An incident that occurred in connection with the purchase of this elegant property will show how Mr. Holcombe and his work were looked upon in Louisville even by those who were not Christians.
[Illustration: THE WAYFARER'S REST. 1. EXTERIOR. 2. OFFICE. 3. SLEEPING APARTMENT. 4. TAKING MEALS. 5. AT WORK. 6. ON THE LEVEE.]
A German singing society was negotiating for the building at the same time, and had offered a higher price than the friends of the Mission thought they could give. Mr. Holcombe went to the leader of the society and told him he desired the building for the Mission, and, though the man was an unbeliever, he said: "Mr. Holcombe, though I am not a Christian and do not believe in Christianity, I do believe in the work you are doing. I will not be in the way of your getting that building." He withdrew his bid at once, and the Directors of the Holcombe Mission purchased it for $12,500.
Mr. Holcombe at once took possession. He fitted up the rooms of the lower floor for the various departments of the mission work. The large and elegant double-parlors were thrown into one and arranged for the audience-room. This has a seating capacity of two hundred or more. The other rooms of the lower floor are used, one for Mr. Holcombe's office, two others for the Kindergarten, another for a cloak-room, and so on. The second floor, with its seven large, bright, airy rooms, is occupied by Mr. Holcombe's family, and, for the first time since his conversion, they are in comfortable quarters.
At last after years of love and faith and faithfulness Mrs. Holcombe has her full reward and joy. The long twenty-five years of sorrow and suspense passed by and her husband is what she unconsciously believed her love had the power of waiting for him to become--a good man. And more than a good man. He is consumed with the desire and somehow clothed with the power of making other men good, of making bad men good, of making the worst of bad men good. This he has now been doing, by God's grace, for seven faithful years and more--and continues to do. Her husband is honored and beloved for his character, his work and his usefulness--no man, no minister in Louisville more so.
All her children are members of the church even down to little Pearl, the latest-born. Her oldest son, her Willie, is happily married, occupies the position of book-keeper with the Sievers Hardware Company on Main street, and is an efficient officer of the church of God. Her second daughter is happily married to a Christian man, "one of the best of husbands," who is book-keeper in the old Kentucky Woolen Mills, of Louisville. Her oldest daughter is a devoted Christian and serves with equal efficiency as organist of the Mission and teacher in the Kindergarten. Her baby-boy now eighteen years old and the rise of six feet in height is a member of the church and a good boy. He also is in business with the Sievers Hardware Company on Main street. And Pearl, the blue-eyed, golden-haired, eight-year-old girl baby is, nobody dare question, the flower of the flock. Her dead children are in heaven all, for they died before they knew sin, and her living children are on the way to heaven, all, for they trust in and serve Him who was manifested to take away sin.