Pastor's Column Christmas Eve 2009

Can the birth of a child really make a difference? In a short story called "The Luck of Roaring Camp," Bret Harte wrote of the sort of mining camps he had known in California during the 1850s. Roaring Camp was such a vile place that the gamblers didn't even stop their game when men in the saloon killed each other in gun fights. Roaring Camp was filled with reckless, unbathed miners, some criminals and others gamblers. But they momentarily stopped their fighting, cussing, and gambling to sit outside the cabin of Cherokee Sal, the only woman in camp, as she labored to give birth.
She died giving birth to a baby boy, such a curious creature that a hundred rough men walked by his crib just to take a look. They donated personal effects such as golden spurs and diamond rings so the baby would have a chance, given he didn't have much of one without a mom. Although there was not a woman around - the baby was fed on donkey milk - they unanimously decided to adopt the boy, and sent a sack of gold to Sacramento to buy the best of baby clothes and furnishings.
An irreverent bunch, a mock christening was scheduled to give the baby a name. But a fellow named Stumpy objected to their irreverence and the camp repented. They grew serious, and Stumpy said, "I proclaim you Thomas Luck, according to the laws of the United States and the State of California, so help me God!" It was the first time the name of the Deity had been uttered in Roaring Camp in a non-profane manner.
It was determined that the cabin in which baby Luck stayed had to be cleaned and scrubbed and then repainted. And if that cabin, why not the other fithy cabins in camp? It was a rule that if you held the baby, you had to be clean. And so men began bathing and taking care of their personal cleanliness. Hollering and cussing were banned because such would disturb the baby, but singing lullabies was encouraged. Men also wakened to the fact that there was beauty in flowers and sweet-smelling shrubs, which they constantly brought to the child.
The camp changed and flourished simply because a baby had been born. Imagine that. - DJ