 

, «*AN ALABMlNa FIRE." 

Under this head what do we find ? " About 
half-past seven on Tuesday evening/' what year 
I do not know, " great alarm was felt through- 
out Bristol by the appearance upon the horizon 
of a fire, evidently of immense extent, the heav- 
ens being completely lit up with it, at about 
five or six miles distant. Large crowds of 
people immediately congregated upon Kings- 
down and the various hills, and conjecture was 
rife as to where it was raging. The arrival of 
an express messenger on horseback for engines 
and firemen, brought the news that the confla- 
gration was upon the premises of Messrs. H. 
H. & S. Budgett, at Kingswood Hill. The 
Messrs. Budgett are among the most extensive 
flour, sugar, tea, and general merchants in this 
part of the kingdom, and are well known 
throughout England for their extensive mer- 
cantile transactions. They have several estab- 
lishments in Bristol, but for reasons unknown 

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76 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

to US, have always held their central establish- 
ment at Kingswood Hill. The fire was discov- 
ered by one of their men, at about quarter past 
seven, in a robm called the titler-room, in which 
refined sugars are kept; and it is supposed 
originated in one of the flues communicating to 
that room. A messenger was instantly sent to 
Bristol ; and in the mean time the alarm spread 
rapidly through the village and neighborhood, 
all the inhabitants of which immediately went 
to assist in subduing the fire. Their eflforts, it 
was hoped at first, would have been successful ; 
but in a few minutes the fire spread in a most 
alarming manner, and speedily communicated 
with the entire range of warehouses. At this 
period the Norwich Union engines arrived and 
played on the fire; the engines of the other 
oflSces also speedily arrived. The fire in the 
warehouses had, however, now reached so great 
a height that it was evident their total de- 
struction was inevitable ; and the eflforts of all, 
therefore, were directed to saving the adjoining 
dwelling-houses, upon which the engines played, 
to cut oflf communication with the burning 
warehouses. These eflforts were happily suc- 
cessful, and both the dwelling-houses and the 

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A FIRE. 77 

stables of the establishment, in which were 
forty-seven valuable horses, were saved. The 
fire in the warehouses continued raging till four 
o'clock in the morning, when it was jgot under ; 
but not until all the warehouses, the counting- 
rooms, and the retail shop had been completely 
destroyed. The books, however, were saved. 
This was most fortunate, as their loss to a house 
of such transactions as the Messrs. Budgett 
would have been irretrievable. The stock con- 
sumed consisted of refined-sugars, cheese, coffee, 
teas, flour, and must have amounted to several 
thousands. They had just imported two large 
cargoes of fruit, and a heavy stock of sugars, 
which were, however, in their Bristol ware- 
houses. The firm were insured to a large 
amount — eight thousand pounds in the Phenix, 
and other sums in various oflSces." 

Beyond the sums insured, their pecuniary loss 
was about fifteen thousand dollars ; a heavy and 
unexpected check to the rising merchants. All 
earthly goods may perish in a few hours. The 
evening sun may set on our thrift and comfort 
and goodly possessions ; the morning sun may 
rise on their smoking ruins. These pious mer- 
chants, no doubt, accepted the disaster as the 

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78 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

wise ordering of His providence who doetli all 
things well, and they set about immediately to 
repair the breach thus suddenly and fearfidly 
made in their business. 

What was to be done ? A circular was is- 
sued and sent to all their customers in the morn- 
ing, stating the impossibility of fulfilling their 
orders for that day, but on the next day the 
goods should be sent as usual. Mr. Budgett 
hastened to Bristol, hired a building next to a 
small warehouse which he already had in that 
city, set every body to work, organized his 
business, was in readiness to dispatch his goods 
according to promise, and henceforth made 
Bristol the seat of the firm, where it grew and 
enlarged and prospered, and was perfected into 
that reidarkable system which made it a model 
mercantile concern, worthy both of scrutiny 
and imitation. 

In progress of time Mr. Budgett bought the 
old quarry hallowed by the Sabbath memories 
of his boyhood, filled it up, and made it into a 
beautiful garden. The little cottage in the lane 
was in time exchanged for a large and substan- 
tial dwelling-house, surrounded by green lawns, 
hedge-rows, fruit-trees, and shade-trees, in the 



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HIS MOTHEE'S SICKNESS. 79 

planting and growth of which he took great 
delight. All the beauties of the outward world 
he had an eye to see and a heart to enjoy. 

" Can you help admiring the present beauti- 
ful weather?" he says. "See how spring and 
summer are approaching already. The birds 
sing merrily ; the days lengthen fast ; the flow- 
ers are beginning to decorate the hedges and 
the banks ; the fields are increasing in verdure 
and beauty ; and I hope you and I shall endeav- 
or to keep pace with all nature in praising our 
Creator and Redeemer." 

His excellent mother lived to see the pros- 
perity and usefulness of her beloved son. The 
last we hear of her is from a letter written by 
Samuel to his sister in January, 1831. 

"I have just returned from Winterbourn," 
he writes, " from beholding one of the most in- 
teresting sights this world affords ; I mean the 
happy, truly happy, sick and dying bed of a 
saint ripe for glory. Such is our dear mother. 
You have seen her. She is not now less happy, 
only less sensible of her pain. Her soul still 
triumphs in prospect of the glory which awaits 
her, and which in all probability she will in a 
few days be introduced to. 

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80 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

" * Mark the perfect man/ etc. How is that 
text illustrated in her experience ! May it be 
equally so in yours and mine. In order to that, 
we have to live the life of the righteous, and we 
are sure to die the death. I hope, my dear sis- 
ter, you are making progress. Remember, we 
are safe and happy only as we are vigorously 
pressing forward. To halt is to go back." 

But as the old friends and beloved relatives 
of a past generation dropped into their graves, 
a new and young generation was springing up 
around him. Sons and daughters were born 
to him ; nephews and nieces gladdened him by 
their visits; young people loved to seek his 
counsel and share in his affections. 

Home he endeavored to make a happy place 
for his children — ^a place where they loved best 
to be, and where every innocent amusement 
was provided for play hours and healthful rec- 
reation. There we find donkeys to ride, chick- 
ens to rear, rabbits, guinea-pigs, dogsj garden 
beds to cultivate, gooseberries and currant- 
bushes to look after, swings, etc. Mr. Budgett 
loved to be with his children ; he sympathized 
with them in all their joys and sorrows, and 
very early invited their sympathy with liim. 

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HIS CHILDREN. 81 

He used to talk with tbem about bis business 
and daily affairs, explain to them his reasons 
for pursuing this or that course of action, ask 
their advice, disclose his perplexities, and thus 
teach them to think and to judge and feel upon 
important matters at an age when most parents 
would banish their children from the family 
councils to the school-room or the playground. 

He believed that children were entitkd to the 
scckty of their pareiits ; that it was one mode, 
and one important mode of educating them in 
the knowledge, the duties, and obligations of 
practical life. Parents perhaps sometimes over- 
look this, and leave their children to gain their 
knowledge of the world from intercourse which 
they could the least desire. 

But the 071^ great aim, the one constant prayer 
for his children, was their conversion to God. 
Less than that gave no satisfaction to his soul. 
They were surrounded by every influence favor- 
able to Christian nurture — the family altar, 
the sacred keeping of the Sabbath, godly ac- 
quaintance, works of Christian charity, sympa- 
thy with every good thing ; and yet this pious 
father felt that something more was necessary 
to renew and sanctify the heart — ^the influence 

]f o Punt. 6 

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82 NO PAINS, NO GhAINS. 

of the Holy Spirit. He was instant in season 
and out of season in parental faithfulness to 
bring them to a like precious faith in Christ, 
which was the sun and the joy of his own soul. 
The following letter shows the tender concern 
of a pious father's heart. 

" My dear Sarah Ann — ^Your kind note I 
duly received by the hand of your brother 
James, for which I thank you. Be assured that 
it gives me much pleasure to know that I am 
affectionately remembered by any member of 
my family, and especially by our little daugh- 
ter. I hope you are trying to be a good girl. 
If you knew how much the happiness of those 
who love you depended on your conduct, I think 
that if nothing else proved a sufficient motive 
to good behavior, that would; but then my 
dear little girl knows very well that her own 
happiness, both in this World and the next, de- 
pends upon her giving her heart to God. Do 
not, my dear child, live one hour without being 
satisfied that God is just now pleased with you, 
that is, that you have his favor ; for we are 
happy if we share his smile, his counsel, and 
his care. May you, my child, be truly devoted 



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HIS CHILDREN. 83 

to Gk)d in youth, and then you will be prepared 
for a useful life, or for early death. You may 
write me as often as you please, and I will try 
to answer your letters. Tell me all the work- 
ings of your little mind, all your hopes and all 
your fears, all your joys and all your sorrows." 

And this fSetithful and praying parent did 
hare the happiness of seeing his children, one 
by one, early in life become penitent believers 
in Christ; walking in the path of his com- 
mandments, growing in the knowledge of God, 
and with "ready mind and active will" fulfil- 
ling the duties of the Christian life. Pew par- 
ents can write as here follows : 

" My deab ltttlb Sally — ^Tour kind letter 
to mamma we duly received, and I should have 
written to you before now, but I have been very 
unwell, so weak that I have scarcely been able 
to read or write ; but I am thankful to inform 
you I am now getting better, and I hope soon 
to recover my strength. I assure you, we think 
and talk of you very often, and we do not cease 
to pray for you. What a mercy it is, my dear 
child, that as a family we are all seeking our 

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84 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

happiness from one source, and that the right 
one. How insignificant does every thing else 
look when compared with this, even in this life, 
and in the possession of health, wealth, and all 
that the world calls great and good ; but look 
a little further — ^a sick-bed, a dying hour, a 
judgment-day, all of which will very soon be 
present ; and how rthen shall we value all be- 
sides this one thing needful, this divine love 1 
The Lord fill my dear child's heart; and then 
from the abundance of the heart the mouth will 
speak, and you will, you must^ however uncon- 
sciously, be made useful to others. 

Tis worth living for this, 
To administer bliss, 
And salvation in Jesus* name. 

I believe we are all as a family going to heav- 
en. Glory be to God. 

" Yours, affectionately, 

"PAPA AND MAMMA." 

What a fountain of holy joy does this let- 
ter disclose within this Christian household. 
His success, his prosperity, his worldly connec- 
tions, his houses and his lands, all sink in value 
before the higher blessing of a whole family 
converted to Christ, members of the household 

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HIS CHILDREN. 85 

of faith, "fle blesseth the habitation of the 

« 

just." The happiness of how many prosperous 
families is imbittered by the waywardness, the 
danger, the rain of a son ; the comfort of how 
many pious parents is destroyed by the irre- 
ligion and free-thinking of their children. 
Why is this ? Is there any such defect or fail- 
ure in parental discipline or watchfulness as 
may serve as a warning and corrective to the 
anxious and perplexed spirits of thousands of 
other parents seeking to bring up their chil- 
dren in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord? 

Mr. Cudgett early gave his sons responsible 
posts in liis business ; and as a proof of the 
confidence which he placed in them, when the 
oldest of his boys was but twenty-one, he al- 
lowed the four to take a journey on the conti- 
nent by themselves, with no confidential ser- 
vant or faithful friend to watch over their go- 
ings: nor was the confidence misplaced or 
abused ; their virtues seemed strengthened by 
the very expectations which they well under- 
stood their father had of them. 

The busy merchant and faithful father also 
found time to encourage and quicken the hearts 

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86 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

of other youth besides those more immediately 
related to him by kindred or business. 

" We cannot indeed too highly value time," 
he writes to a young friend. " In this I have 
been truly deficient. If we would rise early, 
we must begin at the right end, that is, by go- 
ing to bed early, or all will be lost labor. You 
must have seven hours sleep. An alarum is a 
very good thing ; but if we neglect the call a 
few times, like the calls of the Spirit on our 
consciences, it will be inefifectual. 

" I am glad you still retain love to God after 
seven years' experience. May it be increased 
seven times seven. I think nothing is so cal- 
culated to remove reserve as zeal for God and 
humility. We think too much of ourselves, and 
not enough of the importance of being found 
faithful. May you, my dear friend, become 
truly simple of heart, and dead to the opinion 
of others when it stands in the way of duty. 
You have not wearied me. Your letters are 
no tax on my time. I am always very glad to 
hear from you, and the more freely you write to 
me, the more you please me." 

On another occasion we find him thus writing 
to a young Sabbath-school teacher. 



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HIS CHILDEEN. 87 

" My very dear Friend — I am truly thank- 
ful that God has so graciously inclined your 
heart to seek your happiness where alone true 
enjoyment can be found, and that He has not 
only blessed, but made you a blessing. 

" If you are faithful, He will give you grace 
to lose yourself in him, as a drop in the ocean, 
and your prayers will be frequently offered and 
graciously answered. 

" * Keep me dead to all below, 
Only Christ resolved to know, 
Firm and disengaged and free, 
Seeking all ray bliss in thee.' 

" You will feel so impressed with the value 
of souls and your responsibility to God, that 
you will never rest until all the girls in your 
class are brought from darkness to light, I re- 
member a young person who had thirteen schol^ 
ars, and for several years she saw but little 
fruit of her labor, until she was almost discour- 
aged ; but instead of giving up, she began to 
wrestle with God in earnest, persevering, faith- 
ful prayer j and in a short time one of the girls 
showed a serious concern for her spiritual wel- 
fare, and began to inquire with deep anxiety 
what she must do to be saved. This soon 



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88 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

spread through the class, and in a few months 
every child gave satisfactory evidence that her 
heart was changed." 

One fatX)rite mode of doing good was the time- 
ly lending of religious books and tracts. Chris- 
tian biography he regarded as choice reading, 
as tending to quicken growth in grace, and urge 
us on in the divine life. 

" But all good things require to be read pray- 
erfully, and in faith," he says. " And are we 
not too apt to think there was something pecul- 
iar in the mdimduds, rather than in the faith by 
which they derived all their excellences ? The 
fountain of all good is as full and as free of ac- 
cess now, and to us, as ever it was to them ; and 
we have only to exercise the same faith, and all 
the good will be as surely ours as ever it was 
theirs." 

Thus he extracted good where others per- 
haps only sought enjoyment. " No gains with- 
out pains," in self-knowledge or religious im- 
provement. 

He seldom went out to walk, or for a drive, 
without a bundle of tracts or a pocketful of 
little books. And one room in his house was 
indeed a sort of Tract and Sabbath-school book 



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DOING aOOD. 89 

depository, lined with shelves, where he kept a 
large stock on hand for distribution. It was 
seldom lean or empty, for he was in the habit 
of replenishing it every now and then by fifty 
dollars' worth of reading at a time. 

" With respect to his liberality to the cause of 
God, he far excelled any one that / ever met with 
in the church of Christ," said a clergyman who 
knew him well ; and this we can readily believe. 

When an application was made to him for 
any benevolent object, he never was heard to 
excuse himself, either wholly or in part, from 
it, by saying, " I have had so many cases lately," 
though many he must have had. 

If asked by any one who knew all the circum- 
stances of the case for which his charity was 
needed, his reply often was, " Well, how much 
do you think I ought to give?" And whether it 
was five, ten, fifteen, or twenty pounds, the sum 
was cheerfully given. Many a bank-note and 
sovereign did he leave at the parsonage, or slip 
into his minister's hand, to be distributed ^s he 
thought necessary among the poor of his flock. 
Nor did he confine these benefactions to his 
own pastor ; the other clergymen of his neigh- 
borhood were often the stewards of his bounty. 



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00 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

To give you another instance of his readi- 
ness to do good, and his ability in carrying out 
his plans, I will abbreviate a little story told 
by Mr. Arthur. One Sunday evening, on Mr. 
Budgett's return from a neighboring village, 
where he had been exhorting in an evening 
lecture, he passed squads of rough-looking, idle, 
lawless lads lounging on the grass, but jogging 
on to ruin. He stopped and began to talk with 
them, and talked until he secured their atten- 
tion. "Now," said he at ending, "if I gave 
you a good tea, would you like to come and 
take it?" 

" Oh yes, oh yes I" the boys answered. It 
was what, I fancy, they seldom had. 

" Come, then," said Mr. Budgett in his friend- 
ly tone, "to the vestry of Kingswood chapel 
to-morrow evening. We are going to have a 
little meeting, and you shall have a good tea." 

It was to be a tea-meeting for the tract dis- 
tributers. 

The boys came, tickets were handed them, 
and they ate and drank as hungry boys who 
seldom see so nicely set tables might be sup- 
posed to do. "And have you had a good sup- 
per?" asked Mr. Budgett, 



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DoiNa aooD. 91 

" 'Ees, thank 'ee." 

" I dare say you know many young men who 
go about in the lane Sunday night.'' 

« 'ees." 

" Do you think, if I promised them a good 
tea, they would like to come here ?" 

The boys thought none of them would object 
to the tea ; but they looked shy, and there was 
a "but" in the way. Mr. Budgett did not stop 
to inquire what it was ; but a hundred tickets 
were soon made out, to be handed to their fel- 
lows, all the " Toms, Dicks, and Harrys" round 
about, inviting them to a bountiful treat at the 
chapel hall on Mr. Budgett's premises. A good 
many of them hesitated about accepting the in- 
vitation ; " they did not want to be hooked into 
a prayer-meeting," they said. However, there 
was the promised treat ; they were sure they 
did not want to lose their chance at that ; so, 
among the ringleaders, the matter was com- 
promised in this way : they would go and take 
tea, and then "bolt" as soon as it was over, for 
they of course concluded their host had some 
religious end to be answered, and " they had no 
mind to be done good to." 

On the appointed evening every thing was 

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92 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

arranged ; a hundred of them came, as wild, 
uncouth, and unpromising a set of guests as 
was ever gathered together. It was evident, 
after a while, that in one group seemed to be 
the " ringleaders ;" and the coarse and boister- 
ous words which proceeded from it, seemed to 
defy any attempt to tame or to restrain them. 
But the good merchant and his party knew the 
stuff they had to deal with. Towards the close 
of the supper, one of Mr. Budgett's sons, James 
or Edwin, for both went heart and hand with 
their father in his labors of love, pushed into 
this group, and began a talk with the leader, a 
rough, sailor-like looking fellow, who first tried 
by his wit and rudeness to put the "young gen- 
tleman" down. It soon grew more evident 
that a preconcerted signal to go was near at 
hand, when Mr. Budgett went into the desk, 
and said, "I asked you to come here for the 
purpose of doing something for you — some^ 
thing that will be of use to you. Now, just as 
a start, I will give you fifty pounds, and you 
must make up your minds what you will do 
with it." 

Fifty pounds! They could run away from 
a prayer-meeting, but to run away from fifty 

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DoiNa aooD. 93 

pounds was quite another sort of thing, and 
not to be thought of. Hats were oflF, feet were 
turned from the door, and all eyes turned to 
the desk. 

" Fifty pounds !" exclaimed one of Mr. Bud- 
gett's friends, who understood what was his aim, 
and yet was around among his rough guests — 
" fifty pounds ! that 's something. Why, there 
are about a hundred of us ; and suppose we di- 
vide it among us, there will be half a sovereign 
apiece." 

A very agreeable plan to most of the com- 
pany, no doubt, but very far from the reckon- 
ing of their host. 

"No, no!" started up another friend of Mr. 
Budgett; "it would be very foolish to throw 
away fifty pounds in such a manner. Can't we 
put it to some use that will do» us good, and 
make it last?" and so the matter came up for 
a spirited discussion what use to put the money 
to, which soon kindled a great interest even 
among the most stupid and depraved of the 
street youth. And the affair was so managed 
that it issued in a motion to form a society for 
mental improvement, to be called the "Kings- 
wood Young Men's Association." The motion 



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94 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

was seconded and carried by a strong vote. And 
when, in the final arrangement, several of these 
rough fellows were placed on committees to 
carry out their plans, it was curious to witness 
the surprise, interest, and gratification which 
lighted up their sharp, trickish-looking faces. 
Mr. Budgett was voted in treasurer, and their 
place of meeting was appointed at the vestry 
of the chapel, after the Sunday evening service. 
So far so good, and the party separated with 
mutual good-will. 

But how many would be likely to reappear 
on the next Sabbath evening? Sixty came ; and 
the number testified what encouragement there 
is to labor even in the most impromising fields. 
Let Christian men and women go to work just 
where they are^ in God's name, for the good of 
souls, and noising will surprise them more than 
the vanishing of discauragementSj and the tokens 
of hope and success which will cheer them on 
the way. " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, 
do it with thy might," and the moral heathen- 
ism of our villages and cities will shrink into 
a diminished compass, if not quite away, before 
the warm afifections and redeeming power and 
living elements of the gospel of Jesus Christ.. 

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DOING aoOD. 95 

That little verse contains the vital principle of 
the whole matter. 

"The Association" regularly held meetings 
on Sunday night, and once a week for secular 
instruction. A library was bought with the 
fifty pounds, lectures were sometimes given by 
the masters of the Kingswood schools, and year 
by year a tea-meeting was given, at which books 
were sometimes given as rewards. 

According to the great law of Christian be- 
nevolence, that the more it does the more it 
wants to do, this successful movement for the 
moral improvement of the young men, suggested 
to Mr. Budgett the importance and necessity of 
something similar for the young women. This 
was accordingly done. And once a year, also, 
the "Young Females' Association" met on his 
grounds, to enjoy a delicious supper on tea and 
strawberries. This, however, was but a little 
of the real good which they received during 
the year. These associations cost Mr. Budgett 
about two hundred dollars a year, and proved 
to be one of his sagacious and profitable invest- 
ments, for it gave him the clear returns of num- 
bers saved from vice, the moral and mental im- 
provement of many, and conversions to God not 

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96 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

a few. A Bible class he formed and took charge 
of among the young women, which was abun- 
dantly blessed of God, and which at the time 
of his death numbered forty. 

On one occasion he said to a friend, " Every 
morning, before you leave your room, inquire, 
* Lord, what wouldst thou have mo to do T and 
every evening ask yourself, * How much owest 
thou unto thy Lord?' Keep short reckonings 
with him^ go forward, and your path shall be 
as that of the just, shining more and more unto 
the perfect day." 

Was not herein the secret spring of his 
labors? 



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THE POOR. 97 



CHAPTER V. 

THE POOR— A SUDDEN STROKE-HAPPY 
ENDING. 

Mb. Budgett was emphatically the poor man's 
friend, and the p*oor always ^eft him to be their 
friend. In his intercourse with them, he never 
forgot the small courtesies of life. His friend- 
liness they never doubted, and therefore reproof 
and counsel they received from him with respect 
and thankfulness, even when not followed by 
amendment. His words by the way, were more 
valuable than scatterings of gold. 

The " hauliers " of the coal-carts running be- 
tween Kingswood and Bristol, a rough and bul- 
lying set of fellowd, often provoking quarrels 
with other travellers on the road, could never 
resist the pleasant " good-morning " of the pious 
merchant, or scarcely dare fire off their volley 
of oaths in his hearing, or show fight, if he 
were discovered in the distance. 

One afternoon as he was driving a friend into 
Bristol, the road in one place was almost block- 
ed up by the return wagons of the " hauliers," 

Ko Pitins. 7 

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98 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

who had stopped and stepped in to a neighbor- 
ing inn. A box ^^s sent in to call them out. 

" Why, is this you, B ?" cried Mr. Budgett, 

as a stout-built fellow with a face begrimed 
with coal, came bustling out of the house, draw- 
ing the back of his hand across his mouth, fresh 
from the can. " I am sorry to see you there ; , 
here, come round to me:" then lowering his 

voice, he said kindly, " B , my poor fellow, 

you have a wife and children at home. Have 
they any thing to eat?" "Not much, I be 
afeared, sir," said the man, trying to smile, 
though looking much ashamed. 

" Well, tell me now, how much have you just 
spent?" asked Mr. Budgett. 

"Why, threepence; but I had it gee'd by th' 
lady 'at had f coal." 

" Well, never mind who gave it to you, but 
tell me what you spent when you went into 
Bristol this morning?" 

" Why, threepence." 

" Well, the lady did not give you that ; but 
no matter how you came by the money, so it 
was honestly got. What I want you to think 
about is this : by your own showing, you have 
spent sixpence to-day on beer ; if you have done 

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THE POOR. 99 

the same every day this week, then you have 
three shillings less in your pocket than you 
might have had. Now, as you go along, just 
consider how many little things that three shil- 
lings would ha^ bought for the real comfort of 
your wife, yourself, and your children ; you say 
you fear they have little to eat at home now, 
and you have spent sixpence upon yourself" — 
an English sixpence is twelve of our cents. " Is 
that kind? Nay, don't make any excuses. I 
know you feel you have done wrong. Don't, 
my poor fellow, repeat it. One word more; 
if you persist in this habit, you will become a 
drunkard^ and the Bible tells you, * Drunkards 
shall not inherit the kingdom of God.' It will 
lead you into all wickedness, and the Bible tells 
you, *The wicked shall be turned into hell.' 

B ," he added solemnly, "think of this; 

tell your companions there what I have said to 
you ; and above all, pray that God may bless 
what I have said to you, and that he may mako 
you a more thoughtful and better man." 

The poor man listened with respectful atten- 
tion. His look became downcast. "Thank 
you, sir," he said with much feeling when his 
friend ceased speaking. "It is very good for 



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100 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

gentlemen such as you, to talk this way to poor 
men like me." 

During the scarcity of bread, in 1846 and 
1847, he employed one hundred and fifty extra 
hands on small wages ; adding every Saturday 
night, to those who had families, what might be 
sufficient to meet their daily wants. Thousands 
he spent merely to give employment, for main- 
taining men in idleness he felt was a bounty 
without a blessing. 

Not having leisure for visiting the poor as 
much as he desired, in order to ascertain their 
destitution, and what kind of help they stood in 
greatest need of, he hired a visitor in his stead, 
a neighbor, who labored in this good work, 
dropping the sympathies and the charities of 
the busy merchant into many a comfortless 
home and wretched bosom. 

He noticed, at one time, an unusually down- 
cast and sad expression on the face of one of 
his men. Finding it did not wear off, he sent 
for him to his counting-room, and after a while, 
drew from him the story of his secret burden. 
" Master, I am in debt," said the poor man in 
tones of grief, " and every time I go near the 
river something bids me fling myself into it, 

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THE POOR. 101 

telling me there's water enough to rid me of all 
my troubles, and that if I don't I shall be sent 
into the prison there for debt." 

Upon farther inquiry, it was found to have 
grown out of the long sickness of his wife, and 
having assured himself that the man had not 
broken the regulation of a Society of which he 
was a member, " Not to contract a debt with- 
out at least a reasonable prospect of discharg- 
ing it," Mr. Budgett asked him if the payment 
of his debts would restore his peace of mind. 
The man looked as if that could not be. 

"Well, come," said the merchant, "I do not 
think things are quite so bad as they appear to 

be. See here, my poor fellow, you owe 

pounds : it 's a very large sum for a man like 
you, to be sure ; but if you had run into debt 
to any thing like this amount through extrav- 
agance or thoughtlessness, I should have re- 
garded it as an act of dishonesty on your part, 
and I might have felt it right to discharge you. 
But you are to be pitied, and not to be blamed. 
Cold pity alone goes for nothing, so let us sco 
how you can be helped out of your troubles. 
Now, do you think your creditors, considering 
all the circumstances, would take one half, and 

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102 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

be satisfied? here is Dr. Edwards, his bill is the 
heaviest ; if we can get him to take one half — " 

" One half, master 1" exclaimed the poor man ; 
" but if they loould take one half, where 's the 
money to come from? I ar'n^t got a shilling 
in the world, but what 's coming to me Friday 
night; and when I take my wages now, I 
ar'n't any pleasure in looking at the money, be- 
cause it ar'n't my own ; it should go to pay my 
debts, and I 'm obliged to use it to buy victuals. 
I think I shall never be happy again." 

Deeply affected by the poor man's case, Mr. 
Budgett begged him to cheer up, for a friend 
had placed in his hands a sum equal to one half 
of his debts ; he then sent him back to his work, 
and on his way, to order his horse to be har- 
nessed, and brought around to him in ten min- 
utes. Mr. Budgett drove round to all the 
man's creditors, compromised with them, and 
brought home their bills receipted in full for 
the respective debts. The man was again sent 
for to the counting-room, and as bill after 
bill was handed to him, he could only clutch 
them with a stare of wonder and strdnge uncer- 
tainty. 

"But, master," he at last cried, when words 

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THE POOR. 103 

came, " where 's the money come from?" " Never 
mind that," answered his master ; "go home and 
tell your wife you are out of debt, you are an 
independent man. I only hope the creditors 
have felt something of the satisfaction in for- 
giving you one half of your debt to them, that 
we know God feels in forgiving our debts to 
him for Christ's sake ; I have said that much 
to all of them." 

" But, master, where 's the money come from?" 
asked the man, with a still puzzled and bewil- 
dered lodk. 

" Well, well, I told you a Friend had given 
it to me for you. You know that Friend as 
well as I do. There now, you may leave your 
work for to-day; go home to your wife, and 
thank that Friend together for making you an 
independent man. But stay, I had almost for- 
gotten one thing : I called to see Mr. P 

as I drove through Stoke's Croft. I told him 
the errand that had taken me from home all 
day, and he gave me a sovereign for you to 
b^in the world with." 

It would perhaps be difficult to tell which 
was the happiest, the master or his man. 

"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil 

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104 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

the law of Christ.'' Is it a law we are suffi- 
ciently mindful of? 

And thus the current of Mr. Budgett's life 
flowed on. Foes, ingratitude, disappointments, 
crosses, he indeed met with, but they never dis- 
couraged him from good, they never daunted 
him in conflicts with evils, they never dimmed 
the sunshiny friendliness of his nature. 

"No pains, no gains," contains within itself 
the very elements of combat and of victory. 
" No cross, no ci'own," is the condition of our 
title to heaven. 

But there may be some who would know 
more of the inner life of this eminent servant 
of God. Was Ae, so diligent in business, so 
fervent in spirit, ever subject to darkness of 
mind ? Did th^tempter ever hard besiege him ? 
Did a sense of shortcoming and unprofitable- 
ness ever obscure his hope of heaven ? Let him 
answer for himself. 

"KiNGswooD Hill, Nov. 23, 1843.. 

'*My dear brother James — I forced my 
heavenly Father to use the rod, but I am aston- 
ished to think with what gentleness he has cor- 
rected me. The first Sunday I was unwell, I 
made a fresh act of faith, and ventured my 



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INKER LIFE. 105 

whole soul on the atonement. My heart seemed 
to have been broken in a thousand pieces, and 
I felt like weeping my life away for having 
grieved my God. For the first week I held 
fast my confidence, and felt calm as in the 
hands of my loving Saviour. But on the second 
Sabbath I grew much worse, so that I had little 
hope of recovery. I began to reason with the 
enemy, and let go my shield of faith ; and then 
was truly the hour and the power of darkness. 
I can never describe the bitter anguish I felt 
on reviewing my past life, and great horror and 
gloom came over my mind with the thoughts of 
being but just saved as by the skin of my teeth, 
or of appearing before my Maker as an unprof- 
itable servant, or perhaps of being a wander- 
ing spirit cast out from God for ever. 

" My agony of mind was such that I thought 
I was dying, and really fainted away. I then 
recovered, and then tried to recover my shield 
of faith ; but on Monday morning, Satan was 
again permitted to bufiet njc, and the conflict 
was extreme. My dear sister Elizabeth then 
came to my assistance, and said I was doing very 
wrong ; that I ought to come to the Saviour as 
at first I came, and that she believed I would 

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106 NO PAINS, NO OAINS. 

recover ; but that if I died, I was safe for heaven. 
I immediately took courage, and said, * Lord, I 
rf/d believe, and was happy ; and thou hast said, 
' Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise 
cast out/ I come, I believe — I tmS, I do believe.' 
My heart seemed melted to tenderness, and the 
name of Jesus was exceedingly precious. Sis- 
ter Elizabeth then said, * Cannot you now put 
in your claim for the blessing of full salvation? 
Kemember the promise, * I will circumcise thy 
heart.' ' I said, * I am suflfering all this, because 
I would not take the necessary pains to obtain 
that blessing, when that very promise was so 
often and so powerfully impressed on my mind ; 
and it was so clearly my duty to obtain, to 
enjoy, and to preach that great and glorious 
gospel privilege to others. I could not hold 
fast even a sense of my acceptance with God, 
or overcome various temptations to sin, and it 
is of the Lord's mercies that I am not con- 
sumed ;' but when sister Elizabeth said, ' Put in 
your claim noic?,' I cried, *Lord, thou hast said, 
' I will circumcise,' etc. ; now fulfil thine own 
word ; I hang upon thy word ; thou wilt do it. 
I dare believe.' I did not struggle iong before 
my heart seemed deeply humbled, filled with 

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INNER LIFE. 107 

loYO unutterable to God and all mankind. I 
however, could not entertain an idea that God 
could spare my Jife ; and though I felt safe and 
happy, I could not feel willing to die, even to 
go to heaven, with such a consciousness of un- 
faithfulness up to the eleventh hour, and ear- 
nestly prayed, * Oh, spare me a little, that I may 
recover strength before I go hence, to be here 
no more.' On the following morning my dear 
wife came into my room with the Bible in her 
hand, saying, * I have just opened upon this pas- 
sage : * For my name's sake will I defer mine 
anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, 
that I cut thee not ofif. Behold, I have refined 
thee, but not with silver ; I have chosen thee 
in the furnace of affliction.' Isaiah 48 : 9, 10.' 
Never did Scripture so powerfully impress my 
mind. I said, * It is the word of God to me, 
in answer to his servant's prayers ; I shall not 
die, but live.' 

" From that time I never entertained a doubt 
but that I should^have another opportunity of 
preaching salvation, full salvation by Jesus 
Christ, to evei:y one who will put in their claim 
for it. My mind has since been kept in perfect 
peace, and I have been gradually recovering. 

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108 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

"Now, my dear brother James, my object in 
being thus minute in the description is, first to 
lead you, as you would avoid the gloom, the 
horror, the anguish, such as no tongue can tell, 
or the more tremendous consequences, of beinj^ 
hurried out of time into eternity ; as you would 
enjoy this life tenfold more than you possibly 
can without it ; as you would be unspeakably 
happy, safe, useful, and rising daily in refine- 
ment and elevation of character ; and as you 
would have a glorious entrance administered 
to you among the saints in light : in a word, 
as you would escape hell, and gain heaven se- 
curely, that you at once give the Lord your 
whole heart, and accept his full salvation. This, 
my dear brother, is much easier than doiag it 
by halves. I am, my dear brother, most aflFec- 
tionately, yours, « a B.'' 

In Edwin the second son, appeared, more 
than in any other of the children, the marked 
traits of his father. In business, sagacity, de- 
cision, and promptness. At home, he was the 
expedient child, and loving brother ; at the Sun- 
day-school, a faithful teacher; in the prayer- 
meeting, "fervent, devout, and prevailing;*' 

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A SUDDEN STROKE. 109 

among the poor, the sympathizing, active, per- 
sonal friend and helper. His buoyant spirits, 
his joyous smile, his unaffected piety, his sweet 
song, made him a delightful companion to the 
young and the old. Never, perhaps, was there 
a more beautiful example of household religion 
than that in which he was reared, and no 
branch of the parent stock was more vigorous, 
more fruitful, more full of promise, than he. 
He was a young man whom the church cou]^ 
not afford to lose, and whom the world stood in 
need of. 

Never perhaps, in this Christian family, was 
their cup more full of blessing, than when the 
summer sun of 1849 shone upon them. Peace, 
prosperity, and health, were theirs, thankfully 
received, and humbly enjoyed. 

The Sabbath of July 22d, found Edwin, as 
usual, doing and getting good. The Sabbath- 
school and the house of God saw him at his 
post of duty, and place of worship. In the 
evening, the brothers sang together, as they 
often did ; and in the following lines from a 
hymn of Charles Wesley, their voices seemed 
to rise with more than common fervor and 
devotion : 

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110 2J0 PAINS, NO aAINS. 

" How happy every child of grace 

Who knows his sins forgiven : 
This earth, he cries, is not my place, 

I seek my place in heaven, 
A country far from mortal sight ; 

Yet 0, by faith I see 
The land of rest, the saint's delight, 

The heaven prepared for me. 

Then let n^ suddenly remove^ 

That hidden life to share ; 
I shall not lose my friends above, 
m But more enjoy them there. 

There we in Jesus* praise shall join, 

His boundless love proclaim ; 
And solemnize in songs divine, 

The marriage of the Ijamb." 

The father, aboat leaving the room at the 
banning of the second verse, lingered at the 
door deeply aiBFeeted, and awed by the new 
beanty and significance which the words and 
the music seemed to possess. There was an 
expression in Edwin's voice which showed his 
own soul kindling in sympathy with the feel- 
ings of the pious poet. 

On Thursday evening, he was at his class- 
meeting, a meeting for prayer and religions 
fellowship, and when asked if he could testify 
that he was assuredly born again, made a child 



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A SUDDEN STROKE. Ill 

of God and heir of heaven, "I feel thankful," 
he answered humbly, " that I do know that I 
am a child of God. I have had in the past 
week seasons of communion with him, and de- 
sire more constantly to realize his presence, and 
live to his glory." 

Two days after this, Edwin was dead; he 
died of cholera. How did the father bear this 
heavy stroke? 

" The moment he either saw or felt the rod," 
his minister tells us, "*f have sinned' was on 
his lips, or in the depths of his heart. The 
dread evening when his beloved son was writh- 
ing in the grasp of the disease, leaving him in 
other hands, he meets his class, and then takes 
a poor intelligent pious man, a local preacher, 
* his own son in the faith,' and returns in dark- 
ness to the lone summer-house in his extensive 
lawn, and th^y long continued wrestling to- 
gether, * with strong crying and tears ;' the per- 
80i;ial dread of His wrath who is * glorious in 
holiness,'^ absorbing the anguish of the parent's 
natural affection. Returning in the advanced 
night to his afflicted dwelling, with the cry. 
My sins, my sins are the cause of all thisl' 
his pious children gather around him, and all 

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112 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

in succ^sion, from the oldest to the yx)ungest, 
are heard pleading with God for their father's 
consolation and deliverance. This piercing 
apprehension of the evil of sin, with the power- 
fully healing balm of divine grace, given pre- 
eminently in answer to the * prayer of faith,' 
prepared him and his family for such a mani- 
festation of piety as I do not recollect ever to 
have witnessed. 

"A few days afterwards, returning from the 
conference, expecting on entering his dwelling 
to enter a cloud * whose darkness might be felt,' 
T^hat was my surprise to find it a true dwelling 
of an Israelite, *all light vMhinJ The dark- 
ness was outside ; here they all walked in the 
light of the Lord, and all tears were wiped 
from every eye. I beheld, and was edified. I 
wondered, and shall never forget. Mr. Bud- 
gett not only murmnred not, but was ceaseless 
in praises that he and his family had been dealt 
with so mercifully. I knew how he loved his 
son, and what he expected from him." 

** We are yet, though suflFering under a most 
painful bereavement, a happy family," TAt, 
Budgett himself says; "yes, the peace of God, 
that passeth all human understanding, does 

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HAPPY ENDlNa. 113 

keep our hearts and minds through faith in 
Jesus Christ, It would be impossible to tell 
you how precious Christ is to us in this time of 
severe trial. We have this morning enjoyed a 
gracious visitation from our heavenly Father, 
while we all, the whole family, knelt and prayed 
tliat this stroke might be fully sanctified." 

Thus was gladness put into his heart "more 
than in the time that his corn and his wine 
increased." 

But the separation between the father and 
son was not to be measured by years. In a 
little more than a year, the shadow of death 
again crept over this household. We would 
stay its progress, and pray for the continuance 
of such a life; but our times are in His hand 
who killeth and maketh alive, who woundeth 
and healeth. 

In November of 1350, Mr. Budgett's health 
began to decline; for some months disease 
slowly but surely crept into, and fastened itself 
upon his once vigorous and stout frame. It 
was dropsy. Week by week, and day by day, 
he failed. Though its progress was sometimes 
slhckened, it was never stopped. The winter 
he passed without much physical suffering, and 

No rains. 8 

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114 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

he welcomed once more the opening beauties 
of the spring, but he was then hastening to a 
spring of immortal green. 

"When I look round on my family and the 
church, I feel as if life would still be a blessing," 
says the sick merchant. "I am not one of those 
who are weary of the world, nor do I feel any 
sympathy with such ; but when I look at my- 
self as an individual, I feel 'twere better to go. 

"♦There is my house, my portion fair, 
My treasure and my heart are there, 
And my abiding home/ 

" But I did not feel like this at the beginning 
of my sickness ; then I felt my own unfaithful- 
ness had been so great, I wished to be spared a 
few years longer, that I might better prepare 
for heaven ; but I have been led to see I could 
do nothing to merit heaven. 

« < In my hand no price I bring, 
Simply to thy cross, I ding.' 

I trust now in the merits of my Saviour, in 
his atoning blood. I feel that it is not by 
works of righteousness which we have done, 
but of his mercy hath he saved us.'' 

"I have passed a pleasant night, but feel 
myself getting weaker," he again says. " My 

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HAPPY ENDING. 115 

stay on earth will be short I shall soon ar- 
rive at home It gives me great pleasure to 
think we shall be an unbroken family in heaven. 
My father's family are many of them gone ; 
the rest are on the way. A part of my own 
family are in heaven. Oh, how thin does the 
veil now appear which separates earth from 
heaven." 

Are his worldly affairs in order? 

" I have not a paper to sign, not a shilling 
to give away, not a book but any one may un- 
derstand in ten minutes,'' he answers. "I feel 
as if I were a poor sinner, saved through my 
dear mother's prayers, the prayers of my friends, 
and my own poor feeble prayers offered through 
Christ. He cannot cast me off, but has gently 
guided me through the wilderness, and is keep- 
ing me there till I am perfected through suf- 
fering." 

"In the vigor of life, how hard to bring our 
minds to believe we must suffer. But the Lord 
has brought me to a death-bed, and I this day," 
he says, with a sweet trust, "hang like a little 
child in a brook, catching hold of a branch 
that is thrown out to save it, only there is this 
one difference in my case: I hang upon the 

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116 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

brancfi of Jesse^s stem. Christ will keep me. I 
am safe.'' 

" Do you feel that your heavenly Father can 
make you enjoy afllietion?" asked a friend by 
his bedside. 

** yes ; I do now," expresses the ripening 
saint. "I don't feel myself like a sick man; 
I feel that I am luxuriating in God's presence. 
The room seems ^cd with God. So calm, so 
beautiful." Then did he unconsciously slide 
into prayer : " Lord, I am thine ; thou art mine. 
I have made a covenant with thee ; I would 
not break it for a thousand worlds. Lord, 
keep me, baptize me anew ; help me to rejoice 
more fully in thee. 

" Jesus, my great High-priest, 
Offered his blood, and died ; 
My guilty conscience seeks 

No sacrifice beside. 
His powerful blood did once atone. 
And now it pleads before the throne." 

Talking one day with the yotmg wife of his 
son James : " I should like to have lived a lit- 
tle longer for your sake. Sometimes I feel as 
if I should like to look forward and trace your 
course through life. But I can, and do o^m- 

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HAPPY ENDING. 117 

mend you to the care of our heavenly Father. 
He will guide you aright. Oh, *in all your 
ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your 
steps.'" Looking earnestly at her, he said, 
" *Let your eye be single, then your body shall 
be full of light :' mindf keep a single eye ; in all 
the events of life, keep a single eye." 

"You are entering life under very different 
circumstances with regard to temporal things, 
from what I did," he said to his son William, 
one day ; " pursue the same course that I have 
done, and your way is made ; but let there be 
this difference : where I have followed trifles, 
you follow the dictates of the Spirit ; wherein 
I have followed my senses, you cleave close to 
God, and all will be well. I can't say with 
the apostle, 'I have fought a good fight,' for I 
have not. I have been unfaithful, but there is 
atonement through Jesus. I can say, I have 
almost * finished my course ;' henceforth there is 
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which 
the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at 
that day." 

On being told, after an evening service, how 
fervently he had been prayed for, "Oh," he 
said, "they will not have to pray for me again ; 

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118 NO PAINS, NO GAINS. 

before another month goes round, I shall be in 
a better country." 

"How delightful," remarked a friend near, 
" is the thought that you will so soon be there. 
There you will have a harp of gold, be clothed 
in white raiment, and have a crown upon yolir 
head." 

"Yes," responded the dying saint, "I like to 
hear of the beauties of heaven, but I do not 
dwell upon them ; no, what I rejoioe in is, that 
Christ vnll be there. Where he is, there shall I 
also be. I know that he is in me, and I in him. 
J shall see him as he is ; I delight in knomng 
that:' 

On Sunday, April 20, the communion was 
administered to him ; and he ate the bread 
and drank the wine of the new covenant for 
the last time with his family on earth. It was 
a day of holy solemnities, and a foretaste of 
heavenly blessedness. 

"This is the happiest day of my life," he 
whispered, as it drew to a close ; " the happiest 
hour. I am ready to go this moment, or ready 
to stay. Oh, how would I preach, if I could 
preach nowl" 

"He bade his ministers an affectionate fare- 



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HAPPY ENDING. 119 

well," SO writes a friend who was with him ; 
and on one of them repeating the lines, 

'^I the chief of amneis am, 
But Jesus died for me,'' 

he fervently responded to the sentiment, and 
added, "I never asked for joy; I always 
thought myself nn worthy of it; but he has 
given me more than I asked." 

"He giveth exceeding abundantly, above all 
we ask or think," said one. 

"Thank God, thank God," ejaculated the 
dying believer. After the ministers retired, he 
requested another hymn might be sung. On 
Edwin's favorite being selected, " How happy 
every child of grace," he said, ." Yes ; and Ed- 
win will join us." He united most heartily in 
the singing, and desired another hymn, when 
it was thought too much excitement might hurt 
him. 

"Oh, no," he said; "nothing will hurt me 
now, I am going home ; nothing can hurt me 
now." 

He lingered a week longer in close and 
delightful communion with his Lord, ready to 
abide his will, and then went home to the Be- 
loved of his soul. 

Digitized by V^OOQIC 



120 NO PAINS, NO aAINS. 

Samuel Budgett died April, 1851, aged 57^ 
His family lost a father whom they delighted 
to honor ; Kingswood Hill, a godly neighbor, 
and a generous friend ; Bristol, a princely mer- 
chant ; the church of Christ, a shining member ; 
England, a Christian citizen ; but the world 
has found a new evangelist, who shall go forth 
in her highways and by-ways, to the shop and * 
the counting-room, to the master and his men, 
to the popr and the rich, to preach, by. his ex- 
ample, with no common power, the duty of 
laboring for Christ as the great Bibk law of 
increase in temporal, moral, and spiritual good, 
" The hand of the diligent maketh rich/' 
" Whatsoever- thy hand findeth to do, do it 
with thy might." 

" Strive to enter in at the strait gate ; for 
many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be 
able." 

" Work out your own salvation with fear and 
trembling ; for it is God who worketh in you, 
to will and to do of his own good pleasure." 



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THE FAMILY TESTAMENT, 

With Mef Notes and Instructions, and Maps. 

PREPARED BY REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D. 

With the connsel and aid of the Members of the Publishing 

Committee. 

Price 60 cents, or 80 gilt 

OLD TESTAMENT, VoL L Genesis to Job. 76 cents. 

SACRED SONGS 

For Family and Social Worship. 

Selected by Prof. Hastings, with the counsel of Lowell 
Mason, Esq., for general and permanent use ; containing 
320 hymns, and 182 tunes; 12mo, 55 cents. 

SONGS OP ZION. 
A smaller selection of 93 foyorite tunes with hymns, which 
is gaining a wide circulation ; 25 cents. 

THE GENERAL SERIES OF TRACTS, 

Is issued in a new edition of twelve volumes, with fine en- 
gravings. Price $6 00. 

THIRTEEN PACKETS OF SELECT TRACTS 

Are also issued in a convenient form for booksellers and 
others, at 25 cents a Packet of 376 pages each. 

PICTORIAL NARRATIVES. 

Twenty-four Tracts selected for the masses of readers; 
248 pages, 12mo, 35 cents, or 50 gilt 



JTON, 
T-STI 

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FHILADELFHl/L 303 CHESTNUT-STREET. 



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