Please Don’t Wake Him Up

A man was giving his testimony at one of those old Salvation Army open-air street meetings. As he was testifying, a heckler in the crowd yelled, “Why don’t you shut up and sit down? You’re just dreaming.”

Immediately the heckler felt a tug on his coat. He looked down to see the perplexed face of a little girl, who said. “Sir, may I speak to you?”

She said, “That man who is talking up there is my daddy.  Daddy used to be a drunkard.  He used to spend all of the money he made on whiskey. My mother was very sad and would cry most of the time. Sometimes when my daddy came home, he would hit my mother. I didn’t have shoes or a nice dress to wear to school. But look at my shoes. And see this pretty dress? My daddy bought these for me.”

But the little girl wasn’t through with that heckler yet. She continued, “See my mother over there?  She’s the one with the bright smile on her face. She’s happy now. She sings even when she’s doing the ironing.”

Then the little girl concluded with a simple plea, “Mister, if my daddy is dreaming, please don’t wake him up.”