(reproduced with kind permission from ‘Down the Quay’)
Now at this time Benny was married and living at Healthy Air, a house close by Pickroad. This house is also gone. He kept a cow there. One night, when Benny came home from his work, his wife met him and him that the cow was lost and could not be found.
At once he went in search for his cow. Although he was tired after his day’s work the cow must be found. In those days men used to work from six in the morning until six at night, but that did not stop him - “I must find the cow.”
The Cole Family 1902
Below his house there were a furzy brake of very high growth. He searched back and fore through the gorse but she could not be found nowhere. But his cow was lost for a purpose. He was now on a great mission, but he was not aware of it at the time. God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.
By this time (Benny) was weary and tired after his day’s work. After he had finished searching the brake he went out into the moory field. On his way across the field it came home to him that he was a lost sinner wandering away from God. And there in the middle of the field he fell upon his knees and prayed unto the Lord for mercy and pardon for his sins - and to help him find his cow.
He found his cow in the same field, and from that moment he started his pilgrimage for Mount Zion which he continued unto his death.
He went home to his wife rejoicing that he had his cow which was lost. After that he went to Pisgah and joined the church in which the Lord had called him for a great mission to work for him.
Now they made him the superintendent of the Sunday school, which he carried on for forty years without a break to the end of his days.