Clothes Line Stories Part 1

01 -- From The Double Cure -- And Other Holiness Sermons
By Joseph Gray

       Some years ago a preacher friend told me this story. As a boy he had lived in a Missouri coal-mining district. His father was given a job on the mine tipple after many years of work underground. It became the son's duty as a schoolboy to carry a hot lunch to his father daily to make up for the many years he had been compelled to carry a cold lunch underground. During the days that he carried the lunch the boy began to notice a peculiar thing. Although the coal dust was everywhere and permeated everything -- houses had to be painted every year, curtains needed washing every week, clothes could scarcely be hung out to dry -- yet there was a bed of lilies close by the coal dump whose petals always kept their spotless purity.

       He remembered this curious fact in later years and set out to discover the reason. He learned that the lilies had a secretion welling up from the heart of the blossoms that kept the coal dust washed away.

       So with us if we have God's indwelling presence in our hearts. We may live under conditions where the waves of sin break over our external lives; we may find it impossible to escape the blasphemy, impurity, corruption, and sin which the world is continually spewing forth like a devastating, defiling flood over our lives. But we can have that well of water so springing up into everlasting life in our inner being that it flows out to the exterior and washes away all the outer impurities of life. This is God's holiness working out in our lives.

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02 -- From Sin, The Tell-Tale
By William Edward Shepard

       It matters not how well covered the sin may be, the guilty one does not know at what unexpected point the light may flash and his wickedness become manifest. It is said that one time while the great electric searchlight located at Echo Mountain back of Pasadena was turned onto Los Angeles one night, it fell upon a man's back yard and revealed a thief stealing clothes from the clothes line. Had he the least intimation that a powerful search light fifteen or twenty miles away would be turned upon him in the twinkling of an eye, he certainly would not have carried out his wrong intent. And yet, if the sinner only knew it, from on high there is a searchlight scanning the moral universe just as real and much more accurate, and no sin can possibly be hidden from its scope. If the guilty soul should not be exposed to the world in the very act, it is only a question of time when all will come out.

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03 -- From John W. Goodwin -- A Biography
By Asa Everette Sanner

       Also, there was a contest to see who could drive a peg in the ground the farthest with one stroke. John placed himself for a giant stroke and, forgetting all about the strung clothesline, he swung his axe. It caught on the line, came back, and struck him on the forehead just above the right eye. Since the axe turned in his hand, the blade did not strike full force on the forehead, but there resulted an injury, the scar of which remained through life and was noticeable when he lifted his eyebrows. Thus, like many boys, John was fearless and venturesome; nevertheless, an overruling providence of God was kind to this young man and his life was protected for future use in God's service.

       [I had a very similar accident was I was about 18. In my case also, the clothesline turned the blade of the axe enough that the flat side of the axe struck me at the edge of my right eye.  God spared me from death, or more serious injury, and I have as of today lived about 65 more years.  Thank You, Jesus! -- Duane V. Maxey, December 5, 2020.]

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04 -- From God With Us
By Jerry Clevenger

       When Gypsy Smith was converted he was just a little boy. His mother was dead and his father was very poor. He said, "In order to help on the living I went into the lumber business. I whittled out clothes pins with my pocket knife and went out selling them at two pence a dozen. But I was a happy boy, I had found Jesus. One day I sold a lady some clothes pins, and then I said, 'Would you like to hear me sing?' and she said, 'Yes.' My little heart was just bubbling over with the joy of salvation and I began to sing, 'Who'll be the next to follow Jesus; Who'll be the next the cross to bear? Who'll be the next to follow Jesus? Who'll be the next the crown to wear?' The lady commenced to cry and I got scared and ran out of the door and ran home. Twenty-five years afterward I went back to that town, a preacher, and held a meeting. One day at the close of a service a lady came up to me and asked me, if I remembered a little boy's selling some clothes pins to a woman and singing a little song, and the woman began to cry and he got scared and ran away? I said, 'Yes, I remember.' She said, 'I am that woman. After you sang that little song and ran away. My little girl said to me, "Mamma, if a little gypsy boy can be a Christian why can't I?" and I knelt with her and prayed and she was converted.'"

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05 -- From Pointed Illustrations
By William Moses Tidwell

       It is said that a young man became very profligate. He almost broke the hearts of his parents. The mother was actually about to die from the strain. Finally, one day he acted so shamefully that his father said to him, "We have done everything in our power for you. You have disgraced the family and are killing your mother. All that we do for you is in vain. I am sorry, but I must ask you to leave our home and never return." The young man left.

       The months and years went by. Finally the boy became so miserable and homesick it seemed he could not stand it. So he wrote his mother this letter: "Dear Mother: I am ashamed of my fearful conduct in the home. I can hardly stand to think I must never see you again. However, I do not know whether or not Father and you can forgive me. But I will be on train No. 2 that passes your home at 10:00 a.m. [Then he gave the day.] Now if you can forgive me and will take me back, I want you to hang a sheet out on the clothesline. I shall look as the train passes and, if I see the sheet, I will know that you will forgive me, and I will get off at the next station, just below the house, and come home."

       Well, what do you think she did? Not only did she hang out one sheet, but every sheet, towel, pillowcase and everything else white that she had. The clothesline, fence, and rosebushes were covered with sheets, towels, etc. Of course he came home, and, oh, such a welcome! It was forgiveness in abundance.

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06 -- From Sanctification -- The Experience & The Ethics
By R. T. Williams

       A woman sat in the home of a friend. The two women were freely discussing a neighbor who lived next door. One woman said to her visiting friend: "Look at my neighbor, if you will, hanging out clothes on the line in her backyard. Look at the spots and the dirty streaks in the clothes. That is an example of this woman, both as to her character and her conduct. I have no use for her. She is certainly an undesirable character." The visitor walked to the window and lifted it and then looked out at the clothes upon the line and saw that they were perfectly white. They were spotless. There were no streaks in them. The difficulty was that they were looking through dirty windows. Thus many people may be unable to see the beauty in the lives of others because they themselves have prejudiced hearts, unfair minds, and perverted vision.

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07 -- From More Holiness In Everyday Life
By Dr. George L. Lyons

       When our son was a little boy, he could not say his "g"s. One beautiful fall day he was watching his mother hang the laundry on the clothesline. Out of the blue he commented, "Dod yike outside." Terre thought for a moment and replied, "Yes, Nathanael, God loves the world He created." Nathanael corrected her, "Nod Dod, Mom, dod." Only when my wife noticed our miniature schnauzer basking in the sun nearby did she understand. "Yes, Nathanael, Gretchen likes to be outdoors on nice days."

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08 -- From "Darkness to Dawn"
By Dell Aycock

       I had a darling little puppy that looked like a ball of soft, brown fur and my friend had a large, old cat. One day, he brought his cat over and I had my little puppy out in the yard playing with him. The cat spit and fussed at my pup, and we thought it would be fun to tie them together and hang them over the clothes line and see what they would do. I held my pup with his back to the cat, and he held his cat with his back to the pup and we tied the two together and hung them across the line.

       That was a terrible fight! The poor little dog had no chance with the cat and, of course, when we saw what we had done, we ran for help. When we got back, the cat was gone and my puppy was on the ground, all scratched and bloody. We were too small to know that it would turn out the way it did. However, with good nursing, and you may be sure he received it, the little pup was soon as good as ever.

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09 -- From Victory Out Of Defeat
By Lovick Pierce Driskell

       I would take the cats, tie their tails together and hang them over the clothes line to see them "grin" at each other and "love" each other! I would take a paper sack and tie it to the dog's tail and saturate it in coal oil and stick fire to it to see them run. One day I played this prank and one of the dogs went straight for the hay barn. It is useless to say that I released him right quick. I would tie a paper over the cat's feet to see them walk in the air and try to get every foot in the air at the same time. My mother said that she thought I set up at night to study devilment but I did not, though I surely thought of enough of it when I was awake.

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10 -- From My Life Story
By Amos L. Haywood

       I was born in a little log house in Wayland Township, Allegan County, Michigan. This cabin was a crude old-fashioned log cabin. The logs were their natural size with a little chinking between, leaving, a crevice between every log which made it difficult to build anything tightly against the logs. There were two rooms on the main floor and an attic where my two sisters, my brother and I slept. A crude stairway led up to the attic. Since the logs were so uneven, there was a space between the side of the stairway and the logs. One day my sister was on her way upstairs, and noticed something that looked like a strap between the logs and the stairway. Reaching down, she took hold of it and jumped back screaming. It was a long, blue snake. The men were called and killed the six-foot snake. They dragged him out of the house and I can see him yet as he hung over the clothes line.

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11 -- From His Ambassador
By C. Helen Mooshian

       Twelve days later we reached Reno. It was my first long trip and I enjoyed it immensely. Upon entering Reno, we observed a huge banner on the main street which read, "THE BIGGEST LITTLE CITY IN THE WORLD." We found the citizens friendly and cordial. They blamed the divorce and gambling situation on the great influx of people who came FROM THE OUTSIDE. I found two articles of my wearing apparel missing from the clothes line the morning after our arrival. There was no way of knowing if the guilty party was a native or a transient. [I think it might very-well have been someone FROM THE INSIDE, A NATIVE OF RENO! -- DVM]

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12 -- From Johnson's Gems and Jingles
By W. H. Johnson

       If your troubles were hung on the clothes line with your neighbor's trouble, you would be glad to get your own back.