Poor As The Proverbial Turkey
Some years ago I was a speaker in a camp meeting in a district in which many of the people were very, very poor. One night, just before time for the service, I drove down the road in my car to get away from people in order to have opportunity to meditate a little while before going into the pulpit to preach. In the modern automobile it does not take much time to cover the distance of a few miles, and soon I was five miles away from the camp. As I passed a wooded section, I saw a man and a woman with four children come out of the woods and start up the road. They were all barefooted. They were carrying their shoes in their hands; that is, those who were fortunate enough to possess shoes. Only the oldest child of the four children had shoes!
I stopped by car and hailed them.
Smilingly, but with evident bashfulness, they accepted my offer to them of a ride. They were on their way to the camp meeting. At the gates of the camp they sat on the grass and put on their shoes. In just a few minutes they had travelled the three miles in my car which would have taken them over an hour to walk. The next night I happened to pass that way again, and gave them a ride. It so happened that I was in that vicinity every night, and asked them to ride with me to the services.
On the way, after the strangeness and bashfulness had worn off, they would testify and sing, and sing and testify!
Their joy was so abundant, that it was a tonic to my soul. It helped me to preach better! They carried their shoes to save the leather from wearing out on the concrete road. They were as poor as the proverbial turkey owned by Job and lived many, many miles back in the mountains; but they were richer by far than many who lived in great houses and who had more than enough of the possessions of this fleeting world.
One night towards the end of the camp, I said to the father,
Some years ago I was a speaker in a camp meeting in a district in which many of the people were very, very poor. One night, just before time for the service, I drove down the road in my car to get away from people in order to have opportunity to meditate a little while before going into the pulpit to preach. In the modern automobile it does not take much time to cover the distance of a few miles, and soon I was five miles away from the camp. As I passed a wooded section, I saw a man and a woman with four children come out of the woods and start up the road. They were all barefooted. They were carrying their shoes in their hands; that is, those who were fortunate enough to possess shoes. Only the oldest child of the four children had shoes!
I stopped by car and hailed them.
Smilingly, but with evident bashfulness, they accepted my offer to them of a ride. They were on their way to the camp meeting. At the gates of the camp they sat on the grass and put on their shoes. In just a few minutes they had travelled the three miles in my car which would have taken them over an hour to walk. The next night I happened to pass that way again, and gave them a ride. It so happened that I was in that vicinity every night, and asked them to ride with me to the services.
On the way, after the strangeness and bashfulness had worn off, they would testify and sing, and sing and testify!
Their joy was so abundant, that it was a tonic to my soul. It helped me to preach better! They carried their shoes to save the leather from wearing out on the concrete road. They were as poor as the proverbial turkey owned by Job and lived many, many miles back in the mountains; but they were richer by far than many who lived in great houses and who had more than enough of the possessions of this fleeting world.
One night towards the end of the camp, I said to the father,
The brother interrupted me. A smile of happiness came across his face and he commenced to sing:
The little folks helped him sing it, and his good wife sang it too. When he finished, he scratched his matted hair on his old mountain-born head, and said,
-Dr. Charles Price- (The Real Faith)
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feliz navidad. 
