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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11421-0.txt b/11421-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e72a82c --- /dev/null +++ b/11421-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10166 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11421 *** + +[Illustration: RUSSELL H CONWELL] + + + + +RUSSELL H. CONWELL + +Founder of the Institutional Church in America + + + +THE WORK AND THE MAN + +BY + +AGNES RUSH BURR + + + +With His Two Famous Lectures as Recently Delivered, entitled "Acres of +Diamonds," and "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women" + + + +With an Appreciative Introduction by FLOYD W. TOMKINS, D.D., LL.D. + + + + +1905 + + + + +TO THE MEMBERS + +OF + +GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH + + +TO THOSE WHO IN THE OLD DAYS WORKED WITH SUCH SELF SACRIFICE AND +DEVOTION TO BUILD THE TEMPLE WALLS; TO THOSE WHO IN THE LATER DAYS +ANYWHERE WORK IN LIKE SPIRIT TO ENLARGE THEIR SPHERE OF USEFULNESS, + +THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED + + + + +AN APPRECIATION + + +The measure of greatness is helpfulness. We have gone back to the +method of the Master and learned to test men not by wealth, nor by +birth, nor by intellectual power, but by service. Wealth is not to be +despised if it is untainted and consecrated. Ancestry is noble if the +good survives and the bad perishes in him who boasts of his forebears. +Intellectual force is worthy if only it can escape from that cursed +attendant, conceit. But they sink, one and all into insignificance +when character is considered; for character is the child of godly +parents whose names are self-denial and love. The man who lives not +for himself but for others, and who has a heart big enough to take all +men into its living sympathies--he is the man we delight to honor. + +Biographies have a large place in present day literature. A woman long +associated with some foreign potentates tells her story and it is read +with unhealthy avidity. Some man fights many battles, and his career +told by an amiable critic excites temporary interest. Yet as we read +we are unsatisfied. The heart and mind, consciously or unconsciously, +ask for some deeds other than those of arms and sycophancies. Did he +make the world better by his living? Were rough places smoothed and +crooked things straightened by his energies? And withal, had he that +tender grace which drew little children to him and made him the +knight-attendant of the feeble and overborne amongst his fellows? The +life from which men draw daily can alone make a book richly worth the +reading. + +It is good that something should be known of a man whilst he yet +lives. We are overcrowded with monuments commemorating those into +whose faces we cannot look for inspiration. It is always easy to strew +flowers upon the tomb. But to hear somewhat of living realities; to +grasp the hand which has wrought, and feel the thrill while we hear of +the struggles which made it a beautiful hand; to see the face marked +by lines cut with the chisel of inner experience and the sword of +lonely misunderstanding and perchance of biting criticism, and +learn how the brave contest spelt out a life-history on feature and +brow;--this is at once to know the man and his career. + +This life of a man justly honored and loved in Philadelphia will find +a welcome seldom accorded to the routine biography. It is difficult +for one who rejoices in Dr. Conwell's friendship to speak in tempered +language. It is yet more difficult to do justice to the great work +which Church and College and Hospital, united in a trinity of service, +have accomplished in our very midst. God hath done mighty things +through this His servant, and the end is not yet. To attend the Temple +services on Sunday and feel the pulse of worship is to enter into a +blessed fellowship with God and men. To see the thousands pursuing +their studies during the week in Temple College and to realize the +thoroughness of the work done is to gain a belief in Christian +education. To move through the beautiful Hospital and mark the gentle +ministration of Christian physician and nurse is to learn what Jesus +meant when, quoting Hosea, He said: "I will have mercy and not +sacrifice." And these all bring one very near to the great human +heart, the intelligent and far-reaching judgment, the ripe and real +religion of him whose life this volume tells. + +May God bless Dr. Conwell in the days to come, and graciously spare +him to us for many years! We need such men in this old sin-stained and +weary world. He is an inspiration to his brothers in the ministry +of Jesus Christ, He is a proof of the power in the world of pure +Christianity. He is a friend to all that is good, a foe to all that is +evil, a strength to the weak, a comforter to the sorrowing, a man of +God. + +He would not suffer these words to be printed if he saw them. But they +come from the heart of one who loves, honors, and reverences him for +his character and his deeds. They are the words of a friend. + +[Illustration: Floyd W. Tomkins Church of the Holy Trinity +Philadelphia, Oct. 6th 1905.] + + + + +FOREWORD + +CONWELL THE PIONEER + + +Speaking of Russell Conwell's career, a Western paper has called it, +"a pioneer life." + +No phrase better describes it. + +Dr. Conwell preaches to the largest Protestant congregation in America +each Sunday. He is the founder and president of a college that has a +yearly roll-call of three thousand students. He is the founder and +president of a hospital that annually treats more than five thousand +patients. Yet great as these achievements are, they are yet greater in +prophecy than in fulfilment. For they are the first landmarks in a new +world of philanthropic work. He has blazed a path through the dark, +tangled wilderness of tradition and convention, hewing away the +worthless, making a straight road for progress, letting in God's clear +light to show what the world needs done and how to do it. + +He has shown how a church can reach out into the home, the business, +the social life of thousands of people until their religion is their +life, their life a religion. He has given the word "church" its real +meaning. No longer is it a building merely for worship, but, with +doors never closed, it is a vital part of the community and the lives +of the people. + +He has proven that the great masses of people are hungry and thirsty +for knowledge. The halls of Temple College have resounded to the tread +of an army of working men and women more than fifty thousand strong. +The man with an hour a day and a few dollars a year is as eager and as +welcome a student there, and has the same educational opportunities to +the same grade of learning as though he had the birthright of leisure +and money which opens the doors to Harvard and Yale. + +He has shown that a hospital can be built not merely as a charity, not +merely as a necessity, but as a visible expression of Christ's love +and command, "Heal the sick." + +In all these three lines he has blazed new paths, opened new worlds +for man's endeavors--new worlds of religious work, new worlds of +educational work. He has not only proven their need, demonstrated +their worth, but he has shown how it is possible to accomplish such +results from small beginnings with no large gifts of money, with only +the hands and hearts of willing workers. + +Not only has he done a magnificent pioneer work in these great fields, +but from boyhood he has blazed trails of one kind or another, for +the pioneer fever was in his blood--that burning desire to do, to +discover, to strike out into new fields. + +As a mere child, he organized a strange club called "Silence," also +the first debating society in the district schoolhouse, and circulated +the first petition for the opening of a post-office near his home in +South Worthington, Mass. + +In his school days at Wilbraham Academy, he organized an original +critics' club, started the first academy paper, organized the original +alumni association. + +In war time, he built the first schoolhouse for the first free colored +school, still standing at Newport, N.C.; and started the first +"Comfort Bag" movement at a war meeting in Springfield, Mass. + +As a lawyer, he opened the first noon prayer meeting in the Northwest, +called the first meeting to organize the Y.M.C.A. at Minneapolis, +Minn., organized four literary and social clubs in Minneapolis, +started the first library in that city, began the publication of the +first daily paper there called "The Daily Chronicle," afterward "The +Minneapolis Tribune." + +In Boston, he started the "Somerville Journal," now edited by his son, +Leon M. Conwell, one of the most quoted publications in the country. +He called the first meeting which organized the Boston Young Men's +Congress, and was one of the first editors of the "Boston Globe." +He was the personal adviser of James Redpath, who opened the first +Lecture and Lyceum Bureau in the United States. + +He began a new church work in the old Baptist church building at +Lexington, Mass., and he opened in a schoolhouse the mission from +which grew the West Somerville (Mass.) Baptist church. + +He was special counselor for four new Railroad companies and for two +new National banks. + +In Philadelphia, in addition to being the founder of the first +Institutional church in America, of a college practically free for +busy men and women, and a hospital for the sick poor, he has organized +twenty or more societies for religions and benevolent purposes +including the Philadelphia Orphan's Home Society. + +His pioneer work is not all. As a lecturer Dr. Conwell is known from +the Atlantic to the Pacific, having been on the lecture platform +for forty-three years, speaking from one hundred to two hundred and +twenty-five nights each year. + +As an author he has written books that have run into editions of +hundreds of thousands, his "Life of Spurgeon" selling one hundred and +twenty-five thousand copies in four months. He has been around the +globe many times, counted among his intimate friends Garibaldi, Bayard +Taylor, Stanley, Longfellow, Blaine, Henry Ward Beecher, John G. +Whittier, President Garfield, Horace Greeley, Alexander Stevens, John +Brown, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John B. Gough and General Sherman. + +He fought in the war of the Rebellion, was left for dead on the +battlefield of Kenesaw mountain--in fact, he has had a career as +picturesque and thrilling as a Scott or Dumas could picture. + +Yet the man whose energy has reared enduring monuments of stone, and +more lasting ones in the hearts of thousands whose lives he has made +happier and brighter, fought his way upward alone and single-handed +from a childhood of poverty. He rose by his own efforts, in the face +of great and seemingly insurmountable obstacles and discouragements. +The path he took from that little humble farmhouse to the big church, +the wide-reaching college, the kindly hospital, the head of the +Lecture Platform, it is the purpose of this book to picture, in the +hope that it may be helpful to others, either young or old, who desire +to better their condition, or to do some work of which the inner voice +tells them the world is in need. + +Dr. Conwell believes, with George Macdonald, that "The one secret of +life and development is not to devise or plan, but to fall in with the +forces at work--to do every moment's duty aright--that being the part +in the process allotted to us; and let come ... what the Eternal +Thought wills for each of us, has intended in each of us from the +first." + +Or in the words of the greatest of Books, "See that thou make it +according to the pattern that was shewed thee in the mount." + +Every one at some time in his life has been "in the mount." To follow +and obey the Heavenly Vision means a life of usefulness and happiness. +That obstacles and discouragements can be surmounted, the life of +Russell Conwell shows. For this purpose it is written, that others who +have heard the Voice may go forward with faith and perseverance to +work of which the world stands in need. + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENT + + +In the preparation of this book, the three excellent biographies +already written, "Scaling the Eagle's Nest," by Wm. C. Higgins, "The +Modern Temple and Templars," by Robert J. Burdette, and "The Life of +Russell H. Conwell," by Albert Hatcher Smith, have been of the utmost +help. The writer wishes to acknowledge her great indebtedness to all +for much of the information in the present work. These writers have +with the utmost care gathered the facts concerning Dr. Conwell's early +life, and the writer most gratefully owns her deep obligation to them. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + +Chapter I.--Ancestry. John Conwell, the English Ancestor who fought for +the Preservation of the English Language. Martin Conwell of Maryland. A +Runaway Marriage. The Parents of Russell H. Conwell. + +Chapter II.--Early Environment. The Family Circle. An Unusual Mother. +What She Read Her Children. A Preacher at Three Years of Age. + +Chapter III.--Days of Study, Work and Play. The Schoolhouse in the +Woods. Maple Sugar-making. The Orator of the Dawn. A Boyish Prank. +Capturing the Eagle's Nest. + +Chapter IV.--Two Men and Their Influence. John Brown. Fireside +Discussions. Runaway Slaves. Fred Douglas. Rev. Asa Niles. A Runaway +Trip to Boston. + +Chapter V--Trying His Wings. Boyhood Days. Russell's First Case at Law. +A Cure for Stage Fever. Studying Music. A Runaway Trip to Europe. + +Chapter VI--Out of the Home Nest. School Days at Wilbraham Academy. The +First School Oration and Its Humiliating End. The Hour of Prayer in the +Conwell Home at the Time of John Brown's Execution. + +Chapter VII.--War's Alarms. College Days at Yale. The Outbreak of the +Civil War. Patriotic Speechmaking. New York and Henry Ward Beecher. + +Chapter VIII.--While the Conflict Raged. Lincoln's Call for One Hundred +Thousand Men. Enlistment. Captain Conwell. In Camp at Springfield, Mass. +The Famous Gold-sheathed Sword. + +Chapter IX.--In the Thick of the Fight. Company F at Newberne, N.C. The +Fight at Batchelor's Creek. The Goldsboro Expedition. The Battle of +Kingston. The Gum Swamp Expedition. + +Chapter X.--The Sword and the School Book. Scouting at Bogue Sound. +Captain Conwell Wounded. The Second Enlistment. Jealousy and +Misunderstanding. Building of the First Free School for Colored +Children. Attack on Newport Barracks. Heroic Death of John Ring. + +Chapter XI.--A Soldier of the Cross. Under Arrest for Absence Without +Leave. Order of Court Reversed by President. Certificate from State +Legislature of Massachusetts for Patriotic Services. Appointed by +President Lincoln, Lieutenant-Colonel on General McPherson's Staff. +Wounded at Kenesaw Mountain. Conversion. Public Profession of Faith. + +Chapter XII.--Westward. Resignation from Army. Admission to Bar. +Marriage. Removal to Minnesota. Founding of the Minneapolis Y.M.C.A. +and of the Present "Minneapolis Tribune." Burning of Home. Breaking Out +of Wound. Appointed Emigration Agent to Germany by Governor of +Minnesota. Joins Surveying Party to Palestine. Near to Death in Paris +Hospital. Journey to New York for Operation in Bellevue Hospital. Return +to Boston. + +Chapter XIII.--Writing His Way Around the World. Days of Poverty in +Boston. Sent to Southern Battlefields. Around the World for New York and +Boston Papers. In a Gambling Den in Hong Kong, China. Cholera and +Shipwreck. + +Chapter XIV.--Busy Days in Boston. Editor of "Boston Traveller." Free +Legal Advice for the Poor. Temperance Work. Campaign Manager for General +Nathaniel P. Banks. Urged for Consulship at Naples. His Work for the +Widows and Orphans of Soldiers. + +Chapter XV.--Troubled Days. Death of Wife. Loss of Money. Preaching on +Wharves. Growth of Sunday School Class at Tremont Temple from Four to +Six Hundred Members in a Brief Time. Second Marriage. Death of Father +and Mother. Preaching at Lexington. Building Lexington Baptist Church. + +Chapter XVI.--His Entry Into the Ministry. Ordination. First Charge at +Lexington. Call to Grace Baptist Church, Philadelphia. + +Chapter XVII.--Going to Philadelphia. The Early History of Grace Baptist +Church. The Beginning of the Sunday Breakfast Association. Impressions +of a Sunday Service. + +Chapter XVIII.--First Days at Grace Baptist Church. Early Plans for +Church Efficiency. Practical Methods for. + +Chapter XXXI.--The Manner of the Message. The Style of the Sermons. +Their Subject Matter. Preaching to Help Some Individual Church Member. + +Chapter XXXII.--These Busy Later Days. A Typical Week Day. A Typical +Sunday. Mrs. Conwell. Back to the Berkshires in Summer for Rest. + +Chapter XXXIII.--As a Lecturer. Wide Fame as a Lecturer. Date of Entrance +on Lecture Platform. Number of Lectures Given. The Press on His +Lectures. Some Instances of How His Lectures Have Helped People. Address +at Banquet to President McKinley. + +Chapter XXXIV.--As a Writer. Rapid Method of Working. A Popular +Biographical Writer. The Books He has Written. + +Chapter XXXV.--A Home Coming. Reception Tendered by Citizens of +Philadelphia in Acknowledgment of Work as Public Benefactor. + +Chapter XXXVI.--The Path That Has Been Blazed. Problems That Need +Solving. The Need of Men Able to Solve Them. + +Acres of Diamonds. + +Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women. + +[Illustration: MARTIN CONWELL] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ANCESTRY + + +John Conwell, the English Ancestor who fought for the Preservation of +the English Language. Martin Conwell of Maryland. A Runaway Marriage. +The Parents of Russell Conwell. + +When the Norman-French overran England and threatened to sweep from +out the island the English language, many time-honored English +customs, and all that those loyal early Britons held dear, a doughty +Englishman, John Conwell, took up cudgels in their defence. Long and +bitter was the struggle he waged to preserve the English language. +Insidious and steady were the encroachments of the Norman-French +tongue. The storm centre was the Castle school, for John Conwell +realized that the language of the child of to-day is the language of +the man of to-morrow. Right royal was the battle, for it was in those +old feudal days of strong feeling and bitter, bloody partisanship. But +this plucky Briton stood to his guns until he won. Norman-French was +beaten back, English was taught in the schools, and preserved in the +speech of that day. + +It was a tale that was told his children and his children's children. +It was a tradition that grew into their blood--the story of +perseverance, the story of a fight against oppression and injustice. +"Blood" is after all but family traditions and family ideals, and this +fighting ancestor handed down to his descendants an inheritance of +greater worth than royal lineage or feudal castle. The centuries +rolled away, a new world was discovered, and the progressive, +energetic Conwell family were not to be held back when adventure +beckoned. Two members of it came to America. Courage of a high +order, enthusiasm, faith, must they have had, or the call to cross +a perilous, pathless ocean, to brave unknown dangers in a new world +would have found no response in their hearts. They settled in Maryland +and into this fighting pioneer blood entered that strange magic +influence of the South, which makes for romance, for imagination, for +the poetic and ideal in temperament. + +[Illustration: MIRANDA CONWELL] + +Of this family came Martin Conwell, of Baltimore, hot-blooded, proud, +who in 1810, visiting a college chum in western Massachusetts, met +and fell in love with a New England girl, Miss Hannah Niles. She was +already engaged to a neighbor's son, but the Southerner cared naught +for a rival. He wooed earnestly, passionately. He soon swept away her +protests, won her heart and the two ran away and were married. But +tragic days were ahead. On her return her incensed father locked her +in her room and by threats and force compelled her to write a note to +her young husband renouncing him. He would accept no such message, but +sent a note imploring a meeting in a nearby schoolhouse at nightfall. +The letter fell into the father's hands. He compelled her to write a +curt reply bidding him leave her "forever." Then the father locked +the daughter safely in the attic, and with a mob led by the rejected +suitor, surrounded the schoolhouse and burnt it to the ground. The +husband, thinking he had been heartlessly forsaken, made a brave fight +against the odds, but seeing no hope of success, leaped from the +burning building, amid the shots fired at him, escaped down a rocky +embankment at the back of the schoolhouse, and under cover of the +woods, fled. They told his wife that he was dead. + +A little son came to brighten her shadowed life, whom she named, after +him, Martin Conwell; and after seven years she married her early +lover. But Martin was the son of her first husband and always her +dearest child, and day after day when old and gray and again a widow, +she would come over the New England hills, a little lonely old woman, +to sit by his fireside and dream of those bygone days that were so +sweet. + +Too proud to again seek an explanation, Martin Conwell, her husband, +returned to his Maryland home, living a lonely, bitter life, believing +to the day of his death, thirty years later, that his young wife had +repudiated and betrayed him. + +Martin Conwell, the son, grew to manhood and in 1839 brought a bride +to a little farm he had purchased at South Worthington, up in the +Hampshire Highlands of the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts. Here and +there among these hills, along the swift mountain streams, the land +sweeps out into sunny little meadows filled in summer with rich, +tender grasses, starred with flowers. It is not a fertile land. The +rocks creep out with frequent and unpleasing persistency. But Martin +Conwell viewed life cheerfully, and being an ingenious man, added to +the business of farming, several other occupations, and so managed to +make a living, and after many years to pay the mortgage on his home +which came with the purchase. The little farmhouse, clinging to the +bleak hillside, seemed daring to the point of recklessness when the +winter's winds swept down the valley, and the icy fingers of the storm +reached out as if to pluck it bodily from its exposed position. + +But when spring wove her mantle of green over the hills, when summer +flung its leafy banners from a million tree tops, then in the +wonderful panorama of beauty that spread before it, was the little +home justified for the dangers it had dared. Back of the house the +land climbed into a little ridge, with great, gray rocks here and +there, spots of cool, restful color amid the lavish green and gold and +purple of nature's carpeting. To the north swept hills clothed with +the deep, rich green of hemlock, the faint green flutter of birch, the +dense foliage of sugar maples. To the east, in the valley, a singing +silver brook flashed in and out among somber boulders, the land +ascending to sunny hilltop pastures beyond. But toward the south from +the homestead lay the gem of the scenery; one of the most beautiful +pictures the Berkshires know. Down the valley the hills divided, +sweeping upward east and west in magnificent curves; and through the +opening, range on range of distant mountains, including Mount Tom, +filled the view with an ever-changing fairyland of beauty--in the +spring a sea of tender, misty green; in the summer, a deep, heaving +ocean of billowy foliage; in the fall, a very carnival of color--gold, +rich reds, deep glowing browns and orange. And always, at morning, +noon and night, was seen subtle tenderness of violet shadows, of hazy +blue mists, of far-away purple distances. + +Such was the site Martin Conwell chose for a home, a site that told +something of his own character; that had marked influence on the +family that grew up in the little farmhouse. + +A mixture of the practical, hard common sense of New England and the +sympathetic, poetic temperament of the South was in this young New +England farmer--the genial, beauty-loving nature of his Southern +father, the rigid honesty, the strong convictions, the shrewd sense of +his Northern mother. Quiet and reserved in general, he was to those +who knew him well, kind-hearted, broad-minded, fun-loving. He not +only took an active interest in the affairs of the little mountain +community, but his mind and heart went out to the big problems of the +nation. He grappled with them, sifted them thoroughly, and having +decided what to him was the right course to pursue, expressed his +convictions in deed as well as word. His was no passive nature. The +square chin denoted the man of will and aggression, and though the +genial mouth and kindly blue eyes bespoke the sympathetic heart, they +showed no lack of courage to come out in the open and take sides. + +The young wife, Miranda Conwell, shared these broader interests of her +husband. She came from central New York State and did not have that +New England reserve and restraint that amounts almost to coldness. Her +mind was keen and vigorous and reached out with her husband's to grasp +and ponder the higher things of life. But the beauty of her character +lay in the loving, affectionate nature that shone from her dark eyes, +in the patient, self-sacrificing, self-denying disposition which found +its chief joy in ministering to her husband and children. Deeply +religious, she could no more help whispering a fervent little prayer, +as she tucked her boys in bed, that the Father above would watch over +and protect them, than she could help breathing, her trust in God +was so much a part of her nature. Such a silent, beautiful influence +unconsciously permeates a child's whole character, moulding it, +setting it. Unconscious of it at the time, some day a great event +suddenly crystalizes it like a wonderful chemical change, and the +beauty of it shines evermore from his life. Miranda Conwell built +better than she knew when in the every-day little things of her life, +she let her faith shine. + +Not a usual couple, by any means, for the early 40's in rugged New +England. Yet their unusualness was of a kind within every one's reach. +They believed the making of a life of more importance than the making +of a living, and they grasped every opportunity of those meagre days +to broaden and uplift their mental and spiritual vision. Martin +Conwell's thoughts went beyond his plow furrow, Miranda's further than +her bread-board; and so the little home had an atmosphere of earnest +thought and purpose that clothed the uncarpeted floors and bare walls +with dignity and beauty. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EARLY ENVIRONMENT + +The Family Circle. An Unusual Mother. What She Read Her Children. A +Preacher at Three Years of Age. + + +Such was the heritage and the home into which Russell H. Conwell +was born February 15, 1843. Think what a world his eyes opened +upon--"fair, searching eyes of youth"--steadfast hills holding mystery +and fascination in green depths and purple distances, streams rushing +with noisy joy over stony beds, sweet violet gloom of night with +brilliant stars moving silently across infinite space; tender moss, +delicate fern, creeping vine, covering the brown earth with living +beauty--a fascinating world of loveliness for boyish eyes to look upon +and wonder about. + +The home inside was as unpretentious as its exterior suggested. The +tiny hall admitted on one side to a bedroom, on the other to a living +room, from which opened a room used as a store. Above was an attic. +The living room was the bright, cheery heart of the house. The morning +sun poured in through two windows which faced the east; a window and +door on the south claimed the same cheery rays as the sun journeyed +westward. The big open fireplace made a glowing spot of brightness. +The floor was uncarpeted, the walls unpapered, the furnishing of the +simplest, yet cheerfulness and homely comfort pervaded the room as +with an almost tangible spirit. + +A brother three years older and a sister three years younger made a +trio of bright, childish faces about the hearth on winter evenings +as the years went by, while the mother read to them such tales as +childish minds could grasp. It was a loving little circle, one that +riveted sure and fast the ties of family affection and which helped +one boy at her knee in after life to enter with such sure sympathy +into the plain, simple lives of the humblest people he met. He had +lived that same life, he knew the family affection that grows with +such strength around simple firesides, and those of like circumstances +felt this knowledge and opened their hearts to him. + +That Miranda Conwell was an unusual woman for those times and +circumstances is shown in those readings to her children. Not only +did she read and explain to them the beautiful stories of the Bible, +implanting its truths in their impressionable natures to blossom forth +later in beautiful deeds; but she read them the best literature of the +ancient days as well as current literature. Into this poor New England +home came the "New York Tribune" and the "National Era." The letters +of foreign correspondents opened to their childish eyes another world +and roused ambitions to see it. Henry Ward Beecher's sermons, and +"Uncle Tom's Cabin," when it came out as a serial, all such good and +helpful literature, she poured into the eager childish ears. These +readings went on, all through the happy days of childhood. + +Interesting things were happening in the world then; things that were +to mould the future of one of the boys at her knee in a way she little +dreamed. A war was being waged in Mexico to train soldiers for a +greater war coming. Out in Illinois, a plain rail-splitter, farmer and +lawyer was beginning to be heard in the cause of freedom and justice +for all men, black or white. These rumors and discussions drifted into +the little home and arguments rose high around the crackling woodfire +as neighbors dropped in. Martin Conwell was not a man to watch +passively the trend of events. He took sides openly, vigorously, and +though the small, blue-eyed boy listening so attentively did not +comprehend all that it was about, Martin Conwell's views later took +shape in action that had a marked bearing on Russell's later life. + +But the mother's reading bore more immediate, if less useful, fruit. +Hearing rather unusual sounds from the back yard one day, she went +to the door to listen. The evening before she had been reading the +children one of the sermons of Henry Ward Beecher and telling them +something of this great man and his work. Mounted upon one of the +largest gray rocks in the yard, stood Russell, solemnly preaching to +a collection of wondering, round-eyed chickens. It was a serious, +impressive discourse he gave them, much of it, no doubt, a transcript +of Henry Ward Beecher's. What led his boyish fancy to do it, no +one knew, though many another child has done the same, as children +dramatize in play the things they have heard or read. But a chance +remark stamped that childish action upon the boyish imagination, +making it the corner stone of many a childish castle in Spain. Telling +her husband of it in the evening, Miranda Conwell said, half jokingly, +"our boy will some day be a great preacher." It was a fertile seed +dropped in a fertile mind, tilled assiduously for a brief space by +vivid childish imagination; but not ripened till sad experiences of +later years brought it to a glorious fruition. + +Another result of the fireside readings might have been serious. A +short distance from the house a mountain stream leaps and foams over +the stones, seeming to choose, as Ruskin says, "the steepest places +to come down for the sake of the leaps, scattering its handfuls of +crystal this way and that as the wind takes them." The walls of the +gorge rise sheer and steep; the path of the stream is strewn with huge +boulders, over which it foams snow white, pausing in quiet little +pools for breath before the next leap and scramble. Here and there at +the sides, stray tiny little waterfalls, very Thoreaus of streamlets, +content to wander off by themselves, away from the noisy rush of the +others, making little silvery rills of beauty in unobtrusive ways. +Over this gorge was a fallen log. Russell determined to enact the part +of Eliza in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," fleeing over the ice. It was a feat +to make a mother's heart stand still. Three separate times she +whipped him severely and forbade him to do it. He took the punishment +cheerfully, and went back to the log. He never gave up until he had +crossed it. + +The vein of perseverance in his character was already setting into +firm, unyielding mould--the one trait to which Russell H. Conwell, the +preacher, the lecturer, writer, founder of college and hospital, may +attribute the success he has gained. This childish escapade was the +first to strike fire from its flint. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DAYS OF STUDY, WORK AND PLAY + +The Schoolhouse in the Woods. Maple Sugar-making. The Orator of the +Dawn. A Boyish Prank. Capturing the Eagle's Nest. + + +At three years of age, he trudged off to school with his brother +Charles. Though Charles was three years the senior, the little fellow +struggled to keep pace with him in all their childish play and work. +Two miles the children walked daily to the schoolhouse, a long walk +for a toddler of three. But it laid the foundation of that strong, +rugged constitution that has carried him so unflinchingly through +the hard work of these later years. The walk to school was the most +important part of the performance, for lessons had no attraction for +the boy as yet. But the road through the woods to the schoolhouse was +a journey of ever new and never-ending excitement. The road lay along +a silver-voiced brook that rippled softly by shadowy rock, or splashed +joyous and exultant down its boulder-strewn path. It was this same +brook whose music drifted into his little attic bedroom at night, +stilled to a faint, far-away murmur as the wind died down, rising to a +high, clear crescendo of rushing, tumbling water as the breeze stirred +in the tree tops and brought to him the forest sounds. Hour after +hour he lay awake listening to it, his childish imagination picturing +fairies and elves holding their revels in the woods beyond. An +oratorical little brook it was, unconsciously leaving an impress of +its musical speech on the ears of the embryo orator. Moreover, in its +quiet pools lurked watchful trout. Few country boys could walk along +such a stream unheeding its fascinations, especially when the doors +of a school house opened at the farther end, and many an hour when +studies should have claimed him, he was sitting by the brookside, +care-free and contented, delightedly fishing. Nor are any berries +quite so luscious as those which grow along the country road to +school. It takes long, long hours to satisfy the keen appetite of +a boy, and lessons suffered during the berry seasons. Another keen +excitement of the daily journey through a living world of mystery and +enchantment was the search for frogs. Woe to the unlucky frog that +fell in the way of the active, curious boy. Some one had told him that +old, old countryside story, "If you kill a frog, the cows will give +bloody milk." Eager to see such a phenomenon, he watched sharply. Let +an unlucky frog give one unfortunate croak, quick, sure-aimed, flew a +stone, and he raced home at night to see the miracle performed. He was +just a boy as other boys--mischievous, disobedient, fonder of play +than work or study. But underneath, uncalled upon as yet, lay that +vein of perseverance as unyielding as the granite of his native hills. + +The schoolhouse inside was not unattractive. Six windows gave plenty +of light, and each framed woodland pictures no painter's canvas could +rival. The woods were all about and the voice of the little +brook floated in, always calling, calling--at least to one small +listener--to come out and see it dance and sparkle and leap from rock +to rock. If he gained nothing else from his first school days but a +love and appreciation of nature's beauties, it was a lesson well worth +learning. To feed the heart and imagination of a child with such +scenery is to develop unconsciously a love of the beautiful which +brings a pure joy into life never to be lost, no matter what stress +and storm may come. In the darkest, stormiest hours of his later life, +to think back to the serene beauty of those New England hills was as a +hand of peace laid on his troubled spirit. + +This love and joy in nature--and the trait was already in his +blood--was at first all that he gained from his trips to school. Then +came a teacher with a new way of instructing, a Miss Salina Cole, who +had mastered the art of visual memory. She taught her pupils to make +on the mind a photographic impression of the page, which could be +recalled in its entirety, even to the details of punctuation. This +was a process of study that appealed immediately to Russell's boyish +imagination. Moreover, it was something to "see if he could do," +always fascinating to his love of experiment and adventure. It had +numerous other advantages. It was quick. It promised far-reaching +results. If page after page of the school books could be stored in the +mind and called up for future reference, getting an education would +become an easy matter. Besides, they could be called up and pondered +on in various places--fishing, for instance. He quickly decided +to would master this new method, and he went at it with his +characteristic energy and determination. Concentrating all his mental +force, he would study intently the printed page, and then closing his +eyes, repeat it word for word, even giving the punctuation marks. With +the other pupils, Salina Cole was not so successful, but with Russell +Conwell, the results were remarkable. It was a faculty of the utmost +value to him in after years. When in military camp and far from books, +he would recall page after page of his law works and study them during +the long days of garrison duty as easily as though the printed book +were in his hand. + +But the work was of more value to him than the mere mastery of +something new. It whetted his appetite for more. He began to want to +know. School became interesting, and he plunged into studies with an +interest and zest that were unflagging. And as he studied, ambitions +awoke. The history of the past, the accomplishments of great men +stirred him. He began to dream of the things to do in the days to +come. + +Outside of school hours his time was filled with the ordinary duties +of the farm. In the early spring, the maple sugar was to be made +and there were long, difficult tramps through woods in those misty, +brooding days when the miracle of new life is working in tree and vine +and leaf. Often the very earth seemed hushed as if waiting in awe for +this marvelous change that transforms brown earth and bare tree to a +vision of ethereal, tender green. But his books went with him, and in +the long night watches far in the woods alone, when the pans of sirrup +were boiling, he studied. So enrapt did he become that sometimes the +sugar suffered, and the patience of his father was sorely taxed when +told the tale of inattention. + +It was during those long night watches that he learned by heart two +books of Milton's "Paradise Lost," and so firmly were they fixed +in the boyish memory that at this day, Dr. Conwell can repeat them +without a break. Many a time as the shadows lightened and the dim, +misty dawn came stealing through the forest, would the small boy step +outside the rude sugar-house and repeat in that musical, resonant +voice that has since held audiences enthralled, Milton's glorious +"Invocation to the Light." Strange scene--the great shadowy forest, +the distant mist-enfolded hills, the faintly flushing morning sky, +the faint splash of a little mountain stream breaking the brooding +stillness, and the small boy with intent, inspired face pouring out +his very heart in that wonderful invocation: + + "Hail, holy light, offspring of Heaven, Firstborn + Or of the Eternal, co-eternal beam, + May I express thee Unblamed? since God is light, + And never but in unapproached light + Dwelt from eternity--dwelt then in thee, + Bright effluence of bright essence increate! + Or hear'st thou, rather, pure Eternal Stream, + Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun, + Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice + Of God as with a mantle didst invest + The rising world of waters dark and deep, + Won from the void and formless Infinite!" + +Later in spring there was plowing, though the farm was so rocky and +stony, there was little of that work to do. But here and there, a +sunny hilltop field made cultivation worth while, and as he followed +the patient oxen along the shining brown furrow, he looked away to the +encircling hills so full of mystery and fascination. What was there? +What was beyond? Then into the the morning and well into the afternoon +they pried and labored. They dug away earth and exerted to the utmost +their childish strength. Charles would soon have given up the gigantic +task, but Russell was not of the stuff that quits, and so they toiled +on. The father and mother at home wondered and searched for the boys. +Then as they began truly to get alarmed, from the woods to the south +came a crash and roar, the sound of trees snapping and then a shock +that made the earth tremble. The rock had fallen, traversing a mile, +in its downward rush to the river bed. Flushed and triumphant the +boys returned, and the neighbors who had heard the noise, when it was +explained to them, went to see the wreckage. It had dropped first a +fall of fifteen feet, where it had paused an instant. Then the earth +giving way under its tons of weight, it had plowed a deep furrow right +down the mountain side, dislodging rocks, uprooting trees, until with +a mighty crash, it struck the borders of the stream where it stands to +this day, a monument to boyish ingenuity and perseverance. + +But of all the mischievous pranks of these childish days, the one that +had perhaps the greatest influence on his life was the capture of +an eagle's nest from the top of a dead hemlock. To the north of the +farmhouse a hill rises abruptly, covered with bare, outcropping rocks, +their fronts sheer and steep. On top clusters a little sombre grove +of hemlock trees, and from the midst of these rose the largest one, +straight, majestic, swaying a little in the wind that swept on from +the distant hills. In the top of this tree, an eagle had built her +nest, and it had long been a secret ambition of the boy to capture +it, the more resolved upon because it seemed impossible. One day in +October he left his sheep, ran to the foot of the hill, and with the +sure-footed agility of a mountain boy climbed the rocks and began the +ascent of the tree. From the top of a high ledge nearby two men hid +and watched him. A fall meant death, and many a time their hearts +stood still, as the intrepid lad placed his foot on a dead branch only +to have it break under him, or reached for a limb to find it give way +at his touch. The tree was nearly fifty feet high and at some time a +stroke of lightning had rent it, splintering the trunk. Only one limb +was left whole, the others had been broken off or shattered by the +storms of winter. In the very crown of the tree swayed the nest, a +rude, uncouth thing of sticks and hay. + +Up and up he climbed, stopping every now and then in the midst of his +struggles to call to the sheep if he saw them wandering too far. He +had only to call them by name to bring them nibbling back again. + +"Not a man in the mountains," wrote one of those who watched him in +that interesting sketch of Mr. Conwell's life, "Scaling the Eagle's +Nest," "would have thought it possible to do anything else but shoot, +that nest down. When we first saw him he was half way up the great +tree, and was tugging away to get up by a broken limb which was +swinging loosely about the trunk. For a long time he tried to break it +off, but his little hand was too weak. Then he came down from knot to +knot like a squirrel, jumped to the ground, ran to his little jacket +and took his jack-knife out of the pocket. Slowly he clambered up +again. When he reached the limb, he clung to another with his left +hand, threw one leg over a splintered knot and with the right hand +hacked away with his knife. + +"'He will give it up,' we both said. + +"But he did not. He chipped away until at last the limb fell to the +ground. Then he pocketed his knife, and bravely strove to get up +higher. It was a dizzy height even for a grown hunter, but the boy +never looked down. He went on until he came to a place about ten feet +below the nest, where there was a long, bare space on the trunk, with +no limbs or knots to cling to. He was baffled then. He looked up at +the nest many times, tried to find some place to catch hold of the +rough bark and sought closely for some rest higher up to put his foot +on. But there was none. An eagle's nest was a rare thing to him, and +he hugged the tree and thought. Suddenly he began to descend again +hastily, and soon dropped to the ground. Away he ran down through the +ravines, leaped the little streams and disappeared toward his home. +In a few minutes the torn straw hat and blue shirt came flitting back +among the rocks and bushes. He called the sheep to him, talked to +them, and shook his finger at them, then he clambered up the tree +again, dragging after him a long piece of his mother's clothes line. +At one end of it, he had tied a large stone, which hindered his +progress, for it caught in the limbs and splinters. The wind blew his +torn straw hat away down a side cliff, and one side of his trousers +was soon torn to strips. But he went on. When he got to the smooth +place on the tree again, he fastened one end of the rope about his +wrist, and then taking the stone which was fastened to the other end, +he tried to throw it up over the nest. It was an awkward and dangerous +position, and the stone did not reach the top. Six or seven times he +threw that stone up, and it fell short or went to one side, and nearly +dragged him down as it fell. + +"The boy felt for his knife again, opened it with his teeth as he held +on, and hauling the rope up, cut off a part of it. He threw a short +piece around the trunk and tied himself with it to the tree. Then +he could lean back for a longer throw. He tied the rope to his hand +again, and threw the stone with all his energy. It went straight as an +arrow, drew the rope squarely over the nest and fell down the other +side of the tree. After a struggle he reached around for the stone, +and tied that end of the rope to a long broken limb. When he drew the +other end of the rope which had been fastened to his hand, it broke +down the sides of the nest, and an old bird arose with a wild scream. + +"Then he loosed the rope which held him to the tree, and pulling +himself up with his hands on the scaling line, digging his bare toes, +heels and knees at times into the ragged bark, he was up in two +minutes to the nest." + +"That is a child's ambition," said one of the men, as they both drew a +breath of relief, when he stepped safely to the ground. "Wait until he +has a man's ambition. If that vein of perseverance doesn't run out, he +will do something worth while." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TWO MEN AND THEIR INFLUENCE + +John Brown. Fireside Discussions. Runaway Slaves. Fred Douglas. Rev. +Asa Niles. A Runaway Trip to Boston. + + +Two men entered into Russell Conwell's life in these formative days of +boyhood who unconsciously had much to do with the course of his after +life. + +One was John Brown, that man "who would rush through fire though it +burn, through water though it drown, to do the work which his soul +knew that it must do." During his residence in Springfield, this man +"possessed like Socrates with a genius that was too much for him" was +a frequent visitor at the Conwell home. Russell learned to know that +face with "features chiselled, as it were, in granite," the large +clear eyes that seemed fairly to change color with the intensity of +his feelings when he spoke on the one subject that was the very heart +of the man. Tall, straight, lithe, with hair brushed back from a high +forehead, thick, full beard and a wonderful, penetrating voice whose +tones once heard were never forgotten, his arrival was always received +with shouts by the Conwell boys. Had he not lived in the West and +fought real Indians! What surer "open sesame" is there to a boy's +heart? He was not so enrapt in his one great project, but that he +could go out to the barn and pitch down hay from the mow with Russell, +or tell him wonderful stories of the great West where he had lived as +a boy, and of the wilderness through which he had tramped as a mere +child when he cared for his father's cattle. Russell was entirely too +young to grasp the meaning of the earnest discussions that went on +about the fireplace of which this Spartan was then the centre. But in +later years their meaning came to him with a peculiar significance. A +light seemed to be shed on the horrors of slavery as if the voice of +his childhood's friend were calling from the grave in impassioned +tones, to aid the cause for which he had given his life. + +Martin Conwell, progressive, aggressive, was not a man to let his +deeds lag behind his words. Such help as he could, he lent the +cause of the oppressed. He made his home one of the stations of the +"Underground Railway," as the road to freedom for escaping slaves was +called. Many a time in the dead of night, awakened by the noise of a +wagon, Russell would steal to the little attic window, to see in the +light of the lantern, a trembling black man, looking fearfully this +way and that for pursuers, being hurried into the barn. Back to bed +went Russell, where his imagination pictured all manner of horrible +cruelties the slaves were suffering until the childish heart was near +to bursting with sympathy for them and with fiery indignation at the +injustice that brought them to this pitiful state. Not often did he +see them, but sometimes childish curiosity was too strong and he +searched out the cowering fugitive in the barn, and if the runaway +happened to be communicative, he heard exaggerated tales of cruelty +that set even his young blood to tingling with a mighty desire to +right their wrongs. Then the next night, the wagon wheels were heard +again and the slave was hurried away to the house of a cousin of +William Cullen Bryant, at Cummington. As the wheels died in the +distance up the mountain road, the boyish imagination pictured the +flight, on, on, into the far north till the Canada border was reached +and the slave free. Little wonder that when the war broke out, this +boy, older grown, spoke as with a tongue of fire and swept men up by +the hundreds with his impassioned eloquence, to sign the muster roll. + +One of these slaves thus helped to freedom is now Rev. J.G. Ramage, of +Atlanta, Ga. In 1905, he applied to Temple College for the degree of +LL.D. Noticing on the letter sent in reply to his request, the name +of Russell Conwell, President of the College, he wrote Dr. Conwell, +telling him that in 1856 when a runaway slave he had stopped at a +farmhouse at South Worthington, Mass., and remembered the name of +Conwell. Undoubtedly Martin Conwell was one of the men who had helped +him to freedom. + +John Brown brought Fred Douglas, the colored orator, with him on one +of his visits. When Russell was told by his father that this was "a +celebrated colored speaker and statesman," the boyish eyes opened wide +with amazement, and not able to control himself, he burst out in a fit +of laughter, saying, "Why, he's not black," much to the amusement of +Douglas, who afterwards told him of his life as a slave. + +The other man who so helped Russell in his younger days was the Rev. +Asa Niles, a cousin of his father's who lived on a neighboring farm. +He had heard of Russell's various exploits and saw that he was a boy +far above the average, that he had talents worth training. Himself a +scholar and a Methodist minister, he knew the value of an education, +and the worth to the world of a brilliant, forceful character with +clear ideas of right, and high ideals of duty. He was a man far ahead +of his times, broad-minded, spiritual in its best sense, and with +a winning personality, just the man to attract a clear-sighted, +keen-witted boy who quickly saw through shams and despised +affectations. Russell at that plastic period could have fallen into +no better hands. With loving interest in the boy's welfare, Asa Niles +inspired him to get the broadest education in order to make the most +of himself, yet ever held before him the highest ideals of life and +manhood. Out of the stores of his own knowledge he told him what to +read, helped, encouraged, talked over his studies with him, and in +every way possible not only made them real and vital to him, but at +every step aided him to see their worth. + +His curiosity keenly aroused, his ambitions kindled by his studies, +Russell was restless to be off to see this great world he had read and +studied about. The mountains suddenly seemed like prison walls holding +him in. An uncontrollable longing swept his soul. He determined to +escape. Telling no one of his intentions, one morning just before +dawn, he raised the window of the little attic in which he and his +brother slept, climbed out over the roof of the woodshed, slipped to +the ground and made off down the valley to seek his fortune in the +world. It was a hasty resolve. In a little bundle slung over his +shoulders he had a few clothes and something to eat. How his heart +thumped as he went down the familiar path in the woods, crossed the +little brook and began the tramp toward Huntington! Every moment he +expected to hear his father's footsteps behind him. Charles might have +awakened, found him missing and roused the family! When morning came +he climbed a little hill, from which he could look back at the house. +He gazed long, and his heart nearly failed him. He could see in +imagination every homely detail of the living room, his father's chair +to the right of the fireplace, his mother's on the left, the clock +between the front windows, which his father wound every night. On a +nail hung his old rimless hat, Charlie's coat, and the little sister's +sunbonnet. His mother would soon be up and getting breakfast. They +would all sit down without him--a lump began to rise in his throat and +he almost turned back. But something in his nature always prevented +him from giving up a thing he had once undertaken. He set his teeth, +picked up his bundle and went down the road between the mountains, +the woods stretching, dense, silent, on each side, the little brook +keeping close by him like the good, true friend it was. + +It was a long, long tramp to the little village of Huntington, a walk +that went for miles beneath overarching green trees, the sunlight +sifting down like a shower of gold in the dim wood aisles. The wild +mountain stream merged into the quiet Westfield river that flowed +placidly through little sunny meadows and rippled in a sedate way here +and there over stones as became the dignity of a river. Small white +farmhouses, set about with golden lilies and deep crimson peonies, +here and there looked out on the road. But his mind was intent on the +wonderful experiences ahead of him; he walked as in a dream. Reaching +Huntington, he asked a conductor if he could get a job on the train to +pay his way to Boston. The conductor eyed the lanky country boy with +sympathetic amusement. He appreciated the situation and told Russell +he didn't think he had any job just then, but he might sit in the +baggage car and should a job turn up, it would be given him. Delighted +with this piece of good luck, Russell sat in the baggage car and +journeyed to Boston. + +He arrived at night. He found himself in a new world, a world of +narrow streets, of hurrying people, of house after house, but in none +of them a home for him. They would not let him sit in the station all +night, as he had planned to do in his boyish inexperience, and he +had no money, for money was a scarce article in the Conwell home. He +wandered up one street and down another till finally he came to the +water. Footsore and hungry, he crawled into a big empty cask lying on +Long Wharf, ate the last bit of bread and meat in his bundle, and went +to sleep. + +The next day was Sunday, not a day to find work, and he faced a very +sure famine. He began again his walk of the streets. It was on +toward noon when he noticed crowds of children hurrying into a large +building. He stood and watched them wistfully. They made him think +of his brother and sister at home. Suddenly an overwhelming longing +seized him to be back again in the sheltering farmhouse, to see his +father, hear his mother's loving voice, feel his sister's hand in his. +Perhaps it was his forlorn expression that attracted the attention of +a gentleman passing into the building. He stopped, asked if he would +not like to go in; and then taking him by the hand led him in with the +others. It was Deacon George W. Chipman, of Tremont Temple, and ever +afterwards Russell Conwell's friend. Many, many years later, the boy, +become a man, came back to this church, organized and conducted one of +the largest and most popular Sunday School classes that famous church +has ever known. + +After Sunday School, Deacon Chipman and Russell "talked things over." +The Deacon, amused and impressed by the original mind of the country +boy, persuaded him to go home, and the next morning put him on the +train that carried him back to the Berkshires. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TRYING HIS WINGS + +Boyhood Days. Russell's First Case at Law. A Cure for Stage Fever. +Studying Music. A Runaway Trip to Europe. + + +So scanty was the income from the rocky farm that the father and +mother looked about them to see how they could add to it. Miranda +Conwell turned to her needle and often sewed far into the night, +making coats, neckties, any work she could obtain that would bring in +a few dollars. She was never idle. The moment her housework was done, +her needle was flying, and Russell had ever before him the picture of +his patient mother, working, ever working, for the family good. The +only time her hands rested was when she read her children such stories +and pointed such lessons as she knew were needed to develop childish +minds and build character. She never lost sight of this in the +pressing work and the need for money. She had that mental and +spiritual breadth of view that could look beyond problems of the +immediate present, no matter how serious they might seem, to the +greater, more important needs coming in the future. + +Martin Conwell worked as a stonemason every spare minute, and in +addition opened a store in the mountain home in a small room adjoining +the living room. Neighbors and the world of his day saw only a poor +farmer, stonemason and small storekeeper. But in versatility, energy +and public spirit, he was far greater than his environment. Considered +only as the man there was a largeness of purpose, a broadness of +mental and spiritual vision about him that gave a subtle atmosphere of +greatness and unconsciously influenced his son to take big views of +life. + +In the little store one day was enacted a drama not without its effect +on Russell's impressionable mind. For a brief time, the store became +a court room; a flour barrel was the judge's bench, a soap box and +milking stool, the lawyers' seats. The proceedings greatly interested +Russell, who lay flat on his breast on the counter, his heels in the +air, his chin in his hands, drinking it in with ears and eyes. + +[Illustration: THE CONWELL FARMHOUSE AT SOUTH WORTHINGTON, MASS.] + +A neighbor had lost a calf, a white-faced calf with a broken horn. In +the barn of a neighbor had been seen a white-faced calf with a broken +horn. The coincidence was suspicions. The plaintiff declared it was +his calf. The defendant swore he had never seen the lost heifer, and +that the one in his barn he had raised himself. Neighbors lent their +testimony, for the little store was crowded, a justice of the peace +from Northampton having come to try the case. One man said he had seen +the defendant driving a white-faced calf up the mountain one night +just after the stolen calf had been missed from the pasture. The +defendant intimated in no mild language that he must be a close blood +relation to Ananias. Hot words flew back and forth between judge, +lawyers and witnesses, and it began to look as if the man in whose +barn the calf was placidly munching was guilty. Just then Russell, +with a chuckle, slipped from the counter and disappeared through the +back door. In a minute he returned, and solemnly pushed a white-faced +calf with a broken horn squarely among the almost fighting disputants. +There was a lull in the storm of angry words. Here was the lost calf. +With a bawl of dismay and many gyrations of tail, it occupied the +centre of the floor. None could dispute the fact that it was the calf +in question. The defendant assumed an injured, innocent air, the +plaintiff looked crestfallen. Russell explained he had found the calf +among his father's cows. But, knowing the true situation, he had +enjoyed the heated argument too hugely to produce the calf earlier in +the case. + +The event caused much amusement among the neighbors. Some said if they +ever were hailed to court, they should employ Russell as their lawyer. +The women, when they dropped in to see his mother, called him the +little lawyer. The boyish ambition to be a minister faded. Once more +he went to building castles in Spain, but this time they had a legal +capstone. + +Thus the years rolled by much as they do with any boy on a farm. +Of work there was plenty, but he found time to become a proficient +skater, and a strong, sturdy swimmer, to learn and take delight in +outdoor sports, all of which helped to build a constitution like iron, +and to give him an interest in such things which he has never +lost. The boys of Temple College find in him not only a pastor and +president, but a sympathetic and understanding friend in all forms of +healthy, honorable sport. + +Attending a Fourth of July parade in Springfield, he was so impressed +with the marching and manoeuvres of the troops that he returned home, +formed a company of his schoolmates, drilled and marched them as if +they were already an important part of the G.A.R. He secured a book on +tactics and studied it with his usual thoroughness and perseverance. +He presented his company with badges, and one of the relics of his +childhood days is a wooden sword he made himself out of a piece of +board. Little did any one dream that this childish pastime would in +later years become the serious work of a man. + +In all the school and church entertainments he took an active part. +His talent for organizing and managing showed itself early, while his +magnetism and enthusiasm swept his companions with him, eager only to +do his bidding. Many were the entertainments he planned and carried +through. Recitations, dialogues, little plays all were presented under +his management to the people of South Worthington. It was these that +gave him the first taste of the fascination of the stage and set him +to thinking of the dazzling career of an actor. He is not the only +country boy that has dreamed of winning undying fame on the boards, +but not every one received such a speedy and permanent cure. + +"One day in the height of the maple sugar season," says Burdette, in +his excellent life of Mr. Conwell, "The Modern Temple and Templars," +"Russell was sent by his father with a load of the sugar to +Huntington. The ancient farm wagon complicated, doubtless, with sundry +Conwell improvements, drawn by a venerable horse, was so well loaded +that the seat had to be left out, and the youthful driver was forced +to stand. Down deep in the valley, the road runs through a dense +woodland which veiled the way in solitude and silence. The very place, +thought Russell, for a rehearsal of the part he had in a play to be +given shortly at school; a beautiful grade, thought the horse, to trot +a little and make up time. Russell had been cast for a part of a crazy +man--a character admirably adapted for the entire cast of the average +amateur dramatic performer. He had very little to say, a sort of +'The-carriage-waits-my-lord' declamation, but he had to say it with +thrilling and startling earnestness. He was to rush in on a love scene +bubbling like a mush-pot with billing and cooing, and paralyze the +lovers by shrieking 'Woe! Woe! unto ye all, ye children of men!' +Throwing up his arms, after the manner of the Fourth of July orator's +justly celebrated windmill gesture, he roared, in his thunderous +voice: 'Woe! Woe! unto ye--' + +"That was as far as the declamation got, although the actor went +considerably farther. The obedient horse, never averse to standing +still, suddenly and firmly planted his feet and stood--motionless as a +painted horse upon a painted highway. Russell, obedient to the laws of +inertia, made a parabola over the dashboard, landed on the back of the +patient beast, ricochetted to the ground, cutting his forehead on the +shaft as he descended, a scar whereof he carries unto this day, and +plunged into a yielding cushion of mud at the roadside." + +He returned home, a confused mixture of blood, mud, black eyes and +torn clothes. Such a condition must be explained. It could not +be turned aside by any off-handed joke. The jeers and jibes, the +unsympathetic and irritating comments effectually killed any desire +he cherished for the life of the stage. It became a sore subject. He +didn't even want it mentioned in his hearing. He never again thought +of it seriously as a life work. + +But one thing these entertainments did that was of great value. They +developed and fostered a love of music and eventually led to his +gaining the musical education which has proven of such value to him. +He had a voice of singular sweetness and great power. At school, at +church, in the little social gatherings of the neighborhood, whenever +there was singing his voice led. It was almost a passion with him. At +the few parades and entertainments he saw in nearby towns, he watched +the musicians fascinated. He was consumed with a desire to learn to +play. Inventive as he was and having already made so many things +useful about the farm or in the house, it is a wonder he did not +immediately begin the making of some musical instrument rather than go +without it. Probably he would, if an agent had not appeared for the +Estey Organ Company. They were beginning to make the little home +organs which have since become an ornament of nearly every country +parlor. But they were rare in those days and the price to Martin +Conwell, almost prohibitive. Knowing Russell's love of music, the +father fully realized the pleasure an organ in the home would give his +son. But the price was beyond him. He offered the man every dollar he +felt he could afford. But it was ten dollars below the cost of the +organ and the agent refused it. + +Martin Conwell felt he must not spend more on a luxury, and the agent +left. Crossing the fields to seek another purchaser, he met Miranda +Conwell. She asked him if her husband had bought the organ. His answer +was a keen disappointment The mother's heart had sympathized with the +boy's passion for music and knew the joy such a possession would be to +Russell. Ever ready to sacrifice herself, she told the man she would +pay him the ten dollars, if he would wait for it, but not to let her +husband know. The agent returned to Martin Conwell, told him he would +accept his offer, and in a short time a brand new organ was installed +in the farmhouse. Miranda Conwell sewed later at nights, that was all. +Not till she had earned the ten dollars with her needle did she tell +her husband why the agent had, with such surprising celerity, changed +his mind in regard to the price. + +Russell's joy in the organ was unbounded, and the mother was more than +repaid for her extra work by his pleasure and delight. He immediately +plunged unaided into the study of music, and he never gave up until he +was complete master of the organ. His was no half-hearted love. The +work and drudgery connected with practising never daunted him. He kept +steadily at it until he could roll out the familiar songs and +hymns while the small room fairly rang with their melody. He also +improvised, composing both words and music, a gift that went with him +into the ministry and which has given the membership of Grace Baptist +Church, Philadelphia, many beautiful hymns and melodies. + +Later he learned the bass viol, violoncello and cornet, and made money +by playing for parties and entertainments in his neighborhood. Years +afterward, when pastor of Grace Church, and with the Sunday School +on an excursion to Cape May, he saw a cornet lying on a bench on the +pier. Seized with a longing to play again this instrument of his +boyhood, he picked it up and began softly a familiar air. Soon lost to +his surroundings, he played on and on. At last remembering where he +was, he laid down the instrument and walked away. The owner, who had +returned, followed him and offered him first five dollars and then ten +to play that night for a dance at Congress Hall. + +Martin Conwell, during Russell's boyhood days, carefully guarded his +son from being spoiled by the flattery of neighbors and friends. He +realized that Russell was a boy in many ways above the average, but +his practical common sense prevented him from taking such pride in +Russell's various achievements as to let him become spoiled and +conceited. Many a whipping Russell received for the personal songs he +composed about the neighbors. But that was not prohibitive. The very +next night, Russell would hold up to ridicule the peculiarity of some +one in the neighborhood, much to his victim's chagrin and to the +amusement of the listeners. He was forever inventing improvements for +the fishing apparatus, oars, boats, coasting sleds, household and farm +utensils, often forgetting the tasks his father had given him while +doing it. Naturally, this exasperated Martin Conwell, who had no help +on the farm but the boys, and the rod would again be brought into +active service. Once, after whipping him for such neglect of work--he +had left the cider apples out in the frost--Martin Conwell asked his +son's pardon because he had invented an improved ox-sled that was of +great practical value. + +When he was fifteen he ran away again. No friendly Deacon Chipman +interfered this time, nor is it likely he would easily have been +turned from the project, for he planned to go to Europe. He went to +Chicopee to an uncle's, whom he frankly told of his intended trip. The +uncle kept Russell for a day or two by various expedients, while he +wrote to his father telling him Russell was there and what he intended +doing. The father wrote back saying to give him what money he needed +and let him go. So Russell started on his journey over the sea. He +worked his way on a cattle steamer from New York to Liverpool. But it +was a homesick boy that roamed around in foreign lands, and as he has +said most feelingly since, "I felt that if I could only get back home, +I would never, never leave it again." He did not stay abroad long and +when he returned to his home, his father greeted him as if he had been +absent a few hours, and never in any way, by word or action, referred +to the subject. In fact, so far as Martin Conwell appeared, Russell +might have been no farther than Huntington. + +Thus boyhood days passed with their measure of work and their measure +of play. He lived the healthy, active life of a farm boy, taking a +keen interest in the affairs of the young people of the neighborhood, +amusing the older heads by his mischievous pranks. He diligently and +perseveringly studied in school hours and out. He read every book he +could get hold of. He was sometimes disobedient, often intractable, in +no way different from thousands of other farm boys of those days or +these. + +But the times were coming which would test his mettle. Would he +continue to climb as he had done after the eagle's nest, though +compelled many times to go to the very ground and begin over again? + +Would the experiences of life transmute into pure gold, these +undeveloped traits of character or prove them mere dross? It +rested with him. He was the alchemist, as is every other man. The +philosopher's stone is in every one's hands. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +OUT OF THE HOME NEST + +School Days at Wilbraham Academy. The First School Oration and Its +Humiliating End. The Hour of Prayer in the Conwell Home at the Time of +John Brown's Execution. + + +The carefree days of boyhood rapidly drew to a close. The serious work +of life was beginning. The bitter struggle for an education was at +hand. And because one boy did so struggle, thousands of boys now are +being given the broadest education, practically free. + +Russell had gone as far in his studies as the country school could +take him. Should he stop there as his companions were doing and settle +down to the work of the farm? The outlook for anything else was almost +hopeless. He had absolutely no money, nor could his father spare him +any. He knew no other work than farming. It was a prospect to daunt +even the most determined, yet Russell Conwell is not the only farmer's +boy who has looked such a situation in the face and succeeded in spite +of it. Nor were helping hands stretched out in those days to aid +ambitious boys, as they are in these. + +Asa Niles, matching Russell's progress with loving interest, told +Martin Conwell the boy ought to go to Wilbraham Academy. His own son +William was going, and he strongly urged that Charles and Russell +Conwell enter at the same time. It was no light decision for the +father to make. He needed the boys in the work on the farm. Not only +was he unable to help them, but it was a decided loss to let them go. +Long and earnest were the consultations the father and mother held. +The mother, willing to sacrifice herself to the utmost, said, of +course, "let them go," deciding she could earn something to help them +along by taking in more sewing. So it was decided, and in the fall +of 1858, Russell and his brother entered the Academy of Wilbraham, a +small town about twelve miles east from Springfield. + +It was bitter, uphill work. All the money the two boys had, both to +pay their tuition and their board, they earned. They worked for the +near-by farmers. They spent long days gathering chestnuts and walnuts +at a few cents a quart. They split wood, they did anything they could +find to do. In fact, they worked as hard and as long as though no +studies were awaiting to be eagerly attacked when the exhausting +labor was finished. Such tasks interfered with their studies, so that +Russell never stood very high in his Academy classes. Part of the time +they lived in a small room on the outskirts of the village, barren of +all furniture save the absolutely necessary, and for six weeks at a +stretch, lived on nothing but mush and milk. Their clothes were of +the cheapest kind, countrified in cut and make, a decided contrast +to those of their fellow students, who came from homes of wealth and +refinement It is very easy for outsiders and older heads to talk +philosophically of being above such things, but young, sensitive boys +feel such a position keenly and none but those who have actually +endured such a martyrdom of pride know what they suffer. It takes the +grittiest kind of perseverance to face such slights, to seem not to +see the amused glance, not to hear the sneering comment, not to notice +the contemptuous shrug. + +Such slights Russell endured daily from certain of his classmates, +and though he realized fully that the opinion of these was of little +value, nevertheless they hurt. But to the world he stood his ground +unflinchingly, even if there were secret heartaches. He studied +hard, and what he studied he learned. He had his own peculiar way +of studying. Once he was missing from his classes several days. The +teachers reported it to the principal, Dr. Raymond, who investigated. +He found Russell completely absorbed in history and mastering it at a +mile-a-minute gait. Dr. Raymond was wise in the management of boys, +especially such a boy as Russell, and he reported to the teachers, +"Let him alone. Conwell is working out his own education, and it isn't +worth while to disturb him." + +His passion for debate and oratory found full scope in the debating +societies of the Academy. These welcomed him with open arms. He was +so quick with his witty repartee, could so readily turn an opponent's +arguments against him, that the nights it was known he would speak, +found the "Old Club" hall always crowded to hear "that boy from the +country." + +Thus working as hard as though he were doing nothing else, and +studying as hard as though he were not working, Russell made his way +through two terms of the academic year. Nobody knows or ever will +know, all he suffered. Often almost on the point of starvation, yet +too proud and sensitive to ask for help, he toiled on, working by day +and studying by night. He never thought of giving up the fight and +going back to the farm. But funds completely ran out for the spring +term and he yielded the struggle for a brief while, returning to help +his father, or to earn what he could teaching school, or working on +neighboring farms, saving every cent like a very miser for the coming +year's tuition. In addition, he kept up with his studies, so that when +he returned the next fall, he went on with his class the same as if he +had attended for the entire year. + +The second year was a repetition of the first, work and study, +grinding poverty, glorious perseverance. Again the spring term found +him out of funds, and this time he replenished by teaching school at +Blandford, Massachusetts. Among his pupils here was a bully of the +worst type, whose conduct had caused most of the former teachers to +resign. In fact, he was quite proud of his ability to give the school +a holiday, and as on former occasions, made his boasts that it +wouldn't be long before the new teacher would take a vacation. The +other pupils watched with eager curiosity for the conflict. In due +course of time it came. Russell at first dealt with him kindly. It +hadn't been so many years since he himself had been the cause of +numerous uproars at school. But this youth was not of the kind to be +impressed by good treatment. He simply took it as a showing of the +white feather on the part of the new teacher and became bolder in his +misconduct. On a day, when he was unruly beyond all pardon, Russell +took down the birch and invited him up before the school to receive +the usual punishment. The great occasion had come. The children waited +with bated breath. The boy refused openly, sneeringly. The next +moment, he thought lightning had struck him. He was grabbed by the +neck, held with a grip of iron despite all his struggles, whipped +before the gaping school, taken to the door and kicked out in the +snow. Then the school lessons proceeded. It made a sensation, of +course. Some of the parents wanted to request the new teacher to +resign. But others rallied to his support and protested to the school +board that the right man had been found at last. And so Russell held +the post until the school term was over. Thirty-five years after, +Russell Conwell, pastor of the Baptist Temple, was asked to head a +petition to get this same evil doer out of Sing Sing prison. + +But despite his hard work and hard study at Wilbraham, the spirit of +fun cropped out as persistently as in his younger days at the country +school. A chance to play a good joke was not to be missed. At one of +the school entertainments, a student whom few liked was to take part. +Relatives of his had given a large sum of money to the Academy, and +on this account he somewhat lorded it over the other boys. He was, in +addition, foppish in his dress, and on account of his money, position, +and tailor, felt the country boys of the class a decided drawback to +his social status. So the country boys decided to "get even," and they +needed no other leader while Russell Conwell was about. Finally it +came the dandy's turn to go on the platform to deliver a recitation. +Just as he stepped out of the little anteroom before the audience, +Russell, with deft fingers, fastened a paper jumping-jack to the tail +of his coat, where it dangled back of his legs in plain view of the +audience but unobserved by himself. With every gesture the figure +jumped, climbed, contorted, and went through all manner of gymnastics. +The more enthusiastic became the young orator, the more active the +tiny figure in his rear. The audience went into convulsions. Utterly +unable to tell what was the matter, he finally retired, red and +confused, and the audience wiped away the tears of laughter. + +It was at one of these entertainments that Russell himself met with a +bitter defeat. A public debate was announced in which he was to take +part. His classmates had spread abroad the story of his eloquence and +the hall was packed to hear him. Knowing that it would be a great +occasion and conscious of his poor clothes, he determined to make an +impression by his speech. He prepared it with the utmost care, and +to "make assurance doubly sure," committed it to memory, a thing he +rarely did. His turn came. There was an expectant rustle through the +audience, some almost audible comments on his clothes, his height, his +thinness. He cleared his voice. He started to say the first word. It +was gone. Frantically he searched his memory for that speech. His mind +was a blank. Again he cleared his voice and wrestled fiercely with his +inner consciousness. Only one phrase could he remember, and shouting +in his thunderous tones, "Give me liberty or give me death," sat down, +"not caring much which he got," as Burdette says, "so it came quickly +and plenty of it." + +It was while at Wilbraham that he laid down text books and stepped +aside for a brief space to pay honor to a hero. Sorrow hung like a +pall over the little home at South Worthington. In far-off Virginia, +a brave, true-hearted man had raised a weak arm against the hosts of +slavery, raised it and been stricken down. John Brown had been tried, +convicted and sentenced to be hanged. The day of his execution was a +day of mourning in the Conwell home. As the hour for the deed drew +near, the father called the family into the little living room where +Brown had so often sat among them. And during the hour while the +tragedy was enacted in Virginia, the family sat silent with bowed +heads doing reverence to the memory of this man who with single-minded +earnestness went forward so fearlessly when others held back, to +strike the shackles from those in chains. + +It was a solemn hour, an hour in which worldly ambitions faded before +the sublime spectacle of a man freely, calmly giving his very life +because he had dared to live out his honest belief that all men should +be free. Like a kaleidoscope, Brown's history passed through Russell's +mind as he sat there. He saw the brutal whipping of the little slave +boy which had so aroused Brown's anger when, a small boy himself, he +led cattle through the western forests. Russell's hands clenched as +he pictured it and he felt willing to fight as Brown had done, +single-handed and alone if need be, to right so horrible a wrong. +He could see how the idea had grown with John Brown's growth and +strengthened with his strength until he came to manhood with a single +purpose dominating his life, and a will to do it that could neither be +broken nor bent. He pictured him in Kansas when son after son was laid +on the altar of liberty as unflinchingly as Abraham held the knife at +his own son's breast at God's behest. Then the first "blow at Harper's +Ferry in the cause of liberty for all men--the capture of the town +of three thousand by twenty-two men, and now this--the public +execution--the fearless spirit that looked only to God for guidance, +that feared neither man nor man's laws, stopped on the very threshold +of the supreme effort for which he had planned his life. Stopped? It +was the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment of Infantry that was the first to +sing on its way South, that song, afterward sung by the armies of a +nation to the steady tramp of feet, + + "John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, + But his soul goes marching on." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WAR'S ALARMS + +College Days at Yale. The Outbreak of the Civil War. Patriotic +Speechmaking. New York and Henry Ward Beecher. + + +School days at Wilbraham ended, Russell determined to climb higher. As +yet, he scarcely knew the purpose of his studying. Ambitions seethed +in him to know, to be able to do. He only realized that he must have +the tools ready when the work came. Not daunted, therefore, by the +bitter experiences at Wilbraham, Russell determined to go to Yale. +This meant a stern fight indeed, one that would call out all his +reserves of determination, perseverance and indifference to the jeers +and jibes of unthinking and unfeeling classmates. But he did not +flinch at the prospect. His brother Charles went with him, and in +the fall of '60 they entered Yale College. If poverty was bitter at +Wilbraham, it was bitterer here. They were utter strangers among +hundreds of boys from all parts of the country, the majority of them +coming from homes of luxury and with money for all their needs. At +Wilbraham, there had been a certain number of boys from their own +section, many of them poor, though few so poor as themselves. They had +not felt so altogether alone as they did at Yale. It is perhaps for +this reason that so little is known of Russell Conwell's career at +Yale. He was as unobtrusive as possible. "Silent as the Sphinx," some +describe him. His sensitive nature withdrew into itself, and since he +could not mingle with his classmates on a ground of equality, he kept +to himself, alone, silent, studying, working, but telling no one how +keenly he felt the difference between his own position and that of his +fellow students. He worked for the nearby farmers as at Wilbraham and +did anything that he could to earn money. But his clothes were poor, +his manner of living the cheapest, and except in classes, his fellow +students met him little. + +He took the law course and followed fully the classical course at the +same time--a feat no student at that time had ever done and few, if +any, since. How he managed it, working as hard as he did at the +same time, to earn money, seems impossible to comprehend. His iron +constitution, for one thing, that seemed capable of standing any +strain, helped him. And his remarkable ability to photograph whole +pages of his text books on his memory was another powerful ally. He +could reel off page after page of Virgil, Homer, Blackstone--anything +he "memorized" in this unusual fashion. Well for him that he grasped +the opportunity to learn this method presented him as a child. But +it has always been one of the traits of his character to see +opportunities where others walk right over them, and to seize and make +use of them. + +He did not register in the classical course as he was too poor to pay +the tuition fee, nor did he join any of the clubs, as he could not +afford it. He seldom appeared in debates or the moot courts, for +he was so shabbily dressed he felt he would not be welcome. It was +undoubtedly these humiliating experiences, combined with certain of +his studies and reading, that caused him to drift into an atheistic +train of thought. Working hard, living poor, desiring so much, yet +on all sides he saw boys with all the opportunities he longed +for, utterly indifferent to them. He saw boys spending in riotous +dissipation the money that would have meant so much to him. He saw +them recklessly squandering health, time, priceless educational +opportunities, for the veriest froth of pleasure. He saw them sowing +the wind, yet to his inexperienced eyes not reaping the whirlwind, but +faring far more prosperously than he who worked and studied hard and +yet had not what they threw so lightly away. It was all at variance +with his mother's teaching, with such of the preaching at the little +white church as he had heard. Bible promises, as he interpreted them, +were not fulfilled. So he scoffed, cynically, bitterly, and said, as +many another has done before he has learned the lessons of the world's +hard school, "There is no God." And having said it, he took rather a +pride in it and said it openly, boastingly. + +As at Wilbraham, funds ran out before the school year was completed +and he left Yale and taught district school during the day and vocal +and instrumental music in the evenings. + +But into this eager, undaunted struggle for an education came the +trumpet call to arms. With the memory of John Brown like a living coal +in his heart, with the pictures of the cowering, runaway slaves ever +before his eyes, he flung away his books and was one of the first to +enlist. But his father interfered. Russell was only eighteen. Martin +Conwell went to the recruiting officer and had his name taken from the +rolls. It was a bitter disappointment. But since he might not help +with his hands, he spoke with his tongue. All his pent-up enthusiasm +flowed out in impassioned speeches that brought men by the hundreds to +the recruiting offices. His fame spread up and down the Connecticut +valley and wherever troops were to be raised, "the boy" was in demand. + +"His youthful oratory," says the author of "Scaling the Eagle's Nest," +"was a wonderful thing which drew crowds of excited listeners wherever +he went. Towns sent for him to help raise their quotas of soldiers, +and ranks speedily filled before his inspiring and patriotic +speeches. In 1862 I remember a scene at Whitman Hall in Westfield, +Massachusetts, which none who were there can forget. Russell had +delivered two addresses there before. On that night there were two +addresses before his by prominent lawyers, but there was evident +impatience to hear 'The boy.' When he came forward there was the most +deafening applause. He really seemed inspired by miraculous powers. +Every auditor was fascinated and held closely bound. There was for a +time breathless suspense, and then at some telling sentence the whole +building shook with wild applause. At its close a shower of bouquets +from hundreds of ladies carpeted the stage in a moment, and men from +all parts of the hall rushed forward to enlist." + +The adulation and flattery showered upon him were enough to turn any +other's head. But it made no impression upon him. Heart, mind and soul +he was wrapped up in the cause. He was burning with zeal to help the +oppressed and suffering. His words poured from a heart overflowing +with pity, love, and indignation. Never once did he think of himself, +only of those in bonds crying, "Come over and help us." + +When Lincoln made his great address in Cooper Institute in 1860, +Russell was there. It was a longer journey from New England to New +York in those days than it is now, and longer yet for a boy who had so +little money, but he let no obstacle keep him away. + +He utilized his visit also to hear Beecher, the man who had taken so +powerful a hold of his childish fancy. Ever since those boyish days +when his mother read Beecher's sermons to him, and standing on the big +gray rock he had imagined himself another Beecher, he had longed to +hear this great man. It was only this childish desire holding fast to +him through the year that took him now, for church-going itself had no +attraction for him. + +He sat on the steps of the gallery and heard this wonderful man preach +a sermon in which he illustrated an auctioneer selling a negro girl at +the block. He sat as one entranced. So did the immense audience, held +spellbound by the scene so graphically pictured. It was the first +interesting sermon he had ever heard. It made a tremendous impression +on him, not only in itself, but as a vivid contrast between the +formal, rattling-of-dry-bones sermon and the live, vital discourse +that takes hold of a man's mind and heart and compels him to go out +in the world and do things for the good of his fellow men. Long it +remained in his memory, but the greatest inspiration from it did not +come till later years, when suddenly it stood forth as if illumined, +to throw a brilliant radiance on a path he had decided to tread. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHILE THE CONFLICT RAGED + +Lincoln's Call for 100,000 Men. Enlistment. Captain Conwell. In Camp +at Springfield, Mass. The Famous Gold-sheathed Sword. + + +In 1862, Lincoln sent out an earnest call for 100,000 men for the war. +Russell was not longer to be denied, and his father permitted him to +enlist. What silent agony, what earnest prayers for his safety went +up from his mother's heart, only other mothers in those terrible days +knew. + +He raised a company from Worthington, Chesterfield, Huntington, +Russell, Blandford and the neighboring towns and was unanimously +elected captain, though only nineteen. His earnest, fiery speeches had +already made him famous, and when it was known he had enlisted and was +raising a company, there was a rush to get into it, and the men as +with one voice, demanded that he be their captain. No one ever thought +of canvassing against him. A committee was appointed to wait on +Governor Andrew to persuade him to commission Russell in spite of his +age, and when he received the appointment, the cheers and applause of +the enthusiastic, the quiet satisfaction of the sedate, showed the +place which he had in their hearts. It is almost incomprehensible to +those not acquainted with the man, but those who have come in contact +with him, know what a hold he would soon gain over those "Mountain +Boys," as the company was called. His kindly sympathy would quickly +make them feel that in their captain, each had a warm personal friend. +His generous heart would back up that belief with a hundred and one +little acts of thoughtful kindness. Over each and every one would be +exercised a watchful care that cheered the long days, lightened heavy +loads, lessened discomforts. It is little wonder that their devotion +to him amounted almost to adoration. Gray-haired men followed him as +proudly as though his years matched theirs. Indeed, to their loyalty +was added a fatherly feeling of guardianship over him, because of his +youth, that brought a new pleasure into the relationship. The company +was knit together with the bonds of loving comradeship as were few +others. + +The rendezvous of the company was at Huntington, and there a banquet +was given before the troops departed for war. Proud day for him when +he marched down the familiar road from South Worthington, through the +autumn woods with their slowly falling leaves, their shadowy forest +aisles all glorious now with the banners of autumn, past the white +farmhouses with their golden lilies, the faithful little brook singing +ever at his side. Sad day for his mother as she watched him go, long +looking after him, till she could see no more for tears. + +From Huntington the company went into camp at Springfield. And now +came into use, those tactics and drills he had studied as a boy, and +others he had been secretly studying ever since the war broke out. His +men were astonished to find how perfectly at home he was in military +tactics. It further added to their pride in him. They fully expected +him to know as little as they, but when he came to his work fully +prepared, to their admiration of him as an orator, their love as a +leader, was now added their confidence as an officer. + +Camp life at Springfield made war no longer a glorious contemplation +but an uncomfortable reality. The ground for a bed, a spadeful +of earth for a pillow, sharp mountain winds, cold autumn storms, +insufficient food, hinted at the hardships to follow. The gold and the +alloy in the men's characters began to shine out, and Company F soon +realized in practical ways, the nature of the man who led them. His +new uniform overcoat went to a shivering boy, his rations were divided +with those less fortunate, his blankets were given to a comrade in +need. Always it was of his men, not himself, he thought. + +Before leaving camp for the seat of war, Captain Conwell was presented +with a sword by his Company, bearing this inscription:-- + +"Presented to Captain Russell H. Conwell by the soldiers of Company F, +46th Mass. Vol. Militia, known as 'The Mountain Boys.' Vera Amicitia +est sempiterna. (True friendship is eternal.)" Colonel Shurtleff made +the speech of presentation. The passionately eloquent reply of the +boy captain is yet remembered by those who heard it. He received the +beautiful, glittering weapon in silence. Slowly he drew the gleaming +steel from its golden sheath and solemnly held it upward as if +dedicating it to heaven, the sunlight bathing the blade with blinding +flashes of light. His eyes were fixed upon the steel, as if in a rapt +vision, he swept the centuries past, the centuries to come, and saw +what it stood for in the destinies of men. Breathless silence fell +upon his waiting comrades. Thus for a few moments he stood and then he +spoke to the sword. + +"He called up the shade of the sword of that mighty warrior Joshua, +which purified a polluted land with libations of blood, and made +it fit for the heritage of God's people; the sword of David, that +established the kingdom of Israel; the sword of that resistless +conqueror, Alexander, that pierced the heart of the Orient; the Roman +short sword, the terrible gladius, that carved out for the Caesars +the sovereignty of the world; the sword of Charlemagne, writing its +master's glorious deeds in mingling chapters of fable and history; the +sword of Gustavus Adolphus, smiting the battalions of the puissant +Wallenstein with defeat and overthrow even when its master lay dead on +the field of Lutzen; the sword of Washington, drawn for human freedom +and sheathed in peace, honor, and victory; then he bade the sword +remember all it had done in shaping the destinies of men and nations; +how it had written on the tablets of history in letters red and lurid, +the drama of the ages; closing, he called upon it now, in the battle +for the Union, to strike hard and strike home for freedom, for +justice, in the name of God and the Right; to fail not in the work to +which it was called until every shackle in the land was broken, every +bondman free, and every foul stain of dishonor cleaned from the flag." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT + +Company F at Newberne, N.C. The Fight at Batchelor's Creek. The +Goldsboro Expedition. The Battle of Kingston. The Gum Swamp +Expedition. + + +Breaking camp, the 46th left the beautiful, placid scenery about +Springfield, its silver river, its silent mountains, for Boston, where +they embarked for North Carolina, November 5th, 1862. They sailed out +of Boston Harbor in the teeth of a winter gale which increased so in +fury that the boat was compelled to put back. When they finally did +leave, the sea was still very rough and they had a slow, stormy +passage. + +It goes without saying that many of the men were ill. The boat was +crowded, the accommodations insufficient, and numbers of the Mountain +Boys had never been on the water before. To the confusion of handling +such a body of men was added inexperience in such work. The members of +Company F would have fared badly had it not been for the forethought +of their boy captain. It seemed as if he had passed beforehand in +mental review, the experiences of these weeks and anticipated their +needs. Out of his own funds, he laid in a stock of medicines and +delicacies for the sick. Indeed, those who know, say that he expended +all of his pay in sutler's stores and various things to make his men +more comfortable. Night and day, he was with those who suffered, +cheering, sympathizing, nursing. He was the life of the ship. His men +saw that his kindness and comradeship were not of the superficial +order, but genuine, sincere, a part of his very self and they became, +if possible, more passionately attached to him than ever. + +The placid Neuse river was a glad sight when at last they reached its +mouth and steamed up to Newberne, North Carolina. General Burnside had +already captured the town and Company F began army duties in earnest +with garrison work in the little Southern city, with its long dull +lines of earthworks, its white tents, its fleet of gunboats floating +lazily on the river. The constant tramp of soldiers' feet echoed along +the side-walks of this erstwhile quiet, Southern town. Sentries stood +on the corners challenging passers-by, wharves creaked under the loads +of ordnance and quartermasters' stores. Army wagons and ambulances +were constantly passing in the street, all strange and novel at first +to the Mountain Boys but soon familiar. Drilling and guard duty +filled their days. Morning and afternoon they drilled, and the actual +possession of the enemies' country, the warlike aspect of everything +about them, made drilling a far more real and important matter than it +had seemed at home. Captain Conwell felt his responsibility and threw +himself into the work with an earnestness that infected his men. They +would rather drill with him two hours than with any other officer a +half hour. They not only caught the contagion of his enthusiasm, but +he changed the dull, monotonous drudgery of it, into real, fascinating +work by marching them into seemingly hopeless situations and then in +some unexpected and surprising way, extricating them. Nor did he +spare himself any of the unpleasant phases of the work. One day, the +Colonel, while drilling the regiment, noticed that many of the men of +Company F marched far out of their places to avoid a mudhole in the +road. He marched and countermarched them over the same ground to +compel the men to keep their rank and file regardless of the mud. +Captain Conwell saw his object, and himself plunged into the mire, his +men followed, and were thus saved the reprimand which threatened. + +During these days, Captain Conwell kept up with the law studies +abandoned at Yale. Every spare minute, he devoted to his books and +committed to memory, one whole volume of Blackstone during the term of +his first enlistment Not many of the soldiers so used their hours +off duty. But it is this turning of every minute to account that has +enabled Dr. Conwell to accomplish so much. He has made his life count +for a half dozen of most person's by never wasting a moment. + +The monotony of garrison duty was broken first by a small fight at +Batchelor's Creek, seven miles above Newbern, but only four companies +were engaged. The Mountain Boys saw the first blood spilled at +Kingston and gained there the first glimpse of the horrors of war. +Nearly the entire marching force was sent into the interior on this +expedition, known as the Goldsboro expedition, the object being to cut +the Weldon railroad at Goldsboro, North Carolina. It was a hard march +with short and uncertain halts and occasional cavalry skirmishes. At +Kingston, they met the enemy in force. The Confederates were massed +about the bridge over the Neuse river and held it bravely till the +charge of the 9th New Jersey and 10th Connecticut drove them from +their position and left the woods and a little open field covered with +the dead and dying. The 46th Massachusetts followed the retreating +army and had that first experience with the grim, bloody side of war +that always makes such a strong impression on the green soldier. + +They bivouacked at Kingston and next day marched to the Weldon +railroad, reaching it at the bridge below Goldsboro, where the +Confederates had massed a large body of troops to protect their lines +of communication and supplies. This was a battle in earnest, the +artillery was deafening, and the enemy repeatedly charged the Union +lines. The Northern batteries were on a knoll in front, and at the +very moment that a long line of gray was seen approaching through this +field and the Massachusetts men were ordered to lie down, so that the +shot and shell could pass over them, their boy captain walked openly +forward to the batteries and stood there in the smoke. Careless of +himself, he yet realized to the full the meaning of this grim duel, +for when the fight was over and the Northern men cheering, he was +silent Captain Walkley asked why he did not cheer with the others. +"Too many hearts made sad to-day," was the significant reply that +showed he counted the cost to its bitter end, though he went forward +none the less bravely. + +Long, monotonous days of garrison duty followed for the men, days of +drilling, of idling up and down the streets of the dull Southern town. +But Captain Conwell used his spare minutes to advantage, and when +no work connected with his company or the personal welfare of his +comrades occupied him, he was studying. Then came the order to drive +the Confederates from a fort they were erecting on the Newbern +Railroad about thirty miles inland. This expedition, known as the Gum +Swamp Expedition, was an experience that tested the mettle of the men +and the resources of the young captain, and an experience none of the +survivors ever forgot. It was a forced march, a quick charge. The +Confederates fled leaving their fort unfinished. The Union men having +successfully completed their work, began the return to Newberne, and +here disaster overtook them. The Confederates hung on their rear, +riddling their ranks with shot and shell. Suffering, maddened, with no +way to turn and fight, for the enemy kept themselves well hidden, with +no way of escape ahead if they remained on the road, they plunged into +the swamp, that swept up black and dismal to the very edge of the +highway. The Confederate prisoners with them, warned them of their +danger, but the men were not to be stayed when a deadly rain of the +enemy's balls was thinning their ranks every minute. The swamp was one +black ooze with water up to their waists, a tangle of grass, reeds, +cypress trees, bushes. Loaded down with their heavy clothing, and +their army accoutrements, one after another the men sank from sheer +exhaustion. No man could succor his brother. It was all he could do to +drag himself through the mire that sucked him down like some terrible, +silent monster of the black, slimy depths. But Captain Conwell would +not desert a man. He could not see his comrades left to die before his +very eyes, those men who came right from his own mountain town, his +own boy friends, the ones who had enlisted under him, marched and +drilled with him. Rather would he perish in the swamp with them. He +worked like a Hercules, encouraging, helping, carrying some of the +more exhausted. A wet, straggling remnant reached Newberne. Even then, +when Captain Conwell found that two of his own company were missing, +he plunged back into the swamp to rescue them. Hours passed, and just +as a relief expedition was starting to search for him, he came back, +his hat gone, his uniform torn into rags, but with one of the men with +him and the other left on a fallen tree with a path blazed to lead the +rescuers to him. No heart could withstand such devotion as that. Young +and old, it touched his men so deeply, they could not speak of it +unmoved. They would gladly have died for him if need be, as one +did later, changing by his heroic act the whole current of Russell +Conwell's life. + +This same earnest desire to save that made him plunge back into that +swamp, regardless of self, is with him still to-day, now that his +whole soul is consumed with a longing to save men from moral death. He +lets nothing stand in his way of reaching out a succoring hand. Then +it was his comrades that he loved with such unselfish devotion. Now, +every man is his brother and his heart goes out with the same earnest +desire to help those who need help. The genuineness, the unselfishness +of it goes straight to every man's heart. It binds men to him as in +the old days, and it gives them new faith in themselves. The love +of humanity in his heart is, and always has been, a clear spring, +unpolluted by love of self, by ambition, by any worldly thing. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SWORD AND THE SCHOOL BOOK + +Scouting at Bogue Sound. Capt. Conwell Wounded. The Second Enlistment. +Jealousy and Misunderstanding. Building of the First Free School for +Colored Children. Attack on Newport Barracks. Heroic Death of John +Ring. + + +Once more, garrison duty laid its dull hand on the troops, varied by +little encounters that broke the monotony and furnished the material +for many campfire stories, but otherwise did little damage. The men +eagerly welcomed these scouting expeditions, and when an especially +dangerous one to Bogue Sound was planned, and Company F, eager to be +selected, Captain Conwell personally interceded with the Colonel that +his men might be given the task. The region into which they were sent +was known to be full of rebels, and as they approached the danger +zone, Captain Conwell ordered his men to lie down, while he went +forward to reconnoitre. Noticing a Confederate officer behind a tree, +he stole to the tree, and reaching as far around as he could, began +firing with his revolver. Not being experienced in the shooting of +men and believing since it must be done, "'twere well it were done +quickly," he shot all his loads in quick succession. His enemy, more +wily, waited till the Captain's ammunition was gone and then slowly +and with steady aim began returning the fire. But Captain Conwell's +comrades watching from a distance saw big peril, and disobeying +orders, rose as one man and came to his rescue. The Confederate fled +but not before he had left a ball in Captain Conwell's shoulder which, +of little consequence at the time, later came near causing his death. + +Thus the days passed away, and as the term of enlistment drew to +a close, General Foster sent for Captain Conwell and promised +to recommend him for a colonelcy if he would enter at once upon +recruiting service among his men. This he willingly consented to do, +and as may be imagined his men nearly all wanted to re-enlist under +him. Such a commission, however, for one so young aroused bitter +jealousy among officers of other companies, and Captain Conwell +hearing of it, decided not to accept the appointment. He wrote the +Governor that he would be content with the captain's commission again +and that he preferred not to raise contention by receiving anything +higher. The company returned home, but before the new re-organization +was effected, Captain Conwell was attacked with a serious fever. By +the time he recovered, the new regiment had been organized and new +officers put over it. Of course, his men were dissatisfied. With the +understanding that such of his old comrades as wished could join it, +he went to work immediately recruiting another company. But nearly all +his old men wanted to come into it, the new men recruited would +not give him up, and the anomalous position arose of two companies +clamoring for one captain. While it created much comment, it did not +lessen the jealousy which his popularity had aroused, among men and +officers not intimately associated with him, so that his second +enlistment began under a cloud of disappointment for his men, and +jealousy among outsiders, that seemed to bring misfortune in its +train. + +His new men, however, never failed him. His thoughtful care for them, +his kindness, his unselfishness won their loyalty and love as it had +done in Company F, and Company D, 2nd Massachusetts Volunteers were to +a man as devoted and as attached to him as ever were his old comrades +of the first days of the war. + +In this company went as Captain Conwell's personal orderly, a young +boy, John Ring, of Westfield, Massachusetts, a lad of sixteen or +seventeen. Entirely too young and too small to join the ranks of +soldiers, he had pleaded with his father so earnestly to be permitted +to go to the war that Mr. Ring had finally consented to put him in +Captain Conwell's charge. The boy was a worshipper at the shrine of +the young Captain. He had sat thrilled and fascinated under the magic +of the burning words which had swept men by the hundreds to enlist. It +was Captain Conwell's speeches that had stirred the boy and moved him +with such fiery ardor to go to war. No greater joy could be given him, +since he could not fight, than to be in his Captain's very tent to +look after his belongings, to minister in small ways to his comfort. A +hero worshipper the lad was, and at an age when ideals take hold of a +pure, high-minded boy with a force that will carry him to any height +of self-sacrifice, to any depth of suffering. He had been carefully +reared in a Christian home and read the Bible every morning and every +evening in their tent, a sight that so pricked the conscience +of Captain Conwell, as he remembered his mother and her loving +instructions, that he forbade it. But though John Ring loved Captain +Conwell with a love which the former did not then understand, the boy +loved duty and right better, and bravely disobeying these orders, he +read on. + +The company was stationed at Fort Macon, North Carolina, for awhile, +and then sent to Newport Barracks. Here it was that Captain Conwell +and his soldiers cut the logs and built the first free schoolhouse +erected for colored children. Colonel Conwell himself taught it at +first and then he engaged a woman to teach. It is still standing. + +Months passed away and the men received no pay. Request after request +Captain Conwell sent to headquarters at Newberne, but received no +reply. The men became discontented and unruly. Some had families at +home in need. All of these tales were poured into the young Captain's +ears. Ready ever to relieve trouble, impatient always to get to work +and remedy a wrong, instead of talking about it, Captain Conwell +decided to ride to Newberne, find out what was the matter and have the +men's money forwarded at once. Leaving an efficient officer in command +and securing a pass, which he never stopped to consider was not a +properly made-out permit for a leave of absence for a commanding +officer, he took an orderly and started. It was a twenty-mile ride +to Newberne and meant an absence of some time. But he anticipated no +trouble, for the rebels had been letting the Northern troops severely +alone for nearly a year. + +He had covered barely two-thirds of the distance, when a Union man +passed, who shouted as he hurried on, "Your men are in a fight." +Conwell and his orderly turned, put their horses to the gallop and +rode back furiously. It was too late. The country between was swarming +with Confederates. He ran into the enemies' pickets and barely escaped +capture by swimming a deep creek, shot spattering all around them. He +made desperate efforts to ride around the lines but failed. Then he +tried descending the river by boat, but the enemy had captured the +entire line of posts. Frustrated at all points, nothing was to be done +but retrace his steps to Newberne, where the worst of news awaited +him. The assault upon his fort had been sudden and in overwhelming +force. His men had been shot down or bayonetted, the remnant driven to +the woods. The whole ground was in the hands of the enemy. + +Nor was this all. Back at that little fort had been enacted one of the +saddest tragedies of the war. When the Union soldiers fled, they had +retreated across the long railroad bridge that spanned the Newport +river, and to prevent the enemy following, had set it on fire. Just as +the flames began to eat into the timbers, John Ring, the boy orderly, +thought of his Captain's sword, that wonderful gold-sheathed sword +which had been presented to Captain Conwell on the memorable day in +Springfield when he had so eloquently called upon it to fight in the +cause of Justice. It had been left behind in the Captain's tent, the +Army Regulations requiring that he wear one less conspicuous. Even now +it might be in the hands of some slave-owning Confederate. Maddened at +the thought, John King leaped on to the burning bridge, plunged +back through the fire, through the ranks of the yelling, excited +Confederates, reached the tent unobserved and grasped the sword of his +idolized Captain. Again he made a rush for the flame-wrapped bridge. +But this time the keen eyes of the enemy discerned him. + +"Look at the Yank with the sword. Wing him! Bring him down." And +bullets sped after the fearless boy. But he fled on undeterred, and +plunged into the mass of flame and smoke. The fire had gained too +great headway by this time for any living thing to pass through it +unhurt. He saw it was useless to attempt to cross as before, and +belting the sword about him, he dropped beneath the stringers and +tried to make his way hand over hand. All about him fell the blazing +brands. The biting smoke blinded him. The very flesh was burning from +his arms. The enemies' bullets sung about him. But still he struggled +on. In sheer admiration of his courage, the Confederate general gave +the order to cease firing, and the two armies stood silent and watched +the plucky fight of this brave boy. Inch by inch, he gained on his +path of fire. But he could see no longer. In torturing blackness +he groped on, fearful only that he might not succeed in saving the +precious sword, that in his blindness he might grasp a blazing timber +and his hand be burnt from him, that death in a tongue of flame be +swept down into his face, that the bridge might fall and the sword be +lost. At last he heard his comrades shouting. They guided him with +their cheers, "A little farther," "Keep straight on," "You're all +right now." And then he dropped blazing into the outstretched arms +of his comrades, while a mighty shout went up from both sides of the +river, as enemy and friend paid the tribute of brave men to a brave +deed. + +[Illustration: LIEUTENANT-COLONEL CONWELL] + +With swelling hearts and tear-blinded eyes, they tenderly laid the +insensible hero on a gun carriage and took him to the hospital. Two +days of quivering agony followed and then he met and bravely faced his +last enemy. Opening his eyes, he said clearly and distinctly, "Give +the Captain his sword." Then his breath fluttered and the little +armor-bearer slept the sleep of peace. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS + +Under Arrest for Absence Without Leave. Order of Court Reversed by +President. Certificate from State Legislature of Massachusetts for +Patriotic Services. Appointed by President Lincoln Lieutenant-Colonel +on General McPherson's Staff. Wounded at Kenesaw Mountain. Conversion. +Public Profession of Faith. + + +The tragic death of John Ring was the final crushing news that came to +Captain Conwell at Newberne. Combined with the nervous strain he had +been under in trying to get back to his men, the condemnation from his +superior officers for his absence, it threw him into a brain fever. +Long days and nights he rolled and tossed, fighting over again the +attack on the fort, making heroic efforts to rescue John Ring from his +fiery death, urging his horse through tangled forests and dark rivers +that seemed never to have another shore. For weeks the fever racked +and wasted him, and finally when feeble and weak, he was once more +able to walk, he found himself under arrest for absence without leave +during a time of danger. + +It had been reported to General Palmer that the defeat of the Federal +troops might have been avoided had the officers been on duty. An +investigation was ordered and Captain Conwell was asked for his permit +to be absent. He had simply his pass through the lines, a vastly +different thing he found from an authorized permit of absence. The +investigation dragged its slow course along, as all such things, +encumbered by red tape, do. Disgusted and humiliated by being kept a +prisoner for months when the country needed every arm in its defense, +by having such a mountain made of the veriest molehill built of a kind +act and boyish inexperience, he refused to put in a defense at the +investigation and let it go as it would. Setting the Court of Inquiry +more against him, a former Commander, General Foster, espoused his +cause too hotly and wrote to General McPherson for an appointment for +a "boy who is as brave as an old man." The Court of Inquiry, made up +of local officers, most of them jealous of his popularity, resented +this outside interference and the verdict was against him. But others +higher in authority took up the matter and Captain Conwell was ordered +to Washington. The President reversed the order of the Court. He +was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, detailed for service on General +McPherson's staff and ordered West. General Butler, under whose +command Captain Conwell served, afterward made a generous +acknowledgment of the injustice of the findings and expressed in warm +words his admiration of Captain Conwell, and the State Legislature +of Massachusetts gave him a certificate for faithful and patriotic +services in that campaign. + +Nevertheless, it was an experience that sorely embittered his soul. +Intentionally he had done nothing wrong, yet he had been humiliated +and made to eat the bitter fruits of the envy and jealousy of others. +It saddened but did not defeat him. His heart was too big, his nature +too generous. He could forgive them freely, could do them a kindness +the very first opportunity, but that did not take away the pain at his +heart. One may forgive a person who burns him, even if intentionally, +but that does not stop the burn from smarting. + +Saddened, and with the futility of ambition keenly brought home +to him, he joined General McPherson, and in the battle of Kenesaw +Mountain he received a serious wound. He had stationed a lookout +to watch the Confederate fire while he directed the work of two +batteries. It was the duty of the lookout to keep Colonel Conwell and +his gunners posted as to whether the enemy fired shot or shell, easily +to be told by watching the little trail of smoke that followed the +discharge. If a shot were sent, they paid no attention to it for it +did little damage, but if it were a shell it was deemed necessary to +seek protection. + +Colonel Conwell was leaning on the wheel of one of the cannon when +there was a discharge from the guns of the enemy. The lookout yelled, +"Shot." But it was a fatal shell that came careening and screaming +toward them, and before Conwell or his men could leap into the +bomb-proof embankment, it struck the hub of the very wheel against +which he leaned, and burst. + +When he came to himself, the stars were shining, the field was silent +save for the feeble moans of the wounded, the voices and footsteps +of parties searching for the injured. He was in a quivering agony of +sharp, burning pain, but he could neither move nor speak. At last, he +heard the searchers coming. Nearer, nearer drew the voices, then for +a moment they paused at his side. He heard a man with a lantern say, +"Poor fellow! We can do nothing for him." Then they passed on, leaving +him for dead, among the dead. + +All that June night he lay there, looking up at the stars that studded +the infinity of space. About him were dark, silent forms, rigid in the +sleep of death. Those were solemn hours, hours when he looked death in +the face, and then backward over the years he had lived. Useless years +they seemed to him now, years filled with petty ambitions that had to +do solely with self. All the spiritual ideals of life, the things that +give lasting joy and happiness because they are of the spirit and +not of the flesh, he had scoffingly cast aside and rejected. He had +narrowed life down to self and the things of the world. He had no such +faith as made his mother's hard-working life happy and serene because +it transformed its sordid care into glorious service of her Heavenly +King. He had no such faith as carried John Ring triumphant and +undismayed through the gates of fiery death in performance of a loving +service. Suddenly a longing swept over him for this priceless faith, +for a personal, sure belief in the love of a Savior. One by one the +teachings of his mother came back to him, those beautiful immortal +truths she had read him from that Book which is never too old to touch +the hearts of men with healing. Looking up at the worlds swinging +through space to unknown laws, with the immensities of life, death and +infinity all about him, his disbelief, his atheism dropped away. Into +his heart came the premonitions of the peace of God, which passeth +understanding. Life broadened, it took on new meaning and duty, for a +life into which the spirit of God has come can never again narrow down +to the boundaries of self. He determined henceforth to live more for +others, less for himself; to make the world better, somebody happier +whenever he could; to make his life, each day of it, worthy of that +great sacrifice of John Ring. + +He being an officer, they came back for his body, and found a living +man instead of the dead. He was taken to the field hospital. One arm +was broken in two places, his shoulder badly shattered, and because +there was no hope of his living, they did not at once amputate his +arm, which would have been done had he been less seriously injured. + +Long days he lay in the hospital with life going out all about him, +the moan of the suffering in his ears, thinking, thinking, of the +mystery of life and death, as the shadows flitted and swayed through +the dimly lighted wards at night, the sunshine poured down during the +day. His love of humanity burned purer. His desire to help it grew +stronger. Long were the talks he had with the chaplain, a Baptist +preacher, and when he recovered and left the hospital, his mind was +fully made up. Like his father, his actions never lagged behind his +speech, and he made at once an open profession of the faith on which +he now leaned with such happy confidence. + +The fearless, unselfish love of humanity, the desire to help the +oppressed that burned in the bosom of John Brown had sent the +impetuous boy into the war. + +The fearless, unselfish act of John Ring sent Colonel Conwell out of +the war a God-fearing man, determined to spend his life for the good +of humanity. + +Providence uses strange instruments. Thousands in this country to-day +have been inspired, helped, made different men and women through +knowing Russell Conwell. What may not some of them do to benefit +their country and their generation! Yet back of him stand this old +gray-haired man and a young, fearless boy, whose influence turned the +current of his life to brighten and bless countless thousands. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +WESTWARD + +Resignation from Army. Admission to Bar. Marriage. Removal to +Minnesota. Founding of Minneapolis Y.M.C.A. and of the Present +"Minneapolis Tribune." Burning of Home. Breaking Out of Wound. +Appointed Emigration Agent to Germany by Governor of Minnesota. Joins +Surveying Party to Palestine. Near to Death in Paris Hospital. Journey +to New York for Operation in Bellevue Hospital. Return to Boston. + + +When Colonel Conwell was able to leave the hospital, he was still +unable to assume active duty in the field, and he was sent to +Nashville for further rest and treatment. Here he reported to General +Thomas and was instructed to proceed to Washington with a despatch for +General Logan. Colonel Conwell started, but the rough traveling of +those days opened his wounds afresh and he completely broke down +at Harper's Ferry. Too weak longer to resist, he yielded to the +entreaties of his friends, sent in his resignation and returned home +for rest and nursing. Before he fully recovered, peace was declared. + +Free to resume his studies, he entered the law office of Judge W.S. +Shurtleff, of Springfield, Massachusetts, his former Colonel, read law +there for a short time, then entered the Albany University, where he +graduated. + +Shortly after passing his examination at the bar and receiving his +degree, he was married at Chicopee Falls, March 8, 1865, to Miss +Jennie P. Hayden, one of his pupils in the district school at West +Granville, Massachusetts, and later one of his most proficient music +scholars. Her brothers were in his company, and when Company F was in +camp at Springfield after the first enlistment, she was studying at +Wilbraham and there often saw her soldier lover. Anxious days and +years they were for her that followed, as they were for every other +woman with father, husband, brother or sweetheart in the terrible +conflict that raged so long. But she endured them with that silent +bravery that is ever the woman's part, that strong, steady courage +that can sit at home passive, patient, never knowing but that +life-long sorrow and heartache are already at the threshold. + +Immediately after their marriage, they went West and finally settled +in Minneapolis. Colonel Conwell opened a law office, and while waiting +for clients acted as agent for a real estate firm in the sale of land +warrants. He also began to negotiate for the sale of town lots. This +not being enough for a man who utilized every minute, he became local +correspondent for the "St. Paul Press." Nor did he stop here, though +most men would have thought their hands by this time about full. He +took an active part in local politics and canvassed the settlement and +towns for the Republican and temperance tickets. He also was actively +interested in the schools, and not only advocated public schools and +plenty of them, but was a frequent visitor to the city and district +schools, talking to the children in that interesting, entertaining +way that always clothes some helpful lesson in a form long to be +remembered. + +True to the faith he had found in the little Southern hospital, he +joined the First Baptist Church of Saint Paul. But mere joining was +not sufficient. He must work for the cause, and he opened a business +men's noon prayer-meeting in his law office at Minneapolis, rather a +novel undertaking in those days and in the then far West. For three +months, only three men attended. But nothing daunted, he persevered. +That trait in his character always shone out the more brightly, +the darker the outlook. Those three men were helped, and that was +sufficient reason that the prayer-meeting be continued. Eventually it +prospered and resulted finally in a permanent organization from which +grew the Minneapolis Y.M.C.A. + +Poor though he was, and he started in the West with nothing, he made +friends everywhere. His speeches soon made him widely known. His +sincerity, his unselfish desire to help others, his earnestness to aid +in all good works brought him, as always, a host of loyal, devoted +followers. A skating club of some hundred members made him their +President, and his first law case in the West came to him through this +position. + +A skating carnival was to be given, and the club had engaged an +Irishman to clear a certain part of the frozen Mississippi of snow for +the skating. This he failed to do at the time specified and the club +had it cleaned by some one else. Claiming that he would have done +it, had they waited, the Irishman sued the club. Colonel Conwell, of +course, appeared for the defense. The whole hundred members marched to +the court house, the scene being town talk for some days. Needless to +say he won his suit. + +His love for newspaper work led him to start the "Minneapolis +Chronicle" and the "Star of the North," which were afterward merged +into "The Minneapolis Tribune," for which his clever young wife +conducted a woman's column, in a decidedly brilliant, original manner. +Mrs. Conwell wrote from her heart as one woman to other women, and +her articles soon attracted notice and comment for their entertaining +style and their inspiring, helpful ideas. + +At this time they were living in two rooms back of his office, for +they were making financial headway as yet but slowly. But times +brightened and Colonel Conwell was soon able to purchase a handsome +home and furnish it comfortably, taking particular pride in the +gathering of a large law library. + +It seemed now as if life were to move forward prosperously. But +greater work was needed from Russell Conwell than the comfortable +practice of law. One evening while the family were from home, fire +broke out and the house and all they owned was destroyed. Running +to the fire from a G.A.R. meeting, a mile and a half away, Colonel +Conwell was attacked with a hemorrhage of the lungs. It came from +his old army wounds and the doctor ordered him immediately from that +climate, and told him he must take a complete rest. Here was disaster +indeed. Every cent they had saved was gone. And with it the strength +to begin again the battle for a living. It was a hard, bitter blow for +a young, ambitious man, right at the start of his career; a stroke of +fate to make any man bitter and cynical. But his was not a nature to +permit misfortune to narrow him or make him repine. He rose above it. +It did not lesson his ambitions. It broadened, humanized them. It made +him enter with still truer sympathy into other people's misfortune. +And his trust in God was so strong, his faith so unshaken, he knew +that in all these bitter experiences of life's school was a lesson. He +learned it and used it to get a broader outlook. + +His friends rallied to his aid. Prominent as an editor, lawyer, leader +of the Y.M.C.A., it was not difficult to get him an appointment from +the Governor, already a warm friend. He secured the position of +emigration agent to Europe, and he turned his face Eastward. Mrs. +Conwell was left in Minneapolis, and he sailed abroad in the hope that +the sea trip and change of climate would heal the weakened tissue of +his lung and fully restore him to health. But it was a vain hope. His +strength would not permit him to fulfill the duty expected of him as +emigration agent and he was compelled to resign. For several months +he wandered about Europe trying one place, then another in the vain +search for health. He joined a surveying party and went to Palestine, +for even in those days that inner voice could not he altogether +stilled that was calling him to follow in the footsteps of the Savior +and preach and teach and heal the sick. The land where the Savior +ministered had a strong fascination for him, and he gladly seized the +opportunity to become a member of this surveying party and walk over +the ground where the Savior had gone up and down doing good. + +But the trip was of no benefit to his health. Instead of gaining he +failed. He grew weaker and weaker. The hemorrhages became more and +more frequent. Finally he came to Paris and lying, a stranger and +poor, in Necker Hospital was told he could live but a few days. Face +to face again with that grim, bitter enemy of the battlefield, what +thoughts came crowding thick and fast--thoughts of his young wife in +far-away America, of father and mother, memories of the beautiful +woods, the singing streams of the mountain home, as the noise and +clamor of Paris streets drifted into the long hospital ward. + +Then came a famous Berlin doctor to the dying American. He studied the +case attentively, for it was strange enough to arouse and enlist all +a doctor's keen scientific interest. When analyzed, copper had been +found in the hemorrhage, with no apparent reason for it, and the Paris +doctors were puzzling over the cause. "Were you in the war?" asked the +great man. "Were you shot?" + +"Yes." + +"Shot in the shoulder?" + +Then came back to Colonel Conwell, the recollection of the duel with +the Confederate around a tree in the North Carolina woods and the shot +that had lodged in his shoulder near his neck and was never removed. + +"That is the trouble," said the physician. "The bullet has worked down +into the lung and only the most skillful operation can save you, +and only one man can do it"--and that man was a surgeon in Bellevue +Hospital, New York. + +Carefully was the sinking man taken on board a steamer. Only the most +rugged constitution could have stood that trip in the already weakened +condition of his system. But those early childhood days in the +Berkshire Hills had put iron into his blood, the tonic of sunshine and +fresh air into his very bone and muscle. Safely he made the journey, +though no one knew all he suffered in those terrible days of weakness +and pain on the lone, friendless trip across the Atlantic. Safely he +went through the operation. The bullet was removed, and with health +mending, he made his way to Boston where his loving young wife awaited +him. + +But out of these experiences, suffering, alone, friendless, poor, in +a strange city, grew after all the Samaritan Hospital of Philadelphia +that opens wide its doors, first and always, to the suffering sick +poor. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WRITING HIS WAY AROUND THE WORLD + +Days of Poverty in Boston. Sent to Southern Battlefields. Around the +World for New York and Boston Papers. In a Gambling Den In Hong Kong, +China. Cholera and Shipwreck. + + +Abject poverty awaited him on his return to Boston. The fire in St. +Paul had left them but little property, while their enforced hurried +departure compelled that little to be sold at a loss. This money +was now entirely gone, and once more he faced the world in absolute +poverty. He rented a single room in the East district of Boston and +furnished it with the barest necessities. Colonel Conwell secured a +position on "The Evening Traveller" at five dollars a week, and Mrs. +Conwell cheerily took in sewing. Thus they made their first brave +stand against the gaunt wolf at the door. Here their first child was +born, a daughter, Nima, now Mrs. E.G. Tuttle, of Philadelphia. These +were dark days for the little household. Night after night the father +came home to see the one he loved best in all the world, suffering +for the barest necessities of life, yet cheerful, buoyant, never +complaining. So sensitive to the sufferings of others that he must do +all in his power to relieve even his comrades in the war when, injured +or ill, what mental anguish must he have endured when his dearly loved +wife was in want and he so powerless to relieve it. She read his heart +with the sure sympathy of love, knew his bitter anguish of spirit, and +suffered the more because he suffered. But bravely she cheered him, +encouraged him, and spent all her own spare minutes doing what she +could to add to the family income. + +Thus they pluckily-worked, never repining nor complaining at fate, +though knowing in its bitterest sense what it is to be desperately +poor, to suffer for adequate food and clothing. Colonel Conwell +learned in that hard experience what it is to want for a crust of +bread. No man can come to Dr. Conwell to this day with a tale of +poverty, suffering, sickness, but what the minister's eyes turn +backward to that one little room with its pitiful makeshifts of +furniture, its brave, pale wife, the wee girl baby; and his hand goes +out to help with an earnest and heartfelt sympathy surprising to the +recipient. + +But the tide turned ere long. Colonel Conwell's work on the paper soon +began to tell. His salary was raised and raised, until comfort once +more with smiling face took up her abode with them. They moved into a +pretty home in Somerville. Colonel Conwell resumed his law practice +and began, as in the West, to deal in real estate. He also continued +his lecturing. + +Busy days these were, but his life had already taught him much of the +art of filling each minute to an exact nicety in order to get the most +out of it. His paper sent him as a special correspondent to write up +the battlefields of the South, and his letters were so graphic and +entertaining as to become a widely known and much discussed feature +of the paper. Soldiers everywhere read them with eager delight and +through them revisited the scenes of the terrible conflict in which +each had played some part. While on this assignment, he invaded a +gambling den in New Orleans, and interfering to save a colored man +from the drunken frenzy of a bully, came near being killed himself. +Coming to the aid of a porter on a Mississippi steamboat, he again +narrowly escaped being shot, striking a revolver from the hand of a +ruffian just as his finger dropped on the trigger. He mixed with all +classes and conditions of men and saw life in its roughest, +most primal aspect But all these experiences helped him to that +appreciation of human nature that has been of such, value and help to +him since. + +These letters aroused such widespread and favorable comment that the +"New York Tribune" and "Boston Traveller" arranged to send him on a +tour of the world. When the offer came to him, his mind leaped the +years to that poorly furnished room in the little farmhouse, where he +had leaned on his mother's knee and listened with rapt attention while +she read him the letters of foreign correspondents in that very "New +York Tribune." The letter he wrote his mother telling her of the +appointment was full of loving gratitude for the careful way she +had trained his tastes in those days when he was too young and +inexperienced to choose for himself. + +It was a wrench for the young wife to let him go so far away, but she +bravely, cheerfully made the sacrifice. She was proud of his work and +his ability, and she loved him too truly to stand in the way of his +progress. + +This journey took him to Scotland, England, Sweden, Denmark, France, +Italy, Germany, Russia, Palestine, Arabia, Egypt and Northern Africa. +He interviewed Emperor William I, Bismarck, Victor Emanuel, the then +Prince of Wales, now Edward VII of England. He frequently met Henry +M. Stanley, then correspondent for the London papers, who wrote from +Paris of Colonel Conwell, "Send that double-sighted Yankee and he will +see at a glance all there is and all there ever was." + +He also made the acquaintance of Garibaldi, whom he visited in his +island home and with whom he kept up a correspondence after he +returned. Garibaldi it was who called Colonel Conwell's attention to +the heroic deeds of that admirer of America, the great and patriotic +Venetian, Daniel Manin. In the busy years that followed on this trip +Colonel Conwell spent a long time gathering materials for a biography +of Daniel Manin, and just before it was ready for the press the +manuscript was destroyed by fire in the destruction of his home +at Newton Centre, Massachusetts, in 1880. One of his most popular +lectures, "The Heroism of a Private Life," took its inception from the +life of this Venetian statesman. + +He also gave a series of lectures at Cambridge, England, on Italian +history that attracted much favorable comment. + +Mr. Samuel T. Harris, of New York, correspondent of the "New York +Times" in 1870, in a private letter, says, "Conwell is the funniest +chap I ever fell in with. He sees a thousand things I never thought of +looking after. When his letters come back in print I find lots in them +that seems new to me, although I saw it all at the time. But you don't +see the fun in his letters to the papers. The way he adapts himself to +all circumstances comes from long travel; but it is droll. He makes a +salaam to the defunct kings, a neat bow to the Sudras, and a friendly +wink at the Howadji, in a way that puts him cheek-by-jowl with them +in a jiffy. He beats me all out in his positive sympathy with these +miserable heathen. He has read so much that he knows about everything. +The way the officials, English, too, treat him would make you think he +was the son of a lord. He has a dignified condescension in his manner +that I can't imitate." + +Part of the time Bayard Taylor was his traveling companion, and there +grew up between these two kindred spirits an intimate friendship that +lasted until Taylor's death. + +All through the trip he carried books with him, and every minute not +occupied in gathering material for his letters was passed in reading +the history of the scenes and the people he was among, in mastering +their language. Such close application added an interesting background +of historical information to his letters, a breadth and culture, that +made them decidedly more valuable and entertaining than if confined +strictly to what he saw and heard. It was on this journey that he +heard the legend from which grew his famous lecture, "Acres of +Diamonds," which has been given already three thousand four hundred +and twenty times. It gave him an almost inexhaustible fund of material +on which he has drawn for his lectures and books since. + +During his absence his second child, a son, Leon, was born. He +returned home for the briefest time, and then completed the tour by +way of the West and the Pacific. He lectured through the Western +States and Territories, for already his fame as a lecturer was +spreading. He visited the Sandwich Islands, Japan, China, Sumatra, +Siam, Burmah, the Himalaya Mountains, India, returning home by way of +Europe. His Hong Kong letter to "The Tribune," exposing the iniquities +of the labor-contract system in Chinese emigration, created quite a +stir in political and diplomatic circles. It was while on this trip +he gathered the material for his first book, "Why and How the Chinese +Emigrate." It was reviewed as the best book in the market of its kind. +The "New York Herald" in writing of it said: "There has been little +given to the public which throws more timely and intelligent light +upon the question of coolie emigration than the book written by Col. +Russell H. Conwell, of Boston." + +These travels were replete with thrilling adventures and strange +coincidents. When he left Somerville after his brief visit, for his +trip through the Western States, China and Japan, a broken-hearted +mother in Charlestown, Mass., asked him to find her wandering boy, +whom she believed to be "somewhere in China." A big request, but +Colonel Conwell, busy as he was, did not forget it. Searching for him +in such places as he believed the boy would most likely frequent, +Colonel Conwell accidentally entered, one night in Hong Kong, a den of +gamblers. Writing of the event, he says: + +"At one table sat an American, about twenty-five years old, playing +with an old man. They had been betting and drinking. While the +gray-haired man was shuffling the cards for a 'new deal' the young +man, in a swaggering, careless way, sang, to a very pathetic tune, a +verse of Phoebe Carey's beautiful hymn, + + 'One sweetly solemn thought + Comes to me o'er and o'er: + I'm nearer home to-day + Than e'er I've been before.' + +Hearing the singing several gamblers looked up in surprise. The old +man who was dealing the cards grew melancholy, stopped for a moment, +gazed steadfastly at his partner in the game, and dashed the pack upon +the floor under the table. Then said he, 'Where did you learn that +tune?' The young man pretended that he did not know he had been +singing. 'Well, no matter,' said the old man, I've played my last +game, and that's the end of it. The cards may lie there till doomsday, +and I will never pick them up,' The old man having won money from +the other--about one hundred dollars--took it out of his pocket, and +handing it to him said: 'Here, Harry, is your money; take it and +do good with it; I shall with mine.' As the traveler followed them +downstairs, he saw them conversing by the doorway, and overheard +enough to know that the older man was saying something about the song +which the young man had sung. It had, perhaps, been learned at a +mother's knee, or in a Sunday-school, and may have been (indeed it +was), the means of saving these gamblers, and of aiding others through +their influence toward that nobler life which alone is worth the +living." + +The old man had come from Westfield, Mass. He died in 1888, at Salem, +Oregon, having spent the last seven years of his life as a Christian +Missionary among the sailors of the Pacific coast. He passed away +rejoicing in the faith that took him + + "Nearer the Father's House, + Where many mansions be, + Nearer the great white throne, + Nearer the jasper sea." + +The boy, Harry, utterly renounced gambling and kindred vices. + +While coming from Bombay to Aden, cholera broke out on the ship and +it was strictly quarantined. It was a ship of grief and terror. +Passengers daily lost loved ones. New victims were stricken every +hour. The slow days dragged away with death unceasingly busy among +them. Burials were constant, and no man knew who would be the next +victim. But Colonel Conwell escaped contagion. + +On the trip home, across the Atlantic, the steamer in a fearful gale +was so dismantled as to be helpless. The fires of the engine were out, +and the boat for twenty-six days drifted at the mercy of the waves. +No one, not even the Captain, thought they could escape destruction. +Water-logged and unmanageable, during a second storm it was thought to +be actually sinking. The Captain himself gave up hope, the women grew +hysterical. But in the midst of it all, Colonel Conwell walked the +deck, and to calm the passengers sang "Nearer my God to Thee," +with such feeling, such calm assurance in a higher power, that the +passengers and Captain once again took courage. But strangest of all, +on this voyage, while sick, he was cared for by the very colored +porter whose life he had saved on the Mississippi steamboat. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +BUSY DAYS IN BOSTON + +Editor of "Boston Traveller." Free Legal Advice for the Poor. +Temperance Work. Campaign Manager for General Nathaniel P. Banks. +Urged for Consulship at Naples. His Work for the Widows and Orphans of +Soldiers. + + +Returning to Somerville, Mass., the long journey ended, he found the +editorial chair of the "Boston Traveller" awaiting him. He plunged +into work with his characteristic energy. The law, journalism, +writing, lecturing, all claimed his attention. It is almost incredible +how much he crowded into a day. Five o'clock in the morning found him +at work, and midnight struck before he laid aside pen or book. Yet +with all this rush of business, he did not forget those resolves he +had made to lend a helping hand wherever he could to those needing it. +And his own bitter experiences in the hard school of poverty taught +him how sorely at times help is needed. He made his work for others +as much a part of his daily life as his work for himself. It was +an integral part of it. Watching him work, one could hardly have +distinguished when he was occupied with his own affairs, when with +those of the poor. He did not separate the two, label one "charity" +and attend to it in spare moments. One was as important to him as the +other. He kept his law office open at night for those who could not +come during the day and gave counsel and legal advice free to the +poor. Often of an evening he had as many as a half hundred of these +clients, too poor to pay for legal aid, yet sadly needing help to +right their wrongs. So desirous was he of reaching and assisting those +suffering from injustice, yet without money to pay for the help they +needed, that he inserted the following notice in the Boston papers: + +"Any deserving poor person wishing legal advice or assistance will be +given the same free of charge any evening except Sunday, at No. 10 +Rialto Building, Devonshire Street. None of these cases will be taken +into the courts for pay." + +These cases he prepared as attentively and took into court with as +eager determination to win, as those for which he received large fees. +Of course such a proceeding laid him open to much envious criticism. +Lawyers who had no such humanitarian view of life, no such earnest, +sincere desire to lighten the load of poverty resting so heavily on +the shoulders of many, said it was unprofessional, sensational, a "bid +for popularity." Those whom he helped knew these insinuations to be +untrue. His sympathy was too sincere, the assistance too gladly +given. But misunderstood or not, he persevered. The wrongs of many an +ignorant working man suffering through the greed of those over him, +were righted. Those who robbed the poor under various guises were made +to feel the hand of the law. And for none of these cases did he ever +take a cent of pay. + +Another class of clients who brought him much work but no profit were +the widows and orphans of soldiers seeking aid to get pensions. To +such he never turned a deaf ear, no matter the multitude of duties +that pressed. He charged no fee, even when to win the case, he was +compelled to go to Washington. Nor would he give it up, no matter what +work it entailed until the final verdict was given. His partners say +he never lost a pension case, nor ever made a cent by one. + +An unwritten law in the office was that neither he nor his partners +should ever accept a case if their client were in the wrong, or +guilty. But this very fact made wrongdoers the more anxious to secure +him, knowing it would create the impression at once that they were +innocent. + +A story which went the rounds of legal circles in Boston and finally +was published in the "Boston Sunday Times," shows how he was cleverly +fooled by a pick-pocket The man charged with the crime came to Colonel +Conwell to get him to take the case. So well did he play the part of +injured innocence that Colonel Conwell was completely deceived and +threw himself heart and soul into the work of clearing him. When the +case came up for trial, the lawyer and client sat near together in the +court room, and Colonel Conwell made such an earnest and forceful plea +in behalf of the innocent young man and the harm already done him by +having such a charge laid at his door that it was at once agreed the +case should be dismissed, by the District Attorney's consent. So +lawyer and client walked out of court together, happy and triumphant, +to Colonel Conwell's office, where the pick-pocket paid Colonel +Conwell his fee out of the lawyer's own pocketbook which he had deftly +abstracted during the course of the trial. + +The incident caused much amusement at the time, and it was a long +while before Colonel Conwell heard the last of it. + +Into work for temperance he went heart and soul, not only in speech +but in deed. Though he never drank intoxicating liquor himself, he +could never see a man under its baneful influence but that heart and +hand went out to help him. Many a reeling drunkard he took to his +Somerville home, nursed all night, and in the morning endeavored with +all his eloquence to awaken in him a desire to live a different life. +Deserted wives and children of drunkards came to him for aid, and many +of the free law cases were for those wronged through the curse of +drink. + +Friend always of the workingman, he was persistently urged by their +party to accept a nomination for Congress. But he as persistently +refused. But he worked hard in politics for others. He managed one +campaign in which General Nathaniel P. Banks was running on an +independent ticket, and elected him by a large majority. His name +was urged by Senators Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson for the United +States Consulship at Naples, the lectures he had given at Cambridge, +England, on Italian history having attracted so much favorable comment +by the deep research they showed, and the keen appreciation of Italian +character. He was considered an expert in contested election cases and +he frequently appeared before the Legislature on behalf of cities and +towns on matters over which it had jurisdiction. + +Mr. Higgins, who knew him personally, writing of these busy days in +"Scaling the Eagle's Nest," says: + +"He prepared and presented many bills to Congressional Committees at +Washington, and appeared as counsel in several Louisiana and Florida +election eases. His arguments before the Supreme Courts in several +important patent cases were reported to the country by the Associated +Press. He had at one time considerable influence with the President +and Senators in political appointments, and some of the best men still +in government office in this State (Massachusetts) and in other +New England States, say they owe their appointment to his active +friendship in visiting Washington in their behalf. But it does not +appear that through all these years of work and political influence he +ever asked for an appointment for himself." + +Catholics, Jews, Protestants and non-sectarian charities sought his +aid in legal matters, and so broad was his love for humanity that all +found in him a ready helper. At one time he was guardian of more than +sixty orphan children, three in particular who were very destitute, +were through his intercession with a relative, left a fortune of +$50,000. Yet despite all these activities, he found time to lecture, +to write boots, to master five languages, using his spare minutes on +the train to and from his place of business for their study. In 1872 +he made another trip abroad. Speaking of him at this time, a writer in +the London Times says: + +"Colonel Conwell is one of the most noteworthy men of New England. He +has already been in all parts of the world. He is a writer of singular +brilliancy and power, and as a popular lecturer his success has been +astonishing. He has made a place beside such orators as Beecher, +Phillips and Chapin." + +Thus the busy years slipped by, years that brought him close to the +great throbbing heart of humanity, the sorrows and sufferings of the +poor, the aspirations and ambitions of the rich, years in which he +looked with deep insight into human nature, and, illumined by his love +for humanify, saw that an abiding faith in God, the joy of knowing +Christ's love was the balm needed to heal aching hearts, drive evil +out of men's lives, wretchedness and misery from many a home. More and +more was he convinced that to make the world better, humanity happier, +the regenerating, uplifting power of the spirit of God ought to be +brought into the daily lives of the people, in simple sincerity, +without formalism, yet as vital, as cherished, as freely recognized a +part of their lives as the ties of family affection which bound them +together. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TROUBLED DAYS + +Death of Wife. Loss of Money. Preaching on Wharves. Growth of Sunday +School Class at Tremont Temple from Four to Six Hundred Members in a +Brief Time. Second Marriage. Death of Father and Mother. Preaching at +Lexington. Building Lexington Baptist Church. + + +Into this whirl of successful, happy work, the comforts and luxuries +of prosperity, came the grim hand of death. His loving wife who had +worked so cheerfully by his side, who had braved disaster, bitter +poverty, hardship, with a smile, died of heart trouble after a few +days' illness, January 11, 1872. It was like a thunderbolt from a +cloudless sky. In the loneliness and despair that followed, worldly +ambitions turned to dust and ashes. He could not lecture. He could not +speak. The desolation at his heart was too great. His only consolation +was the faith that was in him, a "very present help," as he found, "in +time of trouble." This bitter trial brought home to him all the more +intensely the need of such comfort for those who were comfortless. His +heart went out in burning sympathy for those sitting in darkness like +himself, but who had no faith on which to lean, nothing to bring +healing and hope to a broken heart. Her death was a loss to the +community as well as to her family. Her writings in the "Somerville +Journal" had made a decided impression, while her sweet womanly +qualities had endeared her to a wide circle of friends. Noting her +death, a writer in one of the Boston papers said: + +"Mrs. Conwell was a true and loving wife and mother. Kind and +sympathetic in her intercourse with all, and possessed of those rare +womanly graces and qualities which endeared her to those with whom she +was acquainted. Her death leaves a void which cannot be filled even +outside her own household. Her writings were those of a true woman, +always healthful in their tone, strong and vigorous in ideas and +concise in language." + +Other troubles came thick and fast. He lost at one time fifty thousand +dollars in the panic of '74, and at another ten thousand dollars by +endorsing for a friend. His old acquaintance, poverty, again took up +its abode with him. In addition, he was heavily in debt. Those were +black days, days that taught him how unstable were the things of this +world--money, position, the ambitions that once had seemed so worthy. +The only thing that brought a sense of satisfaction, of having done +something worth while, was the endeavor to make others happier, to put +joy into lives as desolate as his own. Such work brought peace. + +To forget his own troubles in lightening those of others, he went +actively into religious work. He took a class in the Sunday School of +Tremont Temple, that very Sunday School into which Deacon Chipman had +taken him a runaway boy some twenty years before. The class grew from +four to six hundred in a few months. He preached to sailors on the +wharves, to idlers on the streets, in mission chapels at night. The +present West Somerville, Massachusetts, church grew from just such +work. He could not but see the fruits of his labors. On all sides it +grew to a quick harvest. + +The thought that he was thus influencing others for good, that he +was leading men and women into paths of sure happiness brought him +a spiritual calm and peace such as the gratification of worldly +ambitions had never given him. More and more he became convinced it +was the only work worth doing. The strong love for his fellowmen, the +desire to help those in need and to make them happier which had always +been such a pronounced characteristic, had set him more than once +to thinking of the ministry as a life work. Indeed, ever since that +childish sermon, with the big gray rock as a pulpit, it had been in +his mind, sometimes dormant, breaking out again into strong feeling +when for a moment he stood on some hilltop of life and took in its +fullest, grandest meaning, or in the dark valley of suffering and +sorrow held close communion with God and saw the beauty of serving Him +by serving his fellowmen. That the inclination was with him is shown +by the fact that when he was admitted to the bar in Albany in 1865, he +had a Greek Testament in his pocket. + +As soon as his means permitted after the war, he gathered a valuable +theological library, sending to Germany for a number of the books. In +1875, when he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the +United States, he delivered an address that same evening in Washington +on the "Curriculum of the School of the Prophets in Ancient Israel." +From all parts of the Old World he gathered photographs of ancient +manuscripts and sacred places, and kept up a correspondence with many +professors and explorers interested in these topics. He lectured in +schools and colleges on archaeological subjects, with illustrations +prepared by himself. + +It is not to be wondered that with his keen mind and his gift of +oratory the law tempted him at first to turn aside from the promptings +of the inner spirit. Nor is it to be wondered that even when +inclination led strongly he still hesitated. It was no light thing for +a man past thirty to throw aside a profession in which he had already +made an enviable reputation and take up a new lifework. With two small +children depending upon him, it was a question for still more serious +study. + +But gradually circumstances shaped his course. In 1874, he married +Miss Sarah F. Sanborn whom he had met in his mission work. She was of +a wealthy family of Newton Centre, the seat of the Newton Theological +Seminary. One of the intimate friends of the family was the Rev. Alvah +Hovey, D.D., President of the Seminary. Thus while inclination pulled +one way and common sense pulled the other, adding as a final argument +that he had no opportunity to study for the ministry, he was thrown +among the very people who made it difficult not to study theology. +Troubled in mind he sought Dr. Hovey one day and asked how to decide +if "called to the ministry." "If people are called to hear you," was +the quick-witted, practical reply of the good doctor. But still he +hesitated. His law practice, writing, lecturing, claimed part of him; +his Sunday School work and lay preaching, a second and evergrowing +stronger part. His law practice became more and more distasteful, his +service to the soul needs of others, more and more satisfying. + +[Illustration: MRS. SARAH F. CONWELL] + +In 1874 his father died, and in 1877 he lost his mother, these sad +bereavements still further inclining his heart to the work of the +ministry. They were buried at South Worthington, in a sunny hilltop +cemetery, open to the sky, the voice of a little brook coming softly +up from among the trees below. This visit to his old home under such +sad circumstances, the memory of his father's and mother's prayers +that the world might not be the worse, but that it might be the better +for his having lived in it, deepened the growing conviction that he +should give his life to the work of Christ. + +At last came the deciding event. In 1879, a young woman visited +Colonel Conwell, the lawyer, and asked his advice respecting the +disposition of a Baptist Meeting House in Lexington. He went to +Lexington and called a meeting of the members of the old church, +for the purpose of securing legal action on the part of that body +preparatory to selling the property. He got some three or four old +Baptists together and, as they talked the business over, "they became +reluctant to vote, either to sell, destroy, keep, or give away the +old meeting-house," says Burdette, in "Temple and Templars." "While +discussing the situation with these sorrowful old saints--and one good +old deacon wept to think that 'Zion had gone into captivity,'--the +preacher came to the front and displaced the lawyer. It was the crisis +in his life; the parting of the ways. In a flash of light the decision +was made. 'It flashed upon me, sitting there as a lawyer, that there +was a mission for me there,' Dr. Conwell has often said, in speaking +of his decision to go into the ministry. He advised promptly and +strongly against selling the property. 'Keep it; hold service in it; +repair the altar of the Lord that is broken down; go to work; get +God to work for you, and work with Him; 'God will turn again your +captivity, your months shall be filled with laughter and your tongues +with singing." They listened to this enthusiastic lawyer whom they had +retained as a legal adviser, in dumb amazement 'Is Saul also among the +prophets?' But having given his advice, he was prompt to act upon it +himself. 'Where will we get a preacher?' 'Here is one who will serve +you until you can get one whom you will like better, and who can +do you more good. Announce preaching in the old meeting house next +Sunday!' + +"It was nothing new for Colonel Conwell to preach, for he was engaged +in mission work somewhere every Sunday; so when the day came, he was +there. Less than a score of hearers sat in the moldy old pews. The +windows were broken and but illy repaired by the curtaining cobwebs. +The hand of time and decay had torn off the ceiling plaster in +irregular and angular patches. The old stove had rusted out at the +back, and the crumbling stove-pipe was a menace to those who sat +within range of its fall. The pulpit was what Mr. Conwell called a +'crow's perch,' and one can imagine the platform creaking under the +military tread of the tall lawyer who stepped into its lofty height to +preach. But, old though it was, they say, a cold, gloomy, damp, dingy +old box, it was a meeting house and the Colonel preached in it. That a +lawyer should practice, was a commonplace, everyday truth; but that a +lawyer should preach--that was indeed a novelty. The congregation of +sixteen or seventeen at the first service grew the following Sabbath, +to forty worshippers. Another week, and when the new preacher climbed +into that high pulpit, he looked down upon a crowded house; the little +old chapel was dangerously full. Indeed, before the hour for service, +under the thronging feet of the gathering congregation, one side of +the front steps--astonished, no doubt, and overwhelmed by the unwonted +demand upon its services--did fall down. They were encouraged to +build a fire in the ancient stove that morning, but it was past +regeneration; it smoked so viciously that all the invalids who had +come to the meeting were smoked out. The old stove had lived its +day and was needed no longer. There was a fire burning in the old +meeting-house that the hand of man had not lighted and could not +kindle; that all the storms of the winter could not quench. The pulpit +and the preacher had a misty look in the eyes of the old deacons at +that service. And the preacher? He looked into the earnest faces +before him, into the tearful, hopeful eyes, and said in his own strong +heart, 'These people are hungry for the word of God, for the teachings +of Christ. They need a church here; we will build a new one.' + +"It was one thing to say it, another to achieve it. The church +was poor. Not a dollar was in the treasury, not a rich man in the +membership, the congregation, what there was of it, without influence +in the community. But lack of money never yet daunted Dr. Conwell. The +situation had a familiar look to him. He had succeeded many a time +without money when money was the supreme need, and he attacked this +problem with the same grim perseverance that had carried him so +successfully through many a similar ordeal." + +"After service he spoke about building a new church to two or three of +the members. 'A new church?' They couldn't raise enough money to put +windows in the old one, they told him." + +"'We don't want new windows, we want a new church,' was the reply." + +"They shook their heads and went home, thinking what a pity it was +that such an able lawyer should be so visionary in practical church +affairs. Part of that night Colonel Conwell spent in prayer; early +next morning he appeared with a pick-axe and a woodman's axe and +marched upon that devoted old meeting-house, as he had marched against +Hood's intrenchments before Atlanta. Strange, unwonted sounds saluted +the ears of the early risers and awakened the sluggards in Lexington +that Monday morning. Bang, Bang, Bang! Crash--Bang! Travelers over the +Revolutionary battlefield at Lexington listened and wondered. By and +by a man turned out of his way to ascertain the cause of the +racket. There was a black coat and vest hanging on the fence, and +a professional-looking man in his shirt sleeves was smashing the +meeting-house. The rickety old steps were gone by the time this man, +with open eyes and wide-open month, came to stare in speechless +amazement. Gideon couldn't have demolished 'the altar of Baal and the +grove that was by it' with more enthusiastic energy, than did this +preacher tumble into ruin his own meeting-house, wherein he had +preached not twelve hours before. Other men came, looked, laughed, +and passed by. But the builder had no time to waste on idle gossips. +Clouds of dust hovered about him, planks, boards, and timbers came +tumbling down in heaps of ruin." + +"Presently there came along an eminently respectable citizen, who +seldom went to church. He stared a moment, and said, 'What in the name +of goodness are you doing here?'" + +"'We are going to have a new meeting-house here,' was the reply, as +the pick-axe tore away the side of a window-frame for emphasis." + +"The neighbor laughed, 'I guess you won't build it with that axe,' he +said." + +"'I confess I don't know just exactly how it is going to be done,' +said the preacher, as he hewed away at a piece of studding, 'but in +some way it is going to be done.'" + +"The doubter burst into an explosion of derisive laughter and walked +away. A few paces, and he came back; walking up to Colonel Conwell he +seized the axe and said, 'See here, Preacher, this is not the kind of +work for a parson or a lawyer. If you are determined to tear this old +building down, hire some one to do it. It doesn't look right for you +to be lifting and pulling here in this manner.'" + +"'We have no money to hire any one,' was the reply, 'and the front of +this structure must give way to-day, if I have to tear it down all +alone.'" + +"'I'll tell you what I'll do,' persisted the wavering doubter; 'if you +will let this alone, I'll give you one hundred dollars to hire some +one.'" + +"Colonel Conwell tranquilly poked the axe through.' the few remaining +panes yet unbroken in the nearest window and replied, 'We would like +the money, and I will take it to hire some one to help, but I shall +keep right on with the work myself.'" + +"'All right,' said the doubter; 'go ahead, if you have set your heart +upon it. You may come up to the house for the hundred dollars any time +to-day.'" + +"And with many a backward look the generous doubter passed on, half +beginning to doubt his doubts. Evidently, the Baptists of Lexington +were beginning to do something. It had been many a year since they had +made such a noise as that in the village. And it was a noise destined +to be heard a long, long way; much farther than the doubter and a +great many able scientists have supposed that sound would 'carry.'" + +"After the doubter came a good-natured man who disliked churches in +general, and therefore enjoyed the fun of seeing a preacher tug and +puff in the heavy work of demolition, for the many-tongued rumor by +this time had noised it all around Lexington that the new preacher was +tearing down the Baptist meeting-house. He looked on until he could no +longer keep his enjoyment to himself." + +"'Going to pull the whole thing down, are you?' he asked." + +"'Yes, sir,' replied the working preacher, ripping off a strip of +siding, 'and begin all new.'" + +"'Who is going to pay the bills?' he asked, chuckling." + +"The preacher tucked up his sleeves and stepped back to get a good +swing at an obstinate brace; 'I don't know,' he said, 'but the Lord +has money somewhere to buy and pay for all we need.'" + +"The man laughed, in intense enjoyment of the absurdity of the whole +crazy business." + +"'I'll bet five dollars to one,' he said, with easy confidence of a +man who knows his bet will not be taken up, 'that you won't get the +money in this town.'" + +"Mr. Conwell brought the axe down with a crashing sweep, and the +splinters flew out into the air like a cloud of witnesses to the +efficacy of the blow." + +"'You would lose your money, then,' quietly said the preacher, 'for +Mr.---- just now came along and has given me a hundred dollars without +solicitation.'" + +"The man's eyes opened a trifle wider, and his next remark faded into +a long-drawn whistle of astonishment. Presently--'Did you get the +cash?' he asked feebly." + +"'No, but he told me to call for it to-day.'" + +"The man considered. He wasn't enjoying the situation with quite so +much humor as he had been, but he was growing more interested." + +"'Well! Is that so! I don't believe he meant it,' he added hopefully. +Then, a man after all not disposed to go back on his own assertion, he +said, 'Now I'll tell you what I'll do. If you really get that hundred +dollars out of that man, I'll give you another hundred and pay it +to-night,'" + +"And he was as good as his word." + +"All that day the preacher worked alone. Now came in the training of +those early days on the farm, when he learned to swing an axe; when he +builded up rugged strength in a stalwart frame, when his muscles were +hardened and knotted with toil." + +"'Passers-by called one after another, to ask what was going on. To +each one Colonel Conwell mentioned his hope and mentioned his gifts. +Nearly every one had added something without being asked, and at six +o'clock, when Colonel Conwell laid down the pick and axe at the end of +his day's work, he was promised more than half the money necessary to +tear down the old meeting-house and build a new one." + +"But Colonel Conwell did not leave the work. With shovel, or hammer, +or saw, or paint-brush, he worked day by day all that summer alongside +the workmen. He was architect, mason, carpenter, painter, and +upholsterer, and he directed every detail, from the cellar to the +gilded vane, and worked early and late. The money came without asking +as fast as needed. The young people who began to flock about the +faith-worker undertook to purchase a large bell, and quietly had +Colonel Conwell's name cast on the exterior, but when it came to the +difficult task of hanging it in the tower, they were obliged to call +Colonel Conwell to come and superintend the management of ropes and +pulleys. Then the deep, rich tones of the bell rang out over the +surprised old town the triumph of faith.' An unordained preacher, he +had entered upon his first pastorate, and signalized his entrance upon +his ministry by building a new meeting-house, awakening a sleeping +church, inspiring his congregation with his own enthusiasm and zeal." + +At last he had found his work. With peace and deep abiding joy he +entered it. Doubts no longer troubled him. His heart was at rest. +"Blessed is he who has found his work," writes Carlyle; "let him ask +no other blessedness." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +HIS ENTRY INTO THE MINISTRY + +Ordination. First Charge at Lexington. Call to Grace Baptist Church, +Philadelphia. + + +For this work he had been trained in the world's bitter school of +experience. He had learned lessons there of infinitely more value in +helping humanity than any the theological seminary could teach him. He +knew what it was to be poor, to be utterly cast down and discouraged, +to be sick and suffering, to sit in the blackness of despair for the +loss of loved ones. From almost every human experience he could reach +the hand of sympathy and say, "I know. I have suffered." Such help +touches the heart of humanity as none other can. And when at the same +time, it points the way to the Great Comforter and says again, "I +know, I found peace," it is more powerful than the most eloquent +sermon. Nothing goes so convincingly to a man's heart as loving, +sympathetic guidance from one who has been through the same bitter +trial. + +He was ordained in the year 1879, the council of churches, called for +his ordination, met in Lexington, President Alvah Hovey of Newton +Seminary presiding. Among the members of the council was his life-long +friend, George W. Chipman, of Boston, the same good deacon who had +taken him a runaway boy into the Sunday School of Tremont Temple. +The only objection to the ordination was made by one of the pastors +present, who said, "Good lawyers are too scarce to be spoiled by +making ministers of them." + +The ordination over, the large law offices in Boston were closed. He +gave his undivided time and attention to his work in Lexington. The +lawyer, speaker and writer ceased to exist, but the pastor was found +wherever the poor needed help, the sick and suffering needed cheer, +the mourning needed comfort, wherever he could by word or act preach +the gospel of the Christ he served. + +His whole thought was concentrated in the purpose to do good. No one +who knew him intimately could doubt his entire renunciation of worldly +ambitions, the sacrifice was so great, yet so unhesitatingly made. +Buried from the world in one way, he yet lived in it in a better way. +Large numbers of his former legal, political and social associates +called his action fanaticism. Wendell Phillips, meeting Colonel +Conwell and several friends on the way to church, one Sunday morning, +remarked that "Olympus has gone to Delphi, and Jove has descended to +be an interpreter of oracles." + +His salary at the start was six hundred dollars a year, little more +than ten dollars a week. But it was enough to live on in a little New +England village and what more did he need? The contrast between it +and the ten thousand dollars a year he had made from his law practice +alone, never troubled him. + +[Illustration: THE BAPTIST TEMPLE] + +The church was crowded from the first and the membership grew rapidly. +His influence quickly spread to other than church circles. The town +itself soon felt the effect of his progressive, energetic spirit. It +awoke to new life. Other suburban villages were striding forward into +cities and leaving this old Battlefield of the Revolution sleeping +under its majestic elms. Mr. Conwell sounded the trumpet. Progress, +enterprise, life followed his eloquent encouragement. Strangers +were welcomed to the town. Its unusual beauty became a topic of +conversation. The railroad managers heard of its attractiveness and +opened its gates with better accommodations for travelers. + +The governor of the state (Hon. John D. Long) visited the place on Mr. +Conwell's invitation, and large business enterprises were started and +strongly supported by the townspeople. From the date of Mr. Conwell's +settlement as pastor, the town took on a new lease of life. He showed +them what could be done and encouraged them to do it. + +One of the town officers writing of that time, says: "Lexington can +never forget the benefit Mr. Conwell conferred during his stay in the +community." + +Then all unknown to Mr. Conwell, a man came up to Lexington one Sunday +in 1882, from Philadelphia, and heard him preach in the little stone +church under the stately New England elms. It was Deacon Alexander +Reed of the Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia, and as a result of +his visit, Mr. Conwell received a call from this church to be its +pastor. It was like the call from Macedonia to "come over and help +us." For the church was heavily in debt, and one of the arguments +Deacon Reed used in urging Mr. Conwell to accept was that he "could +save the church." He could have used no better argument. It was the +call to touch Mr. Conwell's heart. A small church, and struggling +against poverty; a people eager to work, but needing a leader. No +message could have more surely touched that heart eager to help +others, to bring brightness, joy and higher aspirations into troubled +lives. It was a wrench to leave Lexington, the church and the people +who had grown so dear to him. But the harvest called. There was need +of reapers and he must go. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +GOING TO PHILADELPHIA + +The Early History of Grace Baptist Church. The Beginning of the Sunday +Breakfast Association. Impressions of a Sunday Service. + + +The church to which Mr. Conwell came and from which has grown the +largest Baptist church in the country, and which was the first +institutional church in America, had its beginning in a tent. In 1870 +a little mission was started in a hall at Twelfth and Montgomery +Avenue by members of the Young Men's Association of the Tenth Baptist +Church. The committee in charge was Alexander Reed, Henry C. Singley, +Fred B. Gruel and John Stoddart. A Sunday School was started and +religious services held Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons. The +little mission flourished, and within a year it was deemed advisable +to put some one in charge who could give it his full time. The Rev. +L.B. Hartman was called and the work went forward with increasing +prosperity. He visited the families in the neighborhood, interested +the children in the Sunday School, held two preaching services every +Sunday and usually two prayer meetings during the week. In 1872, +evangelistic services were held which resulted in a number of +conversions. The need now became so imperative for a recognized +church, that on Feb. 12, 1872, one was formally organized with +forty-seven members, L.B. Hartman pastor, and John A. Stoddart, Henry +O. Singley and G.G. Mayhew, deacons. The membership still increased +rapidly, the little hall was crowded to discomfort, and it was decided +to take a definite step toward securing a church building of their +own. A lot was purchased at Berks and Mervine for $7,500, a tent with +a seating capacity of 500 erected, and Grace Baptist Church had its +first home. The opening services of the tent were memorable for many +things. + +After addresses had been made by Drs. Malcolm, Peddie, Rowland and +Wayland, an effort was made to raise the twelve hundred dollars due on +the tent. A wealthy layman, Mr. William Bucknell, offered to pay the +twelve hundred dollars provided the members of Grace Baptist Church +should henceforth abstain from the use of tobacco. The alert chairman +said, "All who are in sympathy with Brother Bucknell's proposition, +please rise." The entire audience arose. Mr. Bucknell made out his +check next morning for twelve hundred dollars. + +In 1874, the tent was moved to a neighboring lot, where it was used as +a mission. Homeless wanderers were taken in, fed and pointed the +way to a different and better life. From this work grew the Sunday +Breakfast Association of Philadelphia. + +A contract was made for a new church building, and in 1875 Grace +Church moved into the basement of the new building at Berks and +Mervine Streets. But dark days came. The financial burden became +excessive. Judgment bonds were entered against the building, the +sheriff was compelled to perform his unpleasant duty, and the property +was advertised for sale. A council of Baptist churches was called to +determine what should be done. + +The sheriff was persuaded to wait. The members renewed their exertions +and once more the church got on its financial feet sufficiently to +meet current financial expenses. The plucky fight knit them together +in strong bonds of good fellowship. It strengthened their faith, gave +them courage to go forward, and taught them the joy of working in +such a cause. And while they were struggling with poverty and looking +disaster often in the face, up in Massachusetts, the man who was to +lead this chosen people into a new land of usefulness, was himself +fighting that battle as to whether he should hearken to the voice of +the Spirit that was calling him to a new work. But finally he left all +to follow Him, and when this church, going down under its flood of +debt, sent out a cry for help, he heard it and came. To his friends in +Massachusetts it seemed as if he were again throwing himself away. To +leave his church in Lexington on the threshold of prosperity, for a +charge little more than a mission, with only twenty-seven present to +vote on calling him, seemed the height of folly. But he considered +none of these things. He thought only of their need. + +On Thanksgiving Day, 1882, he came. The outer walls of the small +church were up, the roof on, but the upper part was unfinished, +the worshippers meeting in the basement And over it hung a debt of +$15,000. But the plucky band of workers, full of the spirit that +makes all things possible, had found a leader. Both had fought bitter +fights, had endured hardships and privations, had often nothing but +faith to lean on, and pastor and people went forward to the great work +awaiting them. + +Out of his love of God, his great love of humanity, his desire to +uplift, to make men better and happier, out from his own varied +experiences that had touched the deeps of sorrow and seen life over +all the globe, came words that gripped men's hearts, came sermons that +packed the church to the doors. + +It was not many months before his preaching began to bear fruits. Not +only was the neighborhood stirred, but people from all parts of the +city thronged to hear him. + +In less than a year, though the seating capacity of the church was +increased to twelve hundred, crowds stood all through the service. It +became necessary to admit the members by tickets at the rear, it being +almost impossible for them to get through the throngs of strangers at +the front. Upon request, these cards of admission were sent to those +wishing them, a proceeding that led to much misunderstanding among +those who did not know their purpose nor the reason for their use. But +it was the only way that strangers in the city or those wishing to +attend a special service could be sure of ever getting into the +church. + +A Methodist minister of Albany gives a description in "Scaling the +Eagle's Nest," of his attendance at a service that pictures most +graphically the situation: + +"I arrived at the church a full hour before the evening service. There +was a big crowd at the front door. There was another crowd at the side +entrance. I did not know how to get a ticket, for I did not know, till +I heard it in the jam, that I must have one. Two young people, who +like many got tired of waiting, gave me their tickets, and I pushed +ahead. I was determined to see how the thing was done. I was +dreadfully squeezed, but I got in at the back entrance and stood in +the rear of the pretty church. All the camp chairs were already taken. +Also all extra seats. The church was rather fancifully frescoed. But +it is an architectural gem. It is half amphitheatrical in style. It is +longer than it is wide, and the choir gallery and organ are over the +preacher's head. It looks underneath like an old-fashioned sounding +board. But it is neat and pretty. The carpet and cushions are bright +red. The windows are full of mottoes and designs. But in the evening +under the brilliant lights the figures could not be made out. + +"There was an unusual spirit of homeness about the place, such as I +never felt in a church before. I was not alone in feeling it. The +moment I stood in the audience room, an agreeable sense of rest and +pleasure came over me. Everyone else appeared to feel the same. There +was none of the stiff restraint most churches have. All moved about +and greeted each other with an ease that was pleasant indeed. I saw +some people abusing the liberty of the place by whispering, even +during the sermon. They may have been strangers. They evidently +belonged to the lower classes. But it was a curiosity to notice +the liberty every one took at pauses in the service, and the close +attention there was when the reading or speaking began. + +"All the people sang. I think the great preacher has a strong liking +for the old hymns. Of course I noticed his selection of Wesley's +favorite. A little boy in front of me stood upon the pew when the +congregation rose. He piped out in song with all his power. It was +like a spring canary. It was difficult to tell whether the strong +voice of the preacher, or the chorus choir, led most in the singing. A +well-dressed lady near me said 'Good evening,' most cheerfully, as a +polite usher showed me into the pew. They say that all the members do +that. It made me feel welcome. She also gave me a hymn-book. I saw +others being greeted the same. How it did help me praise the Lord! At +home with the people of God! That is just how I felt. I was greatly +disappointed in the preacher. Agreeably so, after all. I expected to +see an old man. He did not look over thirty-five. He was awkwardly +tall. I had expected some eccentric and sensational affair. I do not +know just what, but I had been told of many strange things. I think +now it was envious misrepresentation. The whole service was as simple +as simple can be. And it was surely as sincere as it was simple. The +reading of the hymns was so natural and distinct that they had a +now meaning to me. The prayer was very short, and offered in homely +language. In it he paused a moment for silent prayer, and every one +seemed to hold his breath in the deepest, real reverence. It was so +different from my expectations. Then the collection. It was not an +asking for money at all. The preacher put his notice of it the other +way about He said, 'The people who wish to worship God by giving their +offering into the trust of the church could place it in the baskets +which would be passed to any who wanted to give.' The basket that went +down to the altar by me was full of money and envelopes. Yet no one +was asked to give anything. It was all voluntary, and really an +offering to the Lord. I had never seen such a way of doing things in +church collections. I do not know as the minister or church require it +so. The church, was packed in every corner, and people stood in the +aisles. The pulpit platform was crowded so that the preacher had +nothing more than standing room. Some people sat on the floor, and a +crowd of interested boys leaned against the pulpit platform. When the +preacher arose to speak, I expected something strange. It did not seem +possible that such a crowd could gather year after year to listen to +mere plain preaching. For these are degenerate days. The minister +began so familiarly and easily in introducing his text that he was +half through his sermon before I began to realize that he was actually +in his sermon. It was the plainest thing possible. I had often heard +of his eloquence and poetic imagination. But there was little of +either, if we think of the old ideas. There was close continuous +attention. He was surely in earnest, but not a sign of oratorical +display. There were exciting gestures at times, and lofty periods. +But it was all so natural. At one point the whole audience burst into +laughter at a comic turn in an illustration, but the preacher went on +unconscious of it. It detracted nothing from the solemn theme. It was +what the 'Chautauqua Herald' last year called a 'Conwellian evening.' +It was unlike anything I ever saw or heard. Yet it was good to be +there. The sermon was crowded with illustrations, and was evidently +unstudied. They say he never takes time from his many cares to write a +sermon. That one was surely spontaneous. But it inspired the audience +to better lives and a higher faith. When he suddenly stopped and +quickly seized a hymn-book, the audience drew a long sigh. At once +people moved about again and looked at each other and smiled. The +whole congregation were at one with the preacher. There was a low hum +of whispering voices. But all was attention again when the hymn was +read. Then the glorious song. One of the finest organists in the +country, a blind gentleman by the name of Wood, was the power behind +the throne. The organ did praise God. Every one was carried on in a +flood of praise. It was rich. The benediction was a continuation of +the sermon and a closing prayer, all in a single sentence. I have +never heard one so unique. It fastened the evening's lesson. It was +not formal. The benediction was a blessing indeed. It broke every rule +of church form. It was a charming close, however. No one else but +Conwell could do it. Probably no one will try. Instantly at the close +of the service, all the people turned to each other and shook hands. +They entered into familiar conversation. Many spoke to me and invited +me to come again. There was no restraint. All was homelike and happy. +It was blessed to be there." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +FIRST DAYS AT GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH + +Early plans for Church Efficiency. Practical Methods for Church Work. +The Growing Membership. Need of a New Building. + + +The preaching filled the church. Men and women felt that to miss a +sermon was to miss inspiration and strength for the coming week's +work, a broader outlook on life, a deeper hold on spiritual truths. +But it was more than the sermons that carried the church work forward +by leaps and bounds, added hundreds to its membership, made it a power +for good in the neighborhood that gradually began to be felt all over +the city. + +The spirit of the sermons took practical form. Mr. Conwell followed no +traditions or conventions in his church work. He studied the needs of +the neighborhood and the hour. Then he went to work with practical, +common sense to meet them. First he determined the church should be +a home, a church home, but nevertheless a home in its true sense, +overflowing with love, with kindness, with hospitality for the +stranger within its gates. Committees were formed to make strangers +welcome, to greet them cordially, find them a seat if possible, see +that they had hymn books, and invite them heartily to come again. And +every member felt he belonged to this committee even if not actually +appointed on it, and made the stranger who might sit near him feel +that he was a welcome guest. When the church became more crowded, +members gave up their seats to strangers and sat on the pulpit, and it +was no unusual sight in the church at Berks and Mervine streets to see +the pulpit, as well as every other inch of space in the auditorium, +crowded. Finally, when even this did not give room enough to +accommodate all who thronged its doors, members took turns in staying +away from certain services. No one who has not enjoyed the spiritual +uplift, the good fellowship of a Grace Church service can appreciate +what a genuine personal sacrifice that was. + +After the service, Mr. Conwell stationed himself at the door and shook +hands with all as they left, adding some little remark to show his +personal interest in their welfare if they were members, or a cordial +invitation to come again, if a stranger. The remembrance of that +hearty handclasp, that frank, friendly interest, lingered and stamped +with a personal flavor upon the hearer's heart, the truths of +Christianity that had been preached in such simple, clear, yet +forcible fashion from the pulpit. + +Another of Mr. Conwell's methods for carrying out practical +Christianity was to set every body at work. Every single member of the +church was given something to do. As soon as a person was received +into the membership, he was invited to join some one or other of the +church organizations. He was placed on some committee. In such +an atmosphere of activity there was no one who did not catch the +enthusiasm and feel that being a Christian meant much more than +attending church on Sundays, putting contributions in the box, and +listening to the minister preach. It was a veritable hive of applied +Christianity, and many a man who hitherto thought he had done his full +duty by attending church regularly and contributing to its support had +these ideas, so comfortable and self-satisfied, completely shattered. + +The membership was composed almost entirely of working people, men and +women who toiled hard for their daily bread. There were no wealthy +people to help the work by contributions of thousands of dollars. The +beginnings of all the undertakings were small and unpretentious. But +nothing was undertaken until the need of it was felt; then the people +as a whole put their shoulders to the wheel and it went with a will. +And because it practically filled a need, it was a success. + +The pastor was the most untiring worker of all. With ceaseless energy +and unfailing tact, he was the head and heart of every undertaking. +Day and night he ministered to the needs of his membership and the +community. To the bedside of the sick he carried cheer that was better +than medicine. In the homes where death had entered, he brought the +comfort of the Holy Spirit. Where disgrace had fallen like a pall, he +went with words of hope and practical advice. Parents sought him to +help lead erring children back from a life of wretchedness and evil. +Wherever sorrow and trouble was in the heart or home he went, his +heart full of sympathy, his hands eager to help. + +Much of his time, too, in those early days of his ministry was devoted +to pastoral calls, not the formal ministerial call where the children +tiptoe in, awed and silent, because the "minister is there." Children +hailed his coming with delight, the family greeted him as an old, old +friend before whom all ceremony and convention were swept away. He was +genuinely interested in their family affairs. He entered into their +plans and ambitions, and he never forgot any of their personal history +they might tell him, so that each felt, and truly, that in his pastor +he had a warm and interested friend. + +His own simple, informal manner made every one feel instantly at home +with him. He soon became a familiar figure upon the streets in the +neighborhood of his church, for morning, noon and night he was about +his work, cherry, earnest, always the light of his high calling +shining from his face. The people for squares about knew that here was +a man, skilled and practical in the affairs of the world, to whom they +could go for advice, for help, for consolation, sure that they would +have his ready sympathy and the best his big heart and generous hands +could give. + +Such faithful work of the pastor, such earnest, active work of the +people could not but tell. The family feeling which is the ideal of +church fellowship was so strong and warm that it attracted and drew +people as with magnetic power. The church became more and more +crowded. In less than a year it was impossible to seat those who +thronged to the Sunday services, though the auditorium then had a +seating capacity of twelve hundred. + +"I am glad," the pastor once remarked to a friend, "when I get up +Sunday morning and can look out of the window and see it snowing, +sleeting, and raining, and hear the wind shriek and howl. 'There,' I +say, 'I won't have to preach this morning, looking all the while at +people patiently standing through the service, wherever there is a +foot of standing room.'" + +[Illustration: THE SAMARITAN HOSPITAL OF THE FUTURE] + +The membership rose from two hundred to more than five hundred within +two years. A question began to shape itself in the minds of pastor +and people. "What shall we do?" As a partial solution of it, the +proposition was made to divide into three churches. But, as in the old +days of enlistment when two companies clamored for him for captain, +all three sections wanted him as pastor, and so the idea was +abandoned. + +Still the membership grew, and the need for larger quarters faced them +imperatively and not to be evaded. The house next door was purchased +which gave increased space for the work of the Sunday School and the +various associations. But it was a mere drop in the bucket. Every room +in it was filled to overflowing with eager workers before the ink was +fairly dry on the deed of transfer. + +Then into this busy crowd wondering what should be done came a little +child, and with one simple act cleared the mist from their eyes and +pointed the way for them to go. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HATTIE WIATT'S LEGACY + +How a Little Child Started the Building Fund for the Great Baptist +Temple. + + +One Sunday afternoon a little child, Hattie Wiatt, six years old, +came to the church building at Berks and Mervine to attend the Sunday +School. She was a very little girl and it was a very large Sunday +School, but big as it was there was not room to squeeze her in. Other +little girls had been turned away that day, and still others, Sundays +before. But it was a bitter disappointment to this small child; the +little lips trembled, the big tears rolled down her cheeks and the +sobs that came were from the heart. The pastor himself told the little +one why she could not come in and tried to comfort her. His heart was +big enough for her and her trouble if the church was not. He watched +the childish figure going so sadly up the street with a heart that was +heavy that he must turn away a little child from the house of God, +from the house raised in the name of One who said, "Suffer little +children to come unto me." + +She did not forget her disappointment as many a child would. It had +been too grievous. It hurt too deeply to think that she could not go +to that Sunday School, and that other little girls who wanted to go +must stay away. With quivering lip she told her mother there wasn't +room for her. With a sad little heart she spent the afternoon thinking +about it, and when bedtime came and she said her prayers, she prayed +with a child's beautiful faith that they would find room for her so +that she might go and learn more about Jesus. Perhaps she had heard +some word dropped about faith and works. Perhaps the childish mind +thought it out for herself. But she arose the next morning with a +strong purpose in her childish soul, a purpose so big in faith, so +firm in determination, it could put many a strong man's efforts to +the blush. "I will save my money," she said to herself, "and build a +bigger Sunday School. Then we can all go." + +From her childish treasures she hunted out a little red pocketbook +and in this she put her pennies, one at a time. What temptations that +childish soul struggled with no one may know! How she shut her eyes +and steeled her heart to playthings her friends bought, to the +allurements of the candy shop window! But nothing turned her from +her purpose. Penny by penny the little hoard grew. Day after day the +dimpled fingers counted it and the bright eyes grew brighter as the +sum mounted. That mite cast in by the widow was no purer, greater +offering than these pennies so lovingly and heroically saved by this +little child. + +But there were only a few weeks of this planning, hoping, saving. The +little Temple builder fell ill. It was a brief illness and then the +grim Reaper knocked at the door of the Wiatt home and the loving, +self-sacrificing spirit was born to the Father's House where there are +many mansions, where there was no lack of room, for the little heart +so eager to learn more of Jesus. + +With her dying breath she told her mother of her treasure, told her it +was for Grace Baptist Church to build. + +In the little red pocketbook was just fifty-seven cents. That was her +legacy. With swelling heart, the pastor reverently took it; with misty +eyes and broken voice he told his people of the little one's gift. + +"And when they heard how God had blessed them with so great an +inheritance, there was silence in the room; the silence of tears and +earnest consecration. The corner stone of the Temple was laid." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +BUILDING THE TEMPLE + +How the Money was Raised. Walking Clubs. Jug Breaking. The Purchase of +the Lot. Laying the Corner Stone. + + +Thus was their path pointed out to them and they walked steadily +forward in it from that day. + +Plans were made for raising money. The work went forward with a vim, +for ever before each worker was the thought of that tiny girl, the +precious pennies saved one by one by childish self-denial. The child's +faith was equaled by theirs. It was a case of "Come unto me on the +water." They were poor. Nobody could give much. But nobody hesitated. + +It was not only a question of giving, even small sums. What was given +must be saved in some way. Few could give outright and not feel it. +Incomes for the most part just covered living expenses, and expenses +must be cut down, if incomes were to be stretched to build a church. +So these practical people put their wits to work to see how money +could be saved. Walking clubs were organized, not for vigorous cross +country tramps in a search for pleasure and health, but with an +earnest determination to save carfare for the building fund. Tired men +with muscles aching from a hard day's work, women weary with a long +day behind the counter or typewriter, cheerfully trudged home and +saved the nickels. Women economized in dress, men who smoked gave it +up. Vacations in the summer were dropped. Even the boys and girls +saved their pennies as little Hattie Wiatt had done, and the money +poured into the treasury in astonishing amounts, considering how small +was each individual gift. All these sacrifices helped to endear the +place to those who wove their hopes and prayers about it. + +A fair was given in a large hall in the centre of the city which +brought to the notice of many strangers the vigorous work the church +was doing and netted nearly five thousand dollars toward the building +fund. It was a fair that went with a vim, planned on business lines, +conducted in a practical, sensible fashion. + +Another effort that brought splendid results was the giving out of +little earthen jugs in the early summer to be brought to the harvest +home in September with their garnerings. It was a joyous evening when +the jugs were brought in. A supper was given, and while the church +members enjoyed themselves at the tables, the committee sat on the +platform, broke the jugs, counted the money and announced the amount. +The sum total brought joyous smiles to the treasurer's face. + +Innumerable entertainments were held in the church and at homes of +the church members. Suppers were given in Fairmount Park during the +summer. Every worthy plan for raising money that clever brains could +devise and willing hands accomplish was used to swell the building +fund. + +Thus the work went ahead, and in September, 1886, the lot on which +The Temple now stands at Broad and Berks was purchased at a cost of +twenty-five thousand dollars. Thus encouraged with tangible results, +the work for the building fund was pushed, if possible, with even +greater vigor. Ground was broken for The Temple March 27, 1889. The +corner stone was laid July 13, 1890, and on the first of March, 1891, +the house was occupied for worship. + +The only large amount received toward the building fund was a gift of +ten thousand dollars on condition that the church be not dedicated +until it was free of debt. In a legal sense, calling a building by the +name of the congregation worshipping in it is a dedication, and so the +building, instead of being called The Grace Baptist Church, was called +the Baptist Temple, a name which will probably cling to it while one +stone stands upon another. + +Raising money and erecting a building did not stop the spiritual work +of the church. Rather it increased it. People heard of the church +through the fairs and various other efforts to raise money, came to +the service, perhaps out of curiosity at first, became interested, +their hearts were touched and they joined. Never did its spiritual +light burn more brightly than in these days of hard work and +self-denial. The membership steadily rose, and when Grace Church moved +into its new temple of worship, more than twelve hundred members +answered the muster roll. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +OCCUPYING THE TEMPLE + +The First Sunday. The Building Itself--Its Seating Capacity, +Furnishing and Lighting. The Lower Temple and its Various Rooms and +Halls. Services Heard by Telephone at the Samaritan Hospital. + + +That was a great day--the first Sunday in the new Temple. Six years +of labor and love had gone to its building and now they possessed the +land. + +"During the opening exercises over nine thousand people were present +at each service," said the "Philadelphia Press" writing of the event. +The throng overflowed into the Lower Temple; into the old church +building. The whole neighborhood was full of the joyful members of +Grace Baptist Church. The very air seemed to thrill with the spirit +of thanksgiving abroad that day. All that Sabbath from sunrise until +close to midnight members thronged the building with prayers of +thankfulness and praise welling up from glad hearts. + +Writing from London several years later, Mr. Conwell voiced in words +what had been in his mind when the church was planned: + +"I heard a sermon which helped me greatly. It was delivered by an old +preacher, and the subject was, 'This God is our God,' He described the +attributes of God in glory, knowledge, wisdom and love, and compared +Him to the gods the heathen do worship. He then pressed upon us the +message that this glorious God is the Christian's God, and with Him we +cannot want. It did me so much good, and made me long so much for more +of God in all my feelings, actions, and influence. The seats were +hard, and the tack of the pew hard and high, the church dusty and +neglected; yet, in spite of all the discomforts, I was blessed. I +was sorry for the preacher who had to preach against all those +discomforts, and did not wonder at the thin congregation. Oh! it is +all wrong to make it so unnecessarily hard to listen to the gospel. +They ought for Jesus' sake tear out the old benches and put +in comfortable chairs. There was an air about the service of +perfunctoriness and lack of object, which made the service indefinite +and aimless. This is a common fault. We lack an object and do not aim +at anything special in our services. That, too, is all wrong. Each +hymn, each chapter read, each anthem, each prayer, and each sermon +should have a special and appropriate purpose. May the Lord help me, +after my return, to profit by this day's lesson." + +No hard benches, no air of cold dreariness marks The Temple. The +exterior is beautiful and graceful in design, the interior cheery and +homelike in furnishing. + +The building is of hewn stone, with a frontage on Broad Street of one +hundred and seven feet, a depth on Berks Street of one hundred and +fifty feet, a height of ninety feet. On the front is a beautiful half +rose window of rich stained glass, and on the Berks Street side a +number of smaller memorial windows, each depicting some beautiful +Biblical scene or thought. Above the rose window on the front is a +small iron balcony on which on special occasions, and at midnight on +Christmas, New Year's Eve and Easter, the church orchestra and choir +play sacred melodies and sing hymns, filling the midnight hour with +melody and delighting thousands who gather to hear it. + +The auditorium of The Temple has the largest seating capacity among +Protestant church edifices in the United States. Its original seating +capacity according to the architect's plans, was forty-two hundred +opera chairs. But to secure greater comfort and safety only thirty-one +hundred and thirty-five chairs were used. + +Under the auditorium and below the level of the street is the part of +the building called the Lower Temple. Here are Sunday School rooms, +with a seating capacity of two thousand. The Sunday School room and +lecture room of the Lower Temple is forty-eight by one hundred and six +feet in dimensions. It also has many beautiful stained-glass windows. +On the platform is a cabinet organ and a grand piano. In the rear of +the lecture room is a dining-room, forty-five by forty-six feet, +with a capacity for seating five hundred people. Folding tables and +hundreds of chairs are stowed away in the store rooms when not in use +in the great dining-room. Opening out of this room are the rooms of +the Board of Trustees, the parlors and reading-rooms of the Young +Men's Association and the Young Women's Association, and the kitchen, +carving-room and cloak-room. Through the kitchen is a passageway to +the engine and boiler rooms. In pantries and cupboards is an outfit +of china and table cutlery sufficient to set a table for five hundred +persons. The kitchen is fully equipped, with two large ranges, +hot-water cylinders, sinks and drainage tanks. In the annex beyond the +kitchen, a separate building contains the boilers and engine room and +the electric-light plants. + +The steam-heating of the building is supplied by four one hundred +horse-power boilers. In the engine room are two one hundred and +thirty-five horse-power engines, directly connected with dynamos +having a capacity of twenty-five hundred lights, which are controlled +by a switchboard in this room. The electrician is on duty every day, +giving his entire time to the management of this plant. The building +is also supplied with gas. Directly behind the pulpit is a small +closet containing a friction wheel, by means of which, should the +electric light fail for any reason, every gas jet in The Temple can be +lighted from dome to basement. + +For cleaning the church, a vacuum plant has been installed, which +sucks out every particle of dust and dirt. It does the work quickly +and thoroughly, in fact, so thoroughly it is impossible even with the +hardest beating to raise any dust on the covered chairs after they +have been cleaned by this process. Such crowds throng The Temple that +some quick, thorough method of cleaning it became imperative. + +Back of the auditorium on the street floor are the business offices of +the church, Mr. Conwell's study, the office of his secretary and of +the associate pastor. All are practically and cheerfully furnished, +fitted with desks, filing cabinets, telephones, speaking tubes, +everything to carry forward the business of the church in a +time-saving, businesslike way. + +The acoustics of the great auditorium are perfect. There is no +building on this continent with an equal capacity which enables the +preacher to speak and the hearers to listen with such perfect comfort. +The weakest voice is carried to the farthest auditor. Lecturers who +have tested the acoustic properties of halls in every state in the +Union speak with praise and pleasure of The Temple, which makes the +delivery of an oration to three thousand people as easy, so far as +vocal effort is concerned, as a parlor conversation. + +Telephonic communication has recently been installed between the +auditorium and the Samaritan Hospital. Patients in their beds can +hear the sermons preached from The Temple pulpit and the music of the +Sunday services. + +Compared with other assembly rooms in this country, the auditorium of +The Temple is a model. It seats thirty-one hundred and thirty-five +persons. The American Academy of Music, Philadelphia, seats +twenty-nine hundred; the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, twenty-four +hundred and thirty-three; Academy in New York, twenty-four hundred and +thirty-three; the Grand Opera House, Cincinnati, twenty-two hundred +and fifty; and the Music Hall, Boston, twenty-five hundred and +eighty-five. + +But greater than the building is the spirit that pervades it. The +moment one enters the vast auditorium with its crimson chairs, its +cheery carpet, its softly tinted walls, one feels at home. Light +filters in through rich windows, in memory of some member gone before, +some class or organization. Back of the pulpit stands the organ, its +rich pipes rising almost to the roof. Everywhere is rich, subdued +coloring, not ostentatious, but cheery, homelike. + +Large as is the seating capacity of The Temple, when it was opened it +could not accommodate the crowds that thronged to it. Almost from the +first, overflow meetings were held in the Lower Temple, that none +need be turned away from the House of God. From five hundred to two +thousand people crowded these Sunday evenings in addition to the large +audience in the main auditorium above. + +The Temple workers had come to busy days and large opportunities. But +they took them humbly with a full sense of their responsibility, with +prayer in their hearts that they might meet them worthily. Their +leader knew the perils of success and with wise counsel guided them +against its insidious dangers. + +"Ah, that is a dangerous hour in the history of men and institutions," +he said, in a sermon on the "Danger of Success," "when they become too +popular; when a good cause becomes too much admired or adored, so that +the man, or the institution, or the building, or the organization, +receives an idolatrous worship from the community. That is always +a dangerous time. Small men always go down, wrecked by such dizzy +elevation. Whenever a small man is praised, he immediately loses +his balance of mind and ascribes to himself the things which others +foolishly express in flattery. He esteems himself more than he is; +thinking himself to be something, he is consequently nothing. How +dangerous is that point when a man, or a woman, or an enterprise has +become accepted and popular! Then, of all times, should the man or the +society be humble. Then, of all times, should they beware. Then, of +all times, the hosts of Satan are marshaled that by every possible +insidious wile and open warfare they may overcome. The weakest hour in +the history of great enterprises is apt to be when they seem to be, +and their projectors think they are, strongest. Take heed lest ye fall +in the hour of your strength. The most powerful mill stream drives the +wheel most vigorously at the moment before the flood sweeps the mill +to wildest destruction." + +Just as plainly and unequivocally did he hold up before them the +purpose of their high calling: + +"The mission of the church is to save the souls of men. That is its +true mission. It is the only mission of the church. That should be its +only thought. The moment any church admits a singer that does not sing +to save souls; the moment a church calls a pastor who does not preach +to save souls; the moment a church elects a deacon who does not work +to save souls; the moment a church gives a supper or an entertainment +of any kind not for the purpose of saving souls--it ceases in so much +to be a church and to fulfil the magnificent mission God gave it. +Every concert, every choir service, every preaching service, every +Lord's supper, every agency that is used in the church must have the +great mission plainly before its eye. We are here to save the souls of +dying sinners; we are here for no other purpose; and the mission of +the church being so clear, that is the only test of a real church." + +The thousands of men and women Grace Church has saved and placed in +paths of righteousness and happiness, show that it has nobly stood +the test, that it has proved itself a church in the true sense of the +word. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +HOW THE CHURCH WORKS + +The Ladies' Aid Society. The Young Women's Association. The Young +Men's Association. The Ushers' Association. The Christian Endeavor +Societies. The Many Other Organizations. What They Do, and How They Do +It. + + +Now that the church was built, now that such power was in its hands, +how should it work? + +"The church of Christ should be so conducted always as to save the +largest number of souls, and in the saving of souls the Institutional +church may be of great assistance," said Russell Conwell in an address +on "The Institutional Church." "It is of little matter what your +theories are or what mine are; God, in His providence, is moving His +church onward and moving it upward at the same time, adjusting it +to new situations, fitting it to new conditions and to advancing +civilization, requiring us to use the new instrumentalities he has +placed in our hands for the purpose of saving the greatest number of +human souls." + +The conditions confronting him, the leader of this church studied. He +turned his eyes backward over the years. He thought of his own boyhood +when church was so distasteful. He thought of those ten busy years in +Boston when he had worked among all classes of humanity, with churches +on all sides, yet few reaching down into the lives of the people in +any vital way. He knew of the silent, agonizing cry for help, for +comfort, for light, that went up without ceasing day and night from +humanity in sorrow, in suffering, in affliction, went up as it were to +skies of brass, yet he knew a loving Savior stood ready to pour forth +his healing love, a Divine Spirit waited only the means, to lay a +healing touch on sore hearts. What was needed was a simple, practical, +real way to make it understandable to men, to bring them into the +right environment, to make their hearts and minds receptive, to point +the way to peace, joy and eternal life. He brought to bear on this +problem all the practical, trained skill of the lawyer, the keen +insight and common sense, the knowledge of the world, of the traveler +and writer. Every experience of his own life he probed for help and +light on this great work Nothing was done haphazard. He studied the +wants of men. He clearly saw the need. He calmly surveyed the field, +then he went to work with practical common sense to fill it, filling +his people with the enthusiasm and the faith that led him, doing with +a will all there was to do, and then leaving the rest with God. Never +did he think of himself, of how he might lighten his tasks, give +himself a little more leisure or rest. The work needing to be done and +how to do it was his study day and night. + +[Illustration: This Picture Shows the Four Speaking Tubes Which +Connect by Telephone with the Samaritan Hospital] + +A reporter of the "Philadelphia Press" once asked Dr. George A. Peltz, +the associate pastor of Grace Church, "if you were called upon to +express in three words the secret of the mysterious power that has +raised Grace Church from almost nothing to a membership of more than +three thousand, that has built this Temple, founded a college, opened +a hospital, and set every man, woman and child in the congregation to +working, what would be your answer?" + +"Sanctified common sense," was the Doctor's unhesitating reply. + +Rev. F.B. Meyer, in speaking on "Twentieth Century Evangelism," at +Bradford, England, in 1902, made a plea for "the institutional church, +the wide outlook, more elastic methods, greater eagerness to reach and +win outsiders, more varied service on the part of Christian people, +that the minister of any place of worship should become the recognized +friend of the entire district in which his chapel is placed." + +The "elastic method" is characteristic of the work of The Temple. +When Dr. Conwell first came to Grace Church, he organized four +societies--the Ladies' Aid Society, the Business Men's Union, the +Young Women's Association, the Young Men's Association. Into one or +another of these, every member of the church fitted, and as the new +members came into the fellowship, they found work for their hands in +one or the other. + +The Ladies' Aid Society is the pastor's right hand. It stands ready +to undertake any project, social, religious, financial, to give +receptions in honor of noted visitors, to hold a series of special +meetings, to plan suppers, festivals, and other affairs--whenever it +is necessary to raise money. Its creed, if one might so call it, is: + + "Use every opportunity to bring in new members. + + "Remember the name of every new church member. + + "Visit useless members and encourage them for their own sake to + become useful. + + "Visit persons when desired by the Pastors. + + "Speak cheerfully to each person present on every opportunity. + + "Regard every patron of your suppers or entertainments, and every + visitor to your religious meetings, as a guest calling on you in + your own house. + + "Accept contributions and subscriptions for the various Christian + enterprises. + + "Bring in every suggestion you hear which is valuable, new or + effective in Christian work elsewhere. + + "Never allow a meeting to pass without your doing _some one + practical_ thing for the advancement of Christ's kingdom. + + "Make yourself and the Society of some certain use to some person, + or some cause, each week." + +The Society helps in the church prayer meetings, in refurnishing +and improving the church property, in celebrating anniversaries, in +missionary enterprises, securing the insertion of tablets in the +Temple walls, in clothing the poor, in supporting the local missions +connected with the church, in calling socially on church members or +members of the congregation, in evangelistic meetings, in household +prayer meetings, in supporting reading rooms, in comforting those in +special affliction, in visiting the sick, in aiding the needy, in +paying the church debt, in maintaining Mother's meetings, in looking +after the domestic wants of the Temple, in sewing for the Hospitals, +the Missions, the Baptist Home, the Orphanage, church fairs, +Missionary workers, the poor, in managing church suppers and +receptions connected with Ordinations, Conventions, and other +religious gatherings. + +It is one of the most important organizations of the church and has +its own rooms handsomely furnished and well supplied with reading +matter. + +The Business Men's Union drew into a close band the business men of +the church and used their knowledge of business affairs to plan and +carry out various projects for raising money for the building fund. +They also took a deep personal interest in each other's welfare as is +shown by the following incident, taken from the "Philadelphia Press": + +"At one time a member became involved in financial difficulties in a +very peculiar way. Previous to connecting himself with the church, +he had been engaged in a business which he felt he could not +conscientiously continue after his conversion. He sold his interest +and entered upon mercantile pursuits with which he was unfamiliar. As +a result, he became involved and his establishment was in danger of +falling into the sheriff's hands. + +"His situation became known to some members of the Business Men's +Union, and a committee was appointed to look into his affairs. His +books were found to be straight and his stock valuable. The members +immediately subscribed the thousands of dollars necessary to relieve +him of all embarrassment, and the man was saved." + +After the building was completed and the imperative need for such an +organization was past, the members joined other organizations needing +their help, and it disbanded. It is typical of the elastic methods of +Grace Church that no society outlives its usefulness. When the need +is past for it as a body, the members look elsewhere for work, and +wherever each is needed, there he goes heart and soul to further some +other endeavor. + +The Young Women's Association is composed of young women of the +church. It bubbles over with youthful enthusiasm and energy and is one +of the strongest agencies for carrying forward the church work. Its +creed is: + + "Secure new members. + + "Attend the meetings, propose new work, urge on neglected duties. + + "Help the prayer meetings. + + "Volunteer for social meetings. + + "Aid in the entertainments. + + "Originate plans for Christian benevolent work. + + "Welcome young women to the Church. + + "Visit the sick members of the Church. + + "Seek after and encourage inquirers. + + "Hold household devotional meetings. + + "Sustain missionary work for young women. + + "Make the Church home cheerful and happy. + + "Arrange social home gatherings for various church or charitable + enterprises. + + "Solicit books or periodicals for the reading room or circulating + library. + + "Secure employment for the needy. + + "Treat all visitors to the rooms as special personal guests in + your home. + + "Undertake large things for the Church and Christ in many ways, as + may be suggested by any new conditions and deeds. + + "Instruct in domestic arts, dressmaking, millinery, cooking, + decoration, and, through the Samaritan Hospital, in the art of + nursing. + + "Furnish statedly instructive entertainments for the young. + + "Develop the various singing services. + + "Specially care for and assist young sisters. + + "Coöperate in sewing enterprises of all sorts. + + "Aid the Pastors by systematic visitation. + + "Push many branches of City Missions, especially with reference to + developing young women as workers. + + "Maintain suitable young women as missionaries at home or in + foreign fields. + + "Carry sunshine to darkened hearts and homes. + + "Be noble, influential Christian women." + +It has a room of its own in the Lower Temple, with circulating +library, piano and all the cheerful furnishings of a parlor in the +home. To this bright room comes many a girl from her dreary boarding +house to spend the evening in reading and social chat. It has been +the cheery starting point in many a girl's life to a career of happy +usefulness. + +The Young Men's Association follows similar lines and is an equally +important factor in the church work. It plans to: + + "Help increase the membership and efficiency of the Young Men's + Bible Class and other similar organizations. + + "Persistently follow the meetings of these associations and keep + them in the hands of able, consecrated managers and officers, who + will lead in the best enterprises of the church. + + "Make the reading-room attractive and helpful. + + "Help sustain the great Sunday morning prayer meeting. + + "Invite passers-by to enter the church, and welcome strangers who + do enter. + + "Advise seekers after God. + + "Bring back the wandering. + + "Organize relief committees to save the lost young men of the + city. + + "Look after traveling business men at hotels, and bring them to + The Temple. + + "Promote temperance, purity, fraternity and spiritual life. + + "Initiate the most important undertakings of the church. + + "Surround themselves with strong young men, and inaugurate + vigorous, fresh plans and methods for bringing the gospel to the + young men of to-day in store, shop, office, school, college, on + the streets, and elsewhere. + + "Visit sick members, help into lucrative employment, organize + religious meetings, make the church life of the young bright, + inspiring and noble, plan for sociables, entertainments for closer + acquaintance and for raising money for Christian work and to use + their pens for Christ among young men whom they know, and also + with strangers." + +It has a delightful room in the Lower Temple, carpeted, supplied with +books, good light, a piano, comfortable chairs. It is a real home for +young men alone in the city or without family or home ties. + +During the building of The Temple many associations were formed which, +when the need was over, merged into others. As Burdette says: + +"Often a working guild of some sort is brought into existence for a +specific but transient purpose; the object accomplished, the +work completed, the society disbands, or merges into some other +organization, or reorganizes under a new name for some new work. The +work of Grace Church is like the operations of a great army; recruits +are coming to the front constantly; regiments being assigned to this +corps, and suddenly withdrawn to reinforce that one; two or three +commands consolidated for a sudden emergency; one regiment deployed +along a great line of small posts; infantry detailed into the +batteries, cavalry dismounted for light infantry service, yet all +the time in all this apparent confusion and restless change which +bewilders the civilian, everything is clear and plain and +perfectly regular and methodical to the commanding general and his +subordinates." + +Another association of this kind was the "Committee of One Hundred," +organized in 1891. The suggestion for its organization came from the +Young Women's Association. A number of them went to the Trustees and +proposed that the Board should appoint a committee of fifty from among +the congregation to devise ways and means to raise money for paying +off the floating indebtedness of the church. The suggestion was +adopted. The Committee of Fifty was appointed, each organization of +the church being represented in it by one or more members. It met for +organization in 1892. The Young Women's Association, pledged itself to +raise $1,000 during the year. Other societies pledged certain sums. +Individuals went to work to swell the amount, and in one year, the +Committee reported that the floating debt of the church, which at the +time of the Committee's organization was $25,000, was paid. Encouraged +by this success the Committee enlarged itself to one hundred and +vigorously attacked the work of paying off the mortgage of $15,200 on +the ground on which the college was to be built. + +Among the minor associations of the church that promoted good +fellowship and did a definite good work in their time were the +"Tourists' Club," a social development of the Young Women's +Association. The members took an ideal European trip while sitting in +the pleasant reading room in the Lower Temple. A route of travel was +laid out a month in advance. Each member present took some part; to +one was assigned the principal buildings; to another, some famous +painting; to others, parks, hotels, places of amusement, ruins, etc., +until at the close of the evening they almost could hear the tongue of +the strange land through which in fancy they had journeyed. Maps and +pictures helped to materialize the journey. + +The "Girls" Auxiliary was formed to meet the needs of the younger +members of the church. Any girl under sixteen could become a member +by the payment of monthly dues of five cents. There were classes in +embroidery, elocution, sewing, etc. + +The "Youth's Culture League" was organized for the work among youth of +the slums; an effort to supplement public school education, making it +a stepping-stone to higher culture and better living. + +Sports of various kinds of course received attention. The Temple +Guard, the Temple Cyclers, the Baseball League gave opportunity for +all to enjoy some form of healthy outdoor sport. But since the college +and its gymnasium have become so prominent, those who now join such +organizations usually do it through college instead of church doors. + +The following incident from the "Philadelphia Evening Bulletin" is +typical of the help these organizations often gave the church in its +religious work: + +[Illustration: THE OBSERVATORY + +Built on the Site of the Old Hemlock Tree] + +[Illustration: THE PRESENT CONWELL HOMESTEAD IN MASSACHUSETTS] + +"Eight and a half years ago the Rev. Russell H. Conwell surprised a +great many people by organizing a military company among his little +boys. The old wiseacres shook their heads, and the elders of the old +school wondered at this new departure in church work. Then again he +fairly shocked them by making the organization non-sectarian, and +securing one of the best tacticians in the city to instruct the +boys in military science.... From the first the company has clearly +demonstrated that it is the best-drilled military organization in the +city, and the number of prizes fairly won demonstrates this. However, +the company does not wish to be understood as being merely in +existence for prize honors, although it cannot be overlooked that +twenty victories over as many companies afford them the best record in +Pennsylvania. + +"In 1896, the Samaritan Rescue Mission was established by the Grace +Baptist Church, and proving a great financial burden, Dr. Conwell +offered to give a lecture on Henry Ward Beecher. The Guard took the +matter up, brought Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, despite her threescore +years and ten, to Philadelphia for the first time in her life, and +so great was the desire of the church-loving public of this city to +attend that the mission did not perish." + +When the stress of building and paying the church debt was passed, +many of these societies went heart and soul into the Christian +Endeavor work. Indeed, for awhile it seemed as if the Christian +Endeavor would absorb all the church associations. There are at +present fifteen Christian Endeavor Societies in the church. In +addition to the Christian Endeavor pledge, the following special ways +in which they can forward the church work is ever held before each +member: + +"For the sake of your character and future success, as well as for the +supreme cause, keep your pledge unflinchingly. + +"Endeavor persistently, but courteously, to seek after those who ask +for our prayers and advice at any meeting. + +"Never discontinue your endeavors to get new members for the +societies. Follow it continually in the name of the Lord. + +"Endeavor each day to think, speak, act and pray like the Savior. + +"Endeavor and present plans for effective work. Build up a standard of +noble living in the Church. + +"Send comforting messages to members of the Church in sorrow, send +flowers to the sick, or for the funeral, look after the orphans, visit +the widows and the fatherless, write letters of advice, invitation, +condolence, establish missions for new churches in growing parts of +the city, and hold by kindness at least one thousand personal friends +at The Baptist Temple. + +"Select one leading duty, and follow it without waiting to be asked. + +"Make yourself a master of some special line of Christian effort. + +"Save some one!" + +Five of these societies some years ago started a mission at Logan, +a suburb of Philadelphia, and so successful was their work that the +mission soon grew into a flourishing church. + +The Ushers' Association is one of the strongest and most helpful +organizations in furthering the church work. The ushers number +twenty-four, and are banded together in a businesslike association for +mutual pleasure and good fellowship, and also to better conduct their +work and the church interests they have in hand. They are under the +leadership of a chief usher who is president of the Association. The +spirit of hospitality that pervades The Temple finds its happiest +expression in the courteous welcome and ready attention accorded +visitors by the ushers. + +All members of the church who are willing to give up their seats to +strangers on special occasions send their names to the chief usher. +And it is no unusual thing to see a member cheerfully relinquish his +seat after a whispered consultation with an usher in favor of some +stranger who is standing. + +In addition to their work in seating the crowd that throng to The +Temple either for Sunday services or the many entertainments that fill +the church during the week, the Ushers' Association itself during the +winter gives a series of fine entertainments. Its object is to offer +amusement of the very highest class, so that people will come to the +church rather than go elsewhere in their leisure hours and thus be +surrounded by influences of the best character and by an atmosphere +that is elevating and refining. They have also undertaken to pay off +the balance of the church debt. + +Missionary interests at Grace Church are well looked after. The church +has educated and supported a number of missionaries in home and +foreign fields, as well as contributed money and clothing to the +cause. The Missionary Circle combines in one organization all those +interested in missionary work. One afternoon a month the members meet +in the Lower Temple to sew, have supper together, and afterward hold +religious services. The members are advised in the church hand-book +to-- + +"Suggest plans for raising money; arrange for a series of addresses; +organize children's societies; distribute missionary literature; +maintain a circulating library of missionary books; correspond with +missionaries; solicit and work for the 'missionary barrels'; send out +'comfort bags'; advocate missions in the prayer meetings and socials; +encourage those members who are preparing for or are going into +foreign fields, and maintain special missionary prayer meetings." + +Members of the church have started several missions, some of which +have already grown into flourishing churches. The Logan Baptist Church +and the Tioga Baptist Church, are both daughters of The Temple. + +The Samaritan Aid Society sews and secures contributions of clothing +and such supplies for the Samaritan Hospital. Other charities, +however, needing such help, find it ever willing to lend its aid. It +is ready for any emergency that may arise. A hurry call was sent +once for sheets, pillow cases and garments for the sick at Samaritan +Hospital. The President of the Society quickly summoned the members. +Merchants were visited and contributions of muslin and thread secured. +Sewing machines were sent to the Lower Temple. An all-day sewing bee +was held, those who could, came all day, others dropped in as time +permitted, and by sunset more than three hundred pieces of work were +finished. + +Two other organizations very helpful to the members of the church +are the Men's Beneficial Association and the Women's Beneficial +Association. They are purely for the benefit of church members during +sickness or bereavement, and are managed as all such associations are, +paying $5.00 a week during sickness and $100 at death. + +The books are closed at the end of each year and the fund started +afresh. + +The Temple Building and Loan Association was organized by the +membership of the Business Men's Association, and is officered by +prominent members of the church. But it is not in any way a church +organization and is not under the management of the church. It is +very successful and its stockholders are composed largely of church +members. + +To keep members and friends in touch with the many lines of activity +in which the church works, a magazine, "The Temple Review," is +published. It is a private business enterprise, but it chronicles +church work and publishes each week Dr. Conwell's sermons. Many +living at a distance who cannot come often to The Temple find it most +enjoyable and helpful to thus obtain their pastor's sermons, and to +look through the printed page into the busy life of the church itself. +It helps members in some one branch of the church work to keep in +touch with what others are doing. The work of the college and hospital +from week to week is also chronicled, so that it is a very good mirror +of the many activities of the Grace Church membership. + +Thus in good fellowship the church works unitedly to further Christ's +kingdom. New organizations are formed as some enthusiastic member +discerns a new need or a new field. It is a veritable hive of industry +whose doors are never closed day or night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FAIRS AND ENTERTAINMENTS + +The Temple Fairs. How They are Planned. Their Religious Aim. +Appointment of Committees. How the Committees Work. The Church +Entertainments. Their Character. + + +Not only does the church work in a hundred ways through its regular +organizations to advance the spiritual life of its members and the +community, but once every year, organization fences are taken down and +as a whole and united body, it marches forward to a great fair. The +Temple fairs are famous. They form an important feature of church +life, and an important date in the church calendar. + +"The true object of a church fair should be to strengthen the church, +to propagate the Gospel, and to bring the world nearer to its God." +That is Dr. Conwell's idea of the purpose of a church fair and the +basic principle on which The Temple fairs are built. They always open +on Thanksgiving Day, the anniversary of Dr. Conwell's coming to the +church and continue for ten days or two weeks thereafter. These fairs +are most carefully planned. The membership, of course, know that a +fair is to be held; but before any definite information of the special +fair coming, is given them, a strong foundation of systematic, careful +preparation is laid. In the early summer, before Dr. Conwell leaves +for his two months' rest at his old home in the Berkshires, he and the +deaconess of the church go over the ground, decide on the executive +committee and call it together. Officers are elected, Dr. Conwell +always being appointed president and the deaconess, as a rule, +secretary. The whole church membership is then carefully studied, +and every member put at work upon some committee, a chairman for +the committee being appointed at the same time. A notice of their +appointment, the list of their fellow workers, and a letter from the +pastor relative to the fair are then sent to each. Usually these lists +are prepared and forwarded from Dr. Conwell's summer home. The chief +purpose of the fair, that of saving souls, is ever kept in view. The +pastor in his letter to each member always lays special stress on it. +Quoting from one such letter, he says: + +"The religious purpose is to consolidate our church by a more +extensive and intimate acquaintance with each other, and to enlarge +the circle of social influence over those who have not accepted +Christ. + +"This enterprise being undertaken for the service of Christ, each +church member is urged to enter it with earnest prayer, and to use +every opportunity to direct the attention of workers and visitors to +spiritual things. + +"Each committee should have its prayer circle or a special season set +apart for devotional services. This carnival being undertaken for the +spiritual good of the church, intimate friends and those who have +hitherto worked together are especially requested to separate on +this occasion and work with new members, forming a new circle of +acquaintances. + +"Do not seek for a different place unless it is clear that you can do +much more in another position, for they honor God most who take up His +work right where they are and do faithfully the duty nearest to them. + +"Your pastor prays earnestly that this season of work, offering, and +pleasure may be used by the Lord to help humanity and add to the glory +of His Kingdom on earth." + +This is the tenor of the letters sent each year. This is the purpose +held ever before the workers. + +Each committee is urged to meet as soon as possible, and, as a rule, +the chairman calls a meeting within a week after the receipt of the +list. Each committee upon meeting elects a president, vice-president, +secretary and treasurer, which, together with the original executive +committee, form the executive committee of the fair. + +During the summer and fall, until the opening of the fair, these +various committees work to secure contributions or whatever may be +needed for the special work they have been appointed to do. If they +need costumes, or expensive decorations for the booths, they give +entertainments to raise the money. All this depends upon the character +of the fair in general. Sometimes it is a fair in the accepted sense +of the word, devoted to the selling of such goods as interested +friends and well-wishers have contributed. At other times it takes +on special significance. At one fair each committee represented a +country, the members dressed in the costume of its people, the booth +so far as possible was typical of a home, or some special building. +Such products of the country as could be obtained were among the +articles sold or exhibited. + +Every committee meeting is opened with prayer, and each night during +the fair a prayer meeting is held. In addition, a committee is +appointed to look after the throng of strangers visiting the fair, and +whenever possible, to get them to register in a book kept especially +for that purpose at the entrance. To all those who sign the register, +a New Year's greeting is sent as a little token of recognition and +appreciation of their help. + +Much of the great tide of membership that flows into the church comes +through the doors of these church fairs. The fairs are really revival +seasons. They are practical illustrations of how a working church +prays, and a praying church works. Christianity has on its working +clothes. But it is Christianity none the less, outspoken in its faith, +fearless in its testimony, full of the love that desires to help every +man and woman to a higher, happier life. + +The church entertainments form another important feature of church +life. Indeed, from the first of September until summer is well +started, few weekday nights pass but that some religious service or +some entertainment is taking place in The Temple. In the height of +the season, it is no uncommon thing for two or three to be given +in various halls of The Temple on one evening. An out-of-town man +attending a lecture at the Lower Temple, and seeing the throngs of +people pouring in at various entrances, asked the custodian of the +door if there were a rear entrance to the auditorium. + +"Here's where you go in for the lecture," was the reply. "There are +two other entertainments on hand this evening in the halls of the +Lower Temple. That's where those people are going." + +In regard to church fairs and entertainments, Dr. Conwell said in a +sermon in 1893: + +"The Lord pity any church that has not enough of the spirit of Christ +in it to stand a church fair, wherein devout offerings are brought to +the tithing-house in the spirit of true devotion; the Lord pity any +church that has not enough of the spirit of Jesus in it to endure or +enjoy a pure entertainment. Indeed, they are subjects for prayer if +they cannot, without quarrels, without fightings, without defeat to +the cause of Christ, engage in the pure and innocent things God offers +to His children." + +And in an address on "The Institutional Church," he says: + +"The Institutional church of the future will have the best regular +lecture courses of the highest order. There will be about them +sufficient entertainment to hold the audience, while at the same time +they give positive instruction and spiritual elevation. Every church +of Christ is so sacred that it ought to have within its walls anything +that helps to save souls. If an entertainment is put into a church +for any secular purpose--simply to make money--that church will be +divided; it will be meshed in quarrels, and souls will not be saved +there. There must be a higher end; as between the church and the world +we must use everything that will save and reject everything that will +injure. This requires careful and close attention. You must keep in +mind the question, 'Will Jesus come here and save souls?' Carefully +eliminate all that will show irreverence for holy things or disrespect +for the church. Carefully introduce wherever you can the direct +teachings of the Gospel, and then your entertainments will be the +power of God unto salvation. The entertainments of the church need to +be carefully guarded, and, if they are, then will the church of the +future control the entertainments of the world. The theatre that has +its displays of low and vulgar amusement will not pay, because the +churches will hold the best classes, and for a divine and humane +purpose will conduct the best entertainments. There will be a double +inducement that will draw all classes. The Institutional church of the +future will be free to use any reasonable means to influence men for +good." + +The Temple, as can be seen, believes in good, pure, elevating +amusements. But every entertainment to be given is carefully +considered. In such a vast body of workers, many of them young and +inexperienced, this is necessary. By a vote of the church, every +programme to be used in any entertainment in The Temple must first +be submitted to the Board of Deacons. What they disapprove cannot be +presented to the congregation of Grace Church under any circumstance. + +The concerts and oratorios of the chorus are of the very highest order +and attract music lovers from all parts of the city and nearby towns. +The other entertainments in the course of a year cover such a variety +of subjects that every one is sure to find something to his liking. +Among the lectures given in one year were: + +"Changes and Chances," by Dr. George C. Lorimer. + +"The Greek Church," by Charles Emory Smith. + +"Ancient Greece," by Professor Leotsakos, of the University of Athens. + +An illustrated lecture on the Yellowstone Park, by Professor George L. +Maris. + +"Work or How to Get a Living," by Hon. Roswell G. Horr. + +"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," by Rev. Robert Nourse, D.D. + +"Backbone," by Rev. Thomas Dixon. + +The other entertainments that season included selections from "David +Copperfield," by Leland T. Powers; readings by Fred Emerson Brooks, +concerts by the Germania Orchestra, the Mendelssohn Quintette Club +of Boston and the Ringgold Band of Reading, Pennsylvania; a "Greek +Festival," tableaux, by students of Temple College; "Tableaux of East +Indian Life," conducted by a returned missionary, Mrs. David Downie; +"Art Entertainment," by the Young Women's Association; concert by the +New York Philharmonic Club; and many entertainments by societies of +the younger people, music, recitations, readings, debates, suppers, +excursions, public debates, class socials. The year seems to have been +full of entertainments, teas, anniversaries, athletic meetings, "cycle +runs," gymnasium exhibitions, "welcomes," "farewells," jubilees, +"feasts." But every year is the same. + +A single society of the church gave during one winter a series of +entertainments which included four lectures by men prominent in +special fields of work, four concerts by companies of national +reputation, and an intensely interesting evening with moving pictures. + +"We are often criticised as a church," said Mr. Conwell, in an +address, "by persons who do not understand the purposes or spirit of +our work. They say, 'You have a great many entertainments and socials, +and the church is in danger of going over to the world.' Ah, yes; the +old hermits went away and hid themselves in the rocks and caves and +lived on the scantiest food, and 'kept away from the world,' They were +separate from the world. They were in no danger of 'going over to the +world.' They had hidden themselves far away from man. And so it is in +some churches where in coldness and forgetfulness of Christ's purpose, +of Christ's sacrifice, and the purpose for which the church was +instituted, they withdraw themselves so far from the world that they +cannot save a drowning man when he is in sight--they cannot reach down +to him, the distance is too great--the life line is too short. Where +are the unchurched masses of Philadelphia to-day? Why are they not +in the churches at this hour? Because the church is so far away. The +difference that is found between the church which saves and that which +does not is found in the fact that the latter holds to the Pharisaical +profession that the church must keep itself aloof from the +people--yes, from the drowning thousands who are going down to +everlasting ruin--to be forever lost. The danger is not now so much in +going over to the world as in going away from it--away from the world +which Jesus died to save--the world which the church should lead to +Him." + +In all these entertainments, the true mission of the church is never +forgotten--that mission which its pastor so earnestly and often says +is "not to entertain people. The church's only thought should be to +turn the hearts of men to God." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE BUSINESS SIDE + +How the Finances are Managed. The Work of the Deacons. The Duties of +the Trustees. + + +"The plain facts of life must be recognized," says Dr. Conwell. The +business affairs of Grace Baptist Church are plain facts and big ones. +There is no evading them. The membership is more than three thousand. +A constant stream of money from the rental of seats, from voluntary +offerings, from entertainments, is pouring in, and as quickly going +out for expenses and charitable purposes. It must all be looked after. +A record of the membership must be kept, changes of address made--and +this is no light matter--the members themselves kept in touch with. +It all means work of a practical business nature and to get the best +results at least expenditure of time and money, it must all be done in +skilled, experienced fashion. Dr. Conwell, in speaking of the careful +way in which the business affairs of the church are conducted, says: + +"What has contributed most as the means used of God to bring Grace +Church up to its efficiency? I answer it was the inspired, sanctified, +common sense of enterprising, careful business men. The disciplined +judgment, the knowledge of men, the forethought and skill of these +workers who were educated at the school of practical business +life, helped most. The Trustees and working committees in all our +undertakings, whether for Church, Hospital, College, or Missions, have +been, providentially, men of thorough business training, who used +their experience and skill for the church with even greater care and +perseverance than they would have done in their own affairs. + +"When they wanted lumber, they knew where to purchase it, and how to +obtain discounts. When they needed money, they knew where the money +was, and what securities were good in the market. They saved by +discounting their own bills, and kindly insisted that contractors and +laborers should earn fairly the money they received. They foresaw the +financial needs and always insisted on securing the money in full time +to meet demands. + +"Some men make religion so dreamy, so unreal, so unnatural, that the +more they believe in it the less practical they become. They expect +ravens to feed them, the cruse of oil to be inexhaustible, and the +fish to come to the right side of the ship at breakfast time. They +trust in God and loaf about. They would conduct mundane affairs as +though men were angels and church business a series of miracles. But +the successful church worker is one who recognizes the plain facts of +life, and their relation to heavenly things; who is neither profane +nor crazy, who feels that his experience and judgment are gifts of God +to be used, but who also fully realizes that, after all, unless God +lives in the house, they labor in vain who build it. + +"None of our successful managers have been flowery orators, nor have +they been in the habit of wearying man and the Lord with long prayers. +If they speak, they are earnest and conservative. They are men whom the +banks would trust, whose recommendations are valuable, who know a +counterfeit dollar or a worthless endorsement They read men at a glance, +being trained in actual experience with all classes. They have been the +pillars of the church. While some have been praying with religious +phraseology that the stray calf might be sent home, these men have gone +after him and brought him back. They have faithfully done their part, +and God has answered their earnest prayers for the rest." + +Dr. Peltz, for many years associate pastor of The Temple, in speaking +of the business management of the affairs of the church, says: + +"Many persons imagine that the financial organization of Grace Baptist +Church must be something out of the usual way, because the results +have been so unusual. There is nothing peculiar in the general plan of +financial procedure, but great pains are taken to work the plan for +all it is worth. Special pains have been taken to secure consecrated +and competent men for the Board of Trustees. And the Trustees do this +one thing, a rule of the church permitting a man to hold but one +elective office. Competent financiers, consecrated to this work, and +doing it as carefully as they would do their own business, is the +statement that tells the whole story." + +All these business matters are in the hands of the deacons and +Trustees, the deacons, if any distinction in the work can be made, +looking after the membership, the Board of Trustees attending to the +financial matters. + +[Illustration: _Photo by Gutehunst_ PROFESSOR DAVID D WOOD] + +After a person has signified his intention to join the church, he +meets the deacons, who explain to him the system by which members +contribute to the support of the church. If he desires to contribute +by taking a sitting, he is assigned a seat according to the amount he +wishes to pay, or he can pay the regular church dues, $1.20 a year +for those under eighteen years of age, $3.00 for those over that age. +Those who take sittings find in their seats, on the first of every +month, a small envelope made out in bill form on the face, stating the +month and the amount due. Into this they can place their money, +seal it, and put it into the basket when the offering is taken. The +following Sunday a receipt is placed in their seat, a duplicate being +kept in the office. Envelopes are sent those who do not have sittings, +and in these they can send in their dues any time within the year. + +In addition to the little envelope for the seat rent, every Sunday +envelopes are placed in each seat for the regular Sunday offering. +These envelopes read: + + SPECIAL OFFERING + + THE BAPTIST TEMPLE + + Amount .................. + + Name ........................ + + Address ...................... + + This offering is made in thankful recognition of the Mercy and + Goodness of God during the past week, and with the hope that + my gift and my prayer may he acceptable to God. + + In addition to the amount raised from sittings and dues, it is + necessary for the payment of the debt on the Temple to have + givers for 5 years as follows: + + 100 persons who will contribute 50 cents per week. 300 persons + 25 cents per week. 1000 persons 10 cents per week. 1300 + persons 5 cents per week. + + VISITORS AND MEMBERS + + Can enclose special Messages for the Pastor with their offerings. + + This Gift will be Recorded on the books of the Church. + +All this money pours into the business office of the church, where it +is taken in charge by the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees +and duly recorded by the Financial Secretary. + +The business office is a very businesslike place, with files, +typewriter, letter-copying press, big ledgers and all the modern +appliances of an up-to-date business office. + +The card system is used for keeping the record of member's +contribution, being printed in a form that will last for eight years. + +All payments are entered on these, and at any time at a moment's +notice, a member can tell just what he has paid or what he owes on the +year's account. + +But in addition, the Sunday offerings of all those who place their +contributions in envelopes at the morning and evening service and sign +their names, are entered on cards, and when it is remembered that the +basket collections alone for the year 1904 amounted to $6,995.00, it +can be seen that this is no light task. But The Temple appreciates +what is given it, and likes to keep a record. Any person giving to The +Temple and signing his name to his gift, can find at any time how much +he has contributed during the year. + +All this income is deposited to the order of the church treasurer, +who is then at liberty to draw against it as directed by the Board of +Trustees and properly certified by their chairman and secretary. The +business office is kept open during the entire week with the exception +of two afternoons, and two evenings. + +The pew committee, which is composed of three members of the Board of +Trustees, attends to the rental of the many sittings in The Temple. A +large number of the regular attendants at the services of The Temple +are not members of the church. They enjoy the services and so rent +sittings that they may he sure of a seat. The third committee drawn +from the Board of Trustees is the House Committee, composed of three +members. It has charge of The Temple building; sees to its being kept +in order; arranges for all regular and special meetings; sees that the +building is properly heated and lighted; decides on all questions as +to the use of the house for any purpose, for the use of a part of it +for special purposes; manages the great crowds that so often throng +the building; has charge of the doors when entertainments are going +on; in short, makes the most and the best of the great building under +its care. Six persons are constantly employed in taking care of The +Temple, and often there is necessity for securing extra help for the +caretakers of this church whose doors are never shut. + +The Deacons, as always, look after the welfare of the membership. On +Communion Sundays, cards are passed the members that they may sign +their names. These cards the Deacons take charge of and record the +members present and those absent If a member is away three successive +communion Sundays the Deacons call on him, if he lives in the city, to +find the cause of his absence. If he resides in some neighboring town, +they send a kindly letter to know if it is not possible for him to +attend some of the Communion services. In person or by letter, they +keep a loving watch over the vast membership, so that every member +feels that even though he may not attend often, he is not forgotten. + +Thus the business of Grace Baptist Church is managed prayerfully but +practically. If some part of the machinery seems cumbersome, shrewd +and experienced minds take the matter in hand and see whereby it can +be improved. What may seem a good method to-day, a year from now may +be deemed a waste of time and energy and cast aside for the new and +improved system that has taken its place in the world of every-day +work. In its business methods the church keeps up to the times, as +well as in its spiritual work. It knows it cannot grow if it is not +alive. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE CHORUS OF THE TEMPLE + +Its Leader, Professor David Wood. How he Came to the Church. A sketch +of His life. The Business Management of the Chorus. The Fine System. +The Sheet Music and Its Care. Oratorios and Concerts. Finances of the +Chorus. Contributions it has Made to Church Work. + + +With a pastor who had loved music from childhood, who taught it in +his early manhood, who was himself proficient on several instruments, +music naturally assumed an important place in Temple life and work. +From the moment of his entering upon the pastorate of Grace Baptist +Church, Mr. Conwell made the music an enjoyable feature of the +services. + +In this early work of organizing and developing a church choir, he +found an able and loyal leader in Professor David D. Wood, who threw +himself heart and soul into helping the church to grow musically. He +has been to the musical life of the church what Mr. Conwell has been +to its spiritual growth, and next to their pastor himself, it is +doubtful if any man is so endeared to the Grace Church membership as +is Professor Wood, their blind organist. + +He came to them in May, 1885, the regular organist being sick. His +connection with the church came about in the most simple manner and +yet it has been invaluable to the work of The Temple. His son was an +attendant at the church, and when the regular organist fell ill, +asked his father if he would not take his place. Ever ready to do a +kindness. Professor Wood consented. The organist never sufficiently +recovered to come back to his post, being compelled to go West finally +for his health. Mr. Conwell asked Professor Wood to take the position, +and from that day to the present he has filled it to the satisfaction +and gratification of the Grace Church. + +He was born in Pittsburgh, March 2, 1838. His parents were poor, his +father being a carpenter and he himself built the little log cabin in +which the family lived. When David was a baby only a few months old, +he lost the sight of one eye by inflammation resulting from a severe +cold. When about three years old, he noiselessly followed his sister +into the cellar one day, intending in a spirit of mischief to blow out +the candle she was carrying. Just as he leaned over to do it, she, +unconscious that he was there, raised up, thrusting the candle in her +hand right into his eye. The little boy's cry of pain was the first +warning of his presence. The eye was injured, but probably he would +not entirely have lost its sight had he not been attacked shortly +after this with scarlet fever. When he recovered from this illness +he was entirely blind. But the affliction did not change his sweet, +loving disposition. He entered as best he could into the games and +sports of childhood and grew rugged and strong. One day, while playing +in the road, he was nearly run over by a carriage driven by a lady. +Learning the little fellow was blind, she became interested in him +and told his father of the school for the blind in Philadelphia. His +parents decided to send him to it, and at five years of age he was +sent over the mountains, making the journey in five days by canal. + +He was a bright, diligent pupil and a great reader, showing even at an +early age his passion for music. When eight years old, he learned the +flute. Soon he could play the violin and piano, and in his twelfth +year he began playing the organ. All these instruments he took up and +mastered himself without special instruction. In mathematics, James G. +Blaine was his instructor for two years. + +After leaving school his struggles to succeed as an organist were hard +and hitter. Despite his unusual ability, it was difficult to secure a +position. He met with far more refusals than encouragement. But he was +persistent and cheerful. Finally success came. Two days before Easter +the organist of an Episcopal church was suddenly incapacitated and no +one could be found to play the music. Professor Wood offered himself. +The rector's wife read the music to him. He learned it in an hour, +and rehearsal and the services passed off without a break. He was +immediately engaged, his salary being one hundred dollars a year, his +next position paid him fifty dollars a year. In 1864, he went to St. +Stephen's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, as choirmaster and organist, +which position he still holds, playing at The Temple in the evenings +only. + +He is to-day one of the most widely known organists of the country, +being acknowledged everywhere a master of the instrument. He is a +member of the faculty of the Philadelphia Musical Academy, principal +of the music department in the Pennsylvania School for the Blind. It +is said he has trained more good organists than any other teacher in +Philadelphia. + +His cheery, kindly personality wins loyalty and devotion at once. His +Christianity is the simple, loving, practical kind that fairly shines +from his presence and attracts people to him immediately. The members +of the Chorus of The Temple are devoted to him. No rules are required +to keep them in order; no other inspiration to do their best is needed +than his simple wish. + +In the old church at Mervine and Berks streets he had a volunteer +choir of about twenty, all that the little organ loft would +accommodate. They could sing as the birds sing, because they had +voices and loved it, but of musical training or education they had +little. They were drawn from the membership of the church, composed of +poor working people. + +From this nucleus grew the chorus of The Temple, which was organized +in 1891, six weeks before the membership took possession of its new +building. With the organization of this large chorus, Professor Wood +faced a new and difficult problem. How was he to hold from one hundred +to one hundred and fifty people together, who were not paid for their +services, who were not people of leisure to whom rehearsals are no tax +on time or strength? These were nearly all working people who came to +rehearsal after a day's tiring employment. That he has succeeded so +splendidly in these fourteen years proves his fine leadership. + +He had a body of workers devoted to the church, people before whom was +ever held up the fact that they could serve the Master they all loved +by singing, if they could in no other way; that they could give their +voices, if they could give nothing else. He had a body of workers +devoted also to himself, who would have followed him unhesitatingly no +matter what commands he lay upon them. But he felt they should have +some other encouragement, some other interest to hold them together, +so almost immediately upon their organization he took up the study of +Haydn's "Creation." It seemed a stupendous undertaking for a young and +inexperienced chorus, one with no trained voices, few of whom could +even read music at sight. But they plunged into the study with spirit. +No incentive was needed to come to rehearsals, no one thought of +dropping out. Indeed, the opportunity to study such music under such +a master brought many new members. And in the fall of that year the +oratorio was given with splendid success. + +This method has been followed ever since. Every year some special work +is taken up for study and given in the fall. It is an event that is +now a recognized feature of the city's musical life, eagerly awaited +by music lovers not only of Philadelphia but of nearby towns. In +addition to Haydn's "Creation," which has been sung four times, +the chorus has given Handel's "Messiah" three times, Mendelssohn's +"Elijah" twice, Beethoven's "Mount of Olives," Mendelssohn's "Hymn of +Praise," Miriam's "Song of Triumph." It has also given a number of +secular concerts. For all this extra work neither Professor Wood nor +any member of the chorus has ever received one cent of pay. It is all +cheerfully contributed. The oratorios are given with a full orchestra +and eminent soloists. In the secular concerts the music is always of +the highest order. Guilmant, the celebrated French organist, gave a +recital at The Temple while in this country. The chorus believes +in the best, both in the class of music it gives and the talent it +secures, and has long been looked on by those interested in the city's +musical welfare as a society that encourages and supports all that +is high and fine in music. Among the selections given at the Sunday +services are Gounod's "Sanctus," the magnificent "Pilgrim's Chorus," +the "Gloria," from Mozart's "Twelfth Mass," Handel's beautiful +"Largo," the "St. Cecilia Mass," and others of the same character. + +The plan of fining members for absence from rehearsal, which was +adopted at the time the chorus was organized, has also had much to do +with its success, though it is rather unusual for a choir. Instead of +being paid to sing, they pay if they do not sing. The fine at first +was twenty-five cents for each failure to attend rehearsal or Sunday +service. Many shook their heads and said it was a bad idea, that the +members wouldn't come and couldn't pay the fine, and that the chorus +would go to pieces. But the members did come, and when for any reason +they were compelled to stay away they cheerfully paid the fine and the +chorus flourished. These fines helped to pay the current expenses of +the chorus. In the last three years the amount has been reduced to +ten cents, but it still nets a sum in the course of the year that the +treasurer welcomes most gladly. A collection is also taken at each +service among the members, which likewise helps to swell the chorus +treasury. + +Speaking of the organization and work of such a chorus, Professor Wood +says: + +"In organizing a church chorus one must not be too particular about +the previous musical education of applicants. It is not necessary that +they be musicians, or even that they read music readily. All that I +insist upon is a fairly good voice and a correct ear. I assume, of +course, that all comers desire to learn to sing. Rehearsals must be +scrupulously maintained, beginning promptly, continuing with spirit, +and not interrupted with disorder of any kind. A rehearsal should +never exceed two hours, and a half hour less is plenty long enough, +if there is no waste of time. In learning new music, voices should be +rehearsed separately; that is, all sopranos, tenors, basses, and altos +by themselves first, then combine the voices. You should place before +a choir a variety of music sufficient to arouse the interest of all +concerned. This will include much beyond the direct demand for church +work. The chorus of The Temple has learned and sung on appropriate +occasions war songs, college songs, patriotic songs, and other grades +of popular music. + +"No one man's taste should rule in regard to these questions as +to variety, although the proprieties of every occasion should be +carefully preserved. Due regard must be paid to the taste of members +of the chorus. If any of them express a wish for a particular piece, I +let them have it. When it comes my time to select, they are with me. +Keep some high attainment before the singers all the time. When the +easier tasks are mastered, attempt something more difficult. It +maintains enthusiasm to be ever after something better, and +enthusiasm is a power everywhere. In music, this is 'the spirit which +quickeneth.' + +"In the preparation of chorus work do not insist on perfection. When +I get them to sing fairly well, I am satisfied. To insist on extreme +accuracy will discourage singers. Do not, therefore, overtrain them. + +"An incredible amount may be done even by a crude company of singers. +When the preparation began for the opening of The Temple, there was +but a handful of volunteers and time for but five rehearsals. But +enthusiasm rose, reinforcements came, and six anthems, including the +'Hallelujah Chorus,' were prepared and sung in a praiseworthy manner. +Do not fear to attempt great things. Timidity ruins many a chorus. + +"Do not be afraid to praise your singers. Give praise, and plenty of +it, whenever and wherever it is due. A domineering spirit will prove +disastrous. Severity or ridicule will kill them. Correct faults +faithfully and promptly, but kindly. + +"In the matter of discipline I am a strong advocate of the 'fine +system.' It is the only way to keep a chorus together. The fines +should he regulated according to the financial ability of the chorus. +Our fine at The Temple was at first twenty-five cents for every +rehearsal and every service missed. It has since been dropped to ten +cents. This is quite moderate. In some musical societies the fine is +one dollar for every absence. This system is far better than monthly +dues. + +"The advantages to members of a chorus are many and of great value. +Concerted work has advantages which can be secured in no other way. A +good chorus is an unequaled drill in musical time. The singer cannot +humor himself as the soloist can, but must go right on with the grand +advance of the company. He gets constant help also, in the accurate +reading of music. Then, too, there is an indescribable, uplifting, +enkindling power in the presence and coöperation of others. The volume +of song lifts one, as when a great congregation sings. It is the +_esprit du corps_ of the army; that magnetic power which comes from +the touch of elbows, and the consecration to a common cause. No +soloist gets this. + +"Some would-be soloists make a great mistake right here. They think +that chorus work spoils them as soloists. Not at all, if they have +proper views of individual work in a chorus. If they propose to sing +out so they shall sound forth above all others, then they may damage +their voices for solo work. But that is a needless and highly improper +use of the voice. Sing along with the others in a natural tone. They +will be helped and the soloist will not be harmed. + +"The best conservatories of music in the world require of their +students a large amount of practice in concerted performance and will +not grant diplomas without it. All the great soloists have served +their time as chorus singers. Parepa-Rosa, when singing in the solo +parts in oratorio, would habitually sing in the chorus parts also, +singing from beginning to end with the others. + +"Many persons have expressed their astonishment at the absence of the +baton both from the rehearsals and public performances of the chorus +of The Temple. Experience has proven to me, beyond a doubt, that a +chorus can be better drilled without a baton than with it, though it +costs more labor and patience to obtain the result. To sing by common +inspiration is far better than to have the music 'pumped out,' as is +too often the case, by the uncertain movements of the leader's baton." + +With a membership that has ranged from one hundred to two hundred +and fifty, skilled business management is needed to keep everything +running smoothly. + +The record of attendance is regulated by the use of checks. Each +member of the chorus is assigned a number. As they come to rehearsal, +service, or concert, the singer removes the check on which is his +number from the board upon which it hangs and gives it to the person +appointed to receive it as he passes up the stairway to his seat +in the choir. When the numbers are checked up at the close of the +evening, the checks which have not been removed from the board are +marked "absent." + +The bill for sheet music for one year is something between $400 and +$500. To care for so much music would be no light task if it were not +reduced to a science. The music is in charge of the chorus librarian, +who gives to each member an envelope stamped with his number and +containing all the sheet music used by the chorus. Each member is +responsible for his music, so that the system resolves itself into +simplicity itself. In the Lower Temple enclosed closets are built in +the wall, divided into sections, in which the envelopes are kept by +their numbers, so that it is but the work of a moment to find the +music for any singer. An insurance of $1,200 is carried on the music. + +Typical of the spirit of self-sacrifice that animates the chorus is +the fact that for nearly ten years after the choir was organized, one +of the members, in order to reduce the expense for sheet music, copied +on a mimeograph all the music used by the members. It was a gigantic +task, but he never faltered while the need was felt. + +In order to avoid confusion both in rehearsals and at each service, +every singer has an appointed seat. There is also a system of signals +employed by the organist, clearly understood and promptly responded +to by the chorus, for rising, resuming their seats, and for any other +duty. This regularity of movement, the precision with which the great +choir leads the attitudes and voices of the congregation in all the +musical services, the entire absence of confusion, impresses the +thoroughness of the chorus drill upon every one, and adds greatly to +the effectiveness and decorum of the service. + +Most remarkable of all the work of the chorus, perhaps, is the fact +that it has not only paid its way, but it has in addition contributed +financially to the help of the church. Most choral societies have to +be supported by guarantors, or friends or members must reach down in +their pockets and make up the deficits that occur with unpleasant +regularity. But the chorus of The Temple has borne its own expenses +and at various times contributed to the church work. + +At the annual banquet in 1905, the following statement was made of the +financial history of the chorus since 1892: + +Amount Received-- + Collections from members $ 2,564.60 + Fines paid by members 975.60 + Gross receipts from concerts 11,299.40 + --------- + $14,839.60 +Amount Disbursed-- + For music $ 2,167.80 + For sundry expenses for socials, flowers for sick, + contributions for benevolent purposes, etc. 1,035.81 + Expenses of concerts 8,506.34 + Contributions to church, college, hospital, Sunday + School, repairs to organ, etc. 3,050.51 + -------- + $14,760.46 + +The chorus has furnished a private room in the Samaritan Hospital at a +cost of $250, pays half the cost of the telephone service to a shut-in +member, so that while lying on his bed of sickness he can still hear +the preaching and singing of his beloved church, and has contributed +to members in need; in fact, whatever help was required, it has come +forward and shouldered its share of the financial burdens of the +church. It is a chorus that helps by its singing in more ways than +singing, though that were enough. + +Out of the chorus has grown many smaller organizations which not only +assist from time to time in the church and prayer meeting services, +but are in frequent demand by Lyceums and other churches. All the +money they earn is devoted to some part of The Temple work. + +The organ which rears its forest of beautiful pipes in the rear of the +church is one of the finest in the country. It was built under the +direct supervision of Professor Wood at a cost of $10,000. The case +is of oak in the natural finish, 35 feet wide, 35 feet high, 16 feet +deep. It has 41 stops, 2,133 pipes, four sets of manuals, each manual +with a compass of 61 notes; there are 30 pedal notes, 9 double-acting +combination pedals; all the metal pipes are 75 per cent pure tin. + +In loving Christian fellowship the chorus abides. No difficulty that +could not be settled among themselves has ever rent it; no jealousies +mar its peaceful course. Professor Wood is a wise leader. He leaves +no loophole for the green-eyed monster to creep in. He selects no one +voice to take solo parts. If a solo occurs, he gives it to the whole +of that voice in the chorus or to a professional. + +Dr. Conwell reads the hymns with so much expression and feeling that +new meaning is put into them. The stranger is quietly handed a hymn +book by some watchful member. The organ swings into the melody of the +hymn, the chorus, as one, rises, and a flood of song sweeps over the +vast auditorium that carries every one as in a mighty tide almost up +to the gates of heaven itself. And as it ebbs and sinks into silence, +faith has been refreshed and strengthened, hardened hearts softened, +the love of Christ left as a precious legacy with many a man and woman +there. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +SERVICES AT THE TEMPLE + +A Typical Sunday. The Young People's Church. Sunday School. The +Baptismal Service. Dedication of Infants. The Pastor's Thanksgiving +Reception to Children. Sunrise Services. Watch Meeting. + + +Sunday is a joyous day at The Temple, and a busy one. It is crowded +with work and it is good to be there. Services begin at half after +nine with prayer meetings in the Lower Temple by the Young Men's +Association and the Young Women's Association. The men's is held in +the regular prayer meeting room; the women's in the room of their +association. Each is led by some member of the association who is +assigned a subject for the morning's study. These subjects, together +with the leaders' names, are prepared in advance and printed on a +little schedule which is distributed among the church members, so that +they may know who has charge of the prayer meeting and the topic for +thought. + +Dr. Conwell has for twenty-two years presided at the organ in the +men's meeting, and usually before the services are over takes a peep +into the women's gathering, leaving a prayer or a brief word of cheer +and inspiration. The meetings are not long, but they are full of +spiritual strength. Men and women, tired with the business life of the +week, find them places of soul refreshment where they can step aside +from the rush and press of worldly cares and commune with the higher, +better things of life. + +By the time the prayer meetings are over, the members of the chorus +are thronging the Lower Temple, receiving their music and attendance +checks, waiting for the signal to march to their seats in the church +above. + +The morning services begin at half after ten, with the singing of +the Doxology, the chanting of the Lord's Prayer by the choir and +congregation, followed by the sermon. At the close of the service, Dr. +Conwell steps from the pulpit and meets all strangers or friends with +a hearty handclasp and a cordial word of greeting. + +While morning service is being conducted in The Temple, a Young +People's Church is held in the Lower Temple. Dr. Conwell has not +forgotten those wearisome Sundays of his boyhood when, too young to +appreciate the church service, he fidgeted, strove to keep awake, +whittled, and ended it all by thoroughly disliking church. He wants no +such unhappy youngsters to sit through his preaching. He wants no such +dislike of the church imbedded in childish hearts and minds. So he +planned the Young People's Church. Boys and girls between three and +fourteen attend it, and Sunday morning the streets in the neighborhood +of The Temple are thronged with happy-faced children on the way to +their own church, the youngest in the care of parents, who are able +later to enjoy more fully The Temple services, since they are not +compelled to keep a watchful eye on a restless child. + +Before the services begin, the children are very much at home. No +stiff, silent formalism chills youthful spirits. They are as joyous +and happy as they would be in their own homes. As the moment +approaches for the services to begin, they take their seats and at a +given signal rise and recite, "The Lord is in His holy Temple. Let all +the earth keep silence before Him." A hush falls and then the sweet, +childish voices begin that beautiful psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd, +I shall not want," and without break or faltering, recite it to the +end. Songs follow, bright, cheerful songs full of life, which they +sing with a will. Then responsive readings and the Lord's Prayer and +always plenty of singing. A short talk is given by the leader, often +some one especially secured for the occasion, a talk not over their +heads, but into their hearts, a talk whose meaning they can grasp and +which sets young minds to thinking of the finer, nobler things of +life and inspires them to so live as to be good and useful. Sometimes +lantern exhibits to illustrate special topics are given. The mere +sight of their bright, happy faces in contrast to the dull, bored +expression of the usual child in church proves the wisdom of the work. + +The children, as far as possible, perform all the duties of the +services. A small boy plays the music for their songs, two small girls +keep a record of the attendance, children take up the offering. But +it is a church in more than mere services. Committees from among the +children are appointed for visiting, for calling on the sick, to plan +for entertainments, provide the games for the socials, and to look +after all details of this character. There are also two officers, a +secretary and treasurer. An advisory committee of ladies, members of +The Temple, keep an oversight and guiding hand on the work of the +children. The instruction is all in the hands of trained teachers, +mostly from the college, including as Director the lady Dean of the +College, Dr. Laura H. Carnell. + +In the afternoon the Sunday Schools meet. The youngest children are +enrolled in the primary or kindergarten department. This has a bright, +cheery room of its own in the Lower Temple, with a leader and a number +of young women scattered here and there among the children to look +after their needs and keep them orderly. Hats are taken off and hung +on pegs on the wall and the youngsters are made to feel very much at +home. + +One of the prettiest features of the service in this department is +the offering of the birthday pennies. All the members who have had a +birthday during the week come forward to put a penny for each year +into the basket. Then the class stands up and recites a verse and +sings a song on birthdays. Very pretty and inspiring both verse and +song are, and then the honored ones return to their seats, wishing, no +doubt, they had a birthday every week. + +The taking of the offering is also a pretty ceremony. Verses on giving +are recited by the children, then one small child takes his stand in +the doorway, holding the basket, and the children all march by and +drop in their pennies. + +The intermediate department claims the next oldest children. It is +led by an orchestra composed of members of the Sunday School, and the +singing is joyous and spirited. The superintendent walks around among +the scholars during the opening exercises, smiling, encouraging, +giving a word of praise, urging them to do better. The fresh, clear +voices rise clear and strong. Outside, on Broad Street, people stop to +listen. Men lean up against the windows and drink in the melody. No +one knows what messages of peace and salvation those songs carry out +to the throng on the city street. + +The classes of the senior department meet in the various rooms of the +college, and the adult class in the auditorium of The Temple. This Dr. +Conwell conducted himself for a number of years, until pressure of +work compelled him to use these hours for rest. A popular feature of +his service was the question box, in which he answered any question +sent to him on any subject connected with religious life or experience +or Christian ethics in everyday life. The questions could be sent by +mail or handed to him on the platform by the ushers. They were most +interesting, and the service attracted men and women from all parts of +the city. The following was one of the questions, during the year of +building the college: + +"Five thousand dollars are due next week, and $15,000 next month. Will +you set on foot means to raise this amount or trust wholly to God's +direction?" + +And the pastor answered from the platform: + +"I would trust wholly in God's direction. This is a sort of test of +faith, and I would make it more so in the building of the College. +I do not know for certain now where the money is to come from next +Wednesday; I have an idea. But a few days ago I did not know at all. I +do not see where the $15,000 is to come from in December unless it be +that the Feast of Tithes will bring in $10,000 towards it; that would +be a marvelous sum for the people to give, but if it is necessary they +will give it. We are workers together with God. I have partly given +up my lecture work this month, as the church thought it was best, but +suppose there should come to me from Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, or +some other place a call to go and lecture on the 10th or 12th +of December, and they should offer me $500 or more--I would say +immediately, 'Yes, I will go'; that is God's call to help the College; +that would be the direction of God. Such opportunities will come to +those who should give this $15,000. If God intends the amount due on +the College to be paid (and I believe he does), he will cause the +hearts of those who desire to help to give money toward this cause. We +trust entirely to God. I don't believe if I were to lie down, and the +church should stop, that it would be paid. But I am sure that if we +work together with God, He will never fail to do as He promises, and +He won't ask us to do the impossible. I tell you, friends, I feel +sure that the $5,000 will be paid next Wednesday, and I feel sure the +$15,000 will be paid when it is due." + +It may be interesting to know that the $5,000 was paid; and when the +$15,000 was due in December, the money was in the treasury all ready +for it. + +From half after six on, there are the meetings of the various +Christian Endeavor Societies in the Lower Temple. At half after seven +the evening services begin and an overflow meeting is held at the same +time in the Lower Temple for those who find it impossible to gain +admittance to the main auditorium. + +The preaching service is followed by a half-hour prayer meeting in the +Lower Temple in which both congregations join, taxing its capacity +to the utmost. It is a half hour that flies, a half hour full of +inspiration and soul communion with the "Spirit that moved on the +waters," a fitting crown to a day devoted to His service. + +After the solemn benediction is pronounced, a half hour more of good +fellowship follows. The pastor meets strangers, shakes hands with +members, makes a special effort to hold a few words of personal +conversation with those who have risen for prayer. Friends and +acquaintances greet each other, and the home life of the church comes +to the surface. The hand of the clock creeps to eleven, sometimes +past, before the last member reluctantly leaves. + +Baptism is a very frequent part of the Sunday services at The Temple, +usually taking place in the morning. It is a beautiful, solemn +ordinance. The baptistry is a long, narrow pool, arranged to resemble +a running stream. Years ago, when Dr. Conwell was in Palestine, he was +much impressed with the beauty of the river Jordan at the place where +Jesus was baptized. Always a lover of the beautiful in nature, the +picture long remained in his memory, especially the leaves and +blossoms that drifted on the stream. When The Temple was planned he +thought of it and determined to give the baptismal pool as much of the +beauty of nature as possible. + +It is fifteen feet wide, sixty feet long, and during the hour of the +solemn ordinance, the brook is running constantly. The sides of the +pool, the pulpit and platform, summer or winter, are banked with +flowers, palms, moss and vines. On the surface of the water float +blossoms, while at the back, banked with mosses and flowers, splashes +and sparkles a little waterfall. Over all falls the soft radiance of +an illuminated cross. It is a beautiful scene, one that never fades +from the memory of the man or woman who is "buried with Christ by +baptism into death," to be raised again in the likeness of His +resurrection. The candidates enter at the right and pass out at +the left, the pastor pressing into the hands of each, some of the +beautiful blossoms that float on the water. During the whole service +the organ plays softly, the choir occasionally singing some favorite +hymn. + +When the number of candidates is large, being on occasion as high as +one hundred and seventy-seven adults, the associate pastor assists. It +is no unusual thing to see members of a family coming together to +make this public profession of their faith. Husband and wife, in many +cases; husband, wife and children in many others; a grandmother and +two grandchildren on one occasion, and on yet another, a venerable +gray-haired nurse came with four of the family in which she had served +for many years, and the five entered the baptistry together. + +"Among the converts," says one who witnessed a baptismal service, +"there were aged persons with their silvered hair. There were stalwart +men, fitted to bear burdens in the church for many years to come. +There were young men and maidens to grow into strong men and women +of the future church. There were little children sweet in their +simplicity and pure love of the Savior, little children who were +carried in the arms of those who assisted, and whom Dr. Conwell +tenderly held in his arms as he buried them with Christ." + +Another solemn service of the church is the dedication of infants. Any +parents who wish, may bring their child and reverently dedicate it to +God, solemnly promising to do all within their power to train it and +teach it to lead a Christian life and to make a public profession of +faith when it has arrived at the years of discretion. The service +reads: + +QUESTION.--Do you now come to the Lord's house to present your child +(children) to the Lord? ANSWER.--We do. + +QUES.--Will you promise before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, +that you will, so far as in you lieth, teach this child the Holy +Scriptures, and bring him (her) up in the nurture and admonition of +the Lord? Will you train his (her) mind to respect the services of the +Lord's House, and to live in compliance with the teachings and example +of our Lord? When he reaches the years of understanding, will you show +him the necessity of repentance, explain to him the way of salvation, +and urge upon him the necessity of conversion, Baptism, and union with +the visible Church of Christ? ANS.--We will. + +QUES.--By what name do you purpose to register him (her or them) at +this time? ANS.-- + + * * * * * + +_Beloved_: These parents have come to the house of God at this time to +present this child (these children) before the Lord in imitation of +the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple as recorded by the +Evangelist Luke, saying, "When the days of her [Mary's] purification +according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him +to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice +according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of +turtle doves or two young pigeons." These parents have learned from +the Lord Jesus himself that he desires that all the children should +come unto him, and that he was pleased when the little children +were brought unto him that he might put his hands on them and pray. +Therefore, in obedience to the scriptures, these parents are here to +present this child unto the Lord Jesus in spirit, that he may take him +up in his arms, place his spiritual hands on him and bless him. + +We will turn, therefore, to the Holy Scriptures for direction, as they +are our only rule of faith and practice, and ascertain the wishes and +commandments of the Lord in this matter. + +_I Sam. I, 26, 27, 28_: + +And Hannah said, O my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I am the +woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. + +For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which +I asked of him; + +Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he +shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there. + + * * * * * + +_Mark X, 13, 14, 15_: + +And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them; and +his disciples rebuked those that brought them. + +But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, +Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for +of such is the kingdom of God. + +Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God +as a little child, he shall not enter therein. + +And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed +them. + + * * * * * + +_Luke XVIII, 15, 16, 17_: + +And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them; but +when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. + +But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to +come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. + +Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God +as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. + + * * * * * + +_Matt. XVIII, 2-6, 14_: + +And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of +them. + +And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as +little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. + +Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the +same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. + +And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. + +But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, +it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, +and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. + +Even so it is not the will of your father which is in heaven, that one +of these little ones should perish. + +Therefore, believing it is wise and that it is a sacred duty to +dedicate our precious little ones to God in this solemn manner; +believing that all the dear children are especially loved by Christ; +and that when taken from this world before active, intentional +participation in sin, they are saved by His merciful grace; and +believing that Christ by His example, and the apostles by their direct +teaching, reserve the sacred ordinance of baptism for repentant +believers, we will now unitedly ask the Lord to accept the +consecration of this child (children), and to take him in His +spiritual arms and bless him. + +PRAYER. + +HYMN. + +BENEDICTION. + + * * * * * + +The pastor's reception to the children Thanksgiving afternoon is a +service the youngsters await from one year to another. Each child is +supposed to bring some article to be given to Samaritan Hospital. One +year each child brought a potato, which in the aggregate amounted to +several barrels. A writer in the "Temple Magazine," describing one of +these services, says: + +"The children came from all directions, of all sizes and in all +conditions. One lad marched up the aisle to a front seat, and his +garments fluttered, flag-like, at many points as he went; others were +evidently rich men's darlings, but all were happy, and their bright +eyes were fixed on the curtained platform, rather than on each other. +They came until four or five thousand of them had arrived, filling +every nook and corner of the Upper Temple." + +"Then Dr. Conwell came in, made them all feel at home--they already +were happy--and music, songs and entertainment followed for an hour +or more. At the close he shook hands with every happy youngster who +sought him--and few failed to do it--gave each a cheery word and +hearty handclasp, and then the little ones scattered, swarming along +the wide pavements of Broad Street till the Thanksgiving promenaders +wondered what had broken loose and whence the swarms of merry children +came." + +Sunrise services are held Easter and Christmas mornings at seven +o'clock. These beautiful days are ushered in by a solemn prayer +meeting, spiritual, uplifting, which seems to attune the day to the +music of heavenly things, and to send an inspiration into it which +glorifies every moment. + +Another service very dear to the members of Grace Baptist Church is +watch meeting. The services begin at eight o'clock New Year's Eve +with a prayer meeting which continues until about half after nine. An +intermission follows and usually a committee of young people serve +light refreshments for those who want them. At eleven o'clock the +watch meeting begins. It is a deeply spiritual meeting, opened by the +pastor with an earnest prayer for guidance in the year to come, for +renewed consecration to the Master's service, for a better and higher +Christian life both as individuals and a church. Hymns follow and a +brief, fervid talk on the year coming and its opportunities, of the +record each will write on the clean white page in the book of life +to be turned so soon. As midnight approaches, every church member is +asked to signify his re-dedication to God and His service by standing. +Then the solemn question is put to others present if they do not want +to give themselves to God, not only for the coming year, but for all +years. As twelve o'clock strikes, all bow in silent prayer while the +organ, under the pastor's touch, softly breathes a sacred melody. + +A few minutes later the meeting adjourns, "Happy New Years" are +exchanged, and the church orchestra on the iron balcony over the great +half rose window on Broad Street breaks into music. + +Sometimes an audience of a thousand people gather on the street to +listen to this musical sermon, preached at the parting of the ways, a +eulogy and a prophecy. A writer in the "Philadelphia Press" relates +the following incident in connection with a watch meeting service: + +"For the last half hour of the old and the first half hour of the new +year the band played sacred melodies to the delight of not less than +a thousand people assembled on the street. Diagonally across Broad +Street and a short distance below the church is the residence of the +late James E. Cooper, P.T. Barnum's former partner, the millionaire +circus proprietor. He had been ailing for months and on this night he +lay dying. + +"Although not a member he had always taken a personal interest in +Grace Church, and one of his last acts was the gift of $1,000 to the +building fund. On this night, the first on which The Temple balcony +had been used for its specially designed purpose, among the last of +earthly sounds that were borne to the ears of the dying man was the +music of 'Coronation' and 'Old Hundred,'--hymns that he had learned in +childhood. The watch meeting closed and from a scene of thanksgiving +and congratulation Rev. Mr. Conwell hurried to the house of mourning, +where he remained at the bedside of the stricken husband and father +until the morning light of earth came to the living and the morning of +eternity to the dying." + +Sacred music on the balcony at midnight also ushers in Christmas +and Easter. "On the street, long before the hour, the crowds gather +waiting in reverent silence for the opening of the service," writes +Burdette, in "Temple and Templars." "The inspiring strains of 'the +English Te Deum,' 'Coronation,' rise on the starlit night, thrilling +every soul and suggesting in its triumphant measures, the lines of +Perronet's immortal hymn made sacred by a thousand associations--'All +hail the power of Jesus' Name.'" "This greeting of the Resurrection, +as it floats out over Monument Cemetery just opposite, where sleep +so many thousands, does seem like an assurance sent anew from above, +cheering those who sleep in Jesus, telling them that as their Lord +and King had risen, and now lives again, so shall they live also. +Men looked at the graves of them that slept, listened to the song of +triumph that was making the midnight glorious, remembered the risen +Christ who was the theme of the song, thought of that other midnight, +the riven tomb, the broken power of Death a conquered conqueror, +and seemed to hear the Victor's proclamation as the apostle of the +Apocalypse heard it, pealing like a trumpet voice over all the earth, +'I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth and was dead; and +behold, I am alive forevermore; Amen; and have the keys of hell and +death!' + +"The music continues, the band playing 'The Gloria,' 'The Heavens are +Telling,' 'The Palms'; now and then the listeners join in singing as +the airs are more familiar, and 'What a Friend we Have In Jesus,' +'Whiter than Snow,' 'Just as I Am,' and other hymns unite many of the +audience on the crowded streets about The Temple in a volunteer choir, +and when the doxology, 'Praise God from whom all blessings flow,' +closes the service, hundreds of voices swell the volume of melody that +greets the Easter morning." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A TYPICAL PRAYER MEETING. + +The Prayer Meeting Hall. How the Meeting is Conducted. The Giving of +Favorite Bible Verses. Requests for Prayer. The Lookout Committee. + + +The prayer meetings of Grace Baptist Church are characterized by a +cheery, homelike atmosphere that appeals forcibly and at once to any +one who may chance to enter, inclining him to stay and enjoy the +service, be he the utmost stranger. + +But underneath this and soon felt, is the deep spiritual significance +of the meeting, which lays hold on men's hearts, inspiring, uplifting, +sending them home with a sense of having "walked with God" for a +little while. + +The large prayer meeting hall is usually crowded, the attendance +including not only members of the church but hundreds who are not +members of any church. It is no unusual sight to see all the various +rooms of the Lower Temple thrown into one by the raising of the +sashes, and this vast floor packed as densely as possible, while a +fringe of standers lines the edges. People will come to these prayer +meetings though they cannot see the platform, though they must lose +much of what is said. But the spirit of the meeting flows into their +hearts and minds, sending them home happier, and with a strengthened +determination to live a more righteous life. + +Frequently Dr. Conwell arrives ten or fifteen minutes before the time +for the service to begin. As he walks to the platform, he stops and +chats with this one, shakes hands with another, nods to many in the +audience. At once all stiffness and formalism vanish. It is a home, a +gathering of brothers and sisters. It is the meeting together of two +or three in His name, as in the old apostolic days, though these two +or three are now counted by the hundreds. + +When Dr. Conwell thus arrives early, the time is passed in singing. +Often he utilizes these few minutes to learn new hymns. So that when +the real prayer meeting is in progress, there will be no blundering +through new tunes or weak-kneed renditions of them. The singing, Dr. +Conwell wants done with the spirit. He will not sing a verse if the +heart and mind cannot endorse it. After singing several hymns in this +earnest, prayerful fashion, every one present is fully in tune for the +services to follow. Prayer meeting opens with a short, earnest prayer. +Then a hymn. It is Dr. Conwell's practice to have any one call out the +number of a hymn he would like sung. And it is no unusual thing to +hear a perfect chorus of numbers after Dr. Conwell's "What shall we +sing?" + +A chapter from the Bible is read and a short talk on it given. Then +Dr. Conwell says, "The meeting now is in your hands," and sits down as +if he had nothing more to do with it. But that subtle leadership which +leads without seeming to do so, is there ready to guide and direct. +He never allows the meeting to grow dull--though it seldom exhibits a +tendency to do so. If no one is inclined to speak, hymns are sung. An +interesting feature, and one that is tremendously helpful in leading +church members to take part in the prayer meeting, is the giving +of Bible verses. It is a frequent feature of Grace Church prayer +meetings. "Let us have verses of Scripture," or "Each one give his +favorite text," Dr. Conwell announces. Immediately from all parts of +the large room come responses. Some rise to give them, others recite +them sitting. Hundreds are given some evenings in a short space of +time, sometimes the speakers giving a bit of personal experience +connected with the verse. + +The prayer meetings are always full of singing, often of silent +prayer; and never does one end without a solemn invitation to those +seeking God and wishing the prayers of the church, to signify it by +rising. While the request is made, the audience is asked to bow in +silent prayer that strength may be given those who want God's help +to make it known. In the solemn hush, one after another rises to his +feet, often as many as fifty making this silent appeal for strength to +lead a better life. Immediately Dr. Conwell leads into an eloquent, +heartfelt prayer that those seeking the way may find it, that the +peace that passeth understanding may come into their hearts and lives. + +But Dr. Conwell doesn't let the matter rest here. A committee of +church members already appointed for just such work, is posted like +sentinels about the prayer meeting room, ready to extend practical +help to those who have asked for the prayers of the church. After +the services are over, each one who has risen is sought out, by some +member of this committee, talked with in a friendly, sympathetic way, +and his name and address taken. These are given to Dr. Conwell If time +permits, he writes to many of them. All of them he makes the subject +of personal prayer. + +Frequently, before asking those to rise who wish the prayers of the +church, Dr. Conwell asks if any one wishes to request prayers for +others. The response to this is always large. A member of the staff +of "The Temple Magazine" made a note at one prayer meeting of these +requests and published it in the magazine. Three requests were made +for husbands, eight for sons, one for a daughter, three for children, +ten for brothers, two for sisters, two for fathers, one for a cousin, +one for a brother-in-law, four for friends, eleven for Sunday School +scholars, one for a Sunday School class, four for sick persons, two +for scoffers, twenty-one for sinners, four for wanderers, five for +persons addicted to drink, three for mission schools, five for +churches--one that was divided, another deeply in debt, another for +a sick pastor and the other two seeking a higher development in +godliness. + +As many of these requests come from church members, both pastor and +people pay especial attention to them and practically, as well as +prayerfully, try to reach those for whom prayers are asked. In many +cases distinct answers to these prayers are secured, so evident that +none could mistake them. At an after-service on Sunday evening a +mother asked prayers for a wayward son in Chicago. Dr. Conwell and +some of the deacons led the church in prayer for the boy, very +definitely and in faith. At that same hour, as the young man afterward +related, he was passing a church in Chicago, and felt strangely +impressed to enter and give his heart to Christ. It was something he +had no intention of doing when he left his hotel a few minutes before. +But he went in, joined in the meeting, asked for forgiveness of his +sins and the prayers of the church to help him lead a better life, +and accepted Christ as his personal Savior. In the joy of his new +experience, he wrote his mother immediately. + +At another prayer meeting, Dr. Conwell read a letter from a gentleman +requesting the prayers of the church for his little boy whom the +doctors had given up to die. He stated in the letter that if God would +spare his child in answer to prayer, he would go anywhere and do +anything the Lord might direct. After reading the letter, Dr. Conwell +led earnestly in prayer, beseeching that the child's life might be +saved since it meant much for the cause of Christ on earth. Several +members of the church made fervent prayers for the child, and at the +close of the meeting, many expressed themselves as being confident +that their prayers would be answered. At that same hour, the disease +turned. The child has grown to be a young man, and with his father is +a member of Grace Church. + +Such direct, unmistakable answers to prayer strengthen faith, give +confidence to ask for prayers for loved ones, and make it a very +earnest, solemn part of the prayer meeting service. Thus working and +praying, praying and working, the church marches forward. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE TEMPLE COLLEGE + +The Night Temple College Was Born. Its Simple Beginning and Rapid +Growth. Building the College. How the Money was Raised. The Branches +it Teaches. Instances of Its Helpfulness. Planning for greater Things. + + +In a letter written to a member of his family, from which we quote the +following, Dr. Conwell tells how the idea of Temple College was born +in his mind one wintry night. + +"A woman, ragged, with an old shawl over her head, met me in an alley +in Philadelphia late one night. She saw the basket on my arm, and +looked in my face wistfully, as a dog looks up beside the dinner +table. She was hungry, and was coming in empty. I shook my head, and +with a peculiarly sad glance she turned down the dark passage. I +had found several families hungry, and yet I felt like a hypocrite, +standing there with an empty basket, and a woman, perhaps a mother, so +pale for lack of decent food. + +"On the corner was a church, stately and architecturally beautiful by +day, but after midnight it looked like a glowering ogre, and looked so +like Newgate Prison, in London, that I felt its chilly shadow. Half +a million cost the cemented pile, and under its side arch lay two +newsboys or boot-blacks asleep on the step. + +"What is the use? We cannot feed these people. Give all you have, and +an army of the poor will still have nothing; and those to whom you do +give bread and clothes to-day will be starving and naked to-morrow. +If you care for the few, the many will curse you for your partiality. +While I stood meditating, the police patrol drove along the street, +and I could see by the corner street lamp that there were two women, +one little girl and a drunken old man in the conveyance, going to +jail! I could do nothing for them. + +"At my door I found a man dressed in costly fashion, who had waited for +me outside, as he had been told that I would come soon, and the family +had retired. He said his dying father had sent for me. So I left the +basket in a side yard and went with the messenger. The house was a +mansion on Spring Garden Street. The house was inelegantly overloaded +with luxurious furniture, money wasted by some inartistic purchasers. +The paintings were rare and rich. The owners were shoddy. The family +of seven or eight gathered by the bedside when I prayed for the dying +old man. They were grief-stricken and begged me to stay until his soul +departed. It was daylight before I left the bedside, and as the dying +still showed that the soul was delaying his journey, I went into the +spacious, handsome library. Seeing a rare book in costly binding among +the volumes on a lower shelf, I opened the door and took it out My +hands were black with dust. I glanced then along the rows and rows of +valuable books, and noticed the dust of months or years. The family +were not students or readers. One son was in the Albany Penitentiary; +another a fugitive in Canada. At the funeral, afterwards, the wife +and daughter from Newport were present, and their tears made furrows +through the paint. Those rich people were strangely poor, and a book +on a side table on the 'Abolition of Poverty' seemed to be in the +right place. + +"That night was conceived the Temple College idea. It was no new +truth, no original invention, but merely a simpler combination of old +ideas. There was but one general remedy for all these ills of poor and +rich, and that could only be found in a more useful education. Poverty +seemed to me to be wholly that of the mind. Want of food, or clothing, +or home, or friends, or morals, or religion, seemed to be the lack of +the right instruction and proper discipline. The truly wise man need +not lack the necessities of life, the wisely educated man or woman +will get out of the dirty alley and will not get drunk or go to +jail. It seemed to me then that the only great charity was in giving +instruction. + +"The first class to be considered was the destitute poor. Not one in a +thousand of those living in rags on crusts would remain in poverty if +he had education enough of the right kind to earn a better living by +making himself more useful. He is poor because he does not know any +better. Knowledge is both wealth and power. + +"The next class who stand in need of the assistance love wishes to +give is the great mass of industrious people of all grades, who are +earning something, who are not cold or hungry, but who should earn +more in order to secure the greater necessities of life in order to be +happy. They could be so much more useful if they knew how. To learn +how to do more work in the same time, or how to do much better work, +is the only true road to riches which the owner can enjoy. + +[Illustration: THE SAMARITAN HOSPITAL Showing the houses in which it +was originally located, and part of the new building] + +"To help a man to help himself is the wisest effort of human love. To +have wealth and to have honestly earned it all, by labor, skill or +wisdom, is an object of ambition worthy of the highest and best. +Hence, to do the most good to the great classes, rich or poor, we must +labor industriously. The lover of his kind must furnish them with the +means of gaining knowledge while they work. + +"Then there was a third class of mankind, starving, with their tables +breaking with luscious foods, cold in warehouses of ready-made +clothing of the most costly fabrics; seeing not in the moon-light, and +restless to distraction on beds of eiderdown. They do not know the +use or value of things. They are harassed with plenty they cannot +appropriate. They are doubly poor. They need education. The library +is a care, an expense and a disgrace to the owner who cannot read. To +give education to those in the possession of property which they might +use for the help of humanity and which they might enjoy, is as clear a +duty and charity as it is to help the beggar. And, indeed, indirectly +the education of the unwise wealthy to become useful may be the most +practical way of raising the poor. There is a need for every dollar of +the nation's property, and it should be invested by men whose minds +and hearts have been trained to see the human need and to love to +satisfy it. + +"The thought that in education of the best quality was to be found the +remedy for hunger, loneliness, crime and weakness was most clearly +emphasized to my mind by the coming of two young men who had felt the +need from the under side. They had received but little instruction; +they were over twenty years of age, and they wished to enter the +ministry. Was there any way open for a poor, industrious laborer to +get the highest education while he supported his mother, sister and +himself? I urged them to try it for the good of many who would +follow them if they made it a clear success. I was elated almost to +uncontrollable enthusiasm the night they came to my study to begin +their course. They brought five with them, and all proved themselves +noble men. One is not, for God took him. But the others are moulding +and inspiring their world." + +Thus was conceived the idea of the institution that is now educating +annually three thousand men and women. The need for it has been +plainly proven. Rev. Forest Dager, at one time Dean of Temple College, +said in regard to the people who in later life crave opportunities for +study: + +"That the Temple College idea of educating working men and working +women, at an expense just sufficient to give them an appreciation of +the work of the Institution, covers a wide and long-neglected field +of educational effort, is at once apparent to a thoughtful mind. +Remembering that out of a total enrollment in the schools of our land +of all grades, public and private, of 14,512,778 pupils, 96-1/2 per +cent are reported as receiving elementary instruction only; that not +more than 35 in 1,000 attend school after they are fourteen years of +age; that 25 of these drop out during the next four years of their +life; that less than 10 in 1,000 pass on to enjoy the superior +instruction of a college or some equivalent grade of work, we begin +to see the unlimited field before an Institution like this. Thousands +upon thousands of those who have left school quite early in life, +either because they did not appreciate the advantages of a liberal +education, or because the stress of circumstances compelled them to +assist in the maintenance of home, awake a few years later to the +realization that a good education is more than one-half the struggle +for existence and position. Their time through the day is fully +occupied; their evenings are free. At once they turn to the evening +college, and grasping the opportunities for instruction, convert those +hours which to many are the pathway to vice and ruin, into stepping +stones to a higher and more useful career ... An illustration of the +wide-reaching influence of the College work is the significant fact +that during one year there were personally known to the president, +no less than ninety-three persons pursuing their studies in various +universities of our country, who received their first impulses toward +a higher education and a wider usefulness in Temple College." + +In 1893, in an address on the Institutional church, delivered before +the Baptist Ministers' Conference in Philadelphia, Dr. Conwell said: + +"At the present time there are in this city hundreds of thousands--to +speak conservatively, (I should say at least five hundred thousand +people) who have not the education they certainly wish they had +obtained before leaving school. There are at least one hundred +thousand people in this city willing to sacrifice their evenings and +some of their sleep to get an education, if they can get it without +the humiliation of being put into classes with boys and girls six +years old. They are in every city. There is a large class of young +people who have reached that age where they find they have made a +mistake in not getting a better education. If they could obtain one +now, in a proper way, they would. The university does not furnish such +an opportunity. The public school does not. + +"The churches must institute schools for those whom the public does +not educate, and must educate them along the lines they cannot reach +in the public schools. + +"We are not to withdraw our support from, nor to antagonize, the +public schools; they are the foundations of liberty in the nation. But +the public schools do not teach many things which young men and young +women need. I believe every church should institute classes for the +education of such people, and I believe the Institutional church will +require it. I believe every evening in the week should be given to +some particular kind of intellectual training along some educational +line; that this training should begin with the more evident needs of +the young people in each congregation, and then be adjusted as the +matter grows, to the wants of each." + +So, because one poor boy struggled so bitterly for an education, +because a man, keen-eyed, saw others' needs, reading the signs by the +light of his own bitter experience, a great College for busy men and +women has grown, to give them freely the education which is very bread +and meat to their minds. + +Most people use for their own benefit the lessons they have learned in +the hard school of experience. They have paid for them dearly. They +endeavor to get out of them what profit they can. Not so Dr. Conwell. +He uses his dearly bought experiences for the good of others, turning +the bitterness which he endured, into sweetness for their refreshment. + +The Temple College was founded, as was stated in its first catalogue, +for the purpose "of opening to the burdened and circumscribed manual +laborer, the doors through which he may, if he will, reach the fields +of profitable and influential professional life. + +"Of enabling the working man, whose labor has been largely with his +muscles, to double his skill through the helpful suggestions of a +cultivated mind. + +"Of providing such instruction as shall be best adapted to the higher +education of those who are compelled to labor at their trades while +engaged in study, or who desire while studying to remain under the +influence of their home or church. + +"Of awakening in the character of young laboring men and women a +strong and determined ambition to be useful to their fellowmen. + +"Of cultivating such a taste for the higher and most useful branches +of learning as shall compel the students, after they have left the +college, to continue to pursue the best and most practical branches +of learning to the very highest walks of mental and scientific +achievement." + +A broad, humanitarian purpose it is, one that grew out of the heart of +a man who loved humanity, who believed in the practical application of +the teachings of Christ, who knew a cause would succeed if it filled a +need. + +Dr. Conwell's own experience, his observations of life had told +him that this great need existed, but it was brought home to him +practically in 1884, when these two young men of whom he speaks in +the letter quoted came to him and said they wanted to study for the +ministry but had no money. His mind leaped the years to those boyhood +days when he longed for an education but had no money. He fixed an +evening and told them he would teach them himself. When the night +came, the two had become seven. The third evening, the seven had grown +to forty. It was in the days when pastor and people were working hard +for their new church and his hands were full. But he did not shirk +this new task that came to him. Forty people eager to study, anxious +to broaden their mental vision, to make their lives more useful, could +not be disappointed, most assuredly not by a man who had known this +hunger of the mind. Teachers were secured who gave their services +free, the lower parts of the church where they were then worshipping +at Berks and Mervine streets were used as class rooms and the work +went forward with vigor. + +The first catalogue was issued in 1887, and the institution chartered +in 1888, at which time there were five hundred and ninety students. +The College overflowed the basement of the church into two adjoining +houses. When The Temple was completed the College occupied the whole +building. When that was filled it moved into two large houses on Park +Avenue. Still growing, it rented two large halls. + +The news that The Temple College had enlarged quarters in these halls +brought such a flood of students that almost from the start applicants +were turned away. Nothing was to be done but to build. It was a +serious problem. The church itself had but just been completed and a +heavy debt of $250,000 hung over it. To add the cost of a college to +this burden of debt required faith of the highest order, work of the +hardest. But God had shown them their work and they could not shirk it. + +"For seven years I have felt a firm conviction that the great work, +the special duty of our church, is to establish the College," said Dr. +Conwell, in speaking of the matter to his congregation. "We are now +face to face with it. How distinctly we have been led of God to this +point! Never before in the history of this nation have a people had +committed to them a movement more important for the welfare of mankind +than that which is now committed to your trust in connection with the +permanent establishment of The Temple College. We step now over the +brink. Our feet are already in the water, and God says, 'Go on, it +shall be dryshod for you yet'; and I say that the success of this +institution means others like it in every town of five thousand +inhabitants in the United States." + +"One thing we have demonstrated--those who work for a living have time +to study. Some splendid specimens of scholarship have been +developed in our work. And there are others, splendid geniuses, yet +undiscovered, but The Temple College will bring them to the light, and +the world will be the richer for it. By the use of spare hours--hours +usually running to waste--great things can be done. The commendation +of these successful students will do more for the college than any +number of rich friends can do. It will make friends; it will bring +money; it will win honor; it will secure success." + +An investment fund was created and once more the people made their +offerings. The same self-sacrificing spirit was evident as in the +building of the church. One boy brought to the pastor fifty cents, the +first money he had ever earned; a woman sent to the treasury a gold +ring, the only gift she could make, which bore interest in the +suggestion that all who chose might offer similar gifts as did the +women in the day of Moses. A business man hearing of this said, "If a +day is appointed, I will on that day give to the College all the gold +and silver that comes into my store for purchases." Every organization +of Grace Church contributed time, work, money, and prayer to the +building of the College. Small wonder then that obligations were met +and payments made promptly. + +One of the most successful methods by which money was raised for +the College was the "Penny Talent" effort in 1893. Burdette, in his +"Temple and Templars" has made a most painstaking record of the +various ways in which the talent was used. He says: + +"Each worker was given a penny, no more. Four thousand were given out +at one service. One man put his penny in a neat box, took it to his +office, and exhibited his 'talent' at a nickel a 'peep.' He gained +$1.70 the first day of his 'show,' A woman bought a 'job lot' of +molasses with her penny, made it into molasses candy, sold it in +square inch cakes, after telling the customer her story; payments were +generous and she netted $1.80. Then the man who sold her the molasses +returned her penny. Another sister established a 'cooky' business, +which grew rapidly. One boy kept his penny and went to work, earned 50 +cents, the first money he ever earned in his life. It was a big penny, +but he was bubbling over with enthusiasm and in it all went; he +brought it straight to his pastor. One worker collected autographs +and sold them. A boy sold toothpicks. One young man made silver +buttonhooks and a young lady sold them. A woman traded her penny up +to a dollar, made aprons from that time on until she earned $10. One +class of seven girls in the Sunday-school united its capital and gave +a supper at the Park and netted $50. The Young Men's Bible Class +constructed a model of the College building, which they exhibited. The +children gave a supper in the Lower Temple, which added $100 to the +College fund. There came into the treasury $1.00 'saved on carfares'; +'whitewashing a cellar' brought $3. Thrice, somebody walked from +Germantown to The Temple and back, saving 75 cents; a wife saved $20 +from household allowances. A little girl of seven years went into a +lively brokerage business with her penny, and took several 'flyers' +that netted her handsome margins. Here is her report-- + +"'Sold the "talent penny" to Aunt Libby for seven cents; sold the +seven cents to Mamma for 25 cents; sold the 25 cents to Papa for 50 +cents. Aunt Caddie, 10 cents; Uncle Gilman, 5 cents; Cousin Walter, 4 +cents; cash, 25 cents,--$1.04 and the penny talent returned.' + +"'Pinching the market-basket' sent in $2.50; 'all the pennies and +nickels received in four months, $12.70'; 'walking instead of riding, +$6.50'; 'singing and making plaster plaques, $7.' A dentist bought of +a fellow dentist one cent's worth of cement filling-material; this he +used, giving his labor, and earned 50 cents; with this he bought 50 +cents' worth of better filling, part of which he used, again giving +his labor, and the College gained $3.00. A boy sold his penny to a +physician for a dollar. The physician sold the 'talent penny' for 10 +cents, which he exchanged at the Mint for bright new pennies. These he +took to business friends and got a dollar apiece for them; added $5.00 +of his own and turned in $15.00. Donations of one cent each were +received through Mr. William P. Harding, from Governor Tillman of +South Carolina, Governor McKinley of Ohio, Governor Russell of +Massachusetts. From Governor Fuller of Vermont--a rare old copper +cent, 1782, coined by Vermont before she was admitted to the Union; +the governors' letters were sold to the highest bidders. Everybody who +worked, everybody who traded with the penny, did something, and every +penny was blessed, so lovingly and so zealously was the trading done. +It was the Master's talent which they were working with. All the +little things that went into the treasury; lead pencils, tacks, $3.00 +in one case and $5.00 in another; 'beefs liver, $14.00'--think of +that! How tired the boarders must have grown of liver away out on +Broad Street--stick pins, hairpins, and the common kind that you bend +and lose; candy, pretzels, and cookies; 'old tin cans,' wooden spoons, +pies; one man sent $50.00 as a gift because he said 'his penny had +brought him luck'; another found 16 pennies, which good fortune he +ascribed to the penny in his pocket. + +"So in October the workers who had received their pennies in April +came together to show what they had done. Four thousand pennies had +been given out; $6,000 came directly from the returns, and indirectly +about $8,000 more. + +"The 'Feast of Tithes,' held in December of the same year, was a great +fair, extending through seven week days. The displays of goods and the +refreshment booths were in the Lower Temple, while fine concerts and +other entertainments were given in the auditorium. The Feast of Tithes +netted $5,500 for the College fund." + +Thus the work progressed. No one could give large amounts, but many +gave a little, and stone by stone the building grew. In August, 1893, +the corner stone of the College building was laid. Taking up the +silver trowel which had been used in laying the corner stone of The +Temple, in 1889, Dr. Conwell said: + +"Friends, to-day we do something more than simply lay the corner stone +of a college building. We do an act here very simply that shows to the +world, and will go on testifying after we have gone to our long rest, +that the church of Jesus Christ is not only an institution of theory, +but an institution of practice. It will stand here upon this great +and broad street and say through the coming years to all passersby, +'Christianity means something for the good of humanity; Christianity +means not only a belief in things that are good and pure and +righteous, but it also means an activity that shall bless those who +need the assistance of others.' It shall say to the rich man, 'Give +thou of thy surplus to those who have not.' It shall say to the poor +man, 'Make thou the most of thy opportunities and thou shalt be the +equal of the rich.' + +"Now, in the name of the people who have given for this enterprise, +in the name of the many Christians who have prayed, and who are now +sending up their prayers to heaven, I lay this corner stone." + +The work went on. In May, 1894, a great congregation thronged The +Temple to attend the dedication services of "Temple College," for it +was in its new home; a handsome building, presenting with The Temple a +beautiful stone front of two hundred feet on the broad avenue which it +faces. Robert E. Pattison, governor of Pennsylvania, presided, saying, +in his introductory remarks, "Around this noble city many institutions +have arisen in the cause of education, but I doubt whether any of them +will possess a greater influence for good than Temple College." Bishop +Foss, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, offered prayer. The orator +was Honorable Charles Emory Smith, of Philadelphia, ex-minister +to Russia. Mr. James Johnson, the builder, gave the keys to the +architect, Mr. Thomas P. Lonsdale, who delivered them to the pastor of +Grace Church and president of Temple College, remarking that "it was +well these keys should be in the hands of those who already held the +keys to the inner temple of knowledge." + +President Conwell, receiving the keys, said that, "by united effort, +penny by penny, and dollar by dollar, every note had been paid, every +financial obligation promptly met. It is a demonstration of what +people can do when thoroughly in earnest in a great enterprise." + +Academies were also started in distant parts of the city for the +benefit of those who could not reach the college in time for classes. +Unfortunately these academies were compelled to close on account of +lack of funds. Many pitiful letters were received at the college +from those who were thus shut out of educational advantages. One in +particular, poorly spelled but breathing its bitter disappointment, +said that the writer (a woman) was just beginning to hope she would +get her head above water some day. But that now she must sink again. A +little light had begun to glimmer for her through the blackness, but +that light had been taken away. She was going down again into the +depth of hopeless ignorance with no one to lend a helping hand--the +tragedy of which Carlyle wrote when he penned "That there should +be one man die ignorant who is capable of knowledge, this I call a +tragedy." + +The College at first was entirely free, but as the attendance +increased, it was found necessary to charge a nominal tuition fee in +order to keep out those who had no serious desire to study, but came +irregularly "just for the fun of the thing." When it was decided to +charge five dollars a year for the privilege of attending the evening +classes, the announcement was received with the unanimous approbation +of the students who honestly wished to study, and who more than any +others were hindered by the aimless element. + +Not only did the poor and those who were employed during the day come, +but before long the sons and daughters of the well-to-do were knocking +at the doors, not for admission to the evening classes but for day +study. So the day department was opened. Not only has it proved +most successful in its work, but it has helped the College to meet +expenses. + +The curriculum of the College is broad. A child just able to walk can +enter the kindergarten class in the day department and receive his +entire schooling under the one roof, graduating with a college degree, +taking a special university course, or fitting himself for business. + +Four university courses are given--theology, law, medicine, pharmacy. +The Medical and Theological Departments take students to their +graduation and upon presentation of their diploma before the State +Board they are admitted to the State Examination. The Theological +Course, of course, graduates a man the same as any other theological +seminary. + +Post-graduate courses are also given. + +The college courses include--arts, science, elocution and oratory, +business, music, civil engineering, physical education. The graduates +of the college course are admitted to the post-graduate courses of +Pennsylvania, Yale, Princeton and Harvard on their diplomas. Students +pass from any year's work of the college course to the corresponding +course of other Institutions. + +The preparatory courses are college preparatory, medical preparatory, +scientific preparatory, law preparatory, an English course and a +business preparatory course. Thus, if one is not ready to enter one of +the higher courses, he can prepare here by night study for them. + +The Business Course includes a commercial course, shorthand course, +secretarial course, conveyancing course, telegraphy course, +advertisement writing and proofreading. + +There are normal courses for kindergarteners and elementary teachers, +and in household science, physical training, music, millinery, +dressmaking, elocution and oratory. + +Special courses are given in civil engineering, chemistry, elocution +and oratory, painting and drawing, sign writing, mechanical and +architectural drawing, music, physical training, dressmaking, +millinery, cooking, embroidery, and nursing, the last being given at +the Samaritan Hospital. + +All of these courses, excepting the Normal Kindergarten, can be +studied day or evening, as best suits the student. + +The kindergarten and model schools cover the work of the public +schools from the kindergarten to the highest grammar grades, fitting +the student to enter the first year of the preparatory department. +These classes are held in the daytime only. + +The power to confer degrees was granted in 1891. The teaching force +has been greatly enlarged until at present there are one hundred +and thirty-five teachers and an average of more than three thousand +regular students yearly. + +The number of students instructed at Temple College in proportion to +money expended and buildings used is altogether out of proportion +to any other college in America. Some idea of the breadth of study +presented at Temple College may be had from a comparison with +Harvard. Harvard has more than five thousand students, four hundred +instructors, and presents five hundred courses of study. Its growth +since 1860 has been wonderful. In 1860, while one man might not have +been able in four years to master all the subjects offered, he could +have done so in six. It was estimated in 1899 that the courses +of study offered were so varied that sixty years would have been +required. It would take one student ninety-six years to take all the +courses presented by the Temple College. + +From the time of the opening of Temple College up to the closing +exercises of 1905, its students have numbered 55,656. If an answer is +desired to the question, "Is such an institution needed," that number +answers is most emphatically. That more than fifty thousand people, +the majority of them wording men and women, will give their nights +after a day of toil, to study, proves that the institution that gives +them the opportunity to study is sorely needed. + +The life story of men and women who have studied here and gone on to +lives of usefulness would make interesting reading. One young girl who +lived in the mill district of Kensington was earning $2.50 a week, +folding circulars, addressing envelopes and doing such work. Her +parents were poor. She had the most meagre education, and the outlook +for her to earn more was dark. Some one advised her to go to Temple +College at night and study bookkeeping. A few years after, her +well-wisher saw her one evening at the college, bright, happy, a +different girl in both dress and deportment She had a position as +bookkeeper at $10 a week and was going on now and taking other +courses. + +That is the ordinary story of the work Temple College does, multiplied +in thousands of lives. Others are not so ordinary. One of the early +students was a poor man earning $6.00 a week. To-day he is earning +$6,000 a year in a government position at Washington, his rise in +life due entirely to the opportunities of study offered him at Temple +College. A lady who had been brought up in refined and cultured +society was compelled to support herself, her husband and child +through his complete physical breakdown. She took the normal course +in dressmaking and millinery, and has this year been appointed the +Director of the Domestic Science work in a large institution at a very +good salary, being able to keep herself and family in comfort. One of +the present college students was a weaver without any education at +all, getting not only his elementary education and his preparatory +education here, but will next year graduate from the college +department. He has been entirely self-supporting in the meantime, and +will make a fine teacher of mathematics. He has been teaching extra +classes in the evening department of the College for several years. + +One of the students who entered the classes in 1886 was a poor boy +of thirteen. For nineteen long years he has studied persistently at +night, passing from one grade to another until this summer (1905) his +long schooling was crowned with success and he was admitted to the +bar. All these weary years he has worked hard during the day, for +there were others depending upon him, and at night despite his +physical weariness, has faithfully pursued his studies. He deserves +his success and the greater success that will come to him, for such a +man in those long years has stored away experiences that will make him +a power. + +Another student in the early days of the college was a poor boy who +had no education whatever, having been compelled to help earn the +family living as soon as he was able, his father being a drunkard. For +fifteen years he studied, passing from one grade to another until in +1899, he had the great joy of being ordained to the ministry, six of +his ministerial brethren gathering around him in the great Temple and +laying on his head the hands of ordination, feeling they were setting +apart to the struggles and hardships of the Gospel ministry one who +had shown himself worthy of his exalted calling. + +One of the official stenographers connected with the Panama Canal +Commission was a breaker boy who came to Philadelphia from the mining +district poor and ignorant, and studied in Temple College at night, +working during the day to earn his living. + +Such records would fill a book. They prove better even than numbers +the worth of such an institution. If only one such man or woman is +lifted to a happier, more useful life, the work is worth while. + +Such an institution can do much for the purification of politics. +Before the students are ever held high ideals of right living, of +honesty, of purity. All the associations of the College are conducive +to clean character and high ideals. As the largest number of the +students are men and women from active business life, they are keenly +alive to the questions of the day. They know the responsibility for +honest government rests with each voter, that to have clean politics +every man and woman must individually do his share to uphold high +standards in political and social life, that only men whose characters +are above reproach should be elected to office. That the President of +their college shares these views and knows also what a power lies in +their hands, is shown by the following letter: + +"Fraternal Greetings: The near approach of an important election leads +me to suggest to you the following: + +"First. There being now in this city over seven thousand voters who +have been students in the Temple College, you have by your votes +and your influence, either by combination or as individuals, a +considerable political power. You should use it for the good of your +city, state, and nation. + +"Second. In city affairs I urge you to think first of the poor. The +rich do not need your care. Vote only for such city candidates as will +most speedily secure for the more needy classes pure water, clean +streets, cheaper homes, cheaper and more useful education, healthier +environment, cheap and quick transportation, the development of the +labor-giving improvements, and the increase of sea-going and inland +commerce. Select large-hearted, cool-headed men for city officers, +regardless of national parties. + +"Third. Let no man or party purchase your patriotic birthright for a +fifty-cent tax bill or any other sum. + +"Fourth. In selecting your candidates for state offices remember the +needs of the people. Favor the granting to the submerged poor a more +favorable opportunity to help themselves. Move in the most reasonable +and direct way toward the ultimate abolition of the sale of +intoxicating liquors as a beverage, and for the increase of hospital +and college privileges for the afflicted and the ignorant. + +"Fifth. In national politics, remember that both parties have a +measure of truth in their principles, and the need of the time is +noble, conscientious lovers of humanity, who will not be led by party +enthusiasm into any wild schemes in either direction which would +result in the destruction of business and the degradation of national +honor. Think independently, vote considerately, stand unflinchingly +against any measure that is wrong, and vigorously in favor of every +movement that is right. This is an opportunity to do a great, good +deed. Quit you like men. With endearing affection, + +"RUSSELL H. CONWELL." + +Even now the press of students is so great the trustees are planning +larger things. The "Philadelphia Press,' speaking of the new work to +be undertaken, said: + +"A city university, with a capacity of seven thousand students, more +than are attending any other one seat of learning in the United +States, is to be built in Philadelphia. It will be the university of +the Temple College and will stand on the site of the old Broad Street +Baptist Church at the southeast corner of Broad and Brown Streets, +and the lot adjoining the church property on the south side on Broad +Street. + +"The new structure will cost $225,000, while the ground on which it +will be built is worth $165,000, making the total value of the new +institution $390,000. + +"Rev. Russell H. Conwell, D.D., pastor of the Grace Baptist Church, +at Broad and Berks Streets, and President of Temple College, said +yesterday that the new university will be completed and ready for +occupancy by September, 1906. In the twenty years of its existence +Temple College has grown as have few educational institutions in +America, until now it has more than three thousand students enrolled +yearly. + +"With the erection of the university building the institution will +have facilities for educating four thousand more students, or a total +of seven thousand. + +"Some idea of how the other great universities of the country compare +with regard to the number of students attending them with this new +university of Philadelphia is shown by the following table: + +Name. Number of Students, + +Temple University 7,000 + +Harvard 5,393 + +Yale 2,995 + +Pennsylvania 2,692 + +Princeton 1,373 + +"The Temple University building will be eight stories high, at +least that is the plan the trustees have in mind at present, but the +structure will be so built that a height of two stories may be added +at any time. It will have a frontage of 129 feet on Broad Street and +140 feet on Brown Street. The corner property was deeded as a gift to +Temple College by the Broad and Brown Streets Church and the College +then purchased the adjoining property on Broad Street. In appreciation +of the gift the College has offered the use of the university chapel, +which will be built in the building, to the Broad and Brown Streets +Church congregation for a place of worship. + +"The university will be built of stone, and while not an elaborate +structure, it will be substantial and suitable in every respect and +imposing in its very simplicity. + +"In addition to the university offices there will be a large +gymnasium, a free dispensary, departments of medicine, theology, law, +engineering, sciences, and, in fact, all the branches of learning that +are taught in any of the great universities. There will be a library +and lecture room for every department, pathological and chemical +laboratories and a sufficient number of classrooms to preclude +crowding of students for the next ten or fifteen years. + +"There are now one hundred and thirty-five instructors in Temple +College, but when the university is opened this number will be +increased to three hundred. + +"The present college building, which adjoins the Baptist Temple, will +continue to be used, but only for the normal classes and lower grade +of work. The building will be remodeled. The dwelling adjoining the +college which has been occupied as the theological department will be +vacated when the university is completed. + +"Dr. Conwell, the father of Temple College and who in years to come +will be spoken of as the father of Temple University, said yesterday: + +"'It will be a university for busy people, the same as the college has +been a college for busy people. Our institution reaches and benefits +a class--in some respects the greatest class--of persons who want +to study and enlarge their education, but cannot attend the other +universities and colleges for financial reasons and because of their +business. + +"'There's many a man and woman, young and middle-aged, who is not +satisfied with himself--he wants to go on farther, he wants to learn +more. But his daily work won't allow him to complete his education +because of the inconvenient hours of the classes and lectures in +other colleges. And he comes to Temple, as there classes are held +practically all day and for several hours at night. The terms of the +course at Temple College are reasonable, and thus many young men or +women may prepare themselves for higher and more remunerative work, +whereas they would not feel that they could afford to pay the tuition +fee at some other institution. The Temple University will be similar +to the London University, a city university for busy persons.'" + +Thus Temple College grows because it is needed. And such an +institution is needed in other cities as well as in Philadelphia. This +is but the pioneer. It can have sister institutions wherever people +want to study and Christian hearts want to help. + +It grows also because in the heart of one man, its founder, is the +bitter knowledge of how sorely such an institution is needed by those +who want to study, and who himself works hand, heart and soul so that +it shall never fail those who need it. + +Says James M. Beck, the noted lawyer: "There have been very wealthy +men who, out of the abundance of their resources, have founded +colleges, but I can hardly recall a case where a man, without abundant +means, by mere force of character and intellectual energy, has both +created and maintained an institution of this size and character,'" + +Far back in the dim light of the centuries, Confucius wrote, "Give +instruction unto those who cannot obtain it for themselves." This is +the great and useful work the Temple College is doing and doing it +nobly, a work that will count for untold good on future generations. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE SAMARITAN HOSPITAL + +Beginning in Two Rooms. Growth. Number of Beds. Management. Temple +Services Heard by Telephone. Faith and Nationality of Those Cared For. + + +His pastoral work among his church members and others of the +neighborhood brought to Dr. Conwell's mind constantly the needs of the +sick poor. Scarcely a week passed that some one did not come to him +for help for a loved one suffering from disease, but without means to +secure proper medical aid. Sick and poor--that is a condition which +sums up the height of human physical suffering--the body racked with +pain, burning with fever, yet day and night battling on in misery, +without medical aid, without nursing, without any of the comforts that +relieve pain. Nor is the sick one the only sufferer. Those who love +him endure the keenest mental anguish as they stand by helpless, +unable to raise a finger for his relief because they are poor. Through +the deep waters of both these experiences Dr. Conwell had himself +passed. He knew the anguish of heart of seeing loved ones suffer, of +being unable to secure for them the nourishing food, the care needed +to make them well. He knew the wretchedness of being sick and poor and +of not knowing which way to turn for help, while quivering flesh and +nerves called in torture for relief. His heart went out in burning +sympathy to all such cases that came to his knowledge, and generously +he helped. But they were far too many for one man, big-hearted and +open-handed as he might be. More and more the need of a hospital in +that part of the city was impressed upon him. Accidents among his +membership were numerous, yet the nearest hospital was blocks and +blocks away, a distance which meant precious minutes when with every +moment life was ebbing. + +He laid the matter before his church people. Down through the +centuries came ringing in their ears that command, "Heal the sick." +They knew it was Christ's work--"Unto Him were brought all sick people +that were taken with divers diseases and he healed them." + +So they decided to rent two rooms where the sick could be cared for, +and later built a hospital for the poor, where without money and +without price, the best medical aid, the tenderest nursing were at the +command of those in need. + +"The Hospital was founded," says Dr. Conwell, "and this property +purchased in the hope that it would do Christ's work. Not simply to +heal for the sake of professional experience, not simply to cure +disease and repair broken bones, but to so do those charitable acts as +to enforce the truth Jesus taught, that God 'would not that any should +perish, but that all should come unto Him and live.' Soul and body, +both need the healing balm of Christianity. The Hospital modestly +and touchingly furnishes it to all classes, creeds, and ages whose +sufferings cause them to cry out, 'Have mercy on me!'" + +So far as buildings were concerned, it began in a small way, though +its spirit of kindness and Christian charity was large. After one year +in rented rooms, a house was purchased on North Broad Street, near +Ontario Street, and fitted up as a hospital with wards, operating room +and dispensary. It was situated just where a network of railroads +focuses and near a number of large factories and machine shops, where +accidents were occurring constantly. Almost immediately its wards were +filled. The name "Samaritan Hospital" was given as typical of its work +and spirit, its projectors and supporters laying down their money and +agreeing to pay whatever might be needed, as well as giving of their +personal care and attention to the sufferer. But though Dr. Conwell's +heart is big, his head is practical. He does not believe in +indiscriminate charity. + +"Charity is composed of sympathy and self-sacrifice. There is no +charity without a union of these two," he said, in an address years +ago at Music Hall, Boston. "To make a gift become a charity the +recipient must feel that it is given out of sympathy; that the +donor has made a sacrifice to give it; that it is intended only as +assistance and not as a permanent support, unless the needy one he +helpless; and that it is not given as his right. To accomplish this +end desired by charitable hearts demands an acquaintance with the +persons to be assisted or a study of them, and a great degree of +caution and patience. It is not only unnecessary, but a positive wrong +to give to itinerant beggars. There is no such thing as charity about +a so-called state charity. It is statesmanship to rid the community of +nuisances, to feed the poor and prevent stealing and robbery, but it +should not be called 'a charity.' The paupers take their provision as +their right, feel no gratitude, acquire no ambition, no industry, no +culture. The state almshouse educates the brain and chills the heart. +It fastens a stigma on the child to hinder and curse it for life. Any +institution supported otherwise than by voluntary contribution, or +in the hands of paid public officials, can never have the spirit of +charity nor be correctly called a charity. Boston's public charitable +institutions, so called, are not charities at all; the motive is not +sympathy, but necessity. The money for the support of paupers is not +paid with benevolent intentions by the tax-payers, nor do the inmates +of almshouses so receive it. I have been engaged in gathering +statistics, and have found sixty-three per cent of all persons who +applied for assistance at the various institutions were impostors, +while many were swindlers and professional burglars." + +The sick poor are never turned away from Samaritan Hospital, but those +who are able to pay are requested to do so. Dr. Conwell believes +it would be a wrong to treat such people free, an injustice to +physicians, as well as an encouragement of a wrong spirit in +themselves. The hospital has a number of private rooms in which +patients are received for pay. Many have been furnished by members of +Grace Baptist Church in memory of some loved one "gone before," or by +Sunday School classes or church organizations. + +It may have been the fact that it started in an ordinary house that +gave the Hospital its cheery, homelike atmosphere. It may have been +the spirit of the workers. But its homelike air is noticeable. While +rules are strictly enforced, as they must be, there is a feeling of +personal interest in each patient that makes the sick feel that she is +something more than a "case" or a "number." + +"The lovely Christ spirit," says Dr. Conwell, "which inclines men and +women to care for their unfortunate fellowmen, is especially beautiful +when in addition to the healing of wounds and disease, the afflicted +sufferers are welcomed to such a home as the Samaritan Hospital has +become. All such kind deeds become doubly sweet when done in the name +of Christ, because they carry with them sympathy for those in pain, +love for the loveless, a home for the homeless, friendship for the +friendless, and a divine solace, which are often more than surgical +skill or medical science. Such an institution the Samaritan Hospital +is ever to be. It began in weakness and inexperience, but with +Christian devotion and affection, its founders and supporters have +conquered innumerable difficulties, and can now say unreservedly that +they have a hospital with all the conveniences and all the influences +of a Christian home." + +The hospital was opened February 1, 1892. It did not take long to +prove the need of the work. Before the year was out it was so crowded +that an addition had to be built, and now magnificent buildings stand +adjoining the original "house" as a monument to the untiring work +and zeal of Grace Church members and their friends. It is now an +independent corporation. + +The hospital is fitted with all modern appliances for caring for the +sick. It has a hundred and seventy beds, and a large and competent +staff of physicians numbering many of the best in the city. There is +also a training school for nurses, the original hospital building +being now fitted up and furnished as a nurses' home. More than five +thousand different cases are ministered to during the year in the beds +and dispensary. The annual expense of running the hospital is more +than forty thousand dollars, the value of the property more than three +hundred thousand dollars. + +In addition to the customary weekly visiting days, visitors are +allowed on one evening during the week and on Sunday afternoons. These +rather unusual visiting hours are an innovation of Dr. Conwell's for +the benefit of busy workers who cannot visit their sick friends or +relatives on week days. + +A novel feature of the hospital and one which brings great pleasure to +the patients, is the telephone service connecting it with The Temple, +whereby those who are able, can hear the preaching of the pastor +Sunday morning and evening at the big church farther down Broad +Street. + +One of the most efficient aids in the hospital's growth has been +the Board of Lady Managers. When the hospital was opened in 1892, a +committee of six ladies was appointed by Mr. Conwell to take charge of +the housekeeping affairs, and from this committee has grown this Board +which has done so much to aid the hospital, both by raising money and +looking after its household affairs. + +This committee had entire charge of the house department, visiting it +weekly, inspecting the house, and making suggestions to the trustees +for improving the work in that department. + +The Board is divided into Finance, Visiting, Flower, Linen, Ward +Supplies, House Supplies and Sewing Committee. The chairman of these +committees, together with the five officers, constitute the Executive +Committee, and meet with the trustees at their regular monthly +meetings. + +In addition to paying the housekeeping bills, the board has come many +times to the assistance of the trustees, and by giving entertainments, +holding sales, teas, receptions, has raised large sums of money for +special purposes. In connection with this Board is the Samaritan Aid +Society which annually contributes about three hundred new articles of +clothing and bedding. + +The Board of Trustees is composed of able, experienced business men +who apply their knowledge of business affairs to the conduct of the +hospital. It means a sacrifice of much time on their part, but it is +cheerfully given. + +The hospital is non-sectarian. Suffering and need are the only +requisites for admission. During the past year among those who were +cared for were: + +Catholic 284 +Baptist 134 +Methodist 141 +Episcopalian 112 +Lutheran 97 +Presbyterian 96 +Hebrew 89 +Protestant 54 +Reformed 25 +Friends 12 +Confucianism 5 +Congregational 4 +United Brethren 3 +Evangelist 3 +Christian 2 +Not recorded 60 + ---- + 1141 + +[Illustration: ATTENDING SERVICE IN BED] + +The nativity of the patients showed that nearly all countries were +represented--Russia, Poland, Italy, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Scotland, +England, Germany, Ireland, China, Hungary, Australia, Switzerland, +Jerusalem, Roumania and Armenia. + +Never was the worth of its work better shown than in the terrible Ball +Park accident, which happened in Philadelphia in 1904, when by the +collapsing of the grandstand hundreds were killed and injured. Without +a moment's notice, more than a hundred patients were rushed to the +hospital and cared for. When the wards were filled, cots were placed +in the halls, in the offices, wherever there was room, and the injured +tenderly treated. + +Thus from small beginnings and a great need it has steadily grown, +supported by contributions and upheld by the faithful work of those +who labor for the love of the Master. Sacrifices of time and money +have been freely made for it, for the people who have worked to +support it are few of them rich. It still needs help, for "the poor +ye have always with you." And while there are poor people and sick +people, Samaritan Hospital will always need the help of the more +fortunate to aid it in its great work of relieving pain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE MANNER OF THE MAN + +Boundless Love for Men. Utter Humility. His Simplicity and +Informality. Keen Sense of Humor. His Unconventional Methods of Work. +Power as a Leader. His Tremendous Faith. + + +What of the personality of the man back of all this ceaseless work, +these stupendous undertakings? Much of it can be read in the work +itself. But not all. One must know Dr. Conwell personally to realize +that deep, abiding love of humanity which is the wellspring of his +life and which shows itself in constant and innumerable acts of +thoughtfulness and kindness for the happiness of others. He cannot see +a drunkard on the street without his heart going out in a desire to +help him to a better life. He cannot see a child in tears, but that +he must know the trouble and mend it. From boyhood, it was one of the +strongest traits of his character, and when it clasped hands with a +man's love of Christ, it became the ruling passion of his life. The +woes of humanity touch him deeply. He freely gives himself, his time, +his money to lighten them. But he knows that to do his best, is but +comparatively little. To him it is a pitiful thing that so much of the +world's, misery cannot be relieved because of the lack of money; that +people must starve, must suffer pain and disease, must go without the +education that makes life brighter and happier, simply for the want of +this one thing of so little worth compared with the great things of +life it has the power to withhold or grant. + +One must also be intimately associated with Dr. Conwell to realize the +deep humility that rules his heart, that makes him firmly believe any +man who will trust in God and go ahead in faith can accomplish all +that he himself has done, and more. + +"You do not know what a struggle my life is," he said once to a +friend. "Only God and my own heart know how far short I come of what I +ought to be, and how often I mar the use He would make of me even when +I would serve Him." + +And again, at the Golden Jubilee services, in honor of his fiftieth +birthday, he said publicly what he many times says in private: + +"I look back on the errors of by-gone years; my blunders; my pride; +my self-sufficiency; my willfulness--if God would take me up in my +unworthiness and imperfection and lift me to such a place of happiness +and love as this--I say, He can do it for any man. + +"When I see the blunders I unintentionally make in history, in +mathematics, in names, in rhetoric, in exegesis, and yet see that God +uses even blunders to save men--I sink back into the humblest place +before Him and say, 'If God can use such preaching as that, blunders +and mistakes like these; if He can take them and use them for His +glory, He can use anybody and anything.' I let out the secret of my +life when I tell you this: If I have succeeded at all, it has been +with the conscious sense that as God has used even me, so can He use +others. God saved me and He can save them. My very faults show me, +they teach me, that any person can be helped and saved." + +Speaking of his sermons, which are taken down by a stenographer and +typewritten for publication in the "Temple Review," he said, with +the utmost dejection, "Positively they make me sick. To think that I +should stand up and undertake to preach when I can do no better than +that" + +He has ever that sense of defeat from which all great minds suffer +whose high ideals ever elude them. + +In manner and speech, he is simple and unaffected, and approachable at +all times. When not away from the city lecturing, he spends a certain +part of the day in his study at the church, where any one can see +him on any matter which he may wish to bring to his attention. The +ante-room is thronged at the hour when it is known that he will be +there. People waylay him in the church corridors, and on the streets, +so well known is his kindly heart, his attentive ear, his generous +hand. + +Not only do these visitors invade the church, but they come to his +home. Early in the morning they are there. They await him when he +returns late at night. As an instance of their number, one Saturday +afternoon late in June he had one hour free which he hoped to take for +rest and the preparation of the next morning's sermon. During that one +hour he had six callers, each staying until the next arrived. One of +these was a young man whom Dr. Conwell had never seen, a boy no more +than seventeen or eighteen. He had a few weeks before made a runaway +marriage with a girl still younger than himself. Her parents had +indignantly taken the bride home, and the young husband came to Dr. +Conwell to ask him to seek out these parents and persuade them to let +the child wife return to her husband. + +He has a knack of putting everybody at ease in his presence, which +perhaps accounts for the freedom with which people, even utter +strangers, come to him and pour into his ear their life secrets. This +earnest desire to help people, to make them happier and better, +shines from his life with such force that one feels it immediately on +entering his presence and opens one's heart to him. He helps, advises, +and, because he is so preeminently a man of faith and believes so +firmly that all he has done has been accomplished by faith and +perseverance, he inspires others with like confidence in themselves. +They go away encouraged, hopeful, strengthened for the work that lies +ahead of them, or for the trouble they must surmount It is little +wonder the people throng to him for help. + +His simple, informal view of life is shown in other things. During a +summer vacation in the Berkshires he was scheduled to lecture in one +of the home towns. His old friends and neighbors dearly love to hear +him, and nearly always secure a lecture from him while he is supposed +to be resting. Entirely forgetting the lecture, he planned a fishing +trip that day. Just as the fishing party was ready to start, some one +remembered the lecture. There would not be time to go fishing, +return, dress and go to the lecture town. But Dr. Conwell is a great +fisherman, and he disliked most thoroughly to give up that fishing +trip. He thought about it a few minutes, and then in his informal, +unconventional fashion, decided he would both fish and lecture. He +packed his lecturing apparel in a suit case, tied a tub for the +accommodation of the fish on the back of the wagon and started. All +day he fished, happy and contented. When lecturing time drew near, +rattling and splashing, with a tubful of fish, round-eyed and +astonished at the violent upheavals of their usual calm abiding place, +he drove up to the lecture hall, changed his clothes, and at the +appointed time appeared on the platform and delivered one of the best +lectures that section ever heard. + +Some people call his methods sensational. They are not sensational +in the sense of merely making a noise for the purpose of attracting +attention. They are unconventional. Dr. Conwell pays no attention to +forms if the life has gone out of them, to traditions, if their spirit +is dead, their days of usefulness past. He lives in the present He +sees present needs and adopts methods to fit them. No doubt, many said +it was sensational to tear down that old church at Lexington himself. +But there was no money and the church must come down. The only way to +get it down and a new one built, was to go to work. And he went to +work in straightforward, practical fashion. It takes courage and +strength of mind thus to tear down conventions and forms. But he does +not hesitate if he sees they are blocking the road of progress. This +disregard of customs, this practical common-sense way of attacking +evil or supplying needs is seen in all his church work. And because it +is original and unusual, it brings upon him often, a storm of adverse +criticism. But he never halts for that. He is willing to suffer +misrepresentation, even calumny, if the cause for which he is working, +progresses. He cares nothing for himself. He thinks only of the Master +and the work He has committed to his hands. + +Though the great masses in their ignorance and poverty appeal to him +powerfully and incite him to tremendous undertakings for their relief, +he does not, because his hands are so full of great things, turn +aside from opportunities to help the individual. Indeed, it is this +readiness to answer a personal call for help that has endeared him +so to thousands and thousands. No matter what may he the labor or +inconvenience to himself, he responds instantly when the appeal comes. + +Two men, now members of the church, often tell the incident that led +to their conversion. One evening they fell to discussing Dr. Conwell +with some young friends who were members of the church. The young men +stoutly maintained that "Conwell was like all the rest--in it for the +almighty dollar." The church members as stoutly asserted that he was +actuated by motives far above such sordid consideration. But the +men would not yield their point and the subject was dropped. A few +evenings later, coming out of a saloon at midnight into a blinding +snowstorm, they heard a man say, "My dear child, why did you not tell +me before that you were in need. You know I would not let you suffer." + +"That's Conwell," said one of the young fellows. + +"Nothing of the kind," replied the other. "What's the matter with you? +Catch him out a night like this." + +"But I tell you that was Conwell's voice," said the first man. "I know +it. Let's follow him and see what he's doing." + +Through the thickly falling snow, they could see the tall figure of +Dr. Conwell with a large basket on one arm and leading a little child +by the hand. Keeping a sufficient distance behind, they followed him +to a poor home in a little street, saw him enter, saw the light flash +up and knew that he was living out in deed the doctrine he preached. +Silent, they turned away. What his spoken word in The Temple could not +do his ministry at midnight had accomplished, and they became loyal +and devoted members of the church. + +In conversation with a street car conductor at one time, he found the +man eager to hear of Christ and His love, but unable to give heed on +the car because he might be reported for inattention to his duties and +lose his place. Dr. Conwell asked him where he took dinner, and at the +noon hour was there and, plainly and simply, as the man ate his lunch, +told what Christ's love in his heart and life would mean. + +Such stories could be multiplied many times of this personal ministry +that seeks day and night, in season and out, to make mankind better, +to lift it up where it may grasp eternal truth. + +Francis Willard says: + +"To move among the people on the common street; to meet them in the +market-place on equal terms; to live among them not as saint or monk, +but as a brother man with brother men; to serve God not with form or +ritual, but in the free impulse of the soul; to bear the burden +of society and relieve its needs; to carry on its multitudinous +activities in the city, social, commercial, political, and +philanthropic--this is the religion of the Son of man." This is the +religion of Dr. Conwell. + +As a leader and organizer he is almost without an equal in church +work. He sees a need. His practical mind goes to work to plan ways to +meet it. He organizes the work thoroughly and carefully; he rallies +his workers about him and then leads them dauntlessly forward to +success. He has weathered many a fierce gale of opposition, won out in +many a furious storm of criticism. The greater the obstacles, the more +brightly does his ability as a leader shine. He seems to call up from +some secret storehouse reserves of enthusiasm. He gets everybody +energetically and cheerfully at work, and the obstacles that seemed +insurmountable suddenly melt away. As some one has said, "He attempts +the impossible, yet finds practical ways to accomplish it" + +The way he met an unexpected demand for money during the building of +the church illustrates this: + +The trustees had, as they thought, made provision for the renewal of a +note of $2,000, due Dec. 27th. Late Friday, Dec. 24th, the news came +that the note could not be renewed, that it must be paid Monday. +They had no money, nothing could be done but appeal to the people on +Sunday. + +But it was not a usual Sunday. The Church, just the night before, had +closed a big fair for the College. Many had served at the fair tables +almost until the Sabbath morning was ushered in. They were tired. All +had given money, many even beyond what they could afford. It was, +besides, the day after Christmas, and if ever a man's pocketbook is +empty, it is then. To make the outlook still drearier, the day opened +with a snowstorm that threatened at church time to turn into a +drizzling rain. Here was truly the impossible, for none of the people +at any time could give a large sum. Yet he faced the situation +dauntlessly, aroused his people, and by evening $2,200 had been +pledged for immediate payment, and of that $1,300 was received in cash +that Sunday. + +In a sermon once he said: + +"Last summer I rode by a locality where there had been a mill, now +partially destroyed by a cyclone. I looked at the great engine lying +upon its side. I looked at the wheels, at the boilers so out of place, +thrown carelessly together. I saw pieces of iron the uses of which I +did not understand. I saw iron bands, bearings, braces, and shafting +scattered about, and I found the great circular saw rusting, flat in +the grass. I went on my way wondering why any person should abandon so +many pieces of such excellent machinery, leaving good property to go +to waste. But again, not many weeks ago, I went by that same place and +saw a building there, temporary in its nature, but with smoke pouring +out of the stack and steam hissing and puffing from the exhaust pipe. +I heard the sound of the great saw singing its song of industry; I saw +the teamsters hauling away great loads of lumber. The only difference +between the apparently useless old lumber and scrap iron, piled +together in promiscuous confusion, machinery thrown into a heap +without the arrangement, and the new building with its powerful engine +working smoothly and swiftly for the comfort and wealth of men, +was that before the rebuilding, the wheels, the saw, the shafting, +boilers, piston-rod, and fly wheel had no definite relation to each +other. But some man picked out all these features of a complete mill +and put them into proper relation; he adjusted shaft, boiler, and +cogwheel, put water in the boiler and fire under it, let steam into +the cylinders, and moved piston-rod, wheels, and saw. There were no +new cogs, wheels, boilers, or saws; no new piece of machinery; there +has only been an intelligent spirit found to set them in their proper +places and relationship. + +"One great difficulty with this world, whether of the entire globe or +the individual church, is that it is made up of all sorts of machinery +which is not adjusted; which is out of place; no fire under the +boiler; no steam to move the machinery. There is none of the necessary +relationship--there can he no affinity between cold and steam, +between power wasted and utility; and to overcome this difficulty is +one of the great problems of the earth to-day. The churches are very +much in this condition. There are cogwheels, pulleys, belting, and +engines in the church, but out of all useful relationship. There are +sincere, earnest Christians, men and women, but they are adjusted +to no power and no purpose; they have no definite relationship to +utility. They go or come, or lie still and rust, and a vast power for +good is unapplied. The text says "We are ambassadors for Christ"; that +means, in the clearest terms, the greatest object of the Christian +teacher and worker should be the bringing into right relations all the +forces of men, and gearing them to the power of Christ" + +He undoubtedly understands bringing men together, and getting them +at work to secure almost marvelous results. A friend speaking of his +ability once said: "I admire Mr. Conwell for the power of which he is +possessed of reaching out and getting hold of men and grappling them +to himself with hooks of steel. + +"I admire him not only for the power he has of binding men not only +to himself, but of binding men to Christ, and of binding them to one +another; for the power he has of generating enthusiasm. His people +are bound not only to the church, to the pastor, to God, but to one +another." + +He never fails to appreciate the spirit with which a church member +works, even if results are not always as anticipated, or even if the +project itself is not always practical. He will cheerfully put his +hand down into his pocket and pay the bill for some impractical +scheme, rather than dampen the ardor of an enthusiastic worker. He +knows that experience will come with practice, but that a willing, +zealous worker is above price. + +Those who know him most intimately find in him, despite his strong, +practical common sense, despite his years of hard work in the world, +despite the many times he has been deceived and imposed upon, a +certain boyish simplicity and guilelessness of heart, a touch of the +poetic, idealistic temperament that sees gold where there is only +brass; that hopes and believes, where reason for hope and belief +there is none. It is a winning trait that endears friends to him +most closely, that makes them cheerfully overlook such imprudent +benefactions as may result from it, though he himself holds it with +a strong rein, and only reveals that side of his nature to those who +know him best. + +He studies constantly how he may help others, never how he may rest +himself. At his old home at South Worthington, Mass., he has built and +equipped an academy for the education of the boys and girls of the +neighborhood. He wants no boy or girl of his home locality to have +the bitter fight for an education that he was forced to experience. +It is a commodious building with class-rooms and a large public hall +which is used for entertainments, for prayer meetings, harvest homes +and all the gatherings of the nearby farming community. + +Many other enterprises besides those directly connected with the +church grow out of Dr. Conwell's desire to be of service to mankind. +But like the organizations of the church, the need for them was +strongly felt before they took form. + +While officiating at the funeral of a fireman who had lost his life by +the falling walls of a burning building and who had left three small +children uncared for, Dr. Conwell was impressed with the need of a +home for the orphans of men who risked their lives for the city's +good. Pondering the subject, he was called that same day to the +bedside of a shut-in, who, while he was there, asked him if there was +any way by which she could be of service to helpless children left +without paternal care or support. She said the subject had been on her +mind and such a work was dear to her heart. She was a gifted writer +and wielded considerable influence and could, by her pen, do much good +for such a work, not only by her writings but by personal letters +asking for contributions to establish and support an orphanage. The +coincidence impressed the matter still more strongly on Dr. Conwell's +mind. But that was not the end of it. Still that same day, a lady came +to him and asked his assistance in securing for her a position as +matron of an orphanage; and a woman physician came to his study +and offered her services free, to care for orphan children in an +institution for them. + +Such direct leading was not to be withstood. Dr. Conwell called on a +former chief of police and asked his opinion as to an orphanage for +the children of fireman and policeman. The policeman welcomed the +project heartily, said he had long been thinking of that very problem, +and that if it were started by a responsible person, several thousand +dollars would be given by the policeman for its support. Still +wondering if he should take such leadings as indications of a definite +need, Dr. Conwell went to his study, called in some of his church +advisers and talked the matter over. Nothing at that meeting was +definitely settled, because some work interrupted it and those present +dispersed for other duties. But as they disbanded and Dr. Conwell +opened his mail, a check fell out for $75 from Rev. Chas. M. Sheldon, +which he said in the letter accompanying it, he desired to give toward +a movement for helping needy children. + +Dr. Conwell no longer hesitated, and the Philadelphia Orphans' Home +Society, of which he is president, was organized, and has done a good +work in caring for helpless little ones, giving its whole effort to +securing permanent homes for the children and their adoption into +lonely families. + +Although most of the money from his lectures goes to Temple College, +he uses a portion of it to support poor students elsewhere. He has +paid for the education of 1,550 college students besides contributing +partly to the education of hundreds of others. In fact, all the money +he makes, outside of what is required for immediate needs of his +family, is given away. He cares so little for money for himself, his +wants are so few and simple, that he seldom pays any attention as to +whether he has enough with him for personal use. He found once when +starting to lecture in New Jersey that after he had bought his ticket +he hadn't a cent left. Thinking, however, he would be paid when the +lecture was over, he went on. But the lecture committee told him they +would send a check. Having no money to pay a hotel bill, he took the +train back. Reaching Philadelphia after midnight he boarded a trolley +and told the conductor who he was and his predicament, offering to +send the man the money for his fare next day. But the conductor was +not to be fooled, said he didn't know Dr. Conwell from Adam, and +put him off. And Dr. Conwell walked twenty long blocks to his home, +chuckling all the way at the humor of the situation. + +He has a keen sense of humor, as his audiences know. Though the +spiritual side of his nature is so intense, his love of fun and +appreciation of the humorous relieves him from being solemn or +sanctimonious. He is sunny, cheerful, ever ready at a chance meeting +with a smile or a joke. Children, who as a rule look upon a minister +as a man enshrouded in solemn dignity, are delightfully surprised to +find in him a jolly, fun-loving comrade, a fact which has much to do +with the number of young people who throng Grace church and enter its +membership. + +The closeness of his walk with God is shown in his unbounded faith, +in the implicit reliance he has in the power of prayer. Though to the +world he attacks the problems confronting him with shrewd, practical +business sense, behind and underneath this, and greater than it all, +is the earnestness with which he first seeks to know the will of God +and the sincerity with which he consecrates himself to the work. +Christ is to him a very near personal friend, in very truth an Elder +Brother to whom he constantly goes for guidance and help, Whose will +he wants to do solely, in the current of Whose purpose he wants to +move. "Men who intend to serve the Lord should consecrate themselves +in heart-searching and prayer," he has said many and many a time. And +of prayer itself he says: + +"There is planted in every human heart this knowledge, namely, that +there is a power beyond our reach, a mysterious potency shaping the +forces of life, which if we would win we must have in our favor. There +come to us all, events over which we have no control by physical or +mental power. Is there any hope of guiding those mysterious forces? +Yes, friends, there is a way of securing them in our favor or +preventing them from going against us. How? It is by prayer. When a +man has done all he can do, still there is a mighty, mysterious agency +over which he needs influence to secure success. The only way he can +reach that is by prayer." + +He has good reason to believe in the power of prayer, for the answers +he has received in some cases have seemed almost miraculous. + +When The Temple was being built, Dr. Conwell proposed that the new +pipe organ be put in to be ready for the opening service. But the +church felt it would be unwise to assume such an extra burden of debt +and voted against it. Dr. Conwell felt persuaded that the organ ought +to go in, and spent one whole night in The Temple in prayer for +guidance. As the result, he decided that the organ should be built. +The contract was given, the first payment made, but when in a few +months a note of $1,500 came due, there was not a cent in the treasury +to meet it. He knew it would be a most disastrous blow to the church +interests, with such a vast building project started, to have that +note go to protest. Yet he couldn't ask the membership to raise the +money since it had voted against building the organ at that time. +Disheartened, full of gloomy foreboding, he came Sunday morning to the +church to preach. The money must be ready next morning, yet he knew +not which way to turn. He felt he had been acting in accordance with +God's will, for the decision had been made after a night of earnest +prayer. Yet here stood a wall of Jericho before him and no divine +direction came as to how to make it fall. As he entered his study, his +private secretary handed him a letter. He opened it, and out fell a +check for $1,500 from an unknown man in Massillon, Ohio, who had once +heard Dr. Conwell lecture and felt strangely impelled to send him +$1,500 to use in The Temple work. Dr. Conwell prayed and rejoiced in +an ecstasy of gratitude. Three times he broke down during the sermon. +His people wondered what was the matter, but said he had never +preached more powerfully. + +He is a man of prayer and a man of work. Loving, great-hearted, +unselfish, cheery, practical, hard-working, he yet draws his greatest +inspiration from that silent inner communion with the Master he serves +with such single-hearted, unfaltering devotion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE MANNER OF THE MESSAGE + +The Style of the Sermons. Their Subject Matter. Preaching to Help Some +Individual Church Member. + + +In the pulpit, Dr. Conwell is as simple and natural as he is in his +study or in the home. Every part of the service is rendered with the +heart, as well as the understanding. His reading of a chapter from the +Bible is a sermon in itself. The vast congregation follow it with as +close attention as they do the sermon. He seems to make every verse +alive, to send it with new meaning into each heart. The people in it +are real people, who have lived and suffered, who had all the hopes +and fears of men and women of to-day. Often little explanations are +dropped or timely, practical applications, and when it is over, if +that were all of the service one would be repaid for attending. + +The hymns, too, are read with feeling and life. If a verse expresses a +sentiment contrary to the church feeling, it is not sung. He will not +have sung what is not worthy of belief. + +The sermons are full of homely, practical illustrations, drawn from +the experiences of everyday life. Dr. Conwell announces his text and +begins quite simply, sometimes with a little story to illustrate his +thought. If Bible characters take any part in it, he makes them real +men and women. He pictures them so graphically, the audience sees +them, hears them talk, knows what they thought, how they lived. In a +word, each hearer feels as if he had met them personally. Never again +are they mere names. They are living, breathing men and women. + +Dr. Conwell makes his sermons human because he touches life, the +life of the past, the life of the present, the lives of those in his +audience. He makes them interesting by his word pictures. He holds +attention by the dramatic interest he infuses into the theme. He has +been called the "Story-telling Preacher" because his sermons are so +full of anecdote and illustrations. But every story not only points +a moral, but is full of the interest that fastens it on the hearer's +mind. Children in their teens enjoy his sermons, so vivid are they, so +full of human, every day interest. Yet all this is but the framework +on which is reared some helpful, inspiring Biblical truth which is +the crown, the climax, and which because of its careful upbuilding by +story and homely illustration is fixed on the hearer's mind and heart +in a way never to be forgotten. It is held there by the simple things +of life he sees about him every day, and which, every time he sees +them, recall the truth he has heard preached. Dr. Thomas May Pierce, +speaking of Dr. Conwell's method of preaching, says: + +"Spurgeon sought the masses and found them by preaching the gospel +with homely illustrations; Russell H. Conwell comes to Philadelphia, +he seeks out the masses, he finds them with his plain presentation of +the old, old story." + +Occasionally he paints word pictures that hold the audience +enthralled, or when some great wrong stirs him, rises to heights of +impassioned oratory that bring his audience to tears. He never writes +out his sermons. Indeed, often he has no time to give them any +preparation whatever. Sometimes he does not choose his text until he +comes on the platform. Nobody regrets more than Dr. Conwell this lack +of preparation, but so many duties press, every minute has so many +burdens of work, that it is impossible at times to crowd in a thought +for the sermon. It is left for the inspiration of the moment. "I +preach poor sermons that other men may preach good ones," he remarked +once, meaning that so much of his time was taken up with church work +and lecturing that he has little to give his sermons, and almost all +of the fees from his lectures are devoted to the education of men for +the ministry. + +His one purpose in his sermons is to bring Christ into the lives of +his people, to bring them some message from the word of God that will +do them good, make them better, lift them up spiritually to a higher +plane. His people know he comes to them with this strong desire in his +heart and they attend the services feeling confident that even though +he is poorly prepared, they will nevertheless get practical and +spiritual help for the week. + +When he knows that some one member is struggling with a special +problem either in business, in the home circle, in his spiritual life, +he endeavors to weave into his sermon something that will help him, +knowing that no heart is alone in its sorrow, that the burden one +bears, others carry, and what will reach one will carry a message or +cheer to many. + +"During the building of The Temple," says Smith in his interesting +life of Dr. Conwell, "a devoted member, who was in the bookbinding +business, walked to his office every morning and put his car-fare into +the building fund. Dr. Conwell made note of the sacrifice, and asked +himself the question, 'How can I help that man to be more prosperous?' +He kept him in mind, and while on a lecturing trip he visited a town +where improved machines for bookbinding were employed. He called at +the establishment and found out all he could about the new machines. +The next Sunday morning, he used the new bookbinder as an illustration +of some Scriptural truth. The result was, the church member secured +the machines of which his pastor had spoken, and increased his income +many-fold. The largest sum of money given to the building of the new +Temple was given by that same bookbinder. + +"A certain lady made soap for a fair held in the Lower Temple. Dr. +Conwell advised her to go into the soap-making business. She hesitated +to take his advice. He visited a well known soap factory, and in one +of his sermons described the most improved methods of soap-making as +an illustration of some improved method of Christian work. Hearing the +illustration used from the pulpit, the lady in question acted on the +pastor's previous advice, and started her nephew in the soap business, +in which he has prospered. + +"A certain blacksmith in Philadelphia who was a member of Grace +Church, but who lived in another part of the city, was advised by Dr. +Conwell to start a mission in his neighborhood. The mechanic pleaded +ignorance and his inability to acquire sufficient education to enable +him to do any kind of Christian work. On Sunday morning Dr. Conwell +wove into his sermon an historical sketch of Elihu Burritt, that poor +boy with meagre school advantages, who bound out to a blacksmith, at +the age of sixteen, and compelled to associate with the ignorant, yet +learned thirty-three languages, became a scholar and an orator of +fame. The hesitating blacksmith, encouraged by the example of Elihu +Burritt, took courage and went to work. He founded the mission which +soon grew into the Tioga Baptist Church." + +In addition to helping his own church members, this method of +preaching had other results. Smith gives the following instance: + +"A few years ago the pastor of a small country church in Massachusetts +resolved to try Dr. Conwell's method of imparting useful information +through his illustrations, and teaching the people what they needed +to know. Acting on Dr. Conwell's advice, he studied agricultural +chemistry, dairy farming, and household economy. He did not become +a sensationalist and advertise to preach on these subjects, but he +brought in many helpful illustrations which the people recognized as +valuable, and soon the meeting-house was filled with eager listeners. +After careful study the minister became convinced that the farmers on +those old worn-out farms in Western Massachusetts should go into the +dairy business, and feed their cows on ensilage through the long New +England winter. One bright morning he preached a sermon on 'Leaven,' +and incidentally used a silo as an illustration. The preacher did not +sacrifice his sermon to his illustration, but taught a great truth +and set the farmers to thinking along a new line. As a result of that +sermon one poor farmer built a silo and filled it with green corn in +the autumn; his cows relished the new food and repaid him splendidly +with milk. That farmer Is the richest man In the country to-day. This +is only one of a great many ways in which that practical preacher +helped his poor, struggling parishioners by using the Conwell method. +What was the spiritual result of such preaching among the country +people? He had a great, wide, and deep revival of religion, the first +the church had enjoyed for twenty-five years." + +Thus Dr. Conwell weaves practical sense and spiritual truths together +in a way that helps people for the span of life they live in this +world, for the eternal life beyond. He never forgets the soul and its +needs. That is his foremost thought. But he recognizes also that there +is a body and that it lives in a practical world. And whenever and +wherever he can help practically, as well as spiritually, he does it, +realizing that the world needs Christians who have the means as well +as the spirit to carry forward Christ's work. + +Speaking of his methods of preaching, Rev. Albert G. Lawson, D.D., +says: + +"He has been blessed in his ministry because of three things: He has a +democratic, philosophic, philanthropic bee in his bonnet, a big one, +too, and he has attempted to bring us to see that churches mean +something beside fine houses and good music. There must be a +recognition of the fact that when a man is lost, he is lost in body as +well as in soul One needs, therefore, as our Lord would, to begin at +the foundations, the building anew of the mind with the body; and +I bless God for the democratic, and the philosophic, and the +philanthropic idea which is manifest in this strong church. I hope +there will be enough power in it to make every Baptist minister sick +until he tries to occupy the same field that Jesus Christ did in his +life and ministry; until every one of the churches shall recognize the +privilege of having Jesus Christ reshaped in the men and women near +them." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THESE BUSY LATER DAYS + +A Typical Week Day. A Typical Sunday. Mrs. Conwell. Back to the +Berkshires in Summer for Rest. + + +By the record of what Dr. Conwell has accomplished may be judged how +busy are his days. + +In early youth he learned to use his time to the best advantage. +Studying and working on the farm, working and studying at Wilbraham +and Yale, told him how precious is each minute. Work he must when he +wanted to study. Study he must when he needed to work. Every minute +became as carefully treasured as though it were a miser's gold. But it +was excellent training for the busy later days when work would press +from all sides until it was distraction to know what to do first. + +"Do the next thing," is the advice he gives his college students. It +is undoubtedly a saving of time to take the work that lies immediately +at hand and despatch it. But when the hand is surrounded by work in a +score of important forms, all clamoring for recognition, what is "the +next thing" becomes a question difficult to decide. + +Then it is that one must plan as carefully to use one's minutes as he +does to expend one's income when expenses outrun it. + +His private secretary gave the following account, in the "Temple +Magazine," of a week day and a Sunday in Dr. Conwell's life: + +"No two days are alike in his work, and he has no specified hour for +definite classes of calls or kinds of work. + +"After breakfast he goes to his office in The Temple. Here visitors +from half a dozen to twenty await him, representing a great variety of +needs or business. + +"Visitors wait their turn in the ante-room of his study and are +received by him in the order of their arrival. The importance of +business, rank or social position of the caller does not interfere +with this order. + +[Illustration: THE CHORUS OF THE BAPTIST TEMPLE] + +"Throughout the whole day in the street, at the church, at the +College, wherever he goes, he is beset by persons urging him for +money, free lectures, to write introductions to all sorts of books, +for sermons, or to take up collections for indigent individuals or +churches. Letters reach him even from Canada, asking him to take care +of some aunt, uncle, runaway son, or needy family, in Philadelphia. +Sometimes for days together he does not secure five minutes to attend +to his correspondence. Personal letters which he must answer himself +often wait for weeks before he can attend to them, although he +endeavors, as a rule, to answer important letters on the day they +are received. People call to request him to deliver addresses at +the dedication of churches, schoolhouses, colleges, flag-raisings, +commencements, and anniversaries, re-unions, political meetings, and +all manner of reform movements. Authors urge him to read their work in +manuscript; orators without orations write to him and come to him for +address or sermon; applications flow in for letters of introduction +highly recommending entire strangers for anything they want. Agents +for books come to him for endorsements, with religious newspapers for +subscriptions and articles, and with patent medicines urging him to be +'cured with one bottle.' + +"It is well known that he was a lawyer before entering the ministry, +and orphans, guardians, widows, and young men entering business come +to him asking him to make wills, contracts, etc., and to give them +points of law concerning their undertakings. Weddings and funerals +claim his attention. Urgent messages to visit the sick and the dying +and the unfortunate come to him, and these appeals are answered first +either by himself or the associate pastor; the cries of the suffering +making the most eloquent of all appeals to these two busy men." + +Frequently he comes to the church again in the afternoon to meet +some one by appointment. Both afternoon and evening are crowded with +engagements to see people, to make addresses, to attend special +meetings of various kinds, with College and Hospital duties. + +"I am expected to preside at six different meetings to-night," he said +smilingly to a friend at The Temple one evening as the membership +began to stream in to look after its different lines of work. + +Much, of the time during the winter he is away lecturing, but he keeps +in constant communication with The Temple and its work. By letter, +wire or telephone he is ready to respond to any emergency requiring +his advice or suggestion. These lecture trips carry him all over the +country, but they are so carefully planned that with rare exceptions +he is in the pulpit Sunday morning. Frequently, when returning, he +wires for his secretary to meet him part way, if from the West, at +Harrisburg or Altoona; if from the South, at Washington or beyond. The +secretary brings the mail and the remaining hours of the journey are +filled with work, dictating letters, articles for magazines or press, +possibly material for a book, whatever work most presses. + +Pastoral calls in the usual sense of the term cannot be made in a +membership of more than three thousand. But visits to the sick, to +the poor, to the dying, are paid whenever the call comes. To help and +console the afflicted, to point the way to Christ, is the work nearest +and dearest to Dr. Conwell's heart and always comes first. Funerals, +too, claim a large part of the pastor's time, seven in one day among +the Grace Church membership calling for the services of both Dr. +Conwell and his associate. Weddings are not an unimportant feature, +six having been one day's record at The Temple. + +Of his Sundays, his secretary says: + +"From the time of rising until half-past eight, he gives special +attention to the subject of the morning sermon, and usually selects +his text and general line of thought before sitting down to breakfast. +After family prayers, he spends half an hour in his study, at home, +examining books and authorities in the completion of his sermon. +Sometimes he is unable to select a text until reaching The Temple. He +has, though rarely, made his selection after taking his place at the +pulpit. + +"At nine-thirty, he is always promptly in his place at the opening of +the Young Men's prayer-meeting or at the Women's prayer-meeting in the +Lower Temple. At the Young Men's meeting he plays the organ and leads +the singing. If he takes any other part in the meeting he is very +brief, in talk or prayer. + +"At half-past ten he goes directly to the Upper Temple, where as a +rule he conducts all the exercises with the exception of the 'notices' +and a prayer offered by the associate pastor, or in his absence at an +overflow service in the Lower Temple, by the dean of the College or +chaplain of the Hospital. The pastor meets the candidates for +baptism in his study before service, for conference and prayer. In +administering the ordinance, he is assisted by the associate pastor, +who leads the candidates into the baptistry. + +"The pastor reads the hymns. It is his custom to preach without +any notes whatever; rarely, a scrap of paper may lie on the desk +containing memoranda or suggestions of leading thoughts, but +frequently even when this is the case the notes are ignored. + +"A prominent--possibly the prevailing--idea in the preparation of his +sermons is the need of individuals in his congregation. He aims to +say those things which will be the most helpful and inspiring to the +unconverted seeking Christ, or to the Christian desiring to lead a +nobler spiritual life. It may be said of nearly all his illustrations +that they present such a variety of spiritual teaching that different +persons will catch from them different suggestions adapted to needs of +each. + +"The morning service closes promptly at twelve o'clock; then follows +an informal reception for thirty minutes or it may be an hour, for +hundreds, sometimes a thousand and more, many of them visitors from +other cities and states, press forward to shake hands with him. This, +Dr. Conwell considers an important part of his church work, giving him +an opportunity to meet many of the church members and extend personal +greetings to those whom he would have no possible opportunity to visit +in their homes. + +"He dines at one o'clock. At two, he is in The Temple; again he +receives more callers, and if possible makes some preparation for +services of the afternoon, in connection with the Sunday-school work. +At two-thirty, he is present at the opening of the Junior department +of the Sunday-school in the Lower Temple, where he takes great +interest in the singing, which is a special feature of that +department. At three o'clock, he appears promptly on the platform in +the auditorium where the Adult department of the Sunday-school meets, +gives a short exposition of the lesson for the day, and answers from +the Question Box. These cover a great variety of subjects, from the +absurdity of some crack-brained crank to the pathetic appeal of some +needy soul. Some of these questions may be sent in by mail during the +week, but the greater part of them are handed to the pastor by the +ushers. To secure an answer the question must be upon some subject +connected with religious life or experience, some theme of Christian +ethics in everyday life. + +"When the questions are answered, the pastor returns to the Lower +Temple, going to the Junior, Intermediate, or Kindergarten department +to assist in the closing exercises. At the close of the Sunday-school +session, teachers and scholars surround him, seeking information or +advice concerning the school work, their Christian experience or +perhaps to tell him their desire to unite with the church.[A] + +[Footnote A: Lately (1905), however, he has had to give up much of +this Sunday-school work on account of the need of rest.] + +"As a rule, he leaves The Temple at five o'clock If he finds no +visitors with appeals for counsel or assistance waiting for him at his +home, he lies down for half an hour. Usually the visitors are there, +and his half-hour rest is postponed until after the evening service. + +"Supper at five-thirty, after which he goes to his study to prepare +for the evening service, selecting his subject and looking up such +references as he thinks may be useful. At seven-fifteen, he is in The +Temple again, often visiting for a few moments one of the Christian +Endeavor societies, several of which are at that time in session in +the Lower Temple. At half-past seven the general service is held in +the auditorium. The evening sermon is published weekly in the "Temple +Review." He gives all portions of this service full attention. + +"At nine o'clock this service closes, and the pastor goes once more +to the Lower Temple, where both congregations, the 'main' and the +'overflow' unite, so far as is possible, in a union prayer service. +The hall of the Lower Temple and the rooms connected with it are +always overcrowded at this service meeting, and many are unable to +get within hearing of the speakers on the platform. Here Dr. Conwell +presides at the organ and has general direction of the evangelistic +services, assisted by the associate pastor. As enquirers rise for +prayers,--the prayers of God's people,--Dr. Conwell makes note of each +one, and to their great surprise recognizes them when he meets them on +the street or at another service, long afterward. This union meeting +is followed by another general reception especially intended for a few +words of personal conversation with those who have risen for prayer +and with strangers who are brought forward and introduced by members +of the church. This is the most fatiguing part of the day's work and +occupies from one hour to an hour and a half. He reaches home about +eleven o'clock and before retiring makes a careful memoranda of such +people as have requested him to pray for them, and such other matters +as may require his attention during the week. He seldom gets to bed +much before midnight." + +In all the crowd and pressure of work, he is ably assisted by Mrs. +Conwell. In the early days of his ministry at Grace Church she was +his private secretary, but as the work grew for both of them, she was +compelled to give this up. + +She enters into all her husband's work and plans with cheery, helpful +enthusiasm. Yet her hands are full of her own special church work, for +she is a most important member of the various working associations of +the church, college and hospital. For many years she was treasurer of +the large annual fairs of The Temple, as well as being at the head of +a number of large teas and fairs held for the benefit of Samaritan +Hospital. In addition to all this church and charitable work, she +makes the home a happy centre of the brightest social life and a +quiet, well-ordered retreat for the tired preacher and lecturer when +he needs rest. + +A writer in "The Ladies' Home Journal," in a series of articles on +"Wives of Famous Pastors," says of Mrs. Conwell: + +"Mrs. Conwell finds her greatest happiness in her husband's work, and +gives him always her sympathy and devotion. She passes many hours at +work by his side when he is unable to notice her by word or look; she +knows he delights In her presence, for he often says when writing, 'I +can do better if you remain.' Her whole life is wrapped up in the work +of The Temple, and all those multitudinous enterprises connected with +that most successful of churches. + +"She makes an ideal wife for a pastor whose work is varied and whose +time is as interrupted as are Mr. Conwell's work and time. On her +husband's lecture tours she looks well after his comfort, seeing to +those things which a busy and earnest man is almost sure to overlook +and neglect. In all things he finds her his helpmeet and caretaker." + +From this busy life the family escape in summer to Dr. Conwell's +boyhood home in the Berkshires. Here amid the hills he loves, with the +brook of his boyhood days again singing him to sleep, he rests and +recuperates for the coming winter's campaign. + +The little farmhouse is vastly changed since those early days. Many +additions have been made, modern improvements added, spacious porches +surround it on all sides, and a green, velvety lawn dotted with +shrubbery and flowers has replaced the rocks and stones, the sparse +grass of fifty years ago. If Martin and Miranda Conwell could return +and see the little house now with its artistic furnishings, its walls +hung with pictures from those very lands the mother read her boy +about, they would think miracles had indeed come to pass. + +In front of the house where once flashed a little brook that "set the +silences to rhyme" is now a silvery lake framed in rich green foliage. +Up in the hill where swayed the old hemlock with the eagle's nest for +a crown rises an observatory. From the top one gazes in summer into a +billowy sea of green in which the spire of the Methodist church rises +like a far distant white sail. + +It is a happy family that gathers in the old homestead during the +summer days. His daughter, now Mrs. Tuttle, comes with her children, +Mr. Turtle, who is a civil engineer, joining them when his work +permits. Dr. Conwell's son Leon, proprietor and editor of the +Somerville (Mass.) "Journal," with his wife and child, always spend as +much of the summer there as possible. One vacant chair there is in the +happy family circle. Agnes, the only child of Dr. and Mrs. Conwell, +died in 1901, in her twenty-sixth year. She was the wife of Alfred +Barker. A remarkably bright and gifted girl, clever with her pen, +charming in her personality, an enthusiastic and successful worker in +the many interests of church, college and hospital, her death was a +sad loss to her family and friends. + +Not only the beauty of the place but the associations bring rest and +peace to the tired spirit of the busy preacher and lecturer, and he +returns to his work refreshed, ready to take up with rekindled energy +and enthusiasm the tasks awaiting him. + +Thus his busy life goes on, full of unceasing work for the good of +others. Over his bed hangs a gold sheathed sword which to him is a +daily inspiration to do some deed worthy of the sacrifice which it +typifies. "I look at it each morning," said Dr. Conwell to a friend, +"and pray for help to do something that day to make my life worthy of +such a sacrifice." And each, day he prays the prayer his father prayed +for him in boyhood days, "May no person be the worse because I have +lived this day, but may some one be the better." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +AS A LECTURER + +His Wide Fame as a Lecturer. Date of Entrance on Lecture Platform. +Number of Lectures Given. The Press on His Lectures. Some Instances of +How His Lectures Have Helped People. Address at Banquet to President +McKinley. + + +In the maze of this church, college and hospital work, Dr. Conwell +finds time to lecture from one hundred to two hundred and twenty-five +times in a year. Indeed, he frequently leaves Philadelphia at midnight +after a Sunday of hard work, travels and lectures as far as Kansas and +is back again for Friday evening prayer meeting and for his duties the +following Sunday. + +As a lecturer, he is probably known to a greater number of people +than he is as a preacher, for his lecturing trips take him from the +Atlantic to the Pacific. Since he began, he has delivered more than +six thousand lectures. + +He has been on the lecture platform since the year 1862, giving on +an average of two hundred lectures in a year. In addition, he has +addressed many of the largest conventions in America and preaches +weekly to an audience of more than three thousand. So that he has +undoubtedly addressed more people in America than any man living. He +is to-day one of the most eminent and most popular figures on the +lecture platform of this country, the last of the galaxy of such men +as Gough, Beecher, Chapin. "There are but ten real American lecturers +on the American platform to-day," says "Leslie's Weekly." "Russell +Conwell is one of the ten and probably the most eminent." + +His lectures, like his sermons, are full of practical help and good +sense. They are profusely illustrated with anecdote and story that +fasten the thought of his subject. He uses no notes, and gives his +lecture little thought during the day. Indeed, he often does not know +the subject until he hears the chairman announce it. If the lecture is +new or one that he has not given for many years, he occasionally has a +few notes or a brief outline before him. But usually he is so full +of the subject, ideas and illustrations so crowd his mind that he is +troubled with the wealth, rather than the dearth, of material. He +rarely gives a lecture twice alike. The main thought, of course, is +the same. But new experiences suggest new illustrations, and so, no +matter how many times one hears it, he always hears something new. +"That's the third time I've heard Acres of Diamonds," said one +delighted auditor, "and every time it grows better." + +Perhaps the best idea of his lectures can be gleaned from the press +notices that have appeared, though he never keeps a press notice +himself, nor pays any attention to the compliments that may have been +paid him. These that have been collected at random by friends by no +means cover the field of what has been said or written about him. + +Speaking of a lecture in 1870, when he toured England, the London +"Telegraph" says: + +"The man is weirdly like his native hills. You can hear the cascades +and the trickling streams in his tone of voice. He has a strange and +unconscious power of so modulating his voice as to suggest the roar of +the tempest in rocky declivities, or the soft echo of music in distant +valleys. The breezy freshness and natural suggestiveness of varied +nature in its wild state was completely fascinating. He excelled in +description, and the auditor could almost hear the Niagara roll as he +described it, and listened to catch the sound of sighing pines in his +voice as he told of the Carolinas." + +"The lecture was wonderful in clearness, powerful, and eloquent in +delivery," says the London "News." "The speaker made the past a living +present, and led the audience, unconscious of time, with him in his +walks and talks with famous men. When engrossed in his lecture his +facial expression is a study. His countenance conveys more quickly +than his words the thought which he is elucidating, and when he refers +to his Maker, his face takes on an expression indescribable for its +purity. He seems to hold the people as children stare at brilliant and +startling pictures." + +"It is of no use to try to report Conwell's lectures," is the verdict +of the Springfield "Union." "They are unique. Unlike anything or any +one else. Filled with good sense, brilliant with new suggestions, and +inspiring always to noble life and deeds, they always please with +their wit. The reader of his addresses does not know the full power of +the man." + +"His stories are always singularly adapted to the lecturer's purpose. +Each story is mirth-provoking. The audience chuckled, shook, swayed, +and roared with convulsions of laughter," says the "London Times." "He +has been in the lecture field but a few years, yet he has already made +a place beside such men as Phillips, Beecher, and Chapin." + +"The only lecturer in America," concludes the Philadelphia "Times," +"who can fill a hall in this city with three thousand people at a +dollar a ticket." + +The most popular of all his lectures is "Acres of Diamonds," which he +has given 3,420 times, which is printed, in part, at the end of the +book. But his list of lectures is a long one, including: + + "The Philosophy of History." + "Men of the Mountains." + "The Old and the New New England." + "My Fallen Comrades." + "The Dust of Our Battlefields." + "Was it a Ghost Story?" + "The Unfortunate Chinese." + "Three Scenes in Babylon." + "Three Scenes from the Mount of Olives." + "Americans in Europe." + "General Grant's Empire." + "Princess Elizabeth." + "Guides." + "Success in Life." + "The Undiscovered." + "The Silver Crown, or Born a King." + "Heroism of a Private Life." + "The Jolly Earthquake." + "Heroes and Heroines." + "Garibaldi, or the Power of Blind Faith." + "The Angel's Lily." + "The Life of Columbus." + "Five Million Dollars for the Face of the Moon." + "Henry Ward Beecher." + "That Horrid Turk." + "Cuba's Appeal to the United States." + "Anita, the Feminine Torch." + "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women." + +His lecturing tours now are confined to the United States, as his +church duties will not permit him to go farther afield, but so wide is +his fame that a few years ago he declined an offer of $39,000 for a +six months' engagement In Australia. This year (1905) he received an +offer of $50,000 for two hundred lectures in Australia and England. + +He lectures, as he preaches, with the earnest desire ever uppermost +to help some one. He never goes to a lecture engagement without a +definite prayer to God that his words may be so directed as to do some +good to the community or to some individual. When he has delivered +"Acres of Diamonds," he frequently leaves a sum of money with the +editor of the leading paper in the town to be given as a prize for any +one who advances the most practical idea for using waste forces in the +neighborhood. In one Vermont town where he had lectured, the money was +won by a young man who after a careful study of the products of +the neighborhood, said he believed the lumber of that section was +especially adapted to the making of coffins. A sum of $2,000 was +raised, the water power harnessed and a factory started. + +A man in Michigan who was on the verge of bankruptcy, having lost +heavily in real estate speculation, heard "Acres of Diamonds," and +started in, as the lecture advises, right at home to rebuild his +fortunes. Instead of giving up, he began the same business again, +fought a plucky fight and is now president of the bank and a leading +financier of the town. + +A poor farmer of Western Massachusetts, finding it impossible to +make a living on his stony place, had made up his mind to move and +advertised his farm for sale. He heard "Acres of Diamonds," took to +heart its lessons. "Raise what the people about you need," it said to +him. He went into the small fruit business and is now a rich man. + +The man who invented the turnout and switch system for electric cars +received his suggestion from "Acres of Diamonds." + +A baker heard "Acres of Diamonds," got an idea for an improved oven +and made thousands of dollars from it. + +A teacher in Montrose, Pennsylvania, was so impressed with the +practical ideas in the now famous lecture that he determined to teach +what his pupils most needed to know. Being in a farming district, he +added agricultural chemistry to their studies with such success that +the next year he was elected principal of one of the Montrose schools +and shortly afterward was appointed Superintendent of Education and +President of the State University of Ohio. + +But incidents by the hundreds could be related or practical, helpful +results that flow from Dr. Conwell's lectures. + +There is yet another side of their helpfulness that the world knows +little about. In his early lecturing days, he resolved to give his +lecture fees to the education of poor boys and faithfully through all +these years has that resolve been kept The Redpath Lyceum Bureau has +paid him nearly $300,000, and more than $200,000 of this has gone +directly to help those poor in purse who hunger after knowledge, as he +himself did in those days at Wilbraham when help would have been so +welcome. The balance has been given to Temple College, which in itself +is the strongest and most helpful hand ever stretched out to those +struggling for an education. + +In addition to his lectures, he is called upon to make innumerable +addresses at various meetings, public gatherings and conventions. +Those who have never heard him speak may gather some idea of the +impression he makes by the following letter written by a gentleman +who attended the banquet given to President McKinley at the G.A.R. +encampment in Philadelphia in 1899: + +"At the table with the President was Russell H. Conwell, and no one +near me could tell me who he was. We mistook him for the new Secretary +of War, until Secretary Root made his speech. There was a highly +intelligent and remarkably representative audience of the nation at a +magnificent banquet in the hall decorated regardless of cost. + +"The addresses were all specially good and made by men specially +before the nation. Yet all the evening till after midnight there +were continuous interruptions and much noise of voices, dishes, and +waiters. Men at distant tables laughed out often. It was difficult to +hear at best, the acoustics were so bad. The speakers took it as a +matter of course at such a 'continuous performance.' Some of the +Representatives must have thought they were at home in the House at +Washington. They listened or not, as they chose. The great hall was +quiet only when the President gave his address, except when the +enclosed remarks were made long after midnight, when all were worn out +with speeches. + +"When, about the last thing, Conwell was introduced by the chairman, +no one heard his name because of the noise at the tables. Two men +asked me who he was. But not two minutes after he began, the place +was still and men craned their necks to catch his words. I never saw +anything so magical. I know how you would have enjoyed it. Its effect +was a hot surprise. The revelers all worn; the people ready to go +home; the waiters impatient; the speech wholly extemporaneous. It was +a triumph that did honor to American oratory at its best. The applause +was decisive and deafening. I never heard of anything better done +under such circumstances. + +"None of the morning papers we could get on the train mentioned either +Conwell or his great speech. Perhaps Conwell asked the reporters to +suppress it. I don't know as to that. But it was the first thing we +looked for. Not a word. There is no clue to account for that. Yet that +is the peculiarity of this singular life: one of the most public, one +of the most successful men, but yet one of the least discussed or +written about. He was to us as visitors the great feature of that +banquet as a speaker, and yet wholly ignored by the press of his own +city. The United States Senator Penrose seemed only to know in a +general way that Conwell was a great benefactor and a powerful citizen +and preacher. Conwell is a study. I cogitated on him all day. I was +told that he marched throughout the great parade in the rear rank of +his G.A.R. post. It is the strangest case of a private life I have +ever heard mentioned. The Quakers will wake up resurrection day and +find out Conwell lived in Philadelphia. It is startling to think how +measureless the influence of such a man is in its effect on the world. +Through forty years educating men, healing the sick, caring for +children, then preaching to a great church, then lecturing in the +great cities nearly every night, then writing biographies; and also an +accessible counselor to such masses of young people!" + +The address referred to in the foregoing letter was taken down in +shorthand, and was substantially as follows: + +"Comrades: I feel at this moment as Alexander Stephens said he felt at +the close of the war of 1865, and it can well be illustrated by the +boasting athlete who declared he could throw out twenty men from a +neighboring saloon in five minutes. He requested his friend to stand +outside and count as he went in and threw them out. Soon a battered +man was thrown out the door far into the street. The friend began his +count and shouted, 'One!' But the man in the street staggered to his +feet and angrily screamed, 'Stop counting! It's me!' When this feast +opened I was proudly expecting to make a speech, but the great men who +have preceded me have done all and more than I intended to do. The +hour is spent--they are sounding 'taps' at the door. I could not hope +to hold your attention. It only remains for me to do my duty in behalf +of Meade Post, and do it in the briefest possible space. + +"Comrades of Boston and New York, you have heard the greetings +when you entered the city--you have seen the gorgeous and artistic +decorations on halls and dwellings--you have heard the shouts of the +million and more who pressed into the streets, waved handkerchiefs +from the stands, and looked over each other's heads from all the +windows and roofs throughout that weary march. Here you see the lovely +decorations, the most costly feast, and listen to the heart-thrilling, +soul-subduing orchestra. All of these have already spoken to you an +unmistakable message of welcome. Knowing this city as I do, I can say +to you that not one cornet or viol, not one hymn or shout, not one +wave in all the clouds which fair hands rolled up, not one gun of all +that shook the city, not one flush of red on a dear face of beauty, +not one blessing from the aged on his cane, not one tear on the +eyelids which glowed again as your march brought back the gleam of a +morning long since dead, not one clasp of the hand, not one 'God bless +you!' from saint or priest in all this fair city, but I believe has +been deeply, earnestly, sincere. + +"This repast is not the result of pride--is not arranged for gluttony +or fashion. No political scheme inspired its proposal, and no ulterior +motive moved these companions to take your arm. The joy that seems to +beam in the comrade's eye and unconsciously express itself in word and +gesture, is real. It is the hearty love of a comrade who showed his +love for his country by battle in 1862, and who only finds new ways in +time of peace for expressing the same character now. The eloquence of +this night has been unusually, earnestly, practically patriotic and +fraternal. It has been the utterance of hearts beating full and strong +for humanity. Loyalty, fraternity, and charity are here in fact. It is +true, honest, heart. Such fraternal greetings may be as important for +liberty and justice as the winning of a Gettysburg. For the mighty +influence of the Grand Army of the Republic is even more potent now +than it was on that bloody day. Peace has come and the brave men +of the North recognize and respect the motives and bravery of that +Confederate army which dealt them such fearful blows believing _they_ +were in the right. But the glorious peace we enjoy and the greatness +of our nation's name and power are due as much to the living Grand +Army as to the dead. I am getting weary of being counted 'old,' but I +am more tired of hearing the soldier overpraised for what he did in +1861. You have more influence now than then, and are better men in +every sense. At Springfield, Illinois, they illustrated the growth of +the city by telling me that in 1856 a lunatic preacher applied to Mr. +Lincoln for his aid to open the legislative chamber for a series of +meetings to announce that the Lord was coming at once. Mr. Lincoln +refused, saying, 'If the Lord knew Springfield as well as I do, he +wouldn't come within a thousand miles of it.' But now the legislative +halls are open, and every good finds welcome in that city. The world +grows better--cities are not worse. The nation has not gone backward, +and all the good deeds did not cease in 1865. The Grand Army of the +Republic, speaking plainly but with no sense of egotism, has been +praised too much for the war and too little for its heroism and power +in peace. Does it make a man an angel to eat hardtack? Or does it +educate in inductive philosophy to chase a pig through a Virginia +fence? Peace has its victories no less renowned than war. + +"The Grand Army is not growing old. You all feel younger at this +moment than you did at the close of the day's march. Your work is not +finished. You were not fossilized in 1865. The war was not a nurse, +nor was it a very thorough schoolmaster. It did serve, however, to +show to friends and country what kind of men America contained. Not I +nor you perhaps can take this pleasing interpretation to ourselves, +but looking at the five hundred thousand men who outlived the war, we +see that they were the same men before the war and have remained +the same since the war. Their ability, friendship, patriotism, and +religion were better known after they had shown their faith by deeds, +but their identity and character were in great measure the same. + +"Many of our Presidents have been taken from the ranks of the army. +But it would be a mockery of political wisdom to declare that a free, +intelligent people elect a chief executive simply to reward him for +having been in the war of 1861. Captain Garfield, Lieutenant Hayes, +Major McKinley, and General Grant were not put at the head of the +nation as one would vote a pension. They were elected because the +people believed them to be the very best statesmen they could select +for the office. For a time every foreign consul except four was a +soldier. Two-thirds of Congress had been in the army. Twenty-nine +governors in the same year had been in military service. Nine +presidents of universities had been volunteers in 1863. Three thousand +postmasters appointed in one year were from the army. Cabinet +officers, custom-house officers, judges, district attorneys, and +clerks in public offices were almost exclusively selected from army +men. Could you look in the face of the nations and declare that with +all our enterprise, learning, progress, and common sense, we had such +an inadequate idea of the responsibilities of government that we +elected men to office who were incapable, simply because they had +carried a gun or tripped over a sword! No, no. The shrewd Yankee and +the calculating Hoosier are not caught with such chaff. They selected +these officers as servants of the nation because the war had served to +show what sort of men they were. + +"In short, they appointed them to high positions because they were +true men. They are just as true men now. They are as patriotic, as +industrious, as unselfish, as brave to-day as they were in the dark +days of the rebellion. Their efforts are as honest now as they were +then, to perpetuate free institutions and maintain the honor of the +flag. + +"They have endowed colleges, built cathedrals, opened the wilderness +to railroads, filled the American desert with roses, constructed +telephone, telegraph, and steamship lines. They have stood in +classroom and in the pulpit by the thousand; they have honored our +courts with their legal acumen; they have covered the plains with +cities, and compelled the homage of Europe to secure our scholars, our +wheat and our iron. The soldier has controlled the finances of +banking systems and revolutionized labor, society, and arts with his +inventions. They saw poor Cuba, beautiful as her surf and femininely +sweet as her luscious fruits, tortured in chains. They saw her lovely +form through the blood that covered her, and Dewey, Sampson, Schley, +Miles, Merritt, Sigsbee, Evans, Philip, Alger, and McKinley of the +Grand Army led the forces to her rescue. The Philippines in the +darkness of half-savage life were brought unexpectedly under our +colors because Dewey and his commanders were in 1898 just the same +heroes they were in 1864. + +"At the bidding of Meade Post, then, I welcome you and bid you +farewell. This gathering was in the line of duty. Its spectacle has +impressed the young, inspired the strong man, and comforted the aged. +The fraternity here so sincerely expressed to-night will encourage us +all to enfold the old flag more tenderly, to love our country more +deeply, and to go on in every path of duty, showing still the spirit +of '61 wherever good calls for sacrifice or truth for a defender." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +AS A WRITER + +His Rapid Method of Working. A Popular Biographical Writer. The Books +He Has Written. + + +Still the minutes are not full. The man who learned five languages +while going to and from his business on the street cars of Boston +finds time always to crowd in one thing more. Despite his multitude of +other cares, Dr. Conwell's pen is not idle. It started to write in his +boyhood days and it has been writing ever since. + +His best known works are his biographies. Charles A. Dana, the famous +editor and publisher of the New York "Sun," just before his death, +wrote to Harper Brothers recommending that Mr. Conwell be secured to +write a series of books for an "American Biographical Library," and in +his letter said: + +"I write the above of my own notion, as I have seldom met Mr. Conwell; +but as a writer of biographies he has no superior. Indeed, I can say +considerately, that he is one of America's greatest men. He never +advertises himself, never saves a newspaper clipping concerning +himself, never keeps a sermon of his own, and will not seek applause. +You must go after him if you want him. He will not apply to you. His +personal history is as fascinating as it is exceptional. He took +himself as a poor back country lad, created out of the crude material +the orator which often combines a Webster with Gough, and made himself +a scholar of the first rank. He created from nothing a powerful +university of high rank in Philadelphia, especially for the common +people. He created a great and influential church out of a small +unknown parish. He has assisted more men in securing an education than +any other American. He has created a hospital of the first order and +extent. He has fed the poor and housed large numbers of orphans. He +has written many books and has addressed more people than any other +living man. To do this without writing or dictating a line to +advertise himself is nothing else than the victory of a great genius. +He is a gem worth your seeking, valuable anywhere. I say again that I +regard Russell H. Conwell, of Philadelphia, as America's greatest man +in the best form. I cannot do your work; he can." + +His most successful biography, his "Life of Charles H. Spurgeon," was +written in a little more than two weeks. In fact, it was not written +at all, it was dictated while on a lecturing trip. When Spurgeon died, +a publisher telegraphed Dr. Conwell if he would write a biography of +the great London preacher. Dr. Conwell was traveling at the time in +the West, lecturing. He wired an affirmative, and sent for his private +secretary. It was during the building of the College when great +financial responsibilities were resting on him, and he was lecturing +every night to raise money for the college building fund. His +secretary accompanied him on the lecture trip. Dr. Conwell dictated +the book on the train during the day, the secretary copied it from his +notes at night while Dr. Conwell lectured. At the end of two weeks +the book of six hundred pages was nearly completed. It had a sale of +125,000 copies in four months. And all the royalties were given to a +struggling mission of Grace Baptist Church. + +[Illustration: TEMPLE COLLEGE] + +His biography of Elaine was written almost as rapidly. In a few hours +after Blaine was nominated as candidate of the Republican party for +the presidency. Dr. and Mrs. Conwell boarded a train and started for +Augusta, Maine. In three weeks the book was completed. + +He has worked at times from four o'clock in the morning until twelve +at night when work pressed and time was short. + +His life of Bayard Taylor was also written quickly. He had traveled +with Taylor through Europe and long been an intimate friend, so that +he was particularly well fitted for the work. The book was begun after +Taylor's death, December 19, 1878, in Germany, and completed before +the body arrived in America. Five thousand copies were sold before the +funeral. + +Dr. Conwell presided at the memorial service held in Tremont Temple, +Boston. Many years after, in a sermon preached at The Temple, he thus +described the occasion: + +"When Bayard Taylor, the traveler and poet, died, great sorrow was +felt and exhibited by the people of this nation. I remember well the +sadness which was noticed in the city of Boston. The spontaneous +desire to give some expression to the respect in which Hr. Taylor's +name was held, pressed the literary people of Boston, both writers and +readers, forward to a public memorial in the great hall of Tremont +Temple. As a friend of Mr. Taylor's I was called upon to preside at +that memorial gathering. That audience of the scholarly classes was a +wonderful tribute to a remarkable man, and one for which. I feel still +a keen sense of gratitude. I remember asking Mr. Longfellow to write +a poem, and to read it, and standing on the broad step at his front +door, in Cambridge, he replied to my suggestion with the sweet +expression: 'The universal sorrow is almost too sacred to touch with a +pen.' + +"But when the evening came, although Professor Longfellow was too ill +to be present, his poem was there. The great hall was crowded with +the most cultivated people of Boston. On the platform sat many of +the poets, orators and philosophers, who have since passed into +the Beyond. When, after several speeches had been made, I arose to +introduce Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the pressure of the crowd was too +great for me to reach my chair again, and I took for a time the seat +which Dr. Holmes had just left, and next to Ralph Waldo Emerson. +Never were words of poet listened to with a silence more respectfully +profound than were the words of Professor Longfellow's poem as they +were so touchingly and beautifully read by Dr. Holmes: + + "'Dead he lay among his books, + The peace of God was in his looks! + + * * * * * + + Let the lifeless body rest, + He is gone who was its guest.-- + Gone as travelers haste to leave + An inn, nor tarry until eve! + Traveler, in what realms afar, + In what planet, in what star, + In what vast, aerial space, + Shines the light upon thy face? + In what gardens of delight + Rest thy weary feet to-night--' + + * * * * * + +"Before Dr. Holmes resumed his seat, Mr. Emerson whispered in my ear, +in his epigrammatic style, 'This is holy Sabbath time.'" + +Among the books which Dr. Conwell has written are: + + "Lessons of Travel." + "Why and How Chinese Emigrate." + "Nature's Aristocracy." + "History of the Great Fire in Boston." + "The Life of Gen. U.S. Grant." + "Woman and the Law." + "The life of Rutherford B. Hayes." + "History of the Great Fire in St. Johns." + "The Life of Bayard Taylor." + "The Life, Speeches, and Public Service of James A. Garfield." + "Little Bo." + "Joshua Gianavello." + "The Life of James G. Blaine." + "Acres of Diamonds." + "Gleams of Grace." + "The Life of Charles H. Spurgeon." + "The New Day." + +The manuscript which he prepared most carefully was the "Life of +Daniel Manin," which was destroyed by fire when his home at Newton +Centre was burned. He had spent much time and labor collecting data on +Italian history for it, and the loss was irreparable. + +"Joshua Gianavello" is a biographical story of the great Waldensian +chieftain who loved religions liberty and feared neither inquisition +nor death. It is dedicated to "the many believers in the divine +principle that every person should have the right to worship God +according to the dictates of his own conscience; and to the heroic +warriors who are still contending for religious freedom in the yet +unfinished battle." + +The same powerful imagination that pictures so realistically to his +lecture and church audiences the scenes and people he is describing, +makes them live in his books. His style holds the reader by its +vividness of description, its powerful delineation of character and +emotion. + +His latest book, "The New Day," is an amplification of his great +lecture, "Acres of Diamonds." It is not only delightful reading but +it is full of practical help for the affairs of everyday life. For +no matter in what field Dr. Conwell works, this great desire of his +life--to help his brother man--shines out. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +A HOME COMING + +Reception Tendered by Citizens of Philadelphia in Acknowledgment of +Work as Public Benefactor. + + +One more scene in the life of this man who, from a barefoot country +boy with no advantages, has become one of the most widely known of the +preachers, lecturers and writers of the day, as well as the founder +of a college and hospital holding an honored position among the +institutions of the country. + +In 1894, acting upon the advice of his physician, Dr. Conwell went +abroad. It is no unusual thing for pastors to go abroad, nor for +members of their church and friends to see them off. But for Grace +Baptist Church personally to wish its pastor "Bon voyage" is something +of an undertaking. A special train was chartered to take the members +to New York. Here a steamer engaged for the purpose awaited them, and +twelve hundred strong, they steamed down the harbor alongside the "New +York" that Dr. Conwell's last glimpse of America might be of the faces +of his own church family. + +On his return six hundred church members met him and gave him a royal +welcome, and a large reception was held in The Temple to show how glad +were the hearts of his people that he was restored to them in health. + +But it was not enough. The people of Philadelphia said, "This man +belongs to us." In all parts of the city, in all walks of life, were +men and women who had studied at Temple College, whose lives were +happier, more useful because of the knowledge they had gained there, +for whom he had opened these college doors. The Samaritan Hospital had +sent forth people by the hundreds whose bodies had been healed and +their spirits quickened because his kindly heart had foreseen their +need and his generous hands labored to help it. Everywhere throughout +the whole city was felt the leaven of his work, and the people as a +body said, "We will show our appreciation of the work he has done for +Philadelphia, we will show that we recognize him as one of the city's +greatest benefactors and philanthropists." + +A committee of twenty-one citizens was formed, of which the Mayor, +Edwin S. Stuart, was chairman, and a reception was tendered Dr. and +Mrs. Conwell and the others of his party in the name of the citizens +of Philadelphia. It was given at the Academy of Fine Arts. With its +paintings and statuary, its broad sweeping staircases, it made a +magnificent setting for the throngs of men and women who crowded to +pay their respects to this man who had lived among them, doing good. + +The line of waiting guests reached for two blocks and more and for +hours moved in steady procession before the receiving party. At last +the final farewell was said and on toward midnight Dr. Conwell stepped +into the carriage waiting to take him home. + +But the affair was not over. The college boys felt that shaking hands +in formal fashion did not express sufficiently their loyalty and +devotion, their joy in the return of their beloved "Prex." They +unharnessed the horses, and with college cheers and yells triumphantly +drew their president all the way from the Academy of Fine Arts to his +home, a distance of two miles. As they passed Temple College, their +enthusiasm broke all bounds and they drew up the carriage at the +Doctor's residence, two blocks beyond the College, with a yell and a +flourish that fairly lifted the neighbors from their beds. + +It was in every way a homecoming and a welcome that proved how +wide-reaching has been the work Dr. Conwell has done, how deeply it +has touched the lives of thousands of people in Philadelphia. This +spontaneous act of appreciation was but the tribute paid by grateful +hearts. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE PATH THAT HAS BEEN BLAZED + +Problems that Need Solving. The Need of Men Able to Solve Them. + + + "O do not pray for easy lives + Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for + Tasks equal to your powers. Pray + For powers equal to your tasks. + Then the doing of your work shall be + No miracle. But you shall be a miracle, + Every day you shall wonder at yourself, + At the richness of life that has come to you + By the Grace of God." + +wrote that great preacher, Phillips Brooks. + +The world does not want easy lives but strong men. Every age has its +problems. Every age needs men with clear moral vision, strong hands, +humane hearts to solve these problems. Character, not the fortune of +birth, qualifies for leadership in such a work. And such work ever +waits, the world over, to be done. In every large city of the country +are thousands crying for better education, the suffering poor are +holding up weak hands for help, men and women morally blind, are +asking for light to find Christ--the Christ of the Bible, not the +Christ of dogma and creed, religion pure and undefiled, the church in +the simplicity of the days of the apostles, the church that reaches +out a helping hand to all the needs of humanity. + +Institutional churches are needed, not one, but many of them, in the +cities, churches that help men to grapple with the stern actualities +of everyday life, churches that preach by works as well as by word, +churches in which the man in fustian is as welcome as the one in +broadcloth, churches whose influence reaches into the highways and +byways and compels people to come in by the very cordiality and +kindness of the invitation, churches that help people to live better +and more happily in this world, while at the same time preparing them +for the world to come. + +"In no other city in the country is there such an example of the +quickening force of a united and working church organization as +is given by the North Broad Street Temple, Philadelphia," says an +editorial writer in the Philadelphia "Press." "Twenty such churches +in this city of 1,250,000 people would do more to evangelize it and +re-awaken an interest in the vital truths of Christianity than the +hundreds of church organizations it now has. The world is demanding +more and better returns from the church for the time and money given +it. Real, practical Christian work is what is asked of the church. The +sooner it conforms to this demand, the more quickly it will regain +its old influence and be prepared to make effective its fight against +evil." + +Hospitals are needed that heal in the name of Christ, that heal ills +of the body and at the same time by the spirit of love that permeates, +by the Christian spirit that animates all connected with them, cure +the ills of the soul and send the sufferers away rejoicing in spirit +as well as in body, with a brighter outlook on the world and increased +faith in humankind. + +Colleges are needed the length and breadth of this land, wherever the +poor and ignorant sit in darkness. In every town of five thousand or +more, a college for working people on the lines of the Temple College +would be thronged with eager, rejoicing students. And the world is the +better for every man and woman raised to a higher plane of living. Any +life, no matter how sordid and narrow, how steeped in ignorance, if +swept sweet and clean by God's love, if awakened by ambition and then +given the opportunity to grow, can be changed into beauty, sweetness +and usefulness. And such work is worth while. + +The way has been blazed, the path has been pointed out, it only +remains for those who follow after to walk therein. And if they walk +therein, they will gain that true greatness and deep happiness which +Phillips Brooks says comes ever "to the man who has given his life +to his race, who feels that what God gives him, He gives him for +mankind." + + + + +ACRES OF DIAMONDS + +Dr. Conwell's most famous lecture and one of his earliest has been +given at this writing (October, 1905) 3420 times. The income from it +if invested at regular rates of interest would have amounted very +nearly to one million dollars. + + +PERSONAL GLIMPSES OF CELEBRATED MEN AND WOMEN + +Is Dr. Conwell's latest lecture. It is a backward glance over his own +life in which he tells in his inimitable fashion many of its most +interesting scenes and incidents. It is here published for the first +time. + + + + +ACRES OF DIAMONDS.[A] + +[Footnote A: Reported by A. Russell Smith and Harry E. Greager.] + +[Mr. Conwell's lectures are all delivered extemporaneously and differ +greatly from night to night.--Ed.] + + +I am astonished that so many people should care to hear this story +over again. Indeed, this lecture has become a study in psychology; +it often breaks all rules of oratory, departs from the precepts of +rhetoric, and yet remains the most popular of any lecture I have +delivered in the forty-four years of my public life. I have sometimes +studied for a year upon a lecture and made careful research, and then +presented the lecture just once--never delivered it again. I put too +much work on it. But this had no work on it--thrown together perfectly +at random, spoken offhand without any special preparation, and it +succeeds when the thing we study, work over, adjust to a plan is an +entire failure. + +The "Acres of Diamonds" which I have mentioned through so many years +are to be found in Philadelphia, and you are to find them. Many have +found them. And what man has done, man can do. I could not find +anything better to illustrate my thought than a story I have told +over and over again, and which is now found in books in nearly every +library. + +In 1870 we went down the Tigris River. We hired a guide at Bagdad to +show us Persepolis, Nineveh and Babylon, and the ancient countries of +Assyria as far as the Arabian Gulf. He was well acquainted with the +land, but he was one of those guides who love to entertain their +patrons; he was like a barber that tells you many stories in order to +keep your mind off the scratching and the scraping. He told me so +many stories that I grew tired of his telling them and I refused to +listen--looked away whenever he commenced; that made the guide quite +angry, I remember that toward evening he took his Turkish cap off his +head and swung it around in the air. The gesture I did not understand +and I did not dare look at him for fear I should become the victim of +another story. But, although I am not a woman, I did look, and the +instant I turned my eyes upon that worthy guide he was off again. Said +he, "I will tell you a story now which I reserve for my particular +friends!" So then, counting myself a particular friend, I listened, +and I have always been glad I did. + +He said there once lived not far from the River Indus an ancient +Persian by the name of Al Hafed. He said that Al Hafed owned a very +large farm with orchards, grain fields and gardens. He was a contented +and wealthy man--contented because he was wealthy, and wealthy because +he was contented. One day there visited this old farmer one of those +ancient Buddhist priests, and he sat down by Al Hafed's fire and told +that old farmer how this world of ours was made. He said that this +world was once a mere bank of fog, which is scientifically true, and +he said that the Almighty thrust his finger into the bank of fog and +then began slowly to move his finger around and gradually to increase +the speed of his finger until at last he whirled that bank of fog +into a solid ball of fire, and it went rolling through the universe, +burning its way through other cosmic banks of fog, until it condensed +the moisture without, and fell in floods of rain upon the heated +surface and cooled the outward crust. Then the internal flames burst +through the cooling crust and threw up the mountains and made the +hills of the valley of this wonderful world of ours. If this internal +melted mass burst out and cooled very quickly it became granite; that +which cooled less quickly became silver; and less quickly, gold; and +after gold diamonds were made. Said the old priest, "A diamond is a +congealed drop of sunlight." + +This is a scientific truth also. You all know that a diamond is pure +carbon, actually deposited sunlight--and he said another thing I would +not forget: he declared that a diamond is the last and highest of +God's mineral creations, as a woman is the last and highest of God's +animal creations. I suppose that is the reason why the two have such a +liking for each other. And the old priest told Al Hafed that if he had +a handful of diamonds he could purchase a whole county, and with a +mine of diamonds he could place his children upon thrones through the +influence of their great wealth. Al Hafed heard all about diamonds +and how much they were worth, and went to his bed that night a +poor man--not that he had lost anything, but poor because he was +discontented and discontented because he thought he was poor. He said: +"I want a mine of diamonds!" So he lay awake all night, and early in +the morning sought out the priest. Now I know from experience that +a priest when awakened early in the morning is cross. He awoke that +priest out of his dreams and said to him, "Will you tell me where I +can find diamonds?" The priest said, "Diamonds? What do you want with +diamonds?" "I want to be immensely rich," said Al Hafed, "but I don't +know where to go." "Well," said the priest, "if you will find a river +that runs over white sand between high mountains, in those sands you +will always see diamonds." "Do you really believe that there is such a +river?" "Plenty of them, plenty of them; all you have to do is just go +and find them, then you have them." Al Hafed said, "I will go." So he +sold his farm, collected his money at interest, left his family in +charge of a neighbor, and away he went in search of diamonds. He began +very properly, to my mind, at the Mountains of the Moon. Afterwards he +went around into Palestine, then wandered on into Europe, and at last +when his money was all spent, and he was in rags, wretchedness and +poverty, he stood on the shore of that bay in Barcelona, Spain, when +a tidal wave came rolling in through the Pillars of Hercules and the +poor afflicted, suffering man could not resist the awful temptation to +cast himself into that incoming tide, and he sank beneath its foaming +crest, never to rise in this life again. + +When that old guide had told me that very sad story, he stopped the +camel I was riding and went back to fix the baggage on one of the +other camels, and I remember thinking to myself, "Why did he reserve +that for his _particular friends_?" There seemed to be no beginning, +middle or end--nothing to it. That was the first story I ever heard +told or read in which the hero was killed in the first chapter. I had +but one chapter of that story and the hero was dead. When the guide +came back and took up the halter of my camel again, he went right on +with the same story. He said that Al Hafed's successor led his camel +out into the garden to drink, and as that camel put its nose down into +the clear water of the garden brook Al Hafed's successor noticed a +curious flash of light from the sands of the shallow stream, and +reaching in he pulled out a black stone having an eye of light that +reflected all the colors of the rainbow, and he took that curious +pebble into the house and left it on the mantel, then went on his way +and forgot all about it. A few days after that, this same old priest +who told Al Hafed how diamonds were made, came in to visit his +successor, when he saw that flash of light from the mantel. He rushed +up and said, "Here is a diamond--here is a diamond! Has Al Hafed +returned?" "No, no; Al Hafed has not returned and that is not a +diamond; that is nothing but a stone; we found it right out here in +our garden." "But I know a diamond when I see it," said he; "that is a +diamond!" + +Then together they rushed to the garden and stirred up the white sands +with their fingers and found others more beautiful, more valuable +diamonds than the first, and thus, said the guide to me, were +discovered the diamond mines of Golconda, the most magnificent diamond +mines in all the history of mankind, exceeding the Kimberley in its +value. The great Kohinoor diamond in England's crown jewels and the +largest crown diamond on earth in Russia's crown jewels, which I had +often hoped she would have to sell before they had peace with Japan, +came from that mine, and when the old guide had called my attention to +that wonderful discovery he took his Turkish cap off his head again +and swung it around in the air to call my attention to the moral. +Those Arab guides have a moral to each story, though the stories are +not always moral. He said had Al Hafed remained at home and dug in his +own cellar or in his own garden, instead of wretchedness, starvation, +poverty and death in a strange land, he would have had "acres of +diamonds"--for every acre, yes, every shovelful of that old farm +afterwards revealed the gems which since have decorated the crowns of +monarchs. When he had given the moral to his story, I saw why he had +reserved this story for his "particular friends." I didn't tell him I +could see it; I was not going to tell that old Arab that I could see +it. For it was that mean old Arab's way of going around a thing, like +a lawyer, and saying indirectly what he did not dare say directly, +that there was a certain young man that day traveling down the Tigris +River that might better be at home in America. I didn't tell him I +could see it. + +I told him his story reminded me of one, and I told it to him quick. I +told him about that man out in California, who, in 1847, owned a +ranch out there. He read that gold had been discovered in Southern +California, and he sold his ranch to Colonel Sutter and started off to +hunt for gold. Colonel Sutter put a mill on the little stream in +that farm and one day his little girl brought some wet sand from the +raceway of the mill into the house and placed it before the fire to +dry, and as that sand was falling through the little girl's fingers +a visitor saw the first shining scales of real gold that were ever +discovered in California; and the man who wanted the gold had sold +this ranch and gone away, never to return. I delivered this lecture +two years ago in California, in the city that stands near that farm, +and they told me that the mine is not exhausted yet, and that a +one-third owner of that farm has been getting during these recent +years twenty dollars of gold every fifteen minutes of his life, +sleeping or waking. Why, you and I would enjoy an income like that! + +But the best illustration that I have now of this thought was found +here in Pennsylvania. There was a man living in Pennsylvania who +owned a farm here and he did what I should do if I had a farm in +Pennsylvania--he sold it. But before he sold it he concluded to secure +employment collecting coal oil for his cousin in Canada. They first +discovered coal oil there. So this farmer in Pennsylvania decided that +he would apply for a position with his cousin in Canada. Now, you see, +this farmer was not altogether a foolish man. He did net leave his +farm until he had something else to do. Of all the simpletons the +stars shine on there is none more foolish than a man who leaves one +job before he has obtained another. And that has especial reference to +gentlemen of my profession, and has no reference to a man seeking a +divorce. So I say this old farmer did not leave one job until he had +obtained another. He wrote to Canada, but his cousin replied that he +could not engage him because he did not know anything about the oil +business. "Well, then," said he, "I will understand it." So he set +himself at the study of the whole subject. He began at the second day +of the creation, he studied the subject from the primitive vegetation +to the coal oil stage, until he knew all about it. Then he wrote to +his cousin and said, "Now I understand the oil business." And his +cousin replied to him, "All right, then, come on." That man, by the +record of the county, sold his farm for eight hundred and thirty-three +dollars--even money, "no cents." He had scarcely gone from that farm +before the man who purchased it went out to arrange for the watering +the cattle and he found that the previous owner had arranged the +matter very nicely. There is a stream running down the hillside there, +and the previous owner had gone out and put a plank across that stream +at an angle, extending across the brook and down edgewise a few inches +under the surface of the water. The purpose of the plank across that +brook was to throw over to the other bank a dreadful-looking scum +through which the cattle would not put their noses to drink above the +plank, although they would drink the water on one side below it. Thus +that man who had gone to Canada had been himself damming back for +twenty-three years a flow of coal oil which the State Geologist of +Pennsylvania declared officially, as early as 1870, was then worth to +our State a hundred millions of dollars. The city of Titusville now +stands on that farm and those Pleasantville wells flow on, and that +farmer who had studied all about the formation of oil since the second +day of God's creation clear down to the present time, sold that farm +for $833, no cents--again I say "no sense." + +But I need another illustration, and I found that in Massachusetts, +and I am sorry I did, because that is my old State. This young man I +mention went out of the State to study--went down to Yale College and +studied Mines and Mining. They paid him fifteen dollars a week during +his last year for training students who were behind their classes in +mineralogy, out of hours, of course, while pursuing his own studies. +But when he graduated they raised his pay from fifteen dollars to +forty-five dollars and offered him a professorship. Then he went +straight home to his mother and said, "Mother, I won't work for +forty-five dollars a week. What is forty-five dollars a week for a man +with a brain like mine! Mother, lets go out to California and stake +out gold claims and be immensely rich." "Now" said his mother, "it is +just as well to be happy as it is to be rich." + +But as he was the only son he had his way--they always do; and they +sold out in Massachusetts and went to Wisconsin, where he went into +the employ of the Superior Copper Mining Company, and he was lost from +sight in the employ of that company at fifteen dollars a week again. +He was also to have an interest in any mines that he should discover +for that company. But I do not believe that he has ever discovered a +mine--I do not know anything about it, but I do not believe he has. I +know he had scarcely gone from the old homestead before the farmer +who had bought the homestead went out to dig potatoes, and as he was +bringing them in in a large basket through the front gateway, the ends +of the stone wall came so near together at the gate that the basket +hugged very tight. So he set the basket on the ground and pulled, +first on one side and then on the other side. Our farms in +Massachusetts are mostly stone walls, and the farmers have to be +economical with their gateways in order to have some place to put the +stones. That basket hugged so tight there that as he was hauling it +through he noticed in the upper stone next the gate a block of native +silver, eight inches square; and this professor of mines and mining +and mineralogy, who would not work for forty-five dollars a week, when +he sold that homestead in Massachusetts, sat right on that stone to +make the bargain. He was brought up there; he had gone back and forth +by that piece of silver, rubbed it with his sleeve, and it seemed to +say, "Come now, now, now, here is a hundred thousand dollars. Why +not take me?" But he would not take it. There was no silver in +Newburyport; it was all away off--well, I don't know where; he didn't, +but somewhere else--and he was a professor of mineralogy. + +I do not know of anything I would enjoy better than to take the whole +time to-night telling of blunders like that I have heard professors +make. Yet I wish I knew what that man is doing out there in Wisconsin. +I can imagine him out there, as he sits by his fireside, and he is +saying to his friends, "Do you know that man Conwell that lives in +Philadelphia?" "Oh, yes, I have heard of him." "And do you know that +man. Jones that lives in that city?" "Yes, I have heard of him." And +then he begins to laugh and laugh and says to his friends, "They have +done the same thing I did, precisely." And that spoils the whole joke, +because you and I have done it. + +Ninety out of every hundred people here have made that mistake this +very day. I say you ought to be rich; you have no right to be poor. To +live in Philadelphia and not be rich is a misfortune, and it is doubly +a misfortune, because you could have been rich just as well as be +poor. Philadelphia furnishes so many opportunities. You ought to be +rich. But persons with certain religious prejudice will ask, "How can +you spend your time advising the rising generation to give their time +to getting money--dollars and cents--the commercial spirit?" Yet I +must say that you ought to spend time getting rich. You and I know +there are some things more valuable than money; of course, we do. Ah, +yes! By a heart made unspeakably sad by a grave on which the autumn +leaves now fall, I know there are some things higher and grander and +sublimer than money. Well does the man know, who has suffered, that +there are some things sweeter and holier and more sacred than gold. +Nevertheless, the man of common sense also knows that there is not any +one of those things that is not greatly enhanced by the use of money. +Money is power. Love is the grandest thing on God's earth, but +fortunate the lover who has plenty of money. Money is power; money has +powers; and for a man to say, "I do not want money," is to say, "I do +not wish to do any good to my fellowmen." It is absurd thus to talk. +It is absurd to disconnect them. This is a wonderfully great life, and +you ought to spend your time getting money, because of the power there +is in money. And yet this religious prejudice is so great that some +people think it is a great honor to be one of God's poor. I am looking +in the faces of people who think just that way. I heard a man once +say in a prayer meeting that he was thankful that he was one of God's +poor, and then I silently wondered what his wife would say to that +speech, as she took in washing to support the man while he sat and +smoked on the veranda. I don't want to see any more of that kind of +God's poor. Now, when a man could have been rich just as well, and he +is now weak because he is poor, he has done some great wrong; he has +been untruthful to himself; he has been unkind to his fellowmen. We +ought to get rich if we can by honorable and Christian methods, and +these are the only methods that sweep us quickly toward the goal of +riches. + +I remember, not many years ago a young theological student who came +into my office and said to me that he thought it was his duty to come +in and "labor with me." I asked him what had happened, and he said: "I +feel it is my duty to come in and speak to you, sir, and say that the +Holy Scriptures declare that money is the root of all evil." I asked +him where he found that saying, and he said he found it in the Bible. +I asked him whether he had made a new Bible, and he said, no, he had +not gotten a new Bible, that it was in the old Bible. "Well," I +said, "if it is in my Bible, I never saw it. Will you please get the +text-book and let me see it?" He left the room and soon came stalking +in with his Bible open, with all the bigoted pride of the narrow +sectarian, who founds his creed on some misinterpretation of +Scripture, and he puts the Bible down on the table before me and +fairly squealed into my ear, "There it is. You can read it for +yourself." I said to him, "Young man, you will learn, when you get a +little older, that you cannot trust another denomination to read the +Bible for you." I said, "Now, you belong to another denomination. +Please read it to me, and remember that you are taught in a school +where emphasis is exegesis." So he took the Bible and read it: "The +_love_ of money is the root of all evil." Then he had it right. The +Great Book has come back into the esteem and love of the people, and +into the respect of the greatest minds of earth, and now you can quote +it and rest your life and your death on it without more fear. So, when +he quoted right from the Scriptures he quoted the truth. "The love of +money is the root of all evil." Oh, that is it. It is the worship of +the means instead of the end, though you cannot reach the end without +the means. When a man makes an idol of the money instead of the +purposes for which it may be used, when he squeezes the dollar until +the eagle squeals, then it is made the root of all evil. Think, if you +only had the money, what you could do for your wife, your child, and +for your home and your city. Think how soon you could endow the Temple +College yonder if you only had the money and the disposition to give +it; and yet, my friend, people say you and I should not spend the time +getting rich. How inconsistent the whole thing is. We ought to be +rich, because money has power. I think the best thing for me to do is +to illustrate this, for if I say you ought to get rich, I ought, at +least, to suggest how it is done. We get a prejudice against rich men +because of the lies that are told about them. The lies that are told +about Mr. Rockefeller because he has two hundred million dollars--so +many believe them; yet how false is the representation of that man +to the world. How little we can tell what is true nowadays when +newspapers try to sell their papers entirely on some sensation! The +way they lie about the rich men is something terrible, and I do not +know that there is anything to illustrate this better than what the +newspapers now say about the city of Philadelphia. A young man came +to me the other day and said, "If Mr. Rockefeller, as you think, is a +good man, why is it that everybody says so much against him?" It is +because he has gotten ahead of us; that is the whole of it--just +gotten ahead of us. Why is it Mr. Carnegie is criticised so sharply by +an envious world? Because he has gotten more than we have. If a man +knows more than I know, don't I incline to criticise somewhat his +learning? Let a man, stand in a pulpit and preach to thousands, and if +I have fifteen people in my church, and they're all asleep, don't I +criticise him? We always do that to the man who gets ahead of us. Why, +the man you are criticising has one hundred millions, and you have +fifty cents, and both of you have just what you are worth. One of +the richest men in this country came into my home and sat down in my +parlor and said: "Did you see all those lies about my family in the +paper?" "Certainly I did; I knew they were lies when I saw them." "Why +do they lie about me the way they do?" "Well", I said to him, "if you +will give me your check for one hundred millions, I will take all the +lies along with it" "Well," said he, "I don't see any sense in their +thus talking about my family and myself. Conwell, tell me frankly, +what do you think the American people think of me?" "Well," said I, +"they think you are the blackest-hearted villain that ever trod the +soil!" "But what can I do about it?" There is nothing he can do about +it, and yet he is one of the sweetest Christian men I ever knew. If +you get a hundred millions you will have the lies; you will be lied +about, and you can judge your success in any line by the lies that are +told about you. I say that you ought to be rich. But there are ever +coming to me young men who say, "I would like to go into business, +but I cannot." "Why not?" "Because I have no capital to begin on." +Capital, capital to begin on! What! young man! Living in Philadelphia +and looking at this wealthy generation, all of whom began as poor +boys, and you want capital to begin on? It is fortunate for you that +you have no capital. I am glad you have no money. I pity a rich man's +son. A rich man's son in these days of ours occupies a very difficult +position. They are to be pitied. A rich man's son cannot know the very +best things in human life. He cannot. The statistics of Massachusetts +show us that not one out of seventeen rich men's sons ever die rich. +They are raised in luxury, they die in poverty. Even if a rich man's +son retains his father's money even then he cannot know the best +things of life. + +A young man in our college yonder asked me to formulate for him what +I thought was the happiest hour in a man's history, and I studied it +long and came back convinced that the happiest hour that any man ever +sees in any earthly matter is when a young man takes his bride over +the threshold of the door, for the first time, of the house he himself +has earned and built, when he turns to his bride and with an eloquence +greater than any language of mine, he sayeth to his wife, "My loved +one, I earned this home myself; I earned it all. It is all mine, and +I divide it with thee." That is the grandest moment a human heart may +ever see. But a rich man's son cannot know that. He goes into a finer +mansion, it may be, but he is obliged to go through the house and say, +"Mother gave me this, mother gave me that, my mother gave me that, +my mother gave me that," until his wife wishes she had married his +mother. Oh, I pity a rich man's son. I do. Until he gets so far along +in his dudeism that he gets his arms up like that and can't get them +down. Didn't you ever see any of them astray at Atlantic City? I saw +one of these scarecrows once and I never tire thinking about it. I was +at Niagara Falls lecturing, and after the lecture I went to the hotel, +and when I went up to the desk there stood there a millionaire's son +from New York. He was an indescribable specimen of anthropologic +potency. He carried a gold-headed cane under his arm--more in its head +than he had in his. I do not believe I could describe the young man if +I should try. But still I must say that he wore an eye-glass he could +not see through; patent leather shoes he could not walk in, and pants +he could not sit down in--dressed like a grasshopper! Well, this human +cricket came up to the clerk's desk just as I came in. He adjusted his +unseeing eye-glass in this wise and lisped to the clerk, because it's +"Hinglish, you know," to lisp: "Thir, thir, will you have the kindness +to fuhnish me with thome papah and thome envelopehs!" The clerk +measured that man quick, and he pulled out a drawer and took some +envelopes and paper and cast them across the counter and turned away +to his books. You should have seen that specimen of humanity when the +paper and envelopes came across the counter--he whose wants had always +been anticipated by servants. He adjusted his unseeing eye-glass and +he yelled after that clerk: "Come back here thir, come right back +here. Now, thir, will you order a thervant to take that papah and +thothe envelopes and carry them to yondah dethk." Oh, the poor +miserable, contemptible American monkey! He couldn't carry paper and +envelopes twenty feet. I suppose he could not get his arms down. I +have no pity for such travesties of human nature. If you have no +capital, I am glad of it You don't need capital; you need common +sense, not copper cents. + +A.T. Stewart, the great princely merchant of New York, the richest man +in America in his time, was a poor boy; he had a dollar and a half and +went into the mercantile business. But he lost eighty-seven and a half +cents of his first dollar and a half because he bought some needles +and thread and buttons to sell, which people didn't want. Are you +poor? It is because you are not wanted and are left on your own hands. +There was the great lesson. Apply it whichever way you will it comes +to every single person's life, young or old. He did not know what +people needed, and consequently bought something they didn't want, and +had the goods left on his hands a dead loss. A.T. Stewart earned there +the great lesson of his mercantile life and said, "I will never buy +anything more until I first learn what the people want; then I'll make +the purchase." He went around to the doors and asked them what they +did want, and when he found out what they wanted, he invested his +sixty-two and a hall cents and began to supply "a known demand." I +care not what your profession or occupation in life may be; I care not +whether you are a lawyer, a doctor, a housekeeper, teacher or whatever +else, the principle is precisely the same. We must know what the world +needs first and then invest ourselves to supply that need, and success +is almost certain. A.T. Stewart went on until he was worth forty +millions. "Well," you will say, "a man can do that in New York, but +cannot do it here in Philadelphia." The statistics very carefully +gathered in New York in 1889 showed one hundred and seven millionaires +in the city worth over ten millions apiece. It was remarkable and +people think they must go there to get rich. Out of that one hundred +and seven millionaires only seven of them made their money in New +York, and the others moved to New York after their fortunes were made, +and sixty-seven out of the remaining hundred made their fortunes in +towns of less than six thousand people, and the richest man in +the country at that time lived in a town of thirty-five hundred +inhabitants, and always lived there and never moved away. It is not +so much where you are as what you are. But at the same time if the +largeness of the city comes into the problem, then remember it is the +smaller city that furnishes the great opportunity to make the millions +of money. The best illustration that I can give is in reference to +John Jacob Astor, who was a poor boy and who made all the money of the +Astor family. He made more than his successors have ever earned, and +yet he once held a mortgage on a millinery store in New York, and +because the people could not make enough money to pay the interest and +the rent, he foreclosed the mortgage and took possession of the store +and went into partnership with the man who had failed. He kept the +same stock did not give them a dollar of capital, and he left them +alone and went out and sat down upon a bench in the park. Out there on +that bench in the park he had the most important, and to my mind, the +pleasantest part of that partnership business. He was watching the +ladies as they went by; and where is the man that wouldn't get rich +at that business? But when John Jacob Astor saw a lady pass, with her +shoulders back and her head up, as if she did not care if the whole +world looked on her, he studied her bonnet; and before that bonnet +was out of sight he knew the shape of the frame and the color of the +trimmings, the curl of the--something on a bonnet Sometimes I try to +describe a woman's bonnet, but it is of little use, for it would be +out of style to-morrow night. So John Jacob Astor went to the store +and said: "Now, put in the show window just such a bonnet as I +describe to you because," said he, "I have just seen a lady who likes +just such a bonnet. Do not make up any more till I come back." And he +went out again and sat on that bench in the park, and another lady of +a different form and complexion passed him with a bonnet of different +shape and color, of course. "Now," said he, "put such a bonnet as that +in the show window." He didn't fill his show window with hats and +bonnets which drive people away and then sit in the back of the store +and bawl because the people go somewhere else to trade. He didn't put +a hat or bonnet in that show window the like of which he had not seen +before it was made up. + +In our city especially there are great opportunities for +manufacturing, and the time has come when the line is drawn very +sharply between the stockholders of the factory and their employés. +Now, friends, there has also come a discouraging gloom upon this +country and the laboring men are beginning to feel that they are being +held down by a crust over their heads through which they find it +impossible to break, and the aristocratic money-owner himself is so +far above that he will never descend to their assistance. That is the +thought that is in the minds of our people. But, friends, never in the +history of our country was there an opportunity so great for the poor +man to get rich as there is now and in the city of Philadelphia. The +very fact that they get discouraged is what prevents them from getting +rich. That is all there is to it. The road is open, and let us keep it +open between the poor and the rich. I know that the labor unions have +two great problems to contend with, and there is only one way to solve +them. The labor unions are doing as much to prevent its solving as are +the capitalists to-day, and there are positively two sides to it. The +labor union has two difficulties; the first one is that it began to +make a labor scale for all classes on a par, and they scale down a man +that can earn five dollars a day to two and a half a day, in order to +level up to him an imbecile that cannot earn fifty cents a day. That +is one of the most dangerous and discouraging things for the working +man. He cannot get the results of his work if he do better work or +higher work or work longer; that is a dangerous thing, and in order to +get every laboring man free and every American equal to every other +American, let the laboring man ask what he is worth and get it--not +let any capitalist say to him: "You shall work for me for half of what +you are worth;" nor let any labor organization say: "You shall work for +the capitalist for half your worth." Be a man, be independent, and +then shall the laboring man find the road ever open from poverty to +wealth. The other difficulty that the labor union has to consider, and +this problem they have to solve themselves, is the kind of orators who +come and talk to them about the oppressive rich. I can in my +dreams recite the oration I have heard again and again under such +circumstances. My life has been with the laboring man. I am a laboring +man myself. I have often, in their assemblies, heard the speech of the +man who has been invited to address the labor union. The man gets up +before the assembled company of honest laboring men and he begins by +saying: "Oh, ye honest, industrious laboring men, who have furnished +all the capital of the world, who have built all the palaces and +constructed all the railroads and covered the ocean with her +steamships. Oh, you laboring men! You are nothing but slaves; you are +ground down in the dust by the capitalist who is gloating over you as +he enjoys his beautiful estates and as he has his banks filled with +gold, and every dollar he owns is coined out of the hearts' blood of +the honest laboring man." Now, that is a lie, and you know it is a +lie; and yet that is the kind of speech that they are all the time +hearing, representing the capitalists as wicked and the laboring men +so enslaved. Why, how wrong it is! Let the man who loves his flag and +believes in American principles endeavor with all his soul to bring +the capitalist and the laboring man together until they stand side by +side, and arm in arm, and work for the common good of humanity. + +He is an enemy to his country who sets capital against labor or labor +against capital. + +Suppose I were to go down through this audience and ask you to +introduce me to the great inventors who live here in Philadelphia. +"The inventors of Philadelphia," you would say "Why we don't have any +in Philadelphia. It is too slow to invent anything." But you do have +just as great inventors, and they are here in this audience, as ever +invented a machine. But the probability is that the greatest inventor +to benefit the world with his discovery is some person, perhaps some +lady, who thinks she could not invent anything. Did you ever study the +history of invention and see how strange it was that the man who made +the greatest discovery did it without any previous idea that he was an +inventor? Who are the great inventors? They are persons with plain, +straightforward common sense, who saw a need in the world and +immediately applied themselves to supply that need. If you want to +invent anything, don't try to find it in the wheels in your head nor +the wheels in your machine, but first find out what the people need, +and then apply yourself to that need, and this leads to invention on +the part of people you would not dream of before. The great inventors +are simply great men; the greater the man the more simple the man; and +the more simple a machine, the more valuable it is. Did you ever know +a really great man? His ways are so simple, so common, so plain, that +you think any one could do what he is doing. So it is with the great +men the world over. If you know a really great man, a neighbor of +yours, you can go right up to him and say, "How are you, Jim, good +morning, Sam." Of course you can, for they are always so simple. + +When I wrote the life of General Garfield, one of his neighbors took +me to his back door, and shouted, "Jim, Jim, Jim!" and very soon "Jim" +came to the door and General Garfield let me in--one of the grandest +men of our century. The great men of the world are ever so. I was down +in Virginia and went up to an educational institution and was directed +to a man who was setting out a tree. I approached him and said, "Do +you think it would be possible for me to see General Robert B. Lee, +the President of the University?" He said, "Sir, I am General Lee." +Of course, when you meet such a man, so noble a man as that, you will +find him a simple, plain man. Greatness is always just so modest and +great inventions are simple. + +I asked a class in school once who were the great inventors, and a +little girl popped up and said, "Columbus." Well, now, she was not so +far wrong. Columbus bought a farm and he carried on that farm just as +I carried on my father's farm. He took a hoe and went out and sat down +on a rock. But Columbus, as he sat upon that shore and looked out upon +the ocean, noticed that the ships, as they sailed away, sank deeper +into the sea the farther they went. And since that time some other +"Spanish ships" have sunk into the sea. But as Columbus noticed that +the tops of the masts dropped down out of sight, he said: "That is the +way it is with this hoe handle; if you go around this hoe handle, the +farther off you go the farther down you go. I can sail around to the +East Indies." How plain it all was. How simple the mind--majestic +like the simplicity of a mountain in its greatness. Who are the great +inventors? They are ever the simple, plain, everyday people who see +the need and set about to supply it. + +I was once lecturing in North Carolina, and the cashier of the bank +sat directly behind a lady who wore a very large hat. I said to that +audience, "Your wealth is too near to you; you are looking right over +it." He whispered to his friend, "Well, then, my wealth is in that +hat." A little later, as he wrote me, I said, "Wherever there is a +human need there is a greater fortune than a mine can furnish." He +caught my thought, and he drew up his plan for a better hat pin than +was in the hat before him, and the pin is now being manufactured. He +was offered fifty-five thousand dollars for his patent. That man +made his fortune before he got out of that hall. This is the whole +question: Do you see a need? + +I remember well a man up in my native hills, a poor man, who for +twenty years was helped by the town in his poverty, who owned a +wide-spreading maple tree that covered the poor man's cottage like +a benediction from on high. I remember that tree, for in the +spring--there were some roguish boys around that neighborhood when I +was young--in the spring of the year the man would put a bucket there +and the spouts to catch the maple sap, and I remember where that +bucket was; and when I was young the boys were, oh, so mean, that +they went to that tree before than man had gotten out of bed in the +morning, and after he had gone to bed at night, and drank up that +sweet sap. I could swear they did it. He didn't make a great deal of +maple sugar from that tree. But one day he made the sugar so white +and crystaline that the visitor did not believe it was maple sugar; +thought maple sugar must be red or black. He said to the old man: "Why +don't you make it that way and sell it for confectionary?" The old man +caught his thought and invented the "rock maple crystal," and before +that patent expired he had ninety thousand dollars and had built a +beautiful palace on the site of that tree. After forty years owning +that tree he awoke to find it had fortunes of money indeed in it. And +many of us are right by the tree that has a fortune for us, and we own +it, possess it, do what we will with it, but we do not learn its value +because we do not see the human need, and in these discoveries, and +inventions this is one of the most romantic things of life. + +I have received letters from all over the country and from England, +where I have lectured, saying that they have discovered this and that, +and one man out in Ohio took me through his great factories last +spring, and said that they cost him $680,000, and said he, "I was +not worth a cent in the world when I heard your lecture "Acres of +Diamonds"; but I made up my mind to stop right here and make my +fortune here, and here it is." He showed me through his unmortgaged +possessions. And this is a continual experience now as I travel +through the country, after these many years. I mention this incident, +not to boast, but to show you that you can do the same if you will. + +Who are the great inventors? I remember a good illustration in a man +who used to live in East Brookfield, Mass. He was a shoemaker, and he +was out of work, and he sat around the house until his wife told him +"to go out doors." And he did what every husband is compelled by law +to do--he obeyed his wife. And he went out and sat down on an ash +barrel in his back yard. Think of it! Stranded on an ash barrel and +the enemy in possession of the house! As he sat on that ash barrel, he +looked down into that little brook which ran through that back yard +into the meadows, and he saw a little trout go flashing up the stream +and hiding under the bank. I do not suppose he thought of Tennyson's +beautiful poem: + + "Chatter, chatter, as I flow, + To join the brimming river, + Men may come, and men may go, + But I go on forever." + +But as this man looked into the brook, he leaped off that ash barrel +and managed to catch the trout with his fingers, and sent it to +Worcester. They wrote back that they would give him a five dollar bill +for another such trout as that, not that it was worth that much, but +he wished to help the poor man. So this shoemaker and his wife, now +perfectly united, that five dollar bill in prospect went out to get +another trout They went up the stream to its source and down to the +brimming river, but not another trout could they find in the whole +stream; and so they came home disconsolate and went to the minister. +The minister didn't know how trout grew, but he pointed the way. Said +he, "Get Seth Green's book, and that will give you the information you +want." They did so, and found all about the culture of trout. They +found that a trout lays thirty-six hundred eggs every year and every +trout gains a quarter of a pound every year, so that in four years a +little trout will furnish four tons per annum to sell to the market +at fifty cents a pound. When they found that, they said they didn't +believe any such story as that, but if they could get five dollars a +piece they could make something. And right in that same back yard with +the coal sifter up stream and window screen down the stream, they +began the culture of trout. They afterwards moved to the Hudson, and +since then he has become the authority in the United States upon the +raising of fish, and he has been next to the highest on the United +States Fish Commission in Washington. My lesson is that man's wealth +was out there in his back yard for twenty years, but he didn't see it +until his wife drove him out with a mop stick. + +I remember meeting personally a poor carpenter of Hingham, +Massachusetts, who was out of work and in poverty. His wife also drove +him out of doors. He sat down on the shore and whittled a soaked +shingle into a wooden chain. His children quarreled over it in the +evening, and while he was whittling a second one, a neighbor came +along and said, "Why don't you whittle toys if you can carve like +that?" He said, "I don't know what to make!" There is the whole thing. +His neighbor said to him: "Why don't you ask your own children?" Said +he, "What is the use of doing that? My children are different from +other people's children." I used to see people like that when I taught +school. The next morning when his boy came down the stairway, he said, +"Sam, what do you want for a toy?" "I want a wheel-barrow." When his +little girl came down he asked her what she wanted, and she said, "I +want a little doll's washstand, a little doll's carriage, a little +doll's umbrella," and went on with a whole lot of things that would +have taken his lifetime to supply. He consulted his own children right +there in his own house and began to whittle out toys to please them. +He began with his jack-knife, and made those unpainted Hingham toys. +He is the richest man in the entire New England States, if Mr. Lawson +is to be trusted in his statement concerning such things, and yet +that man's fortune was made by consulting his own children in his own +house. You don't need to go out of your own house to find out what to +invent or what to make. I always talk too long on this subject. + +I would like to meet the great men who are here to-night. The great +men! We don't have any great men in Philadelphia. Great men! You +say that they all come from London, or San Francisco, or Rome, +or Manayunk, or anywhere else but here--anywhere else but +Philadelphia--and yet, in fact, there are just as great men in +Philadelphia as in any city of its size. There are great men and women +in this audience. Great men, I have said, are very simple men. Just as +many great men here as are to be found anywhere. The greatest error in +judging great men is that we think that they always hold an office. +The world knows nothing of its greatest men. Who are the great men of +the world? The young man and young woman may well ask the question. It +is not necessary that they should hold an office, and yet that is the +popular idea. That is the idea we teach now in our high schools and +common schools, that the great men of the world are those who hold +some high office, and unless we change that very soon and do away +with that prejudice, we are going to change to an empire. There is +no question about it. We must teach that men are great only on their +intrinsic value, and not on the position that they may incidentally +happen to occupy. And yet, don't blame the young men saying that they +are going to be great when they get into some official position. I ask +this audience again who of you are going to be great? Says a young +man: "I am going to be great" "When are you going to be great?" "When +I am elected to some political office," Won't you learn the lesson, +young man; that it is _prima facie_ evidence of littleness to hold +public office under our form of government? Think of it. This is a +government of the people, and by the people, and for the people, and +not for the office-holder, and if the people in this country rule as +they always should rule, an officeholder is only the servant of the +people, and the Bible says that "the servant cannot be greater than +his master," The Bible says that "he that is sent cannot be greater +than him who sent him." In this country the people are the masters, +and the office-holders can never be greater than the people; they +should be honest servants of the people, but they are not our greatest +men. Young man, remember that you never heard of a great man holding +any political office in this country unless he took that office at an +expense to himself. It is a loss to every great man to take a public +office in our country. Bear this in mind, young man, that you cannot +be made great by a political election. Another young man says, "I am +going to be a great man in Philadelphia some time." "Is that so? When +are you going to be great?" "When there comes another war! When we get +into difficulty with Mexico, or England, or Russia, or Japan, or with +Spain again over Cuba, or with New Jersey, I will march up to the +cannon's mouth, and amid the glistening bayonets I will tear down +their flag from its staff, and I will come home with stars on my +shoulders, and hold every office in the gift of the government, and I +will be great." "No, you won't! No, you won't; that is no evidence +of true greatness, young man." But don't blame that young man for +thinking that way; that is the way he is taught in the high school. +That is the way history is taught in college. He is taught that the +men who held the office did all the fighting. + +I remember we had a Peace Jubilee here in Philadelphia soon after the +Spanish war. Perhaps some of those visitors think we should not have +had it until now in Philadelphia, and as the great procession was +going up Broad street I was told that the tally-ho coach stopped right +in front of my house, and on the coach was Hobson, and all the people +threw up their hats and swung their handkerchiefs, and shouted "Hurrah +for Hobson!" I would have yelled too, because he deserves much more of +his country than he has ever received. But suppose I go into the High +School to-morrow and ask, "Boys, who sunk the Merrimac?" If they +answer me "Hobson," they tell me seven-eighths of a lie--seven-eighths +of a lie, because there were eight men who sunk the Merrimac. The +other seven men, by virtue of their position, were continually exposed +to the Spanish fire, while Hobson, as an officer, might reasonably be +behind the smoke-stack. Why, my friends, in this intelligent audience +gathered here to-night I do not believe I could find a single person +that can name the other seven men who were with Hobson. Why do we +teach history in that way? We ought to teach that however humble the +station a man may occupy, if he does his full duty in his place, he is +just as much entitled to the American peopled honor as is a king upon +a throne. We do teach it as a mother did her little boy in Now York +when he said, "Mamma, what great building is that?" "That is General +Grant's tomb." "Who was General Grant?" "He was the man who put down +the rebellion." Is that the way to teach history? + +Do you think we would have gained a victory if it had depended on +General Grant alone? Oh, no. Then why is there a tomb on the Hudson at +all? Why, not simply because General Grant was personally a great man +himself, but that tomb is there because he was a representative man +and represented two hundred thousand men who went down to death for +their nation and many of them as great as General Grant. That is why +that beautiful tomb stands on the heights over the Hudson. + +I remember an incident that will illustrate this, the only one that I +can give to-night. I am ashamed of it, but I don't dare leave it out. +I close my eyes now; I look back through the years to 1863; I can see +my native town in the Berkshire Hills, I can see that cattle-show +ground filled with people; I can see the church there and the town +hall crowded, and hear bands playing, and see flags flying and +handkerchiefs steaming--well do I recall at this moment that day. +The people had turned out to receive a company of soldiers, and that +company came marching up on the Common. They had served out one term +in the Civil War and had re-enlisted, and they were being received +by their native townsmen. I was but a boy, but I was captain of that +company, puffed out with pride on that day--why, a cambric needle +would have burst me all to pieces. As I marched on the Common at the +head of my company, there was not a man more proud than I. We marched +into the town hall and then they seated my soldiers down in the center +of the house and I took my place down on the front seat, and then the +town officers filed through the great throng of people, who stood +close and packed in that little hall. They came up on the platform, +formed a half circle around it, and the mayor of the town, the +"chairman of the Select men" in Kew England, took his seat in the +middle of that half circle, He was an old man, his hair was gray; he +never held an office before in his life. He thought that an office was +all he needed to be a truly great man, and when he came up he adjusted +his powerful spectacles and glanced calmly around the audience with +amazing dignity. Suddenly his eyes fell upon me, and then the good old +man came right forward and invited me to come up on the stand with the +town officers. Invited me up on the stand! No town officer ever took +notice of me before I went to war. Now, I should not say that. One +town officer was there who advised the teacher to "whale" me, but I +mean no "honorable mention." So I was invited up on the stand with the +town officers. I took my seat and let my sword fall on the floor, and +folded my arms across my breast and waited to be received. Napoleon +the Fifth! Pride goeth before destruction and a fall. When I had +gotten my seat and all became silent through the hall, the chairman of +the Select men arose and came forward with great dignity to the table, +and we all supposed he would introduce the Congregational minister, +who was the only orator in the town, and who would give the oration +to the returning soldiers. But, friends, you should have seen the +surprise that ran over that audience when they discovered that this +old farmer was going to deliver that oration himself. He had never +made a speech in his life before, but he fell into the same error that +others have fallen into, he seemed to think that the office would make +him an orator. So he had written out a speech and walked up and down +the pasture until he had learned it by heart and frightened the +cattle, and he brought that manuscript with him, and taking it from +his pocket, he spread it carefully upon the table. Then he adjusted +his spectacles to be sure that he might see it, and walked far back on +the platform and then stepped forward like this. He must have studied +the subject much, for he assumed an elocutionary attitude; he rested +heavily upon his left heel, slightly advanced the right foot, threw +back his shoulders, opened the organs of speech, and advanced his +right hand at an angle of forty-five. As he stood in that elocutionary +attitude this is just the way that speech went, this is it precisely. +Some of my friends have asked me if I do not exaggerate it, but I +could not exaggerate it. Impossible! This is the way it went; although +I am not here for the story but the lesson that is back of it: + +"Fellow citizens." As soon as he heard his voice, his hand began to +shake like that, his knees began to tremble, and then he shook all +over. He coughed and choked and finally came around to look at his +manuscript. Then he began again: "Fellow citizens: We--are--we are--we +are--we are--We are very happy--we are very happy--we are very +happy--to welcome back to their native town these soldiers who have +fought and bled--and come back again to their native town. We are +especially--we are especially--we are especially--we are especially +pleased to see with us to-day this young hero (that meant me)--this +young hero who in imagination (friends, remember, he said +"imagination," for if he had not said that, I would not be egotistical +enough to refer to it)--this young hero who, in imagination, we have +seen leading his troops--leading--we have seen leading--we have +seen leading his troops on to the deadly breach. We have seen his +shining--his shining--we have seen his shining--we have seen his +shining--his shining sword--flashing in the sunlight as he shouted to +his troops, 'Come on!'" + +Oh, dear, dear, dear, dear! How little that good, old man knew about +war. If he had known anything about war, he ought to have known what +any soldier in this audience knows is true, that it is next to a crime +for an officer of infantry ever in time of danger to go ahead of his +men. I, with my shining sword flashing in the sunlight, shouting to my +troops: "Come on." I never did it. Do you suppose I would go ahead of +my men to be shot in the front by the enemy and in the back by my own +men? That is no place for an officer. The place for the officer is +behind the private soldier in actual fighting. How often, as a staff +officer, I rode down the line when the Rebel cry and yell was coming +out of the woods, sweeping along over the fields, and shouted, +"Officers to the rear! Officers to the rear!" and then every officer +goes behind the line of battle, and the higher the officer's rank, +the farther behind he goes. Not because he is any the less brave, but +because the laws of war require that to be done. If the general came +up on the front line and were killed you would lose your battle +anyhow, because he has the plan of the battle in his brain, and must +be kept in comparative safety. I, with my "shining sword flashing in +the sunlight." Ah! There sat in the hall that day men who had given +that boy their last hardtack, who had carried him on their backs +through deep rivers. But some were not there; they had gone down to +death for their country. The speaker mentioned them, but they were but +little noticed, and yet they had gone down to death for their country, +gone down for a cause they believed was right and still believe was +right, though I grant to the other side the same that I ask for +myself. Yet these men who had actually died for their country were +little noticed, and the hero of the hour was this boy. Why was he the +hero? Simply because that man fell into that same foolishness. This +boy was an officer, and those were only private soldiers. I learned +a lesson that I will never forget. Greatness consists not in holding +some office; greatness really consists in doing some great deed with +little means, in the accomplishment of vast purposes from the private +ranks of life; that is true greatness. He who can give to this people +better streets, better homes, better schools, better churches, more +religion, more of happiness, more of God, he that can be a blessing to +the community in which he lives to-night will be great anywhere, but +he who cannot be a blessing where he now lives will never be great +anywhere on the face of God's earth. "We live in deeds, not years, in +feeling, not in figures on a dial; in thoughts, not breaths; we should +count time by heart throbs, in the cause of right." Bailey says: "He +most lives who thinks most." + +If you forget everything I have said to you, do not forget this, +because it contains more in two lines than all I have said. Bailey +says: "He most lives who thinks most, who feels the noblest, and who +acts the best." + + + + +"PERSONAL GLIMPSES OF CELEBRATED MEN AND WOMEN."[A] + +[Footnote A: Stenographic report by A. Russell Smith, Sec'y.] + +When I had been lecturing forty years, which is now four years ago, +the Lecture Bureau suggested that before I retire from the public +platform, that I should prepare one subject and deliver it through the +country. For I had told the Bureau thirty years ago that when I had +lectured forty years, I would retire. They therefore suggested a talk +on this topic, "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women." But a +death in our family which destroyed the homeness of our house produced +such an effect upon us that after the forty years came we found that +we would rather wander than stay at home, and consequently we are +traveling still, and will do so until the end. This explanation will +show why many of these things are said. For I must necessarily bring +myself often into this topic, sometimes unpleasantly to myself. Mark +Twain says, that the trouble with an old man is that he "remembers so +many things that ain't so," and with Mark Twain's caution in my ears, +I will try to give you these "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and +Women." + +I do not claim to be a very intimate friend of great men. But a fly +may look at an elephant, and for this reason we may glance at the +great men and women whom I have seen through the many years of public +life. Sometimes those glimpses give us a better idea of the real man +or woman than an entire biography written while he was living would +do; and to-night as a grandfather would bring his grandchildren to his +knee and tell them of his little experiences, so let me tell to you +these incidents in a life now so largely lived out. + +As I glance back to the Hampshire Highlands of the dear old Berkshire +Hills in Massachusetts, where my father worked as a farmer among the +rooks for twenty years to pay off a mortgage of twelve hundred dollars +upon his little farm, my elder brother and myself slept in the attic +which had one window in the gable end, composed of four lights and +those very small. I remember that attic so distinctly now, with the +ears of corn hung by the husks on the bare rafters, the rats running +over the floor and sometimes over the faces of the boys; the patter of +the rain upon the roof, and the whistle of the wind around that gable +end, the sifting of the snows through the hole in the window over +the pillow on our bed. While these things may appear very simple and +homely before this great audience, yet I mention them because in this +house I had a glimpse of the first great man I ever saw. It was far in +the country, far from the railroad, far from the city, yet into +that region there came occasionally a man or woman whose name is a +household word in the world. In those mountains of my boyhood there +was then an "underground railroad" running from Virginia to Canada. +It was called an "underground railroad," although it was a system +by which the escaped slaves from Virginia came into Delaware, from +Delaware into Philadelphia, then to New York, then to Springfield, and +from Springfield my father took the slaves by night to Worthington, +Mass., and they were sent on by St. Albans, over the Canada line into +liberty. This "underground railroad" system was composed of a chain of +men of whom my father was one link. One night my father drove up in +the dark, and my elder brother and I looked out to see who it was he +had! brought home with him. We supposed he had brought a slave whom he +was helping to escape. Oh, those dreary, dark days, when we were +in continual dread lest the United States Marshal should arrest my +father, throw him into prison for thus assisting these fugitive +slaves. The gloomy memory of those early years chills me now. But as +we gazed out that dark night, we saw that it was a white man with +father and who helped unhitch the horses and put them in the barn. In +the morning this white man sat at the breakfast table and my father +introduced him to us, saying: "Boys, this is Frederick Douglass, the +great colored orator," While I looked at him, giggling as boys will +do, Mr. Douglass turned to us and said, "Yes, boys, I am a colored +man; my mother was a colored woman and my father a white man," and +said he, "I have never seen my father, and I do not know much about +my mother. I remember her once when she interfered between me and the +overseer, who was whipping me, and she received the lash upon her +cheek and shoulder, and her blood ran across my face. I remember +washing her blood from my face and clothes." That story made a deep +impression on us boys, stamped indelibly on our memories. Frederick +Douglass is thus mentioned to illustrate the subject that I have come +to teach to-night. He frequently came to our house after that and my +mother often said to him, "Mr. Douglass, you will work yourself to +death," but he replied that until the slaves were free, and that would +be very soon, he must devote his life to them. But after that, said +he, "I will retire to Rochester, New York, where I have some land and +will build a house." He told us how many rooms it would have, what +decorations would be there, but when the war had been over several +years, he came to the house again and my father asked him about the +house in Rochester. "Well," he said, "I have not built that one yet, +but I have my plans for it. I have some work yet to do; I must take +care of the freedmen in the South, and look after their financial +prosperity, then I will build my cottage." You all remember that he +never built his house, but suddenly went on into the unknown of the +greatest work of his life. + +I remember that in 1852, my father came with another man who was put +for the night into the northwest bedroom--this is the room where those +New Englanders always put their friends, because, perhaps, pneumonia +comes there first--that awful, cold, dismal, northwest bedroom. +Thinking a favorite uncle had come, I went to the door early in the +morning. The door was shut--one of those doors which, if you lift +the latch, the door immediately swings open. I lifted the latch and +prepared to leap in to awaken my uncle and astonish him by my early +morning greeting. But when the door swung back, I glanced toward the +bed. The astonishment chills me at this moment, for in that bed was +not my uncle; but a giant, whose toes stood up at the foot-board, +and whose long hair was spread out over the pillow and his long gray +whiskers lay on the bed clothes, and oh, that snore--it sounded like +some steam horn. That giant figure frightened me and I rushed out +into the kitchen and said, "Mother, who is that strange man in the +northwest bed room?" and she said, "Why, that is John Brown." I had +never seen John Brown before, although my father had been with him +in the wool business in Springfield. I had heard some strange things +about John Brown, and the figure of the man made them seem doubly +terrible. I hid beside my mother, where I said I would stay until the +man was through his breakfast, but father came out and demanded that +the boys should come in, and he set me right under the wing of that +awful giant. But when John Brown saw us coming in so timidly, he +turned to us with a smile so benign and beautiful and so greatly in +contrast to what we had pictured him, that it was a transition. He +became to us boys one of the loveliest men we ever knew. He would go +to the barn with us and milk the cows, pitch the hay from the hay-mow; +he drove the cattle to water for us, and told us many a story, until +the dear, good old man became one of the treasurers of our life. It is +true that my mother thought he was half crazy, and consequently she +and father did not always agree about him, and did not discuss him +before the children. But nevertheless, be he a crank, or a fanatic, +or what he may, one thing is sure, the richest milk of human kindness +flowed from that heart and devoted itself sincerely to the uplift of +humanity. I remember him with love, love deep and sacred, up to this +present time. However great an extremist John Brown was, there were +many of them in New England. Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison +and John Brown never could agree. John Brown used to criticise Wendell +Phillips severely. He said that Wendell Phillips could not see to read +the clearest signs of revolution, and he was reminded by the husband +who bought a grave-stone that had been carved for another woman, but +the stone-cutter said "That has the name of another person." "Oh," +said the widower, "that makes no difference; my wife couldn't read." +John Brown once said of Wm. Lloyd Garrison that he couldn't see the +point and was like the woman who never could see a joke. One morning, +seated at the breakfast table, her husband cracked a joke, but she did +not smile, when he said, "Mary, you could not see a joke if it were +fired at you from a Dalgreen gun," whereupon she remarked: "Now John, +you know they do not fire jokes out of a gun." Well do I recall that +December 2d of 1859. Only a few weeks before John Brown came to our +house and my father subscribed to the purchase of rifles to aid in the +attempt to raise the insurrection among the slaves. The last time I +saw John Brown he was in the wagon with my father. Father gave him the +reins and came back as though he had forgotten something. John Brown +said, "Boys, stay at home; stay at home! Now, remember, you may never +see me again," and then in a lower voice, "And I do not think you ever +will see me again," but "Remember the advice of your Uncle Brown (as +we called him), and stay at home with the old folks, and remember +that you will be more blessed here than anywhere else on earth." The +happiest place on earth for me is still at my old home in Litchfield, +Connecticut. I did not understand him then, but on December 2d at +eleven o'clock my father called us all into the house and all that +hour from eleven to twelve o'clock we sat there in perfect silence. As +the old clock in that kitchen struck eleven, I heard the bell, ring +from the Methodist Church, its peal coming up the valley, from hill to +hill, and echoing its sad tone as the hour wore on. The peal of that +bell remains with me now; it has ever been a source of inspiration to +me. Sixty times struck that old bell. Once a minute, and when the +long sad hour was over, father put his Bible upon the mantel and went +slowly out, and we all solemnly followed, going to our various duties. +That solemn hour had a voice in the coming great Civil War of 1861-65. +At that hour John Brown was hanged in Virginia. All through New +England, they kept that hour with the same solemn services which +characterized my father's family. When the call came for volunteers +the young men of New England enlisted in the army, and sang again and +again, that old song, "John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, +but his soul goes marching on." His soul is still marching on. And +while I am one of those who would be the first to resist any attempt +to mar the sweet fraternity that now characterises the feeling between +the North and South, as I believe that the Southern soldier fought +for what he believed to be right, and consequently is entitled to our +fraternal respect, and while I believe that John Brown was sometimes a +fanatic, yet this illustration teaches us this great lesson and that +John Brown's advice was true. His happiest days were passed far back +in the quiet of his old home. + +Near to our home, in the town of Cummington, lived William Cullen +Bryant, one of the great poets of New England. He came back there to +spend his summers among the mountains he so clearly loved. He promised +the people of Cummington that he would again make his permanent home +there. I remember asking him if he would come clown to the stream +where he wrote "Thanatopsis" and recite it for us. The good, old +neighbor, white haired and trembling, came down to the banks of that +little stream and stood in the shade of the same old maple where he +had written that beautiful poem, and read from the wonderful creation +that made his name famous. + + "So live that when thy summons comes, to join + The innumerable caravan which moves + To that mysterious realm where each must take + His chamber in the silent halls of death, + Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night, + Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed + By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave + Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch + About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." + +"Yes," he said, "I will come back to Cummington." So he went to Europe +but came not back to occupy that home. He loved the old home. We were +driving by his place one day when we saw him planting apple trees in +July. We all know that apple trees won't grow when planted in July, so +my father, knowing him well, called to him and said, "Mr. Bryant, what +are you doing there? They won't grow." Mr. Bryant paused a moment and +looked at us, and then said half playfully: "Conwell, drive on, you +have no part nor lot in this matter. I do not expect these trees to +grow; I am setting them out because I want to live over again the days +when my father used to set trees when they would grow. I want to renew +that memory." He was wise, for in his work on "The Transmigration of +Races" he used that experience wonderfully. + +In 1860, when we were teaching school, my elder brother and myself, in +Blanchford, Massachusetts, were asked to go to Brooklyn with the body +of a lady who died near our schools. We went to Brooklyn on Saturday +and after the funeral, our friends asked us to stay over Sunday, +saying that they would take us to hear Henry Ward Beecher! That was a +great inducement, because my father read the "Tribune" every Sunday +morning after his Bible (and sometimes before it) and what Henry Ward +Beecher said, my father thought, "was law and Gospel." Sunday night, +we went to Plymouth Church, and there was a crowd an hour before the +service, and when the doors were opened we were crowded up the stairs. +We boys were thrust back into a dirty corner where we could not +see. Oh, yes, that is the way they treat the boys, put them any +place--they're only boys! I remember the disappointment of that night, +when we went there more to see than hear. But finally Mr. Beecher came +out and gave out his text. I remember that I did not pay very much +attention to it. In the middle of the sermon Mr. Beecher began in the +strangest way to auction off a woman: "How much am I offered for the +woman?" he yelled, and while in his biographies, they have said that +this woman was sold in the Broadway Tabernacle, but I afterwards asked +Mrs. Beecher and she said that Mr. Beecher had not sold this woman +twice, so far as she knew, but that she recalled distinctly the sale +in the Plymouth Church. I remember standing up on tip-toes to look +for that woman that was being sold. After he had finished, after the +singing of the hymn, he said "Brethren, be seated," and then said, +"Sam, come here." A colored boy came up tremblingly and stood beside +him. "This boy is offered for $770.00; he is owned in South Carolina +and has run away. His master offers him to me for $770.00, and now if +the officers of the church will pass the plates the boy shall be set +free," and when the plates were returned over $1700.00 came in. As we +went our way home I said to my elder brother: "Oh, what a grand thing +it must be to preach to a congregation of fifteen hundred people." But +my elder brother very wisely said: "You don't know anything about it; +you do not know whether he is happy or not." "Well," I suggested, +"wasn't it a strange thing to introduce a public auction in the middle +of a sermon," and my elder brother again said that if they did more +of that in a country church they would have a larger congregation. +Afterwards I was quite fortunate to know Mr. Beecher and frequently +reported his sermons. I often heard him say that the happiest years +he ever knew were back in Lawrenceville, Ohio, in that little church +where there were no lamps and he had to borrow them himself, light +them himself, and prepare the church for the first service. He told +how he swept the church, lighted the fire in the stove, and how it +smoked; then how he sawed the wood to heat the church, and how he went +into carpenter work to earn money to pay his own salary, yet he +said that was the happiest time of his life. Mrs. Beecher told me +afterwards that Mr. Beecher often talked about those days and said +that bye and bye he would retire and they would again go back to the +simple life they had enjoyed so much. + +When he had built his new home near the Hudson, Robert Collier and I +visited him. We found in the rear of an addition that clap-boards had +been put up in all sorts of adjustment. Mr. Collier asked him: "Where +did you find a carpenter to do such poor work as that?" and Mr. +Beecher said humorously: "You could not hire that carpenter on your +house." Then he said: "Mr. Collier, I put those boards on that house +myself. I insisted that they leave that work for me to do. I have been +happy putting on these boards and driving these nails. They took me +back to the old days at Lawrenceville, where we lived over a store +and our pantry was a dry goods box. But there we were so happy. I am +hoping sometime to be as happy again, but it is not possible to do it +while I am in the service of the public." He had promised himself and +his wife some day to go back to that simple life. But his sudden death +taught the same great lesson with all the examples I give of great men +and women. Rev. Robt. Collier always enjoyed the circus--the circus +was the great place of enjoyment outside, perhaps, of his pulpit work. +It was Robert Collier who used to tell the story of the boy whose aunt +always made him go to church, but after going to a circus he wrote to +his aunt: "Auntie, if you had ever been to a circus, you wouldn't go +to another prayer-meeting as long as you live." The love of Collier +for the circus only shows the simplicity of the great man's mind. Mr. +Collier is said to have paid a dollar for a fifty cent ticket to the +circus, only making it conditional that he was to have the privilege +of going 'round to the rear and crawling under the tent, showing what +he must have done when a boy. The fact of Mr. Collier's love for the +circus was one of the strange things in the eccentricities of a great +man's life. Once Mr. Barnum came into Mr. Collier's church and Mr. +Collier said to the usher: "Please show Mr. Barnum to a front seat +for he always gives me one in _his_ circus." These simplicities often +show that somewhere back in each man's life there is a point where +happiness and love are one, and when, that point is passed, we go on +longing to the return. + +The night after he went to hear Henry Ward Beecher's great sermon they +persuaded us to stay until the following Monday night, because there +was to be a lecture at the Cooper Institute and there was to be a +parade of political clubs, and fire works, so as country boys, easily +influenced, we decided that the school could wait for another day, and +staid for the procession. We went to Cooper's Institute and there +was a crowd as there was at Beecher's church. We finally got on the +stairway and far in the rear of the great crowd, but my brother stood +on the floor, and I sat on the ledge of the window sill, with my feet +on his shoulders, so he held me while I told him down there what was +going on over yonder. The first man that came on the platform, and +presided at that meeting, was William Cullent Bryant, our dear old +neighbor. When we boys in a strange city saw that familiar face, oh, +the emotions that arose in our hearts! How proud we were at that hour, +that he, our neighbor, was presiding on that occasion. He took his +seat on the stage, the right of which was left vacant for some one yet +to come. Next came a very heavy man, but immediately following him +a tall, lean man. Mr. Bryant arose and went toward him, bowing and +smiling. He was an awkward specimen of a man and all about me people +were asking "Who is that?" but no man seemed to know. I asked a +gentleman who that man was, but he said he didn't know. He was an +awkward specimen indeed; one of the legs of his trousers was up about +two inches above his shoe; his hair was dishevelled and stuck out like +rooster's feathers; his coat was altogether too large for him in the +back, his arms much longer than the sleeves, and with his legs twisted +around the rungs of the chair, was the picture of embarrassment. When +Mr. Bryant arose to introduce the speaker of that evening, he was +known seemingly to few in that great hall. Mr. Bryant said: "Gentlemen +of New York, you have your favorite son in Mr. Seward and if he were +to be President of the United States, every one of us would be proud +of him." Then came great applause. "Ohio has her favorite son in Judge +Wade; and the nation would prosper under his administration, but +Gentlemen of New York, it is a great honor that is conferred upon me +to-night, for I can introduce to you the next President of the United +States, Abraham Lincoln." Then through that audience flew the query as +to whom Abraham Lincoln was. There was but weak applause. Mr. Lincoln +had in his hand a manuscript. He had written it with great care and +exactness and the speech which you read in his biography is the one +that he wrote, not the one that he delivered as I recall it, and it is +fortunate for the country that they did print the one that he wrote. I +think the one he wrote had already been set up in type that afternoon +from his manuscript, and consequently they did not go over it to see +whether it had been changed or not. He had read three pages and had +gone on to the fourth when he lost his place and then he began to +tremble and stammer. He then turned it over two or three times, threw +the manuscript upon the table, and, as they say in the west, "let +himself go." Now the stammering man who had created only silent +derision up to that point, suddenly flashed out into an angel of +oratory and the awkward arms and dishevelled hair were lost sight +of entirely in the wonderful beauty and lofty inspiration of that +magnificent address. The great audience immediately began to follow +his thought, and when he uttered that quotation from Douglass, "It is +written on the sky of America that the slaves shall some day be free," +he had settled the question that he was to be the next President +of the United States. The applause was so-great that the building +trembled and I felt the windows shake behind me. Afterward, as we +walked home, I said to my elder brother again, "Wasn't it a great +thing to be introduced to all those people as the next President of +the United States?" and my elder brother very wisely said: "You do not +know whether he was really happy or not." Afterwards, in 1864, when +one of my soldiers was unjustly sentenced and his gray-haired mother +plead with me to use what influence I would have with the President, I +went to Washington and told the story to the President. He said he +had heard something about it from Mr. Stanton, and he said he would +investigate the matter, and he did afterward decide that the man +should not be put to death. At the close of that interview I said to +the President: "I beg your pardon, Mr. Lincoln, but is it not a most +exhausting thing to sit here hearing all these appeals and have all of +this business on your hands?" He laid his head on his hand, and in a +somewhat wearied manner, said, with a deep sigh: "Yes, yes; no man +ought to be ambitious to be President of the United States," and said +he, "When this war is over, and that won't be very long, I tell my +"Tad" that we will go back to the farm where I was happier as a boy +when I dug potatoes at twenty-five cents a day than I am now; I tell +him I will buy him a mule and a pony and he shall have a little cart +and he shall make a little garden in a field all his own," and the +President's face beamed as he arose from his chair in the delight of +excitement as he said: "Yes, I will be far happier than I have ever +been here." The next time I looked in the face of Abraham Lincoln was +in the east room of the White House at Washington as he lay in his +coffin. Not long ago at a Chautauqua lecture I was on the very farm +which he bought at Salem, Illinois, and looked around the place where +he had resolved to build a mansion, but which was never constructed. + +Near my home in the Berkshires, Charles Dudley Warner was born. When +he had accomplished great things in literature and had written "My +Summer in a Garden," that popular work which attracted the attention +of his newspaper friends, he went to Hartford, where the latter gave +him a banquet. I was invited to attend and report it for the public +press. They lauded him and said how beautiful it was to be so elevated +above his fellow men, and how great he was in the estimation of the +world But he in his answer to the toast said, "Gentlemen, I wish for +no fame, I desire no glory and you have made a mistake if you think +I enjoy any such notoriety. I envy the Hartford teacher whose smile +threw sunshine along her pathway." Then he told us the story of a poor +little boy, cold and barefooted, standing on the street on a terribly +cold day. A lady came along, and looking kindly at him, said, "Little +boy, are you cold?" The little fellow, looking up into her face, said, +"Yes Ma'am, I was cold till you smiled." He would rather have a smile +like that and the simple love of his fellow men than to have all the +fame of the earth. He was honored in all parts of the world by the +greatest of the great, yet he was a sad man when he wrote "My Summer +in a Garden," and it all seems a mystery how he could in such grief +have written that remarkable little tale. This sadness is often +associated with humorists. Mr. Shaw was one of the saddest men I +ever met. Why, he cried on the slightest occasion. I went one day to +interview him in Boston, and Mr. Shepard, his publisher, said "Please +don't trouble Josh Billings now." "What is the matter?" "Oh, he is +crying again," said Mr. Shepard. I asked him how Mr. Shaw could write +such funny things as he did. He then showed me the manuscript (which +Mr. Shaw had just placed on his desk and which he had just written), +in which he says, "I do not know any cure for laziness, but I have +known a second wife to hurry it up some." Artemus Ward wrote the most +laughable things while his heart was in the deepest wretchedness. +Often these glimpses of the funny men whose profession would seem to +show them to be the happiest of earth's people, prove that they are +sometimes the most gloomy and miserable. + +John B. Gough, the great temperance orator, the greatest the world has +ever seen, said to me one evening at his home that he would lecture +for forty years, and then would stop. But his wife said, "Now, John, +you know you won't give it up." He assented, "Yes, I will." But his +wife said, "No you won't. You men when you drink of public life find +it like a drink of whiskey, and you are just like the rest of the +men." "No," said he. Then Mr. Gough told again his familiar story of +the minister who was preaching in his pulpit in Boston when he saw the +Governor of the State coming up the aisle. Immediately he began to +stammer, and finally said: "I see the Governor coming in, and as I +know you will want to hear an exhortation from him, I think that I had +better stop." Then one of the old officials leaped up from one of the +front seats and said, "I insist upon your going on with your sermon, +sir; you ought not be embarrassed by the Governor's coming in. We are +all worms! All worms! nothing but worms!" Then the minister was +angry and shouted: "Sir, I would have you understand that there is +a difference in worms." Mr. Gough said he was different from other +people yet the years came and went, and he stayed on the public +platform. One night a committee from Frankford, Philadelphia, asked me +to write him and ask him to lecture for them. I wrote and whether my +influence had anything to do with it or not, I do not know, but he +came from New York and when he was in about the middle of his lecture, +he came to that sentence, "Young man, keep your record clear, for a +single glass of intoxicating liquor may somewhere, in after years, +change into a horrid monster that shall carry you down to woe." And +when he had uttered that wonderful sentence of advice, he slopped to +get breath, reached for a drink of water, swung forward and fell over. +The doctor said he was too late for any earthly aid, and John B. +Gough, with his armor on, went on into Glory. He never found that +earthly rest he had promised himself. His garden never showed its +flowers, and his fields were never strewn with grain. + +When our regiment was encamped in Faneuil Hall at Boston before +embarking for the war in 1863, Mr. Wendell Phillips sent an invitation +to the officers of the regiment to visit his home. But when we reached +his house we found that he had been called to Worcester suddenly to +make a speech. But we found his wife there in her rolling chair, for +she was a permanent invalid. Our evening was spent very pleasantly, +but I said to her: "Are you not very lonesome when Mr. Phillips is +away so much?" "Yes," she said, "I am very lonesome; he is father, +mother, brother, sister, husband and child to me," and said she, "he +cares for me with the tenderness of a mother; he waits upon me, he +takes me out, and brings me in; he dresses me, and it now seems so +strange that he is not by my side. If it were not for him, I should +die, but he says that as soon as the slaves are free that he will come +back and be the same husband he was before." The officers standing +around me smiled as they heard of his promise to retire, but said she, +"Oh, yes, he will do as he promised." When the war was over and the +slaves were free, and he had scolded General Grant all he wished, he +did do as he promised, and did retire. He sold his house in the city +and bought one in Waverly, Massachusetts. He did prove the exception +and went back to the private life that he had promised himself and +his wife. Every Sunday morning as I drove by his home I could see him +swinging on his gate. It was a double gate over the driveway, and he +would pull that gate far in, get on it and then swing way out over the +side-walk and then in again. Well, he used to swing on that gate every +Sunday morning, and my family wondered why it was that he always did +it on that particular morning. One Sunday morning when I drove by, +I found Mr. Phillips swinging on his gate over the side-walk, and I +said, "Mr. Phillips, my family wish me to ask you why you swing on +this gate every Sunday morning." Mr. Phillips, who had a very deep +sense of humour, stepped off the gate, stood back, and assuming a +dignified, ministerial air, "I am requested to discourse to-day upon +the text 'Why I swing upon this gate on Sunday morning,' and I will, +therefore, divide my text into two heads." I quickly told him that I +must get to church some time that day. "Then," said he, with a smile, +"just one word more: Why do I swing on a gate? Because the first time +I saw my wife she was swinging on the gate, and the second time I saw +her, we kissed each other over the top of the gate, and when I swing +it reminds me of other happy days long gone by. That, sir, is the +reason I swing upon this gate." Then his humor all disappeared and he +said: "I really swing upon this gate on Sunday morning because I think +the next thing to the love of God is love of man for a true woman--as +you cannot say you love God and hate your brother, neither can you say +you love God unless you have first loved a human being, and I swing on +this gate on Sunday morning because to me it is next to life's highest +worship." And then, in a majestic manner, he said, "Conwell, all +within this gate is PARADISE and all without it MARTYRDOM." In that +wonderful sentence, which I feel sure I recall accurately, he uttered +the most glorious expression that could ever come from uninspired +lips. + +I had a glimpse of James G. Elaine when I went to his home in Augusta, +Maine, to write his biography for the committee. A day or two after it +was finished a distinguished Senator from Washington came to see me in +Philadelphia and asked if Mr. Blaine had seen the book, and I told him +that he certainly had. "Did he see that second chapter?" "Of course he +did," said I; "he corrected it." Then he wanted to know how much money +it would take to get the book out of circulation. "Why, what is the +matter with the book," said I, but he would not tell me, and said that +he would pay me well if I would only keep the book from circulation. +He did not tell me what was the matter. I told him that the publishers +owned the copyright, having bought it from me. He said, "Is it not +possible for you to take a trip to Europe to-morrow morning?" "But why +take a trip to Europe?" "The committee will pay all of your expenses, +all your family's expenses, and of any servants you wish lo take with +you--only get out of the country." "Well," I said, "I am not going to +leave the country for my country's good, unless I know what I am going +for." I never could find out what the trouble with that second chapter +was, and I afterwards asked Mrs. Blaine if she knew what was the +matter. She then broke out in a paroxysm of grief and said that if he +had stayed in Washington, Pennsylvania, where he was a teacher, "he +would be living yet." She said "he had given thirty years of his life +to the public service, and now they have so ungratefully disgraced his +name, sent him to an early grave, and all in consequence of what he +has done for the public. He is a stranger to his country--a stranger +to his friends," and then she said, "O would to God he had stayed in +Pennsylvania!" I left her then, but I have never known what was in +that second chapter that caused the disturbance. But I do know +the second chapter was concerning their early and happy life in +Washington, Pennsylvania, where he taught in the college. + +Near our home in Newton, Massachusetts, was that of F.F. Smith, who +wrote "America." It was of him that Oliver Wendell Holmes said that +"Nature tried to hide him by naming him Smith." Smith lived that quiet +and restful life that reminds one of Tennyson's "Brook" when thinking +of him. He knew the glory of modest living. + +The last time I saw the sweet Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, +was in Amesbury, before he died. He sent a note to the lecture hall +asking me to come to come to him. I asked him what was his favorite +poem of his own writing. He said he had not thought very much about +it, but said that there was one that he especially remembered: + + "I know not where His islands lift + Their fronded palms in air, + I only know I cannot drift + Beyond His love and care." + +I then asked him, "Mr. Whittier, how could you write all those war +songs which sent us young men to war, and you a peaceful Quaker? I +cannot understand it." He smiled and said that his great-grandfather had +been on a ship that was attacked by pirates, and as one of the pirates +was climbing up the rope into their ship, his great-grandfather +grasped a knife and cut the rope, saying: "If thee wants the rope, +thee can have it." He said that he had inherited something of the same +spirit. + +At Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Bayard Taylor took me to the grave of +his wife, and said "Here is the spot where I determined to live anew. +From this grave the real experiences of my life began." There he was +completing his home called "Cedar Croft." But he died while U.S. +Minister to Germany. The Young Men's Congress of Boston, when +arranging for a great memorial service in Tremont Temple, asked me to +call on Dr. Oliver Wendel Holmes to ask him to write a poem on Bayard +Taylor's death. When I asked Mr. Holmes to write this poem, to be read +in the Tremont Temple, he was sitting on the rocking chair. He rocked +back and kicked up his feet, and began to laugh. "I write a poem on +Bayard Taylor--ah, no--but I tell you, if you will get Mr. Longfellow +to write a poem on Bayard Taylor's death, I will read it." These +things only show the eccentricities of Mr. Holmes. So I went to Mr. +Longfellow and told him what Dr. Holmes had said, and here is the poem +he wrote: + + "Dead he lay among his books! + The peace of God was in his looks. + As the statues in the gloom + Watch o'er Maximilian's tomb, + So those volumes from their shelve. + Watched him, silent as themselves. + Ah, his hand will never more + Turn their storied pages o'er. + Never more his lips repeat + Songs of theirs, however sweet. + Let the lifeless body rest! + He is gone who was its guest. + Gone as travellers haste to leave + An inn, nor tarry until eve. + + "Traveller! in what realms afar, + In what planet, in what star, + In what gardens of delight + Rest thy weary feet to-night? + Poet, thou whose latest verse + Was a garland on thy hearse, + Thou hast sung with organ tone + In Deukalion's life thine own. + On the ruins of the Past + Blooms the perfect flower, at last + Friend, but yesterday the bells + Rang for thee their loud farewells; + And to-day they toll for thee, + Lying dead beyond the sea; + Lying dead among thy books; + The peace of God in all thy looks." + +That great traveller, like Mr. Longfellow, used to tell me of his +first wife. He always said that her sweet spirit occupied that room +and stood by him. I often told him that he was wrong and argued with +him, but he said, "I know she is here." I often thought of the great +inspiration she had been to him in his marvelous poems and books. +Poor Bayard Taylor, "In what gardens of delight, rest thy weary feet +to-night?" Mr. Longfellow once said that Mary "stood between him and +his manuscript," and he could not get away from the impression that +she was with him all the time. How sad was her early death and how he +suffered the martyrdom of the faithful! Longfellow's home life was +always beautiful But his later years were disturbed greatly by +souvenir and curiosity seekers. + +Horace Greeley died of a broken heart because he was not elected +President of the United States, and never was happy in the last years +of his life. His idea of true happiness was to go to some quiet +retreat and publish some little paper. He once declared at a dinner in +Brooklyn that he envied the owner of a weekly paper in Indiana whose +paper was so weakly that the subscribers did not miss it if it failed +to appear. + +Mr. Tennyson told me that he would not exchange his home, walled in as +it was like a fortress for Windsor Castle or the throne of the Queen. + +Mr. Carnegie said to me only a few months ago that if a man owned his +home and had his health he had all the money that man needed to be as +happy as any person can be. Mr. Carnegie was right about that. + +Empress Eugenie, in 1870, was said to be the happiest woman in France. +I saw her in the Tuilleres at a gorgeous banquet and a few years +after, when her husband had been captured, her son killed and she was +a widow, at the Chislehurst Cottage, I said to her, "The last time +I saw you in that beautiful palace you were said to be the happiest +woman in the world." "Sir," she said, "I am far happier now than I was +then." It was a statement that for a long time I could not understand. + +I caught a glimpse of Garibaldi weeping because he did not go back +with his wife, Anita, to South America. + +I visited Charles Dickens at his home and asked him to come to America +again and read from his books, but Mr. Dickens said "No, I will never +cross the ocean; I will not go even to London. When I die, I am to be +buried out there on the lawn," and he pointed out the place to me. A +few weeks later I hired a custodian to let me in early at the rear +gate of Westminster Abbey, for Parliament had changed Mr. Dickens's +will in one respect, and provided that he should not be buried on the +lawn of his cottage, but instead in Westminster Abbey, but they made +no other change in his will. There I looked on the fifteen men, all +whom the will allowed to be present at his funeral, who were bearing +all that was mortal of Charles Dickens to his rest, and I heard Dean +Stanley say "While Mr. Dickens lived, his loss was our gain; but +now his gain is our loss." When he uttered that great truth, very +condensed, in that beautiful language, he showed that human life in +the public service of one's fellow men may be nothing more or less +than continual sacrifice. + +My friends, if you are called to public service; if you have influence +that you can use for the public good, do not hesitate to go if you are +SURE that DUTY calls you. But if, instead, no voice of God, no call of +mankind, doth require that you go out and give up the best of life for +your fellows, remember how fortunate you are. If you can go to your +home at evening and read your paper in peace, and rest undisturbed, +do so, and remember that you have reached the very height of personal +happiness. Then seek no farther, count thyself happy and go no farther +than God shall call you. For the happiest man is not famous, nor +rich, but he who hath his loved ones in an undisturbed peace around. +Remember what Wendell Phillips said, "All within this gate is +Paradise; all without it is MARTYDROM." + +I had a glimpse of Generals Grant and Sheridan wrestling like boys, +over a box of cigars sent into General Grant's tent. They were boys +again. + +I had a glimpse of Li-Hung Chang at Nanking, China, at an execution by +beheading, and a glimpse of him an hour later playing leap frog with +his grandchildren. Childhood was a joy, manhood a tragedy. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Russell H. Conwell, by Agnes Rush Burr + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11421 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c84dee --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11421 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11421) diff --git a/old/11421-8.txt b/old/11421-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2fd0338 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11421-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10588 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Russell H. Conwell, by Agnes Rush Burr + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Russell H. Conwell + +Author: Agnes Rush Burr + +Release Date: March 3, 2004 [EBook #11421] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUSSELL H. CONWELL *** + + + + +Produced by Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team. + + + + + +[Illustration: RUSSELL H CONWELL] + + + + +RUSSELL H. CONWELL + +Founder of the Institutional Church in America + + + +THE WORK AND THE MAN + +BY + +AGNES RUSH BURR + + + +With His Two Famous Lectures as Recently Delivered, entitled "Acres of +Diamonds," and "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women" + + + +With an Appreciative Introduction by FLOYD W. TOMKINS, D.D., LL.D. + + + + +1905 + + + + +TO THE MEMBERS + +OF + +GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH + + +TO THOSE WHO IN THE OLD DAYS WORKED WITH SUCH SELF SACRIFICE AND +DEVOTION TO BUILD THE TEMPLE WALLS; TO THOSE WHO IN THE LATER DAYS +ANYWHERE WORK IN LIKE SPIRIT TO ENLARGE THEIR SPHERE OF USEFULNESS, + +THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED + + + + +AN APPRECIATION + + +The measure of greatness is helpfulness. We have gone back to the +method of the Master and learned to test men not by wealth, nor by +birth, nor by intellectual power, but by service. Wealth is not to be +despised if it is untainted and consecrated. Ancestry is noble if the +good survives and the bad perishes in him who boasts of his forebears. +Intellectual force is worthy if only it can escape from that cursed +attendant, conceit. But they sink, one and all into insignificance +when character is considered; for character is the child of godly +parents whose names are self-denial and love. The man who lives not +for himself but for others, and who has a heart big enough to take all +men into its living sympathies--he is the man we delight to honor. + +Biographies have a large place in present day literature. A woman long +associated with some foreign potentates tells her story and it is read +with unhealthy avidity. Some man fights many battles, and his career +told by an amiable critic excites temporary interest. Yet as we read +we are unsatisfied. The heart and mind, consciously or unconsciously, +ask for some deeds other than those of arms and sycophancies. Did he +make the world better by his living? Were rough places smoothed and +crooked things straightened by his energies? And withal, had he that +tender grace which drew little children to him and made him the +knight-attendant of the feeble and overborne amongst his fellows? The +life from which men draw daily can alone make a book richly worth the +reading. + +It is good that something should be known of a man whilst he yet +lives. We are overcrowded with monuments commemorating those into +whose faces we cannot look for inspiration. It is always easy to strew +flowers upon the tomb. But to hear somewhat of living realities; to +grasp the hand which has wrought, and feel the thrill while we hear of +the struggles which made it a beautiful hand; to see the face marked +by lines cut with the chisel of inner experience and the sword of +lonely misunderstanding and perchance of biting criticism, and +learn how the brave contest spelt out a life-history on feature and +brow;--this is at once to know the man and his career. + +This life of a man justly honored and loved in Philadelphia will find +a welcome seldom accorded to the routine biography. It is difficult +for one who rejoices in Dr. Conwell's friendship to speak in tempered +language. It is yet more difficult to do justice to the great work +which Church and College and Hospital, united in a trinity of service, +have accomplished in our very midst. God hath done mighty things +through this His servant, and the end is not yet. To attend the Temple +services on Sunday and feel the pulse of worship is to enter into a +blessed fellowship with God and men. To see the thousands pursuing +their studies during the week in Temple College and to realize the +thoroughness of the work done is to gain a belief in Christian +education. To move through the beautiful Hospital and mark the gentle +ministration of Christian physician and nurse is to learn what Jesus +meant when, quoting Hosea, He said: "I will have mercy and not +sacrifice." And these all bring one very near to the great human +heart, the intelligent and far-reaching judgment, the ripe and real +religion of him whose life this volume tells. + +May God bless Dr. Conwell in the days to come, and graciously spare +him to us for many years! We need such men in this old sin-stained and +weary world. He is an inspiration to his brothers in the ministry +of Jesus Christ, He is a proof of the power in the world of pure +Christianity. He is a friend to all that is good, a foe to all that is +evil, a strength to the weak, a comforter to the sorrowing, a man of +God. + +He would not suffer these words to be printed if he saw them. But they +come from the heart of one who loves, honors, and reverences him for +his character and his deeds. They are the words of a friend. + +[Illustration: Floyd W. Tomkins Church of the Holy Trinity +Philadelphia, Oct. 6th 1905.] + + + + +FOREWORD + +CONWELL THE PIONEER + + +Speaking of Russell Conwell's career, a Western paper has called it, +"a pioneer life." + +No phrase better describes it. + +Dr. Conwell preaches to the largest Protestant congregation in America +each Sunday. He is the founder and president of a college that has a +yearly roll-call of three thousand students. He is the founder and +president of a hospital that annually treats more than five thousand +patients. Yet great as these achievements are, they are yet greater in +prophecy than in fulfilment. For they are the first landmarks in a new +world of philanthropic work. He has blazed a path through the dark, +tangled wilderness of tradition and convention, hewing away the +worthless, making a straight road for progress, letting in God's clear +light to show what the world needs done and how to do it. + +He has shown how a church can reach out into the home, the business, +the social life of thousands of people until their religion is their +life, their life a religion. He has given the word "church" its real +meaning. No longer is it a building merely for worship, but, with +doors never closed, it is a vital part of the community and the lives +of the people. + +He has proven that the great masses of people are hungry and thirsty +for knowledge. The halls of Temple College have resounded to the tread +of an army of working men and women more than fifty thousand strong. +The man with an hour a day and a few dollars a year is as eager and as +welcome a student there, and has the same educational opportunities to +the same grade of learning as though he had the birthright of leisure +and money which opens the doors to Harvard and Yale. + +He has shown that a hospital can be built not merely as a charity, not +merely as a necessity, but as a visible expression of Christ's love +and command, "Heal the sick." + +In all these three lines he has blazed new paths, opened new worlds +for man's endeavors--new worlds of religious work, new worlds of +educational work. He has not only proven their need, demonstrated +their worth, but he has shown how it is possible to accomplish such +results from small beginnings with no large gifts of money, with only +the hands and hearts of willing workers. + +Not only has he done a magnificent pioneer work in these great fields, +but from boyhood he has blazed trails of one kind or another, for +the pioneer fever was in his blood--that burning desire to do, to +discover, to strike out into new fields. + +As a mere child, he organized a strange club called "Silence," also +the first debating society in the district schoolhouse, and circulated +the first petition for the opening of a post-office near his home in +South Worthington, Mass. + +In his school days at Wilbraham Academy, he organized an original +critics' club, started the first academy paper, organized the original +alumni association. + +In war time, he built the first schoolhouse for the first free colored +school, still standing at Newport, N.C.; and started the first +"Comfort Bag" movement at a war meeting in Springfield, Mass. + +As a lawyer, he opened the first noon prayer meeting in the Northwest, +called the first meeting to organize the Y.M.C.A. at Minneapolis, +Minn., organized four literary and social clubs in Minneapolis, +started the first library in that city, began the publication of the +first daily paper there called "The Daily Chronicle," afterward "The +Minneapolis Tribune." + +In Boston, he started the "Somerville Journal," now edited by his son, +Leon M. Conwell, one of the most quoted publications in the country. +He called the first meeting which organized the Boston Young Men's +Congress, and was one of the first editors of the "Boston Globe." +He was the personal adviser of James Redpath, who opened the first +Lecture and Lyceum Bureau in the United States. + +He began a new church work in the old Baptist church building at +Lexington, Mass., and he opened in a schoolhouse the mission from +which grew the West Somerville (Mass.) Baptist church. + +He was special counselor for four new Railroad companies and for two +new National banks. + +In Philadelphia, in addition to being the founder of the first +Institutional church in America, of a college practically free for +busy men and women, and a hospital for the sick poor, he has organized +twenty or more societies for religions and benevolent purposes +including the Philadelphia Orphan's Home Society. + +His pioneer work is not all. As a lecturer Dr. Conwell is known from +the Atlantic to the Pacific, having been on the lecture platform +for forty-three years, speaking from one hundred to two hundred and +twenty-five nights each year. + +As an author he has written books that have run into editions of +hundreds of thousands, his "Life of Spurgeon" selling one hundred and +twenty-five thousand copies in four months. He has been around the +globe many times, counted among his intimate friends Garibaldi, Bayard +Taylor, Stanley, Longfellow, Blaine, Henry Ward Beecher, John G. +Whittier, President Garfield, Horace Greeley, Alexander Stevens, John +Brown, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John B. Gough and General Sherman. + +He fought in the war of the Rebellion, was left for dead on the +battlefield of Kenesaw mountain--in fact, he has had a career as +picturesque and thrilling as a Scott or Dumas could picture. + +Yet the man whose energy has reared enduring monuments of stone, and +more lasting ones in the hearts of thousands whose lives he has made +happier and brighter, fought his way upward alone and single-handed +from a childhood of poverty. He rose by his own efforts, in the face +of great and seemingly insurmountable obstacles and discouragements. +The path he took from that little humble farmhouse to the big church, +the wide-reaching college, the kindly hospital, the head of the +Lecture Platform, it is the purpose of this book to picture, in the +hope that it may be helpful to others, either young or old, who desire +to better their condition, or to do some work of which the inner voice +tells them the world is in need. + +Dr. Conwell believes, with George Macdonald, that "The one secret of +life and development is not to devise or plan, but to fall in with the +forces at work--to do every moment's duty aright--that being the part +in the process allotted to us; and let come ... what the Eternal +Thought wills for each of us, has intended in each of us from the +first." + +Or in the words of the greatest of Books, "See that thou make it +according to the pattern that was shewed thee in the mount." + +Every one at some time in his life has been "in the mount." To follow +and obey the Heavenly Vision means a life of usefulness and happiness. +That obstacles and discouragements can be surmounted, the life of +Russell Conwell shows. For this purpose it is written, that others who +have heard the Voice may go forward with faith and perseverance to +work of which the world stands in need. + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENT + + +In the preparation of this book, the three excellent biographies +already written, "Scaling the Eagle's Nest," by Wm. C. Higgins, "The +Modern Temple and Templars," by Robert J. Burdette, and "The Life of +Russell H. Conwell," by Albert Hatcher Smith, have been of the utmost +help. The writer wishes to acknowledge her great indebtedness to all +for much of the information in the present work. These writers have +with the utmost care gathered the facts concerning Dr. Conwell's early +life, and the writer most gratefully owns her deep obligation to them. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + +Chapter I.--Ancestry. John Conwell, the English Ancestor who fought for +the Preservation of the English Language. Martin Conwell of Maryland. A +Runaway Marriage. The Parents of Russell H. Conwell. + +Chapter II.--Early Environment. The Family Circle. An Unusual Mother. +What She Read Her Children. A Preacher at Three Years of Age. + +Chapter III.--Days of Study, Work and Play. The Schoolhouse in the +Woods. Maple Sugar-making. The Orator of the Dawn. A Boyish Prank. +Capturing the Eagle's Nest. + +Chapter IV.--Two Men and Their Influence. John Brown. Fireside +Discussions. Runaway Slaves. Fred Douglas. Rev. Asa Niles. A Runaway +Trip to Boston. + +Chapter V--Trying His Wings. Boyhood Days. Russell's First Case at Law. +A Cure for Stage Fever. Studying Music. A Runaway Trip to Europe. + +Chapter VI--Out of the Home Nest. School Days at Wilbraham Academy. The +First School Oration and Its Humiliating End. The Hour of Prayer in the +Conwell Home at the Time of John Brown's Execution. + +Chapter VII.--War's Alarms. College Days at Yale. The Outbreak of the +Civil War. Patriotic Speechmaking. New York and Henry Ward Beecher. + +Chapter VIII.--While the Conflict Raged. Lincoln's Call for One Hundred +Thousand Men. Enlistment. Captain Conwell. In Camp at Springfield, Mass. +The Famous Gold-sheathed Sword. + +Chapter IX.--In the Thick of the Fight. Company F at Newberne, N.C. The +Fight at Batchelor's Creek. The Goldsboro Expedition. The Battle of +Kingston. The Gum Swamp Expedition. + +Chapter X.--The Sword and the School Book. Scouting at Bogue Sound. +Captain Conwell Wounded. The Second Enlistment. Jealousy and +Misunderstanding. Building of the First Free School for Colored +Children. Attack on Newport Barracks. Heroic Death of John Ring. + +Chapter XI.--A Soldier of the Cross. Under Arrest for Absence Without +Leave. Order of Court Reversed by President. Certificate from State +Legislature of Massachusetts for Patriotic Services. Appointed by +President Lincoln, Lieutenant-Colonel on General McPherson's Staff. +Wounded at Kenesaw Mountain. Conversion. Public Profession of Faith. + +Chapter XII.--Westward. Resignation from Army. Admission to Bar. +Marriage. Removal to Minnesota. Founding of the Minneapolis Y.M.C.A. +and of the Present "Minneapolis Tribune." Burning of Home. Breaking Out +of Wound. Appointed Emigration Agent to Germany by Governor of +Minnesota. Joins Surveying Party to Palestine. Near to Death in Paris +Hospital. Journey to New York for Operation in Bellevue Hospital. Return +to Boston. + +Chapter XIII.--Writing His Way Around the World. Days of Poverty in +Boston. Sent to Southern Battlefields. Around the World for New York and +Boston Papers. In a Gambling Den in Hong Kong, China. Cholera and +Shipwreck. + +Chapter XIV.--Busy Days in Boston. Editor of "Boston Traveller." Free +Legal Advice for the Poor. Temperance Work. Campaign Manager for General +Nathaniel P. Banks. Urged for Consulship at Naples. His Work for the +Widows and Orphans of Soldiers. + +Chapter XV.--Troubled Days. Death of Wife. Loss of Money. Preaching on +Wharves. Growth of Sunday School Class at Tremont Temple from Four to +Six Hundred Members in a Brief Time. Second Marriage. Death of Father +and Mother. Preaching at Lexington. Building Lexington Baptist Church. + +Chapter XVI.--His Entry Into the Ministry. Ordination. First Charge at +Lexington. Call to Grace Baptist Church, Philadelphia. + +Chapter XVII.--Going to Philadelphia. The Early History of Grace Baptist +Church. The Beginning of the Sunday Breakfast Association. Impressions +of a Sunday Service. + +Chapter XVIII.--First Days at Grace Baptist Church. Early Plans for +Church Efficiency. Practical Methods for. + +Chapter XXXI.--The Manner of the Message. The Style of the Sermons. +Their Subject Matter. Preaching to Help Some Individual Church Member. + +Chapter XXXII.--These Busy Later Days. A Typical Week Day. A Typical +Sunday. Mrs. Conwell. Back to the Berkshires in Summer for Rest. + +Chapter XXXIII.--As a Lecturer. Wide Fame as a Lecturer. Date of Entrance +on Lecture Platform. Number of Lectures Given. The Press on His +Lectures. Some Instances of How His Lectures Have Helped People. Address +at Banquet to President McKinley. + +Chapter XXXIV.--As a Writer. Rapid Method of Working. A Popular +Biographical Writer. The Books He has Written. + +Chapter XXXV.--A Home Coming. Reception Tendered by Citizens of +Philadelphia in Acknowledgment of Work as Public Benefactor. + +Chapter XXXVI.--The Path That Has Been Blazed. Problems That Need +Solving. The Need of Men Able to Solve Them. + +Acres of Diamonds. + +Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women. + +[Illustration: MARTIN CONWELL] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ANCESTRY + + +John Conwell, the English Ancestor who fought for the Preservation of +the English Language. Martin Conwell of Maryland. A Runaway Marriage. +The Parents of Russell Conwell. + +When the Norman-French overran England and threatened to sweep from +out the island the English language, many time-honored English +customs, and all that those loyal early Britons held dear, a doughty +Englishman, John Conwell, took up cudgels in their defence. Long and +bitter was the struggle he waged to preserve the English language. +Insidious and steady were the encroachments of the Norman-French +tongue. The storm centre was the Castle school, for John Conwell +realized that the language of the child of to-day is the language of +the man of to-morrow. Right royal was the battle, for it was in those +old feudal days of strong feeling and bitter, bloody partisanship. But +this plucky Briton stood to his guns until he won. Norman-French was +beaten back, English was taught in the schools, and preserved in the +speech of that day. + +It was a tale that was told his children and his children's children. +It was a tradition that grew into their blood--the story of +perseverance, the story of a fight against oppression and injustice. +"Blood" is after all but family traditions and family ideals, and this +fighting ancestor handed down to his descendants an inheritance of +greater worth than royal lineage or feudal castle. The centuries +rolled away, a new world was discovered, and the progressive, +energetic Conwell family were not to be held back when adventure +beckoned. Two members of it came to America. Courage of a high +order, enthusiasm, faith, must they have had, or the call to cross +a perilous, pathless ocean, to brave unknown dangers in a new world +would have found no response in their hearts. They settled in Maryland +and into this fighting pioneer blood entered that strange magic +influence of the South, which makes for romance, for imagination, for +the poetic and ideal in temperament. + +[Illustration: MIRANDA CONWELL] + +Of this family came Martin Conwell, of Baltimore, hot-blooded, proud, +who in 1810, visiting a college chum in western Massachusetts, met +and fell in love with a New England girl, Miss Hannah Niles. She was +already engaged to a neighbor's son, but the Southerner cared naught +for a rival. He wooed earnestly, passionately. He soon swept away her +protests, won her heart and the two ran away and were married. But +tragic days were ahead. On her return her incensed father locked her +in her room and by threats and force compelled her to write a note to +her young husband renouncing him. He would accept no such message, but +sent a note imploring a meeting in a nearby schoolhouse at nightfall. +The letter fell into the father's hands. He compelled her to write a +curt reply bidding him leave her "forever." Then the father locked +the daughter safely in the attic, and with a mob led by the rejected +suitor, surrounded the schoolhouse and burnt it to the ground. The +husband, thinking he had been heartlessly forsaken, made a brave fight +against the odds, but seeing no hope of success, leaped from the +burning building, amid the shots fired at him, escaped down a rocky +embankment at the back of the schoolhouse, and under cover of the +woods, fled. They told his wife that he was dead. + +A little son came to brighten her shadowed life, whom she named, after +him, Martin Conwell; and after seven years she married her early +lover. But Martin was the son of her first husband and always her +dearest child, and day after day when old and gray and again a widow, +she would come over the New England hills, a little lonely old woman, +to sit by his fireside and dream of those bygone days that were so +sweet. + +Too proud to again seek an explanation, Martin Conwell, her husband, +returned to his Maryland home, living a lonely, bitter life, believing +to the day of his death, thirty years later, that his young wife had +repudiated and betrayed him. + +Martin Conwell, the son, grew to manhood and in 1839 brought a bride +to a little farm he had purchased at South Worthington, up in the +Hampshire Highlands of the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts. Here and +there among these hills, along the swift mountain streams, the land +sweeps out into sunny little meadows filled in summer with rich, +tender grasses, starred with flowers. It is not a fertile land. The +rocks creep out with frequent and unpleasing persistency. But Martin +Conwell viewed life cheerfully, and being an ingenious man, added to +the business of farming, several other occupations, and so managed to +make a living, and after many years to pay the mortgage on his home +which came with the purchase. The little farmhouse, clinging to the +bleak hillside, seemed daring to the point of recklessness when the +winter's winds swept down the valley, and the icy fingers of the storm +reached out as if to pluck it bodily from its exposed position. + +But when spring wove her mantle of green over the hills, when summer +flung its leafy banners from a million tree tops, then in the +wonderful panorama of beauty that spread before it, was the little +home justified for the dangers it had dared. Back of the house the +land climbed into a little ridge, with great, gray rocks here and +there, spots of cool, restful color amid the lavish green and gold and +purple of nature's carpeting. To the north swept hills clothed with +the deep, rich green of hemlock, the faint green flutter of birch, the +dense foliage of sugar maples. To the east, in the valley, a singing +silver brook flashed in and out among somber boulders, the land +ascending to sunny hilltop pastures beyond. But toward the south from +the homestead lay the gem of the scenery; one of the most beautiful +pictures the Berkshires know. Down the valley the hills divided, +sweeping upward east and west in magnificent curves; and through the +opening, range on range of distant mountains, including Mount Tom, +filled the view with an ever-changing fairyland of beauty--in the +spring a sea of tender, misty green; in the summer, a deep, heaving +ocean of billowy foliage; in the fall, a very carnival of color--gold, +rich reds, deep glowing browns and orange. And always, at morning, +noon and night, was seen subtle tenderness of violet shadows, of hazy +blue mists, of far-away purple distances. + +Such was the site Martin Conwell chose for a home, a site that told +something of his own character; that had marked influence on the +family that grew up in the little farmhouse. + +A mixture of the practical, hard common sense of New England and the +sympathetic, poetic temperament of the South was in this young New +England farmer--the genial, beauty-loving nature of his Southern +father, the rigid honesty, the strong convictions, the shrewd sense of +his Northern mother. Quiet and reserved in general, he was to those +who knew him well, kind-hearted, broad-minded, fun-loving. He not +only took an active interest in the affairs of the little mountain +community, but his mind and heart went out to the big problems of the +nation. He grappled with them, sifted them thoroughly, and having +decided what to him was the right course to pursue, expressed his +convictions in deed as well as word. His was no passive nature. The +square chin denoted the man of will and aggression, and though the +genial mouth and kindly blue eyes bespoke the sympathetic heart, they +showed no lack of courage to come out in the open and take sides. + +The young wife, Miranda Conwell, shared these broader interests of her +husband. She came from central New York State and did not have that +New England reserve and restraint that amounts almost to coldness. Her +mind was keen and vigorous and reached out with her husband's to grasp +and ponder the higher things of life. But the beauty of her character +lay in the loving, affectionate nature that shone from her dark eyes, +in the patient, self-sacrificing, self-denying disposition which found +its chief joy in ministering to her husband and children. Deeply +religious, she could no more help whispering a fervent little prayer, +as she tucked her boys in bed, that the Father above would watch over +and protect them, than she could help breathing, her trust in God +was so much a part of her nature. Such a silent, beautiful influence +unconsciously permeates a child's whole character, moulding it, +setting it. Unconscious of it at the time, some day a great event +suddenly crystalizes it like a wonderful chemical change, and the +beauty of it shines evermore from his life. Miranda Conwell built +better than she knew when in the every-day little things of her life, +she let her faith shine. + +Not a usual couple, by any means, for the early 40's in rugged New +England. Yet their unusualness was of a kind within every one's reach. +They believed the making of a life of more importance than the making +of a living, and they grasped every opportunity of those meagre days +to broaden and uplift their mental and spiritual vision. Martin +Conwell's thoughts went beyond his plow furrow, Miranda's further than +her bread-board; and so the little home had an atmosphere of earnest +thought and purpose that clothed the uncarpeted floors and bare walls +with dignity and beauty. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EARLY ENVIRONMENT + +The Family Circle. An Unusual Mother. What She Read Her Children. A +Preacher at Three Years of Age. + + +Such was the heritage and the home into which Russell H. Conwell +was born February 15, 1843. Think what a world his eyes opened +upon--"fair, searching eyes of youth"--steadfast hills holding mystery +and fascination in green depths and purple distances, streams rushing +with noisy joy over stony beds, sweet violet gloom of night with +brilliant stars moving silently across infinite space; tender moss, +delicate fern, creeping vine, covering the brown earth with living +beauty--a fascinating world of loveliness for boyish eyes to look upon +and wonder about. + +The home inside was as unpretentious as its exterior suggested. The +tiny hall admitted on one side to a bedroom, on the other to a living +room, from which opened a room used as a store. Above was an attic. +The living room was the bright, cheery heart of the house. The morning +sun poured in through two windows which faced the east; a window and +door on the south claimed the same cheery rays as the sun journeyed +westward. The big open fireplace made a glowing spot of brightness. +The floor was uncarpeted, the walls unpapered, the furnishing of the +simplest, yet cheerfulness and homely comfort pervaded the room as +with an almost tangible spirit. + +A brother three years older and a sister three years younger made a +trio of bright, childish faces about the hearth on winter evenings +as the years went by, while the mother read to them such tales as +childish minds could grasp. It was a loving little circle, one that +riveted sure and fast the ties of family affection and which helped +one boy at her knee in after life to enter with such sure sympathy +into the plain, simple lives of the humblest people he met. He had +lived that same life, he knew the family affection that grows with +such strength around simple firesides, and those of like circumstances +felt this knowledge and opened their hearts to him. + +That Miranda Conwell was an unusual woman for those times and +circumstances is shown in those readings to her children. Not only +did she read and explain to them the beautiful stories of the Bible, +implanting its truths in their impressionable natures to blossom forth +later in beautiful deeds; but she read them the best literature of the +ancient days as well as current literature. Into this poor New England +home came the "New York Tribune" and the "National Era." The letters +of foreign correspondents opened to their childish eyes another world +and roused ambitions to see it. Henry Ward Beecher's sermons, and +"Uncle Tom's Cabin," when it came out as a serial, all such good and +helpful literature, she poured into the eager childish ears. These +readings went on, all through the happy days of childhood. + +Interesting things were happening in the world then; things that were +to mould the future of one of the boys at her knee in a way she little +dreamed. A war was being waged in Mexico to train soldiers for a +greater war coming. Out in Illinois, a plain rail-splitter, farmer and +lawyer was beginning to be heard in the cause of freedom and justice +for all men, black or white. These rumors and discussions drifted into +the little home and arguments rose high around the crackling woodfire +as neighbors dropped in. Martin Conwell was not a man to watch +passively the trend of events. He took sides openly, vigorously, and +though the small, blue-eyed boy listening so attentively did not +comprehend all that it was about, Martin Conwell's views later took +shape in action that had a marked bearing on Russell's later life. + +But the mother's reading bore more immediate, if less useful, fruit. +Hearing rather unusual sounds from the back yard one day, she went +to the door to listen. The evening before she had been reading the +children one of the sermons of Henry Ward Beecher and telling them +something of this great man and his work. Mounted upon one of the +largest gray rocks in the yard, stood Russell, solemnly preaching to +a collection of wondering, round-eyed chickens. It was a serious, +impressive discourse he gave them, much of it, no doubt, a transcript +of Henry Ward Beecher's. What led his boyish fancy to do it, no +one knew, though many another child has done the same, as children +dramatize in play the things they have heard or read. But a chance +remark stamped that childish action upon the boyish imagination, +making it the corner stone of many a childish castle in Spain. Telling +her husband of it in the evening, Miranda Conwell said, half jokingly, +"our boy will some day be a great preacher." It was a fertile seed +dropped in a fertile mind, tilled assiduously for a brief space by +vivid childish imagination; but not ripened till sad experiences of +later years brought it to a glorious fruition. + +Another result of the fireside readings might have been serious. A +short distance from the house a mountain stream leaps and foams over +the stones, seeming to choose, as Ruskin says, "the steepest places +to come down for the sake of the leaps, scattering its handfuls of +crystal this way and that as the wind takes them." The walls of the +gorge rise sheer and steep; the path of the stream is strewn with huge +boulders, over which it foams snow white, pausing in quiet little +pools for breath before the next leap and scramble. Here and there at +the sides, stray tiny little waterfalls, very Thoreaus of streamlets, +content to wander off by themselves, away from the noisy rush of the +others, making little silvery rills of beauty in unobtrusive ways. +Over this gorge was a fallen log. Russell determined to enact the part +of Eliza in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," fleeing over the ice. It was a feat +to make a mother's heart stand still. Three separate times she +whipped him severely and forbade him to do it. He took the punishment +cheerfully, and went back to the log. He never gave up until he had +crossed it. + +The vein of perseverance in his character was already setting into +firm, unyielding mould--the one trait to which Russell H. Conwell, the +preacher, the lecturer, writer, founder of college and hospital, may +attribute the success he has gained. This childish escapade was the +first to strike fire from its flint. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DAYS OF STUDY, WORK AND PLAY + +The Schoolhouse in the Woods. Maple Sugar-making. The Orator of the +Dawn. A Boyish Prank. Capturing the Eagle's Nest. + + +At three years of age, he trudged off to school with his brother +Charles. Though Charles was three years the senior, the little fellow +struggled to keep pace with him in all their childish play and work. +Two miles the children walked daily to the schoolhouse, a long walk +for a toddler of three. But it laid the foundation of that strong, +rugged constitution that has carried him so unflinchingly through +the hard work of these later years. The walk to school was the most +important part of the performance, for lessons had no attraction for +the boy as yet. But the road through the woods to the schoolhouse was +a journey of ever new and never-ending excitement. The road lay along +a silver-voiced brook that rippled softly by shadowy rock, or splashed +joyous and exultant down its boulder-strewn path. It was this same +brook whose music drifted into his little attic bedroom at night, +stilled to a faint, far-away murmur as the wind died down, rising to a +high, clear crescendo of rushing, tumbling water as the breeze stirred +in the tree tops and brought to him the forest sounds. Hour after +hour he lay awake listening to it, his childish imagination picturing +fairies and elves holding their revels in the woods beyond. An +oratorical little brook it was, unconsciously leaving an impress of +its musical speech on the ears of the embryo orator. Moreover, in its +quiet pools lurked watchful trout. Few country boys could walk along +such a stream unheeding its fascinations, especially when the doors +of a school house opened at the farther end, and many an hour when +studies should have claimed him, he was sitting by the brookside, +care-free and contented, delightedly fishing. Nor are any berries +quite so luscious as those which grow along the country road to +school. It takes long, long hours to satisfy the keen appetite of +a boy, and lessons suffered during the berry seasons. Another keen +excitement of the daily journey through a living world of mystery and +enchantment was the search for frogs. Woe to the unlucky frog that +fell in the way of the active, curious boy. Some one had told him that +old, old countryside story, "If you kill a frog, the cows will give +bloody milk." Eager to see such a phenomenon, he watched sharply. Let +an unlucky frog give one unfortunate croak, quick, sure-aimed, flew a +stone, and he raced home at night to see the miracle performed. He was +just a boy as other boys--mischievous, disobedient, fonder of play +than work or study. But underneath, uncalled upon as yet, lay that +vein of perseverance as unyielding as the granite of his native hills. + +The schoolhouse inside was not unattractive. Six windows gave plenty +of light, and each framed woodland pictures no painter's canvas could +rival. The woods were all about and the voice of the little +brook floated in, always calling, calling--at least to one small +listener--to come out and see it dance and sparkle and leap from rock +to rock. If he gained nothing else from his first school days but a +love and appreciation of nature's beauties, it was a lesson well worth +learning. To feed the heart and imagination of a child with such +scenery is to develop unconsciously a love of the beautiful which +brings a pure joy into life never to be lost, no matter what stress +and storm may come. In the darkest, stormiest hours of his later life, +to think back to the serene beauty of those New England hills was as a +hand of peace laid on his troubled spirit. + +This love and joy in nature--and the trait was already in his +blood--was at first all that he gained from his trips to school. Then +came a teacher with a new way of instructing, a Miss Salina Cole, who +had mastered the art of visual memory. She taught her pupils to make +on the mind a photographic impression of the page, which could be +recalled in its entirety, even to the details of punctuation. This +was a process of study that appealed immediately to Russell's boyish +imagination. Moreover, it was something to "see if he could do," +always fascinating to his love of experiment and adventure. It had +numerous other advantages. It was quick. It promised far-reaching +results. If page after page of the school books could be stored in the +mind and called up for future reference, getting an education would +become an easy matter. Besides, they could be called up and pondered +on in various places--fishing, for instance. He quickly decided +to would master this new method, and he went at it with his +characteristic energy and determination. Concentrating all his mental +force, he would study intently the printed page, and then closing his +eyes, repeat it word for word, even giving the punctuation marks. With +the other pupils, Salina Cole was not so successful, but with Russell +Conwell, the results were remarkable. It was a faculty of the utmost +value to him in after years. When in military camp and far from books, +he would recall page after page of his law works and study them during +the long days of garrison duty as easily as though the printed book +were in his hand. + +But the work was of more value to him than the mere mastery of +something new. It whetted his appetite for more. He began to want to +know. School became interesting, and he plunged into studies with an +interest and zest that were unflagging. And as he studied, ambitions +awoke. The history of the past, the accomplishments of great men +stirred him. He began to dream of the things to do in the days to +come. + +Outside of school hours his time was filled with the ordinary duties +of the farm. In the early spring, the maple sugar was to be made +and there were long, difficult tramps through woods in those misty, +brooding days when the miracle of new life is working in tree and vine +and leaf. Often the very earth seemed hushed as if waiting in awe for +this marvelous change that transforms brown earth and bare tree to a +vision of ethereal, tender green. But his books went with him, and in +the long night watches far in the woods alone, when the pans of sirrup +were boiling, he studied. So enrapt did he become that sometimes the +sugar suffered, and the patience of his father was sorely taxed when +told the tale of inattention. + +It was during those long night watches that he learned by heart two +books of Milton's "Paradise Lost," and so firmly were they fixed +in the boyish memory that at this day, Dr. Conwell can repeat them +without a break. Many a time as the shadows lightened and the dim, +misty dawn came stealing through the forest, would the small boy step +outside the rude sugar-house and repeat in that musical, resonant +voice that has since held audiences enthralled, Milton's glorious +"Invocation to the Light." Strange scene--the great shadowy forest, +the distant mist-enfolded hills, the faintly flushing morning sky, +the faint splash of a little mountain stream breaking the brooding +stillness, and the small boy with intent, inspired face pouring out +his very heart in that wonderful invocation: + + "Hail, holy light, offspring of Heaven, Firstborn + Or of the Eternal, co-eternal beam, + May I express thee Unblamed? since God is light, + And never but in unapproached light + Dwelt from eternity--dwelt then in thee, + Bright effluence of bright essence increate! + Or hear'st thou, rather, pure Eternal Stream, + Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun, + Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice + Of God as with a mantle didst invest + The rising world of waters dark and deep, + Won from the void and formless Infinite!" + +Later in spring there was plowing, though the farm was so rocky and +stony, there was little of that work to do. But here and there, a +sunny hilltop field made cultivation worth while, and as he followed +the patient oxen along the shining brown furrow, he looked away to the +encircling hills so full of mystery and fascination. What was there? +What was beyond? Then into the the morning and well into the afternoon +they pried and labored. They dug away earth and exerted to the utmost +their childish strength. Charles would soon have given up the gigantic +task, but Russell was not of the stuff that quits, and so they toiled +on. The father and mother at home wondered and searched for the boys. +Then as they began truly to get alarmed, from the woods to the south +came a crash and roar, the sound of trees snapping and then a shock +that made the earth tremble. The rock had fallen, traversing a mile, +in its downward rush to the river bed. Flushed and triumphant the +boys returned, and the neighbors who had heard the noise, when it was +explained to them, went to see the wreckage. It had dropped first a +fall of fifteen feet, where it had paused an instant. Then the earth +giving way under its tons of weight, it had plowed a deep furrow right +down the mountain side, dislodging rocks, uprooting trees, until with +a mighty crash, it struck the borders of the stream where it stands to +this day, a monument to boyish ingenuity and perseverance. + +But of all the mischievous pranks of these childish days, the one that +had perhaps the greatest influence on his life was the capture of +an eagle's nest from the top of a dead hemlock. To the north of the +farmhouse a hill rises abruptly, covered with bare, outcropping rocks, +their fronts sheer and steep. On top clusters a little sombre grove +of hemlock trees, and from the midst of these rose the largest one, +straight, majestic, swaying a little in the wind that swept on from +the distant hills. In the top of this tree, an eagle had built her +nest, and it had long been a secret ambition of the boy to capture +it, the more resolved upon because it seemed impossible. One day in +October he left his sheep, ran to the foot of the hill, and with the +sure-footed agility of a mountain boy climbed the rocks and began the +ascent of the tree. From the top of a high ledge nearby two men hid +and watched him. A fall meant death, and many a time their hearts +stood still, as the intrepid lad placed his foot on a dead branch only +to have it break under him, or reached for a limb to find it give way +at his touch. The tree was nearly fifty feet high and at some time a +stroke of lightning had rent it, splintering the trunk. Only one limb +was left whole, the others had been broken off or shattered by the +storms of winter. In the very crown of the tree swayed the nest, a +rude, uncouth thing of sticks and hay. + +Up and up he climbed, stopping every now and then in the midst of his +struggles to call to the sheep if he saw them wandering too far. He +had only to call them by name to bring them nibbling back again. + +"Not a man in the mountains," wrote one of those who watched him in +that interesting sketch of Mr. Conwell's life, "Scaling the Eagle's +Nest," "would have thought it possible to do anything else but shoot, +that nest down. When we first saw him he was half way up the great +tree, and was tugging away to get up by a broken limb which was +swinging loosely about the trunk. For a long time he tried to break it +off, but his little hand was too weak. Then he came down from knot to +knot like a squirrel, jumped to the ground, ran to his little jacket +and took his jack-knife out of the pocket. Slowly he clambered up +again. When he reached the limb, he clung to another with his left +hand, threw one leg over a splintered knot and with the right hand +hacked away with his knife. + +"'He will give it up,' we both said. + +"But he did not. He chipped away until at last the limb fell to the +ground. Then he pocketed his knife, and bravely strove to get up +higher. It was a dizzy height even for a grown hunter, but the boy +never looked down. He went on until he came to a place about ten feet +below the nest, where there was a long, bare space on the trunk, with +no limbs or knots to cling to. He was baffled then. He looked up at +the nest many times, tried to find some place to catch hold of the +rough bark and sought closely for some rest higher up to put his foot +on. But there was none. An eagle's nest was a rare thing to him, and +he hugged the tree and thought. Suddenly he began to descend again +hastily, and soon dropped to the ground. Away he ran down through the +ravines, leaped the little streams and disappeared toward his home. +In a few minutes the torn straw hat and blue shirt came flitting back +among the rocks and bushes. He called the sheep to him, talked to +them, and shook his finger at them, then he clambered up the tree +again, dragging after him a long piece of his mother's clothes line. +At one end of it, he had tied a large stone, which hindered his +progress, for it caught in the limbs and splinters. The wind blew his +torn straw hat away down a side cliff, and one side of his trousers +was soon torn to strips. But he went on. When he got to the smooth +place on the tree again, he fastened one end of the rope about his +wrist, and then taking the stone which was fastened to the other end, +he tried to throw it up over the nest. It was an awkward and dangerous +position, and the stone did not reach the top. Six or seven times he +threw that stone up, and it fell short or went to one side, and nearly +dragged him down as it fell. + +"The boy felt for his knife again, opened it with his teeth as he held +on, and hauling the rope up, cut off a part of it. He threw a short +piece around the trunk and tied himself with it to the tree. Then +he could lean back for a longer throw. He tied the rope to his hand +again, and threw the stone with all his energy. It went straight as an +arrow, drew the rope squarely over the nest and fell down the other +side of the tree. After a struggle he reached around for the stone, +and tied that end of the rope to a long broken limb. When he drew the +other end of the rope which had been fastened to his hand, it broke +down the sides of the nest, and an old bird arose with a wild scream. + +"Then he loosed the rope which held him to the tree, and pulling +himself up with his hands on the scaling line, digging his bare toes, +heels and knees at times into the ragged bark, he was up in two +minutes to the nest." + +"That is a child's ambition," said one of the men, as they both drew a +breath of relief, when he stepped safely to the ground. "Wait until he +has a man's ambition. If that vein of perseverance doesn't run out, he +will do something worth while." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TWO MEN AND THEIR INFLUENCE + +John Brown. Fireside Discussions. Runaway Slaves. Fred Douglas. Rev. +Asa Niles. A Runaway Trip to Boston. + + +Two men entered into Russell Conwell's life in these formative days of +boyhood who unconsciously had much to do with the course of his after +life. + +One was John Brown, that man "who would rush through fire though it +burn, through water though it drown, to do the work which his soul +knew that it must do." During his residence in Springfield, this man +"possessed like Socrates with a genius that was too much for him" was +a frequent visitor at the Conwell home. Russell learned to know that +face with "features chiselled, as it were, in granite," the large +clear eyes that seemed fairly to change color with the intensity of +his feelings when he spoke on the one subject that was the very heart +of the man. Tall, straight, lithe, with hair brushed back from a high +forehead, thick, full beard and a wonderful, penetrating voice whose +tones once heard were never forgotten, his arrival was always received +with shouts by the Conwell boys. Had he not lived in the West and +fought real Indians! What surer "open sesame" is there to a boy's +heart? He was not so enrapt in his one great project, but that he +could go out to the barn and pitch down hay from the mow with Russell, +or tell him wonderful stories of the great West where he had lived as +a boy, and of the wilderness through which he had tramped as a mere +child when he cared for his father's cattle. Russell was entirely too +young to grasp the meaning of the earnest discussions that went on +about the fireplace of which this Spartan was then the centre. But in +later years their meaning came to him with a peculiar significance. A +light seemed to be shed on the horrors of slavery as if the voice of +his childhood's friend were calling from the grave in impassioned +tones, to aid the cause for which he had given his life. + +Martin Conwell, progressive, aggressive, was not a man to let his +deeds lag behind his words. Such help as he could, he lent the +cause of the oppressed. He made his home one of the stations of the +"Underground Railway," as the road to freedom for escaping slaves was +called. Many a time in the dead of night, awakened by the noise of a +wagon, Russell would steal to the little attic window, to see in the +light of the lantern, a trembling black man, looking fearfully this +way and that for pursuers, being hurried into the barn. Back to bed +went Russell, where his imagination pictured all manner of horrible +cruelties the slaves were suffering until the childish heart was near +to bursting with sympathy for them and with fiery indignation at the +injustice that brought them to this pitiful state. Not often did he +see them, but sometimes childish curiosity was too strong and he +searched out the cowering fugitive in the barn, and if the runaway +happened to be communicative, he heard exaggerated tales of cruelty +that set even his young blood to tingling with a mighty desire to +right their wrongs. Then the next night, the wagon wheels were heard +again and the slave was hurried away to the house of a cousin of +William Cullen Bryant, at Cummington. As the wheels died in the +distance up the mountain road, the boyish imagination pictured the +flight, on, on, into the far north till the Canada border was reached +and the slave free. Little wonder that when the war broke out, this +boy, older grown, spoke as with a tongue of fire and swept men up by +the hundreds with his impassioned eloquence, to sign the muster roll. + +One of these slaves thus helped to freedom is now Rev. J.G. Ramage, of +Atlanta, Ga. In 1905, he applied to Temple College for the degree of +LL.D. Noticing on the letter sent in reply to his request, the name +of Russell Conwell, President of the College, he wrote Dr. Conwell, +telling him that in 1856 when a runaway slave he had stopped at a +farmhouse at South Worthington, Mass., and remembered the name of +Conwell. Undoubtedly Martin Conwell was one of the men who had helped +him to freedom. + +John Brown brought Fred Douglas, the colored orator, with him on one +of his visits. When Russell was told by his father that this was "a +celebrated colored speaker and statesman," the boyish eyes opened wide +with amazement, and not able to control himself, he burst out in a fit +of laughter, saying, "Why, he's not black," much to the amusement of +Douglas, who afterwards told him of his life as a slave. + +The other man who so helped Russell in his younger days was the Rev. +Asa Niles, a cousin of his father's who lived on a neighboring farm. +He had heard of Russell's various exploits and saw that he was a boy +far above the average, that he had talents worth training. Himself a +scholar and a Methodist minister, he knew the value of an education, +and the worth to the world of a brilliant, forceful character with +clear ideas of right, and high ideals of duty. He was a man far ahead +of his times, broad-minded, spiritual in its best sense, and with +a winning personality, just the man to attract a clear-sighted, +keen-witted boy who quickly saw through shams and despised +affectations. Russell at that plastic period could have fallen into +no better hands. With loving interest in the boy's welfare, Asa Niles +inspired him to get the broadest education in order to make the most +of himself, yet ever held before him the highest ideals of life and +manhood. Out of the stores of his own knowledge he told him what to +read, helped, encouraged, talked over his studies with him, and in +every way possible not only made them real and vital to him, but at +every step aided him to see their worth. + +His curiosity keenly aroused, his ambitions kindled by his studies, +Russell was restless to be off to see this great world he had read and +studied about. The mountains suddenly seemed like prison walls holding +him in. An uncontrollable longing swept his soul. He determined to +escape. Telling no one of his intentions, one morning just before +dawn, he raised the window of the little attic in which he and his +brother slept, climbed out over the roof of the woodshed, slipped to +the ground and made off down the valley to seek his fortune in the +world. It was a hasty resolve. In a little bundle slung over his +shoulders he had a few clothes and something to eat. How his heart +thumped as he went down the familiar path in the woods, crossed the +little brook and began the tramp toward Huntington! Every moment he +expected to hear his father's footsteps behind him. Charles might have +awakened, found him missing and roused the family! When morning came +he climbed a little hill, from which he could look back at the house. +He gazed long, and his heart nearly failed him. He could see in +imagination every homely detail of the living room, his father's chair +to the right of the fireplace, his mother's on the left, the clock +between the front windows, which his father wound every night. On a +nail hung his old rimless hat, Charlie's coat, and the little sister's +sunbonnet. His mother would soon be up and getting breakfast. They +would all sit down without him--a lump began to rise in his throat and +he almost turned back. But something in his nature always prevented +him from giving up a thing he had once undertaken. He set his teeth, +picked up his bundle and went down the road between the mountains, +the woods stretching, dense, silent, on each side, the little brook +keeping close by him like the good, true friend it was. + +It was a long, long tramp to the little village of Huntington, a walk +that went for miles beneath overarching green trees, the sunlight +sifting down like a shower of gold in the dim wood aisles. The wild +mountain stream merged into the quiet Westfield river that flowed +placidly through little sunny meadows and rippled in a sedate way here +and there over stones as became the dignity of a river. Small white +farmhouses, set about with golden lilies and deep crimson peonies, +here and there looked out on the road. But his mind was intent on the +wonderful experiences ahead of him; he walked as in a dream. Reaching +Huntington, he asked a conductor if he could get a job on the train to +pay his way to Boston. The conductor eyed the lanky country boy with +sympathetic amusement. He appreciated the situation and told Russell +he didn't think he had any job just then, but he might sit in the +baggage car and should a job turn up, it would be given him. Delighted +with this piece of good luck, Russell sat in the baggage car and +journeyed to Boston. + +He arrived at night. He found himself in a new world, a world of +narrow streets, of hurrying people, of house after house, but in none +of them a home for him. They would not let him sit in the station all +night, as he had planned to do in his boyish inexperience, and he +had no money, for money was a scarce article in the Conwell home. He +wandered up one street and down another till finally he came to the +water. Footsore and hungry, he crawled into a big empty cask lying on +Long Wharf, ate the last bit of bread and meat in his bundle, and went +to sleep. + +The next day was Sunday, not a day to find work, and he faced a very +sure famine. He began again his walk of the streets. It was on +toward noon when he noticed crowds of children hurrying into a large +building. He stood and watched them wistfully. They made him think +of his brother and sister at home. Suddenly an overwhelming longing +seized him to be back again in the sheltering farmhouse, to see his +father, hear his mother's loving voice, feel his sister's hand in his. +Perhaps it was his forlorn expression that attracted the attention of +a gentleman passing into the building. He stopped, asked if he would +not like to go in; and then taking him by the hand led him in with the +others. It was Deacon George W. Chipman, of Tremont Temple, and ever +afterwards Russell Conwell's friend. Many, many years later, the boy, +become a man, came back to this church, organized and conducted one of +the largest and most popular Sunday School classes that famous church +has ever known. + +After Sunday School, Deacon Chipman and Russell "talked things over." +The Deacon, amused and impressed by the original mind of the country +boy, persuaded him to go home, and the next morning put him on the +train that carried him back to the Berkshires. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TRYING HIS WINGS + +Boyhood Days. Russell's First Case at Law. A Cure for Stage Fever. +Studying Music. A Runaway Trip to Europe. + + +So scanty was the income from the rocky farm that the father and +mother looked about them to see how they could add to it. Miranda +Conwell turned to her needle and often sewed far into the night, +making coats, neckties, any work she could obtain that would bring in +a few dollars. She was never idle. The moment her housework was done, +her needle was flying, and Russell had ever before him the picture of +his patient mother, working, ever working, for the family good. The +only time her hands rested was when she read her children such stories +and pointed such lessons as she knew were needed to develop childish +minds and build character. She never lost sight of this in the +pressing work and the need for money. She had that mental and +spiritual breadth of view that could look beyond problems of the +immediate present, no matter how serious they might seem, to the +greater, more important needs coming in the future. + +Martin Conwell worked as a stonemason every spare minute, and in +addition opened a store in the mountain home in a small room adjoining +the living room. Neighbors and the world of his day saw only a poor +farmer, stonemason and small storekeeper. But in versatility, energy +and public spirit, he was far greater than his environment. Considered +only as the man there was a largeness of purpose, a broadness of +mental and spiritual vision about him that gave a subtle atmosphere of +greatness and unconsciously influenced his son to take big views of +life. + +In the little store one day was enacted a drama not without its effect +on Russell's impressionable mind. For a brief time, the store became +a court room; a flour barrel was the judge's bench, a soap box and +milking stool, the lawyers' seats. The proceedings greatly interested +Russell, who lay flat on his breast on the counter, his heels in the +air, his chin in his hands, drinking it in with ears and eyes. + +[Illustration: THE CONWELL FARMHOUSE AT SOUTH WORTHINGTON, MASS.] + +A neighbor had lost a calf, a white-faced calf with a broken horn. In +the barn of a neighbor had been seen a white-faced calf with a broken +horn. The coincidence was suspicions. The plaintiff declared it was +his calf. The defendant swore he had never seen the lost heifer, and +that the one in his barn he had raised himself. Neighbors lent their +testimony, for the little store was crowded, a justice of the peace +from Northampton having come to try the case. One man said he had seen +the defendant driving a white-faced calf up the mountain one night +just after the stolen calf had been missed from the pasture. The +defendant intimated in no mild language that he must be a close blood +relation to Ananias. Hot words flew back and forth between judge, +lawyers and witnesses, and it began to look as if the man in whose +barn the calf was placidly munching was guilty. Just then Russell, +with a chuckle, slipped from the counter and disappeared through the +back door. In a minute he returned, and solemnly pushed a white-faced +calf with a broken horn squarely among the almost fighting disputants. +There was a lull in the storm of angry words. Here was the lost calf. +With a bawl of dismay and many gyrations of tail, it occupied the +centre of the floor. None could dispute the fact that it was the calf +in question. The defendant assumed an injured, innocent air, the +plaintiff looked crestfallen. Russell explained he had found the calf +among his father's cows. But, knowing the true situation, he had +enjoyed the heated argument too hugely to produce the calf earlier in +the case. + +The event caused much amusement among the neighbors. Some said if they +ever were hailed to court, they should employ Russell as their lawyer. +The women, when they dropped in to see his mother, called him the +little lawyer. The boyish ambition to be a minister faded. Once more +he went to building castles in Spain, but this time they had a legal +capstone. + +Thus the years rolled by much as they do with any boy on a farm. +Of work there was plenty, but he found time to become a proficient +skater, and a strong, sturdy swimmer, to learn and take delight in +outdoor sports, all of which helped to build a constitution like iron, +and to give him an interest in such things which he has never +lost. The boys of Temple College find in him not only a pastor and +president, but a sympathetic and understanding friend in all forms of +healthy, honorable sport. + +Attending a Fourth of July parade in Springfield, he was so impressed +with the marching and manoeuvres of the troops that he returned home, +formed a company of his schoolmates, drilled and marched them as if +they were already an important part of the G.A.R. He secured a book on +tactics and studied it with his usual thoroughness and perseverance. +He presented his company with badges, and one of the relics of his +childhood days is a wooden sword he made himself out of a piece of +board. Little did any one dream that this childish pastime would in +later years become the serious work of a man. + +In all the school and church entertainments he took an active part. +His talent for organizing and managing showed itself early, while his +magnetism and enthusiasm swept his companions with him, eager only to +do his bidding. Many were the entertainments he planned and carried +through. Recitations, dialogues, little plays all were presented under +his management to the people of South Worthington. It was these that +gave him the first taste of the fascination of the stage and set him +to thinking of the dazzling career of an actor. He is not the only +country boy that has dreamed of winning undying fame on the boards, +but not every one received such a speedy and permanent cure. + +"One day in the height of the maple sugar season," says Burdette, in +his excellent life of Mr. Conwell, "The Modern Temple and Templars," +"Russell was sent by his father with a load of the sugar to +Huntington. The ancient farm wagon complicated, doubtless, with sundry +Conwell improvements, drawn by a venerable horse, was so well loaded +that the seat had to be left out, and the youthful driver was forced +to stand. Down deep in the valley, the road runs through a dense +woodland which veiled the way in solitude and silence. The very place, +thought Russell, for a rehearsal of the part he had in a play to be +given shortly at school; a beautiful grade, thought the horse, to trot +a little and make up time. Russell had been cast for a part of a crazy +man--a character admirably adapted for the entire cast of the average +amateur dramatic performer. He had very little to say, a sort of +'The-carriage-waits-my-lord' declamation, but he had to say it with +thrilling and startling earnestness. He was to rush in on a love scene +bubbling like a mush-pot with billing and cooing, and paralyze the +lovers by shrieking 'Woe! Woe! unto ye all, ye children of men!' +Throwing up his arms, after the manner of the Fourth of July orator's +justly celebrated windmill gesture, he roared, in his thunderous +voice: 'Woe! Woe! unto ye--' + +"That was as far as the declamation got, although the actor went +considerably farther. The obedient horse, never averse to standing +still, suddenly and firmly planted his feet and stood--motionless as a +painted horse upon a painted highway. Russell, obedient to the laws of +inertia, made a parabola over the dashboard, landed on the back of the +patient beast, ricochetted to the ground, cutting his forehead on the +shaft as he descended, a scar whereof he carries unto this day, and +plunged into a yielding cushion of mud at the roadside." + +He returned home, a confused mixture of blood, mud, black eyes and +torn clothes. Such a condition must be explained. It could not +be turned aside by any off-handed joke. The jeers and jibes, the +unsympathetic and irritating comments effectually killed any desire +he cherished for the life of the stage. It became a sore subject. He +didn't even want it mentioned in his hearing. He never again thought +of it seriously as a life work. + +But one thing these entertainments did that was of great value. They +developed and fostered a love of music and eventually led to his +gaining the musical education which has proven of such value to him. +He had a voice of singular sweetness and great power. At school, at +church, in the little social gatherings of the neighborhood, whenever +there was singing his voice led. It was almost a passion with him. At +the few parades and entertainments he saw in nearby towns, he watched +the musicians fascinated. He was consumed with a desire to learn to +play. Inventive as he was and having already made so many things +useful about the farm or in the house, it is a wonder he did not +immediately begin the making of some musical instrument rather than go +without it. Probably he would, if an agent had not appeared for the +Estey Organ Company. They were beginning to make the little home +organs which have since become an ornament of nearly every country +parlor. But they were rare in those days and the price to Martin +Conwell, almost prohibitive. Knowing Russell's love of music, the +father fully realized the pleasure an organ in the home would give his +son. But the price was beyond him. He offered the man every dollar he +felt he could afford. But it was ten dollars below the cost of the +organ and the agent refused it. + +Martin Conwell felt he must not spend more on a luxury, and the agent +left. Crossing the fields to seek another purchaser, he met Miranda +Conwell. She asked him if her husband had bought the organ. His answer +was a keen disappointment The mother's heart had sympathized with the +boy's passion for music and knew the joy such a possession would be to +Russell. Ever ready to sacrifice herself, she told the man she would +pay him the ten dollars, if he would wait for it, but not to let her +husband know. The agent returned to Martin Conwell, told him he would +accept his offer, and in a short time a brand new organ was installed +in the farmhouse. Miranda Conwell sewed later at nights, that was all. +Not till she had earned the ten dollars with her needle did she tell +her husband why the agent had, with such surprising celerity, changed +his mind in regard to the price. + +Russell's joy in the organ was unbounded, and the mother was more than +repaid for her extra work by his pleasure and delight. He immediately +plunged unaided into the study of music, and he never gave up until he +was complete master of the organ. His was no half-hearted love. The +work and drudgery connected with practising never daunted him. He kept +steadily at it until he could roll out the familiar songs and +hymns while the small room fairly rang with their melody. He also +improvised, composing both words and music, a gift that went with him +into the ministry and which has given the membership of Grace Baptist +Church, Philadelphia, many beautiful hymns and melodies. + +Later he learned the bass viol, violoncello and cornet, and made money +by playing for parties and entertainments in his neighborhood. Years +afterward, when pastor of Grace Church, and with the Sunday School +on an excursion to Cape May, he saw a cornet lying on a bench on the +pier. Seized with a longing to play again this instrument of his +boyhood, he picked it up and began softly a familiar air. Soon lost to +his surroundings, he played on and on. At last remembering where he +was, he laid down the instrument and walked away. The owner, who had +returned, followed him and offered him first five dollars and then ten +to play that night for a dance at Congress Hall. + +Martin Conwell, during Russell's boyhood days, carefully guarded his +son from being spoiled by the flattery of neighbors and friends. He +realized that Russell was a boy in many ways above the average, but +his practical common sense prevented him from taking such pride in +Russell's various achievements as to let him become spoiled and +conceited. Many a whipping Russell received for the personal songs he +composed about the neighbors. But that was not prohibitive. The very +next night, Russell would hold up to ridicule the peculiarity of some +one in the neighborhood, much to his victim's chagrin and to the +amusement of the listeners. He was forever inventing improvements for +the fishing apparatus, oars, boats, coasting sleds, household and farm +utensils, often forgetting the tasks his father had given him while +doing it. Naturally, this exasperated Martin Conwell, who had no help +on the farm but the boys, and the rod would again be brought into +active service. Once, after whipping him for such neglect of work--he +had left the cider apples out in the frost--Martin Conwell asked his +son's pardon because he had invented an improved ox-sled that was of +great practical value. + +When he was fifteen he ran away again. No friendly Deacon Chipman +interfered this time, nor is it likely he would easily have been +turned from the project, for he planned to go to Europe. He went to +Chicopee to an uncle's, whom he frankly told of his intended trip. The +uncle kept Russell for a day or two by various expedients, while he +wrote to his father telling him Russell was there and what he intended +doing. The father wrote back saying to give him what money he needed +and let him go. So Russell started on his journey over the sea. He +worked his way on a cattle steamer from New York to Liverpool. But it +was a homesick boy that roamed around in foreign lands, and as he has +said most feelingly since, "I felt that if I could only get back home, +I would never, never leave it again." He did not stay abroad long and +when he returned to his home, his father greeted him as if he had been +absent a few hours, and never in any way, by word or action, referred +to the subject. In fact, so far as Martin Conwell appeared, Russell +might have been no farther than Huntington. + +Thus boyhood days passed with their measure of work and their measure +of play. He lived the healthy, active life of a farm boy, taking a +keen interest in the affairs of the young people of the neighborhood, +amusing the older heads by his mischievous pranks. He diligently and +perseveringly studied in school hours and out. He read every book he +could get hold of. He was sometimes disobedient, often intractable, in +no way different from thousands of other farm boys of those days or +these. + +But the times were coming which would test his mettle. Would he +continue to climb as he had done after the eagle's nest, though +compelled many times to go to the very ground and begin over again? + +Would the experiences of life transmute into pure gold, these +undeveloped traits of character or prove them mere dross? It +rested with him. He was the alchemist, as is every other man. The +philosopher's stone is in every one's hands. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +OUT OF THE HOME NEST + +School Days at Wilbraham Academy. The First School Oration and Its +Humiliating End. The Hour of Prayer in the Conwell Home at the Time of +John Brown's Execution. + + +The carefree days of boyhood rapidly drew to a close. The serious work +of life was beginning. The bitter struggle for an education was at +hand. And because one boy did so struggle, thousands of boys now are +being given the broadest education, practically free. + +Russell had gone as far in his studies as the country school could +take him. Should he stop there as his companions were doing and settle +down to the work of the farm? The outlook for anything else was almost +hopeless. He had absolutely no money, nor could his father spare him +any. He knew no other work than farming. It was a prospect to daunt +even the most determined, yet Russell Conwell is not the only farmer's +boy who has looked such a situation in the face and succeeded in spite +of it. Nor were helping hands stretched out in those days to aid +ambitious boys, as they are in these. + +Asa Niles, matching Russell's progress with loving interest, told +Martin Conwell the boy ought to go to Wilbraham Academy. His own son +William was going, and he strongly urged that Charles and Russell +Conwell enter at the same time. It was no light decision for the +father to make. He needed the boys in the work on the farm. Not only +was he unable to help them, but it was a decided loss to let them go. +Long and earnest were the consultations the father and mother held. +The mother, willing to sacrifice herself to the utmost, said, of +course, "let them go," deciding she could earn something to help them +along by taking in more sewing. So it was decided, and in the fall +of 1858, Russell and his brother entered the Academy of Wilbraham, a +small town about twelve miles east from Springfield. + +It was bitter, uphill work. All the money the two boys had, both to +pay their tuition and their board, they earned. They worked for the +near-by farmers. They spent long days gathering chestnuts and walnuts +at a few cents a quart. They split wood, they did anything they could +find to do. In fact, they worked as hard and as long as though no +studies were awaiting to be eagerly attacked when the exhausting +labor was finished. Such tasks interfered with their studies, so that +Russell never stood very high in his Academy classes. Part of the time +they lived in a small room on the outskirts of the village, barren of +all furniture save the absolutely necessary, and for six weeks at a +stretch, lived on nothing but mush and milk. Their clothes were of +the cheapest kind, countrified in cut and make, a decided contrast +to those of their fellow students, who came from homes of wealth and +refinement It is very easy for outsiders and older heads to talk +philosophically of being above such things, but young, sensitive boys +feel such a position keenly and none but those who have actually +endured such a martyrdom of pride know what they suffer. It takes the +grittiest kind of perseverance to face such slights, to seem not to +see the amused glance, not to hear the sneering comment, not to notice +the contemptuous shrug. + +Such slights Russell endured daily from certain of his classmates, +and though he realized fully that the opinion of these was of little +value, nevertheless they hurt. But to the world he stood his ground +unflinchingly, even if there were secret heartaches. He studied +hard, and what he studied he learned. He had his own peculiar way +of studying. Once he was missing from his classes several days. The +teachers reported it to the principal, Dr. Raymond, who investigated. +He found Russell completely absorbed in history and mastering it at a +mile-a-minute gait. Dr. Raymond was wise in the management of boys, +especially such a boy as Russell, and he reported to the teachers, +"Let him alone. Conwell is working out his own education, and it isn't +worth while to disturb him." + +His passion for debate and oratory found full scope in the debating +societies of the Academy. These welcomed him with open arms. He was +so quick with his witty repartee, could so readily turn an opponent's +arguments against him, that the nights it was known he would speak, +found the "Old Club" hall always crowded to hear "that boy from the +country." + +Thus working as hard as though he were doing nothing else, and +studying as hard as though he were not working, Russell made his way +through two terms of the academic year. Nobody knows or ever will +know, all he suffered. Often almost on the point of starvation, yet +too proud and sensitive to ask for help, he toiled on, working by day +and studying by night. He never thought of giving up the fight and +going back to the farm. But funds completely ran out for the spring +term and he yielded the struggle for a brief while, returning to help +his father, or to earn what he could teaching school, or working on +neighboring farms, saving every cent like a very miser for the coming +year's tuition. In addition, he kept up with his studies, so that when +he returned the next fall, he went on with his class the same as if he +had attended for the entire year. + +The second year was a repetition of the first, work and study, +grinding poverty, glorious perseverance. Again the spring term found +him out of funds, and this time he replenished by teaching school at +Blandford, Massachusetts. Among his pupils here was a bully of the +worst type, whose conduct had caused most of the former teachers to +resign. In fact, he was quite proud of his ability to give the school +a holiday, and as on former occasions, made his boasts that it +wouldn't be long before the new teacher would take a vacation. The +other pupils watched with eager curiosity for the conflict. In due +course of time it came. Russell at first dealt with him kindly. It +hadn't been so many years since he himself had been the cause of +numerous uproars at school. But this youth was not of the kind to be +impressed by good treatment. He simply took it as a showing of the +white feather on the part of the new teacher and became bolder in his +misconduct. On a day, when he was unruly beyond all pardon, Russell +took down the birch and invited him up before the school to receive +the usual punishment. The great occasion had come. The children waited +with bated breath. The boy refused openly, sneeringly. The next +moment, he thought lightning had struck him. He was grabbed by the +neck, held with a grip of iron despite all his struggles, whipped +before the gaping school, taken to the door and kicked out in the +snow. Then the school lessons proceeded. It made a sensation, of +course. Some of the parents wanted to request the new teacher to +resign. But others rallied to his support and protested to the school +board that the right man had been found at last. And so Russell held +the post until the school term was over. Thirty-five years after, +Russell Conwell, pastor of the Baptist Temple, was asked to head a +petition to get this same evil doer out of Sing Sing prison. + +But despite his hard work and hard study at Wilbraham, the spirit of +fun cropped out as persistently as in his younger days at the country +school. A chance to play a good joke was not to be missed. At one of +the school entertainments, a student whom few liked was to take part. +Relatives of his had given a large sum of money to the Academy, and +on this account he somewhat lorded it over the other boys. He was, in +addition, foppish in his dress, and on account of his money, position, +and tailor, felt the country boys of the class a decided drawback to +his social status. So the country boys decided to "get even," and they +needed no other leader while Russell Conwell was about. Finally it +came the dandy's turn to go on the platform to deliver a recitation. +Just as he stepped out of the little anteroom before the audience, +Russell, with deft fingers, fastened a paper jumping-jack to the tail +of his coat, where it dangled back of his legs in plain view of the +audience but unobserved by himself. With every gesture the figure +jumped, climbed, contorted, and went through all manner of gymnastics. +The more enthusiastic became the young orator, the more active the +tiny figure in his rear. The audience went into convulsions. Utterly +unable to tell what was the matter, he finally retired, red and +confused, and the audience wiped away the tears of laughter. + +It was at one of these entertainments that Russell himself met with a +bitter defeat. A public debate was announced in which he was to take +part. His classmates had spread abroad the story of his eloquence and +the hall was packed to hear him. Knowing that it would be a great +occasion and conscious of his poor clothes, he determined to make an +impression by his speech. He prepared it with the utmost care, and +to "make assurance doubly sure," committed it to memory, a thing he +rarely did. His turn came. There was an expectant rustle through the +audience, some almost audible comments on his clothes, his height, his +thinness. He cleared his voice. He started to say the first word. It +was gone. Frantically he searched his memory for that speech. His mind +was a blank. Again he cleared his voice and wrestled fiercely with his +inner consciousness. Only one phrase could he remember, and shouting +in his thunderous tones, "Give me liberty or give me death," sat down, +"not caring much which he got," as Burdette says, "so it came quickly +and plenty of it." + +It was while at Wilbraham that he laid down text books and stepped +aside for a brief space to pay honor to a hero. Sorrow hung like a +pall over the little home at South Worthington. In far-off Virginia, +a brave, true-hearted man had raised a weak arm against the hosts of +slavery, raised it and been stricken down. John Brown had been tried, +convicted and sentenced to be hanged. The day of his execution was a +day of mourning in the Conwell home. As the hour for the deed drew +near, the father called the family into the little living room where +Brown had so often sat among them. And during the hour while the +tragedy was enacted in Virginia, the family sat silent with bowed +heads doing reverence to the memory of this man who with single-minded +earnestness went forward so fearlessly when others held back, to +strike the shackles from those in chains. + +It was a solemn hour, an hour in which worldly ambitions faded before +the sublime spectacle of a man freely, calmly giving his very life +because he had dared to live out his honest belief that all men should +be free. Like a kaleidoscope, Brown's history passed through Russell's +mind as he sat there. He saw the brutal whipping of the little slave +boy which had so aroused Brown's anger when, a small boy himself, he +led cattle through the western forests. Russell's hands clenched as +he pictured it and he felt willing to fight as Brown had done, +single-handed and alone if need be, to right so horrible a wrong. +He could see how the idea had grown with John Brown's growth and +strengthened with his strength until he came to manhood with a single +purpose dominating his life, and a will to do it that could neither be +broken nor bent. He pictured him in Kansas when son after son was laid +on the altar of liberty as unflinchingly as Abraham held the knife at +his own son's breast at God's behest. Then the first "blow at Harper's +Ferry in the cause of liberty for all men--the capture of the town +of three thousand by twenty-two men, and now this--the public +execution--the fearless spirit that looked only to God for guidance, +that feared neither man nor man's laws, stopped on the very threshold +of the supreme effort for which he had planned his life. Stopped? It +was the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment of Infantry that was the first to +sing on its way South, that song, afterward sung by the armies of a +nation to the steady tramp of feet, + + "John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, + But his soul goes marching on." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WAR'S ALARMS + +College Days at Yale. The Outbreak of the Civil War. Patriotic +Speechmaking. New York and Henry Ward Beecher. + + +School days at Wilbraham ended, Russell determined to climb higher. As +yet, he scarcely knew the purpose of his studying. Ambitions seethed +in him to know, to be able to do. He only realized that he must have +the tools ready when the work came. Not daunted, therefore, by the +bitter experiences at Wilbraham, Russell determined to go to Yale. +This meant a stern fight indeed, one that would call out all his +reserves of determination, perseverance and indifference to the jeers +and jibes of unthinking and unfeeling classmates. But he did not +flinch at the prospect. His brother Charles went with him, and in +the fall of '60 they entered Yale College. If poverty was bitter at +Wilbraham, it was bitterer here. They were utter strangers among +hundreds of boys from all parts of the country, the majority of them +coming from homes of luxury and with money for all their needs. At +Wilbraham, there had been a certain number of boys from their own +section, many of them poor, though few so poor as themselves. They had +not felt so altogether alone as they did at Yale. It is perhaps for +this reason that so little is known of Russell Conwell's career at +Yale. He was as unobtrusive as possible. "Silent as the Sphinx," some +describe him. His sensitive nature withdrew into itself, and since he +could not mingle with his classmates on a ground of equality, he kept +to himself, alone, silent, studying, working, but telling no one how +keenly he felt the difference between his own position and that of his +fellow students. He worked for the nearby farmers as at Wilbraham and +did anything that he could to earn money. But his clothes were poor, +his manner of living the cheapest, and except in classes, his fellow +students met him little. + +He took the law course and followed fully the classical course at the +same time--a feat no student at that time had ever done and few, if +any, since. How he managed it, working as hard as he did at the +same time, to earn money, seems impossible to comprehend. His iron +constitution, for one thing, that seemed capable of standing any +strain, helped him. And his remarkable ability to photograph whole +pages of his text books on his memory was another powerful ally. He +could reel off page after page of Virgil, Homer, Blackstone--anything +he "memorized" in this unusual fashion. Well for him that he grasped +the opportunity to learn this method presented him as a child. But +it has always been one of the traits of his character to see +opportunities where others walk right over them, and to seize and make +use of them. + +He did not register in the classical course as he was too poor to pay +the tuition fee, nor did he join any of the clubs, as he could not +afford it. He seldom appeared in debates or the moot courts, for +he was so shabbily dressed he felt he would not be welcome. It was +undoubtedly these humiliating experiences, combined with certain of +his studies and reading, that caused him to drift into an atheistic +train of thought. Working hard, living poor, desiring so much, yet +on all sides he saw boys with all the opportunities he longed +for, utterly indifferent to them. He saw boys spending in riotous +dissipation the money that would have meant so much to him. He saw +them recklessly squandering health, time, priceless educational +opportunities, for the veriest froth of pleasure. He saw them sowing +the wind, yet to his inexperienced eyes not reaping the whirlwind, but +faring far more prosperously than he who worked and studied hard and +yet had not what they threw so lightly away. It was all at variance +with his mother's teaching, with such of the preaching at the little +white church as he had heard. Bible promises, as he interpreted them, +were not fulfilled. So he scoffed, cynically, bitterly, and said, as +many another has done before he has learned the lessons of the world's +hard school, "There is no God." And having said it, he took rather a +pride in it and said it openly, boastingly. + +As at Wilbraham, funds ran out before the school year was completed +and he left Yale and taught district school during the day and vocal +and instrumental music in the evenings. + +But into this eager, undaunted struggle for an education came the +trumpet call to arms. With the memory of John Brown like a living coal +in his heart, with the pictures of the cowering, runaway slaves ever +before his eyes, he flung away his books and was one of the first to +enlist. But his father interfered. Russell was only eighteen. Martin +Conwell went to the recruiting officer and had his name taken from the +rolls. It was a bitter disappointment. But since he might not help +with his hands, he spoke with his tongue. All his pent-up enthusiasm +flowed out in impassioned speeches that brought men by the hundreds to +the recruiting offices. His fame spread up and down the Connecticut +valley and wherever troops were to be raised, "the boy" was in demand. + +"His youthful oratory," says the author of "Scaling the Eagle's Nest," +"was a wonderful thing which drew crowds of excited listeners wherever +he went. Towns sent for him to help raise their quotas of soldiers, +and ranks speedily filled before his inspiring and patriotic +speeches. In 1862 I remember a scene at Whitman Hall in Westfield, +Massachusetts, which none who were there can forget. Russell had +delivered two addresses there before. On that night there were two +addresses before his by prominent lawyers, but there was evident +impatience to hear 'The boy.' When he came forward there was the most +deafening applause. He really seemed inspired by miraculous powers. +Every auditor was fascinated and held closely bound. There was for a +time breathless suspense, and then at some telling sentence the whole +building shook with wild applause. At its close a shower of bouquets +from hundreds of ladies carpeted the stage in a moment, and men from +all parts of the hall rushed forward to enlist." + +The adulation and flattery showered upon him were enough to turn any +other's head. But it made no impression upon him. Heart, mind and soul +he was wrapped up in the cause. He was burning with zeal to help the +oppressed and suffering. His words poured from a heart overflowing +with pity, love, and indignation. Never once did he think of himself, +only of those in bonds crying, "Come over and help us." + +When Lincoln made his great address in Cooper Institute in 1860, +Russell was there. It was a longer journey from New England to New +York in those days than it is now, and longer yet for a boy who had so +little money, but he let no obstacle keep him away. + +He utilized his visit also to hear Beecher, the man who had taken so +powerful a hold of his childish fancy. Ever since those boyish days +when his mother read Beecher's sermons to him, and standing on the big +gray rock he had imagined himself another Beecher, he had longed to +hear this great man. It was only this childish desire holding fast to +him through the year that took him now, for church-going itself had no +attraction for him. + +He sat on the steps of the gallery and heard this wonderful man preach +a sermon in which he illustrated an auctioneer selling a negro girl at +the block. He sat as one entranced. So did the immense audience, held +spellbound by the scene so graphically pictured. It was the first +interesting sermon he had ever heard. It made a tremendous impression +on him, not only in itself, but as a vivid contrast between the +formal, rattling-of-dry-bones sermon and the live, vital discourse +that takes hold of a man's mind and heart and compels him to go out +in the world and do things for the good of his fellow men. Long it +remained in his memory, but the greatest inspiration from it did not +come till later years, when suddenly it stood forth as if illumined, +to throw a brilliant radiance on a path he had decided to tread. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHILE THE CONFLICT RAGED + +Lincoln's Call for 100,000 Men. Enlistment. Captain Conwell. In Camp +at Springfield, Mass. The Famous Gold-sheathed Sword. + + +In 1862, Lincoln sent out an earnest call for 100,000 men for the war. +Russell was not longer to be denied, and his father permitted him to +enlist. What silent agony, what earnest prayers for his safety went +up from his mother's heart, only other mothers in those terrible days +knew. + +He raised a company from Worthington, Chesterfield, Huntington, +Russell, Blandford and the neighboring towns and was unanimously +elected captain, though only nineteen. His earnest, fiery speeches had +already made him famous, and when it was known he had enlisted and was +raising a company, there was a rush to get into it, and the men as +with one voice, demanded that he be their captain. No one ever thought +of canvassing against him. A committee was appointed to wait on +Governor Andrew to persuade him to commission Russell in spite of his +age, and when he received the appointment, the cheers and applause of +the enthusiastic, the quiet satisfaction of the sedate, showed the +place which he had in their hearts. It is almost incomprehensible to +those not acquainted with the man, but those who have come in contact +with him, know what a hold he would soon gain over those "Mountain +Boys," as the company was called. His kindly sympathy would quickly +make them feel that in their captain, each had a warm personal friend. +His generous heart would back up that belief with a hundred and one +little acts of thoughtful kindness. Over each and every one would be +exercised a watchful care that cheered the long days, lightened heavy +loads, lessened discomforts. It is little wonder that their devotion +to him amounted almost to adoration. Gray-haired men followed him as +proudly as though his years matched theirs. Indeed, to their loyalty +was added a fatherly feeling of guardianship over him, because of his +youth, that brought a new pleasure into the relationship. The company +was knit together with the bonds of loving comradeship as were few +others. + +The rendezvous of the company was at Huntington, and there a banquet +was given before the troops departed for war. Proud day for him when +he marched down the familiar road from South Worthington, through the +autumn woods with their slowly falling leaves, their shadowy forest +aisles all glorious now with the banners of autumn, past the white +farmhouses with their golden lilies, the faithful little brook singing +ever at his side. Sad day for his mother as she watched him go, long +looking after him, till she could see no more for tears. + +From Huntington the company went into camp at Springfield. And now +came into use, those tactics and drills he had studied as a boy, and +others he had been secretly studying ever since the war broke out. His +men were astonished to find how perfectly at home he was in military +tactics. It further added to their pride in him. They fully expected +him to know as little as they, but when he came to his work fully +prepared, to their admiration of him as an orator, their love as a +leader, was now added their confidence as an officer. + +Camp life at Springfield made war no longer a glorious contemplation +but an uncomfortable reality. The ground for a bed, a spadeful +of earth for a pillow, sharp mountain winds, cold autumn storms, +insufficient food, hinted at the hardships to follow. The gold and the +alloy in the men's characters began to shine out, and Company F soon +realized in practical ways, the nature of the man who led them. His +new uniform overcoat went to a shivering boy, his rations were divided +with those less fortunate, his blankets were given to a comrade in +need. Always it was of his men, not himself, he thought. + +Before leaving camp for the seat of war, Captain Conwell was presented +with a sword by his Company, bearing this inscription:-- + +"Presented to Captain Russell H. Conwell by the soldiers of Company F, +46th Mass. Vol. Militia, known as 'The Mountain Boys.' Vera Amicitia +est sempiterna. (True friendship is eternal.)" Colonel Shurtleff made +the speech of presentation. The passionately eloquent reply of the +boy captain is yet remembered by those who heard it. He received the +beautiful, glittering weapon in silence. Slowly he drew the gleaming +steel from its golden sheath and solemnly held it upward as if +dedicating it to heaven, the sunlight bathing the blade with blinding +flashes of light. His eyes were fixed upon the steel, as if in a rapt +vision, he swept the centuries past, the centuries to come, and saw +what it stood for in the destinies of men. Breathless silence fell +upon his waiting comrades. Thus for a few moments he stood and then he +spoke to the sword. + +"He called up the shade of the sword of that mighty warrior Joshua, +which purified a polluted land with libations of blood, and made +it fit for the heritage of God's people; the sword of David, that +established the kingdom of Israel; the sword of that resistless +conqueror, Alexander, that pierced the heart of the Orient; the Roman +short sword, the terrible gladius, that carved out for the Caesars +the sovereignty of the world; the sword of Charlemagne, writing its +master's glorious deeds in mingling chapters of fable and history; the +sword of Gustavus Adolphus, smiting the battalions of the puissant +Wallenstein with defeat and overthrow even when its master lay dead on +the field of Lutzen; the sword of Washington, drawn for human freedom +and sheathed in peace, honor, and victory; then he bade the sword +remember all it had done in shaping the destinies of men and nations; +how it had written on the tablets of history in letters red and lurid, +the drama of the ages; closing, he called upon it now, in the battle +for the Union, to strike hard and strike home for freedom, for +justice, in the name of God and the Right; to fail not in the work to +which it was called until every shackle in the land was broken, every +bondman free, and every foul stain of dishonor cleaned from the flag." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT + +Company F at Newberne, N.C. The Fight at Batchelor's Creek. The +Goldsboro Expedition. The Battle of Kingston. The Gum Swamp +Expedition. + + +Breaking camp, the 46th left the beautiful, placid scenery about +Springfield, its silver river, its silent mountains, for Boston, where +they embarked for North Carolina, November 5th, 1862. They sailed out +of Boston Harbor in the teeth of a winter gale which increased so in +fury that the boat was compelled to put back. When they finally did +leave, the sea was still very rough and they had a slow, stormy +passage. + +It goes without saying that many of the men were ill. The boat was +crowded, the accommodations insufficient, and numbers of the Mountain +Boys had never been on the water before. To the confusion of handling +such a body of men was added inexperience in such work. The members of +Company F would have fared badly had it not been for the forethought +of their boy captain. It seemed as if he had passed beforehand in +mental review, the experiences of these weeks and anticipated their +needs. Out of his own funds, he laid in a stock of medicines and +delicacies for the sick. Indeed, those who know, say that he expended +all of his pay in sutler's stores and various things to make his men +more comfortable. Night and day, he was with those who suffered, +cheering, sympathizing, nursing. He was the life of the ship. His men +saw that his kindness and comradeship were not of the superficial +order, but genuine, sincere, a part of his very self and they became, +if possible, more passionately attached to him than ever. + +The placid Neuse river was a glad sight when at last they reached its +mouth and steamed up to Newberne, North Carolina. General Burnside had +already captured the town and Company F began army duties in earnest +with garrison work in the little Southern city, with its long dull +lines of earthworks, its white tents, its fleet of gunboats floating +lazily on the river. The constant tramp of soldiers' feet echoed along +the side-walks of this erstwhile quiet, Southern town. Sentries stood +on the corners challenging passers-by, wharves creaked under the loads +of ordnance and quartermasters' stores. Army wagons and ambulances +were constantly passing in the street, all strange and novel at first +to the Mountain Boys but soon familiar. Drilling and guard duty +filled their days. Morning and afternoon they drilled, and the actual +possession of the enemies' country, the warlike aspect of everything +about them, made drilling a far more real and important matter than it +had seemed at home. Captain Conwell felt his responsibility and threw +himself into the work with an earnestness that infected his men. They +would rather drill with him two hours than with any other officer a +half hour. They not only caught the contagion of his enthusiasm, but +he changed the dull, monotonous drudgery of it, into real, fascinating +work by marching them into seemingly hopeless situations and then in +some unexpected and surprising way, extricating them. Nor did he +spare himself any of the unpleasant phases of the work. One day, the +Colonel, while drilling the regiment, noticed that many of the men of +Company F marched far out of their places to avoid a mudhole in the +road. He marched and countermarched them over the same ground to +compel the men to keep their rank and file regardless of the mud. +Captain Conwell saw his object, and himself plunged into the mire, his +men followed, and were thus saved the reprimand which threatened. + +During these days, Captain Conwell kept up with the law studies +abandoned at Yale. Every spare minute, he devoted to his books and +committed to memory, one whole volume of Blackstone during the term of +his first enlistment Not many of the soldiers so used their hours +off duty. But it is this turning of every minute to account that has +enabled Dr. Conwell to accomplish so much. He has made his life count +for a half dozen of most person's by never wasting a moment. + +The monotony of garrison duty was broken first by a small fight at +Batchelor's Creek, seven miles above Newbern, but only four companies +were engaged. The Mountain Boys saw the first blood spilled at +Kingston and gained there the first glimpse of the horrors of war. +Nearly the entire marching force was sent into the interior on this +expedition, known as the Goldsboro expedition, the object being to cut +the Weldon railroad at Goldsboro, North Carolina. It was a hard march +with short and uncertain halts and occasional cavalry skirmishes. At +Kingston, they met the enemy in force. The Confederates were massed +about the bridge over the Neuse river and held it bravely till the +charge of the 9th New Jersey and 10th Connecticut drove them from +their position and left the woods and a little open field covered with +the dead and dying. The 46th Massachusetts followed the retreating +army and had that first experience with the grim, bloody side of war +that always makes such a strong impression on the green soldier. + +They bivouacked at Kingston and next day marched to the Weldon +railroad, reaching it at the bridge below Goldsboro, where the +Confederates had massed a large body of troops to protect their lines +of communication and supplies. This was a battle in earnest, the +artillery was deafening, and the enemy repeatedly charged the Union +lines. The Northern batteries were on a knoll in front, and at the +very moment that a long line of gray was seen approaching through this +field and the Massachusetts men were ordered to lie down, so that the +shot and shell could pass over them, their boy captain walked openly +forward to the batteries and stood there in the smoke. Careless of +himself, he yet realized to the full the meaning of this grim duel, +for when the fight was over and the Northern men cheering, he was +silent Captain Walkley asked why he did not cheer with the others. +"Too many hearts made sad to-day," was the significant reply that +showed he counted the cost to its bitter end, though he went forward +none the less bravely. + +Long, monotonous days of garrison duty followed for the men, days of +drilling, of idling up and down the streets of the dull Southern town. +But Captain Conwell used his spare minutes to advantage, and when +no work connected with his company or the personal welfare of his +comrades occupied him, he was studying. Then came the order to drive +the Confederates from a fort they were erecting on the Newbern +Railroad about thirty miles inland. This expedition, known as the Gum +Swamp Expedition, was an experience that tested the mettle of the men +and the resources of the young captain, and an experience none of the +survivors ever forgot. It was a forced march, a quick charge. The +Confederates fled leaving their fort unfinished. The Union men having +successfully completed their work, began the return to Newberne, and +here disaster overtook them. The Confederates hung on their rear, +riddling their ranks with shot and shell. Suffering, maddened, with no +way to turn and fight, for the enemy kept themselves well hidden, with +no way of escape ahead if they remained on the road, they plunged into +the swamp, that swept up black and dismal to the very edge of the +highway. The Confederate prisoners with them, warned them of their +danger, but the men were not to be stayed when a deadly rain of the +enemy's balls was thinning their ranks every minute. The swamp was one +black ooze with water up to their waists, a tangle of grass, reeds, +cypress trees, bushes. Loaded down with their heavy clothing, and +their army accoutrements, one after another the men sank from sheer +exhaustion. No man could succor his brother. It was all he could do to +drag himself through the mire that sucked him down like some terrible, +silent monster of the black, slimy depths. But Captain Conwell would +not desert a man. He could not see his comrades left to die before his +very eyes, those men who came right from his own mountain town, his +own boy friends, the ones who had enlisted under him, marched and +drilled with him. Rather would he perish in the swamp with them. He +worked like a Hercules, encouraging, helping, carrying some of the +more exhausted. A wet, straggling remnant reached Newberne. Even then, +when Captain Conwell found that two of his own company were missing, +he plunged back into the swamp to rescue them. Hours passed, and just +as a relief expedition was starting to search for him, he came back, +his hat gone, his uniform torn into rags, but with one of the men with +him and the other left on a fallen tree with a path blazed to lead the +rescuers to him. No heart could withstand such devotion as that. Young +and old, it touched his men so deeply, they could not speak of it +unmoved. They would gladly have died for him if need be, as one +did later, changing by his heroic act the whole current of Russell +Conwell's life. + +This same earnest desire to save that made him plunge back into that +swamp, regardless of self, is with him still to-day, now that his +whole soul is consumed with a longing to save men from moral death. He +lets nothing stand in his way of reaching out a succoring hand. Then +it was his comrades that he loved with such unselfish devotion. Now, +every man is his brother and his heart goes out with the same earnest +desire to help those who need help. The genuineness, the unselfishness +of it goes straight to every man's heart. It binds men to him as in +the old days, and it gives them new faith in themselves. The love +of humanity in his heart is, and always has been, a clear spring, +unpolluted by love of self, by ambition, by any worldly thing. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SWORD AND THE SCHOOL BOOK + +Scouting at Bogue Sound. Capt. Conwell Wounded. The Second Enlistment. +Jealousy and Misunderstanding. Building of the First Free School for +Colored Children. Attack on Newport Barracks. Heroic Death of John +Ring. + + +Once more, garrison duty laid its dull hand on the troops, varied by +little encounters that broke the monotony and furnished the material +for many campfire stories, but otherwise did little damage. The men +eagerly welcomed these scouting expeditions, and when an especially +dangerous one to Bogue Sound was planned, and Company F, eager to be +selected, Captain Conwell personally interceded with the Colonel that +his men might be given the task. The region into which they were sent +was known to be full of rebels, and as they approached the danger +zone, Captain Conwell ordered his men to lie down, while he went +forward to reconnoitre. Noticing a Confederate officer behind a tree, +he stole to the tree, and reaching as far around as he could, began +firing with his revolver. Not being experienced in the shooting of +men and believing since it must be done, "'twere well it were done +quickly," he shot all his loads in quick succession. His enemy, more +wily, waited till the Captain's ammunition was gone and then slowly +and with steady aim began returning the fire. But Captain Conwell's +comrades watching from a distance saw big peril, and disobeying +orders, rose as one man and came to his rescue. The Confederate fled +but not before he had left a ball in Captain Conwell's shoulder which, +of little consequence at the time, later came near causing his death. + +Thus the days passed away, and as the term of enlistment drew to +a close, General Foster sent for Captain Conwell and promised +to recommend him for a colonelcy if he would enter at once upon +recruiting service among his men. This he willingly consented to do, +and as may be imagined his men nearly all wanted to re-enlist under +him. Such a commission, however, for one so young aroused bitter +jealousy among officers of other companies, and Captain Conwell +hearing of it, decided not to accept the appointment. He wrote the +Governor that he would be content with the captain's commission again +and that he preferred not to raise contention by receiving anything +higher. The company returned home, but before the new re-organization +was effected, Captain Conwell was attacked with a serious fever. By +the time he recovered, the new regiment had been organized and new +officers put over it. Of course, his men were dissatisfied. With the +understanding that such of his old comrades as wished could join it, +he went to work immediately recruiting another company. But nearly all +his old men wanted to come into it, the new men recruited would +not give him up, and the anomalous position arose of two companies +clamoring for one captain. While it created much comment, it did not +lessen the jealousy which his popularity had aroused, among men and +officers not intimately associated with him, so that his second +enlistment began under a cloud of disappointment for his men, and +jealousy among outsiders, that seemed to bring misfortune in its +train. + +His new men, however, never failed him. His thoughtful care for them, +his kindness, his unselfishness won their loyalty and love as it had +done in Company F, and Company D, 2nd Massachusetts Volunteers were to +a man as devoted and as attached to him as ever were his old comrades +of the first days of the war. + +In this company went as Captain Conwell's personal orderly, a young +boy, John Ring, of Westfield, Massachusetts, a lad of sixteen or +seventeen. Entirely too young and too small to join the ranks of +soldiers, he had pleaded with his father so earnestly to be permitted +to go to the war that Mr. Ring had finally consented to put him in +Captain Conwell's charge. The boy was a worshipper at the shrine of +the young Captain. He had sat thrilled and fascinated under the magic +of the burning words which had swept men by the hundreds to enlist. It +was Captain Conwell's speeches that had stirred the boy and moved him +with such fiery ardor to go to war. No greater joy could be given him, +since he could not fight, than to be in his Captain's very tent to +look after his belongings, to minister in small ways to his comfort. A +hero worshipper the lad was, and at an age when ideals take hold of a +pure, high-minded boy with a force that will carry him to any height +of self-sacrifice, to any depth of suffering. He had been carefully +reared in a Christian home and read the Bible every morning and every +evening in their tent, a sight that so pricked the conscience +of Captain Conwell, as he remembered his mother and her loving +instructions, that he forbade it. But though John Ring loved Captain +Conwell with a love which the former did not then understand, the boy +loved duty and right better, and bravely disobeying these orders, he +read on. + +The company was stationed at Fort Macon, North Carolina, for awhile, +and then sent to Newport Barracks. Here it was that Captain Conwell +and his soldiers cut the logs and built the first free schoolhouse +erected for colored children. Colonel Conwell himself taught it at +first and then he engaged a woman to teach. It is still standing. + +Months passed away and the men received no pay. Request after request +Captain Conwell sent to headquarters at Newberne, but received no +reply. The men became discontented and unruly. Some had families at +home in need. All of these tales were poured into the young Captain's +ears. Ready ever to relieve trouble, impatient always to get to work +and remedy a wrong, instead of talking about it, Captain Conwell +decided to ride to Newberne, find out what was the matter and have the +men's money forwarded at once. Leaving an efficient officer in command +and securing a pass, which he never stopped to consider was not a +properly made-out permit for a leave of absence for a commanding +officer, he took an orderly and started. It was a twenty-mile ride +to Newberne and meant an absence of some time. But he anticipated no +trouble, for the rebels had been letting the Northern troops severely +alone for nearly a year. + +He had covered barely two-thirds of the distance, when a Union man +passed, who shouted as he hurried on, "Your men are in a fight." +Conwell and his orderly turned, put their horses to the gallop and +rode back furiously. It was too late. The country between was swarming +with Confederates. He ran into the enemies' pickets and barely escaped +capture by swimming a deep creek, shot spattering all around them. He +made desperate efforts to ride around the lines but failed. Then he +tried descending the river by boat, but the enemy had captured the +entire line of posts. Frustrated at all points, nothing was to be done +but retrace his steps to Newberne, where the worst of news awaited +him. The assault upon his fort had been sudden and in overwhelming +force. His men had been shot down or bayonetted, the remnant driven to +the woods. The whole ground was in the hands of the enemy. + +Nor was this all. Back at that little fort had been enacted one of the +saddest tragedies of the war. When the Union soldiers fled, they had +retreated across the long railroad bridge that spanned the Newport +river, and to prevent the enemy following, had set it on fire. Just as +the flames began to eat into the timbers, John Ring, the boy orderly, +thought of his Captain's sword, that wonderful gold-sheathed sword +which had been presented to Captain Conwell on the memorable day in +Springfield when he had so eloquently called upon it to fight in the +cause of Justice. It had been left behind in the Captain's tent, the +Army Regulations requiring that he wear one less conspicuous. Even now +it might be in the hands of some slave-owning Confederate. Maddened at +the thought, John King leaped on to the burning bridge, plunged +back through the fire, through the ranks of the yelling, excited +Confederates, reached the tent unobserved and grasped the sword of his +idolized Captain. Again he made a rush for the flame-wrapped bridge. +But this time the keen eyes of the enemy discerned him. + +"Look at the Yank with the sword. Wing him! Bring him down." And +bullets sped after the fearless boy. But he fled on undeterred, and +plunged into the mass of flame and smoke. The fire had gained too +great headway by this time for any living thing to pass through it +unhurt. He saw it was useless to attempt to cross as before, and +belting the sword about him, he dropped beneath the stringers and +tried to make his way hand over hand. All about him fell the blazing +brands. The biting smoke blinded him. The very flesh was burning from +his arms. The enemies' bullets sung about him. But still he struggled +on. In sheer admiration of his courage, the Confederate general gave +the order to cease firing, and the two armies stood silent and watched +the plucky fight of this brave boy. Inch by inch, he gained on his +path of fire. But he could see no longer. In torturing blackness +he groped on, fearful only that he might not succeed in saving the +precious sword, that in his blindness he might grasp a blazing timber +and his hand be burnt from him, that death in a tongue of flame be +swept down into his face, that the bridge might fall and the sword be +lost. At last he heard his comrades shouting. They guided him with +their cheers, "A little farther," "Keep straight on," "You're all +right now." And then he dropped blazing into the outstretched arms +of his comrades, while a mighty shout went up from both sides of the +river, as enemy and friend paid the tribute of brave men to a brave +deed. + +[Illustration: LIEUTENANT-COLONEL CONWELL] + +With swelling hearts and tear-blinded eyes, they tenderly laid the +insensible hero on a gun carriage and took him to the hospital. Two +days of quivering agony followed and then he met and bravely faced his +last enemy. Opening his eyes, he said clearly and distinctly, "Give +the Captain his sword." Then his breath fluttered and the little +armor-bearer slept the sleep of peace. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS + +Under Arrest for Absence Without Leave. Order of Court Reversed by +President. Certificate from State Legislature of Massachusetts for +Patriotic Services. Appointed by President Lincoln Lieutenant-Colonel +on General McPherson's Staff. Wounded at Kenesaw Mountain. Conversion. +Public Profession of Faith. + + +The tragic death of John Ring was the final crushing news that came to +Captain Conwell at Newberne. Combined with the nervous strain he had +been under in trying to get back to his men, the condemnation from his +superior officers for his absence, it threw him into a brain fever. +Long days and nights he rolled and tossed, fighting over again the +attack on the fort, making heroic efforts to rescue John Ring from his +fiery death, urging his horse through tangled forests and dark rivers +that seemed never to have another shore. For weeks the fever racked +and wasted him, and finally when feeble and weak, he was once more +able to walk, he found himself under arrest for absence without leave +during a time of danger. + +It had been reported to General Palmer that the defeat of the Federal +troops might have been avoided had the officers been on duty. An +investigation was ordered and Captain Conwell was asked for his permit +to be absent. He had simply his pass through the lines, a vastly +different thing he found from an authorized permit of absence. The +investigation dragged its slow course along, as all such things, +encumbered by red tape, do. Disgusted and humiliated by being kept a +prisoner for months when the country needed every arm in its defense, +by having such a mountain made of the veriest molehill built of a kind +act and boyish inexperience, he refused to put in a defense at the +investigation and let it go as it would. Setting the Court of Inquiry +more against him, a former Commander, General Foster, espoused his +cause too hotly and wrote to General McPherson for an appointment for +a "boy who is as brave as an old man." The Court of Inquiry, made up +of local officers, most of them jealous of his popularity, resented +this outside interference and the verdict was against him. But others +higher in authority took up the matter and Captain Conwell was ordered +to Washington. The President reversed the order of the Court. He +was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, detailed for service on General +McPherson's staff and ordered West. General Butler, under whose +command Captain Conwell served, afterward made a generous +acknowledgment of the injustice of the findings and expressed in warm +words his admiration of Captain Conwell, and the State Legislature +of Massachusetts gave him a certificate for faithful and patriotic +services in that campaign. + +Nevertheless, it was an experience that sorely embittered his soul. +Intentionally he had done nothing wrong, yet he had been humiliated +and made to eat the bitter fruits of the envy and jealousy of others. +It saddened but did not defeat him. His heart was too big, his nature +too generous. He could forgive them freely, could do them a kindness +the very first opportunity, but that did not take away the pain at his +heart. One may forgive a person who burns him, even if intentionally, +but that does not stop the burn from smarting. + +Saddened, and with the futility of ambition keenly brought home +to him, he joined General McPherson, and in the battle of Kenesaw +Mountain he received a serious wound. He had stationed a lookout +to watch the Confederate fire while he directed the work of two +batteries. It was the duty of the lookout to keep Colonel Conwell and +his gunners posted as to whether the enemy fired shot or shell, easily +to be told by watching the little trail of smoke that followed the +discharge. If a shot were sent, they paid no attention to it for it +did little damage, but if it were a shell it was deemed necessary to +seek protection. + +Colonel Conwell was leaning on the wheel of one of the cannon when +there was a discharge from the guns of the enemy. The lookout yelled, +"Shot." But it was a fatal shell that came careening and screaming +toward them, and before Conwell or his men could leap into the +bomb-proof embankment, it struck the hub of the very wheel against +which he leaned, and burst. + +When he came to himself, the stars were shining, the field was silent +save for the feeble moans of the wounded, the voices and footsteps +of parties searching for the injured. He was in a quivering agony of +sharp, burning pain, but he could neither move nor speak. At last, he +heard the searchers coming. Nearer, nearer drew the voices, then for +a moment they paused at his side. He heard a man with a lantern say, +"Poor fellow! We can do nothing for him." Then they passed on, leaving +him for dead, among the dead. + +All that June night he lay there, looking up at the stars that studded +the infinity of space. About him were dark, silent forms, rigid in the +sleep of death. Those were solemn hours, hours when he looked death in +the face, and then backward over the years he had lived. Useless years +they seemed to him now, years filled with petty ambitions that had to +do solely with self. All the spiritual ideals of life, the things that +give lasting joy and happiness because they are of the spirit and +not of the flesh, he had scoffingly cast aside and rejected. He had +narrowed life down to self and the things of the world. He had no such +faith as made his mother's hard-working life happy and serene because +it transformed its sordid care into glorious service of her Heavenly +King. He had no such faith as carried John Ring triumphant and +undismayed through the gates of fiery death in performance of a loving +service. Suddenly a longing swept over him for this priceless faith, +for a personal, sure belief in the love of a Savior. One by one the +teachings of his mother came back to him, those beautiful immortal +truths she had read him from that Book which is never too old to touch +the hearts of men with healing. Looking up at the worlds swinging +through space to unknown laws, with the immensities of life, death and +infinity all about him, his disbelief, his atheism dropped away. Into +his heart came the premonitions of the peace of God, which passeth +understanding. Life broadened, it took on new meaning and duty, for a +life into which the spirit of God has come can never again narrow down +to the boundaries of self. He determined henceforth to live more for +others, less for himself; to make the world better, somebody happier +whenever he could; to make his life, each day of it, worthy of that +great sacrifice of John Ring. + +He being an officer, they came back for his body, and found a living +man instead of the dead. He was taken to the field hospital. One arm +was broken in two places, his shoulder badly shattered, and because +there was no hope of his living, they did not at once amputate his +arm, which would have been done had he been less seriously injured. + +Long days he lay in the hospital with life going out all about him, +the moan of the suffering in his ears, thinking, thinking, of the +mystery of life and death, as the shadows flitted and swayed through +the dimly lighted wards at night, the sunshine poured down during the +day. His love of humanity burned purer. His desire to help it grew +stronger. Long were the talks he had with the chaplain, a Baptist +preacher, and when he recovered and left the hospital, his mind was +fully made up. Like his father, his actions never lagged behind his +speech, and he made at once an open profession of the faith on which +he now leaned with such happy confidence. + +The fearless, unselfish love of humanity, the desire to help the +oppressed that burned in the bosom of John Brown had sent the +impetuous boy into the war. + +The fearless, unselfish act of John Ring sent Colonel Conwell out of +the war a God-fearing man, determined to spend his life for the good +of humanity. + +Providence uses strange instruments. Thousands in this country to-day +have been inspired, helped, made different men and women through +knowing Russell Conwell. What may not some of them do to benefit +their country and their generation! Yet back of him stand this old +gray-haired man and a young, fearless boy, whose influence turned the +current of his life to brighten and bless countless thousands. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +WESTWARD + +Resignation from Army. Admission to Bar. Marriage. Removal to +Minnesota. Founding of Minneapolis Y.M.C.A. and of the Present +"Minneapolis Tribune." Burning of Home. Breaking Out of Wound. +Appointed Emigration Agent to Germany by Governor of Minnesota. Joins +Surveying Party to Palestine. Near to Death in Paris Hospital. Journey +to New York for Operation in Bellevue Hospital. Return to Boston. + + +When Colonel Conwell was able to leave the hospital, he was still +unable to assume active duty in the field, and he was sent to +Nashville for further rest and treatment. Here he reported to General +Thomas and was instructed to proceed to Washington with a despatch for +General Logan. Colonel Conwell started, but the rough traveling of +those days opened his wounds afresh and he completely broke down +at Harper's Ferry. Too weak longer to resist, he yielded to the +entreaties of his friends, sent in his resignation and returned home +for rest and nursing. Before he fully recovered, peace was declared. + +Free to resume his studies, he entered the law office of Judge W.S. +Shurtleff, of Springfield, Massachusetts, his former Colonel, read law +there for a short time, then entered the Albany University, where he +graduated. + +Shortly after passing his examination at the bar and receiving his +degree, he was married at Chicopee Falls, March 8, 1865, to Miss +Jennie P. Hayden, one of his pupils in the district school at West +Granville, Massachusetts, and later one of his most proficient music +scholars. Her brothers were in his company, and when Company F was in +camp at Springfield after the first enlistment, she was studying at +Wilbraham and there often saw her soldier lover. Anxious days and +years they were for her that followed, as they were for every other +woman with father, husband, brother or sweetheart in the terrible +conflict that raged so long. But she endured them with that silent +bravery that is ever the woman's part, that strong, steady courage +that can sit at home passive, patient, never knowing but that +life-long sorrow and heartache are already at the threshold. + +Immediately after their marriage, they went West and finally settled +in Minneapolis. Colonel Conwell opened a law office, and while waiting +for clients acted as agent for a real estate firm in the sale of land +warrants. He also began to negotiate for the sale of town lots. This +not being enough for a man who utilized every minute, he became local +correspondent for the "St. Paul Press." Nor did he stop here, though +most men would have thought their hands by this time about full. He +took an active part in local politics and canvassed the settlement and +towns for the Republican and temperance tickets. He also was actively +interested in the schools, and not only advocated public schools and +plenty of them, but was a frequent visitor to the city and district +schools, talking to the children in that interesting, entertaining +way that always clothes some helpful lesson in a form long to be +remembered. + +True to the faith he had found in the little Southern hospital, he +joined the First Baptist Church of Saint Paul. But mere joining was +not sufficient. He must work for the cause, and he opened a business +men's noon prayer-meeting in his law office at Minneapolis, rather a +novel undertaking in those days and in the then far West. For three +months, only three men attended. But nothing daunted, he persevered. +That trait in his character always shone out the more brightly, +the darker the outlook. Those three men were helped, and that was +sufficient reason that the prayer-meeting be continued. Eventually it +prospered and resulted finally in a permanent organization from which +grew the Minneapolis Y.M.C.A. + +Poor though he was, and he started in the West with nothing, he made +friends everywhere. His speeches soon made him widely known. His +sincerity, his unselfish desire to help others, his earnestness to aid +in all good works brought him, as always, a host of loyal, devoted +followers. A skating club of some hundred members made him their +President, and his first law case in the West came to him through this +position. + +A skating carnival was to be given, and the club had engaged an +Irishman to clear a certain part of the frozen Mississippi of snow for +the skating. This he failed to do at the time specified and the club +had it cleaned by some one else. Claiming that he would have done +it, had they waited, the Irishman sued the club. Colonel Conwell, of +course, appeared for the defense. The whole hundred members marched to +the court house, the scene being town talk for some days. Needless to +say he won his suit. + +His love for newspaper work led him to start the "Minneapolis +Chronicle" and the "Star of the North," which were afterward merged +into "The Minneapolis Tribune," for which his clever young wife +conducted a woman's column, in a decidedly brilliant, original manner. +Mrs. Conwell wrote from her heart as one woman to other women, and +her articles soon attracted notice and comment for their entertaining +style and their inspiring, helpful ideas. + +At this time they were living in two rooms back of his office, for +they were making financial headway as yet but slowly. But times +brightened and Colonel Conwell was soon able to purchase a handsome +home and furnish it comfortably, taking particular pride in the +gathering of a large law library. + +It seemed now as if life were to move forward prosperously. But +greater work was needed from Russell Conwell than the comfortable +practice of law. One evening while the family were from home, fire +broke out and the house and all they owned was destroyed. Running +to the fire from a G.A.R. meeting, a mile and a half away, Colonel +Conwell was attacked with a hemorrhage of the lungs. It came from +his old army wounds and the doctor ordered him immediately from that +climate, and told him he must take a complete rest. Here was disaster +indeed. Every cent they had saved was gone. And with it the strength +to begin again the battle for a living. It was a hard, bitter blow for +a young, ambitious man, right at the start of his career; a stroke of +fate to make any man bitter and cynical. But his was not a nature to +permit misfortune to narrow him or make him repine. He rose above it. +It did not lesson his ambitions. It broadened, humanized them. It made +him enter with still truer sympathy into other people's misfortune. +And his trust in God was so strong, his faith so unshaken, he knew +that in all these bitter experiences of life's school was a lesson. He +learned it and used it to get a broader outlook. + +His friends rallied to his aid. Prominent as an editor, lawyer, leader +of the Y.M.C.A., it was not difficult to get him an appointment from +the Governor, already a warm friend. He secured the position of +emigration agent to Europe, and he turned his face Eastward. Mrs. +Conwell was left in Minneapolis, and he sailed abroad in the hope that +the sea trip and change of climate would heal the weakened tissue of +his lung and fully restore him to health. But it was a vain hope. His +strength would not permit him to fulfill the duty expected of him as +emigration agent and he was compelled to resign. For several months +he wandered about Europe trying one place, then another in the vain +search for health. He joined a surveying party and went to Palestine, +for even in those days that inner voice could not he altogether +stilled that was calling him to follow in the footsteps of the Savior +and preach and teach and heal the sick. The land where the Savior +ministered had a strong fascination for him, and he gladly seized the +opportunity to become a member of this surveying party and walk over +the ground where the Savior had gone up and down doing good. + +But the trip was of no benefit to his health. Instead of gaining he +failed. He grew weaker and weaker. The hemorrhages became more and +more frequent. Finally he came to Paris and lying, a stranger and +poor, in Necker Hospital was told he could live but a few days. Face +to face again with that grim, bitter enemy of the battlefield, what +thoughts came crowding thick and fast--thoughts of his young wife in +far-away America, of father and mother, memories of the beautiful +woods, the singing streams of the mountain home, as the noise and +clamor of Paris streets drifted into the long hospital ward. + +Then came a famous Berlin doctor to the dying American. He studied the +case attentively, for it was strange enough to arouse and enlist all +a doctor's keen scientific interest. When analyzed, copper had been +found in the hemorrhage, with no apparent reason for it, and the Paris +doctors were puzzling over the cause. "Were you in the war?" asked the +great man. "Were you shot?" + +"Yes." + +"Shot in the shoulder?" + +Then came back to Colonel Conwell, the recollection of the duel with +the Confederate around a tree in the North Carolina woods and the shot +that had lodged in his shoulder near his neck and was never removed. + +"That is the trouble," said the physician. "The bullet has worked down +into the lung and only the most skillful operation can save you, +and only one man can do it"--and that man was a surgeon in Bellevue +Hospital, New York. + +Carefully was the sinking man taken on board a steamer. Only the most +rugged constitution could have stood that trip in the already weakened +condition of his system. But those early childhood days in the +Berkshire Hills had put iron into his blood, the tonic of sunshine and +fresh air into his very bone and muscle. Safely he made the journey, +though no one knew all he suffered in those terrible days of weakness +and pain on the lone, friendless trip across the Atlantic. Safely he +went through the operation. The bullet was removed, and with health +mending, he made his way to Boston where his loving young wife awaited +him. + +But out of these experiences, suffering, alone, friendless, poor, in +a strange city, grew after all the Samaritan Hospital of Philadelphia +that opens wide its doors, first and always, to the suffering sick +poor. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WRITING HIS WAY AROUND THE WORLD + +Days of Poverty in Boston. Sent to Southern Battlefields. Around the +World for New York and Boston Papers. In a Gambling Den In Hong Kong, +China. Cholera and Shipwreck. + + +Abject poverty awaited him on his return to Boston. The fire in St. +Paul had left them but little property, while their enforced hurried +departure compelled that little to be sold at a loss. This money +was now entirely gone, and once more he faced the world in absolute +poverty. He rented a single room in the East district of Boston and +furnished it with the barest necessities. Colonel Conwell secured a +position on "The Evening Traveller" at five dollars a week, and Mrs. +Conwell cheerily took in sewing. Thus they made their first brave +stand against the gaunt wolf at the door. Here their first child was +born, a daughter, Nima, now Mrs. E.G. Tuttle, of Philadelphia. These +were dark days for the little household. Night after night the father +came home to see the one he loved best in all the world, suffering +for the barest necessities of life, yet cheerful, buoyant, never +complaining. So sensitive to the sufferings of others that he must do +all in his power to relieve even his comrades in the war when, injured +or ill, what mental anguish must he have endured when his dearly loved +wife was in want and he so powerless to relieve it. She read his heart +with the sure sympathy of love, knew his bitter anguish of spirit, and +suffered the more because he suffered. But bravely she cheered him, +encouraged him, and spent all her own spare minutes doing what she +could to add to the family income. + +Thus they pluckily-worked, never repining nor complaining at fate, +though knowing in its bitterest sense what it is to be desperately +poor, to suffer for adequate food and clothing. Colonel Conwell +learned in that hard experience what it is to want for a crust of +bread. No man can come to Dr. Conwell to this day with a tale of +poverty, suffering, sickness, but what the minister's eyes turn +backward to that one little room with its pitiful makeshifts of +furniture, its brave, pale wife, the wee girl baby; and his hand goes +out to help with an earnest and heartfelt sympathy surprising to the +recipient. + +But the tide turned ere long. Colonel Conwell's work on the paper soon +began to tell. His salary was raised and raised, until comfort once +more with smiling face took up her abode with them. They moved into a +pretty home in Somerville. Colonel Conwell resumed his law practice +and began, as in the West, to deal in real estate. He also continued +his lecturing. + +Busy days these were, but his life had already taught him much of the +art of filling each minute to an exact nicety in order to get the most +out of it. His paper sent him as a special correspondent to write up +the battlefields of the South, and his letters were so graphic and +entertaining as to become a widely known and much discussed feature +of the paper. Soldiers everywhere read them with eager delight and +through them revisited the scenes of the terrible conflict in which +each had played some part. While on this assignment, he invaded a +gambling den in New Orleans, and interfering to save a colored man +from the drunken frenzy of a bully, came near being killed himself. +Coming to the aid of a porter on a Mississippi steamboat, he again +narrowly escaped being shot, striking a revolver from the hand of a +ruffian just as his finger dropped on the trigger. He mixed with all +classes and conditions of men and saw life in its roughest, +most primal aspect But all these experiences helped him to that +appreciation of human nature that has been of such, value and help to +him since. + +These letters aroused such widespread and favorable comment that the +"New York Tribune" and "Boston Traveller" arranged to send him on a +tour of the world. When the offer came to him, his mind leaped the +years to that poorly furnished room in the little farmhouse, where he +had leaned on his mother's knee and listened with rapt attention while +she read him the letters of foreign correspondents in that very "New +York Tribune." The letter he wrote his mother telling her of the +appointment was full of loving gratitude for the careful way she +had trained his tastes in those days when he was too young and +inexperienced to choose for himself. + +It was a wrench for the young wife to let him go so far away, but she +bravely, cheerfully made the sacrifice. She was proud of his work and +his ability, and she loved him too truly to stand in the way of his +progress. + +This journey took him to Scotland, England, Sweden, Denmark, France, +Italy, Germany, Russia, Palestine, Arabia, Egypt and Northern Africa. +He interviewed Emperor William I, Bismarck, Victor Emanuel, the then +Prince of Wales, now Edward VII of England. He frequently met Henry +M. Stanley, then correspondent for the London papers, who wrote from +Paris of Colonel Conwell, "Send that double-sighted Yankee and he will +see at a glance all there is and all there ever was." + +He also made the acquaintance of Garibaldi, whom he visited in his +island home and with whom he kept up a correspondence after he +returned. Garibaldi it was who called Colonel Conwell's attention to +the heroic deeds of that admirer of America, the great and patriotic +Venetian, Daniel Manin. In the busy years that followed on this trip +Colonel Conwell spent a long time gathering materials for a biography +of Daniel Manin, and just before it was ready for the press the +manuscript was destroyed by fire in the destruction of his home +at Newton Centre, Massachusetts, in 1880. One of his most popular +lectures, "The Heroism of a Private Life," took its inception from the +life of this Venetian statesman. + +He also gave a series of lectures at Cambridge, England, on Italian +history that attracted much favorable comment. + +Mr. Samuel T. Harris, of New York, correspondent of the "New York +Times" in 1870, in a private letter, says, "Conwell is the funniest +chap I ever fell in with. He sees a thousand things I never thought of +looking after. When his letters come back in print I find lots in them +that seems new to me, although I saw it all at the time. But you don't +see the fun in his letters to the papers. The way he adapts himself to +all circumstances comes from long travel; but it is droll. He makes a +salaam to the defunct kings, a neat bow to the Sudras, and a friendly +wink at the Howadji, in a way that puts him cheek-by-jowl with them +in a jiffy. He beats me all out in his positive sympathy with these +miserable heathen. He has read so much that he knows about everything. +The way the officials, English, too, treat him would make you think he +was the son of a lord. He has a dignified condescension in his manner +that I can't imitate." + +Part of the time Bayard Taylor was his traveling companion, and there +grew up between these two kindred spirits an intimate friendship that +lasted until Taylor's death. + +All through the trip he carried books with him, and every minute not +occupied in gathering material for his letters was passed in reading +the history of the scenes and the people he was among, in mastering +their language. Such close application added an interesting background +of historical information to his letters, a breadth and culture, that +made them decidedly more valuable and entertaining than if confined +strictly to what he saw and heard. It was on this journey that he +heard the legend from which grew his famous lecture, "Acres of +Diamonds," which has been given already three thousand four hundred +and twenty times. It gave him an almost inexhaustible fund of material +on which he has drawn for his lectures and books since. + +During his absence his second child, a son, Leon, was born. He +returned home for the briefest time, and then completed the tour by +way of the West and the Pacific. He lectured through the Western +States and Territories, for already his fame as a lecturer was +spreading. He visited the Sandwich Islands, Japan, China, Sumatra, +Siam, Burmah, the Himalaya Mountains, India, returning home by way of +Europe. His Hong Kong letter to "The Tribune," exposing the iniquities +of the labor-contract system in Chinese emigration, created quite a +stir in political and diplomatic circles. It was while on this trip +he gathered the material for his first book, "Why and How the Chinese +Emigrate." It was reviewed as the best book in the market of its kind. +The "New York Herald" in writing of it said: "There has been little +given to the public which throws more timely and intelligent light +upon the question of coolie emigration than the book written by Col. +Russell H. Conwell, of Boston." + +These travels were replete with thrilling adventures and strange +coincidents. When he left Somerville after his brief visit, for his +trip through the Western States, China and Japan, a broken-hearted +mother in Charlestown, Mass., asked him to find her wandering boy, +whom she believed to be "somewhere in China." A big request, but +Colonel Conwell, busy as he was, did not forget it. Searching for him +in such places as he believed the boy would most likely frequent, +Colonel Conwell accidentally entered, one night in Hong Kong, a den of +gamblers. Writing of the event, he says: + +"At one table sat an American, about twenty-five years old, playing +with an old man. They had been betting and drinking. While the +gray-haired man was shuffling the cards for a 'new deal' the young +man, in a swaggering, careless way, sang, to a very pathetic tune, a +verse of Phoebe Carey's beautiful hymn, + + 'One sweetly solemn thought + Comes to me o'er and o'er: + I'm nearer home to-day + Than e'er I've been before.' + +Hearing the singing several gamblers looked up in surprise. The old +man who was dealing the cards grew melancholy, stopped for a moment, +gazed steadfastly at his partner in the game, and dashed the pack upon +the floor under the table. Then said he, 'Where did you learn that +tune?' The young man pretended that he did not know he had been +singing. 'Well, no matter,' said the old man, I've played my last +game, and that's the end of it. The cards may lie there till doomsday, +and I will never pick them up,' The old man having won money from +the other--about one hundred dollars--took it out of his pocket, and +handing it to him said: 'Here, Harry, is your money; take it and +do good with it; I shall with mine.' As the traveler followed them +downstairs, he saw them conversing by the doorway, and overheard +enough to know that the older man was saying something about the song +which the young man had sung. It had, perhaps, been learned at a +mother's knee, or in a Sunday-school, and may have been (indeed it +was), the means of saving these gamblers, and of aiding others through +their influence toward that nobler life which alone is worth the +living." + +The old man had come from Westfield, Mass. He died in 1888, at Salem, +Oregon, having spent the last seven years of his life as a Christian +Missionary among the sailors of the Pacific coast. He passed away +rejoicing in the faith that took him + + "Nearer the Father's House, + Where many mansions be, + Nearer the great white throne, + Nearer the jasper sea." + +The boy, Harry, utterly renounced gambling and kindred vices. + +While coming from Bombay to Aden, cholera broke out on the ship and +it was strictly quarantined. It was a ship of grief and terror. +Passengers daily lost loved ones. New victims were stricken every +hour. The slow days dragged away with death unceasingly busy among +them. Burials were constant, and no man knew who would be the next +victim. But Colonel Conwell escaped contagion. + +On the trip home, across the Atlantic, the steamer in a fearful gale +was so dismantled as to be helpless. The fires of the engine were out, +and the boat for twenty-six days drifted at the mercy of the waves. +No one, not even the Captain, thought they could escape destruction. +Water-logged and unmanageable, during a second storm it was thought to +be actually sinking. The Captain himself gave up hope, the women grew +hysterical. But in the midst of it all, Colonel Conwell walked the +deck, and to calm the passengers sang "Nearer my God to Thee," +with such feeling, such calm assurance in a higher power, that the +passengers and Captain once again took courage. But strangest of all, +on this voyage, while sick, he was cared for by the very colored +porter whose life he had saved on the Mississippi steamboat. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +BUSY DAYS IN BOSTON + +Editor of "Boston Traveller." Free Legal Advice for the Poor. +Temperance Work. Campaign Manager for General Nathaniel P. Banks. +Urged for Consulship at Naples. His Work for the Widows and Orphans of +Soldiers. + + +Returning to Somerville, Mass., the long journey ended, he found the +editorial chair of the "Boston Traveller" awaiting him. He plunged +into work with his characteristic energy. The law, journalism, +writing, lecturing, all claimed his attention. It is almost incredible +how much he crowded into a day. Five o'clock in the morning found him +at work, and midnight struck before he laid aside pen or book. Yet +with all this rush of business, he did not forget those resolves he +had made to lend a helping hand wherever he could to those needing it. +And his own bitter experiences in the hard school of poverty taught +him how sorely at times help is needed. He made his work for others +as much a part of his daily life as his work for himself. It was +an integral part of it. Watching him work, one could hardly have +distinguished when he was occupied with his own affairs, when with +those of the poor. He did not separate the two, label one "charity" +and attend to it in spare moments. One was as important to him as the +other. He kept his law office open at night for those who could not +come during the day and gave counsel and legal advice free to the +poor. Often of an evening he had as many as a half hundred of these +clients, too poor to pay for legal aid, yet sadly needing help to +right their wrongs. So desirous was he of reaching and assisting those +suffering from injustice, yet without money to pay for the help they +needed, that he inserted the following notice in the Boston papers: + +"Any deserving poor person wishing legal advice or assistance will be +given the same free of charge any evening except Sunday, at No. 10 +Rialto Building, Devonshire Street. None of these cases will be taken +into the courts for pay." + +These cases he prepared as attentively and took into court with as +eager determination to win, as those for which he received large fees. +Of course such a proceeding laid him open to much envious criticism. +Lawyers who had no such humanitarian view of life, no such earnest, +sincere desire to lighten the load of poverty resting so heavily on +the shoulders of many, said it was unprofessional, sensational, a "bid +for popularity." Those whom he helped knew these insinuations to be +untrue. His sympathy was too sincere, the assistance too gladly +given. But misunderstood or not, he persevered. The wrongs of many an +ignorant working man suffering through the greed of those over him, +were righted. Those who robbed the poor under various guises were made +to feel the hand of the law. And for none of these cases did he ever +take a cent of pay. + +Another class of clients who brought him much work but no profit were +the widows and orphans of soldiers seeking aid to get pensions. To +such he never turned a deaf ear, no matter the multitude of duties +that pressed. He charged no fee, even when to win the case, he was +compelled to go to Washington. Nor would he give it up, no matter what +work it entailed until the final verdict was given. His partners say +he never lost a pension case, nor ever made a cent by one. + +An unwritten law in the office was that neither he nor his partners +should ever accept a case if their client were in the wrong, or +guilty. But this very fact made wrongdoers the more anxious to secure +him, knowing it would create the impression at once that they were +innocent. + +A story which went the rounds of legal circles in Boston and finally +was published in the "Boston Sunday Times," shows how he was cleverly +fooled by a pick-pocket The man charged with the crime came to Colonel +Conwell to get him to take the case. So well did he play the part of +injured innocence that Colonel Conwell was completely deceived and +threw himself heart and soul into the work of clearing him. When the +case came up for trial, the lawyer and client sat near together in the +court room, and Colonel Conwell made such an earnest and forceful plea +in behalf of the innocent young man and the harm already done him by +having such a charge laid at his door that it was at once agreed the +case should be dismissed, by the District Attorney's consent. So +lawyer and client walked out of court together, happy and triumphant, +to Colonel Conwell's office, where the pick-pocket paid Colonel +Conwell his fee out of the lawyer's own pocketbook which he had deftly +abstracted during the course of the trial. + +The incident caused much amusement at the time, and it was a long +while before Colonel Conwell heard the last of it. + +Into work for temperance he went heart and soul, not only in speech +but in deed. Though he never drank intoxicating liquor himself, he +could never see a man under its baneful influence but that heart and +hand went out to help him. Many a reeling drunkard he took to his +Somerville home, nursed all night, and in the morning endeavored with +all his eloquence to awaken in him a desire to live a different life. +Deserted wives and children of drunkards came to him for aid, and many +of the free law cases were for those wronged through the curse of +drink. + +Friend always of the workingman, he was persistently urged by their +party to accept a nomination for Congress. But he as persistently +refused. But he worked hard in politics for others. He managed one +campaign in which General Nathaniel P. Banks was running on an +independent ticket, and elected him by a large majority. His name +was urged by Senators Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson for the United +States Consulship at Naples, the lectures he had given at Cambridge, +England, on Italian history having attracted so much favorable comment +by the deep research they showed, and the keen appreciation of Italian +character. He was considered an expert in contested election cases and +he frequently appeared before the Legislature on behalf of cities and +towns on matters over which it had jurisdiction. + +Mr. Higgins, who knew him personally, writing of these busy days in +"Scaling the Eagle's Nest," says: + +"He prepared and presented many bills to Congressional Committees at +Washington, and appeared as counsel in several Louisiana and Florida +election eases. His arguments before the Supreme Courts in several +important patent cases were reported to the country by the Associated +Press. He had at one time considerable influence with the President +and Senators in political appointments, and some of the best men still +in government office in this State (Massachusetts) and in other +New England States, say they owe their appointment to his active +friendship in visiting Washington in their behalf. But it does not +appear that through all these years of work and political influence he +ever asked for an appointment for himself." + +Catholics, Jews, Protestants and non-sectarian charities sought his +aid in legal matters, and so broad was his love for humanity that all +found in him a ready helper. At one time he was guardian of more than +sixty orphan children, three in particular who were very destitute, +were through his intercession with a relative, left a fortune of +$50,000. Yet despite all these activities, he found time to lecture, +to write boots, to master five languages, using his spare minutes on +the train to and from his place of business for their study. In 1872 +he made another trip abroad. Speaking of him at this time, a writer in +the London Times says: + +"Colonel Conwell is one of the most noteworthy men of New England. He +has already been in all parts of the world. He is a writer of singular +brilliancy and power, and as a popular lecturer his success has been +astonishing. He has made a place beside such orators as Beecher, +Phillips and Chapin." + +Thus the busy years slipped by, years that brought him close to the +great throbbing heart of humanity, the sorrows and sufferings of the +poor, the aspirations and ambitions of the rich, years in which he +looked with deep insight into human nature, and, illumined by his love +for humanify, saw that an abiding faith in God, the joy of knowing +Christ's love was the balm needed to heal aching hearts, drive evil +out of men's lives, wretchedness and misery from many a home. More and +more was he convinced that to make the world better, humanity happier, +the regenerating, uplifting power of the spirit of God ought to be +brought into the daily lives of the people, in simple sincerity, +without formalism, yet as vital, as cherished, as freely recognized a +part of their lives as the ties of family affection which bound them +together. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TROUBLED DAYS + +Death of Wife. Loss of Money. Preaching on Wharves. Growth of Sunday +School Class at Tremont Temple from Four to Six Hundred Members in a +Brief Time. Second Marriage. Death of Father and Mother. Preaching at +Lexington. Building Lexington Baptist Church. + + +Into this whirl of successful, happy work, the comforts and luxuries +of prosperity, came the grim hand of death. His loving wife who had +worked so cheerfully by his side, who had braved disaster, bitter +poverty, hardship, with a smile, died of heart trouble after a few +days' illness, January 11, 1872. It was like a thunderbolt from a +cloudless sky. In the loneliness and despair that followed, worldly +ambitions turned to dust and ashes. He could not lecture. He could not +speak. The desolation at his heart was too great. His only consolation +was the faith that was in him, a "very present help," as he found, "in +time of trouble." This bitter trial brought home to him all the more +intensely the need of such comfort for those who were comfortless. His +heart went out in burning sympathy for those sitting in darkness like +himself, but who had no faith on which to lean, nothing to bring +healing and hope to a broken heart. Her death was a loss to the +community as well as to her family. Her writings in the "Somerville +Journal" had made a decided impression, while her sweet womanly +qualities had endeared her to a wide circle of friends. Noting her +death, a writer in one of the Boston papers said: + +"Mrs. Conwell was a true and loving wife and mother. Kind and +sympathetic in her intercourse with all, and possessed of those rare +womanly graces and qualities which endeared her to those with whom she +was acquainted. Her death leaves a void which cannot be filled even +outside her own household. Her writings were those of a true woman, +always healthful in their tone, strong and vigorous in ideas and +concise in language." + +Other troubles came thick and fast. He lost at one time fifty thousand +dollars in the panic of '74, and at another ten thousand dollars by +endorsing for a friend. His old acquaintance, poverty, again took up +its abode with him. In addition, he was heavily in debt. Those were +black days, days that taught him how unstable were the things of this +world--money, position, the ambitions that once had seemed so worthy. +The only thing that brought a sense of satisfaction, of having done +something worth while, was the endeavor to make others happier, to put +joy into lives as desolate as his own. Such work brought peace. + +To forget his own troubles in lightening those of others, he went +actively into religious work. He took a class in the Sunday School of +Tremont Temple, that very Sunday School into which Deacon Chipman had +taken him a runaway boy some twenty years before. The class grew from +four to six hundred in a few months. He preached to sailors on the +wharves, to idlers on the streets, in mission chapels at night. The +present West Somerville, Massachusetts, church grew from just such +work. He could not but see the fruits of his labors. On all sides it +grew to a quick harvest. + +The thought that he was thus influencing others for good, that he +was leading men and women into paths of sure happiness brought him +a spiritual calm and peace such as the gratification of worldly +ambitions had never given him. More and more he became convinced it +was the only work worth doing. The strong love for his fellowmen, the +desire to help those in need and to make them happier which had always +been such a pronounced characteristic, had set him more than once +to thinking of the ministry as a life work. Indeed, ever since that +childish sermon, with the big gray rock as a pulpit, it had been in +his mind, sometimes dormant, breaking out again into strong feeling +when for a moment he stood on some hilltop of life and took in its +fullest, grandest meaning, or in the dark valley of suffering and +sorrow held close communion with God and saw the beauty of serving Him +by serving his fellowmen. That the inclination was with him is shown +by the fact that when he was admitted to the bar in Albany in 1865, he +had a Greek Testament in his pocket. + +As soon as his means permitted after the war, he gathered a valuable +theological library, sending to Germany for a number of the books. In +1875, when he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the +United States, he delivered an address that same evening in Washington +on the "Curriculum of the School of the Prophets in Ancient Israel." +From all parts of the Old World he gathered photographs of ancient +manuscripts and sacred places, and kept up a correspondence with many +professors and explorers interested in these topics. He lectured in +schools and colleges on archaeological subjects, with illustrations +prepared by himself. + +It is not to be wondered that with his keen mind and his gift of +oratory the law tempted him at first to turn aside from the promptings +of the inner spirit. Nor is it to be wondered that even when +inclination led strongly he still hesitated. It was no light thing for +a man past thirty to throw aside a profession in which he had already +made an enviable reputation and take up a new lifework. With two small +children depending upon him, it was a question for still more serious +study. + +But gradually circumstances shaped his course. In 1874, he married +Miss Sarah F. Sanborn whom he had met in his mission work. She was of +a wealthy family of Newton Centre, the seat of the Newton Theological +Seminary. One of the intimate friends of the family was the Rev. Alvah +Hovey, D.D., President of the Seminary. Thus while inclination pulled +one way and common sense pulled the other, adding as a final argument +that he had no opportunity to study for the ministry, he was thrown +among the very people who made it difficult not to study theology. +Troubled in mind he sought Dr. Hovey one day and asked how to decide +if "called to the ministry." "If people are called to hear you," was +the quick-witted, practical reply of the good doctor. But still he +hesitated. His law practice, writing, lecturing, claimed part of him; +his Sunday School work and lay preaching, a second and evergrowing +stronger part. His law practice became more and more distasteful, his +service to the soul needs of others, more and more satisfying. + +[Illustration: MRS. SARAH F. CONWELL] + +In 1874 his father died, and in 1877 he lost his mother, these sad +bereavements still further inclining his heart to the work of the +ministry. They were buried at South Worthington, in a sunny hilltop +cemetery, open to the sky, the voice of a little brook coming softly +up from among the trees below. This visit to his old home under such +sad circumstances, the memory of his father's and mother's prayers +that the world might not be the worse, but that it might be the better +for his having lived in it, deepened the growing conviction that he +should give his life to the work of Christ. + +At last came the deciding event. In 1879, a young woman visited +Colonel Conwell, the lawyer, and asked his advice respecting the +disposition of a Baptist Meeting House in Lexington. He went to +Lexington and called a meeting of the members of the old church, +for the purpose of securing legal action on the part of that body +preparatory to selling the property. He got some three or four old +Baptists together and, as they talked the business over, "they became +reluctant to vote, either to sell, destroy, keep, or give away the +old meeting-house," says Burdette, in "Temple and Templars." "While +discussing the situation with these sorrowful old saints--and one good +old deacon wept to think that 'Zion had gone into captivity,'--the +preacher came to the front and displaced the lawyer. It was the crisis +in his life; the parting of the ways. In a flash of light the decision +was made. 'It flashed upon me, sitting there as a lawyer, that there +was a mission for me there,' Dr. Conwell has often said, in speaking +of his decision to go into the ministry. He advised promptly and +strongly against selling the property. 'Keep it; hold service in it; +repair the altar of the Lord that is broken down; go to work; get +God to work for you, and work with Him; 'God will turn again your +captivity, your months shall be filled with laughter and your tongues +with singing." They listened to this enthusiastic lawyer whom they had +retained as a legal adviser, in dumb amazement 'Is Saul also among the +prophets?' But having given his advice, he was prompt to act upon it +himself. 'Where will we get a preacher?' 'Here is one who will serve +you until you can get one whom you will like better, and who can +do you more good. Announce preaching in the old meeting house next +Sunday!' + +"It was nothing new for Colonel Conwell to preach, for he was engaged +in mission work somewhere every Sunday; so when the day came, he was +there. Less than a score of hearers sat in the moldy old pews. The +windows were broken and but illy repaired by the curtaining cobwebs. +The hand of time and decay had torn off the ceiling plaster in +irregular and angular patches. The old stove had rusted out at the +back, and the crumbling stove-pipe was a menace to those who sat +within range of its fall. The pulpit was what Mr. Conwell called a +'crow's perch,' and one can imagine the platform creaking under the +military tread of the tall lawyer who stepped into its lofty height to +preach. But, old though it was, they say, a cold, gloomy, damp, dingy +old box, it was a meeting house and the Colonel preached in it. That a +lawyer should practice, was a commonplace, everyday truth; but that a +lawyer should preach--that was indeed a novelty. The congregation of +sixteen or seventeen at the first service grew the following Sabbath, +to forty worshippers. Another week, and when the new preacher climbed +into that high pulpit, he looked down upon a crowded house; the little +old chapel was dangerously full. Indeed, before the hour for service, +under the thronging feet of the gathering congregation, one side of +the front steps--astonished, no doubt, and overwhelmed by the unwonted +demand upon its services--did fall down. They were encouraged to +build a fire in the ancient stove that morning, but it was past +regeneration; it smoked so viciously that all the invalids who had +come to the meeting were smoked out. The old stove had lived its +day and was needed no longer. There was a fire burning in the old +meeting-house that the hand of man had not lighted and could not +kindle; that all the storms of the winter could not quench. The pulpit +and the preacher had a misty look in the eyes of the old deacons at +that service. And the preacher? He looked into the earnest faces +before him, into the tearful, hopeful eyes, and said in his own strong +heart, 'These people are hungry for the word of God, for the teachings +of Christ. They need a church here; we will build a new one.' + +"It was one thing to say it, another to achieve it. The church +was poor. Not a dollar was in the treasury, not a rich man in the +membership, the congregation, what there was of it, without influence +in the community. But lack of money never yet daunted Dr. Conwell. The +situation had a familiar look to him. He had succeeded many a time +without money when money was the supreme need, and he attacked this +problem with the same grim perseverance that had carried him so +successfully through many a similar ordeal." + +"After service he spoke about building a new church to two or three of +the members. 'A new church?' They couldn't raise enough money to put +windows in the old one, they told him." + +"'We don't want new windows, we want a new church,' was the reply." + +"They shook their heads and went home, thinking what a pity it was +that such an able lawyer should be so visionary in practical church +affairs. Part of that night Colonel Conwell spent in prayer; early +next morning he appeared with a pick-axe and a woodman's axe and +marched upon that devoted old meeting-house, as he had marched against +Hood's intrenchments before Atlanta. Strange, unwonted sounds saluted +the ears of the early risers and awakened the sluggards in Lexington +that Monday morning. Bang, Bang, Bang! Crash--Bang! Travelers over the +Revolutionary battlefield at Lexington listened and wondered. By and +by a man turned out of his way to ascertain the cause of the +racket. There was a black coat and vest hanging on the fence, and +a professional-looking man in his shirt sleeves was smashing the +meeting-house. The rickety old steps were gone by the time this man, +with open eyes and wide-open month, came to stare in speechless +amazement. Gideon couldn't have demolished 'the altar of Baal and the +grove that was by it' with more enthusiastic energy, than did this +preacher tumble into ruin his own meeting-house, wherein he had +preached not twelve hours before. Other men came, looked, laughed, +and passed by. But the builder had no time to waste on idle gossips. +Clouds of dust hovered about him, planks, boards, and timbers came +tumbling down in heaps of ruin." + +"Presently there came along an eminently respectable citizen, who +seldom went to church. He stared a moment, and said, 'What in the name +of goodness are you doing here?'" + +"'We are going to have a new meeting-house here,' was the reply, as +the pick-axe tore away the side of a window-frame for emphasis." + +"The neighbor laughed, 'I guess you won't build it with that axe,' he +said." + +"'I confess I don't know just exactly how it is going to be done,' +said the preacher, as he hewed away at a piece of studding, 'but in +some way it is going to be done.'" + +"The doubter burst into an explosion of derisive laughter and walked +away. A few paces, and he came back; walking up to Colonel Conwell he +seized the axe and said, 'See here, Preacher, this is not the kind of +work for a parson or a lawyer. If you are determined to tear this old +building down, hire some one to do it. It doesn't look right for you +to be lifting and pulling here in this manner.'" + +"'We have no money to hire any one,' was the reply, 'and the front of +this structure must give way to-day, if I have to tear it down all +alone.'" + +"'I'll tell you what I'll do,' persisted the wavering doubter; 'if you +will let this alone, I'll give you one hundred dollars to hire some +one.'" + +"Colonel Conwell tranquilly poked the axe through.' the few remaining +panes yet unbroken in the nearest window and replied, 'We would like +the money, and I will take it to hire some one to help, but I shall +keep right on with the work myself.'" + +"'All right,' said the doubter; 'go ahead, if you have set your heart +upon it. You may come up to the house for the hundred dollars any time +to-day.'" + +"And with many a backward look the generous doubter passed on, half +beginning to doubt his doubts. Evidently, the Baptists of Lexington +were beginning to do something. It had been many a year since they had +made such a noise as that in the village. And it was a noise destined +to be heard a long, long way; much farther than the doubter and a +great many able scientists have supposed that sound would 'carry.'" + +"After the doubter came a good-natured man who disliked churches in +general, and therefore enjoyed the fun of seeing a preacher tug and +puff in the heavy work of demolition, for the many-tongued rumor by +this time had noised it all around Lexington that the new preacher was +tearing down the Baptist meeting-house. He looked on until he could no +longer keep his enjoyment to himself." + +"'Going to pull the whole thing down, are you?' he asked." + +"'Yes, sir,' replied the working preacher, ripping off a strip of +siding, 'and begin all new.'" + +"'Who is going to pay the bills?' he asked, chuckling." + +"The preacher tucked up his sleeves and stepped back to get a good +swing at an obstinate brace; 'I don't know,' he said, 'but the Lord +has money somewhere to buy and pay for all we need.'" + +"The man laughed, in intense enjoyment of the absurdity of the whole +crazy business." + +"'I'll bet five dollars to one,' he said, with easy confidence of a +man who knows his bet will not be taken up, 'that you won't get the +money in this town.'" + +"Mr. Conwell brought the axe down with a crashing sweep, and the +splinters flew out into the air like a cloud of witnesses to the +efficacy of the blow." + +"'You would lose your money, then,' quietly said the preacher, 'for +Mr.---- just now came along and has given me a hundred dollars without +solicitation.'" + +"The man's eyes opened a trifle wider, and his next remark faded into +a long-drawn whistle of astonishment. Presently--'Did you get the +cash?' he asked feebly." + +"'No, but he told me to call for it to-day.'" + +"The man considered. He wasn't enjoying the situation with quite so +much humor as he had been, but he was growing more interested." + +"'Well! Is that so! I don't believe he meant it,' he added hopefully. +Then, a man after all not disposed to go back on his own assertion, he +said, 'Now I'll tell you what I'll do. If you really get that hundred +dollars out of that man, I'll give you another hundred and pay it +to-night,'" + +"And he was as good as his word." + +"All that day the preacher worked alone. Now came in the training of +those early days on the farm, when he learned to swing an axe; when he +builded up rugged strength in a stalwart frame, when his muscles were +hardened and knotted with toil." + +"'Passers-by called one after another, to ask what was going on. To +each one Colonel Conwell mentioned his hope and mentioned his gifts. +Nearly every one had added something without being asked, and at six +o'clock, when Colonel Conwell laid down the pick and axe at the end of +his day's work, he was promised more than half the money necessary to +tear down the old meeting-house and build a new one." + +"But Colonel Conwell did not leave the work. With shovel, or hammer, +or saw, or paint-brush, he worked day by day all that summer alongside +the workmen. He was architect, mason, carpenter, painter, and +upholsterer, and he directed every detail, from the cellar to the +gilded vane, and worked early and late. The money came without asking +as fast as needed. The young people who began to flock about the +faith-worker undertook to purchase a large bell, and quietly had +Colonel Conwell's name cast on the exterior, but when it came to the +difficult task of hanging it in the tower, they were obliged to call +Colonel Conwell to come and superintend the management of ropes and +pulleys. Then the deep, rich tones of the bell rang out over the +surprised old town the triumph of faith.' An unordained preacher, he +had entered upon his first pastorate, and signalized his entrance upon +his ministry by building a new meeting-house, awakening a sleeping +church, inspiring his congregation with his own enthusiasm and zeal." + +At last he had found his work. With peace and deep abiding joy he +entered it. Doubts no longer troubled him. His heart was at rest. +"Blessed is he who has found his work," writes Carlyle; "let him ask +no other blessedness." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +HIS ENTRY INTO THE MINISTRY + +Ordination. First Charge at Lexington. Call to Grace Baptist Church, +Philadelphia. + + +For this work he had been trained in the world's bitter school of +experience. He had learned lessons there of infinitely more value in +helping humanity than any the theological seminary could teach him. He +knew what it was to be poor, to be utterly cast down and discouraged, +to be sick and suffering, to sit in the blackness of despair for the +loss of loved ones. From almost every human experience he could reach +the hand of sympathy and say, "I know. I have suffered." Such help +touches the heart of humanity as none other can. And when at the same +time, it points the way to the Great Comforter and says again, "I +know, I found peace," it is more powerful than the most eloquent +sermon. Nothing goes so convincingly to a man's heart as loving, +sympathetic guidance from one who has been through the same bitter +trial. + +He was ordained in the year 1879, the council of churches, called for +his ordination, met in Lexington, President Alvah Hovey of Newton +Seminary presiding. Among the members of the council was his life-long +friend, George W. Chipman, of Boston, the same good deacon who had +taken him a runaway boy into the Sunday School of Tremont Temple. +The only objection to the ordination was made by one of the pastors +present, who said, "Good lawyers are too scarce to be spoiled by +making ministers of them." + +The ordination over, the large law offices in Boston were closed. He +gave his undivided time and attention to his work in Lexington. The +lawyer, speaker and writer ceased to exist, but the pastor was found +wherever the poor needed help, the sick and suffering needed cheer, +the mourning needed comfort, wherever he could by word or act preach +the gospel of the Christ he served. + +His whole thought was concentrated in the purpose to do good. No one +who knew him intimately could doubt his entire renunciation of worldly +ambitions, the sacrifice was so great, yet so unhesitatingly made. +Buried from the world in one way, he yet lived in it in a better way. +Large numbers of his former legal, political and social associates +called his action fanaticism. Wendell Phillips, meeting Colonel +Conwell and several friends on the way to church, one Sunday morning, +remarked that "Olympus has gone to Delphi, and Jove has descended to +be an interpreter of oracles." + +His salary at the start was six hundred dollars a year, little more +than ten dollars a week. But it was enough to live on in a little New +England village and what more did he need? The contrast between it +and the ten thousand dollars a year he had made from his law practice +alone, never troubled him. + +[Illustration: THE BAPTIST TEMPLE] + +The church was crowded from the first and the membership grew rapidly. +His influence quickly spread to other than church circles. The town +itself soon felt the effect of his progressive, energetic spirit. It +awoke to new life. Other suburban villages were striding forward into +cities and leaving this old Battlefield of the Revolution sleeping +under its majestic elms. Mr. Conwell sounded the trumpet. Progress, +enterprise, life followed his eloquent encouragement. Strangers +were welcomed to the town. Its unusual beauty became a topic of +conversation. The railroad managers heard of its attractiveness and +opened its gates with better accommodations for travelers. + +The governor of the state (Hon. John D. Long) visited the place on Mr. +Conwell's invitation, and large business enterprises were started and +strongly supported by the townspeople. From the date of Mr. Conwell's +settlement as pastor, the town took on a new lease of life. He showed +them what could be done and encouraged them to do it. + +One of the town officers writing of that time, says: "Lexington can +never forget the benefit Mr. Conwell conferred during his stay in the +community." + +Then all unknown to Mr. Conwell, a man came up to Lexington one Sunday +in 1882, from Philadelphia, and heard him preach in the little stone +church under the stately New England elms. It was Deacon Alexander +Reed of the Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia, and as a result of +his visit, Mr. Conwell received a call from this church to be its +pastor. It was like the call from Macedonia to "come over and help +us." For the church was heavily in debt, and one of the arguments +Deacon Reed used in urging Mr. Conwell to accept was that he "could +save the church." He could have used no better argument. It was the +call to touch Mr. Conwell's heart. A small church, and struggling +against poverty; a people eager to work, but needing a leader. No +message could have more surely touched that heart eager to help +others, to bring brightness, joy and higher aspirations into troubled +lives. It was a wrench to leave Lexington, the church and the people +who had grown so dear to him. But the harvest called. There was need +of reapers and he must go. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +GOING TO PHILADELPHIA + +The Early History of Grace Baptist Church. The Beginning of the Sunday +Breakfast Association. Impressions of a Sunday Service. + + +The church to which Mr. Conwell came and from which has grown the +largest Baptist church in the country, and which was the first +institutional church in America, had its beginning in a tent. In 1870 +a little mission was started in a hall at Twelfth and Montgomery +Avenue by members of the Young Men's Association of the Tenth Baptist +Church. The committee in charge was Alexander Reed, Henry C. Singley, +Fred B. Gruel and John Stoddart. A Sunday School was started and +religious services held Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons. The +little mission flourished, and within a year it was deemed advisable +to put some one in charge who could give it his full time. The Rev. +L.B. Hartman was called and the work went forward with increasing +prosperity. He visited the families in the neighborhood, interested +the children in the Sunday School, held two preaching services every +Sunday and usually two prayer meetings during the week. In 1872, +evangelistic services were held which resulted in a number of +conversions. The need now became so imperative for a recognized +church, that on Feb. 12, 1872, one was formally organized with +forty-seven members, L.B. Hartman pastor, and John A. Stoddart, Henry +O. Singley and G.G. Mayhew, deacons. The membership still increased +rapidly, the little hall was crowded to discomfort, and it was decided +to take a definite step toward securing a church building of their +own. A lot was purchased at Berks and Mervine for $7,500, a tent with +a seating capacity of 500 erected, and Grace Baptist Church had its +first home. The opening services of the tent were memorable for many +things. + +After addresses had been made by Drs. Malcolm, Peddie, Rowland and +Wayland, an effort was made to raise the twelve hundred dollars due on +the tent. A wealthy layman, Mr. William Bucknell, offered to pay the +twelve hundred dollars provided the members of Grace Baptist Church +should henceforth abstain from the use of tobacco. The alert chairman +said, "All who are in sympathy with Brother Bucknell's proposition, +please rise." The entire audience arose. Mr. Bucknell made out his +check next morning for twelve hundred dollars. + +In 1874, the tent was moved to a neighboring lot, where it was used as +a mission. Homeless wanderers were taken in, fed and pointed the +way to a different and better life. From this work grew the Sunday +Breakfast Association of Philadelphia. + +A contract was made for a new church building, and in 1875 Grace +Church moved into the basement of the new building at Berks and +Mervine Streets. But dark days came. The financial burden became +excessive. Judgment bonds were entered against the building, the +sheriff was compelled to perform his unpleasant duty, and the property +was advertised for sale. A council of Baptist churches was called to +determine what should be done. + +The sheriff was persuaded to wait. The members renewed their exertions +and once more the church got on its financial feet sufficiently to +meet current financial expenses. The plucky fight knit them together +in strong bonds of good fellowship. It strengthened their faith, gave +them courage to go forward, and taught them the joy of working in +such a cause. And while they were struggling with poverty and looking +disaster often in the face, up in Massachusetts, the man who was to +lead this chosen people into a new land of usefulness, was himself +fighting that battle as to whether he should hearken to the voice of +the Spirit that was calling him to a new work. But finally he left all +to follow Him, and when this church, going down under its flood of +debt, sent out a cry for help, he heard it and came. To his friends in +Massachusetts it seemed as if he were again throwing himself away. To +leave his church in Lexington on the threshold of prosperity, for a +charge little more than a mission, with only twenty-seven present to +vote on calling him, seemed the height of folly. But he considered +none of these things. He thought only of their need. + +On Thanksgiving Day, 1882, he came. The outer walls of the small +church were up, the roof on, but the upper part was unfinished, +the worshippers meeting in the basement And over it hung a debt of +$15,000. But the plucky band of workers, full of the spirit that +makes all things possible, had found a leader. Both had fought bitter +fights, had endured hardships and privations, had often nothing but +faith to lean on, and pastor and people went forward to the great work +awaiting them. + +Out of his love of God, his great love of humanity, his desire to +uplift, to make men better and happier, out from his own varied +experiences that had touched the deeps of sorrow and seen life over +all the globe, came words that gripped men's hearts, came sermons that +packed the church to the doors. + +It was not many months before his preaching began to bear fruits. Not +only was the neighborhood stirred, but people from all parts of the +city thronged to hear him. + +In less than a year, though the seating capacity of the church was +increased to twelve hundred, crowds stood all through the service. It +became necessary to admit the members by tickets at the rear, it being +almost impossible for them to get through the throngs of strangers at +the front. Upon request, these cards of admission were sent to those +wishing them, a proceeding that led to much misunderstanding among +those who did not know their purpose nor the reason for their use. But +it was the only way that strangers in the city or those wishing to +attend a special service could be sure of ever getting into the +church. + +A Methodist minister of Albany gives a description in "Scaling the +Eagle's Nest," of his attendance at a service that pictures most +graphically the situation: + +"I arrived at the church a full hour before the evening service. There +was a big crowd at the front door. There was another crowd at the side +entrance. I did not know how to get a ticket, for I did not know, till +I heard it in the jam, that I must have one. Two young people, who +like many got tired of waiting, gave me their tickets, and I pushed +ahead. I was determined to see how the thing was done. I was +dreadfully squeezed, but I got in at the back entrance and stood in +the rear of the pretty church. All the camp chairs were already taken. +Also all extra seats. The church was rather fancifully frescoed. But +it is an architectural gem. It is half amphitheatrical in style. It is +longer than it is wide, and the choir gallery and organ are over the +preacher's head. It looks underneath like an old-fashioned sounding +board. But it is neat and pretty. The carpet and cushions are bright +red. The windows are full of mottoes and designs. But in the evening +under the brilliant lights the figures could not be made out. + +"There was an unusual spirit of homeness about the place, such as I +never felt in a church before. I was not alone in feeling it. The +moment I stood in the audience room, an agreeable sense of rest and +pleasure came over me. Everyone else appeared to feel the same. There +was none of the stiff restraint most churches have. All moved about +and greeted each other with an ease that was pleasant indeed. I saw +some people abusing the liberty of the place by whispering, even +during the sermon. They may have been strangers. They evidently +belonged to the lower classes. But it was a curiosity to notice +the liberty every one took at pauses in the service, and the close +attention there was when the reading or speaking began. + +"All the people sang. I think the great preacher has a strong liking +for the old hymns. Of course I noticed his selection of Wesley's +favorite. A little boy in front of me stood upon the pew when the +congregation rose. He piped out in song with all his power. It was +like a spring canary. It was difficult to tell whether the strong +voice of the preacher, or the chorus choir, led most in the singing. A +well-dressed lady near me said 'Good evening,' most cheerfully, as a +polite usher showed me into the pew. They say that all the members do +that. It made me feel welcome. She also gave me a hymn-book. I saw +others being greeted the same. How it did help me praise the Lord! At +home with the people of God! That is just how I felt. I was greatly +disappointed in the preacher. Agreeably so, after all. I expected to +see an old man. He did not look over thirty-five. He was awkwardly +tall. I had expected some eccentric and sensational affair. I do not +know just what, but I had been told of many strange things. I think +now it was envious misrepresentation. The whole service was as simple +as simple can be. And it was surely as sincere as it was simple. The +reading of the hymns was so natural and distinct that they had a +now meaning to me. The prayer was very short, and offered in homely +language. In it he paused a moment for silent prayer, and every one +seemed to hold his breath in the deepest, real reverence. It was so +different from my expectations. Then the collection. It was not an +asking for money at all. The preacher put his notice of it the other +way about He said, 'The people who wish to worship God by giving their +offering into the trust of the church could place it in the baskets +which would be passed to any who wanted to give.' The basket that went +down to the altar by me was full of money and envelopes. Yet no one +was asked to give anything. It was all voluntary, and really an +offering to the Lord. I had never seen such a way of doing things in +church collections. I do not know as the minister or church require it +so. The church, was packed in every corner, and people stood in the +aisles. The pulpit platform was crowded so that the preacher had +nothing more than standing room. Some people sat on the floor, and a +crowd of interested boys leaned against the pulpit platform. When the +preacher arose to speak, I expected something strange. It did not seem +possible that such a crowd could gather year after year to listen to +mere plain preaching. For these are degenerate days. The minister +began so familiarly and easily in introducing his text that he was +half through his sermon before I began to realize that he was actually +in his sermon. It was the plainest thing possible. I had often heard +of his eloquence and poetic imagination. But there was little of +either, if we think of the old ideas. There was close continuous +attention. He was surely in earnest, but not a sign of oratorical +display. There were exciting gestures at times, and lofty periods. +But it was all so natural. At one point the whole audience burst into +laughter at a comic turn in an illustration, but the preacher went on +unconscious of it. It detracted nothing from the solemn theme. It was +what the 'Chautauqua Herald' last year called a 'Conwellian evening.' +It was unlike anything I ever saw or heard. Yet it was good to be +there. The sermon was crowded with illustrations, and was evidently +unstudied. They say he never takes time from his many cares to write a +sermon. That one was surely spontaneous. But it inspired the audience +to better lives and a higher faith. When he suddenly stopped and +quickly seized a hymn-book, the audience drew a long sigh. At once +people moved about again and looked at each other and smiled. The +whole congregation were at one with the preacher. There was a low hum +of whispering voices. But all was attention again when the hymn was +read. Then the glorious song. One of the finest organists in the +country, a blind gentleman by the name of Wood, was the power behind +the throne. The organ did praise God. Every one was carried on in a +flood of praise. It was rich. The benediction was a continuation of +the sermon and a closing prayer, all in a single sentence. I have +never heard one so unique. It fastened the evening's lesson. It was +not formal. The benediction was a blessing indeed. It broke every rule +of church form. It was a charming close, however. No one else but +Conwell could do it. Probably no one will try. Instantly at the close +of the service, all the people turned to each other and shook hands. +They entered into familiar conversation. Many spoke to me and invited +me to come again. There was no restraint. All was homelike and happy. +It was blessed to be there." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +FIRST DAYS AT GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH + +Early plans for Church Efficiency. Practical Methods for Church Work. +The Growing Membership. Need of a New Building. + + +The preaching filled the church. Men and women felt that to miss a +sermon was to miss inspiration and strength for the coming week's +work, a broader outlook on life, a deeper hold on spiritual truths. +But it was more than the sermons that carried the church work forward +by leaps and bounds, added hundreds to its membership, made it a power +for good in the neighborhood that gradually began to be felt all over +the city. + +The spirit of the sermons took practical form. Mr. Conwell followed no +traditions or conventions in his church work. He studied the needs of +the neighborhood and the hour. Then he went to work with practical, +common sense to meet them. First he determined the church should be +a home, a church home, but nevertheless a home in its true sense, +overflowing with love, with kindness, with hospitality for the +stranger within its gates. Committees were formed to make strangers +welcome, to greet them cordially, find them a seat if possible, see +that they had hymn books, and invite them heartily to come again. And +every member felt he belonged to this committee even if not actually +appointed on it, and made the stranger who might sit near him feel +that he was a welcome guest. When the church became more crowded, +members gave up their seats to strangers and sat on the pulpit, and it +was no unusual sight in the church at Berks and Mervine streets to see +the pulpit, as well as every other inch of space in the auditorium, +crowded. Finally, when even this did not give room enough to +accommodate all who thronged its doors, members took turns in staying +away from certain services. No one who has not enjoyed the spiritual +uplift, the good fellowship of a Grace Church service can appreciate +what a genuine personal sacrifice that was. + +After the service, Mr. Conwell stationed himself at the door and shook +hands with all as they left, adding some little remark to show his +personal interest in their welfare if they were members, or a cordial +invitation to come again, if a stranger. The remembrance of that +hearty handclasp, that frank, friendly interest, lingered and stamped +with a personal flavor upon the hearer's heart, the truths of +Christianity that had been preached in such simple, clear, yet +forcible fashion from the pulpit. + +Another of Mr. Conwell's methods for carrying out practical +Christianity was to set every body at work. Every single member of the +church was given something to do. As soon as a person was received +into the membership, he was invited to join some one or other of the +church organizations. He was placed on some committee. In such +an atmosphere of activity there was no one who did not catch the +enthusiasm and feel that being a Christian meant much more than +attending church on Sundays, putting contributions in the box, and +listening to the minister preach. It was a veritable hive of applied +Christianity, and many a man who hitherto thought he had done his full +duty by attending church regularly and contributing to its support had +these ideas, so comfortable and self-satisfied, completely shattered. + +The membership was composed almost entirely of working people, men and +women who toiled hard for their daily bread. There were no wealthy +people to help the work by contributions of thousands of dollars. The +beginnings of all the undertakings were small and unpretentious. But +nothing was undertaken until the need of it was felt; then the people +as a whole put their shoulders to the wheel and it went with a will. +And because it practically filled a need, it was a success. + +The pastor was the most untiring worker of all. With ceaseless energy +and unfailing tact, he was the head and heart of every undertaking. +Day and night he ministered to the needs of his membership and the +community. To the bedside of the sick he carried cheer that was better +than medicine. In the homes where death had entered, he brought the +comfort of the Holy Spirit. Where disgrace had fallen like a pall, he +went with words of hope and practical advice. Parents sought him to +help lead erring children back from a life of wretchedness and evil. +Wherever sorrow and trouble was in the heart or home he went, his +heart full of sympathy, his hands eager to help. + +Much of his time, too, in those early days of his ministry was devoted +to pastoral calls, not the formal ministerial call where the children +tiptoe in, awed and silent, because the "minister is there." Children +hailed his coming with delight, the family greeted him as an old, old +friend before whom all ceremony and convention were swept away. He was +genuinely interested in their family affairs. He entered into their +plans and ambitions, and he never forgot any of their personal history +they might tell him, so that each felt, and truly, that in his pastor +he had a warm and interested friend. + +His own simple, informal manner made every one feel instantly at home +with him. He soon became a familiar figure upon the streets in the +neighborhood of his church, for morning, noon and night he was about +his work, cherry, earnest, always the light of his high calling +shining from his face. The people for squares about knew that here was +a man, skilled and practical in the affairs of the world, to whom they +could go for advice, for help, for consolation, sure that they would +have his ready sympathy and the best his big heart and generous hands +could give. + +Such faithful work of the pastor, such earnest, active work of the +people could not but tell. The family feeling which is the ideal of +church fellowship was so strong and warm that it attracted and drew +people as with magnetic power. The church became more and more +crowded. In less than a year it was impossible to seat those who +thronged to the Sunday services, though the auditorium then had a +seating capacity of twelve hundred. + +"I am glad," the pastor once remarked to a friend, "when I get up +Sunday morning and can look out of the window and see it snowing, +sleeting, and raining, and hear the wind shriek and howl. 'There,' I +say, 'I won't have to preach this morning, looking all the while at +people patiently standing through the service, wherever there is a +foot of standing room.'" + +[Illustration: THE SAMARITAN HOSPITAL OF THE FUTURE] + +The membership rose from two hundred to more than five hundred within +two years. A question began to shape itself in the minds of pastor +and people. "What shall we do?" As a partial solution of it, the +proposition was made to divide into three churches. But, as in the old +days of enlistment when two companies clamored for him for captain, +all three sections wanted him as pastor, and so the idea was +abandoned. + +Still the membership grew, and the need for larger quarters faced them +imperatively and not to be evaded. The house next door was purchased +which gave increased space for the work of the Sunday School and the +various associations. But it was a mere drop in the bucket. Every room +in it was filled to overflowing with eager workers before the ink was +fairly dry on the deed of transfer. + +Then into this busy crowd wondering what should be done came a little +child, and with one simple act cleared the mist from their eyes and +pointed the way for them to go. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HATTIE WIATT'S LEGACY + +How a Little Child Started the Building Fund for the Great Baptist +Temple. + + +One Sunday afternoon a little child, Hattie Wiatt, six years old, +came to the church building at Berks and Mervine to attend the Sunday +School. She was a very little girl and it was a very large Sunday +School, but big as it was there was not room to squeeze her in. Other +little girls had been turned away that day, and still others, Sundays +before. But it was a bitter disappointment to this small child; the +little lips trembled, the big tears rolled down her cheeks and the +sobs that came were from the heart. The pastor himself told the little +one why she could not come in and tried to comfort her. His heart was +big enough for her and her trouble if the church was not. He watched +the childish figure going so sadly up the street with a heart that was +heavy that he must turn away a little child from the house of God, +from the house raised in the name of One who said, "Suffer little +children to come unto me." + +She did not forget her disappointment as many a child would. It had +been too grievous. It hurt too deeply to think that she could not go +to that Sunday School, and that other little girls who wanted to go +must stay away. With quivering lip she told her mother there wasn't +room for her. With a sad little heart she spent the afternoon thinking +about it, and when bedtime came and she said her prayers, she prayed +with a child's beautiful faith that they would find room for her so +that she might go and learn more about Jesus. Perhaps she had heard +some word dropped about faith and works. Perhaps the childish mind +thought it out for herself. But she arose the next morning with a +strong purpose in her childish soul, a purpose so big in faith, so +firm in determination, it could put many a strong man's efforts to +the blush. "I will save my money," she said to herself, "and build a +bigger Sunday School. Then we can all go." + +From her childish treasures she hunted out a little red pocketbook +and in this she put her pennies, one at a time. What temptations that +childish soul struggled with no one may know! How she shut her eyes +and steeled her heart to playthings her friends bought, to the +allurements of the candy shop window! But nothing turned her from +her purpose. Penny by penny the little hoard grew. Day after day the +dimpled fingers counted it and the bright eyes grew brighter as the +sum mounted. That mite cast in by the widow was no purer, greater +offering than these pennies so lovingly and heroically saved by this +little child. + +But there were only a few weeks of this planning, hoping, saving. The +little Temple builder fell ill. It was a brief illness and then the +grim Reaper knocked at the door of the Wiatt home and the loving, +self-sacrificing spirit was born to the Father's House where there are +many mansions, where there was no lack of room, for the little heart +so eager to learn more of Jesus. + +With her dying breath she told her mother of her treasure, told her it +was for Grace Baptist Church to build. + +In the little red pocketbook was just fifty-seven cents. That was her +legacy. With swelling heart, the pastor reverently took it; with misty +eyes and broken voice he told his people of the little one's gift. + +"And when they heard how God had blessed them with so great an +inheritance, there was silence in the room; the silence of tears and +earnest consecration. The corner stone of the Temple was laid." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +BUILDING THE TEMPLE + +How the Money was Raised. Walking Clubs. Jug Breaking. The Purchase of +the Lot. Laying the Corner Stone. + + +Thus was their path pointed out to them and they walked steadily +forward in it from that day. + +Plans were made for raising money. The work went forward with a vim, +for ever before each worker was the thought of that tiny girl, the +precious pennies saved one by one by childish self-denial. The child's +faith was equaled by theirs. It was a case of "Come unto me on the +water." They were poor. Nobody could give much. But nobody hesitated. + +It was not only a question of giving, even small sums. What was given +must be saved in some way. Few could give outright and not feel it. +Incomes for the most part just covered living expenses, and expenses +must be cut down, if incomes were to be stretched to build a church. +So these practical people put their wits to work to see how money +could be saved. Walking clubs were organized, not for vigorous cross +country tramps in a search for pleasure and health, but with an +earnest determination to save carfare for the building fund. Tired men +with muscles aching from a hard day's work, women weary with a long +day behind the counter or typewriter, cheerfully trudged home and +saved the nickels. Women economized in dress, men who smoked gave it +up. Vacations in the summer were dropped. Even the boys and girls +saved their pennies as little Hattie Wiatt had done, and the money +poured into the treasury in astonishing amounts, considering how small +was each individual gift. All these sacrifices helped to endear the +place to those who wove their hopes and prayers about it. + +A fair was given in a large hall in the centre of the city which +brought to the notice of many strangers the vigorous work the church +was doing and netted nearly five thousand dollars toward the building +fund. It was a fair that went with a vim, planned on business lines, +conducted in a practical, sensible fashion. + +Another effort that brought splendid results was the giving out of +little earthen jugs in the early summer to be brought to the harvest +home in September with their garnerings. It was a joyous evening when +the jugs were brought in. A supper was given, and while the church +members enjoyed themselves at the tables, the committee sat on the +platform, broke the jugs, counted the money and announced the amount. +The sum total brought joyous smiles to the treasurer's face. + +Innumerable entertainments were held in the church and at homes of +the church members. Suppers were given in Fairmount Park during the +summer. Every worthy plan for raising money that clever brains could +devise and willing hands accomplish was used to swell the building +fund. + +Thus the work went ahead, and in September, 1886, the lot on which +The Temple now stands at Broad and Berks was purchased at a cost of +twenty-five thousand dollars. Thus encouraged with tangible results, +the work for the building fund was pushed, if possible, with even +greater vigor. Ground was broken for The Temple March 27, 1889. The +corner stone was laid July 13, 1890, and on the first of March, 1891, +the house was occupied for worship. + +The only large amount received toward the building fund was a gift of +ten thousand dollars on condition that the church be not dedicated +until it was free of debt. In a legal sense, calling a building by the +name of the congregation worshipping in it is a dedication, and so the +building, instead of being called The Grace Baptist Church, was called +the Baptist Temple, a name which will probably cling to it while one +stone stands upon another. + +Raising money and erecting a building did not stop the spiritual work +of the church. Rather it increased it. People heard of the church +through the fairs and various other efforts to raise money, came to +the service, perhaps out of curiosity at first, became interested, +their hearts were touched and they joined. Never did its spiritual +light burn more brightly than in these days of hard work and +self-denial. The membership steadily rose, and when Grace Church moved +into its new temple of worship, more than twelve hundred members +answered the muster roll. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +OCCUPYING THE TEMPLE + +The First Sunday. The Building Itself--Its Seating Capacity, +Furnishing and Lighting. The Lower Temple and its Various Rooms and +Halls. Services Heard by Telephone at the Samaritan Hospital. + + +That was a great day--the first Sunday in the new Temple. Six years +of labor and love had gone to its building and now they possessed the +land. + +"During the opening exercises over nine thousand people were present +at each service," said the "Philadelphia Press" writing of the event. +The throng overflowed into the Lower Temple; into the old church +building. The whole neighborhood was full of the joyful members of +Grace Baptist Church. The very air seemed to thrill with the spirit +of thanksgiving abroad that day. All that Sabbath from sunrise until +close to midnight members thronged the building with prayers of +thankfulness and praise welling up from glad hearts. + +Writing from London several years later, Mr. Conwell voiced in words +what had been in his mind when the church was planned: + +"I heard a sermon which helped me greatly. It was delivered by an old +preacher, and the subject was, 'This God is our God,' He described the +attributes of God in glory, knowledge, wisdom and love, and compared +Him to the gods the heathen do worship. He then pressed upon us the +message that this glorious God is the Christian's God, and with Him we +cannot want. It did me so much good, and made me long so much for more +of God in all my feelings, actions, and influence. The seats were +hard, and the tack of the pew hard and high, the church dusty and +neglected; yet, in spite of all the discomforts, I was blessed. I +was sorry for the preacher who had to preach against all those +discomforts, and did not wonder at the thin congregation. Oh! it is +all wrong to make it so unnecessarily hard to listen to the gospel. +They ought for Jesus' sake tear out the old benches and put +in comfortable chairs. There was an air about the service of +perfunctoriness and lack of object, which made the service indefinite +and aimless. This is a common fault. We lack an object and do not aim +at anything special in our services. That, too, is all wrong. Each +hymn, each chapter read, each anthem, each prayer, and each sermon +should have a special and appropriate purpose. May the Lord help me, +after my return, to profit by this day's lesson." + +No hard benches, no air of cold dreariness marks The Temple. The +exterior is beautiful and graceful in design, the interior cheery and +homelike in furnishing. + +The building is of hewn stone, with a frontage on Broad Street of one +hundred and seven feet, a depth on Berks Street of one hundred and +fifty feet, a height of ninety feet. On the front is a beautiful half +rose window of rich stained glass, and on the Berks Street side a +number of smaller memorial windows, each depicting some beautiful +Biblical scene or thought. Above the rose window on the front is a +small iron balcony on which on special occasions, and at midnight on +Christmas, New Year's Eve and Easter, the church orchestra and choir +play sacred melodies and sing hymns, filling the midnight hour with +melody and delighting thousands who gather to hear it. + +The auditorium of The Temple has the largest seating capacity among +Protestant church edifices in the United States. Its original seating +capacity according to the architect's plans, was forty-two hundred +opera chairs. But to secure greater comfort and safety only thirty-one +hundred and thirty-five chairs were used. + +Under the auditorium and below the level of the street is the part of +the building called the Lower Temple. Here are Sunday School rooms, +with a seating capacity of two thousand. The Sunday School room and +lecture room of the Lower Temple is forty-eight by one hundred and six +feet in dimensions. It also has many beautiful stained-glass windows. +On the platform is a cabinet organ and a grand piano. In the rear of +the lecture room is a dining-room, forty-five by forty-six feet, +with a capacity for seating five hundred people. Folding tables and +hundreds of chairs are stowed away in the store rooms when not in use +in the great dining-room. Opening out of this room are the rooms of +the Board of Trustees, the parlors and reading-rooms of the Young +Men's Association and the Young Women's Association, and the kitchen, +carving-room and cloak-room. Through the kitchen is a passageway to +the engine and boiler rooms. In pantries and cupboards is an outfit +of china and table cutlery sufficient to set a table for five hundred +persons. The kitchen is fully equipped, with two large ranges, +hot-water cylinders, sinks and drainage tanks. In the annex beyond the +kitchen, a separate building contains the boilers and engine room and +the electric-light plants. + +The steam-heating of the building is supplied by four one hundred +horse-power boilers. In the engine room are two one hundred and +thirty-five horse-power engines, directly connected with dynamos +having a capacity of twenty-five hundred lights, which are controlled +by a switchboard in this room. The electrician is on duty every day, +giving his entire time to the management of this plant. The building +is also supplied with gas. Directly behind the pulpit is a small +closet containing a friction wheel, by means of which, should the +electric light fail for any reason, every gas jet in The Temple can be +lighted from dome to basement. + +For cleaning the church, a vacuum plant has been installed, which +sucks out every particle of dust and dirt. It does the work quickly +and thoroughly, in fact, so thoroughly it is impossible even with the +hardest beating to raise any dust on the covered chairs after they +have been cleaned by this process. Such crowds throng The Temple that +some quick, thorough method of cleaning it became imperative. + +Back of the auditorium on the street floor are the business offices of +the church, Mr. Conwell's study, the office of his secretary and of +the associate pastor. All are practically and cheerfully furnished, +fitted with desks, filing cabinets, telephones, speaking tubes, +everything to carry forward the business of the church in a +time-saving, businesslike way. + +The acoustics of the great auditorium are perfect. There is no +building on this continent with an equal capacity which enables the +preacher to speak and the hearers to listen with such perfect comfort. +The weakest voice is carried to the farthest auditor. Lecturers who +have tested the acoustic properties of halls in every state in the +Union speak with praise and pleasure of The Temple, which makes the +delivery of an oration to three thousand people as easy, so far as +vocal effort is concerned, as a parlor conversation. + +Telephonic communication has recently been installed between the +auditorium and the Samaritan Hospital. Patients in their beds can +hear the sermons preached from The Temple pulpit and the music of the +Sunday services. + +Compared with other assembly rooms in this country, the auditorium of +The Temple is a model. It seats thirty-one hundred and thirty-five +persons. The American Academy of Music, Philadelphia, seats +twenty-nine hundred; the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, twenty-four +hundred and thirty-three; Academy in New York, twenty-four hundred and +thirty-three; the Grand Opera House, Cincinnati, twenty-two hundred +and fifty; and the Music Hall, Boston, twenty-five hundred and +eighty-five. + +But greater than the building is the spirit that pervades it. The +moment one enters the vast auditorium with its crimson chairs, its +cheery carpet, its softly tinted walls, one feels at home. Light +filters in through rich windows, in memory of some member gone before, +some class or organization. Back of the pulpit stands the organ, its +rich pipes rising almost to the roof. Everywhere is rich, subdued +coloring, not ostentatious, but cheery, homelike. + +Large as is the seating capacity of The Temple, when it was opened it +could not accommodate the crowds that thronged to it. Almost from the +first, overflow meetings were held in the Lower Temple, that none +need be turned away from the House of God. From five hundred to two +thousand people crowded these Sunday evenings in addition to the large +audience in the main auditorium above. + +The Temple workers had come to busy days and large opportunities. But +they took them humbly with a full sense of their responsibility, with +prayer in their hearts that they might meet them worthily. Their +leader knew the perils of success and with wise counsel guided them +against its insidious dangers. + +"Ah, that is a dangerous hour in the history of men and institutions," +he said, in a sermon on the "Danger of Success," "when they become too +popular; when a good cause becomes too much admired or adored, so that +the man, or the institution, or the building, or the organization, +receives an idolatrous worship from the community. That is always +a dangerous time. Small men always go down, wrecked by such dizzy +elevation. Whenever a small man is praised, he immediately loses +his balance of mind and ascribes to himself the things which others +foolishly express in flattery. He esteems himself more than he is; +thinking himself to be something, he is consequently nothing. How +dangerous is that point when a man, or a woman, or an enterprise has +become accepted and popular! Then, of all times, should the man or the +society be humble. Then, of all times, should they beware. Then, of +all times, the hosts of Satan are marshaled that by every possible +insidious wile and open warfare they may overcome. The weakest hour in +the history of great enterprises is apt to be when they seem to be, +and their projectors think they are, strongest. Take heed lest ye fall +in the hour of your strength. The most powerful mill stream drives the +wheel most vigorously at the moment before the flood sweeps the mill +to wildest destruction." + +Just as plainly and unequivocally did he hold up before them the +purpose of their high calling: + +"The mission of the church is to save the souls of men. That is its +true mission. It is the only mission of the church. That should be its +only thought. The moment any church admits a singer that does not sing +to save souls; the moment a church calls a pastor who does not preach +to save souls; the moment a church elects a deacon who does not work +to save souls; the moment a church gives a supper or an entertainment +of any kind not for the purpose of saving souls--it ceases in so much +to be a church and to fulfil the magnificent mission God gave it. +Every concert, every choir service, every preaching service, every +Lord's supper, every agency that is used in the church must have the +great mission plainly before its eye. We are here to save the souls of +dying sinners; we are here for no other purpose; and the mission of +the church being so clear, that is the only test of a real church." + +The thousands of men and women Grace Church has saved and placed in +paths of righteousness and happiness, show that it has nobly stood +the test, that it has proved itself a church in the true sense of the +word. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +HOW THE CHURCH WORKS + +The Ladies' Aid Society. The Young Women's Association. The Young +Men's Association. The Ushers' Association. The Christian Endeavor +Societies. The Many Other Organizations. What They Do, and How They Do +It. + + +Now that the church was built, now that such power was in its hands, +how should it work? + +"The church of Christ should be so conducted always as to save the +largest number of souls, and in the saving of souls the Institutional +church may be of great assistance," said Russell Conwell in an address +on "The Institutional Church." "It is of little matter what your +theories are or what mine are; God, in His providence, is moving His +church onward and moving it upward at the same time, adjusting it +to new situations, fitting it to new conditions and to advancing +civilization, requiring us to use the new instrumentalities he has +placed in our hands for the purpose of saving the greatest number of +human souls." + +The conditions confronting him, the leader of this church studied. He +turned his eyes backward over the years. He thought of his own boyhood +when church was so distasteful. He thought of those ten busy years in +Boston when he had worked among all classes of humanity, with churches +on all sides, yet few reaching down into the lives of the people in +any vital way. He knew of the silent, agonizing cry for help, for +comfort, for light, that went up without ceasing day and night from +humanity in sorrow, in suffering, in affliction, went up as it were to +skies of brass, yet he knew a loving Savior stood ready to pour forth +his healing love, a Divine Spirit waited only the means, to lay a +healing touch on sore hearts. What was needed was a simple, practical, +real way to make it understandable to men, to bring them into the +right environment, to make their hearts and minds receptive, to point +the way to peace, joy and eternal life. He brought to bear on this +problem all the practical, trained skill of the lawyer, the keen +insight and common sense, the knowledge of the world, of the traveler +and writer. Every experience of his own life he probed for help and +light on this great work Nothing was done haphazard. He studied the +wants of men. He clearly saw the need. He calmly surveyed the field, +then he went to work with practical common sense to fill it, filling +his people with the enthusiasm and the faith that led him, doing with +a will all there was to do, and then leaving the rest with God. Never +did he think of himself, of how he might lighten his tasks, give +himself a little more leisure or rest. The work needing to be done and +how to do it was his study day and night. + +[Illustration: This Picture Shows the Four Speaking Tubes Which +Connect by Telephone with the Samaritan Hospital] + +A reporter of the "Philadelphia Press" once asked Dr. George A. Peltz, +the associate pastor of Grace Church, "if you were called upon to +express in three words the secret of the mysterious power that has +raised Grace Church from almost nothing to a membership of more than +three thousand, that has built this Temple, founded a college, opened +a hospital, and set every man, woman and child in the congregation to +working, what would be your answer?" + +"Sanctified common sense," was the Doctor's unhesitating reply. + +Rev. F.B. Meyer, in speaking on "Twentieth Century Evangelism," at +Bradford, England, in 1902, made a plea for "the institutional church, +the wide outlook, more elastic methods, greater eagerness to reach and +win outsiders, more varied service on the part of Christian people, +that the minister of any place of worship should become the recognized +friend of the entire district in which his chapel is placed." + +The "elastic method" is characteristic of the work of The Temple. +When Dr. Conwell first came to Grace Church, he organized four +societies--the Ladies' Aid Society, the Business Men's Union, the +Young Women's Association, the Young Men's Association. Into one or +another of these, every member of the church fitted, and as the new +members came into the fellowship, they found work for their hands in +one or the other. + +The Ladies' Aid Society is the pastor's right hand. It stands ready +to undertake any project, social, religious, financial, to give +receptions in honor of noted visitors, to hold a series of special +meetings, to plan suppers, festivals, and other affairs--whenever it +is necessary to raise money. Its creed, if one might so call it, is: + + "Use every opportunity to bring in new members. + + "Remember the name of every new church member. + + "Visit useless members and encourage them for their own sake to + become useful. + + "Visit persons when desired by the Pastors. + + "Speak cheerfully to each person present on every opportunity. + + "Regard every patron of your suppers or entertainments, and every + visitor to your religious meetings, as a guest calling on you in + your own house. + + "Accept contributions and subscriptions for the various Christian + enterprises. + + "Bring in every suggestion you hear which is valuable, new or + effective in Christian work elsewhere. + + "Never allow a meeting to pass without your doing _some one + practical_ thing for the advancement of Christ's kingdom. + + "Make yourself and the Society of some certain use to some person, + or some cause, each week." + +The Society helps in the church prayer meetings, in refurnishing +and improving the church property, in celebrating anniversaries, in +missionary enterprises, securing the insertion of tablets in the +Temple walls, in clothing the poor, in supporting the local missions +connected with the church, in calling socially on church members or +members of the congregation, in evangelistic meetings, in household +prayer meetings, in supporting reading rooms, in comforting those in +special affliction, in visiting the sick, in aiding the needy, in +paying the church debt, in maintaining Mother's meetings, in looking +after the domestic wants of the Temple, in sewing for the Hospitals, +the Missions, the Baptist Home, the Orphanage, church fairs, +Missionary workers, the poor, in managing church suppers and +receptions connected with Ordinations, Conventions, and other +religious gatherings. + +It is one of the most important organizations of the church and has +its own rooms handsomely furnished and well supplied with reading +matter. + +The Business Men's Union drew into a close band the business men of +the church and used their knowledge of business affairs to plan and +carry out various projects for raising money for the building fund. +They also took a deep personal interest in each other's welfare as is +shown by the following incident, taken from the "Philadelphia Press": + +"At one time a member became involved in financial difficulties in a +very peculiar way. Previous to connecting himself with the church, +he had been engaged in a business which he felt he could not +conscientiously continue after his conversion. He sold his interest +and entered upon mercantile pursuits with which he was unfamiliar. As +a result, he became involved and his establishment was in danger of +falling into the sheriff's hands. + +"His situation became known to some members of the Business Men's +Union, and a committee was appointed to look into his affairs. His +books were found to be straight and his stock valuable. The members +immediately subscribed the thousands of dollars necessary to relieve +him of all embarrassment, and the man was saved." + +After the building was completed and the imperative need for such an +organization was past, the members joined other organizations needing +their help, and it disbanded. It is typical of the elastic methods of +Grace Church that no society outlives its usefulness. When the need +is past for it as a body, the members look elsewhere for work, and +wherever each is needed, there he goes heart and soul to further some +other endeavor. + +The Young Women's Association is composed of young women of the +church. It bubbles over with youthful enthusiasm and energy and is one +of the strongest agencies for carrying forward the church work. Its +creed is: + + "Secure new members. + + "Attend the meetings, propose new work, urge on neglected duties. + + "Help the prayer meetings. + + "Volunteer for social meetings. + + "Aid in the entertainments. + + "Originate plans for Christian benevolent work. + + "Welcome young women to the Church. + + "Visit the sick members of the Church. + + "Seek after and encourage inquirers. + + "Hold household devotional meetings. + + "Sustain missionary work for young women. + + "Make the Church home cheerful and happy. + + "Arrange social home gatherings for various church or charitable + enterprises. + + "Solicit books or periodicals for the reading room or circulating + library. + + "Secure employment for the needy. + + "Treat all visitors to the rooms as special personal guests in + your home. + + "Undertake large things for the Church and Christ in many ways, as + may be suggested by any new conditions and deeds. + + "Instruct in domestic arts, dressmaking, millinery, cooking, + decoration, and, through the Samaritan Hospital, in the art of + nursing. + + "Furnish statedly instructive entertainments for the young. + + "Develop the various singing services. + + "Specially care for and assist young sisters. + + "Coöperate in sewing enterprises of all sorts. + + "Aid the Pastors by systematic visitation. + + "Push many branches of City Missions, especially with reference to + developing young women as workers. + + "Maintain suitable young women as missionaries at home or in + foreign fields. + + "Carry sunshine to darkened hearts and homes. + + "Be noble, influential Christian women." + +It has a room of its own in the Lower Temple, with circulating +library, piano and all the cheerful furnishings of a parlor in the +home. To this bright room comes many a girl from her dreary boarding +house to spend the evening in reading and social chat. It has been +the cheery starting point in many a girl's life to a career of happy +usefulness. + +The Young Men's Association follows similar lines and is an equally +important factor in the church work. It plans to: + + "Help increase the membership and efficiency of the Young Men's + Bible Class and other similar organizations. + + "Persistently follow the meetings of these associations and keep + them in the hands of able, consecrated managers and officers, who + will lead in the best enterprises of the church. + + "Make the reading-room attractive and helpful. + + "Help sustain the great Sunday morning prayer meeting. + + "Invite passers-by to enter the church, and welcome strangers who + do enter. + + "Advise seekers after God. + + "Bring back the wandering. + + "Organize relief committees to save the lost young men of the + city. + + "Look after traveling business men at hotels, and bring them to + The Temple. + + "Promote temperance, purity, fraternity and spiritual life. + + "Initiate the most important undertakings of the church. + + "Surround themselves with strong young men, and inaugurate + vigorous, fresh plans and methods for bringing the gospel to the + young men of to-day in store, shop, office, school, college, on + the streets, and elsewhere. + + "Visit sick members, help into lucrative employment, organize + religious meetings, make the church life of the young bright, + inspiring and noble, plan for sociables, entertainments for closer + acquaintance and for raising money for Christian work and to use + their pens for Christ among young men whom they know, and also + with strangers." + +It has a delightful room in the Lower Temple, carpeted, supplied with +books, good light, a piano, comfortable chairs. It is a real home for +young men alone in the city or without family or home ties. + +During the building of The Temple many associations were formed which, +when the need was over, merged into others. As Burdette says: + +"Often a working guild of some sort is brought into existence for a +specific but transient purpose; the object accomplished, the +work completed, the society disbands, or merges into some other +organization, or reorganizes under a new name for some new work. The +work of Grace Church is like the operations of a great army; recruits +are coming to the front constantly; regiments being assigned to this +corps, and suddenly withdrawn to reinforce that one; two or three +commands consolidated for a sudden emergency; one regiment deployed +along a great line of small posts; infantry detailed into the +batteries, cavalry dismounted for light infantry service, yet all +the time in all this apparent confusion and restless change which +bewilders the civilian, everything is clear and plain and +perfectly regular and methodical to the commanding general and his +subordinates." + +Another association of this kind was the "Committee of One Hundred," +organized in 1891. The suggestion for its organization came from the +Young Women's Association. A number of them went to the Trustees and +proposed that the Board should appoint a committee of fifty from among +the congregation to devise ways and means to raise money for paying +off the floating indebtedness of the church. The suggestion was +adopted. The Committee of Fifty was appointed, each organization of +the church being represented in it by one or more members. It met for +organization in 1892. The Young Women's Association, pledged itself to +raise $1,000 during the year. Other societies pledged certain sums. +Individuals went to work to swell the amount, and in one year, the +Committee reported that the floating debt of the church, which at the +time of the Committee's organization was $25,000, was paid. Encouraged +by this success the Committee enlarged itself to one hundred and +vigorously attacked the work of paying off the mortgage of $15,200 on +the ground on which the college was to be built. + +Among the minor associations of the church that promoted good +fellowship and did a definite good work in their time were the +"Tourists' Club," a social development of the Young Women's +Association. The members took an ideal European trip while sitting in +the pleasant reading room in the Lower Temple. A route of travel was +laid out a month in advance. Each member present took some part; to +one was assigned the principal buildings; to another, some famous +painting; to others, parks, hotels, places of amusement, ruins, etc., +until at the close of the evening they almost could hear the tongue of +the strange land through which in fancy they had journeyed. Maps and +pictures helped to materialize the journey. + +The "Girls" Auxiliary was formed to meet the needs of the younger +members of the church. Any girl under sixteen could become a member +by the payment of monthly dues of five cents. There were classes in +embroidery, elocution, sewing, etc. + +The "Youth's Culture League" was organized for the work among youth of +the slums; an effort to supplement public school education, making it +a stepping-stone to higher culture and better living. + +Sports of various kinds of course received attention. The Temple +Guard, the Temple Cyclers, the Baseball League gave opportunity for +all to enjoy some form of healthy outdoor sport. But since the college +and its gymnasium have become so prominent, those who now join such +organizations usually do it through college instead of church doors. + +The following incident from the "Philadelphia Evening Bulletin" is +typical of the help these organizations often gave the church in its +religious work: + +[Illustration: THE OBSERVATORY + +Built on the Site of the Old Hemlock Tree] + +[Illustration: THE PRESENT CONWELL HOMESTEAD IN MASSACHUSETTS] + +"Eight and a half years ago the Rev. Russell H. Conwell surprised a +great many people by organizing a military company among his little +boys. The old wiseacres shook their heads, and the elders of the old +school wondered at this new departure in church work. Then again he +fairly shocked them by making the organization non-sectarian, and +securing one of the best tacticians in the city to instruct the +boys in military science.... From the first the company has clearly +demonstrated that it is the best-drilled military organization in the +city, and the number of prizes fairly won demonstrates this. However, +the company does not wish to be understood as being merely in +existence for prize honors, although it cannot be overlooked that +twenty victories over as many companies afford them the best record in +Pennsylvania. + +"In 1896, the Samaritan Rescue Mission was established by the Grace +Baptist Church, and proving a great financial burden, Dr. Conwell +offered to give a lecture on Henry Ward Beecher. The Guard took the +matter up, brought Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, despite her threescore +years and ten, to Philadelphia for the first time in her life, and +so great was the desire of the church-loving public of this city to +attend that the mission did not perish." + +When the stress of building and paying the church debt was passed, +many of these societies went heart and soul into the Christian +Endeavor work. Indeed, for awhile it seemed as if the Christian +Endeavor would absorb all the church associations. There are at +present fifteen Christian Endeavor Societies in the church. In +addition to the Christian Endeavor pledge, the following special ways +in which they can forward the church work is ever held before each +member: + +"For the sake of your character and future success, as well as for the +supreme cause, keep your pledge unflinchingly. + +"Endeavor persistently, but courteously, to seek after those who ask +for our prayers and advice at any meeting. + +"Never discontinue your endeavors to get new members for the +societies. Follow it continually in the name of the Lord. + +"Endeavor each day to think, speak, act and pray like the Savior. + +"Endeavor and present plans for effective work. Build up a standard of +noble living in the Church. + +"Send comforting messages to members of the Church in sorrow, send +flowers to the sick, or for the funeral, look after the orphans, visit +the widows and the fatherless, write letters of advice, invitation, +condolence, establish missions for new churches in growing parts of +the city, and hold by kindness at least one thousand personal friends +at The Baptist Temple. + +"Select one leading duty, and follow it without waiting to be asked. + +"Make yourself a master of some special line of Christian effort. + +"Save some one!" + +Five of these societies some years ago started a mission at Logan, +a suburb of Philadelphia, and so successful was their work that the +mission soon grew into a flourishing church. + +The Ushers' Association is one of the strongest and most helpful +organizations in furthering the church work. The ushers number +twenty-four, and are banded together in a businesslike association for +mutual pleasure and good fellowship, and also to better conduct their +work and the church interests they have in hand. They are under the +leadership of a chief usher who is president of the Association. The +spirit of hospitality that pervades The Temple finds its happiest +expression in the courteous welcome and ready attention accorded +visitors by the ushers. + +All members of the church who are willing to give up their seats to +strangers on special occasions send their names to the chief usher. +And it is no unusual thing to see a member cheerfully relinquish his +seat after a whispered consultation with an usher in favor of some +stranger who is standing. + +In addition to their work in seating the crowd that throng to The +Temple either for Sunday services or the many entertainments that fill +the church during the week, the Ushers' Association itself during the +winter gives a series of fine entertainments. Its object is to offer +amusement of the very highest class, so that people will come to the +church rather than go elsewhere in their leisure hours and thus be +surrounded by influences of the best character and by an atmosphere +that is elevating and refining. They have also undertaken to pay off +the balance of the church debt. + +Missionary interests at Grace Church are well looked after. The church +has educated and supported a number of missionaries in home and +foreign fields, as well as contributed money and clothing to the +cause. The Missionary Circle combines in one organization all those +interested in missionary work. One afternoon a month the members meet +in the Lower Temple to sew, have supper together, and afterward hold +religious services. The members are advised in the church hand-book +to-- + +"Suggest plans for raising money; arrange for a series of addresses; +organize children's societies; distribute missionary literature; +maintain a circulating library of missionary books; correspond with +missionaries; solicit and work for the 'missionary barrels'; send out +'comfort bags'; advocate missions in the prayer meetings and socials; +encourage those members who are preparing for or are going into +foreign fields, and maintain special missionary prayer meetings." + +Members of the church have started several missions, some of which +have already grown into flourishing churches. The Logan Baptist Church +and the Tioga Baptist Church, are both daughters of The Temple. + +The Samaritan Aid Society sews and secures contributions of clothing +and such supplies for the Samaritan Hospital. Other charities, +however, needing such help, find it ever willing to lend its aid. It +is ready for any emergency that may arise. A hurry call was sent +once for sheets, pillow cases and garments for the sick at Samaritan +Hospital. The President of the Society quickly summoned the members. +Merchants were visited and contributions of muslin and thread secured. +Sewing machines were sent to the Lower Temple. An all-day sewing bee +was held, those who could, came all day, others dropped in as time +permitted, and by sunset more than three hundred pieces of work were +finished. + +Two other organizations very helpful to the members of the church +are the Men's Beneficial Association and the Women's Beneficial +Association. They are purely for the benefit of church members during +sickness or bereavement, and are managed as all such associations are, +paying $5.00 a week during sickness and $100 at death. + +The books are closed at the end of each year and the fund started +afresh. + +The Temple Building and Loan Association was organized by the +membership of the Business Men's Association, and is officered by +prominent members of the church. But it is not in any way a church +organization and is not under the management of the church. It is +very successful and its stockholders are composed largely of church +members. + +To keep members and friends in touch with the many lines of activity +in which the church works, a magazine, "The Temple Review," is +published. It is a private business enterprise, but it chronicles +church work and publishes each week Dr. Conwell's sermons. Many +living at a distance who cannot come often to The Temple find it most +enjoyable and helpful to thus obtain their pastor's sermons, and to +look through the printed page into the busy life of the church itself. +It helps members in some one branch of the church work to keep in +touch with what others are doing. The work of the college and hospital +from week to week is also chronicled, so that it is a very good mirror +of the many activities of the Grace Church membership. + +Thus in good fellowship the church works unitedly to further Christ's +kingdom. New organizations are formed as some enthusiastic member +discerns a new need or a new field. It is a veritable hive of industry +whose doors are never closed day or night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FAIRS AND ENTERTAINMENTS + +The Temple Fairs. How They are Planned. Their Religious Aim. +Appointment of Committees. How the Committees Work. The Church +Entertainments. Their Character. + + +Not only does the church work in a hundred ways through its regular +organizations to advance the spiritual life of its members and the +community, but once every year, organization fences are taken down and +as a whole and united body, it marches forward to a great fair. The +Temple fairs are famous. They form an important feature of church +life, and an important date in the church calendar. + +"The true object of a church fair should be to strengthen the church, +to propagate the Gospel, and to bring the world nearer to its God." +That is Dr. Conwell's idea of the purpose of a church fair and the +basic principle on which The Temple fairs are built. They always open +on Thanksgiving Day, the anniversary of Dr. Conwell's coming to the +church and continue for ten days or two weeks thereafter. These fairs +are most carefully planned. The membership, of course, know that a +fair is to be held; but before any definite information of the special +fair coming, is given them, a strong foundation of systematic, careful +preparation is laid. In the early summer, before Dr. Conwell leaves +for his two months' rest at his old home in the Berkshires, he and the +deaconess of the church go over the ground, decide on the executive +committee and call it together. Officers are elected, Dr. Conwell +always being appointed president and the deaconess, as a rule, +secretary. The whole church membership is then carefully studied, +and every member put at work upon some committee, a chairman for +the committee being appointed at the same time. A notice of their +appointment, the list of their fellow workers, and a letter from the +pastor relative to the fair are then sent to each. Usually these lists +are prepared and forwarded from Dr. Conwell's summer home. The chief +purpose of the fair, that of saving souls, is ever kept in view. The +pastor in his letter to each member always lays special stress on it. +Quoting from one such letter, he says: + +"The religious purpose is to consolidate our church by a more +extensive and intimate acquaintance with each other, and to enlarge +the circle of social influence over those who have not accepted +Christ. + +"This enterprise being undertaken for the service of Christ, each +church member is urged to enter it with earnest prayer, and to use +every opportunity to direct the attention of workers and visitors to +spiritual things. + +"Each committee should have its prayer circle or a special season set +apart for devotional services. This carnival being undertaken for the +spiritual good of the church, intimate friends and those who have +hitherto worked together are especially requested to separate on +this occasion and work with new members, forming a new circle of +acquaintances. + +"Do not seek for a different place unless it is clear that you can do +much more in another position, for they honor God most who take up His +work right where they are and do faithfully the duty nearest to them. + +"Your pastor prays earnestly that this season of work, offering, and +pleasure may be used by the Lord to help humanity and add to the glory +of His Kingdom on earth." + +This is the tenor of the letters sent each year. This is the purpose +held ever before the workers. + +Each committee is urged to meet as soon as possible, and, as a rule, +the chairman calls a meeting within a week after the receipt of the +list. Each committee upon meeting elects a president, vice-president, +secretary and treasurer, which, together with the original executive +committee, form the executive committee of the fair. + +During the summer and fall, until the opening of the fair, these +various committees work to secure contributions or whatever may be +needed for the special work they have been appointed to do. If they +need costumes, or expensive decorations for the booths, they give +entertainments to raise the money. All this depends upon the character +of the fair in general. Sometimes it is a fair in the accepted sense +of the word, devoted to the selling of such goods as interested +friends and well-wishers have contributed. At other times it takes +on special significance. At one fair each committee represented a +country, the members dressed in the costume of its people, the booth +so far as possible was typical of a home, or some special building. +Such products of the country as could be obtained were among the +articles sold or exhibited. + +Every committee meeting is opened with prayer, and each night during +the fair a prayer meeting is held. In addition, a committee is +appointed to look after the throng of strangers visiting the fair, and +whenever possible, to get them to register in a book kept especially +for that purpose at the entrance. To all those who sign the register, +a New Year's greeting is sent as a little token of recognition and +appreciation of their help. + +Much of the great tide of membership that flows into the church comes +through the doors of these church fairs. The fairs are really revival +seasons. They are practical illustrations of how a working church +prays, and a praying church works. Christianity has on its working +clothes. But it is Christianity none the less, outspoken in its faith, +fearless in its testimony, full of the love that desires to help every +man and woman to a higher, happier life. + +The church entertainments form another important feature of church +life. Indeed, from the first of September until summer is well +started, few weekday nights pass but that some religious service or +some entertainment is taking place in The Temple. In the height of +the season, it is no uncommon thing for two or three to be given +in various halls of The Temple on one evening. An out-of-town man +attending a lecture at the Lower Temple, and seeing the throngs of +people pouring in at various entrances, asked the custodian of the +door if there were a rear entrance to the auditorium. + +"Here's where you go in for the lecture," was the reply. "There are +two other entertainments on hand this evening in the halls of the +Lower Temple. That's where those people are going." + +In regard to church fairs and entertainments, Dr. Conwell said in a +sermon in 1893: + +"The Lord pity any church that has not enough of the spirit of Christ +in it to stand a church fair, wherein devout offerings are brought to +the tithing-house in the spirit of true devotion; the Lord pity any +church that has not enough of the spirit of Jesus in it to endure or +enjoy a pure entertainment. Indeed, they are subjects for prayer if +they cannot, without quarrels, without fightings, without defeat to +the cause of Christ, engage in the pure and innocent things God offers +to His children." + +And in an address on "The Institutional Church," he says: + +"The Institutional church of the future will have the best regular +lecture courses of the highest order. There will be about them +sufficient entertainment to hold the audience, while at the same time +they give positive instruction and spiritual elevation. Every church +of Christ is so sacred that it ought to have within its walls anything +that helps to save souls. If an entertainment is put into a church +for any secular purpose--simply to make money--that church will be +divided; it will be meshed in quarrels, and souls will not be saved +there. There must be a higher end; as between the church and the world +we must use everything that will save and reject everything that will +injure. This requires careful and close attention. You must keep in +mind the question, 'Will Jesus come here and save souls?' Carefully +eliminate all that will show irreverence for holy things or disrespect +for the church. Carefully introduce wherever you can the direct +teachings of the Gospel, and then your entertainments will be the +power of God unto salvation. The entertainments of the church need to +be carefully guarded, and, if they are, then will the church of the +future control the entertainments of the world. The theatre that has +its displays of low and vulgar amusement will not pay, because the +churches will hold the best classes, and for a divine and humane +purpose will conduct the best entertainments. There will be a double +inducement that will draw all classes. The Institutional church of the +future will be free to use any reasonable means to influence men for +good." + +The Temple, as can be seen, believes in good, pure, elevating +amusements. But every entertainment to be given is carefully +considered. In such a vast body of workers, many of them young and +inexperienced, this is necessary. By a vote of the church, every +programme to be used in any entertainment in The Temple must first +be submitted to the Board of Deacons. What they disapprove cannot be +presented to the congregation of Grace Church under any circumstance. + +The concerts and oratorios of the chorus are of the very highest order +and attract music lovers from all parts of the city and nearby towns. +The other entertainments in the course of a year cover such a variety +of subjects that every one is sure to find something to his liking. +Among the lectures given in one year were: + +"Changes and Chances," by Dr. George C. Lorimer. + +"The Greek Church," by Charles Emory Smith. + +"Ancient Greece," by Professor Leotsakos, of the University of Athens. + +An illustrated lecture on the Yellowstone Park, by Professor George L. +Maris. + +"Work or How to Get a Living," by Hon. Roswell G. Horr. + +"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," by Rev. Robert Nourse, D.D. + +"Backbone," by Rev. Thomas Dixon. + +The other entertainments that season included selections from "David +Copperfield," by Leland T. Powers; readings by Fred Emerson Brooks, +concerts by the Germania Orchestra, the Mendelssohn Quintette Club +of Boston and the Ringgold Band of Reading, Pennsylvania; a "Greek +Festival," tableaux, by students of Temple College; "Tableaux of East +Indian Life," conducted by a returned missionary, Mrs. David Downie; +"Art Entertainment," by the Young Women's Association; concert by the +New York Philharmonic Club; and many entertainments by societies of +the younger people, music, recitations, readings, debates, suppers, +excursions, public debates, class socials. The year seems to have been +full of entertainments, teas, anniversaries, athletic meetings, "cycle +runs," gymnasium exhibitions, "welcomes," "farewells," jubilees, +"feasts." But every year is the same. + +A single society of the church gave during one winter a series of +entertainments which included four lectures by men prominent in +special fields of work, four concerts by companies of national +reputation, and an intensely interesting evening with moving pictures. + +"We are often criticised as a church," said Mr. Conwell, in an +address, "by persons who do not understand the purposes or spirit of +our work. They say, 'You have a great many entertainments and socials, +and the church is in danger of going over to the world.' Ah, yes; the +old hermits went away and hid themselves in the rocks and caves and +lived on the scantiest food, and 'kept away from the world,' They were +separate from the world. They were in no danger of 'going over to the +world.' They had hidden themselves far away from man. And so it is in +some churches where in coldness and forgetfulness of Christ's purpose, +of Christ's sacrifice, and the purpose for which the church was +instituted, they withdraw themselves so far from the world that they +cannot save a drowning man when he is in sight--they cannot reach down +to him, the distance is too great--the life line is too short. Where +are the unchurched masses of Philadelphia to-day? Why are they not +in the churches at this hour? Because the church is so far away. The +difference that is found between the church which saves and that which +does not is found in the fact that the latter holds to the Pharisaical +profession that the church must keep itself aloof from the +people--yes, from the drowning thousands who are going down to +everlasting ruin--to be forever lost. The danger is not now so much in +going over to the world as in going away from it--away from the world +which Jesus died to save--the world which the church should lead to +Him." + +In all these entertainments, the true mission of the church is never +forgotten--that mission which its pastor so earnestly and often says +is "not to entertain people. The church's only thought should be to +turn the hearts of men to God." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE BUSINESS SIDE + +How the Finances are Managed. The Work of the Deacons. The Duties of +the Trustees. + + +"The plain facts of life must be recognized," says Dr. Conwell. The +business affairs of Grace Baptist Church are plain facts and big ones. +There is no evading them. The membership is more than three thousand. +A constant stream of money from the rental of seats, from voluntary +offerings, from entertainments, is pouring in, and as quickly going +out for expenses and charitable purposes. It must all be looked after. +A record of the membership must be kept, changes of address made--and +this is no light matter--the members themselves kept in touch with. +It all means work of a practical business nature and to get the best +results at least expenditure of time and money, it must all be done in +skilled, experienced fashion. Dr. Conwell, in speaking of the careful +way in which the business affairs of the church are conducted, says: + +"What has contributed most as the means used of God to bring Grace +Church up to its efficiency? I answer it was the inspired, sanctified, +common sense of enterprising, careful business men. The disciplined +judgment, the knowledge of men, the forethought and skill of these +workers who were educated at the school of practical business +life, helped most. The Trustees and working committees in all our +undertakings, whether for Church, Hospital, College, or Missions, have +been, providentially, men of thorough business training, who used +their experience and skill for the church with even greater care and +perseverance than they would have done in their own affairs. + +"When they wanted lumber, they knew where to purchase it, and how to +obtain discounts. When they needed money, they knew where the money +was, and what securities were good in the market. They saved by +discounting their own bills, and kindly insisted that contractors and +laborers should earn fairly the money they received. They foresaw the +financial needs and always insisted on securing the money in full time +to meet demands. + +"Some men make religion so dreamy, so unreal, so unnatural, that the +more they believe in it the less practical they become. They expect +ravens to feed them, the cruse of oil to be inexhaustible, and the +fish to come to the right side of the ship at breakfast time. They +trust in God and loaf about. They would conduct mundane affairs as +though men were angels and church business a series of miracles. But +the successful church worker is one who recognizes the plain facts of +life, and their relation to heavenly things; who is neither profane +nor crazy, who feels that his experience and judgment are gifts of God +to be used, but who also fully realizes that, after all, unless God +lives in the house, they labor in vain who build it. + +"None of our successful managers have been flowery orators, nor have +they been in the habit of wearying man and the Lord with long prayers. +If they speak, they are earnest and conservative. They are men whom the +banks would trust, whose recommendations are valuable, who know a +counterfeit dollar or a worthless endorsement They read men at a glance, +being trained in actual experience with all classes. They have been the +pillars of the church. While some have been praying with religious +phraseology that the stray calf might be sent home, these men have gone +after him and brought him back. They have faithfully done their part, +and God has answered their earnest prayers for the rest." + +Dr. Peltz, for many years associate pastor of The Temple, in speaking +of the business management of the affairs of the church, says: + +"Many persons imagine that the financial organization of Grace Baptist +Church must be something out of the usual way, because the results +have been so unusual. There is nothing peculiar in the general plan of +financial procedure, but great pains are taken to work the plan for +all it is worth. Special pains have been taken to secure consecrated +and competent men for the Board of Trustees. And the Trustees do this +one thing, a rule of the church permitting a man to hold but one +elective office. Competent financiers, consecrated to this work, and +doing it as carefully as they would do their own business, is the +statement that tells the whole story." + +All these business matters are in the hands of the deacons and +Trustees, the deacons, if any distinction in the work can be made, +looking after the membership, the Board of Trustees attending to the +financial matters. + +[Illustration: _Photo by Gutehunst_ PROFESSOR DAVID D WOOD] + +After a person has signified his intention to join the church, he +meets the deacons, who explain to him the system by which members +contribute to the support of the church. If he desires to contribute +by taking a sitting, he is assigned a seat according to the amount he +wishes to pay, or he can pay the regular church dues, $1.20 a year +for those under eighteen years of age, $3.00 for those over that age. +Those who take sittings find in their seats, on the first of every +month, a small envelope made out in bill form on the face, stating the +month and the amount due. Into this they can place their money, +seal it, and put it into the basket when the offering is taken. The +following Sunday a receipt is placed in their seat, a duplicate being +kept in the office. Envelopes are sent those who do not have sittings, +and in these they can send in their dues any time within the year. + +In addition to the little envelope for the seat rent, every Sunday +envelopes are placed in each seat for the regular Sunday offering. +These envelopes read: + + SPECIAL OFFERING + + THE BAPTIST TEMPLE + + Amount .................. + + Name ........................ + + Address ...................... + + This offering is made in thankful recognition of the Mercy and + Goodness of God during the past week, and with the hope that + my gift and my prayer may he acceptable to God. + + In addition to the amount raised from sittings and dues, it is + necessary for the payment of the debt on the Temple to have + givers for 5 years as follows: + + 100 persons who will contribute 50 cents per week. 300 persons + 25 cents per week. 1000 persons 10 cents per week. 1300 + persons 5 cents per week. + + VISITORS AND MEMBERS + + Can enclose special Messages for the Pastor with their offerings. + + This Gift will be Recorded on the books of the Church. + +All this money pours into the business office of the church, where it +is taken in charge by the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees +and duly recorded by the Financial Secretary. + +The business office is a very businesslike place, with files, +typewriter, letter-copying press, big ledgers and all the modern +appliances of an up-to-date business office. + +The card system is used for keeping the record of member's +contribution, being printed in a form that will last for eight years. + +All payments are entered on these, and at any time at a moment's +notice, a member can tell just what he has paid or what he owes on the +year's account. + +But in addition, the Sunday offerings of all those who place their +contributions in envelopes at the morning and evening service and sign +their names, are entered on cards, and when it is remembered that the +basket collections alone for the year 1904 amounted to $6,995.00, it +can be seen that this is no light task. But The Temple appreciates +what is given it, and likes to keep a record. Any person giving to The +Temple and signing his name to his gift, can find at any time how much +he has contributed during the year. + +All this income is deposited to the order of the church treasurer, +who is then at liberty to draw against it as directed by the Board of +Trustees and properly certified by their chairman and secretary. The +business office is kept open during the entire week with the exception +of two afternoons, and two evenings. + +The pew committee, which is composed of three members of the Board of +Trustees, attends to the rental of the many sittings in The Temple. A +large number of the regular attendants at the services of The Temple +are not members of the church. They enjoy the services and so rent +sittings that they may he sure of a seat. The third committee drawn +from the Board of Trustees is the House Committee, composed of three +members. It has charge of The Temple building; sees to its being kept +in order; arranges for all regular and special meetings; sees that the +building is properly heated and lighted; decides on all questions as +to the use of the house for any purpose, for the use of a part of it +for special purposes; manages the great crowds that so often throng +the building; has charge of the doors when entertainments are going +on; in short, makes the most and the best of the great building under +its care. Six persons are constantly employed in taking care of The +Temple, and often there is necessity for securing extra help for the +caretakers of this church whose doors are never shut. + +The Deacons, as always, look after the welfare of the membership. On +Communion Sundays, cards are passed the members that they may sign +their names. These cards the Deacons take charge of and record the +members present and those absent If a member is away three successive +communion Sundays the Deacons call on him, if he lives in the city, to +find the cause of his absence. If he resides in some neighboring town, +they send a kindly letter to know if it is not possible for him to +attend some of the Communion services. In person or by letter, they +keep a loving watch over the vast membership, so that every member +feels that even though he may not attend often, he is not forgotten. + +Thus the business of Grace Baptist Church is managed prayerfully but +practically. If some part of the machinery seems cumbersome, shrewd +and experienced minds take the matter in hand and see whereby it can +be improved. What may seem a good method to-day, a year from now may +be deemed a waste of time and energy and cast aside for the new and +improved system that has taken its place in the world of every-day +work. In its business methods the church keeps up to the times, as +well as in its spiritual work. It knows it cannot grow if it is not +alive. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE CHORUS OF THE TEMPLE + +Its Leader, Professor David Wood. How he Came to the Church. A sketch +of His life. The Business Management of the Chorus. The Fine System. +The Sheet Music and Its Care. Oratorios and Concerts. Finances of the +Chorus. Contributions it has Made to Church Work. + + +With a pastor who had loved music from childhood, who taught it in +his early manhood, who was himself proficient on several instruments, +music naturally assumed an important place in Temple life and work. +From the moment of his entering upon the pastorate of Grace Baptist +Church, Mr. Conwell made the music an enjoyable feature of the +services. + +In this early work of organizing and developing a church choir, he +found an able and loyal leader in Professor David D. Wood, who threw +himself heart and soul into helping the church to grow musically. He +has been to the musical life of the church what Mr. Conwell has been +to its spiritual growth, and next to their pastor himself, it is +doubtful if any man is so endeared to the Grace Church membership as +is Professor Wood, their blind organist. + +He came to them in May, 1885, the regular organist being sick. His +connection with the church came about in the most simple manner and +yet it has been invaluable to the work of The Temple. His son was an +attendant at the church, and when the regular organist fell ill, +asked his father if he would not take his place. Ever ready to do a +kindness. Professor Wood consented. The organist never sufficiently +recovered to come back to his post, being compelled to go West finally +for his health. Mr. Conwell asked Professor Wood to take the position, +and from that day to the present he has filled it to the satisfaction +and gratification of the Grace Church. + +He was born in Pittsburgh, March 2, 1838. His parents were poor, his +father being a carpenter and he himself built the little log cabin in +which the family lived. When David was a baby only a few months old, +he lost the sight of one eye by inflammation resulting from a severe +cold. When about three years old, he noiselessly followed his sister +into the cellar one day, intending in a spirit of mischief to blow out +the candle she was carrying. Just as he leaned over to do it, she, +unconscious that he was there, raised up, thrusting the candle in her +hand right into his eye. The little boy's cry of pain was the first +warning of his presence. The eye was injured, but probably he would +not entirely have lost its sight had he not been attacked shortly +after this with scarlet fever. When he recovered from this illness +he was entirely blind. But the affliction did not change his sweet, +loving disposition. He entered as best he could into the games and +sports of childhood and grew rugged and strong. One day, while playing +in the road, he was nearly run over by a carriage driven by a lady. +Learning the little fellow was blind, she became interested in him +and told his father of the school for the blind in Philadelphia. His +parents decided to send him to it, and at five years of age he was +sent over the mountains, making the journey in five days by canal. + +He was a bright, diligent pupil and a great reader, showing even at an +early age his passion for music. When eight years old, he learned the +flute. Soon he could play the violin and piano, and in his twelfth +year he began playing the organ. All these instruments he took up and +mastered himself without special instruction. In mathematics, James G. +Blaine was his instructor for two years. + +After leaving school his struggles to succeed as an organist were hard +and hitter. Despite his unusual ability, it was difficult to secure a +position. He met with far more refusals than encouragement. But he was +persistent and cheerful. Finally success came. Two days before Easter +the organist of an Episcopal church was suddenly incapacitated and no +one could be found to play the music. Professor Wood offered himself. +The rector's wife read the music to him. He learned it in an hour, +and rehearsal and the services passed off without a break. He was +immediately engaged, his salary being one hundred dollars a year, his +next position paid him fifty dollars a year. In 1864, he went to St. +Stephen's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, as choirmaster and organist, +which position he still holds, playing at The Temple in the evenings +only. + +He is to-day one of the most widely known organists of the country, +being acknowledged everywhere a master of the instrument. He is a +member of the faculty of the Philadelphia Musical Academy, principal +of the music department in the Pennsylvania School for the Blind. It +is said he has trained more good organists than any other teacher in +Philadelphia. + +His cheery, kindly personality wins loyalty and devotion at once. His +Christianity is the simple, loving, practical kind that fairly shines +from his presence and attracts people to him immediately. The members +of the Chorus of The Temple are devoted to him. No rules are required +to keep them in order; no other inspiration to do their best is needed +than his simple wish. + +In the old church at Mervine and Berks streets he had a volunteer +choir of about twenty, all that the little organ loft would +accommodate. They could sing as the birds sing, because they had +voices and loved it, but of musical training or education they had +little. They were drawn from the membership of the church, composed of +poor working people. + +From this nucleus grew the chorus of The Temple, which was organized +in 1891, six weeks before the membership took possession of its new +building. With the organization of this large chorus, Professor Wood +faced a new and difficult problem. How was he to hold from one hundred +to one hundred and fifty people together, who were not paid for their +services, who were not people of leisure to whom rehearsals are no tax +on time or strength? These were nearly all working people who came to +rehearsal after a day's tiring employment. That he has succeeded so +splendidly in these fourteen years proves his fine leadership. + +He had a body of workers devoted to the church, people before whom was +ever held up the fact that they could serve the Master they all loved +by singing, if they could in no other way; that they could give their +voices, if they could give nothing else. He had a body of workers +devoted also to himself, who would have followed him unhesitatingly no +matter what commands he lay upon them. But he felt they should have +some other encouragement, some other interest to hold them together, +so almost immediately upon their organization he took up the study of +Haydn's "Creation." It seemed a stupendous undertaking for a young and +inexperienced chorus, one with no trained voices, few of whom could +even read music at sight. But they plunged into the study with spirit. +No incentive was needed to come to rehearsals, no one thought of +dropping out. Indeed, the opportunity to study such music under such +a master brought many new members. And in the fall of that year the +oratorio was given with splendid success. + +This method has been followed ever since. Every year some special work +is taken up for study and given in the fall. It is an event that is +now a recognized feature of the city's musical life, eagerly awaited +by music lovers not only of Philadelphia but of nearby towns. In +addition to Haydn's "Creation," which has been sung four times, +the chorus has given Handel's "Messiah" three times, Mendelssohn's +"Elijah" twice, Beethoven's "Mount of Olives," Mendelssohn's "Hymn of +Praise," Miriam's "Song of Triumph." It has also given a number of +secular concerts. For all this extra work neither Professor Wood nor +any member of the chorus has ever received one cent of pay. It is all +cheerfully contributed. The oratorios are given with a full orchestra +and eminent soloists. In the secular concerts the music is always of +the highest order. Guilmant, the celebrated French organist, gave a +recital at The Temple while in this country. The chorus believes +in the best, both in the class of music it gives and the talent it +secures, and has long been looked on by those interested in the city's +musical welfare as a society that encourages and supports all that +is high and fine in music. Among the selections given at the Sunday +services are Gounod's "Sanctus," the magnificent "Pilgrim's Chorus," +the "Gloria," from Mozart's "Twelfth Mass," Handel's beautiful +"Largo," the "St. Cecilia Mass," and others of the same character. + +The plan of fining members for absence from rehearsal, which was +adopted at the time the chorus was organized, has also had much to do +with its success, though it is rather unusual for a choir. Instead of +being paid to sing, they pay if they do not sing. The fine at first +was twenty-five cents for each failure to attend rehearsal or Sunday +service. Many shook their heads and said it was a bad idea, that the +members wouldn't come and couldn't pay the fine, and that the chorus +would go to pieces. But the members did come, and when for any reason +they were compelled to stay away they cheerfully paid the fine and the +chorus flourished. These fines helped to pay the current expenses of +the chorus. In the last three years the amount has been reduced to +ten cents, but it still nets a sum in the course of the year that the +treasurer welcomes most gladly. A collection is also taken at each +service among the members, which likewise helps to swell the chorus +treasury. + +Speaking of the organization and work of such a chorus, Professor Wood +says: + +"In organizing a church chorus one must not be too particular about +the previous musical education of applicants. It is not necessary that +they be musicians, or even that they read music readily. All that I +insist upon is a fairly good voice and a correct ear. I assume, of +course, that all comers desire to learn to sing. Rehearsals must be +scrupulously maintained, beginning promptly, continuing with spirit, +and not interrupted with disorder of any kind. A rehearsal should +never exceed two hours, and a half hour less is plenty long enough, +if there is no waste of time. In learning new music, voices should be +rehearsed separately; that is, all sopranos, tenors, basses, and altos +by themselves first, then combine the voices. You should place before +a choir a variety of music sufficient to arouse the interest of all +concerned. This will include much beyond the direct demand for church +work. The chorus of The Temple has learned and sung on appropriate +occasions war songs, college songs, patriotic songs, and other grades +of popular music. + +"No one man's taste should rule in regard to these questions as +to variety, although the proprieties of every occasion should be +carefully preserved. Due regard must be paid to the taste of members +of the chorus. If any of them express a wish for a particular piece, I +let them have it. When it comes my time to select, they are with me. +Keep some high attainment before the singers all the time. When the +easier tasks are mastered, attempt something more difficult. It +maintains enthusiasm to be ever after something better, and +enthusiasm is a power everywhere. In music, this is 'the spirit which +quickeneth.' + +"In the preparation of chorus work do not insist on perfection. When +I get them to sing fairly well, I am satisfied. To insist on extreme +accuracy will discourage singers. Do not, therefore, overtrain them. + +"An incredible amount may be done even by a crude company of singers. +When the preparation began for the opening of The Temple, there was +but a handful of volunteers and time for but five rehearsals. But +enthusiasm rose, reinforcements came, and six anthems, including the +'Hallelujah Chorus,' were prepared and sung in a praiseworthy manner. +Do not fear to attempt great things. Timidity ruins many a chorus. + +"Do not be afraid to praise your singers. Give praise, and plenty of +it, whenever and wherever it is due. A domineering spirit will prove +disastrous. Severity or ridicule will kill them. Correct faults +faithfully and promptly, but kindly. + +"In the matter of discipline I am a strong advocate of the 'fine +system.' It is the only way to keep a chorus together. The fines +should he regulated according to the financial ability of the chorus. +Our fine at The Temple was at first twenty-five cents for every +rehearsal and every service missed. It has since been dropped to ten +cents. This is quite moderate. In some musical societies the fine is +one dollar for every absence. This system is far better than monthly +dues. + +"The advantages to members of a chorus are many and of great value. +Concerted work has advantages which can be secured in no other way. A +good chorus is an unequaled drill in musical time. The singer cannot +humor himself as the soloist can, but must go right on with the grand +advance of the company. He gets constant help also, in the accurate +reading of music. Then, too, there is an indescribable, uplifting, +enkindling power in the presence and coöperation of others. The volume +of song lifts one, as when a great congregation sings. It is the +_esprit du corps_ of the army; that magnetic power which comes from +the touch of elbows, and the consecration to a common cause. No +soloist gets this. + +"Some would-be soloists make a great mistake right here. They think +that chorus work spoils them as soloists. Not at all, if they have +proper views of individual work in a chorus. If they propose to sing +out so they shall sound forth above all others, then they may damage +their voices for solo work. But that is a needless and highly improper +use of the voice. Sing along with the others in a natural tone. They +will be helped and the soloist will not be harmed. + +"The best conservatories of music in the world require of their +students a large amount of practice in concerted performance and will +not grant diplomas without it. All the great soloists have served +their time as chorus singers. Parepa-Rosa, when singing in the solo +parts in oratorio, would habitually sing in the chorus parts also, +singing from beginning to end with the others. + +"Many persons have expressed their astonishment at the absence of the +baton both from the rehearsals and public performances of the chorus +of The Temple. Experience has proven to me, beyond a doubt, that a +chorus can be better drilled without a baton than with it, though it +costs more labor and patience to obtain the result. To sing by common +inspiration is far better than to have the music 'pumped out,' as is +too often the case, by the uncertain movements of the leader's baton." + +With a membership that has ranged from one hundred to two hundred +and fifty, skilled business management is needed to keep everything +running smoothly. + +The record of attendance is regulated by the use of checks. Each +member of the chorus is assigned a number. As they come to rehearsal, +service, or concert, the singer removes the check on which is his +number from the board upon which it hangs and gives it to the person +appointed to receive it as he passes up the stairway to his seat +in the choir. When the numbers are checked up at the close of the +evening, the checks which have not been removed from the board are +marked "absent." + +The bill for sheet music for one year is something between $400 and +$500. To care for so much music would be no light task if it were not +reduced to a science. The music is in charge of the chorus librarian, +who gives to each member an envelope stamped with his number and +containing all the sheet music used by the chorus. Each member is +responsible for his music, so that the system resolves itself into +simplicity itself. In the Lower Temple enclosed closets are built in +the wall, divided into sections, in which the envelopes are kept by +their numbers, so that it is but the work of a moment to find the +music for any singer. An insurance of $1,200 is carried on the music. + +Typical of the spirit of self-sacrifice that animates the chorus is +the fact that for nearly ten years after the choir was organized, one +of the members, in order to reduce the expense for sheet music, copied +on a mimeograph all the music used by the members. It was a gigantic +task, but he never faltered while the need was felt. + +In order to avoid confusion both in rehearsals and at each service, +every singer has an appointed seat. There is also a system of signals +employed by the organist, clearly understood and promptly responded +to by the chorus, for rising, resuming their seats, and for any other +duty. This regularity of movement, the precision with which the great +choir leads the attitudes and voices of the congregation in all the +musical services, the entire absence of confusion, impresses the +thoroughness of the chorus drill upon every one, and adds greatly to +the effectiveness and decorum of the service. + +Most remarkable of all the work of the chorus, perhaps, is the fact +that it has not only paid its way, but it has in addition contributed +financially to the help of the church. Most choral societies have to +be supported by guarantors, or friends or members must reach down in +their pockets and make up the deficits that occur with unpleasant +regularity. But the chorus of The Temple has borne its own expenses +and at various times contributed to the church work. + +At the annual banquet in 1905, the following statement was made of the +financial history of the chorus since 1892: + +Amount Received-- + Collections from members $ 2,564.60 + Fines paid by members 975.60 + Gross receipts from concerts 11,299.40 + --------- + $14,839.60 +Amount Disbursed-- + For music $ 2,167.80 + For sundry expenses for socials, flowers for sick, + contributions for benevolent purposes, etc. 1,035.81 + Expenses of concerts 8,506.34 + Contributions to church, college, hospital, Sunday + School, repairs to organ, etc. 3,050.51 + -------- + $14,760.46 + +The chorus has furnished a private room in the Samaritan Hospital at a +cost of $250, pays half the cost of the telephone service to a shut-in +member, so that while lying on his bed of sickness he can still hear +the preaching and singing of his beloved church, and has contributed +to members in need; in fact, whatever help was required, it has come +forward and shouldered its share of the financial burdens of the +church. It is a chorus that helps by its singing in more ways than +singing, though that were enough. + +Out of the chorus has grown many smaller organizations which not only +assist from time to time in the church and prayer meeting services, +but are in frequent demand by Lyceums and other churches. All the +money they earn is devoted to some part of The Temple work. + +The organ which rears its forest of beautiful pipes in the rear of the +church is one of the finest in the country. It was built under the +direct supervision of Professor Wood at a cost of $10,000. The case +is of oak in the natural finish, 35 feet wide, 35 feet high, 16 feet +deep. It has 41 stops, 2,133 pipes, four sets of manuals, each manual +with a compass of 61 notes; there are 30 pedal notes, 9 double-acting +combination pedals; all the metal pipes are 75 per cent pure tin. + +In loving Christian fellowship the chorus abides. No difficulty that +could not be settled among themselves has ever rent it; no jealousies +mar its peaceful course. Professor Wood is a wise leader. He leaves +no loophole for the green-eyed monster to creep in. He selects no one +voice to take solo parts. If a solo occurs, he gives it to the whole +of that voice in the chorus or to a professional. + +Dr. Conwell reads the hymns with so much expression and feeling that +new meaning is put into them. The stranger is quietly handed a hymn +book by some watchful member. The organ swings into the melody of the +hymn, the chorus, as one, rises, and a flood of song sweeps over the +vast auditorium that carries every one as in a mighty tide almost up +to the gates of heaven itself. And as it ebbs and sinks into silence, +faith has been refreshed and strengthened, hardened hearts softened, +the love of Christ left as a precious legacy with many a man and woman +there. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +SERVICES AT THE TEMPLE + +A Typical Sunday. The Young People's Church. Sunday School. The +Baptismal Service. Dedication of Infants. The Pastor's Thanksgiving +Reception to Children. Sunrise Services. Watch Meeting. + + +Sunday is a joyous day at The Temple, and a busy one. It is crowded +with work and it is good to be there. Services begin at half after +nine with prayer meetings in the Lower Temple by the Young Men's +Association and the Young Women's Association. The men's is held in +the regular prayer meeting room; the women's in the room of their +association. Each is led by some member of the association who is +assigned a subject for the morning's study. These subjects, together +with the leaders' names, are prepared in advance and printed on a +little schedule which is distributed among the church members, so that +they may know who has charge of the prayer meeting and the topic for +thought. + +Dr. Conwell has for twenty-two years presided at the organ in the +men's meeting, and usually before the services are over takes a peep +into the women's gathering, leaving a prayer or a brief word of cheer +and inspiration. The meetings are not long, but they are full of +spiritual strength. Men and women, tired with the business life of the +week, find them places of soul refreshment where they can step aside +from the rush and press of worldly cares and commune with the higher, +better things of life. + +By the time the prayer meetings are over, the members of the chorus +are thronging the Lower Temple, receiving their music and attendance +checks, waiting for the signal to march to their seats in the church +above. + +The morning services begin at half after ten, with the singing of +the Doxology, the chanting of the Lord's Prayer by the choir and +congregation, followed by the sermon. At the close of the service, Dr. +Conwell steps from the pulpit and meets all strangers or friends with +a hearty handclasp and a cordial word of greeting. + +While morning service is being conducted in The Temple, a Young +People's Church is held in the Lower Temple. Dr. Conwell has not +forgotten those wearisome Sundays of his boyhood when, too young to +appreciate the church service, he fidgeted, strove to keep awake, +whittled, and ended it all by thoroughly disliking church. He wants no +such unhappy youngsters to sit through his preaching. He wants no such +dislike of the church imbedded in childish hearts and minds. So he +planned the Young People's Church. Boys and girls between three and +fourteen attend it, and Sunday morning the streets in the neighborhood +of The Temple are thronged with happy-faced children on the way to +their own church, the youngest in the care of parents, who are able +later to enjoy more fully The Temple services, since they are not +compelled to keep a watchful eye on a restless child. + +Before the services begin, the children are very much at home. No +stiff, silent formalism chills youthful spirits. They are as joyous +and happy as they would be in their own homes. As the moment +approaches for the services to begin, they take their seats and at a +given signal rise and recite, "The Lord is in His holy Temple. Let all +the earth keep silence before Him." A hush falls and then the sweet, +childish voices begin that beautiful psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd, +I shall not want," and without break or faltering, recite it to the +end. Songs follow, bright, cheerful songs full of life, which they +sing with a will. Then responsive readings and the Lord's Prayer and +always plenty of singing. A short talk is given by the leader, often +some one especially secured for the occasion, a talk not over their +heads, but into their hearts, a talk whose meaning they can grasp and +which sets young minds to thinking of the finer, nobler things of +life and inspires them to so live as to be good and useful. Sometimes +lantern exhibits to illustrate special topics are given. The mere +sight of their bright, happy faces in contrast to the dull, bored +expression of the usual child in church proves the wisdom of the work. + +The children, as far as possible, perform all the duties of the +services. A small boy plays the music for their songs, two small girls +keep a record of the attendance, children take up the offering. But +it is a church in more than mere services. Committees from among the +children are appointed for visiting, for calling on the sick, to plan +for entertainments, provide the games for the socials, and to look +after all details of this character. There are also two officers, a +secretary and treasurer. An advisory committee of ladies, members of +The Temple, keep an oversight and guiding hand on the work of the +children. The instruction is all in the hands of trained teachers, +mostly from the college, including as Director the lady Dean of the +College, Dr. Laura H. Carnell. + +In the afternoon the Sunday Schools meet. The youngest children are +enrolled in the primary or kindergarten department. This has a bright, +cheery room of its own in the Lower Temple, with a leader and a number +of young women scattered here and there among the children to look +after their needs and keep them orderly. Hats are taken off and hung +on pegs on the wall and the youngsters are made to feel very much at +home. + +One of the prettiest features of the service in this department is +the offering of the birthday pennies. All the members who have had a +birthday during the week come forward to put a penny for each year +into the basket. Then the class stands up and recites a verse and +sings a song on birthdays. Very pretty and inspiring both verse and +song are, and then the honored ones return to their seats, wishing, no +doubt, they had a birthday every week. + +The taking of the offering is also a pretty ceremony. Verses on giving +are recited by the children, then one small child takes his stand in +the doorway, holding the basket, and the children all march by and +drop in their pennies. + +The intermediate department claims the next oldest children. It is +led by an orchestra composed of members of the Sunday School, and the +singing is joyous and spirited. The superintendent walks around among +the scholars during the opening exercises, smiling, encouraging, +giving a word of praise, urging them to do better. The fresh, clear +voices rise clear and strong. Outside, on Broad Street, people stop to +listen. Men lean up against the windows and drink in the melody. No +one knows what messages of peace and salvation those songs carry out +to the throng on the city street. + +The classes of the senior department meet in the various rooms of the +college, and the adult class in the auditorium of The Temple. This Dr. +Conwell conducted himself for a number of years, until pressure of +work compelled him to use these hours for rest. A popular feature of +his service was the question box, in which he answered any question +sent to him on any subject connected with religious life or experience +or Christian ethics in everyday life. The questions could be sent by +mail or handed to him on the platform by the ushers. They were most +interesting, and the service attracted men and women from all parts of +the city. The following was one of the questions, during the year of +building the college: + +"Five thousand dollars are due next week, and $15,000 next month. Will +you set on foot means to raise this amount or trust wholly to God's +direction?" + +And the pastor answered from the platform: + +"I would trust wholly in God's direction. This is a sort of test of +faith, and I would make it more so in the building of the College. +I do not know for certain now where the money is to come from next +Wednesday; I have an idea. But a few days ago I did not know at all. I +do not see where the $15,000 is to come from in December unless it be +that the Feast of Tithes will bring in $10,000 towards it; that would +be a marvelous sum for the people to give, but if it is necessary they +will give it. We are workers together with God. I have partly given +up my lecture work this month, as the church thought it was best, but +suppose there should come to me from Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, or +some other place a call to go and lecture on the 10th or 12th +of December, and they should offer me $500 or more--I would say +immediately, 'Yes, I will go'; that is God's call to help the College; +that would be the direction of God. Such opportunities will come to +those who should give this $15,000. If God intends the amount due on +the College to be paid (and I believe he does), he will cause the +hearts of those who desire to help to give money toward this cause. We +trust entirely to God. I don't believe if I were to lie down, and the +church should stop, that it would be paid. But I am sure that if we +work together with God, He will never fail to do as He promises, and +He won't ask us to do the impossible. I tell you, friends, I feel +sure that the $5,000 will be paid next Wednesday, and I feel sure the +$15,000 will be paid when it is due." + +It may be interesting to know that the $5,000 was paid; and when the +$15,000 was due in December, the money was in the treasury all ready +for it. + +From half after six on, there are the meetings of the various +Christian Endeavor Societies in the Lower Temple. At half after seven +the evening services begin and an overflow meeting is held at the same +time in the Lower Temple for those who find it impossible to gain +admittance to the main auditorium. + +The preaching service is followed by a half-hour prayer meeting in the +Lower Temple in which both congregations join, taxing its capacity +to the utmost. It is a half hour that flies, a half hour full of +inspiration and soul communion with the "Spirit that moved on the +waters," a fitting crown to a day devoted to His service. + +After the solemn benediction is pronounced, a half hour more of good +fellowship follows. The pastor meets strangers, shakes hands with +members, makes a special effort to hold a few words of personal +conversation with those who have risen for prayer. Friends and +acquaintances greet each other, and the home life of the church comes +to the surface. The hand of the clock creeps to eleven, sometimes +past, before the last member reluctantly leaves. + +Baptism is a very frequent part of the Sunday services at The Temple, +usually taking place in the morning. It is a beautiful, solemn +ordinance. The baptistry is a long, narrow pool, arranged to resemble +a running stream. Years ago, when Dr. Conwell was in Palestine, he was +much impressed with the beauty of the river Jordan at the place where +Jesus was baptized. Always a lover of the beautiful in nature, the +picture long remained in his memory, especially the leaves and +blossoms that drifted on the stream. When The Temple was planned he +thought of it and determined to give the baptismal pool as much of the +beauty of nature as possible. + +It is fifteen feet wide, sixty feet long, and during the hour of the +solemn ordinance, the brook is running constantly. The sides of the +pool, the pulpit and platform, summer or winter, are banked with +flowers, palms, moss and vines. On the surface of the water float +blossoms, while at the back, banked with mosses and flowers, splashes +and sparkles a little waterfall. Over all falls the soft radiance of +an illuminated cross. It is a beautiful scene, one that never fades +from the memory of the man or woman who is "buried with Christ by +baptism into death," to be raised again in the likeness of His +resurrection. The candidates enter at the right and pass out at +the left, the pastor pressing into the hands of each, some of the +beautiful blossoms that float on the water. During the whole service +the organ plays softly, the choir occasionally singing some favorite +hymn. + +When the number of candidates is large, being on occasion as high as +one hundred and seventy-seven adults, the associate pastor assists. It +is no unusual thing to see members of a family coming together to +make this public profession of their faith. Husband and wife, in many +cases; husband, wife and children in many others; a grandmother and +two grandchildren on one occasion, and on yet another, a venerable +gray-haired nurse came with four of the family in which she had served +for many years, and the five entered the baptistry together. + +"Among the converts," says one who witnessed a baptismal service, +"there were aged persons with their silvered hair. There were stalwart +men, fitted to bear burdens in the church for many years to come. +There were young men and maidens to grow into strong men and women +of the future church. There were little children sweet in their +simplicity and pure love of the Savior, little children who were +carried in the arms of those who assisted, and whom Dr. Conwell +tenderly held in his arms as he buried them with Christ." + +Another solemn service of the church is the dedication of infants. Any +parents who wish, may bring their child and reverently dedicate it to +God, solemnly promising to do all within their power to train it and +teach it to lead a Christian life and to make a public profession of +faith when it has arrived at the years of discretion. The service +reads: + +QUESTION.--Do you now come to the Lord's house to present your child +(children) to the Lord? ANSWER.--We do. + +QUES.--Will you promise before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, +that you will, so far as in you lieth, teach this child the Holy +Scriptures, and bring him (her) up in the nurture and admonition of +the Lord? Will you train his (her) mind to respect the services of the +Lord's House, and to live in compliance with the teachings and example +of our Lord? When he reaches the years of understanding, will you show +him the necessity of repentance, explain to him the way of salvation, +and urge upon him the necessity of conversion, Baptism, and union with +the visible Church of Christ? ANS.--We will. + +QUES.--By what name do you purpose to register him (her or them) at +this time? ANS.-- + + * * * * * + +_Beloved_: These parents have come to the house of God at this time to +present this child (these children) before the Lord in imitation of +the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple as recorded by the +Evangelist Luke, saying, "When the days of her [Mary's] purification +according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him +to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice +according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of +turtle doves or two young pigeons." These parents have learned from +the Lord Jesus himself that he desires that all the children should +come unto him, and that he was pleased when the little children +were brought unto him that he might put his hands on them and pray. +Therefore, in obedience to the scriptures, these parents are here to +present this child unto the Lord Jesus in spirit, that he may take him +up in his arms, place his spiritual hands on him and bless him. + +We will turn, therefore, to the Holy Scriptures for direction, as they +are our only rule of faith and practice, and ascertain the wishes and +commandments of the Lord in this matter. + +_I Sam. I, 26, 27, 28_: + +And Hannah said, O my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I am the +woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. + +For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which +I asked of him; + +Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he +shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there. + + * * * * * + +_Mark X, 13, 14, 15_: + +And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them; and +his disciples rebuked those that brought them. + +But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, +Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for +of such is the kingdom of God. + +Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God +as a little child, he shall not enter therein. + +And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed +them. + + * * * * * + +_Luke XVIII, 15, 16, 17_: + +And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them; but +when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. + +But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to +come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. + +Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God +as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. + + * * * * * + +_Matt. XVIII, 2-6, 14_: + +And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of +them. + +And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as +little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. + +Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the +same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. + +And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. + +But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, +it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, +and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. + +Even so it is not the will of your father which is in heaven, that one +of these little ones should perish. + +Therefore, believing it is wise and that it is a sacred duty to +dedicate our precious little ones to God in this solemn manner; +believing that all the dear children are especially loved by Christ; +and that when taken from this world before active, intentional +participation in sin, they are saved by His merciful grace; and +believing that Christ by His example, and the apostles by their direct +teaching, reserve the sacred ordinance of baptism for repentant +believers, we will now unitedly ask the Lord to accept the +consecration of this child (children), and to take him in His +spiritual arms and bless him. + +PRAYER. + +HYMN. + +BENEDICTION. + + * * * * * + +The pastor's reception to the children Thanksgiving afternoon is a +service the youngsters await from one year to another. Each child is +supposed to bring some article to be given to Samaritan Hospital. One +year each child brought a potato, which in the aggregate amounted to +several barrels. A writer in the "Temple Magazine," describing one of +these services, says: + +"The children came from all directions, of all sizes and in all +conditions. One lad marched up the aisle to a front seat, and his +garments fluttered, flag-like, at many points as he went; others were +evidently rich men's darlings, but all were happy, and their bright +eyes were fixed on the curtained platform, rather than on each other. +They came until four or five thousand of them had arrived, filling +every nook and corner of the Upper Temple." + +"Then Dr. Conwell came in, made them all feel at home--they already +were happy--and music, songs and entertainment followed for an hour +or more. At the close he shook hands with every happy youngster who +sought him--and few failed to do it--gave each a cheery word and +hearty handclasp, and then the little ones scattered, swarming along +the wide pavements of Broad Street till the Thanksgiving promenaders +wondered what had broken loose and whence the swarms of merry children +came." + +Sunrise services are held Easter and Christmas mornings at seven +o'clock. These beautiful days are ushered in by a solemn prayer +meeting, spiritual, uplifting, which seems to attune the day to the +music of heavenly things, and to send an inspiration into it which +glorifies every moment. + +Another service very dear to the members of Grace Baptist Church is +watch meeting. The services begin at eight o'clock New Year's Eve +with a prayer meeting which continues until about half after nine. An +intermission follows and usually a committee of young people serve +light refreshments for those who want them. At eleven o'clock the +watch meeting begins. It is a deeply spiritual meeting, opened by the +pastor with an earnest prayer for guidance in the year to come, for +renewed consecration to the Master's service, for a better and higher +Christian life both as individuals and a church. Hymns follow and a +brief, fervid talk on the year coming and its opportunities, of the +record each will write on the clean white page in the book of life +to be turned so soon. As midnight approaches, every church member is +asked to signify his re-dedication to God and His service by standing. +Then the solemn question is put to others present if they do not want +to give themselves to God, not only for the coming year, but for all +years. As twelve o'clock strikes, all bow in silent prayer while the +organ, under the pastor's touch, softly breathes a sacred melody. + +A few minutes later the meeting adjourns, "Happy New Years" are +exchanged, and the church orchestra on the iron balcony over the great +half rose window on Broad Street breaks into music. + +Sometimes an audience of a thousand people gather on the street to +listen to this musical sermon, preached at the parting of the ways, a +eulogy and a prophecy. A writer in the "Philadelphia Press" relates +the following incident in connection with a watch meeting service: + +"For the last half hour of the old and the first half hour of the new +year the band played sacred melodies to the delight of not less than +a thousand people assembled on the street. Diagonally across Broad +Street and a short distance below the church is the residence of the +late James E. Cooper, P.T. Barnum's former partner, the millionaire +circus proprietor. He had been ailing for months and on this night he +lay dying. + +"Although not a member he had always taken a personal interest in +Grace Church, and one of his last acts was the gift of $1,000 to the +building fund. On this night, the first on which The Temple balcony +had been used for its specially designed purpose, among the last of +earthly sounds that were borne to the ears of the dying man was the +music of 'Coronation' and 'Old Hundred,'--hymns that he had learned in +childhood. The watch meeting closed and from a scene of thanksgiving +and congratulation Rev. Mr. Conwell hurried to the house of mourning, +where he remained at the bedside of the stricken husband and father +until the morning light of earth came to the living and the morning of +eternity to the dying." + +Sacred music on the balcony at midnight also ushers in Christmas +and Easter. "On the street, long before the hour, the crowds gather +waiting in reverent silence for the opening of the service," writes +Burdette, in "Temple and Templars." "The inspiring strains of 'the +English Te Deum,' 'Coronation,' rise on the starlit night, thrilling +every soul and suggesting in its triumphant measures, the lines of +Perronet's immortal hymn made sacred by a thousand associations--'All +hail the power of Jesus' Name.'" "This greeting of the Resurrection, +as it floats out over Monument Cemetery just opposite, where sleep +so many thousands, does seem like an assurance sent anew from above, +cheering those who sleep in Jesus, telling them that as their Lord +and King had risen, and now lives again, so shall they live also. +Men looked at the graves of them that slept, listened to the song of +triumph that was making the midnight glorious, remembered the risen +Christ who was the theme of the song, thought of that other midnight, +the riven tomb, the broken power of Death a conquered conqueror, +and seemed to hear the Victor's proclamation as the apostle of the +Apocalypse heard it, pealing like a trumpet voice over all the earth, +'I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth and was dead; and +behold, I am alive forevermore; Amen; and have the keys of hell and +death!' + +"The music continues, the band playing 'The Gloria,' 'The Heavens are +Telling,' 'The Palms'; now and then the listeners join in singing as +the airs are more familiar, and 'What a Friend we Have In Jesus,' +'Whiter than Snow,' 'Just as I Am,' and other hymns unite many of the +audience on the crowded streets about The Temple in a volunteer choir, +and when the doxology, 'Praise God from whom all blessings flow,' +closes the service, hundreds of voices swell the volume of melody that +greets the Easter morning." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A TYPICAL PRAYER MEETING. + +The Prayer Meeting Hall. How the Meeting is Conducted. The Giving of +Favorite Bible Verses. Requests for Prayer. The Lookout Committee. + + +The prayer meetings of Grace Baptist Church are characterized by a +cheery, homelike atmosphere that appeals forcibly and at once to any +one who may chance to enter, inclining him to stay and enjoy the +service, be he the utmost stranger. + +But underneath this and soon felt, is the deep spiritual significance +of the meeting, which lays hold on men's hearts, inspiring, uplifting, +sending them home with a sense of having "walked with God" for a +little while. + +The large prayer meeting hall is usually crowded, the attendance +including not only members of the church but hundreds who are not +members of any church. It is no unusual sight to see all the various +rooms of the Lower Temple thrown into one by the raising of the +sashes, and this vast floor packed as densely as possible, while a +fringe of standers lines the edges. People will come to these prayer +meetings though they cannot see the platform, though they must lose +much of what is said. But the spirit of the meeting flows into their +hearts and minds, sending them home happier, and with a strengthened +determination to live a more righteous life. + +Frequently Dr. Conwell arrives ten or fifteen minutes before the time +for the service to begin. As he walks to the platform, he stops and +chats with this one, shakes hands with another, nods to many in the +audience. At once all stiffness and formalism vanish. It is a home, a +gathering of brothers and sisters. It is the meeting together of two +or three in His name, as in the old apostolic days, though these two +or three are now counted by the hundreds. + +When Dr. Conwell thus arrives early, the time is passed in singing. +Often he utilizes these few minutes to learn new hymns. So that when +the real prayer meeting is in progress, there will be no blundering +through new tunes or weak-kneed renditions of them. The singing, Dr. +Conwell wants done with the spirit. He will not sing a verse if the +heart and mind cannot endorse it. After singing several hymns in this +earnest, prayerful fashion, every one present is fully in tune for the +services to follow. Prayer meeting opens with a short, earnest prayer. +Then a hymn. It is Dr. Conwell's practice to have any one call out the +number of a hymn he would like sung. And it is no unusual thing to +hear a perfect chorus of numbers after Dr. Conwell's "What shall we +sing?" + +A chapter from the Bible is read and a short talk on it given. Then +Dr. Conwell says, "The meeting now is in your hands," and sits down as +if he had nothing more to do with it. But that subtle leadership which +leads without seeming to do so, is there ready to guide and direct. +He never allows the meeting to grow dull--though it seldom exhibits a +tendency to do so. If no one is inclined to speak, hymns are sung. An +interesting feature, and one that is tremendously helpful in leading +church members to take part in the prayer meeting, is the giving +of Bible verses. It is a frequent feature of Grace Church prayer +meetings. "Let us have verses of Scripture," or "Each one give his +favorite text," Dr. Conwell announces. Immediately from all parts of +the large room come responses. Some rise to give them, others recite +them sitting. Hundreds are given some evenings in a short space of +time, sometimes the speakers giving a bit of personal experience +connected with the verse. + +The prayer meetings are always full of singing, often of silent +prayer; and never does one end without a solemn invitation to those +seeking God and wishing the prayers of the church, to signify it by +rising. While the request is made, the audience is asked to bow in +silent prayer that strength may be given those who want God's help +to make it known. In the solemn hush, one after another rises to his +feet, often as many as fifty making this silent appeal for strength to +lead a better life. Immediately Dr. Conwell leads into an eloquent, +heartfelt prayer that those seeking the way may find it, that the +peace that passeth understanding may come into their hearts and lives. + +But Dr. Conwell doesn't let the matter rest here. A committee of +church members already appointed for just such work, is posted like +sentinels about the prayer meeting room, ready to extend practical +help to those who have asked for the prayers of the church. After +the services are over, each one who has risen is sought out, by some +member of this committee, talked with in a friendly, sympathetic way, +and his name and address taken. These are given to Dr. Conwell If time +permits, he writes to many of them. All of them he makes the subject +of personal prayer. + +Frequently, before asking those to rise who wish the prayers of the +church, Dr. Conwell asks if any one wishes to request prayers for +others. The response to this is always large. A member of the staff +of "The Temple Magazine" made a note at one prayer meeting of these +requests and published it in the magazine. Three requests were made +for husbands, eight for sons, one for a daughter, three for children, +ten for brothers, two for sisters, two for fathers, one for a cousin, +one for a brother-in-law, four for friends, eleven for Sunday School +scholars, one for a Sunday School class, four for sick persons, two +for scoffers, twenty-one for sinners, four for wanderers, five for +persons addicted to drink, three for mission schools, five for +churches--one that was divided, another deeply in debt, another for +a sick pastor and the other two seeking a higher development in +godliness. + +As many of these requests come from church members, both pastor and +people pay especial attention to them and practically, as well as +prayerfully, try to reach those for whom prayers are asked. In many +cases distinct answers to these prayers are secured, so evident that +none could mistake them. At an after-service on Sunday evening a +mother asked prayers for a wayward son in Chicago. Dr. Conwell and +some of the deacons led the church in prayer for the boy, very +definitely and in faith. At that same hour, as the young man afterward +related, he was passing a church in Chicago, and felt strangely +impressed to enter and give his heart to Christ. It was something he +had no intention of doing when he left his hotel a few minutes before. +But he went in, joined in the meeting, asked for forgiveness of his +sins and the prayers of the church to help him lead a better life, +and accepted Christ as his personal Savior. In the joy of his new +experience, he wrote his mother immediately. + +At another prayer meeting, Dr. Conwell read a letter from a gentleman +requesting the prayers of the church for his little boy whom the +doctors had given up to die. He stated in the letter that if God would +spare his child in answer to prayer, he would go anywhere and do +anything the Lord might direct. After reading the letter, Dr. Conwell +led earnestly in prayer, beseeching that the child's life might be +saved since it meant much for the cause of Christ on earth. Several +members of the church made fervent prayers for the child, and at the +close of the meeting, many expressed themselves as being confident +that their prayers would be answered. At that same hour, the disease +turned. The child has grown to be a young man, and with his father is +a member of Grace Church. + +Such direct, unmistakable answers to prayer strengthen faith, give +confidence to ask for prayers for loved ones, and make it a very +earnest, solemn part of the prayer meeting service. Thus working and +praying, praying and working, the church marches forward. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE TEMPLE COLLEGE + +The Night Temple College Was Born. Its Simple Beginning and Rapid +Growth. Building the College. How the Money was Raised. The Branches +it Teaches. Instances of Its Helpfulness. Planning for greater Things. + + +In a letter written to a member of his family, from which we quote the +following, Dr. Conwell tells how the idea of Temple College was born +in his mind one wintry night. + +"A woman, ragged, with an old shawl over her head, met me in an alley +in Philadelphia late one night. She saw the basket on my arm, and +looked in my face wistfully, as a dog looks up beside the dinner +table. She was hungry, and was coming in empty. I shook my head, and +with a peculiarly sad glance she turned down the dark passage. I +had found several families hungry, and yet I felt like a hypocrite, +standing there with an empty basket, and a woman, perhaps a mother, so +pale for lack of decent food. + +"On the corner was a church, stately and architecturally beautiful by +day, but after midnight it looked like a glowering ogre, and looked so +like Newgate Prison, in London, that I felt its chilly shadow. Half +a million cost the cemented pile, and under its side arch lay two +newsboys or boot-blacks asleep on the step. + +"What is the use? We cannot feed these people. Give all you have, and +an army of the poor will still have nothing; and those to whom you do +give bread and clothes to-day will be starving and naked to-morrow. +If you care for the few, the many will curse you for your partiality. +While I stood meditating, the police patrol drove along the street, +and I could see by the corner street lamp that there were two women, +one little girl and a drunken old man in the conveyance, going to +jail! I could do nothing for them. + +"At my door I found a man dressed in costly fashion, who had waited for +me outside, as he had been told that I would come soon, and the family +had retired. He said his dying father had sent for me. So I left the +basket in a side yard and went with the messenger. The house was a +mansion on Spring Garden Street. The house was inelegantly overloaded +with luxurious furniture, money wasted by some inartistic purchasers. +The paintings were rare and rich. The owners were shoddy. The family +of seven or eight gathered by the bedside when I prayed for the dying +old man. They were grief-stricken and begged me to stay until his soul +departed. It was daylight before I left the bedside, and as the dying +still showed that the soul was delaying his journey, I went into the +spacious, handsome library. Seeing a rare book in costly binding among +the volumes on a lower shelf, I opened the door and took it out My +hands were black with dust. I glanced then along the rows and rows of +valuable books, and noticed the dust of months or years. The family +were not students or readers. One son was in the Albany Penitentiary; +another a fugitive in Canada. At the funeral, afterwards, the wife +and daughter from Newport were present, and their tears made furrows +through the paint. Those rich people were strangely poor, and a book +on a side table on the 'Abolition of Poverty' seemed to be in the +right place. + +"That night was conceived the Temple College idea. It was no new +truth, no original invention, but merely a simpler combination of old +ideas. There was but one general remedy for all these ills of poor and +rich, and that could only be found in a more useful education. Poverty +seemed to me to be wholly that of the mind. Want of food, or clothing, +or home, or friends, or morals, or religion, seemed to be the lack of +the right instruction and proper discipline. The truly wise man need +not lack the necessities of life, the wisely educated man or woman +will get out of the dirty alley and will not get drunk or go to +jail. It seemed to me then that the only great charity was in giving +instruction. + +"The first class to be considered was the destitute poor. Not one in a +thousand of those living in rags on crusts would remain in poverty if +he had education enough of the right kind to earn a better living by +making himself more useful. He is poor because he does not know any +better. Knowledge is both wealth and power. + +"The next class who stand in need of the assistance love wishes to +give is the great mass of industrious people of all grades, who are +earning something, who are not cold or hungry, but who should earn +more in order to secure the greater necessities of life in order to be +happy. They could be so much more useful if they knew how. To learn +how to do more work in the same time, or how to do much better work, +is the only true road to riches which the owner can enjoy. + +[Illustration: THE SAMARITAN HOSPITAL Showing the houses in which it +was originally located, and part of the new building] + +"To help a man to help himself is the wisest effort of human love. To +have wealth and to have honestly earned it all, by labor, skill or +wisdom, is an object of ambition worthy of the highest and best. +Hence, to do the most good to the great classes, rich or poor, we must +labor industriously. The lover of his kind must furnish them with the +means of gaining knowledge while they work. + +"Then there was a third class of mankind, starving, with their tables +breaking with luscious foods, cold in warehouses of ready-made +clothing of the most costly fabrics; seeing not in the moon-light, and +restless to distraction on beds of eiderdown. They do not know the +use or value of things. They are harassed with plenty they cannot +appropriate. They are doubly poor. They need education. The library +is a care, an expense and a disgrace to the owner who cannot read. To +give education to those in the possession of property which they might +use for the help of humanity and which they might enjoy, is as clear a +duty and charity as it is to help the beggar. And, indeed, indirectly +the education of the unwise wealthy to become useful may be the most +practical way of raising the poor. There is a need for every dollar of +the nation's property, and it should be invested by men whose minds +and hearts have been trained to see the human need and to love to +satisfy it. + +"The thought that in education of the best quality was to be found the +remedy for hunger, loneliness, crime and weakness was most clearly +emphasized to my mind by the coming of two young men who had felt the +need from the under side. They had received but little instruction; +they were over twenty years of age, and they wished to enter the +ministry. Was there any way open for a poor, industrious laborer to +get the highest education while he supported his mother, sister and +himself? I urged them to try it for the good of many who would +follow them if they made it a clear success. I was elated almost to +uncontrollable enthusiasm the night they came to my study to begin +their course. They brought five with them, and all proved themselves +noble men. One is not, for God took him. But the others are moulding +and inspiring their world." + +Thus was conceived the idea of the institution that is now educating +annually three thousand men and women. The need for it has been +plainly proven. Rev. Forest Dager, at one time Dean of Temple College, +said in regard to the people who in later life crave opportunities for +study: + +"That the Temple College idea of educating working men and working +women, at an expense just sufficient to give them an appreciation of +the work of the Institution, covers a wide and long-neglected field +of educational effort, is at once apparent to a thoughtful mind. +Remembering that out of a total enrollment in the schools of our land +of all grades, public and private, of 14,512,778 pupils, 96-1/2 per +cent are reported as receiving elementary instruction only; that not +more than 35 in 1,000 attend school after they are fourteen years of +age; that 25 of these drop out during the next four years of their +life; that less than 10 in 1,000 pass on to enjoy the superior +instruction of a college or some equivalent grade of work, we begin +to see the unlimited field before an Institution like this. Thousands +upon thousands of those who have left school quite early in life, +either because they did not appreciate the advantages of a liberal +education, or because the stress of circumstances compelled them to +assist in the maintenance of home, awake a few years later to the +realization that a good education is more than one-half the struggle +for existence and position. Their time through the day is fully +occupied; their evenings are free. At once they turn to the evening +college, and grasping the opportunities for instruction, convert those +hours which to many are the pathway to vice and ruin, into stepping +stones to a higher and more useful career ... An illustration of the +wide-reaching influence of the College work is the significant fact +that during one year there were personally known to the president, +no less than ninety-three persons pursuing their studies in various +universities of our country, who received their first impulses toward +a higher education and a wider usefulness in Temple College." + +In 1893, in an address on the Institutional church, delivered before +the Baptist Ministers' Conference in Philadelphia, Dr. Conwell said: + +"At the present time there are in this city hundreds of thousands--to +speak conservatively, (I should say at least five hundred thousand +people) who have not the education they certainly wish they had +obtained before leaving school. There are at least one hundred +thousand people in this city willing to sacrifice their evenings and +some of their sleep to get an education, if they can get it without +the humiliation of being put into classes with boys and girls six +years old. They are in every city. There is a large class of young +people who have reached that age where they find they have made a +mistake in not getting a better education. If they could obtain one +now, in a proper way, they would. The university does not furnish such +an opportunity. The public school does not. + +"The churches must institute schools for those whom the public does +not educate, and must educate them along the lines they cannot reach +in the public schools. + +"We are not to withdraw our support from, nor to antagonize, the +public schools; they are the foundations of liberty in the nation. But +the public schools do not teach many things which young men and young +women need. I believe every church should institute classes for the +education of such people, and I believe the Institutional church will +require it. I believe every evening in the week should be given to +some particular kind of intellectual training along some educational +line; that this training should begin with the more evident needs of +the young people in each congregation, and then be adjusted as the +matter grows, to the wants of each." + +So, because one poor boy struggled so bitterly for an education, +because a man, keen-eyed, saw others' needs, reading the signs by the +light of his own bitter experience, a great College for busy men and +women has grown, to give them freely the education which is very bread +and meat to their minds. + +Most people use for their own benefit the lessons they have learned in +the hard school of experience. They have paid for them dearly. They +endeavor to get out of them what profit they can. Not so Dr. Conwell. +He uses his dearly bought experiences for the good of others, turning +the bitterness which he endured, into sweetness for their refreshment. + +The Temple College was founded, as was stated in its first catalogue, +for the purpose "of opening to the burdened and circumscribed manual +laborer, the doors through which he may, if he will, reach the fields +of profitable and influential professional life. + +"Of enabling the working man, whose labor has been largely with his +muscles, to double his skill through the helpful suggestions of a +cultivated mind. + +"Of providing such instruction as shall be best adapted to the higher +education of those who are compelled to labor at their trades while +engaged in study, or who desire while studying to remain under the +influence of their home or church. + +"Of awakening in the character of young laboring men and women a +strong and determined ambition to be useful to their fellowmen. + +"Of cultivating such a taste for the higher and most useful branches +of learning as shall compel the students, after they have left the +college, to continue to pursue the best and most practical branches +of learning to the very highest walks of mental and scientific +achievement." + +A broad, humanitarian purpose it is, one that grew out of the heart of +a man who loved humanity, who believed in the practical application of +the teachings of Christ, who knew a cause would succeed if it filled a +need. + +Dr. Conwell's own experience, his observations of life had told +him that this great need existed, but it was brought home to him +practically in 1884, when these two young men of whom he speaks in +the letter quoted came to him and said they wanted to study for the +ministry but had no money. His mind leaped the years to those boyhood +days when he longed for an education but had no money. He fixed an +evening and told them he would teach them himself. When the night +came, the two had become seven. The third evening, the seven had grown +to forty. It was in the days when pastor and people were working hard +for their new church and his hands were full. But he did not shirk +this new task that came to him. Forty people eager to study, anxious +to broaden their mental vision, to make their lives more useful, could +not be disappointed, most assuredly not by a man who had known this +hunger of the mind. Teachers were secured who gave their services +free, the lower parts of the church where they were then worshipping +at Berks and Mervine streets were used as class rooms and the work +went forward with vigor. + +The first catalogue was issued in 1887, and the institution chartered +in 1888, at which time there were five hundred and ninety students. +The College overflowed the basement of the church into two adjoining +houses. When The Temple was completed the College occupied the whole +building. When that was filled it moved into two large houses on Park +Avenue. Still growing, it rented two large halls. + +The news that The Temple College had enlarged quarters in these halls +brought such a flood of students that almost from the start applicants +were turned away. Nothing was to be done but to build. It was a +serious problem. The church itself had but just been completed and a +heavy debt of $250,000 hung over it. To add the cost of a college to +this burden of debt required faith of the highest order, work of the +hardest. But God had shown them their work and they could not shirk it. + +"For seven years I have felt a firm conviction that the great work, +the special duty of our church, is to establish the College," said Dr. +Conwell, in speaking of the matter to his congregation. "We are now +face to face with it. How distinctly we have been led of God to this +point! Never before in the history of this nation have a people had +committed to them a movement more important for the welfare of mankind +than that which is now committed to your trust in connection with the +permanent establishment of The Temple College. We step now over the +brink. Our feet are already in the water, and God says, 'Go on, it +shall be dryshod for you yet'; and I say that the success of this +institution means others like it in every town of five thousand +inhabitants in the United States." + +"One thing we have demonstrated--those who work for a living have time +to study. Some splendid specimens of scholarship have been +developed in our work. And there are others, splendid geniuses, yet +undiscovered, but The Temple College will bring them to the light, and +the world will be the richer for it. By the use of spare hours--hours +usually running to waste--great things can be done. The commendation +of these successful students will do more for the college than any +number of rich friends can do. It will make friends; it will bring +money; it will win honor; it will secure success." + +An investment fund was created and once more the people made their +offerings. The same self-sacrificing spirit was evident as in the +building of the church. One boy brought to the pastor fifty cents, the +first money he had ever earned; a woman sent to the treasury a gold +ring, the only gift she could make, which bore interest in the +suggestion that all who chose might offer similar gifts as did the +women in the day of Moses. A business man hearing of this said, "If a +day is appointed, I will on that day give to the College all the gold +and silver that comes into my store for purchases." Every organization +of Grace Church contributed time, work, money, and prayer to the +building of the College. Small wonder then that obligations were met +and payments made promptly. + +One of the most successful methods by which money was raised for +the College was the "Penny Talent" effort in 1893. Burdette, in his +"Temple and Templars" has made a most painstaking record of the +various ways in which the talent was used. He says: + +"Each worker was given a penny, no more. Four thousand were given out +at one service. One man put his penny in a neat box, took it to his +office, and exhibited his 'talent' at a nickel a 'peep.' He gained +$1.70 the first day of his 'show,' A woman bought a 'job lot' of +molasses with her penny, made it into molasses candy, sold it in +square inch cakes, after telling the customer her story; payments were +generous and she netted $1.80. Then the man who sold her the molasses +returned her penny. Another sister established a 'cooky' business, +which grew rapidly. One boy kept his penny and went to work, earned 50 +cents, the first money he ever earned in his life. It was a big penny, +but he was bubbling over with enthusiasm and in it all went; he +brought it straight to his pastor. One worker collected autographs +and sold them. A boy sold toothpicks. One young man made silver +buttonhooks and a young lady sold them. A woman traded her penny up +to a dollar, made aprons from that time on until she earned $10. One +class of seven girls in the Sunday-school united its capital and gave +a supper at the Park and netted $50. The Young Men's Bible Class +constructed a model of the College building, which they exhibited. The +children gave a supper in the Lower Temple, which added $100 to the +College fund. There came into the treasury $1.00 'saved on carfares'; +'whitewashing a cellar' brought $3. Thrice, somebody walked from +Germantown to The Temple and back, saving 75 cents; a wife saved $20 +from household allowances. A little girl of seven years went into a +lively brokerage business with her penny, and took several 'flyers' +that netted her handsome margins. Here is her report-- + +"'Sold the "talent penny" to Aunt Libby for seven cents; sold the +seven cents to Mamma for 25 cents; sold the 25 cents to Papa for 50 +cents. Aunt Caddie, 10 cents; Uncle Gilman, 5 cents; Cousin Walter, 4 +cents; cash, 25 cents,--$1.04 and the penny talent returned.' + +"'Pinching the market-basket' sent in $2.50; 'all the pennies and +nickels received in four months, $12.70'; 'walking instead of riding, +$6.50'; 'singing and making plaster plaques, $7.' A dentist bought of +a fellow dentist one cent's worth of cement filling-material; this he +used, giving his labor, and earned 50 cents; with this he bought 50 +cents' worth of better filling, part of which he used, again giving +his labor, and the College gained $3.00. A boy sold his penny to a +physician for a dollar. The physician sold the 'talent penny' for 10 +cents, which he exchanged at the Mint for bright new pennies. These he +took to business friends and got a dollar apiece for them; added $5.00 +of his own and turned in $15.00. Donations of one cent each were +received through Mr. William P. Harding, from Governor Tillman of +South Carolina, Governor McKinley of Ohio, Governor Russell of +Massachusetts. From Governor Fuller of Vermont--a rare old copper +cent, 1782, coined by Vermont before she was admitted to the Union; +the governors' letters were sold to the highest bidders. Everybody who +worked, everybody who traded with the penny, did something, and every +penny was blessed, so lovingly and so zealously was the trading done. +It was the Master's talent which they were working with. All the +little things that went into the treasury; lead pencils, tacks, $3.00 +in one case and $5.00 in another; 'beefs liver, $14.00'--think of +that! How tired the boarders must have grown of liver away out on +Broad Street--stick pins, hairpins, and the common kind that you bend +and lose; candy, pretzels, and cookies; 'old tin cans,' wooden spoons, +pies; one man sent $50.00 as a gift because he said 'his penny had +brought him luck'; another found 16 pennies, which good fortune he +ascribed to the penny in his pocket. + +"So in October the workers who had received their pennies in April +came together to show what they had done. Four thousand pennies had +been given out; $6,000 came directly from the returns, and indirectly +about $8,000 more. + +"The 'Feast of Tithes,' held in December of the same year, was a great +fair, extending through seven week days. The displays of goods and the +refreshment booths were in the Lower Temple, while fine concerts and +other entertainments were given in the auditorium. The Feast of Tithes +netted $5,500 for the College fund." + +Thus the work progressed. No one could give large amounts, but many +gave a little, and stone by stone the building grew. In August, 1893, +the corner stone of the College building was laid. Taking up the +silver trowel which had been used in laying the corner stone of The +Temple, in 1889, Dr. Conwell said: + +"Friends, to-day we do something more than simply lay the corner stone +of a college building. We do an act here very simply that shows to the +world, and will go on testifying after we have gone to our long rest, +that the church of Jesus Christ is not only an institution of theory, +but an institution of practice. It will stand here upon this great +and broad street and say through the coming years to all passersby, +'Christianity means something for the good of humanity; Christianity +means not only a belief in things that are good and pure and +righteous, but it also means an activity that shall bless those who +need the assistance of others.' It shall say to the rich man, 'Give +thou of thy surplus to those who have not.' It shall say to the poor +man, 'Make thou the most of thy opportunities and thou shalt be the +equal of the rich.' + +"Now, in the name of the people who have given for this enterprise, +in the name of the many Christians who have prayed, and who are now +sending up their prayers to heaven, I lay this corner stone." + +The work went on. In May, 1894, a great congregation thronged The +Temple to attend the dedication services of "Temple College," for it +was in its new home; a handsome building, presenting with The Temple a +beautiful stone front of two hundred feet on the broad avenue which it +faces. Robert E. Pattison, governor of Pennsylvania, presided, saying, +in his introductory remarks, "Around this noble city many institutions +have arisen in the cause of education, but I doubt whether any of them +will possess a greater influence for good than Temple College." Bishop +Foss, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, offered prayer. The orator +was Honorable Charles Emory Smith, of Philadelphia, ex-minister +to Russia. Mr. James Johnson, the builder, gave the keys to the +architect, Mr. Thomas P. Lonsdale, who delivered them to the pastor of +Grace Church and president of Temple College, remarking that "it was +well these keys should be in the hands of those who already held the +keys to the inner temple of knowledge." + +President Conwell, receiving the keys, said that, "by united effort, +penny by penny, and dollar by dollar, every note had been paid, every +financial obligation promptly met. It is a demonstration of what +people can do when thoroughly in earnest in a great enterprise." + +Academies were also started in distant parts of the city for the +benefit of those who could not reach the college in time for classes. +Unfortunately these academies were compelled to close on account of +lack of funds. Many pitiful letters were received at the college +from those who were thus shut out of educational advantages. One in +particular, poorly spelled but breathing its bitter disappointment, +said that the writer (a woman) was just beginning to hope she would +get her head above water some day. But that now she must sink again. A +little light had begun to glimmer for her through the blackness, but +that light had been taken away. She was going down again into the +depth of hopeless ignorance with no one to lend a helping hand--the +tragedy of which Carlyle wrote when he penned "That there should +be one man die ignorant who is capable of knowledge, this I call a +tragedy." + +The College at first was entirely free, but as the attendance +increased, it was found necessary to charge a nominal tuition fee in +order to keep out those who had no serious desire to study, but came +irregularly "just for the fun of the thing." When it was decided to +charge five dollars a year for the privilege of attending the evening +classes, the announcement was received with the unanimous approbation +of the students who honestly wished to study, and who more than any +others were hindered by the aimless element. + +Not only did the poor and those who were employed during the day come, +but before long the sons and daughters of the well-to-do were knocking +at the doors, not for admission to the evening classes but for day +study. So the day department was opened. Not only has it proved +most successful in its work, but it has helped the College to meet +expenses. + +The curriculum of the College is broad. A child just able to walk can +enter the kindergarten class in the day department and receive his +entire schooling under the one roof, graduating with a college degree, +taking a special university course, or fitting himself for business. + +Four university courses are given--theology, law, medicine, pharmacy. +The Medical and Theological Departments take students to their +graduation and upon presentation of their diploma before the State +Board they are admitted to the State Examination. The Theological +Course, of course, graduates a man the same as any other theological +seminary. + +Post-graduate courses are also given. + +The college courses include--arts, science, elocution and oratory, +business, music, civil engineering, physical education. The graduates +of the college course are admitted to the post-graduate courses of +Pennsylvania, Yale, Princeton and Harvard on their diplomas. Students +pass from any year's work of the college course to the corresponding +course of other Institutions. + +The preparatory courses are college preparatory, medical preparatory, +scientific preparatory, law preparatory, an English course and a +business preparatory course. Thus, if one is not ready to enter one of +the higher courses, he can prepare here by night study for them. + +The Business Course includes a commercial course, shorthand course, +secretarial course, conveyancing course, telegraphy course, +advertisement writing and proofreading. + +There are normal courses for kindergarteners and elementary teachers, +and in household science, physical training, music, millinery, +dressmaking, elocution and oratory. + +Special courses are given in civil engineering, chemistry, elocution +and oratory, painting and drawing, sign writing, mechanical and +architectural drawing, music, physical training, dressmaking, +millinery, cooking, embroidery, and nursing, the last being given at +the Samaritan Hospital. + +All of these courses, excepting the Normal Kindergarten, can be +studied day or evening, as best suits the student. + +The kindergarten and model schools cover the work of the public +schools from the kindergarten to the highest grammar grades, fitting +the student to enter the first year of the preparatory department. +These classes are held in the daytime only. + +The power to confer degrees was granted in 1891. The teaching force +has been greatly enlarged until at present there are one hundred +and thirty-five teachers and an average of more than three thousand +regular students yearly. + +The number of students instructed at Temple College in proportion to +money expended and buildings used is altogether out of proportion +to any other college in America. Some idea of the breadth of study +presented at Temple College may be had from a comparison with +Harvard. Harvard has more than five thousand students, four hundred +instructors, and presents five hundred courses of study. Its growth +since 1860 has been wonderful. In 1860, while one man might not have +been able in four years to master all the subjects offered, he could +have done so in six. It was estimated in 1899 that the courses +of study offered were so varied that sixty years would have been +required. It would take one student ninety-six years to take all the +courses presented by the Temple College. + +From the time of the opening of Temple College up to the closing +exercises of 1905, its students have numbered 55,656. If an answer is +desired to the question, "Is such an institution needed," that number +answers is most emphatically. That more than fifty thousand people, +the majority of them wording men and women, will give their nights +after a day of toil, to study, proves that the institution that gives +them the opportunity to study is sorely needed. + +The life story of men and women who have studied here and gone on to +lives of usefulness would make interesting reading. One young girl who +lived in the mill district of Kensington was earning $2.50 a week, +folding circulars, addressing envelopes and doing such work. Her +parents were poor. She had the most meagre education, and the outlook +for her to earn more was dark. Some one advised her to go to Temple +College at night and study bookkeeping. A few years after, her +well-wisher saw her one evening at the college, bright, happy, a +different girl in both dress and deportment She had a position as +bookkeeper at $10 a week and was going on now and taking other +courses. + +That is the ordinary story of the work Temple College does, multiplied +in thousands of lives. Others are not so ordinary. One of the early +students was a poor man earning $6.00 a week. To-day he is earning +$6,000 a year in a government position at Washington, his rise in +life due entirely to the opportunities of study offered him at Temple +College. A lady who had been brought up in refined and cultured +society was compelled to support herself, her husband and child +through his complete physical breakdown. She took the normal course +in dressmaking and millinery, and has this year been appointed the +Director of the Domestic Science work in a large institution at a very +good salary, being able to keep herself and family in comfort. One of +the present college students was a weaver without any education at +all, getting not only his elementary education and his preparatory +education here, but will next year graduate from the college +department. He has been entirely self-supporting in the meantime, and +will make a fine teacher of mathematics. He has been teaching extra +classes in the evening department of the College for several years. + +One of the students who entered the classes in 1886 was a poor boy +of thirteen. For nineteen long years he has studied persistently at +night, passing from one grade to another until this summer (1905) his +long schooling was crowned with success and he was admitted to the +bar. All these weary years he has worked hard during the day, for +there were others depending upon him, and at night despite his +physical weariness, has faithfully pursued his studies. He deserves +his success and the greater success that will come to him, for such a +man in those long years has stored away experiences that will make him +a power. + +Another student in the early days of the college was a poor boy who +had no education whatever, having been compelled to help earn the +family living as soon as he was able, his father being a drunkard. For +fifteen years he studied, passing from one grade to another until in +1899, he had the great joy of being ordained to the ministry, six of +his ministerial brethren gathering around him in the great Temple and +laying on his head the hands of ordination, feeling they were setting +apart to the struggles and hardships of the Gospel ministry one who +had shown himself worthy of his exalted calling. + +One of the official stenographers connected with the Panama Canal +Commission was a breaker boy who came to Philadelphia from the mining +district poor and ignorant, and studied in Temple College at night, +working during the day to earn his living. + +Such records would fill a book. They prove better even than numbers +the worth of such an institution. If only one such man or woman is +lifted to a happier, more useful life, the work is worth while. + +Such an institution can do much for the purification of politics. +Before the students are ever held high ideals of right living, of +honesty, of purity. All the associations of the College are conducive +to clean character and high ideals. As the largest number of the +students are men and women from active business life, they are keenly +alive to the questions of the day. They know the responsibility for +honest government rests with each voter, that to have clean politics +every man and woman must individually do his share to uphold high +standards in political and social life, that only men whose characters +are above reproach should be elected to office. That the President of +their college shares these views and knows also what a power lies in +their hands, is shown by the following letter: + +"Fraternal Greetings: The near approach of an important election leads +me to suggest to you the following: + +"First. There being now in this city over seven thousand voters who +have been students in the Temple College, you have by your votes +and your influence, either by combination or as individuals, a +considerable political power. You should use it for the good of your +city, state, and nation. + +"Second. In city affairs I urge you to think first of the poor. The +rich do not need your care. Vote only for such city candidates as will +most speedily secure for the more needy classes pure water, clean +streets, cheaper homes, cheaper and more useful education, healthier +environment, cheap and quick transportation, the development of the +labor-giving improvements, and the increase of sea-going and inland +commerce. Select large-hearted, cool-headed men for city officers, +regardless of national parties. + +"Third. Let no man or party purchase your patriotic birthright for a +fifty-cent tax bill or any other sum. + +"Fourth. In selecting your candidates for state offices remember the +needs of the people. Favor the granting to the submerged poor a more +favorable opportunity to help themselves. Move in the most reasonable +and direct way toward the ultimate abolition of the sale of +intoxicating liquors as a beverage, and for the increase of hospital +and college privileges for the afflicted and the ignorant. + +"Fifth. In national politics, remember that both parties have a +measure of truth in their principles, and the need of the time is +noble, conscientious lovers of humanity, who will not be led by party +enthusiasm into any wild schemes in either direction which would +result in the destruction of business and the degradation of national +honor. Think independently, vote considerately, stand unflinchingly +against any measure that is wrong, and vigorously in favor of every +movement that is right. This is an opportunity to do a great, good +deed. Quit you like men. With endearing affection, + +"RUSSELL H. CONWELL." + +Even now the press of students is so great the trustees are planning +larger things. The "Philadelphia Press,' speaking of the new work to +be undertaken, said: + +"A city university, with a capacity of seven thousand students, more +than are attending any other one seat of learning in the United +States, is to be built in Philadelphia. It will be the university of +the Temple College and will stand on the site of the old Broad Street +Baptist Church at the southeast corner of Broad and Brown Streets, +and the lot adjoining the church property on the south side on Broad +Street. + +"The new structure will cost $225,000, while the ground on which it +will be built is worth $165,000, making the total value of the new +institution $390,000. + +"Rev. Russell H. Conwell, D.D., pastor of the Grace Baptist Church, +at Broad and Berks Streets, and President of Temple College, said +yesterday that the new university will be completed and ready for +occupancy by September, 1906. In the twenty years of its existence +Temple College has grown as have few educational institutions in +America, until now it has more than three thousand students enrolled +yearly. + +"With the erection of the university building the institution will +have facilities for educating four thousand more students, or a total +of seven thousand. + +"Some idea of how the other great universities of the country compare +with regard to the number of students attending them with this new +university of Philadelphia is shown by the following table: + +Name. Number of Students, + +Temple University 7,000 + +Harvard 5,393 + +Yale 2,995 + +Pennsylvania 2,692 + +Princeton 1,373 + +"The Temple University building will be eight stories high, at +least that is the plan the trustees have in mind at present, but the +structure will be so built that a height of two stories may be added +at any time. It will have a frontage of 129 feet on Broad Street and +140 feet on Brown Street. The corner property was deeded as a gift to +Temple College by the Broad and Brown Streets Church and the College +then purchased the adjoining property on Broad Street. In appreciation +of the gift the College has offered the use of the university chapel, +which will be built in the building, to the Broad and Brown Streets +Church congregation for a place of worship. + +"The university will be built of stone, and while not an elaborate +structure, it will be substantial and suitable in every respect and +imposing in its very simplicity. + +"In addition to the university offices there will be a large +gymnasium, a free dispensary, departments of medicine, theology, law, +engineering, sciences, and, in fact, all the branches of learning that +are taught in any of the great universities. There will be a library +and lecture room for every department, pathological and chemical +laboratories and a sufficient number of classrooms to preclude +crowding of students for the next ten or fifteen years. + +"There are now one hundred and thirty-five instructors in Temple +College, but when the university is opened this number will be +increased to three hundred. + +"The present college building, which adjoins the Baptist Temple, will +continue to be used, but only for the normal classes and lower grade +of work. The building will be remodeled. The dwelling adjoining the +college which has been occupied as the theological department will be +vacated when the university is completed. + +"Dr. Conwell, the father of Temple College and who in years to come +will be spoken of as the father of Temple University, said yesterday: + +"'It will be a university for busy people, the same as the college has +been a college for busy people. Our institution reaches and benefits +a class--in some respects the greatest class--of persons who want +to study and enlarge their education, but cannot attend the other +universities and colleges for financial reasons and because of their +business. + +"'There's many a man and woman, young and middle-aged, who is not +satisfied with himself--he wants to go on farther, he wants to learn +more. But his daily work won't allow him to complete his education +because of the inconvenient hours of the classes and lectures in +other colleges. And he comes to Temple, as there classes are held +practically all day and for several hours at night. The terms of the +course at Temple College are reasonable, and thus many young men or +women may prepare themselves for higher and more remunerative work, +whereas they would not feel that they could afford to pay the tuition +fee at some other institution. The Temple University will be similar +to the London University, a city university for busy persons.'" + +Thus Temple College grows because it is needed. And such an +institution is needed in other cities as well as in Philadelphia. This +is but the pioneer. It can have sister institutions wherever people +want to study and Christian hearts want to help. + +It grows also because in the heart of one man, its founder, is the +bitter knowledge of how sorely such an institution is needed by those +who want to study, and who himself works hand, heart and soul so that +it shall never fail those who need it. + +Says James M. Beck, the noted lawyer: "There have been very wealthy +men who, out of the abundance of their resources, have founded +colleges, but I can hardly recall a case where a man, without abundant +means, by mere force of character and intellectual energy, has both +created and maintained an institution of this size and character,'" + +Far back in the dim light of the centuries, Confucius wrote, "Give +instruction unto those who cannot obtain it for themselves." This is +the great and useful work the Temple College is doing and doing it +nobly, a work that will count for untold good on future generations. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE SAMARITAN HOSPITAL + +Beginning in Two Rooms. Growth. Number of Beds. Management. Temple +Services Heard by Telephone. Faith and Nationality of Those Cared For. + + +His pastoral work among his church members and others of the +neighborhood brought to Dr. Conwell's mind constantly the needs of the +sick poor. Scarcely a week passed that some one did not come to him +for help for a loved one suffering from disease, but without means to +secure proper medical aid. Sick and poor--that is a condition which +sums up the height of human physical suffering--the body racked with +pain, burning with fever, yet day and night battling on in misery, +without medical aid, without nursing, without any of the comforts that +relieve pain. Nor is the sick one the only sufferer. Those who love +him endure the keenest mental anguish as they stand by helpless, +unable to raise a finger for his relief because they are poor. Through +the deep waters of both these experiences Dr. Conwell had himself +passed. He knew the anguish of heart of seeing loved ones suffer, of +being unable to secure for them the nourishing food, the care needed +to make them well. He knew the wretchedness of being sick and poor and +of not knowing which way to turn for help, while quivering flesh and +nerves called in torture for relief. His heart went out in burning +sympathy to all such cases that came to his knowledge, and generously +he helped. But they were far too many for one man, big-hearted and +open-handed as he might be. More and more the need of a hospital in +that part of the city was impressed upon him. Accidents among his +membership were numerous, yet the nearest hospital was blocks and +blocks away, a distance which meant precious minutes when with every +moment life was ebbing. + +He laid the matter before his church people. Down through the +centuries came ringing in their ears that command, "Heal the sick." +They knew it was Christ's work--"Unto Him were brought all sick people +that were taken with divers diseases and he healed them." + +So they decided to rent two rooms where the sick could be cared for, +and later built a hospital for the poor, where without money and +without price, the best medical aid, the tenderest nursing were at the +command of those in need. + +"The Hospital was founded," says Dr. Conwell, "and this property +purchased in the hope that it would do Christ's work. Not simply to +heal for the sake of professional experience, not simply to cure +disease and repair broken bones, but to so do those charitable acts as +to enforce the truth Jesus taught, that God 'would not that any should +perish, but that all should come unto Him and live.' Soul and body, +both need the healing balm of Christianity. The Hospital modestly +and touchingly furnishes it to all classes, creeds, and ages whose +sufferings cause them to cry out, 'Have mercy on me!'" + +So far as buildings were concerned, it began in a small way, though +its spirit of kindness and Christian charity was large. After one year +in rented rooms, a house was purchased on North Broad Street, near +Ontario Street, and fitted up as a hospital with wards, operating room +and dispensary. It was situated just where a network of railroads +focuses and near a number of large factories and machine shops, where +accidents were occurring constantly. Almost immediately its wards were +filled. The name "Samaritan Hospital" was given as typical of its work +and spirit, its projectors and supporters laying down their money and +agreeing to pay whatever might be needed, as well as giving of their +personal care and attention to the sufferer. But though Dr. Conwell's +heart is big, his head is practical. He does not believe in +indiscriminate charity. + +"Charity is composed of sympathy and self-sacrifice. There is no +charity without a union of these two," he said, in an address years +ago at Music Hall, Boston. "To make a gift become a charity the +recipient must feel that it is given out of sympathy; that the +donor has made a sacrifice to give it; that it is intended only as +assistance and not as a permanent support, unless the needy one he +helpless; and that it is not given as his right. To accomplish this +end desired by charitable hearts demands an acquaintance with the +persons to be assisted or a study of them, and a great degree of +caution and patience. It is not only unnecessary, but a positive wrong +to give to itinerant beggars. There is no such thing as charity about +a so-called state charity. It is statesmanship to rid the community of +nuisances, to feed the poor and prevent stealing and robbery, but it +should not be called 'a charity.' The paupers take their provision as +their right, feel no gratitude, acquire no ambition, no industry, no +culture. The state almshouse educates the brain and chills the heart. +It fastens a stigma on the child to hinder and curse it for life. Any +institution supported otherwise than by voluntary contribution, or +in the hands of paid public officials, can never have the spirit of +charity nor be correctly called a charity. Boston's public charitable +institutions, so called, are not charities at all; the motive is not +sympathy, but necessity. The money for the support of paupers is not +paid with benevolent intentions by the tax-payers, nor do the inmates +of almshouses so receive it. I have been engaged in gathering +statistics, and have found sixty-three per cent of all persons who +applied for assistance at the various institutions were impostors, +while many were swindlers and professional burglars." + +The sick poor are never turned away from Samaritan Hospital, but those +who are able to pay are requested to do so. Dr. Conwell believes +it would be a wrong to treat such people free, an injustice to +physicians, as well as an encouragement of a wrong spirit in +themselves. The hospital has a number of private rooms in which +patients are received for pay. Many have been furnished by members of +Grace Baptist Church in memory of some loved one "gone before," or by +Sunday School classes or church organizations. + +It may have been the fact that it started in an ordinary house that +gave the Hospital its cheery, homelike atmosphere. It may have been +the spirit of the workers. But its homelike air is noticeable. While +rules are strictly enforced, as they must be, there is a feeling of +personal interest in each patient that makes the sick feel that she is +something more than a "case" or a "number." + +"The lovely Christ spirit," says Dr. Conwell, "which inclines men and +women to care for their unfortunate fellowmen, is especially beautiful +when in addition to the healing of wounds and disease, the afflicted +sufferers are welcomed to such a home as the Samaritan Hospital has +become. All such kind deeds become doubly sweet when done in the name +of Christ, because they carry with them sympathy for those in pain, +love for the loveless, a home for the homeless, friendship for the +friendless, and a divine solace, which are often more than surgical +skill or medical science. Such an institution the Samaritan Hospital +is ever to be. It began in weakness and inexperience, but with +Christian devotion and affection, its founders and supporters have +conquered innumerable difficulties, and can now say unreservedly that +they have a hospital with all the conveniences and all the influences +of a Christian home." + +The hospital was opened February 1, 1892. It did not take long to +prove the need of the work. Before the year was out it was so crowded +that an addition had to be built, and now magnificent buildings stand +adjoining the original "house" as a monument to the untiring work +and zeal of Grace Church members and their friends. It is now an +independent corporation. + +The hospital is fitted with all modern appliances for caring for the +sick. It has a hundred and seventy beds, and a large and competent +staff of physicians numbering many of the best in the city. There is +also a training school for nurses, the original hospital building +being now fitted up and furnished as a nurses' home. More than five +thousand different cases are ministered to during the year in the beds +and dispensary. The annual expense of running the hospital is more +than forty thousand dollars, the value of the property more than three +hundred thousand dollars. + +In addition to the customary weekly visiting days, visitors are +allowed on one evening during the week and on Sunday afternoons. These +rather unusual visiting hours are an innovation of Dr. Conwell's for +the benefit of busy workers who cannot visit their sick friends or +relatives on week days. + +A novel feature of the hospital and one which brings great pleasure to +the patients, is the telephone service connecting it with The Temple, +whereby those who are able, can hear the preaching of the pastor +Sunday morning and evening at the big church farther down Broad +Street. + +One of the most efficient aids in the hospital's growth has been +the Board of Lady Managers. When the hospital was opened in 1892, a +committee of six ladies was appointed by Mr. Conwell to take charge of +the housekeeping affairs, and from this committee has grown this Board +which has done so much to aid the hospital, both by raising money and +looking after its household affairs. + +This committee had entire charge of the house department, visiting it +weekly, inspecting the house, and making suggestions to the trustees +for improving the work in that department. + +The Board is divided into Finance, Visiting, Flower, Linen, Ward +Supplies, House Supplies and Sewing Committee. The chairman of these +committees, together with the five officers, constitute the Executive +Committee, and meet with the trustees at their regular monthly +meetings. + +In addition to paying the housekeeping bills, the board has come many +times to the assistance of the trustees, and by giving entertainments, +holding sales, teas, receptions, has raised large sums of money for +special purposes. In connection with this Board is the Samaritan Aid +Society which annually contributes about three hundred new articles of +clothing and bedding. + +The Board of Trustees is composed of able, experienced business men +who apply their knowledge of business affairs to the conduct of the +hospital. It means a sacrifice of much time on their part, but it is +cheerfully given. + +The hospital is non-sectarian. Suffering and need are the only +requisites for admission. During the past year among those who were +cared for were: + +Catholic 284 +Baptist 134 +Methodist 141 +Episcopalian 112 +Lutheran 97 +Presbyterian 96 +Hebrew 89 +Protestant 54 +Reformed 25 +Friends 12 +Confucianism 5 +Congregational 4 +United Brethren 3 +Evangelist 3 +Christian 2 +Not recorded 60 + ---- + 1141 + +[Illustration: ATTENDING SERVICE IN BED] + +The nativity of the patients showed that nearly all countries were +represented--Russia, Poland, Italy, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Scotland, +England, Germany, Ireland, China, Hungary, Australia, Switzerland, +Jerusalem, Roumania and Armenia. + +Never was the worth of its work better shown than in the terrible Ball +Park accident, which happened in Philadelphia in 1904, when by the +collapsing of the grandstand hundreds were killed and injured. Without +a moment's notice, more than a hundred patients were rushed to the +hospital and cared for. When the wards were filled, cots were placed +in the halls, in the offices, wherever there was room, and the injured +tenderly treated. + +Thus from small beginnings and a great need it has steadily grown, +supported by contributions and upheld by the faithful work of those +who labor for the love of the Master. Sacrifices of time and money +have been freely made for it, for the people who have worked to +support it are few of them rich. It still needs help, for "the poor +ye have always with you." And while there are poor people and sick +people, Samaritan Hospital will always need the help of the more +fortunate to aid it in its great work of relieving pain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE MANNER OF THE MAN + +Boundless Love for Men. Utter Humility. His Simplicity and +Informality. Keen Sense of Humor. His Unconventional Methods of Work. +Power as a Leader. His Tremendous Faith. + + +What of the personality of the man back of all this ceaseless work, +these stupendous undertakings? Much of it can be read in the work +itself. But not all. One must know Dr. Conwell personally to realize +that deep, abiding love of humanity which is the wellspring of his +life and which shows itself in constant and innumerable acts of +thoughtfulness and kindness for the happiness of others. He cannot see +a drunkard on the street without his heart going out in a desire to +help him to a better life. He cannot see a child in tears, but that +he must know the trouble and mend it. From boyhood, it was one of the +strongest traits of his character, and when it clasped hands with a +man's love of Christ, it became the ruling passion of his life. The +woes of humanity touch him deeply. He freely gives himself, his time, +his money to lighten them. But he knows that to do his best, is but +comparatively little. To him it is a pitiful thing that so much of the +world's, misery cannot be relieved because of the lack of money; that +people must starve, must suffer pain and disease, must go without the +education that makes life brighter and happier, simply for the want of +this one thing of so little worth compared with the great things of +life it has the power to withhold or grant. + +One must also be intimately associated with Dr. Conwell to realize the +deep humility that rules his heart, that makes him firmly believe any +man who will trust in God and go ahead in faith can accomplish all +that he himself has done, and more. + +"You do not know what a struggle my life is," he said once to a +friend. "Only God and my own heart know how far short I come of what I +ought to be, and how often I mar the use He would make of me even when +I would serve Him." + +And again, at the Golden Jubilee services, in honor of his fiftieth +birthday, he said publicly what he many times says in private: + +"I look back on the errors of by-gone years; my blunders; my pride; +my self-sufficiency; my willfulness--if God would take me up in my +unworthiness and imperfection and lift me to such a place of happiness +and love as this--I say, He can do it for any man. + +"When I see the blunders I unintentionally make in history, in +mathematics, in names, in rhetoric, in exegesis, and yet see that God +uses even blunders to save men--I sink back into the humblest place +before Him and say, 'If God can use such preaching as that, blunders +and mistakes like these; if He can take them and use them for His +glory, He can use anybody and anything.' I let out the secret of my +life when I tell you this: If I have succeeded at all, it has been +with the conscious sense that as God has used even me, so can He use +others. God saved me and He can save them. My very faults show me, +they teach me, that any person can be helped and saved." + +Speaking of his sermons, which are taken down by a stenographer and +typewritten for publication in the "Temple Review," he said, with +the utmost dejection, "Positively they make me sick. To think that I +should stand up and undertake to preach when I can do no better than +that" + +He has ever that sense of defeat from which all great minds suffer +whose high ideals ever elude them. + +In manner and speech, he is simple and unaffected, and approachable at +all times. When not away from the city lecturing, he spends a certain +part of the day in his study at the church, where any one can see +him on any matter which he may wish to bring to his attention. The +ante-room is thronged at the hour when it is known that he will be +there. People waylay him in the church corridors, and on the streets, +so well known is his kindly heart, his attentive ear, his generous +hand. + +Not only do these visitors invade the church, but they come to his +home. Early in the morning they are there. They await him when he +returns late at night. As an instance of their number, one Saturday +afternoon late in June he had one hour free which he hoped to take for +rest and the preparation of the next morning's sermon. During that one +hour he had six callers, each staying until the next arrived. One of +these was a young man whom Dr. Conwell had never seen, a boy no more +than seventeen or eighteen. He had a few weeks before made a runaway +marriage with a girl still younger than himself. Her parents had +indignantly taken the bride home, and the young husband came to Dr. +Conwell to ask him to seek out these parents and persuade them to let +the child wife return to her husband. + +He has a knack of putting everybody at ease in his presence, which +perhaps accounts for the freedom with which people, even utter +strangers, come to him and pour into his ear their life secrets. This +earnest desire to help people, to make them happier and better, +shines from his life with such force that one feels it immediately on +entering his presence and opens one's heart to him. He helps, advises, +and, because he is so preeminently a man of faith and believes so +firmly that all he has done has been accomplished by faith and +perseverance, he inspires others with like confidence in themselves. +They go away encouraged, hopeful, strengthened for the work that lies +ahead of them, or for the trouble they must surmount It is little +wonder the people throng to him for help. + +His simple, informal view of life is shown in other things. During a +summer vacation in the Berkshires he was scheduled to lecture in one +of the home towns. His old friends and neighbors dearly love to hear +him, and nearly always secure a lecture from him while he is supposed +to be resting. Entirely forgetting the lecture, he planned a fishing +trip that day. Just as the fishing party was ready to start, some one +remembered the lecture. There would not be time to go fishing, +return, dress and go to the lecture town. But Dr. Conwell is a great +fisherman, and he disliked most thoroughly to give up that fishing +trip. He thought about it a few minutes, and then in his informal, +unconventional fashion, decided he would both fish and lecture. He +packed his lecturing apparel in a suit case, tied a tub for the +accommodation of the fish on the back of the wagon and started. All +day he fished, happy and contented. When lecturing time drew near, +rattling and splashing, with a tubful of fish, round-eyed and +astonished at the violent upheavals of their usual calm abiding place, +he drove up to the lecture hall, changed his clothes, and at the +appointed time appeared on the platform and delivered one of the best +lectures that section ever heard. + +Some people call his methods sensational. They are not sensational +in the sense of merely making a noise for the purpose of attracting +attention. They are unconventional. Dr. Conwell pays no attention to +forms if the life has gone out of them, to traditions, if their spirit +is dead, their days of usefulness past. He lives in the present He +sees present needs and adopts methods to fit them. No doubt, many said +it was sensational to tear down that old church at Lexington himself. +But there was no money and the church must come down. The only way to +get it down and a new one built, was to go to work. And he went to +work in straightforward, practical fashion. It takes courage and +strength of mind thus to tear down conventions and forms. But he does +not hesitate if he sees they are blocking the road of progress. This +disregard of customs, this practical common-sense way of attacking +evil or supplying needs is seen in all his church work. And because it +is original and unusual, it brings upon him often, a storm of adverse +criticism. But he never halts for that. He is willing to suffer +misrepresentation, even calumny, if the cause for which he is working, +progresses. He cares nothing for himself. He thinks only of the Master +and the work He has committed to his hands. + +Though the great masses in their ignorance and poverty appeal to him +powerfully and incite him to tremendous undertakings for their relief, +he does not, because his hands are so full of great things, turn +aside from opportunities to help the individual. Indeed, it is this +readiness to answer a personal call for help that has endeared him +so to thousands and thousands. No matter what may he the labor or +inconvenience to himself, he responds instantly when the appeal comes. + +Two men, now members of the church, often tell the incident that led +to their conversion. One evening they fell to discussing Dr. Conwell +with some young friends who were members of the church. The young men +stoutly maintained that "Conwell was like all the rest--in it for the +almighty dollar." The church members as stoutly asserted that he was +actuated by motives far above such sordid consideration. But the +men would not yield their point and the subject was dropped. A few +evenings later, coming out of a saloon at midnight into a blinding +snowstorm, they heard a man say, "My dear child, why did you not tell +me before that you were in need. You know I would not let you suffer." + +"That's Conwell," said one of the young fellows. + +"Nothing of the kind," replied the other. "What's the matter with you? +Catch him out a night like this." + +"But I tell you that was Conwell's voice," said the first man. "I know +it. Let's follow him and see what he's doing." + +Through the thickly falling snow, they could see the tall figure of +Dr. Conwell with a large basket on one arm and leading a little child +by the hand. Keeping a sufficient distance behind, they followed him +to a poor home in a little street, saw him enter, saw the light flash +up and knew that he was living out in deed the doctrine he preached. +Silent, they turned away. What his spoken word in The Temple could not +do his ministry at midnight had accomplished, and they became loyal +and devoted members of the church. + +In conversation with a street car conductor at one time, he found the +man eager to hear of Christ and His love, but unable to give heed on +the car because he might be reported for inattention to his duties and +lose his place. Dr. Conwell asked him where he took dinner, and at the +noon hour was there and, plainly and simply, as the man ate his lunch, +told what Christ's love in his heart and life would mean. + +Such stories could be multiplied many times of this personal ministry +that seeks day and night, in season and out, to make mankind better, +to lift it up where it may grasp eternal truth. + +Francis Willard says: + +"To move among the people on the common street; to meet them in the +market-place on equal terms; to live among them not as saint or monk, +but as a brother man with brother men; to serve God not with form or +ritual, but in the free impulse of the soul; to bear the burden +of society and relieve its needs; to carry on its multitudinous +activities in the city, social, commercial, political, and +philanthropic--this is the religion of the Son of man." This is the +religion of Dr. Conwell. + +As a leader and organizer he is almost without an equal in church +work. He sees a need. His practical mind goes to work to plan ways to +meet it. He organizes the work thoroughly and carefully; he rallies +his workers about him and then leads them dauntlessly forward to +success. He has weathered many a fierce gale of opposition, won out in +many a furious storm of criticism. The greater the obstacles, the more +brightly does his ability as a leader shine. He seems to call up from +some secret storehouse reserves of enthusiasm. He gets everybody +energetically and cheerfully at work, and the obstacles that seemed +insurmountable suddenly melt away. As some one has said, "He attempts +the impossible, yet finds practical ways to accomplish it" + +The way he met an unexpected demand for money during the building of +the church illustrates this: + +The trustees had, as they thought, made provision for the renewal of a +note of $2,000, due Dec. 27th. Late Friday, Dec. 24th, the news came +that the note could not be renewed, that it must be paid Monday. +They had no money, nothing could be done but appeal to the people on +Sunday. + +But it was not a usual Sunday. The Church, just the night before, had +closed a big fair for the College. Many had served at the fair tables +almost until the Sabbath morning was ushered in. They were tired. All +had given money, many even beyond what they could afford. It was, +besides, the day after Christmas, and if ever a man's pocketbook is +empty, it is then. To make the outlook still drearier, the day opened +with a snowstorm that threatened at church time to turn into a +drizzling rain. Here was truly the impossible, for none of the people +at any time could give a large sum. Yet he faced the situation +dauntlessly, aroused his people, and by evening $2,200 had been +pledged for immediate payment, and of that $1,300 was received in cash +that Sunday. + +In a sermon once he said: + +"Last summer I rode by a locality where there had been a mill, now +partially destroyed by a cyclone. I looked at the great engine lying +upon its side. I looked at the wheels, at the boilers so out of place, +thrown carelessly together. I saw pieces of iron the uses of which I +did not understand. I saw iron bands, bearings, braces, and shafting +scattered about, and I found the great circular saw rusting, flat in +the grass. I went on my way wondering why any person should abandon so +many pieces of such excellent machinery, leaving good property to go +to waste. But again, not many weeks ago, I went by that same place and +saw a building there, temporary in its nature, but with smoke pouring +out of the stack and steam hissing and puffing from the exhaust pipe. +I heard the sound of the great saw singing its song of industry; I saw +the teamsters hauling away great loads of lumber. The only difference +between the apparently useless old lumber and scrap iron, piled +together in promiscuous confusion, machinery thrown into a heap +without the arrangement, and the new building with its powerful engine +working smoothly and swiftly for the comfort and wealth of men, +was that before the rebuilding, the wheels, the saw, the shafting, +boilers, piston-rod, and fly wheel had no definite relation to each +other. But some man picked out all these features of a complete mill +and put them into proper relation; he adjusted shaft, boiler, and +cogwheel, put water in the boiler and fire under it, let steam into +the cylinders, and moved piston-rod, wheels, and saw. There were no +new cogs, wheels, boilers, or saws; no new piece of machinery; there +has only been an intelligent spirit found to set them in their proper +places and relationship. + +"One great difficulty with this world, whether of the entire globe or +the individual church, is that it is made up of all sorts of machinery +which is not adjusted; which is out of place; no fire under the +boiler; no steam to move the machinery. There is none of the necessary +relationship--there can he no affinity between cold and steam, +between power wasted and utility; and to overcome this difficulty is +one of the great problems of the earth to-day. The churches are very +much in this condition. There are cogwheels, pulleys, belting, and +engines in the church, but out of all useful relationship. There are +sincere, earnest Christians, men and women, but they are adjusted +to no power and no purpose; they have no definite relationship to +utility. They go or come, or lie still and rust, and a vast power for +good is unapplied. The text says "We are ambassadors for Christ"; that +means, in the clearest terms, the greatest object of the Christian +teacher and worker should be the bringing into right relations all the +forces of men, and gearing them to the power of Christ" + +He undoubtedly understands bringing men together, and getting them +at work to secure almost marvelous results. A friend speaking of his +ability once said: "I admire Mr. Conwell for the power of which he is +possessed of reaching out and getting hold of men and grappling them +to himself with hooks of steel. + +"I admire him not only for the power he has of binding men not only +to himself, but of binding men to Christ, and of binding them to one +another; for the power he has of generating enthusiasm. His people +are bound not only to the church, to the pastor, to God, but to one +another." + +He never fails to appreciate the spirit with which a church member +works, even if results are not always as anticipated, or even if the +project itself is not always practical. He will cheerfully put his +hand down into his pocket and pay the bill for some impractical +scheme, rather than dampen the ardor of an enthusiastic worker. He +knows that experience will come with practice, but that a willing, +zealous worker is above price. + +Those who know him most intimately find in him, despite his strong, +practical common sense, despite his years of hard work in the world, +despite the many times he has been deceived and imposed upon, a +certain boyish simplicity and guilelessness of heart, a touch of the +poetic, idealistic temperament that sees gold where there is only +brass; that hopes and believes, where reason for hope and belief +there is none. It is a winning trait that endears friends to him +most closely, that makes them cheerfully overlook such imprudent +benefactions as may result from it, though he himself holds it with +a strong rein, and only reveals that side of his nature to those who +know him best. + +He studies constantly how he may help others, never how he may rest +himself. At his old home at South Worthington, Mass., he has built and +equipped an academy for the education of the boys and girls of the +neighborhood. He wants no boy or girl of his home locality to have +the bitter fight for an education that he was forced to experience. +It is a commodious building with class-rooms and a large public hall +which is used for entertainments, for prayer meetings, harvest homes +and all the gatherings of the nearby farming community. + +Many other enterprises besides those directly connected with the +church grow out of Dr. Conwell's desire to be of service to mankind. +But like the organizations of the church, the need for them was +strongly felt before they took form. + +While officiating at the funeral of a fireman who had lost his life by +the falling walls of a burning building and who had left three small +children uncared for, Dr. Conwell was impressed with the need of a +home for the orphans of men who risked their lives for the city's +good. Pondering the subject, he was called that same day to the +bedside of a shut-in, who, while he was there, asked him if there was +any way by which she could be of service to helpless children left +without paternal care or support. She said the subject had been on her +mind and such a work was dear to her heart. She was a gifted writer +and wielded considerable influence and could, by her pen, do much good +for such a work, not only by her writings but by personal letters +asking for contributions to establish and support an orphanage. The +coincidence impressed the matter still more strongly on Dr. Conwell's +mind. But that was not the end of it. Still that same day, a lady came +to him and asked his assistance in securing for her a position as +matron of an orphanage; and a woman physician came to his study +and offered her services free, to care for orphan children in an +institution for them. + +Such direct leading was not to be withstood. Dr. Conwell called on a +former chief of police and asked his opinion as to an orphanage for +the children of fireman and policeman. The policeman welcomed the +project heartily, said he had long been thinking of that very problem, +and that if it were started by a responsible person, several thousand +dollars would be given by the policeman for its support. Still +wondering if he should take such leadings as indications of a definite +need, Dr. Conwell went to his study, called in some of his church +advisers and talked the matter over. Nothing at that meeting was +definitely settled, because some work interrupted it and those present +dispersed for other duties. But as they disbanded and Dr. Conwell +opened his mail, a check fell out for $75 from Rev. Chas. M. Sheldon, +which he said in the letter accompanying it, he desired to give toward +a movement for helping needy children. + +Dr. Conwell no longer hesitated, and the Philadelphia Orphans' Home +Society, of which he is president, was organized, and has done a good +work in caring for helpless little ones, giving its whole effort to +securing permanent homes for the children and their adoption into +lonely families. + +Although most of the money from his lectures goes to Temple College, +he uses a portion of it to support poor students elsewhere. He has +paid for the education of 1,550 college students besides contributing +partly to the education of hundreds of others. In fact, all the money +he makes, outside of what is required for immediate needs of his +family, is given away. He cares so little for money for himself, his +wants are so few and simple, that he seldom pays any attention as to +whether he has enough with him for personal use. He found once when +starting to lecture in New Jersey that after he had bought his ticket +he hadn't a cent left. Thinking, however, he would be paid when the +lecture was over, he went on. But the lecture committee told him they +would send a check. Having no money to pay a hotel bill, he took the +train back. Reaching Philadelphia after midnight he boarded a trolley +and told the conductor who he was and his predicament, offering to +send the man the money for his fare next day. But the conductor was +not to be fooled, said he didn't know Dr. Conwell from Adam, and +put him off. And Dr. Conwell walked twenty long blocks to his home, +chuckling all the way at the humor of the situation. + +He has a keen sense of humor, as his audiences know. Though the +spiritual side of his nature is so intense, his love of fun and +appreciation of the humorous relieves him from being solemn or +sanctimonious. He is sunny, cheerful, ever ready at a chance meeting +with a smile or a joke. Children, who as a rule look upon a minister +as a man enshrouded in solemn dignity, are delightfully surprised to +find in him a jolly, fun-loving comrade, a fact which has much to do +with the number of young people who throng Grace church and enter its +membership. + +The closeness of his walk with God is shown in his unbounded faith, +in the implicit reliance he has in the power of prayer. Though to the +world he attacks the problems confronting him with shrewd, practical +business sense, behind and underneath this, and greater than it all, +is the earnestness with which he first seeks to know the will of God +and the sincerity with which he consecrates himself to the work. +Christ is to him a very near personal friend, in very truth an Elder +Brother to whom he constantly goes for guidance and help, Whose will +he wants to do solely, in the current of Whose purpose he wants to +move. "Men who intend to serve the Lord should consecrate themselves +in heart-searching and prayer," he has said many and many a time. And +of prayer itself he says: + +"There is planted in every human heart this knowledge, namely, that +there is a power beyond our reach, a mysterious potency shaping the +forces of life, which if we would win we must have in our favor. There +come to us all, events over which we have no control by physical or +mental power. Is there any hope of guiding those mysterious forces? +Yes, friends, there is a way of securing them in our favor or +preventing them from going against us. How? It is by prayer. When a +man has done all he can do, still there is a mighty, mysterious agency +over which he needs influence to secure success. The only way he can +reach that is by prayer." + +He has good reason to believe in the power of prayer, for the answers +he has received in some cases have seemed almost miraculous. + +When The Temple was being built, Dr. Conwell proposed that the new +pipe organ be put in to be ready for the opening service. But the +church felt it would be unwise to assume such an extra burden of debt +and voted against it. Dr. Conwell felt persuaded that the organ ought +to go in, and spent one whole night in The Temple in prayer for +guidance. As the result, he decided that the organ should be built. +The contract was given, the first payment made, but when in a few +months a note of $1,500 came due, there was not a cent in the treasury +to meet it. He knew it would be a most disastrous blow to the church +interests, with such a vast building project started, to have that +note go to protest. Yet he couldn't ask the membership to raise the +money since it had voted against building the organ at that time. +Disheartened, full of gloomy foreboding, he came Sunday morning to the +church to preach. The money must be ready next morning, yet he knew +not which way to turn. He felt he had been acting in accordance with +God's will, for the decision had been made after a night of earnest +prayer. Yet here stood a wall of Jericho before him and no divine +direction came as to how to make it fall. As he entered his study, his +private secretary handed him a letter. He opened it, and out fell a +check for $1,500 from an unknown man in Massillon, Ohio, who had once +heard Dr. Conwell lecture and felt strangely impelled to send him +$1,500 to use in The Temple work. Dr. Conwell prayed and rejoiced in +an ecstasy of gratitude. Three times he broke down during the sermon. +His people wondered what was the matter, but said he had never +preached more powerfully. + +He is a man of prayer and a man of work. Loving, great-hearted, +unselfish, cheery, practical, hard-working, he yet draws his greatest +inspiration from that silent inner communion with the Master he serves +with such single-hearted, unfaltering devotion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE MANNER OF THE MESSAGE + +The Style of the Sermons. Their Subject Matter. Preaching to Help Some +Individual Church Member. + + +In the pulpit, Dr. Conwell is as simple and natural as he is in his +study or in the home. Every part of the service is rendered with the +heart, as well as the understanding. His reading of a chapter from the +Bible is a sermon in itself. The vast congregation follow it with as +close attention as they do the sermon. He seems to make every verse +alive, to send it with new meaning into each heart. The people in it +are real people, who have lived and suffered, who had all the hopes +and fears of men and women of to-day. Often little explanations are +dropped or timely, practical applications, and when it is over, if +that were all of the service one would be repaid for attending. + +The hymns, too, are read with feeling and life. If a verse expresses a +sentiment contrary to the church feeling, it is not sung. He will not +have sung what is not worthy of belief. + +The sermons are full of homely, practical illustrations, drawn from +the experiences of everyday life. Dr. Conwell announces his text and +begins quite simply, sometimes with a little story to illustrate his +thought. If Bible characters take any part in it, he makes them real +men and women. He pictures them so graphically, the audience sees +them, hears them talk, knows what they thought, how they lived. In a +word, each hearer feels as if he had met them personally. Never again +are they mere names. They are living, breathing men and women. + +Dr. Conwell makes his sermons human because he touches life, the +life of the past, the life of the present, the lives of those in his +audience. He makes them interesting by his word pictures. He holds +attention by the dramatic interest he infuses into the theme. He has +been called the "Story-telling Preacher" because his sermons are so +full of anecdote and illustrations. But every story not only points +a moral, but is full of the interest that fastens it on the hearer's +mind. Children in their teens enjoy his sermons, so vivid are they, so +full of human, every day interest. Yet all this is but the framework +on which is reared some helpful, inspiring Biblical truth which is +the crown, the climax, and which because of its careful upbuilding by +story and homely illustration is fixed on the hearer's mind and heart +in a way never to be forgotten. It is held there by the simple things +of life he sees about him every day, and which, every time he sees +them, recall the truth he has heard preached. Dr. Thomas May Pierce, +speaking of Dr. Conwell's method of preaching, says: + +"Spurgeon sought the masses and found them by preaching the gospel +with homely illustrations; Russell H. Conwell comes to Philadelphia, +he seeks out the masses, he finds them with his plain presentation of +the old, old story." + +Occasionally he paints word pictures that hold the audience +enthralled, or when some great wrong stirs him, rises to heights of +impassioned oratory that bring his audience to tears. He never writes +out his sermons. Indeed, often he has no time to give them any +preparation whatever. Sometimes he does not choose his text until he +comes on the platform. Nobody regrets more than Dr. Conwell this lack +of preparation, but so many duties press, every minute has so many +burdens of work, that it is impossible at times to crowd in a thought +for the sermon. It is left for the inspiration of the moment. "I +preach poor sermons that other men may preach good ones," he remarked +once, meaning that so much of his time was taken up with church work +and lecturing that he has little to give his sermons, and almost all +of the fees from his lectures are devoted to the education of men for +the ministry. + +His one purpose in his sermons is to bring Christ into the lives of +his people, to bring them some message from the word of God that will +do them good, make them better, lift them up spiritually to a higher +plane. His people know he comes to them with this strong desire in his +heart and they attend the services feeling confident that even though +he is poorly prepared, they will nevertheless get practical and +spiritual help for the week. + +When he knows that some one member is struggling with a special +problem either in business, in the home circle, in his spiritual life, +he endeavors to weave into his sermon something that will help him, +knowing that no heart is alone in its sorrow, that the burden one +bears, others carry, and what will reach one will carry a message or +cheer to many. + +"During the building of The Temple," says Smith in his interesting +life of Dr. Conwell, "a devoted member, who was in the bookbinding +business, walked to his office every morning and put his car-fare into +the building fund. Dr. Conwell made note of the sacrifice, and asked +himself the question, 'How can I help that man to be more prosperous?' +He kept him in mind, and while on a lecturing trip he visited a town +where improved machines for bookbinding were employed. He called at +the establishment and found out all he could about the new machines. +The next Sunday morning, he used the new bookbinder as an illustration +of some Scriptural truth. The result was, the church member secured +the machines of which his pastor had spoken, and increased his income +many-fold. The largest sum of money given to the building of the new +Temple was given by that same bookbinder. + +"A certain lady made soap for a fair held in the Lower Temple. Dr. +Conwell advised her to go into the soap-making business. She hesitated +to take his advice. He visited a well known soap factory, and in one +of his sermons described the most improved methods of soap-making as +an illustration of some improved method of Christian work. Hearing the +illustration used from the pulpit, the lady in question acted on the +pastor's previous advice, and started her nephew in the soap business, +in which he has prospered. + +"A certain blacksmith in Philadelphia who was a member of Grace +Church, but who lived in another part of the city, was advised by Dr. +Conwell to start a mission in his neighborhood. The mechanic pleaded +ignorance and his inability to acquire sufficient education to enable +him to do any kind of Christian work. On Sunday morning Dr. Conwell +wove into his sermon an historical sketch of Elihu Burritt, that poor +boy with meagre school advantages, who bound out to a blacksmith, at +the age of sixteen, and compelled to associate with the ignorant, yet +learned thirty-three languages, became a scholar and an orator of +fame. The hesitating blacksmith, encouraged by the example of Elihu +Burritt, took courage and went to work. He founded the mission which +soon grew into the Tioga Baptist Church." + +In addition to helping his own church members, this method of +preaching had other results. Smith gives the following instance: + +"A few years ago the pastor of a small country church in Massachusetts +resolved to try Dr. Conwell's method of imparting useful information +through his illustrations, and teaching the people what they needed +to know. Acting on Dr. Conwell's advice, he studied agricultural +chemistry, dairy farming, and household economy. He did not become +a sensationalist and advertise to preach on these subjects, but he +brought in many helpful illustrations which the people recognized as +valuable, and soon the meeting-house was filled with eager listeners. +After careful study the minister became convinced that the farmers on +those old worn-out farms in Western Massachusetts should go into the +dairy business, and feed their cows on ensilage through the long New +England winter. One bright morning he preached a sermon on 'Leaven,' +and incidentally used a silo as an illustration. The preacher did not +sacrifice his sermon to his illustration, but taught a great truth +and set the farmers to thinking along a new line. As a result of that +sermon one poor farmer built a silo and filled it with green corn in +the autumn; his cows relished the new food and repaid him splendidly +with milk. That farmer Is the richest man In the country to-day. This +is only one of a great many ways in which that practical preacher +helped his poor, struggling parishioners by using the Conwell method. +What was the spiritual result of such preaching among the country +people? He had a great, wide, and deep revival of religion, the first +the church had enjoyed for twenty-five years." + +Thus Dr. Conwell weaves practical sense and spiritual truths together +in a way that helps people for the span of life they live in this +world, for the eternal life beyond. He never forgets the soul and its +needs. That is his foremost thought. But he recognizes also that there +is a body and that it lives in a practical world. And whenever and +wherever he can help practically, as well as spiritually, he does it, +realizing that the world needs Christians who have the means as well +as the spirit to carry forward Christ's work. + +Speaking of his methods of preaching, Rev. Albert G. Lawson, D.D., +says: + +"He has been blessed in his ministry because of three things: He has a +democratic, philosophic, philanthropic bee in his bonnet, a big one, +too, and he has attempted to bring us to see that churches mean +something beside fine houses and good music. There must be a +recognition of the fact that when a man is lost, he is lost in body as +well as in soul One needs, therefore, as our Lord would, to begin at +the foundations, the building anew of the mind with the body; and +I bless God for the democratic, and the philosophic, and the +philanthropic idea which is manifest in this strong church. I hope +there will be enough power in it to make every Baptist minister sick +until he tries to occupy the same field that Jesus Christ did in his +life and ministry; until every one of the churches shall recognize the +privilege of having Jesus Christ reshaped in the men and women near +them." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THESE BUSY LATER DAYS + +A Typical Week Day. A Typical Sunday. Mrs. Conwell. Back to the +Berkshires in Summer for Rest. + + +By the record of what Dr. Conwell has accomplished may be judged how +busy are his days. + +In early youth he learned to use his time to the best advantage. +Studying and working on the farm, working and studying at Wilbraham +and Yale, told him how precious is each minute. Work he must when he +wanted to study. Study he must when he needed to work. Every minute +became as carefully treasured as though it were a miser's gold. But it +was excellent training for the busy later days when work would press +from all sides until it was distraction to know what to do first. + +"Do the next thing," is the advice he gives his college students. It +is undoubtedly a saving of time to take the work that lies immediately +at hand and despatch it. But when the hand is surrounded by work in a +score of important forms, all clamoring for recognition, what is "the +next thing" becomes a question difficult to decide. + +Then it is that one must plan as carefully to use one's minutes as he +does to expend one's income when expenses outrun it. + +His private secretary gave the following account, in the "Temple +Magazine," of a week day and a Sunday in Dr. Conwell's life: + +"No two days are alike in his work, and he has no specified hour for +definite classes of calls or kinds of work. + +"After breakfast he goes to his office in The Temple. Here visitors +from half a dozen to twenty await him, representing a great variety of +needs or business. + +"Visitors wait their turn in the ante-room of his study and are +received by him in the order of their arrival. The importance of +business, rank or social position of the caller does not interfere +with this order. + +[Illustration: THE CHORUS OF THE BAPTIST TEMPLE] + +"Throughout the whole day in the street, at the church, at the +College, wherever he goes, he is beset by persons urging him for +money, free lectures, to write introductions to all sorts of books, +for sermons, or to take up collections for indigent individuals or +churches. Letters reach him even from Canada, asking him to take care +of some aunt, uncle, runaway son, or needy family, in Philadelphia. +Sometimes for days together he does not secure five minutes to attend +to his correspondence. Personal letters which he must answer himself +often wait for weeks before he can attend to them, although he +endeavors, as a rule, to answer important letters on the day they +are received. People call to request him to deliver addresses at +the dedication of churches, schoolhouses, colleges, flag-raisings, +commencements, and anniversaries, re-unions, political meetings, and +all manner of reform movements. Authors urge him to read their work in +manuscript; orators without orations write to him and come to him for +address or sermon; applications flow in for letters of introduction +highly recommending entire strangers for anything they want. Agents +for books come to him for endorsements, with religious newspapers for +subscriptions and articles, and with patent medicines urging him to be +'cured with one bottle.' + +"It is well known that he was a lawyer before entering the ministry, +and orphans, guardians, widows, and young men entering business come +to him asking him to make wills, contracts, etc., and to give them +points of law concerning their undertakings. Weddings and funerals +claim his attention. Urgent messages to visit the sick and the dying +and the unfortunate come to him, and these appeals are answered first +either by himself or the associate pastor; the cries of the suffering +making the most eloquent of all appeals to these two busy men." + +Frequently he comes to the church again in the afternoon to meet +some one by appointment. Both afternoon and evening are crowded with +engagements to see people, to make addresses, to attend special +meetings of various kinds, with College and Hospital duties. + +"I am expected to preside at six different meetings to-night," he said +smilingly to a friend at The Temple one evening as the membership +began to stream in to look after its different lines of work. + +Much, of the time during the winter he is away lecturing, but he keeps +in constant communication with The Temple and its work. By letter, +wire or telephone he is ready to respond to any emergency requiring +his advice or suggestion. These lecture trips carry him all over the +country, but they are so carefully planned that with rare exceptions +he is in the pulpit Sunday morning. Frequently, when returning, he +wires for his secretary to meet him part way, if from the West, at +Harrisburg or Altoona; if from the South, at Washington or beyond. The +secretary brings the mail and the remaining hours of the journey are +filled with work, dictating letters, articles for magazines or press, +possibly material for a book, whatever work most presses. + +Pastoral calls in the usual sense of the term cannot be made in a +membership of more than three thousand. But visits to the sick, to +the poor, to the dying, are paid whenever the call comes. To help and +console the afflicted, to point the way to Christ, is the work nearest +and dearest to Dr. Conwell's heart and always comes first. Funerals, +too, claim a large part of the pastor's time, seven in one day among +the Grace Church membership calling for the services of both Dr. +Conwell and his associate. Weddings are not an unimportant feature, +six having been one day's record at The Temple. + +Of his Sundays, his secretary says: + +"From the time of rising until half-past eight, he gives special +attention to the subject of the morning sermon, and usually selects +his text and general line of thought before sitting down to breakfast. +After family prayers, he spends half an hour in his study, at home, +examining books and authorities in the completion of his sermon. +Sometimes he is unable to select a text until reaching The Temple. He +has, though rarely, made his selection after taking his place at the +pulpit. + +"At nine-thirty, he is always promptly in his place at the opening of +the Young Men's prayer-meeting or at the Women's prayer-meeting in the +Lower Temple. At the Young Men's meeting he plays the organ and leads +the singing. If he takes any other part in the meeting he is very +brief, in talk or prayer. + +"At half-past ten he goes directly to the Upper Temple, where as a +rule he conducts all the exercises with the exception of the 'notices' +and a prayer offered by the associate pastor, or in his absence at an +overflow service in the Lower Temple, by the dean of the College or +chaplain of the Hospital. The pastor meets the candidates for +baptism in his study before service, for conference and prayer. In +administering the ordinance, he is assisted by the associate pastor, +who leads the candidates into the baptistry. + +"The pastor reads the hymns. It is his custom to preach without +any notes whatever; rarely, a scrap of paper may lie on the desk +containing memoranda or suggestions of leading thoughts, but +frequently even when this is the case the notes are ignored. + +"A prominent--possibly the prevailing--idea in the preparation of his +sermons is the need of individuals in his congregation. He aims to +say those things which will be the most helpful and inspiring to the +unconverted seeking Christ, or to the Christian desiring to lead a +nobler spiritual life. It may be said of nearly all his illustrations +that they present such a variety of spiritual teaching that different +persons will catch from them different suggestions adapted to needs of +each. + +"The morning service closes promptly at twelve o'clock; then follows +an informal reception for thirty minutes or it may be an hour, for +hundreds, sometimes a thousand and more, many of them visitors from +other cities and states, press forward to shake hands with him. This, +Dr. Conwell considers an important part of his church work, giving him +an opportunity to meet many of the church members and extend personal +greetings to those whom he would have no possible opportunity to visit +in their homes. + +"He dines at one o'clock. At two, he is in The Temple; again he +receives more callers, and if possible makes some preparation for +services of the afternoon, in connection with the Sunday-school work. +At two-thirty, he is present at the opening of the Junior department +of the Sunday-school in the Lower Temple, where he takes great +interest in the singing, which is a special feature of that +department. At three o'clock, he appears promptly on the platform in +the auditorium where the Adult department of the Sunday-school meets, +gives a short exposition of the lesson for the day, and answers from +the Question Box. These cover a great variety of subjects, from the +absurdity of some crack-brained crank to the pathetic appeal of some +needy soul. Some of these questions may be sent in by mail during the +week, but the greater part of them are handed to the pastor by the +ushers. To secure an answer the question must be upon some subject +connected with religious life or experience, some theme of Christian +ethics in everyday life. + +"When the questions are answered, the pastor returns to the Lower +Temple, going to the Junior, Intermediate, or Kindergarten department +to assist in the closing exercises. At the close of the Sunday-school +session, teachers and scholars surround him, seeking information or +advice concerning the school work, their Christian experience or +perhaps to tell him their desire to unite with the church.[A] + +[Footnote A: Lately (1905), however, he has had to give up much of +this Sunday-school work on account of the need of rest.] + +"As a rule, he leaves The Temple at five o'clock If he finds no +visitors with appeals for counsel or assistance waiting for him at his +home, he lies down for half an hour. Usually the visitors are there, +and his half-hour rest is postponed until after the evening service. + +"Supper at five-thirty, after which he goes to his study to prepare +for the evening service, selecting his subject and looking up such +references as he thinks may be useful. At seven-fifteen, he is in The +Temple again, often visiting for a few moments one of the Christian +Endeavor societies, several of which are at that time in session in +the Lower Temple. At half-past seven the general service is held in +the auditorium. The evening sermon is published weekly in the "Temple +Review." He gives all portions of this service full attention. + +"At nine o'clock this service closes, and the pastor goes once more +to the Lower Temple, where both congregations, the 'main' and the +'overflow' unite, so far as is possible, in a union prayer service. +The hall of the Lower Temple and the rooms connected with it are +always overcrowded at this service meeting, and many are unable to +get within hearing of the speakers on the platform. Here Dr. Conwell +presides at the organ and has general direction of the evangelistic +services, assisted by the associate pastor. As enquirers rise for +prayers,--the prayers of God's people,--Dr. Conwell makes note of each +one, and to their great surprise recognizes them when he meets them on +the street or at another service, long afterward. This union meeting +is followed by another general reception especially intended for a few +words of personal conversation with those who have risen for prayer +and with strangers who are brought forward and introduced by members +of the church. This is the most fatiguing part of the day's work and +occupies from one hour to an hour and a half. He reaches home about +eleven o'clock and before retiring makes a careful memoranda of such +people as have requested him to pray for them, and such other matters +as may require his attention during the week. He seldom gets to bed +much before midnight." + +In all the crowd and pressure of work, he is ably assisted by Mrs. +Conwell. In the early days of his ministry at Grace Church she was +his private secretary, but as the work grew for both of them, she was +compelled to give this up. + +She enters into all her husband's work and plans with cheery, helpful +enthusiasm. Yet her hands are full of her own special church work, for +she is a most important member of the various working associations of +the church, college and hospital. For many years she was treasurer of +the large annual fairs of The Temple, as well as being at the head of +a number of large teas and fairs held for the benefit of Samaritan +Hospital. In addition to all this church and charitable work, she +makes the home a happy centre of the brightest social life and a +quiet, well-ordered retreat for the tired preacher and lecturer when +he needs rest. + +A writer in "The Ladies' Home Journal," in a series of articles on +"Wives of Famous Pastors," says of Mrs. Conwell: + +"Mrs. Conwell finds her greatest happiness in her husband's work, and +gives him always her sympathy and devotion. She passes many hours at +work by his side when he is unable to notice her by word or look; she +knows he delights In her presence, for he often says when writing, 'I +can do better if you remain.' Her whole life is wrapped up in the work +of The Temple, and all those multitudinous enterprises connected with +that most successful of churches. + +"She makes an ideal wife for a pastor whose work is varied and whose +time is as interrupted as are Mr. Conwell's work and time. On her +husband's lecture tours she looks well after his comfort, seeing to +those things which a busy and earnest man is almost sure to overlook +and neglect. In all things he finds her his helpmeet and caretaker." + +From this busy life the family escape in summer to Dr. Conwell's +boyhood home in the Berkshires. Here amid the hills he loves, with the +brook of his boyhood days again singing him to sleep, he rests and +recuperates for the coming winter's campaign. + +The little farmhouse is vastly changed since those early days. Many +additions have been made, modern improvements added, spacious porches +surround it on all sides, and a green, velvety lawn dotted with +shrubbery and flowers has replaced the rocks and stones, the sparse +grass of fifty years ago. If Martin and Miranda Conwell could return +and see the little house now with its artistic furnishings, its walls +hung with pictures from those very lands the mother read her boy +about, they would think miracles had indeed come to pass. + +In front of the house where once flashed a little brook that "set the +silences to rhyme" is now a silvery lake framed in rich green foliage. +Up in the hill where swayed the old hemlock with the eagle's nest for +a crown rises an observatory. From the top one gazes in summer into a +billowy sea of green in which the spire of the Methodist church rises +like a far distant white sail. + +It is a happy family that gathers in the old homestead during the +summer days. His daughter, now Mrs. Tuttle, comes with her children, +Mr. Turtle, who is a civil engineer, joining them when his work +permits. Dr. Conwell's son Leon, proprietor and editor of the +Somerville (Mass.) "Journal," with his wife and child, always spend as +much of the summer there as possible. One vacant chair there is in the +happy family circle. Agnes, the only child of Dr. and Mrs. Conwell, +died in 1901, in her twenty-sixth year. She was the wife of Alfred +Barker. A remarkably bright and gifted girl, clever with her pen, +charming in her personality, an enthusiastic and successful worker in +the many interests of church, college and hospital, her death was a +sad loss to her family and friends. + +Not only the beauty of the place but the associations bring rest and +peace to the tired spirit of the busy preacher and lecturer, and he +returns to his work refreshed, ready to take up with rekindled energy +and enthusiasm the tasks awaiting him. + +Thus his busy life goes on, full of unceasing work for the good of +others. Over his bed hangs a gold sheathed sword which to him is a +daily inspiration to do some deed worthy of the sacrifice which it +typifies. "I look at it each morning," said Dr. Conwell to a friend, +"and pray for help to do something that day to make my life worthy of +such a sacrifice." And each, day he prays the prayer his father prayed +for him in boyhood days, "May no person be the worse because I have +lived this day, but may some one be the better." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +AS A LECTURER + +His Wide Fame as a Lecturer. Date of Entrance on Lecture Platform. +Number of Lectures Given. The Press on His Lectures. Some Instances of +How His Lectures Have Helped People. Address at Banquet to President +McKinley. + + +In the maze of this church, college and hospital work, Dr. Conwell +finds time to lecture from one hundred to two hundred and twenty-five +times in a year. Indeed, he frequently leaves Philadelphia at midnight +after a Sunday of hard work, travels and lectures as far as Kansas and +is back again for Friday evening prayer meeting and for his duties the +following Sunday. + +As a lecturer, he is probably known to a greater number of people +than he is as a preacher, for his lecturing trips take him from the +Atlantic to the Pacific. Since he began, he has delivered more than +six thousand lectures. + +He has been on the lecture platform since the year 1862, giving on +an average of two hundred lectures in a year. In addition, he has +addressed many of the largest conventions in America and preaches +weekly to an audience of more than three thousand. So that he has +undoubtedly addressed more people in America than any man living. He +is to-day one of the most eminent and most popular figures on the +lecture platform of this country, the last of the galaxy of such men +as Gough, Beecher, Chapin. "There are but ten real American lecturers +on the American platform to-day," says "Leslie's Weekly." "Russell +Conwell is one of the ten and probably the most eminent." + +His lectures, like his sermons, are full of practical help and good +sense. They are profusely illustrated with anecdote and story that +fasten the thought of his subject. He uses no notes, and gives his +lecture little thought during the day. Indeed, he often does not know +the subject until he hears the chairman announce it. If the lecture is +new or one that he has not given for many years, he occasionally has a +few notes or a brief outline before him. But usually he is so full +of the subject, ideas and illustrations so crowd his mind that he is +troubled with the wealth, rather than the dearth, of material. He +rarely gives a lecture twice alike. The main thought, of course, is +the same. But new experiences suggest new illustrations, and so, no +matter how many times one hears it, he always hears something new. +"That's the third time I've heard Acres of Diamonds," said one +delighted auditor, "and every time it grows better." + +Perhaps the best idea of his lectures can be gleaned from the press +notices that have appeared, though he never keeps a press notice +himself, nor pays any attention to the compliments that may have been +paid him. These that have been collected at random by friends by no +means cover the field of what has been said or written about him. + +Speaking of a lecture in 1870, when he toured England, the London +"Telegraph" says: + +"The man is weirdly like his native hills. You can hear the cascades +and the trickling streams in his tone of voice. He has a strange and +unconscious power of so modulating his voice as to suggest the roar of +the tempest in rocky declivities, or the soft echo of music in distant +valleys. The breezy freshness and natural suggestiveness of varied +nature in its wild state was completely fascinating. He excelled in +description, and the auditor could almost hear the Niagara roll as he +described it, and listened to catch the sound of sighing pines in his +voice as he told of the Carolinas." + +"The lecture was wonderful in clearness, powerful, and eloquent in +delivery," says the London "News." "The speaker made the past a living +present, and led the audience, unconscious of time, with him in his +walks and talks with famous men. When engrossed in his lecture his +facial expression is a study. His countenance conveys more quickly +than his words the thought which he is elucidating, and when he refers +to his Maker, his face takes on an expression indescribable for its +purity. He seems to hold the people as children stare at brilliant and +startling pictures." + +"It is of no use to try to report Conwell's lectures," is the verdict +of the Springfield "Union." "They are unique. Unlike anything or any +one else. Filled with good sense, brilliant with new suggestions, and +inspiring always to noble life and deeds, they always please with +their wit. The reader of his addresses does not know the full power of +the man." + +"His stories are always singularly adapted to the lecturer's purpose. +Each story is mirth-provoking. The audience chuckled, shook, swayed, +and roared with convulsions of laughter," says the "London Times." "He +has been in the lecture field but a few years, yet he has already made +a place beside such men as Phillips, Beecher, and Chapin." + +"The only lecturer in America," concludes the Philadelphia "Times," +"who can fill a hall in this city with three thousand people at a +dollar a ticket." + +The most popular of all his lectures is "Acres of Diamonds," which he +has given 3,420 times, which is printed, in part, at the end of the +book. But his list of lectures is a long one, including: + + "The Philosophy of History." + "Men of the Mountains." + "The Old and the New New England." + "My Fallen Comrades." + "The Dust of Our Battlefields." + "Was it a Ghost Story?" + "The Unfortunate Chinese." + "Three Scenes in Babylon." + "Three Scenes from the Mount of Olives." + "Americans in Europe." + "General Grant's Empire." + "Princess Elizabeth." + "Guides." + "Success in Life." + "The Undiscovered." + "The Silver Crown, or Born a King." + "Heroism of a Private Life." + "The Jolly Earthquake." + "Heroes and Heroines." + "Garibaldi, or the Power of Blind Faith." + "The Angel's Lily." + "The Life of Columbus." + "Five Million Dollars for the Face of the Moon." + "Henry Ward Beecher." + "That Horrid Turk." + "Cuba's Appeal to the United States." + "Anita, the Feminine Torch." + "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women." + +His lecturing tours now are confined to the United States, as his +church duties will not permit him to go farther afield, but so wide is +his fame that a few years ago he declined an offer of $39,000 for a +six months' engagement In Australia. This year (1905) he received an +offer of $50,000 for two hundred lectures in Australia and England. + +He lectures, as he preaches, with the earnest desire ever uppermost +to help some one. He never goes to a lecture engagement without a +definite prayer to God that his words may be so directed as to do some +good to the community or to some individual. When he has delivered +"Acres of Diamonds," he frequently leaves a sum of money with the +editor of the leading paper in the town to be given as a prize for any +one who advances the most practical idea for using waste forces in the +neighborhood. In one Vermont town where he had lectured, the money was +won by a young man who after a careful study of the products of +the neighborhood, said he believed the lumber of that section was +especially adapted to the making of coffins. A sum of $2,000 was +raised, the water power harnessed and a factory started. + +A man in Michigan who was on the verge of bankruptcy, having lost +heavily in real estate speculation, heard "Acres of Diamonds," and +started in, as the lecture advises, right at home to rebuild his +fortunes. Instead of giving up, he began the same business again, +fought a plucky fight and is now president of the bank and a leading +financier of the town. + +A poor farmer of Western Massachusetts, finding it impossible to +make a living on his stony place, had made up his mind to move and +advertised his farm for sale. He heard "Acres of Diamonds," took to +heart its lessons. "Raise what the people about you need," it said to +him. He went into the small fruit business and is now a rich man. + +The man who invented the turnout and switch system for electric cars +received his suggestion from "Acres of Diamonds." + +A baker heard "Acres of Diamonds," got an idea for an improved oven +and made thousands of dollars from it. + +A teacher in Montrose, Pennsylvania, was so impressed with the +practical ideas in the now famous lecture that he determined to teach +what his pupils most needed to know. Being in a farming district, he +added agricultural chemistry to their studies with such success that +the next year he was elected principal of one of the Montrose schools +and shortly afterward was appointed Superintendent of Education and +President of the State University of Ohio. + +But incidents by the hundreds could be related or practical, helpful +results that flow from Dr. Conwell's lectures. + +There is yet another side of their helpfulness that the world knows +little about. In his early lecturing days, he resolved to give his +lecture fees to the education of poor boys and faithfully through all +these years has that resolve been kept The Redpath Lyceum Bureau has +paid him nearly $300,000, and more than $200,000 of this has gone +directly to help those poor in purse who hunger after knowledge, as he +himself did in those days at Wilbraham when help would have been so +welcome. The balance has been given to Temple College, which in itself +is the strongest and most helpful hand ever stretched out to those +struggling for an education. + +In addition to his lectures, he is called upon to make innumerable +addresses at various meetings, public gatherings and conventions. +Those who have never heard him speak may gather some idea of the +impression he makes by the following letter written by a gentleman +who attended the banquet given to President McKinley at the G.A.R. +encampment in Philadelphia in 1899: + +"At the table with the President was Russell H. Conwell, and no one +near me could tell me who he was. We mistook him for the new Secretary +of War, until Secretary Root made his speech. There was a highly +intelligent and remarkably representative audience of the nation at a +magnificent banquet in the hall decorated regardless of cost. + +"The addresses were all specially good and made by men specially +before the nation. Yet all the evening till after midnight there +were continuous interruptions and much noise of voices, dishes, and +waiters. Men at distant tables laughed out often. It was difficult to +hear at best, the acoustics were so bad. The speakers took it as a +matter of course at such a 'continuous performance.' Some of the +Representatives must have thought they were at home in the House at +Washington. They listened or not, as they chose. The great hall was +quiet only when the President gave his address, except when the +enclosed remarks were made long after midnight, when all were worn out +with speeches. + +"When, about the last thing, Conwell was introduced by the chairman, +no one heard his name because of the noise at the tables. Two men +asked me who he was. But not two minutes after he began, the place +was still and men craned their necks to catch his words. I never saw +anything so magical. I know how you would have enjoyed it. Its effect +was a hot surprise. The revelers all worn; the people ready to go +home; the waiters impatient; the speech wholly extemporaneous. It was +a triumph that did honor to American oratory at its best. The applause +was decisive and deafening. I never heard of anything better done +under such circumstances. + +"None of the morning papers we could get on the train mentioned either +Conwell or his great speech. Perhaps Conwell asked the reporters to +suppress it. I don't know as to that. But it was the first thing we +looked for. Not a word. There is no clue to account for that. Yet that +is the peculiarity of this singular life: one of the most public, one +of the most successful men, but yet one of the least discussed or +written about. He was to us as visitors the great feature of that +banquet as a speaker, and yet wholly ignored by the press of his own +city. The United States Senator Penrose seemed only to know in a +general way that Conwell was a great benefactor and a powerful citizen +and preacher. Conwell is a study. I cogitated on him all day. I was +told that he marched throughout the great parade in the rear rank of +his G.A.R. post. It is the strangest case of a private life I have +ever heard mentioned. The Quakers will wake up resurrection day and +find out Conwell lived in Philadelphia. It is startling to think how +measureless the influence of such a man is in its effect on the world. +Through forty years educating men, healing the sick, caring for +children, then preaching to a great church, then lecturing in the +great cities nearly every night, then writing biographies; and also an +accessible counselor to such masses of young people!" + +The address referred to in the foregoing letter was taken down in +shorthand, and was substantially as follows: + +"Comrades: I feel at this moment as Alexander Stephens said he felt at +the close of the war of 1865, and it can well be illustrated by the +boasting athlete who declared he could throw out twenty men from a +neighboring saloon in five minutes. He requested his friend to stand +outside and count as he went in and threw them out. Soon a battered +man was thrown out the door far into the street. The friend began his +count and shouted, 'One!' But the man in the street staggered to his +feet and angrily screamed, 'Stop counting! It's me!' When this feast +opened I was proudly expecting to make a speech, but the great men who +have preceded me have done all and more than I intended to do. The +hour is spent--they are sounding 'taps' at the door. I could not hope +to hold your attention. It only remains for me to do my duty in behalf +of Meade Post, and do it in the briefest possible space. + +"Comrades of Boston and New York, you have heard the greetings +when you entered the city--you have seen the gorgeous and artistic +decorations on halls and dwellings--you have heard the shouts of the +million and more who pressed into the streets, waved handkerchiefs +from the stands, and looked over each other's heads from all the +windows and roofs throughout that weary march. Here you see the lovely +decorations, the most costly feast, and listen to the heart-thrilling, +soul-subduing orchestra. All of these have already spoken to you an +unmistakable message of welcome. Knowing this city as I do, I can say +to you that not one cornet or viol, not one hymn or shout, not one +wave in all the clouds which fair hands rolled up, not one gun of all +that shook the city, not one flush of red on a dear face of beauty, +not one blessing from the aged on his cane, not one tear on the +eyelids which glowed again as your march brought back the gleam of a +morning long since dead, not one clasp of the hand, not one 'God bless +you!' from saint or priest in all this fair city, but I believe has +been deeply, earnestly, sincere. + +"This repast is not the result of pride--is not arranged for gluttony +or fashion. No political scheme inspired its proposal, and no ulterior +motive moved these companions to take your arm. The joy that seems to +beam in the comrade's eye and unconsciously express itself in word and +gesture, is real. It is the hearty love of a comrade who showed his +love for his country by battle in 1862, and who only finds new ways in +time of peace for expressing the same character now. The eloquence of +this night has been unusually, earnestly, practically patriotic and +fraternal. It has been the utterance of hearts beating full and strong +for humanity. Loyalty, fraternity, and charity are here in fact. It is +true, honest, heart. Such fraternal greetings may be as important for +liberty and justice as the winning of a Gettysburg. For the mighty +influence of the Grand Army of the Republic is even more potent now +than it was on that bloody day. Peace has come and the brave men +of the North recognize and respect the motives and bravery of that +Confederate army which dealt them such fearful blows believing _they_ +were in the right. But the glorious peace we enjoy and the greatness +of our nation's name and power are due as much to the living Grand +Army as to the dead. I am getting weary of being counted 'old,' but I +am more tired of hearing the soldier overpraised for what he did in +1861. You have more influence now than then, and are better men in +every sense. At Springfield, Illinois, they illustrated the growth of +the city by telling me that in 1856 a lunatic preacher applied to Mr. +Lincoln for his aid to open the legislative chamber for a series of +meetings to announce that the Lord was coming at once. Mr. Lincoln +refused, saying, 'If the Lord knew Springfield as well as I do, he +wouldn't come within a thousand miles of it.' But now the legislative +halls are open, and every good finds welcome in that city. The world +grows better--cities are not worse. The nation has not gone backward, +and all the good deeds did not cease in 1865. The Grand Army of the +Republic, speaking plainly but with no sense of egotism, has been +praised too much for the war and too little for its heroism and power +in peace. Does it make a man an angel to eat hardtack? Or does it +educate in inductive philosophy to chase a pig through a Virginia +fence? Peace has its victories no less renowned than war. + +"The Grand Army is not growing old. You all feel younger at this +moment than you did at the close of the day's march. Your work is not +finished. You were not fossilized in 1865. The war was not a nurse, +nor was it a very thorough schoolmaster. It did serve, however, to +show to friends and country what kind of men America contained. Not I +nor you perhaps can take this pleasing interpretation to ourselves, +but looking at the five hundred thousand men who outlived the war, we +see that they were the same men before the war and have remained +the same since the war. Their ability, friendship, patriotism, and +religion were better known after they had shown their faith by deeds, +but their identity and character were in great measure the same. + +"Many of our Presidents have been taken from the ranks of the army. +But it would be a mockery of political wisdom to declare that a free, +intelligent people elect a chief executive simply to reward him for +having been in the war of 1861. Captain Garfield, Lieutenant Hayes, +Major McKinley, and General Grant were not put at the head of the +nation as one would vote a pension. They were elected because the +people believed them to be the very best statesmen they could select +for the office. For a time every foreign consul except four was a +soldier. Two-thirds of Congress had been in the army. Twenty-nine +governors in the same year had been in military service. Nine +presidents of universities had been volunteers in 1863. Three thousand +postmasters appointed in one year were from the army. Cabinet +officers, custom-house officers, judges, district attorneys, and +clerks in public offices were almost exclusively selected from army +men. Could you look in the face of the nations and declare that with +all our enterprise, learning, progress, and common sense, we had such +an inadequate idea of the responsibilities of government that we +elected men to office who were incapable, simply because they had +carried a gun or tripped over a sword! No, no. The shrewd Yankee and +the calculating Hoosier are not caught with such chaff. They selected +these officers as servants of the nation because the war had served to +show what sort of men they were. + +"In short, they appointed them to high positions because they were +true men. They are just as true men now. They are as patriotic, as +industrious, as unselfish, as brave to-day as they were in the dark +days of the rebellion. Their efforts are as honest now as they were +then, to perpetuate free institutions and maintain the honor of the +flag. + +"They have endowed colleges, built cathedrals, opened the wilderness +to railroads, filled the American desert with roses, constructed +telephone, telegraph, and steamship lines. They have stood in +classroom and in the pulpit by the thousand; they have honored our +courts with their legal acumen; they have covered the plains with +cities, and compelled the homage of Europe to secure our scholars, our +wheat and our iron. The soldier has controlled the finances of +banking systems and revolutionized labor, society, and arts with his +inventions. They saw poor Cuba, beautiful as her surf and femininely +sweet as her luscious fruits, tortured in chains. They saw her lovely +form through the blood that covered her, and Dewey, Sampson, Schley, +Miles, Merritt, Sigsbee, Evans, Philip, Alger, and McKinley of the +Grand Army led the forces to her rescue. The Philippines in the +darkness of half-savage life were brought unexpectedly under our +colors because Dewey and his commanders were in 1898 just the same +heroes they were in 1864. + +"At the bidding of Meade Post, then, I welcome you and bid you +farewell. This gathering was in the line of duty. Its spectacle has +impressed the young, inspired the strong man, and comforted the aged. +The fraternity here so sincerely expressed to-night will encourage us +all to enfold the old flag more tenderly, to love our country more +deeply, and to go on in every path of duty, showing still the spirit +of '61 wherever good calls for sacrifice or truth for a defender." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +AS A WRITER + +His Rapid Method of Working. A Popular Biographical Writer. The Books +He Has Written. + + +Still the minutes are not full. The man who learned five languages +while going to and from his business on the street cars of Boston +finds time always to crowd in one thing more. Despite his multitude of +other cares, Dr. Conwell's pen is not idle. It started to write in his +boyhood days and it has been writing ever since. + +His best known works are his biographies. Charles A. Dana, the famous +editor and publisher of the New York "Sun," just before his death, +wrote to Harper Brothers recommending that Mr. Conwell be secured to +write a series of books for an "American Biographical Library," and in +his letter said: + +"I write the above of my own notion, as I have seldom met Mr. Conwell; +but as a writer of biographies he has no superior. Indeed, I can say +considerately, that he is one of America's greatest men. He never +advertises himself, never saves a newspaper clipping concerning +himself, never keeps a sermon of his own, and will not seek applause. +You must go after him if you want him. He will not apply to you. His +personal history is as fascinating as it is exceptional. He took +himself as a poor back country lad, created out of the crude material +the orator which often combines a Webster with Gough, and made himself +a scholar of the first rank. He created from nothing a powerful +university of high rank in Philadelphia, especially for the common +people. He created a great and influential church out of a small +unknown parish. He has assisted more men in securing an education than +any other American. He has created a hospital of the first order and +extent. He has fed the poor and housed large numbers of orphans. He +has written many books and has addressed more people than any other +living man. To do this without writing or dictating a line to +advertise himself is nothing else than the victory of a great genius. +He is a gem worth your seeking, valuable anywhere. I say again that I +regard Russell H. Conwell, of Philadelphia, as America's greatest man +in the best form. I cannot do your work; he can." + +His most successful biography, his "Life of Charles H. Spurgeon," was +written in a little more than two weeks. In fact, it was not written +at all, it was dictated while on a lecturing trip. When Spurgeon died, +a publisher telegraphed Dr. Conwell if he would write a biography of +the great London preacher. Dr. Conwell was traveling at the time in +the West, lecturing. He wired an affirmative, and sent for his private +secretary. It was during the building of the College when great +financial responsibilities were resting on him, and he was lecturing +every night to raise money for the college building fund. His +secretary accompanied him on the lecture trip. Dr. Conwell dictated +the book on the train during the day, the secretary copied it from his +notes at night while Dr. Conwell lectured. At the end of two weeks +the book of six hundred pages was nearly completed. It had a sale of +125,000 copies in four months. And all the royalties were given to a +struggling mission of Grace Baptist Church. + +[Illustration: TEMPLE COLLEGE] + +His biography of Elaine was written almost as rapidly. In a few hours +after Blaine was nominated as candidate of the Republican party for +the presidency. Dr. and Mrs. Conwell boarded a train and started for +Augusta, Maine. In three weeks the book was completed. + +He has worked at times from four o'clock in the morning until twelve +at night when work pressed and time was short. + +His life of Bayard Taylor was also written quickly. He had traveled +with Taylor through Europe and long been an intimate friend, so that +he was particularly well fitted for the work. The book was begun after +Taylor's death, December 19, 1878, in Germany, and completed before +the body arrived in America. Five thousand copies were sold before the +funeral. + +Dr. Conwell presided at the memorial service held in Tremont Temple, +Boston. Many years after, in a sermon preached at The Temple, he thus +described the occasion: + +"When Bayard Taylor, the traveler and poet, died, great sorrow was +felt and exhibited by the people of this nation. I remember well the +sadness which was noticed in the city of Boston. The spontaneous +desire to give some expression to the respect in which Hr. Taylor's +name was held, pressed the literary people of Boston, both writers and +readers, forward to a public memorial in the great hall of Tremont +Temple. As a friend of Mr. Taylor's I was called upon to preside at +that memorial gathering. That audience of the scholarly classes was a +wonderful tribute to a remarkable man, and one for which. I feel still +a keen sense of gratitude. I remember asking Mr. Longfellow to write +a poem, and to read it, and standing on the broad step at his front +door, in Cambridge, he replied to my suggestion with the sweet +expression: 'The universal sorrow is almost too sacred to touch with a +pen.' + +"But when the evening came, although Professor Longfellow was too ill +to be present, his poem was there. The great hall was crowded with +the most cultivated people of Boston. On the platform sat many of +the poets, orators and philosophers, who have since passed into +the Beyond. When, after several speeches had been made, I arose to +introduce Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the pressure of the crowd was too +great for me to reach my chair again, and I took for a time the seat +which Dr. Holmes had just left, and next to Ralph Waldo Emerson. +Never were words of poet listened to with a silence more respectfully +profound than were the words of Professor Longfellow's poem as they +were so touchingly and beautifully read by Dr. Holmes: + + "'Dead he lay among his books, + The peace of God was in his looks! + + * * * * * + + Let the lifeless body rest, + He is gone who was its guest.-- + Gone as travelers haste to leave + An inn, nor tarry until eve! + Traveler, in what realms afar, + In what planet, in what star, + In what vast, aerial space, + Shines the light upon thy face? + In what gardens of delight + Rest thy weary feet to-night--' + + * * * * * + +"Before Dr. Holmes resumed his seat, Mr. Emerson whispered in my ear, +in his epigrammatic style, 'This is holy Sabbath time.'" + +Among the books which Dr. Conwell has written are: + + "Lessons of Travel." + "Why and How Chinese Emigrate." + "Nature's Aristocracy." + "History of the Great Fire in Boston." + "The Life of Gen. U.S. Grant." + "Woman and the Law." + "The life of Rutherford B. Hayes." + "History of the Great Fire in St. Johns." + "The Life of Bayard Taylor." + "The Life, Speeches, and Public Service of James A. Garfield." + "Little Bo." + "Joshua Gianavello." + "The Life of James G. Blaine." + "Acres of Diamonds." + "Gleams of Grace." + "The Life of Charles H. Spurgeon." + "The New Day." + +The manuscript which he prepared most carefully was the "Life of +Daniel Manin," which was destroyed by fire when his home at Newton +Centre was burned. He had spent much time and labor collecting data on +Italian history for it, and the loss was irreparable. + +"Joshua Gianavello" is a biographical story of the great Waldensian +chieftain who loved religions liberty and feared neither inquisition +nor death. It is dedicated to "the many believers in the divine +principle that every person should have the right to worship God +according to the dictates of his own conscience; and to the heroic +warriors who are still contending for religious freedom in the yet +unfinished battle." + +The same powerful imagination that pictures so realistically to his +lecture and church audiences the scenes and people he is describing, +makes them live in his books. His style holds the reader by its +vividness of description, its powerful delineation of character and +emotion. + +His latest book, "The New Day," is an amplification of his great +lecture, "Acres of Diamonds." It is not only delightful reading but +it is full of practical help for the affairs of everyday life. For +no matter in what field Dr. Conwell works, this great desire of his +life--to help his brother man--shines out. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +A HOME COMING + +Reception Tendered by Citizens of Philadelphia in Acknowledgment of +Work as Public Benefactor. + + +One more scene in the life of this man who, from a barefoot country +boy with no advantages, has become one of the most widely known of the +preachers, lecturers and writers of the day, as well as the founder +of a college and hospital holding an honored position among the +institutions of the country. + +In 1894, acting upon the advice of his physician, Dr. Conwell went +abroad. It is no unusual thing for pastors to go abroad, nor for +members of their church and friends to see them off. But for Grace +Baptist Church personally to wish its pastor "Bon voyage" is something +of an undertaking. A special train was chartered to take the members +to New York. Here a steamer engaged for the purpose awaited them, and +twelve hundred strong, they steamed down the harbor alongside the "New +York" that Dr. Conwell's last glimpse of America might be of the faces +of his own church family. + +On his return six hundred church members met him and gave him a royal +welcome, and a large reception was held in The Temple to show how glad +were the hearts of his people that he was restored to them in health. + +But it was not enough. The people of Philadelphia said, "This man +belongs to us." In all parts of the city, in all walks of life, were +men and women who had studied at Temple College, whose lives were +happier, more useful because of the knowledge they had gained there, +for whom he had opened these college doors. The Samaritan Hospital had +sent forth people by the hundreds whose bodies had been healed and +their spirits quickened because his kindly heart had foreseen their +need and his generous hands labored to help it. Everywhere throughout +the whole city was felt the leaven of his work, and the people as a +body said, "We will show our appreciation of the work he has done for +Philadelphia, we will show that we recognize him as one of the city's +greatest benefactors and philanthropists." + +A committee of twenty-one citizens was formed, of which the Mayor, +Edwin S. Stuart, was chairman, and a reception was tendered Dr. and +Mrs. Conwell and the others of his party in the name of the citizens +of Philadelphia. It was given at the Academy of Fine Arts. With its +paintings and statuary, its broad sweeping staircases, it made a +magnificent setting for the throngs of men and women who crowded to +pay their respects to this man who had lived among them, doing good. + +The line of waiting guests reached for two blocks and more and for +hours moved in steady procession before the receiving party. At last +the final farewell was said and on toward midnight Dr. Conwell stepped +into the carriage waiting to take him home. + +But the affair was not over. The college boys felt that shaking hands +in formal fashion did not express sufficiently their loyalty and +devotion, their joy in the return of their beloved "Prex." They +unharnessed the horses, and with college cheers and yells triumphantly +drew their president all the way from the Academy of Fine Arts to his +home, a distance of two miles. As they passed Temple College, their +enthusiasm broke all bounds and they drew up the carriage at the +Doctor's residence, two blocks beyond the College, with a yell and a +flourish that fairly lifted the neighbors from their beds. + +It was in every way a homecoming and a welcome that proved how +wide-reaching has been the work Dr. Conwell has done, how deeply it +has touched the lives of thousands of people in Philadelphia. This +spontaneous act of appreciation was but the tribute paid by grateful +hearts. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE PATH THAT HAS BEEN BLAZED + +Problems that Need Solving. The Need of Men Able to Solve Them. + + + "O do not pray for easy lives + Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for + Tasks equal to your powers. Pray + For powers equal to your tasks. + Then the doing of your work shall be + No miracle. But you shall be a miracle, + Every day you shall wonder at yourself, + At the richness of life that has come to you + By the Grace of God." + +wrote that great preacher, Phillips Brooks. + +The world does not want easy lives but strong men. Every age has its +problems. Every age needs men with clear moral vision, strong hands, +humane hearts to solve these problems. Character, not the fortune of +birth, qualifies for leadership in such a work. And such work ever +waits, the world over, to be done. In every large city of the country +are thousands crying for better education, the suffering poor are +holding up weak hands for help, men and women morally blind, are +asking for light to find Christ--the Christ of the Bible, not the +Christ of dogma and creed, religion pure and undefiled, the church in +the simplicity of the days of the apostles, the church that reaches +out a helping hand to all the needs of humanity. + +Institutional churches are needed, not one, but many of them, in the +cities, churches that help men to grapple with the stern actualities +of everyday life, churches that preach by works as well as by word, +churches in which the man in fustian is as welcome as the one in +broadcloth, churches whose influence reaches into the highways and +byways and compels people to come in by the very cordiality and +kindness of the invitation, churches that help people to live better +and more happily in this world, while at the same time preparing them +for the world to come. + +"In no other city in the country is there such an example of the +quickening force of a united and working church organization as +is given by the North Broad Street Temple, Philadelphia," says an +editorial writer in the Philadelphia "Press." "Twenty such churches +in this city of 1,250,000 people would do more to evangelize it and +re-awaken an interest in the vital truths of Christianity than the +hundreds of church organizations it now has. The world is demanding +more and better returns from the church for the time and money given +it. Real, practical Christian work is what is asked of the church. The +sooner it conforms to this demand, the more quickly it will regain +its old influence and be prepared to make effective its fight against +evil." + +Hospitals are needed that heal in the name of Christ, that heal ills +of the body and at the same time by the spirit of love that permeates, +by the Christian spirit that animates all connected with them, cure +the ills of the soul and send the sufferers away rejoicing in spirit +as well as in body, with a brighter outlook on the world and increased +faith in humankind. + +Colleges are needed the length and breadth of this land, wherever the +poor and ignorant sit in darkness. In every town of five thousand or +more, a college for working people on the lines of the Temple College +would be thronged with eager, rejoicing students. And the world is the +better for every man and woman raised to a higher plane of living. Any +life, no matter how sordid and narrow, how steeped in ignorance, if +swept sweet and clean by God's love, if awakened by ambition and then +given the opportunity to grow, can be changed into beauty, sweetness +and usefulness. And such work is worth while. + +The way has been blazed, the path has been pointed out, it only +remains for those who follow after to walk therein. And if they walk +therein, they will gain that true greatness and deep happiness which +Phillips Brooks says comes ever "to the man who has given his life +to his race, who feels that what God gives him, He gives him for +mankind." + + + + +ACRES OF DIAMONDS + +Dr. Conwell's most famous lecture and one of his earliest has been +given at this writing (October, 1905) 3420 times. The income from it +if invested at regular rates of interest would have amounted very +nearly to one million dollars. + + +PERSONAL GLIMPSES OF CELEBRATED MEN AND WOMEN + +Is Dr. Conwell's latest lecture. It is a backward glance over his own +life in which he tells in his inimitable fashion many of its most +interesting scenes and incidents. It is here published for the first +time. + + + + +ACRES OF DIAMONDS.[A] + +[Footnote A: Reported by A. Russell Smith and Harry E. Greager.] + +[Mr. Conwell's lectures are all delivered extemporaneously and differ +greatly from night to night.--Ed.] + + +I am astonished that so many people should care to hear this story +over again. Indeed, this lecture has become a study in psychology; +it often breaks all rules of oratory, departs from the precepts of +rhetoric, and yet remains the most popular of any lecture I have +delivered in the forty-four years of my public life. I have sometimes +studied for a year upon a lecture and made careful research, and then +presented the lecture just once--never delivered it again. I put too +much work on it. But this had no work on it--thrown together perfectly +at random, spoken offhand without any special preparation, and it +succeeds when the thing we study, work over, adjust to a plan is an +entire failure. + +The "Acres of Diamonds" which I have mentioned through so many years +are to be found in Philadelphia, and you are to find them. Many have +found them. And what man has done, man can do. I could not find +anything better to illustrate my thought than a story I have told +over and over again, and which is now found in books in nearly every +library. + +In 1870 we went down the Tigris River. We hired a guide at Bagdad to +show us Persepolis, Nineveh and Babylon, and the ancient countries of +Assyria as far as the Arabian Gulf. He was well acquainted with the +land, but he was one of those guides who love to entertain their +patrons; he was like a barber that tells you many stories in order to +keep your mind off the scratching and the scraping. He told me so +many stories that I grew tired of his telling them and I refused to +listen--looked away whenever he commenced; that made the guide quite +angry, I remember that toward evening he took his Turkish cap off his +head and swung it around in the air. The gesture I did not understand +and I did not dare look at him for fear I should become the victim of +another story. But, although I am not a woman, I did look, and the +instant I turned my eyes upon that worthy guide he was off again. Said +he, "I will tell you a story now which I reserve for my particular +friends!" So then, counting myself a particular friend, I listened, +and I have always been glad I did. + +He said there once lived not far from the River Indus an ancient +Persian by the name of Al Hafed. He said that Al Hafed owned a very +large farm with orchards, grain fields and gardens. He was a contented +and wealthy man--contented because he was wealthy, and wealthy because +he was contented. One day there visited this old farmer one of those +ancient Buddhist priests, and he sat down by Al Hafed's fire and told +that old farmer how this world of ours was made. He said that this +world was once a mere bank of fog, which is scientifically true, and +he said that the Almighty thrust his finger into the bank of fog and +then began slowly to move his finger around and gradually to increase +the speed of his finger until at last he whirled that bank of fog +into a solid ball of fire, and it went rolling through the universe, +burning its way through other cosmic banks of fog, until it condensed +the moisture without, and fell in floods of rain upon the heated +surface and cooled the outward crust. Then the internal flames burst +through the cooling crust and threw up the mountains and made the +hills of the valley of this wonderful world of ours. If this internal +melted mass burst out and cooled very quickly it became granite; that +which cooled less quickly became silver; and less quickly, gold; and +after gold diamonds were made. Said the old priest, "A diamond is a +congealed drop of sunlight." + +This is a scientific truth also. You all know that a diamond is pure +carbon, actually deposited sunlight--and he said another thing I would +not forget: he declared that a diamond is the last and highest of +God's mineral creations, as a woman is the last and highest of God's +animal creations. I suppose that is the reason why the two have such a +liking for each other. And the old priest told Al Hafed that if he had +a handful of diamonds he could purchase a whole county, and with a +mine of diamonds he could place his children upon thrones through the +influence of their great wealth. Al Hafed heard all about diamonds +and how much they were worth, and went to his bed that night a +poor man--not that he had lost anything, but poor because he was +discontented and discontented because he thought he was poor. He said: +"I want a mine of diamonds!" So he lay awake all night, and early in +the morning sought out the priest. Now I know from experience that +a priest when awakened early in the morning is cross. He awoke that +priest out of his dreams and said to him, "Will you tell me where I +can find diamonds?" The priest said, "Diamonds? What do you want with +diamonds?" "I want to be immensely rich," said Al Hafed, "but I don't +know where to go." "Well," said the priest, "if you will find a river +that runs over white sand between high mountains, in those sands you +will always see diamonds." "Do you really believe that there is such a +river?" "Plenty of them, plenty of them; all you have to do is just go +and find them, then you have them." Al Hafed said, "I will go." So he +sold his farm, collected his money at interest, left his family in +charge of a neighbor, and away he went in search of diamonds. He began +very properly, to my mind, at the Mountains of the Moon. Afterwards he +went around into Palestine, then wandered on into Europe, and at last +when his money was all spent, and he was in rags, wretchedness and +poverty, he stood on the shore of that bay in Barcelona, Spain, when +a tidal wave came rolling in through the Pillars of Hercules and the +poor afflicted, suffering man could not resist the awful temptation to +cast himself into that incoming tide, and he sank beneath its foaming +crest, never to rise in this life again. + +When that old guide had told me that very sad story, he stopped the +camel I was riding and went back to fix the baggage on one of the +other camels, and I remember thinking to myself, "Why did he reserve +that for his _particular friends_?" There seemed to be no beginning, +middle or end--nothing to it. That was the first story I ever heard +told or read in which the hero was killed in the first chapter. I had +but one chapter of that story and the hero was dead. When the guide +came back and took up the halter of my camel again, he went right on +with the same story. He said that Al Hafed's successor led his camel +out into the garden to drink, and as that camel put its nose down into +the clear water of the garden brook Al Hafed's successor noticed a +curious flash of light from the sands of the shallow stream, and +reaching in he pulled out a black stone having an eye of light that +reflected all the colors of the rainbow, and he took that curious +pebble into the house and left it on the mantel, then went on his way +and forgot all about it. A few days after that, this same old priest +who told Al Hafed how diamonds were made, came in to visit his +successor, when he saw that flash of light from the mantel. He rushed +up and said, "Here is a diamond--here is a diamond! Has Al Hafed +returned?" "No, no; Al Hafed has not returned and that is not a +diamond; that is nothing but a stone; we found it right out here in +our garden." "But I know a diamond when I see it," said he; "that is a +diamond!" + +Then together they rushed to the garden and stirred up the white sands +with their fingers and found others more beautiful, more valuable +diamonds than the first, and thus, said the guide to me, were +discovered the diamond mines of Golconda, the most magnificent diamond +mines in all the history of mankind, exceeding the Kimberley in its +value. The great Kohinoor diamond in England's crown jewels and the +largest crown diamond on earth in Russia's crown jewels, which I had +often hoped she would have to sell before they had peace with Japan, +came from that mine, and when the old guide had called my attention to +that wonderful discovery he took his Turkish cap off his head again +and swung it around in the air to call my attention to the moral. +Those Arab guides have a moral to each story, though the stories are +not always moral. He said had Al Hafed remained at home and dug in his +own cellar or in his own garden, instead of wretchedness, starvation, +poverty and death in a strange land, he would have had "acres of +diamonds"--for every acre, yes, every shovelful of that old farm +afterwards revealed the gems which since have decorated the crowns of +monarchs. When he had given the moral to his story, I saw why he had +reserved this story for his "particular friends." I didn't tell him I +could see it; I was not going to tell that old Arab that I could see +it. For it was that mean old Arab's way of going around a thing, like +a lawyer, and saying indirectly what he did not dare say directly, +that there was a certain young man that day traveling down the Tigris +River that might better be at home in America. I didn't tell him I +could see it. + +I told him his story reminded me of one, and I told it to him quick. I +told him about that man out in California, who, in 1847, owned a +ranch out there. He read that gold had been discovered in Southern +California, and he sold his ranch to Colonel Sutter and started off to +hunt for gold. Colonel Sutter put a mill on the little stream in +that farm and one day his little girl brought some wet sand from the +raceway of the mill into the house and placed it before the fire to +dry, and as that sand was falling through the little girl's fingers +a visitor saw the first shining scales of real gold that were ever +discovered in California; and the man who wanted the gold had sold +this ranch and gone away, never to return. I delivered this lecture +two years ago in California, in the city that stands near that farm, +and they told me that the mine is not exhausted yet, and that a +one-third owner of that farm has been getting during these recent +years twenty dollars of gold every fifteen minutes of his life, +sleeping or waking. Why, you and I would enjoy an income like that! + +But the best illustration that I have now of this thought was found +here in Pennsylvania. There was a man living in Pennsylvania who +owned a farm here and he did what I should do if I had a farm in +Pennsylvania--he sold it. But before he sold it he concluded to secure +employment collecting coal oil for his cousin in Canada. They first +discovered coal oil there. So this farmer in Pennsylvania decided that +he would apply for a position with his cousin in Canada. Now, you see, +this farmer was not altogether a foolish man. He did net leave his +farm until he had something else to do. Of all the simpletons the +stars shine on there is none more foolish than a man who leaves one +job before he has obtained another. And that has especial reference to +gentlemen of my profession, and has no reference to a man seeking a +divorce. So I say this old farmer did not leave one job until he had +obtained another. He wrote to Canada, but his cousin replied that he +could not engage him because he did not know anything about the oil +business. "Well, then," said he, "I will understand it." So he set +himself at the study of the whole subject. He began at the second day +of the creation, he studied the subject from the primitive vegetation +to the coal oil stage, until he knew all about it. Then he wrote to +his cousin and said, "Now I understand the oil business." And his +cousin replied to him, "All right, then, come on." That man, by the +record of the county, sold his farm for eight hundred and thirty-three +dollars--even money, "no cents." He had scarcely gone from that farm +before the man who purchased it went out to arrange for the watering +the cattle and he found that the previous owner had arranged the +matter very nicely. There is a stream running down the hillside there, +and the previous owner had gone out and put a plank across that stream +at an angle, extending across the brook and down edgewise a few inches +under the surface of the water. The purpose of the plank across that +brook was to throw over to the other bank a dreadful-looking scum +through which the cattle would not put their noses to drink above the +plank, although they would drink the water on one side below it. Thus +that man who had gone to Canada had been himself damming back for +twenty-three years a flow of coal oil which the State Geologist of +Pennsylvania declared officially, as early as 1870, was then worth to +our State a hundred millions of dollars. The city of Titusville now +stands on that farm and those Pleasantville wells flow on, and that +farmer who had studied all about the formation of oil since the second +day of God's creation clear down to the present time, sold that farm +for $833, no cents--again I say "no sense." + +But I need another illustration, and I found that in Massachusetts, +and I am sorry I did, because that is my old State. This young man I +mention went out of the State to study--went down to Yale College and +studied Mines and Mining. They paid him fifteen dollars a week during +his last year for training students who were behind their classes in +mineralogy, out of hours, of course, while pursuing his own studies. +But when he graduated they raised his pay from fifteen dollars to +forty-five dollars and offered him a professorship. Then he went +straight home to his mother and said, "Mother, I won't work for +forty-five dollars a week. What is forty-five dollars a week for a man +with a brain like mine! Mother, lets go out to California and stake +out gold claims and be immensely rich." "Now" said his mother, "it is +just as well to be happy as it is to be rich." + +But as he was the only son he had his way--they always do; and they +sold out in Massachusetts and went to Wisconsin, where he went into +the employ of the Superior Copper Mining Company, and he was lost from +sight in the employ of that company at fifteen dollars a week again. +He was also to have an interest in any mines that he should discover +for that company. But I do not believe that he has ever discovered a +mine--I do not know anything about it, but I do not believe he has. I +know he had scarcely gone from the old homestead before the farmer +who had bought the homestead went out to dig potatoes, and as he was +bringing them in in a large basket through the front gateway, the ends +of the stone wall came so near together at the gate that the basket +hugged very tight. So he set the basket on the ground and pulled, +first on one side and then on the other side. Our farms in +Massachusetts are mostly stone walls, and the farmers have to be +economical with their gateways in order to have some place to put the +stones. That basket hugged so tight there that as he was hauling it +through he noticed in the upper stone next the gate a block of native +silver, eight inches square; and this professor of mines and mining +and mineralogy, who would not work for forty-five dollars a week, when +he sold that homestead in Massachusetts, sat right on that stone to +make the bargain. He was brought up there; he had gone back and forth +by that piece of silver, rubbed it with his sleeve, and it seemed to +say, "Come now, now, now, here is a hundred thousand dollars. Why +not take me?" But he would not take it. There was no silver in +Newburyport; it was all away off--well, I don't know where; he didn't, +but somewhere else--and he was a professor of mineralogy. + +I do not know of anything I would enjoy better than to take the whole +time to-night telling of blunders like that I have heard professors +make. Yet I wish I knew what that man is doing out there in Wisconsin. +I can imagine him out there, as he sits by his fireside, and he is +saying to his friends, "Do you know that man Conwell that lives in +Philadelphia?" "Oh, yes, I have heard of him." "And do you know that +man. Jones that lives in that city?" "Yes, I have heard of him." And +then he begins to laugh and laugh and says to his friends, "They have +done the same thing I did, precisely." And that spoils the whole joke, +because you and I have done it. + +Ninety out of every hundred people here have made that mistake this +very day. I say you ought to be rich; you have no right to be poor. To +live in Philadelphia and not be rich is a misfortune, and it is doubly +a misfortune, because you could have been rich just as well as be +poor. Philadelphia furnishes so many opportunities. You ought to be +rich. But persons with certain religious prejudice will ask, "How can +you spend your time advising the rising generation to give their time +to getting money--dollars and cents--the commercial spirit?" Yet I +must say that you ought to spend time getting rich. You and I know +there are some things more valuable than money; of course, we do. Ah, +yes! By a heart made unspeakably sad by a grave on which the autumn +leaves now fall, I know there are some things higher and grander and +sublimer than money. Well does the man know, who has suffered, that +there are some things sweeter and holier and more sacred than gold. +Nevertheless, the man of common sense also knows that there is not any +one of those things that is not greatly enhanced by the use of money. +Money is power. Love is the grandest thing on God's earth, but +fortunate the lover who has plenty of money. Money is power; money has +powers; and for a man to say, "I do not want money," is to say, "I do +not wish to do any good to my fellowmen." It is absurd thus to talk. +It is absurd to disconnect them. This is a wonderfully great life, and +you ought to spend your time getting money, because of the power there +is in money. And yet this religious prejudice is so great that some +people think it is a great honor to be one of God's poor. I am looking +in the faces of people who think just that way. I heard a man once +say in a prayer meeting that he was thankful that he was one of God's +poor, and then I silently wondered what his wife would say to that +speech, as she took in washing to support the man while he sat and +smoked on the veranda. I don't want to see any more of that kind of +God's poor. Now, when a man could have been rich just as well, and he +is now weak because he is poor, he has done some great wrong; he has +been untruthful to himself; he has been unkind to his fellowmen. We +ought to get rich if we can by honorable and Christian methods, and +these are the only methods that sweep us quickly toward the goal of +riches. + +I remember, not many years ago a young theological student who came +into my office and said to me that he thought it was his duty to come +in and "labor with me." I asked him what had happened, and he said: "I +feel it is my duty to come in and speak to you, sir, and say that the +Holy Scriptures declare that money is the root of all evil." I asked +him where he found that saying, and he said he found it in the Bible. +I asked him whether he had made a new Bible, and he said, no, he had +not gotten a new Bible, that it was in the old Bible. "Well," I +said, "if it is in my Bible, I never saw it. Will you please get the +text-book and let me see it?" He left the room and soon came stalking +in with his Bible open, with all the bigoted pride of the narrow +sectarian, who founds his creed on some misinterpretation of +Scripture, and he puts the Bible down on the table before me and +fairly squealed into my ear, "There it is. You can read it for +yourself." I said to him, "Young man, you will learn, when you get a +little older, that you cannot trust another denomination to read the +Bible for you." I said, "Now, you belong to another denomination. +Please read it to me, and remember that you are taught in a school +where emphasis is exegesis." So he took the Bible and read it: "The +_love_ of money is the root of all evil." Then he had it right. The +Great Book has come back into the esteem and love of the people, and +into the respect of the greatest minds of earth, and now you can quote +it and rest your life and your death on it without more fear. So, when +he quoted right from the Scriptures he quoted the truth. "The love of +money is the root of all evil." Oh, that is it. It is the worship of +the means instead of the end, though you cannot reach the end without +the means. When a man makes an idol of the money instead of the +purposes for which it may be used, when he squeezes the dollar until +the eagle squeals, then it is made the root of all evil. Think, if you +only had the money, what you could do for your wife, your child, and +for your home and your city. Think how soon you could endow the Temple +College yonder if you only had the money and the disposition to give +it; and yet, my friend, people say you and I should not spend the time +getting rich. How inconsistent the whole thing is. We ought to be +rich, because money has power. I think the best thing for me to do is +to illustrate this, for if I say you ought to get rich, I ought, at +least, to suggest how it is done. We get a prejudice against rich men +because of the lies that are told about them. The lies that are told +about Mr. Rockefeller because he has two hundred million dollars--so +many believe them; yet how false is the representation of that man +to the world. How little we can tell what is true nowadays when +newspapers try to sell their papers entirely on some sensation! The +way they lie about the rich men is something terrible, and I do not +know that there is anything to illustrate this better than what the +newspapers now say about the city of Philadelphia. A young man came +to me the other day and said, "If Mr. Rockefeller, as you think, is a +good man, why is it that everybody says so much against him?" It is +because he has gotten ahead of us; that is the whole of it--just +gotten ahead of us. Why is it Mr. Carnegie is criticised so sharply by +an envious world? Because he has gotten more than we have. If a man +knows more than I know, don't I incline to criticise somewhat his +learning? Let a man, stand in a pulpit and preach to thousands, and if +I have fifteen people in my church, and they're all asleep, don't I +criticise him? We always do that to the man who gets ahead of us. Why, +the man you are criticising has one hundred millions, and you have +fifty cents, and both of you have just what you are worth. One of +the richest men in this country came into my home and sat down in my +parlor and said: "Did you see all those lies about my family in the +paper?" "Certainly I did; I knew they were lies when I saw them." "Why +do they lie about me the way they do?" "Well", I said to him, "if you +will give me your check for one hundred millions, I will take all the +lies along with it" "Well," said he, "I don't see any sense in their +thus talking about my family and myself. Conwell, tell me frankly, +what do you think the American people think of me?" "Well," said I, +"they think you are the blackest-hearted villain that ever trod the +soil!" "But what can I do about it?" There is nothing he can do about +it, and yet he is one of the sweetest Christian men I ever knew. If +you get a hundred millions you will have the lies; you will be lied +about, and you can judge your success in any line by the lies that are +told about you. I say that you ought to be rich. But there are ever +coming to me young men who say, "I would like to go into business, +but I cannot." "Why not?" "Because I have no capital to begin on." +Capital, capital to begin on! What! young man! Living in Philadelphia +and looking at this wealthy generation, all of whom began as poor +boys, and you want capital to begin on? It is fortunate for you that +you have no capital. I am glad you have no money. I pity a rich man's +son. A rich man's son in these days of ours occupies a very difficult +position. They are to be pitied. A rich man's son cannot know the very +best things in human life. He cannot. The statistics of Massachusetts +show us that not one out of seventeen rich men's sons ever die rich. +They are raised in luxury, they die in poverty. Even if a rich man's +son retains his father's money even then he cannot know the best +things of life. + +A young man in our college yonder asked me to formulate for him what +I thought was the happiest hour in a man's history, and I studied it +long and came back convinced that the happiest hour that any man ever +sees in any earthly matter is when a young man takes his bride over +the threshold of the door, for the first time, of the house he himself +has earned and built, when he turns to his bride and with an eloquence +greater than any language of mine, he sayeth to his wife, "My loved +one, I earned this home myself; I earned it all. It is all mine, and +I divide it with thee." That is the grandest moment a human heart may +ever see. But a rich man's son cannot know that. He goes into a finer +mansion, it may be, but he is obliged to go through the house and say, +"Mother gave me this, mother gave me that, my mother gave me that, +my mother gave me that," until his wife wishes she had married his +mother. Oh, I pity a rich man's son. I do. Until he gets so far along +in his dudeism that he gets his arms up like that and can't get them +down. Didn't you ever see any of them astray at Atlantic City? I saw +one of these scarecrows once and I never tire thinking about it. I was +at Niagara Falls lecturing, and after the lecture I went to the hotel, +and when I went up to the desk there stood there a millionaire's son +from New York. He was an indescribable specimen of anthropologic +potency. He carried a gold-headed cane under his arm--more in its head +than he had in his. I do not believe I could describe the young man if +I should try. But still I must say that he wore an eye-glass he could +not see through; patent leather shoes he could not walk in, and pants +he could not sit down in--dressed like a grasshopper! Well, this human +cricket came up to the clerk's desk just as I came in. He adjusted his +unseeing eye-glass in this wise and lisped to the clerk, because it's +"Hinglish, you know," to lisp: "Thir, thir, will you have the kindness +to fuhnish me with thome papah and thome envelopehs!" The clerk +measured that man quick, and he pulled out a drawer and took some +envelopes and paper and cast them across the counter and turned away +to his books. You should have seen that specimen of humanity when the +paper and envelopes came across the counter--he whose wants had always +been anticipated by servants. He adjusted his unseeing eye-glass and +he yelled after that clerk: "Come back here thir, come right back +here. Now, thir, will you order a thervant to take that papah and +thothe envelopes and carry them to yondah dethk." Oh, the poor +miserable, contemptible American monkey! He couldn't carry paper and +envelopes twenty feet. I suppose he could not get his arms down. I +have no pity for such travesties of human nature. If you have no +capital, I am glad of it You don't need capital; you need common +sense, not copper cents. + +A.T. Stewart, the great princely merchant of New York, the richest man +in America in his time, was a poor boy; he had a dollar and a half and +went into the mercantile business. But he lost eighty-seven and a half +cents of his first dollar and a half because he bought some needles +and thread and buttons to sell, which people didn't want. Are you +poor? It is because you are not wanted and are left on your own hands. +There was the great lesson. Apply it whichever way you will it comes +to every single person's life, young or old. He did not know what +people needed, and consequently bought something they didn't want, and +had the goods left on his hands a dead loss. A.T. Stewart earned there +the great lesson of his mercantile life and said, "I will never buy +anything more until I first learn what the people want; then I'll make +the purchase." He went around to the doors and asked them what they +did want, and when he found out what they wanted, he invested his +sixty-two and a hall cents and began to supply "a known demand." I +care not what your profession or occupation in life may be; I care not +whether you are a lawyer, a doctor, a housekeeper, teacher or whatever +else, the principle is precisely the same. We must know what the world +needs first and then invest ourselves to supply that need, and success +is almost certain. A.T. Stewart went on until he was worth forty +millions. "Well," you will say, "a man can do that in New York, but +cannot do it here in Philadelphia." The statistics very carefully +gathered in New York in 1889 showed one hundred and seven millionaires +in the city worth over ten millions apiece. It was remarkable and +people think they must go there to get rich. Out of that one hundred +and seven millionaires only seven of them made their money in New +York, and the others moved to New York after their fortunes were made, +and sixty-seven out of the remaining hundred made their fortunes in +towns of less than six thousand people, and the richest man in +the country at that time lived in a town of thirty-five hundred +inhabitants, and always lived there and never moved away. It is not +so much where you are as what you are. But at the same time if the +largeness of the city comes into the problem, then remember it is the +smaller city that furnishes the great opportunity to make the millions +of money. The best illustration that I can give is in reference to +John Jacob Astor, who was a poor boy and who made all the money of the +Astor family. He made more than his successors have ever earned, and +yet he once held a mortgage on a millinery store in New York, and +because the people could not make enough money to pay the interest and +the rent, he foreclosed the mortgage and took possession of the store +and went into partnership with the man who had failed. He kept the +same stock did not give them a dollar of capital, and he left them +alone and went out and sat down upon a bench in the park. Out there on +that bench in the park he had the most important, and to my mind, the +pleasantest part of that partnership business. He was watching the +ladies as they went by; and where is the man that wouldn't get rich +at that business? But when John Jacob Astor saw a lady pass, with her +shoulders back and her head up, as if she did not care if the whole +world looked on her, he studied her bonnet; and before that bonnet +was out of sight he knew the shape of the frame and the color of the +trimmings, the curl of the--something on a bonnet Sometimes I try to +describe a woman's bonnet, but it is of little use, for it would be +out of style to-morrow night. So John Jacob Astor went to the store +and said: "Now, put in the show window just such a bonnet as I +describe to you because," said he, "I have just seen a lady who likes +just such a bonnet. Do not make up any more till I come back." And he +went out again and sat on that bench in the park, and another lady of +a different form and complexion passed him with a bonnet of different +shape and color, of course. "Now," said he, "put such a bonnet as that +in the show window." He didn't fill his show window with hats and +bonnets which drive people away and then sit in the back of the store +and bawl because the people go somewhere else to trade. He didn't put +a hat or bonnet in that show window the like of which he had not seen +before it was made up. + +In our city especially there are great opportunities for +manufacturing, and the time has come when the line is drawn very +sharply between the stockholders of the factory and their employés. +Now, friends, there has also come a discouraging gloom upon this +country and the laboring men are beginning to feel that they are being +held down by a crust over their heads through which they find it +impossible to break, and the aristocratic money-owner himself is so +far above that he will never descend to their assistance. That is the +thought that is in the minds of our people. But, friends, never in the +history of our country was there an opportunity so great for the poor +man to get rich as there is now and in the city of Philadelphia. The +very fact that they get discouraged is what prevents them from getting +rich. That is all there is to it. The road is open, and let us keep it +open between the poor and the rich. I know that the labor unions have +two great problems to contend with, and there is only one way to solve +them. The labor unions are doing as much to prevent its solving as are +the capitalists to-day, and there are positively two sides to it. The +labor union has two difficulties; the first one is that it began to +make a labor scale for all classes on a par, and they scale down a man +that can earn five dollars a day to two and a half a day, in order to +level up to him an imbecile that cannot earn fifty cents a day. That +is one of the most dangerous and discouraging things for the working +man. He cannot get the results of his work if he do better work or +higher work or work longer; that is a dangerous thing, and in order to +get every laboring man free and every American equal to every other +American, let the laboring man ask what he is worth and get it--not +let any capitalist say to him: "You shall work for me for half of what +you are worth;" nor let any labor organization say: "You shall work for +the capitalist for half your worth." Be a man, be independent, and +then shall the laboring man find the road ever open from poverty to +wealth. The other difficulty that the labor union has to consider, and +this problem they have to solve themselves, is the kind of orators who +come and talk to them about the oppressive rich. I can in my +dreams recite the oration I have heard again and again under such +circumstances. My life has been with the laboring man. I am a laboring +man myself. I have often, in their assemblies, heard the speech of the +man who has been invited to address the labor union. The man gets up +before the assembled company of honest laboring men and he begins by +saying: "Oh, ye honest, industrious laboring men, who have furnished +all the capital of the world, who have built all the palaces and +constructed all the railroads and covered the ocean with her +steamships. Oh, you laboring men! You are nothing but slaves; you are +ground down in the dust by the capitalist who is gloating over you as +he enjoys his beautiful estates and as he has his banks filled with +gold, and every dollar he owns is coined out of the hearts' blood of +the honest laboring man." Now, that is a lie, and you know it is a +lie; and yet that is the kind of speech that they are all the time +hearing, representing the capitalists as wicked and the laboring men +so enslaved. Why, how wrong it is! Let the man who loves his flag and +believes in American principles endeavor with all his soul to bring +the capitalist and the laboring man together until they stand side by +side, and arm in arm, and work for the common good of humanity. + +He is an enemy to his country who sets capital against labor or labor +against capital. + +Suppose I were to go down through this audience and ask you to +introduce me to the great inventors who live here in Philadelphia. +"The inventors of Philadelphia," you would say "Why we don't have any +in Philadelphia. It is too slow to invent anything." But you do have +just as great inventors, and they are here in this audience, as ever +invented a machine. But the probability is that the greatest inventor +to benefit the world with his discovery is some person, perhaps some +lady, who thinks she could not invent anything. Did you ever study the +history of invention and see how strange it was that the man who made +the greatest discovery did it without any previous idea that he was an +inventor? Who are the great inventors? They are persons with plain, +straightforward common sense, who saw a need in the world and +immediately applied themselves to supply that need. If you want to +invent anything, don't try to find it in the wheels in your head nor +the wheels in your machine, but first find out what the people need, +and then apply yourself to that need, and this leads to invention on +the part of people you would not dream of before. The great inventors +are simply great men; the greater the man the more simple the man; and +the more simple a machine, the more valuable it is. Did you ever know +a really great man? His ways are so simple, so common, so plain, that +you think any one could do what he is doing. So it is with the great +men the world over. If you know a really great man, a neighbor of +yours, you can go right up to him and say, "How are you, Jim, good +morning, Sam." Of course you can, for they are always so simple. + +When I wrote the life of General Garfield, one of his neighbors took +me to his back door, and shouted, "Jim, Jim, Jim!" and very soon "Jim" +came to the door and General Garfield let me in--one of the grandest +men of our century. The great men of the world are ever so. I was down +in Virginia and went up to an educational institution and was directed +to a man who was setting out a tree. I approached him and said, "Do +you think it would be possible for me to see General Robert B. Lee, +the President of the University?" He said, "Sir, I am General Lee." +Of course, when you meet such a man, so noble a man as that, you will +find him a simple, plain man. Greatness is always just so modest and +great inventions are simple. + +I asked a class in school once who were the great inventors, and a +little girl popped up and said, "Columbus." Well, now, she was not so +far wrong. Columbus bought a farm and he carried on that farm just as +I carried on my father's farm. He took a hoe and went out and sat down +on a rock. But Columbus, as he sat upon that shore and looked out upon +the ocean, noticed that the ships, as they sailed away, sank deeper +into the sea the farther they went. And since that time some other +"Spanish ships" have sunk into the sea. But as Columbus noticed that +the tops of the masts dropped down out of sight, he said: "That is the +way it is with this hoe handle; if you go around this hoe handle, the +farther off you go the farther down you go. I can sail around to the +East Indies." How plain it all was. How simple the mind--majestic +like the simplicity of a mountain in its greatness. Who are the great +inventors? They are ever the simple, plain, everyday people who see +the need and set about to supply it. + +I was once lecturing in North Carolina, and the cashier of the bank +sat directly behind a lady who wore a very large hat. I said to that +audience, "Your wealth is too near to you; you are looking right over +it." He whispered to his friend, "Well, then, my wealth is in that +hat." A little later, as he wrote me, I said, "Wherever there is a +human need there is a greater fortune than a mine can furnish." He +caught my thought, and he drew up his plan for a better hat pin than +was in the hat before him, and the pin is now being manufactured. He +was offered fifty-five thousand dollars for his patent. That man +made his fortune before he got out of that hall. This is the whole +question: Do you see a need? + +I remember well a man up in my native hills, a poor man, who for +twenty years was helped by the town in his poverty, who owned a +wide-spreading maple tree that covered the poor man's cottage like +a benediction from on high. I remember that tree, for in the +spring--there were some roguish boys around that neighborhood when I +was young--in the spring of the year the man would put a bucket there +and the spouts to catch the maple sap, and I remember where that +bucket was; and when I was young the boys were, oh, so mean, that +they went to that tree before than man had gotten out of bed in the +morning, and after he had gone to bed at night, and drank up that +sweet sap. I could swear they did it. He didn't make a great deal of +maple sugar from that tree. But one day he made the sugar so white +and crystaline that the visitor did not believe it was maple sugar; +thought maple sugar must be red or black. He said to the old man: "Why +don't you make it that way and sell it for confectionary?" The old man +caught his thought and invented the "rock maple crystal," and before +that patent expired he had ninety thousand dollars and had built a +beautiful palace on the site of that tree. After forty years owning +that tree he awoke to find it had fortunes of money indeed in it. And +many of us are right by the tree that has a fortune for us, and we own +it, possess it, do what we will with it, but we do not learn its value +because we do not see the human need, and in these discoveries, and +inventions this is one of the most romantic things of life. + +I have received letters from all over the country and from England, +where I have lectured, saying that they have discovered this and that, +and one man out in Ohio took me through his great factories last +spring, and said that they cost him $680,000, and said he, "I was +not worth a cent in the world when I heard your lecture "Acres of +Diamonds"; but I made up my mind to stop right here and make my +fortune here, and here it is." He showed me through his unmortgaged +possessions. And this is a continual experience now as I travel +through the country, after these many years. I mention this incident, +not to boast, but to show you that you can do the same if you will. + +Who are the great inventors? I remember a good illustration in a man +who used to live in East Brookfield, Mass. He was a shoemaker, and he +was out of work, and he sat around the house until his wife told him +"to go out doors." And he did what every husband is compelled by law +to do--he obeyed his wife. And he went out and sat down on an ash +barrel in his back yard. Think of it! Stranded on an ash barrel and +the enemy in possession of the house! As he sat on that ash barrel, he +looked down into that little brook which ran through that back yard +into the meadows, and he saw a little trout go flashing up the stream +and hiding under the bank. I do not suppose he thought of Tennyson's +beautiful poem: + + "Chatter, chatter, as I flow, + To join the brimming river, + Men may come, and men may go, + But I go on forever." + +But as this man looked into the brook, he leaped off that ash barrel +and managed to catch the trout with his fingers, and sent it to +Worcester. They wrote back that they would give him a five dollar bill +for another such trout as that, not that it was worth that much, but +he wished to help the poor man. So this shoemaker and his wife, now +perfectly united, that five dollar bill in prospect went out to get +another trout They went up the stream to its source and down to the +brimming river, but not another trout could they find in the whole +stream; and so they came home disconsolate and went to the minister. +The minister didn't know how trout grew, but he pointed the way. Said +he, "Get Seth Green's book, and that will give you the information you +want." They did so, and found all about the culture of trout. They +found that a trout lays thirty-six hundred eggs every year and every +trout gains a quarter of a pound every year, so that in four years a +little trout will furnish four tons per annum to sell to the market +at fifty cents a pound. When they found that, they said they didn't +believe any such story as that, but if they could get five dollars a +piece they could make something. And right in that same back yard with +the coal sifter up stream and window screen down the stream, they +began the culture of trout. They afterwards moved to the Hudson, and +since then he has become the authority in the United States upon the +raising of fish, and he has been next to the highest on the United +States Fish Commission in Washington. My lesson is that man's wealth +was out there in his back yard for twenty years, but he didn't see it +until his wife drove him out with a mop stick. + +I remember meeting personally a poor carpenter of Hingham, +Massachusetts, who was out of work and in poverty. His wife also drove +him out of doors. He sat down on the shore and whittled a soaked +shingle into a wooden chain. His children quarreled over it in the +evening, and while he was whittling a second one, a neighbor came +along and said, "Why don't you whittle toys if you can carve like +that?" He said, "I don't know what to make!" There is the whole thing. +His neighbor said to him: "Why don't you ask your own children?" Said +he, "What is the use of doing that? My children are different from +other people's children." I used to see people like that when I taught +school. The next morning when his boy came down the stairway, he said, +"Sam, what do you want for a toy?" "I want a wheel-barrow." When his +little girl came down he asked her what she wanted, and she said, "I +want a little doll's washstand, a little doll's carriage, a little +doll's umbrella," and went on with a whole lot of things that would +have taken his lifetime to supply. He consulted his own children right +there in his own house and began to whittle out toys to please them. +He began with his jack-knife, and made those unpainted Hingham toys. +He is the richest man in the entire New England States, if Mr. Lawson +is to be trusted in his statement concerning such things, and yet +that man's fortune was made by consulting his own children in his own +house. You don't need to go out of your own house to find out what to +invent or what to make. I always talk too long on this subject. + +I would like to meet the great men who are here to-night. The great +men! We don't have any great men in Philadelphia. Great men! You +say that they all come from London, or San Francisco, or Rome, +or Manayunk, or anywhere else but here--anywhere else but +Philadelphia--and yet, in fact, there are just as great men in +Philadelphia as in any city of its size. There are great men and women +in this audience. Great men, I have said, are very simple men. Just as +many great men here as are to be found anywhere. The greatest error in +judging great men is that we think that they always hold an office. +The world knows nothing of its greatest men. Who are the great men of +the world? The young man and young woman may well ask the question. It +is not necessary that they should hold an office, and yet that is the +popular idea. That is the idea we teach now in our high schools and +common schools, that the great men of the world are those who hold +some high office, and unless we change that very soon and do away +with that prejudice, we are going to change to an empire. There is +no question about it. We must teach that men are great only on their +intrinsic value, and not on the position that they may incidentally +happen to occupy. And yet, don't blame the young men saying that they +are going to be great when they get into some official position. I ask +this audience again who of you are going to be great? Says a young +man: "I am going to be great" "When are you going to be great?" "When +I am elected to some political office," Won't you learn the lesson, +young man; that it is _prima facie_ evidence of littleness to hold +public office under our form of government? Think of it. This is a +government of the people, and by the people, and for the people, and +not for the office-holder, and if the people in this country rule as +they always should rule, an officeholder is only the servant of the +people, and the Bible says that "the servant cannot be greater than +his master," The Bible says that "he that is sent cannot be greater +than him who sent him." In this country the people are the masters, +and the office-holders can never be greater than the people; they +should be honest servants of the people, but they are not our greatest +men. Young man, remember that you never heard of a great man holding +any political office in this country unless he took that office at an +expense to himself. It is a loss to every great man to take a public +office in our country. Bear this in mind, young man, that you cannot +be made great by a political election. Another young man says, "I am +going to be a great man in Philadelphia some time." "Is that so? When +are you going to be great?" "When there comes another war! When we get +into difficulty with Mexico, or England, or Russia, or Japan, or with +Spain again over Cuba, or with New Jersey, I will march up to the +cannon's mouth, and amid the glistening bayonets I will tear down +their flag from its staff, and I will come home with stars on my +shoulders, and hold every office in the gift of the government, and I +will be great." "No, you won't! No, you won't; that is no evidence +of true greatness, young man." But don't blame that young man for +thinking that way; that is the way he is taught in the high school. +That is the way history is taught in college. He is taught that the +men who held the office did all the fighting. + +I remember we had a Peace Jubilee here in Philadelphia soon after the +Spanish war. Perhaps some of those visitors think we should not have +had it until now in Philadelphia, and as the great procession was +going up Broad street I was told that the tally-ho coach stopped right +in front of my house, and on the coach was Hobson, and all the people +threw up their hats and swung their handkerchiefs, and shouted "Hurrah +for Hobson!" I would have yelled too, because he deserves much more of +his country than he has ever received. But suppose I go into the High +School to-morrow and ask, "Boys, who sunk the Merrimac?" If they +answer me "Hobson," they tell me seven-eighths of a lie--seven-eighths +of a lie, because there were eight men who sunk the Merrimac. The +other seven men, by virtue of their position, were continually exposed +to the Spanish fire, while Hobson, as an officer, might reasonably be +behind the smoke-stack. Why, my friends, in this intelligent audience +gathered here to-night I do not believe I could find a single person +that can name the other seven men who were with Hobson. Why do we +teach history in that way? We ought to teach that however humble the +station a man may occupy, if he does his full duty in his place, he is +just as much entitled to the American peopled honor as is a king upon +a throne. We do teach it as a mother did her little boy in Now York +when he said, "Mamma, what great building is that?" "That is General +Grant's tomb." "Who was General Grant?" "He was the man who put down +the rebellion." Is that the way to teach history? + +Do you think we would have gained a victory if it had depended on +General Grant alone? Oh, no. Then why is there a tomb on the Hudson at +all? Why, not simply because General Grant was personally a great man +himself, but that tomb is there because he was a representative man +and represented two hundred thousand men who went down to death for +their nation and many of them as great as General Grant. That is why +that beautiful tomb stands on the heights over the Hudson. + +I remember an incident that will illustrate this, the only one that I +can give to-night. I am ashamed of it, but I don't dare leave it out. +I close my eyes now; I look back through the years to 1863; I can see +my native town in the Berkshire Hills, I can see that cattle-show +ground filled with people; I can see the church there and the town +hall crowded, and hear bands playing, and see flags flying and +handkerchiefs steaming--well do I recall at this moment that day. +The people had turned out to receive a company of soldiers, and that +company came marching up on the Common. They had served out one term +in the Civil War and had re-enlisted, and they were being received +by their native townsmen. I was but a boy, but I was captain of that +company, puffed out with pride on that day--why, a cambric needle +would have burst me all to pieces. As I marched on the Common at the +head of my company, there was not a man more proud than I. We marched +into the town hall and then they seated my soldiers down in the center +of the house and I took my place down on the front seat, and then the +town officers filed through the great throng of people, who stood +close and packed in that little hall. They came up on the platform, +formed a half circle around it, and the mayor of the town, the +"chairman of the Select men" in Kew England, took his seat in the +middle of that half circle, He was an old man, his hair was gray; he +never held an office before in his life. He thought that an office was +all he needed to be a truly great man, and when he came up he adjusted +his powerful spectacles and glanced calmly around the audience with +amazing dignity. Suddenly his eyes fell upon me, and then the good old +man came right forward and invited me to come up on the stand with the +town officers. Invited me up on the stand! No town officer ever took +notice of me before I went to war. Now, I should not say that. One +town officer was there who advised the teacher to "whale" me, but I +mean no "honorable mention." So I was invited up on the stand with the +town officers. I took my seat and let my sword fall on the floor, and +folded my arms across my breast and waited to be received. Napoleon +the Fifth! Pride goeth before destruction and a fall. When I had +gotten my seat and all became silent through the hall, the chairman of +the Select men arose and came forward with great dignity to the table, +and we all supposed he would introduce the Congregational minister, +who was the only orator in the town, and who would give the oration +to the returning soldiers. But, friends, you should have seen the +surprise that ran over that audience when they discovered that this +old farmer was going to deliver that oration himself. He had never +made a speech in his life before, but he fell into the same error that +others have fallen into, he seemed to think that the office would make +him an orator. So he had written out a speech and walked up and down +the pasture until he had learned it by heart and frightened the +cattle, and he brought that manuscript with him, and taking it from +his pocket, he spread it carefully upon the table. Then he adjusted +his spectacles to be sure that he might see it, and walked far back on +the platform and then stepped forward like this. He must have studied +the subject much, for he assumed an elocutionary attitude; he rested +heavily upon his left heel, slightly advanced the right foot, threw +back his shoulders, opened the organs of speech, and advanced his +right hand at an angle of forty-five. As he stood in that elocutionary +attitude this is just the way that speech went, this is it precisely. +Some of my friends have asked me if I do not exaggerate it, but I +could not exaggerate it. Impossible! This is the way it went; although +I am not here for the story but the lesson that is back of it: + +"Fellow citizens." As soon as he heard his voice, his hand began to +shake like that, his knees began to tremble, and then he shook all +over. He coughed and choked and finally came around to look at his +manuscript. Then he began again: "Fellow citizens: We--are--we are--we +are--we are--We are very happy--we are very happy--we are very +happy--to welcome back to their native town these soldiers who have +fought and bled--and come back again to their native town. We are +especially--we are especially--we are especially--we are especially +pleased to see with us to-day this young hero (that meant me)--this +young hero who in imagination (friends, remember, he said +"imagination," for if he had not said that, I would not be egotistical +enough to refer to it)--this young hero who, in imagination, we have +seen leading his troops--leading--we have seen leading--we have +seen leading his troops on to the deadly breach. We have seen his +shining--his shining--we have seen his shining--we have seen his +shining--his shining sword--flashing in the sunlight as he shouted to +his troops, 'Come on!'" + +Oh, dear, dear, dear, dear! How little that good, old man knew about +war. If he had known anything about war, he ought to have known what +any soldier in this audience knows is true, that it is next to a crime +for an officer of infantry ever in time of danger to go ahead of his +men. I, with my shining sword flashing in the sunlight, shouting to my +troops: "Come on." I never did it. Do you suppose I would go ahead of +my men to be shot in the front by the enemy and in the back by my own +men? That is no place for an officer. The place for the officer is +behind the private soldier in actual fighting. How often, as a staff +officer, I rode down the line when the Rebel cry and yell was coming +out of the woods, sweeping along over the fields, and shouted, +"Officers to the rear! Officers to the rear!" and then every officer +goes behind the line of battle, and the higher the officer's rank, +the farther behind he goes. Not because he is any the less brave, but +because the laws of war require that to be done. If the general came +up on the front line and were killed you would lose your battle +anyhow, because he has the plan of the battle in his brain, and must +be kept in comparative safety. I, with my "shining sword flashing in +the sunlight." Ah! There sat in the hall that day men who had given +that boy their last hardtack, who had carried him on their backs +through deep rivers. But some were not there; they had gone down to +death for their country. The speaker mentioned them, but they were but +little noticed, and yet they had gone down to death for their country, +gone down for a cause they believed was right and still believe was +right, though I grant to the other side the same that I ask for +myself. Yet these men who had actually died for their country were +little noticed, and the hero of the hour was this boy. Why was he the +hero? Simply because that man fell into that same foolishness. This +boy was an officer, and those were only private soldiers. I learned +a lesson that I will never forget. Greatness consists not in holding +some office; greatness really consists in doing some great deed with +little means, in the accomplishment of vast purposes from the private +ranks of life; that is true greatness. He who can give to this people +better streets, better homes, better schools, better churches, more +religion, more of happiness, more of God, he that can be a blessing to +the community in which he lives to-night will be great anywhere, but +he who cannot be a blessing where he now lives will never be great +anywhere on the face of God's earth. "We live in deeds, not years, in +feeling, not in figures on a dial; in thoughts, not breaths; we should +count time by heart throbs, in the cause of right." Bailey says: "He +most lives who thinks most." + +If you forget everything I have said to you, do not forget this, +because it contains more in two lines than all I have said. Bailey +says: "He most lives who thinks most, who feels the noblest, and who +acts the best." + + + + +"PERSONAL GLIMPSES OF CELEBRATED MEN AND WOMEN."[A] + +[Footnote A: Stenographic report by A. Russell Smith, Sec'y.] + +When I had been lecturing forty years, which is now four years ago, +the Lecture Bureau suggested that before I retire from the public +platform, that I should prepare one subject and deliver it through the +country. For I had told the Bureau thirty years ago that when I had +lectured forty years, I would retire. They therefore suggested a talk +on this topic, "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women." But a +death in our family which destroyed the homeness of our house produced +such an effect upon us that after the forty years came we found that +we would rather wander than stay at home, and consequently we are +traveling still, and will do so until the end. This explanation will +show why many of these things are said. For I must necessarily bring +myself often into this topic, sometimes unpleasantly to myself. Mark +Twain says, that the trouble with an old man is that he "remembers so +many things that ain't so," and with Mark Twain's caution in my ears, +I will try to give you these "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and +Women." + +I do not claim to be a very intimate friend of great men. But a fly +may look at an elephant, and for this reason we may glance at the +great men and women whom I have seen through the many years of public +life. Sometimes those glimpses give us a better idea of the real man +or woman than an entire biography written while he was living would +do; and to-night as a grandfather would bring his grandchildren to his +knee and tell them of his little experiences, so let me tell to you +these incidents in a life now so largely lived out. + +As I glance back to the Hampshire Highlands of the dear old Berkshire +Hills in Massachusetts, where my father worked as a farmer among the +rooks for twenty years to pay off a mortgage of twelve hundred dollars +upon his little farm, my elder brother and myself slept in the attic +which had one window in the gable end, composed of four lights and +those very small. I remember that attic so distinctly now, with the +ears of corn hung by the husks on the bare rafters, the rats running +over the floor and sometimes over the faces of the boys; the patter of +the rain upon the roof, and the whistle of the wind around that gable +end, the sifting of the snows through the hole in the window over +the pillow on our bed. While these things may appear very simple and +homely before this great audience, yet I mention them because in this +house I had a glimpse of the first great man I ever saw. It was far in +the country, far from the railroad, far from the city, yet into +that region there came occasionally a man or woman whose name is a +household word in the world. In those mountains of my boyhood there +was then an "underground railroad" running from Virginia to Canada. +It was called an "underground railroad," although it was a system +by which the escaped slaves from Virginia came into Delaware, from +Delaware into Philadelphia, then to New York, then to Springfield, and +from Springfield my father took the slaves by night to Worthington, +Mass., and they were sent on by St. Albans, over the Canada line into +liberty. This "underground railroad" system was composed of a chain of +men of whom my father was one link. One night my father drove up in +the dark, and my elder brother and I looked out to see who it was he +had! brought home with him. We supposed he had brought a slave whom he +was helping to escape. Oh, those dreary, dark days, when we were +in continual dread lest the United States Marshal should arrest my +father, throw him into prison for thus assisting these fugitive +slaves. The gloomy memory of those early years chills me now. But as +we gazed out that dark night, we saw that it was a white man with +father and who helped unhitch the horses and put them in the barn. In +the morning this white man sat at the breakfast table and my father +introduced him to us, saying: "Boys, this is Frederick Douglass, the +great colored orator," While I looked at him, giggling as boys will +do, Mr. Douglass turned to us and said, "Yes, boys, I am a colored +man; my mother was a colored woman and my father a white man," and +said he, "I have never seen my father, and I do not know much about +my mother. I remember her once when she interfered between me and the +overseer, who was whipping me, and she received the lash upon her +cheek and shoulder, and her blood ran across my face. I remember +washing her blood from my face and clothes." That story made a deep +impression on us boys, stamped indelibly on our memories. Frederick +Douglass is thus mentioned to illustrate the subject that I have come +to teach to-night. He frequently came to our house after that and my +mother often said to him, "Mr. Douglass, you will work yourself to +death," but he replied that until the slaves were free, and that would +be very soon, he must devote his life to them. But after that, said +he, "I will retire to Rochester, New York, where I have some land and +will build a house." He told us how many rooms it would have, what +decorations would be there, but when the war had been over several +years, he came to the house again and my father asked him about the +house in Rochester. "Well," he said, "I have not built that one yet, +but I have my plans for it. I have some work yet to do; I must take +care of the freedmen in the South, and look after their financial +prosperity, then I will build my cottage." You all remember that he +never built his house, but suddenly went on into the unknown of the +greatest work of his life. + +I remember that in 1852, my father came with another man who was put +for the night into the northwest bedroom--this is the room where those +New Englanders always put their friends, because, perhaps, pneumonia +comes there first--that awful, cold, dismal, northwest bedroom. +Thinking a favorite uncle had come, I went to the door early in the +morning. The door was shut--one of those doors which, if you lift +the latch, the door immediately swings open. I lifted the latch and +prepared to leap in to awaken my uncle and astonish him by my early +morning greeting. But when the door swung back, I glanced toward the +bed. The astonishment chills me at this moment, for in that bed was +not my uncle; but a giant, whose toes stood up at the foot-board, +and whose long hair was spread out over the pillow and his long gray +whiskers lay on the bed clothes, and oh, that snore--it sounded like +some steam horn. That giant figure frightened me and I rushed out +into the kitchen and said, "Mother, who is that strange man in the +northwest bed room?" and she said, "Why, that is John Brown." I had +never seen John Brown before, although my father had been with him +in the wool business in Springfield. I had heard some strange things +about John Brown, and the figure of the man made them seem doubly +terrible. I hid beside my mother, where I said I would stay until the +man was through his breakfast, but father came out and demanded that +the boys should come in, and he set me right under the wing of that +awful giant. But when John Brown saw us coming in so timidly, he +turned to us with a smile so benign and beautiful and so greatly in +contrast to what we had pictured him, that it was a transition. He +became to us boys one of the loveliest men we ever knew. He would go +to the barn with us and milk the cows, pitch the hay from the hay-mow; +he drove the cattle to water for us, and told us many a story, until +the dear, good old man became one of the treasurers of our life. It is +true that my mother thought he was half crazy, and consequently she +and father did not always agree about him, and did not discuss him +before the children. But nevertheless, be he a crank, or a fanatic, +or what he may, one thing is sure, the richest milk of human kindness +flowed from that heart and devoted itself sincerely to the uplift of +humanity. I remember him with love, love deep and sacred, up to this +present time. However great an extremist John Brown was, there were +many of them in New England. Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison +and John Brown never could agree. John Brown used to criticise Wendell +Phillips severely. He said that Wendell Phillips could not see to read +the clearest signs of revolution, and he was reminded by the husband +who bought a grave-stone that had been carved for another woman, but +the stone-cutter said "That has the name of another person." "Oh," +said the widower, "that makes no difference; my wife couldn't read." +John Brown once said of Wm. Lloyd Garrison that he couldn't see the +point and was like the woman who never could see a joke. One morning, +seated at the breakfast table, her husband cracked a joke, but she did +not smile, when he said, "Mary, you could not see a joke if it were +fired at you from a Dalgreen gun," whereupon she remarked: "Now John, +you know they do not fire jokes out of a gun." Well do I recall that +December 2d of 1859. Only a few weeks before John Brown came to our +house and my father subscribed to the purchase of rifles to aid in the +attempt to raise the insurrection among the slaves. The last time I +saw John Brown he was in the wagon with my father. Father gave him the +reins and came back as though he had forgotten something. John Brown +said, "Boys, stay at home; stay at home! Now, remember, you may never +see me again," and then in a lower voice, "And I do not think you ever +will see me again," but "Remember the advice of your Uncle Brown (as +we called him), and stay at home with the old folks, and remember +that you will be more blessed here than anywhere else on earth." The +happiest place on earth for me is still at my old home in Litchfield, +Connecticut. I did not understand him then, but on December 2d at +eleven o'clock my father called us all into the house and all that +hour from eleven to twelve o'clock we sat there in perfect silence. As +the old clock in that kitchen struck eleven, I heard the bell, ring +from the Methodist Church, its peal coming up the valley, from hill to +hill, and echoing its sad tone as the hour wore on. The peal of that +bell remains with me now; it has ever been a source of inspiration to +me. Sixty times struck that old bell. Once a minute, and when the +long sad hour was over, father put his Bible upon the mantel and went +slowly out, and we all solemnly followed, going to our various duties. +That solemn hour had a voice in the coming great Civil War of 1861-65. +At that hour John Brown was hanged in Virginia. All through New +England, they kept that hour with the same solemn services which +characterized my father's family. When the call came for volunteers +the young men of New England enlisted in the army, and sang again and +again, that old song, "John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, +but his soul goes marching on." His soul is still marching on. And +while I am one of those who would be the first to resist any attempt +to mar the sweet fraternity that now characterises the feeling between +the North and South, as I believe that the Southern soldier fought +for what he believed to be right, and consequently is entitled to our +fraternal respect, and while I believe that John Brown was sometimes a +fanatic, yet this illustration teaches us this great lesson and that +John Brown's advice was true. His happiest days were passed far back +in the quiet of his old home. + +Near to our home, in the town of Cummington, lived William Cullen +Bryant, one of the great poets of New England. He came back there to +spend his summers among the mountains he so clearly loved. He promised +the people of Cummington that he would again make his permanent home +there. I remember asking him if he would come clown to the stream +where he wrote "Thanatopsis" and recite it for us. The good, old +neighbor, white haired and trembling, came down to the banks of that +little stream and stood in the shade of the same old maple where he +had written that beautiful poem, and read from the wonderful creation +that made his name famous. + + "So live that when thy summons comes, to join + The innumerable caravan which moves + To that mysterious realm where each must take + His chamber in the silent halls of death, + Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night, + Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed + By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave + Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch + About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." + +"Yes," he said, "I will come back to Cummington." So he went to Europe +but came not back to occupy that home. He loved the old home. We were +driving by his place one day when we saw him planting apple trees in +July. We all know that apple trees won't grow when planted in July, so +my father, knowing him well, called to him and said, "Mr. Bryant, what +are you doing there? They won't grow." Mr. Bryant paused a moment and +looked at us, and then said half playfully: "Conwell, drive on, you +have no part nor lot in this matter. I do not expect these trees to +grow; I am setting them out because I want to live over again the days +when my father used to set trees when they would grow. I want to renew +that memory." He was wise, for in his work on "The Transmigration of +Races" he used that experience wonderfully. + +In 1860, when we were teaching school, my elder brother and myself, in +Blanchford, Massachusetts, were asked to go to Brooklyn with the body +of a lady who died near our schools. We went to Brooklyn on Saturday +and after the funeral, our friends asked us to stay over Sunday, +saying that they would take us to hear Henry Ward Beecher! That was a +great inducement, because my father read the "Tribune" every Sunday +morning after his Bible (and sometimes before it) and what Henry Ward +Beecher said, my father thought, "was law and Gospel." Sunday night, +we went to Plymouth Church, and there was a crowd an hour before the +service, and when the doors were opened we were crowded up the stairs. +We boys were thrust back into a dirty corner where we could not +see. Oh, yes, that is the way they treat the boys, put them any +place--they're only boys! I remember the disappointment of that night, +when we went there more to see than hear. But finally Mr. Beecher came +out and gave out his text. I remember that I did not pay very much +attention to it. In the middle of the sermon Mr. Beecher began in the +strangest way to auction off a woman: "How much am I offered for the +woman?" he yelled, and while in his biographies, they have said that +this woman was sold in the Broadway Tabernacle, but I afterwards asked +Mrs. Beecher and she said that Mr. Beecher had not sold this woman +twice, so far as she knew, but that she recalled distinctly the sale +in the Plymouth Church. I remember standing up on tip-toes to look +for that woman that was being sold. After he had finished, after the +singing of the hymn, he said "Brethren, be seated," and then said, +"Sam, come here." A colored boy came up tremblingly and stood beside +him. "This boy is offered for $770.00; he is owned in South Carolina +and has run away. His master offers him to me for $770.00, and now if +the officers of the church will pass the plates the boy shall be set +free," and when the plates were returned over $1700.00 came in. As we +went our way home I said to my elder brother: "Oh, what a grand thing +it must be to preach to a congregation of fifteen hundred people." But +my elder brother very wisely said: "You don't know anything about it; +you do not know whether he is happy or not." "Well," I suggested, +"wasn't it a strange thing to introduce a public auction in the middle +of a sermon," and my elder brother again said that if they did more +of that in a country church they would have a larger congregation. +Afterwards I was quite fortunate to know Mr. Beecher and frequently +reported his sermons. I often heard him say that the happiest years +he ever knew were back in Lawrenceville, Ohio, in that little church +where there were no lamps and he had to borrow them himself, light +them himself, and prepare the church for the first service. He told +how he swept the church, lighted the fire in the stove, and how it +smoked; then how he sawed the wood to heat the church, and how he went +into carpenter work to earn money to pay his own salary, yet he +said that was the happiest time of his life. Mrs. Beecher told me +afterwards that Mr. Beecher often talked about those days and said +that bye and bye he would retire and they would again go back to the +simple life they had enjoyed so much. + +When he had built his new home near the Hudson, Robert Collier and I +visited him. We found in the rear of an addition that clap-boards had +been put up in all sorts of adjustment. Mr. Collier asked him: "Where +did you find a carpenter to do such poor work as that?" and Mr. +Beecher said humorously: "You could not hire that carpenter on your +house." Then he said: "Mr. Collier, I put those boards on that house +myself. I insisted that they leave that work for me to do. I have been +happy putting on these boards and driving these nails. They took me +back to the old days at Lawrenceville, where we lived over a store +and our pantry was a dry goods box. But there we were so happy. I am +hoping sometime to be as happy again, but it is not possible to do it +while I am in the service of the public." He had promised himself and +his wife some day to go back to that simple life. But his sudden death +taught the same great lesson with all the examples I give of great men +and women. Rev. Robt. Collier always enjoyed the circus--the circus +was the great place of enjoyment outside, perhaps, of his pulpit work. +It was Robert Collier who used to tell the story of the boy whose aunt +always made him go to church, but after going to a circus he wrote to +his aunt: "Auntie, if you had ever been to a circus, you wouldn't go +to another prayer-meeting as long as you live." The love of Collier +for the circus only shows the simplicity of the great man's mind. Mr. +Collier is said to have paid a dollar for a fifty cent ticket to the +circus, only making it conditional that he was to have the privilege +of going 'round to the rear and crawling under the tent, showing what +he must have done when a boy. The fact of Mr. Collier's love for the +circus was one of the strange things in the eccentricities of a great +man's life. Once Mr. Barnum came into Mr. Collier's church and Mr. +Collier said to the usher: "Please show Mr. Barnum to a front seat +for he always gives me one in _his_ circus." These simplicities often +show that somewhere back in each man's life there is a point where +happiness and love are one, and when, that point is passed, we go on +longing to the return. + +The night after he went to hear Henry Ward Beecher's great sermon they +persuaded us to stay until the following Monday night, because there +was to be a lecture at the Cooper Institute and there was to be a +parade of political clubs, and fire works, so as country boys, easily +influenced, we decided that the school could wait for another day, and +staid for the procession. We went to Cooper's Institute and there +was a crowd as there was at Beecher's church. We finally got on the +stairway and far in the rear of the great crowd, but my brother stood +on the floor, and I sat on the ledge of the window sill, with my feet +on his shoulders, so he held me while I told him down there what was +going on over yonder. The first man that came on the platform, and +presided at that meeting, was William Cullent Bryant, our dear old +neighbor. When we boys in a strange city saw that familiar face, oh, +the emotions that arose in our hearts! How proud we were at that hour, +that he, our neighbor, was presiding on that occasion. He took his +seat on the stage, the right of which was left vacant for some one yet +to come. Next came a very heavy man, but immediately following him +a tall, lean man. Mr. Bryant arose and went toward him, bowing and +smiling. He was an awkward specimen of a man and all about me people +were asking "Who is that?" but no man seemed to know. I asked a +gentleman who that man was, but he said he didn't know. He was an +awkward specimen indeed; one of the legs of his trousers was up about +two inches above his shoe; his hair was dishevelled and stuck out like +rooster's feathers; his coat was altogether too large for him in the +back, his arms much longer than the sleeves, and with his legs twisted +around the rungs of the chair, was the picture of embarrassment. When +Mr. Bryant arose to introduce the speaker of that evening, he was +known seemingly to few in that great hall. Mr. Bryant said: "Gentlemen +of New York, you have your favorite son in Mr. Seward and if he were +to be President of the United States, every one of us would be proud +of him." Then came great applause. "Ohio has her favorite son in Judge +Wade; and the nation would prosper under his administration, but +Gentlemen of New York, it is a great honor that is conferred upon me +to-night, for I can introduce to you the next President of the United +States, Abraham Lincoln." Then through that audience flew the query as +to whom Abraham Lincoln was. There was but weak applause. Mr. Lincoln +had in his hand a manuscript. He had written it with great care and +exactness and the speech which you read in his biography is the one +that he wrote, not the one that he delivered as I recall it, and it is +fortunate for the country that they did print the one that he wrote. I +think the one he wrote had already been set up in type that afternoon +from his manuscript, and consequently they did not go over it to see +whether it had been changed or not. He had read three pages and had +gone on to the fourth when he lost his place and then he began to +tremble and stammer. He then turned it over two or three times, threw +the manuscript upon the table, and, as they say in the west, "let +himself go." Now the stammering man who had created only silent +derision up to that point, suddenly flashed out into an angel of +oratory and the awkward arms and dishevelled hair were lost sight +of entirely in the wonderful beauty and lofty inspiration of that +magnificent address. The great audience immediately began to follow +his thought, and when he uttered that quotation from Douglass, "It is +written on the sky of America that the slaves shall some day be free," +he had settled the question that he was to be the next President +of the United States. The applause was so-great that the building +trembled and I felt the windows shake behind me. Afterward, as we +walked home, I said to my elder brother again, "Wasn't it a great +thing to be introduced to all those people as the next President of +the United States?" and my elder brother very wisely said: "You do not +know whether he was really happy or not." Afterwards, in 1864, when +one of my soldiers was unjustly sentenced and his gray-haired mother +plead with me to use what influence I would have with the President, I +went to Washington and told the story to the President. He said he +had heard something about it from Mr. Stanton, and he said he would +investigate the matter, and he did afterward decide that the man +should not be put to death. At the close of that interview I said to +the President: "I beg your pardon, Mr. Lincoln, but is it not a most +exhausting thing to sit here hearing all these appeals and have all of +this business on your hands?" He laid his head on his hand, and in a +somewhat wearied manner, said, with a deep sigh: "Yes, yes; no man +ought to be ambitious to be President of the United States," and said +he, "When this war is over, and that won't be very long, I tell my +"Tad" that we will go back to the farm where I was happier as a boy +when I dug potatoes at twenty-five cents a day than I am now; I tell +him I will buy him a mule and a pony and he shall have a little cart +and he shall make a little garden in a field all his own," and the +President's face beamed as he arose from his chair in the delight of +excitement as he said: "Yes, I will be far happier than I have ever +been here." The next time I looked in the face of Abraham Lincoln was +in the east room of the White House at Washington as he lay in his +coffin. Not long ago at a Chautauqua lecture I was on the very farm +which he bought at Salem, Illinois, and looked around the place where +he had resolved to build a mansion, but which was never constructed. + +Near my home in the Berkshires, Charles Dudley Warner was born. When +he had accomplished great things in literature and had written "My +Summer in a Garden," that popular work which attracted the attention +of his newspaper friends, he went to Hartford, where the latter gave +him a banquet. I was invited to attend and report it for the public +press. They lauded him and said how beautiful it was to be so elevated +above his fellow men, and how great he was in the estimation of the +world But he in his answer to the toast said, "Gentlemen, I wish for +no fame, I desire no glory and you have made a mistake if you think +I enjoy any such notoriety. I envy the Hartford teacher whose smile +threw sunshine along her pathway." Then he told us the story of a poor +little boy, cold and barefooted, standing on the street on a terribly +cold day. A lady came along, and looking kindly at him, said, "Little +boy, are you cold?" The little fellow, looking up into her face, said, +"Yes Ma'am, I was cold till you smiled." He would rather have a smile +like that and the simple love of his fellow men than to have all the +fame of the earth. He was honored in all parts of the world by the +greatest of the great, yet he was a sad man when he wrote "My Summer +in a Garden," and it all seems a mystery how he could in such grief +have written that remarkable little tale. This sadness is often +associated with humorists. Mr. Shaw was one of the saddest men I +ever met. Why, he cried on the slightest occasion. I went one day to +interview him in Boston, and Mr. Shepard, his publisher, said "Please +don't trouble Josh Billings now." "What is the matter?" "Oh, he is +crying again," said Mr. Shepard. I asked him how Mr. Shaw could write +such funny things as he did. He then showed me the manuscript (which +Mr. Shaw had just placed on his desk and which he had just written), +in which he says, "I do not know any cure for laziness, but I have +known a second wife to hurry it up some." Artemus Ward wrote the most +laughable things while his heart was in the deepest wretchedness. +Often these glimpses of the funny men whose profession would seem to +show them to be the happiest of earth's people, prove that they are +sometimes the most gloomy and miserable. + +John B. Gough, the great temperance orator, the greatest the world has +ever seen, said to me one evening at his home that he would lecture +for forty years, and then would stop. But his wife said, "Now, John, +you know you won't give it up." He assented, "Yes, I will." But his +wife said, "No you won't. You men when you drink of public life find +it like a drink of whiskey, and you are just like the rest of the +men." "No," said he. Then Mr. Gough told again his familiar story of +the minister who was preaching in his pulpit in Boston when he saw the +Governor of the State coming up the aisle. Immediately he began to +stammer, and finally said: "I see the Governor coming in, and as I +know you will want to hear an exhortation from him, I think that I had +better stop." Then one of the old officials leaped up from one of the +front seats and said, "I insist upon your going on with your sermon, +sir; you ought not be embarrassed by the Governor's coming in. We are +all worms! All worms! nothing but worms!" Then the minister was +angry and shouted: "Sir, I would have you understand that there is +a difference in worms." Mr. Gough said he was different from other +people yet the years came and went, and he stayed on the public +platform. One night a committee from Frankford, Philadelphia, asked me +to write him and ask him to lecture for them. I wrote and whether my +influence had anything to do with it or not, I do not know, but he +came from New York and when he was in about the middle of his lecture, +he came to that sentence, "Young man, keep your record clear, for a +single glass of intoxicating liquor may somewhere, in after years, +change into a horrid monster that shall carry you down to woe." And +when he had uttered that wonderful sentence of advice, he slopped to +get breath, reached for a drink of water, swung forward and fell over. +The doctor said he was too late for any earthly aid, and John B. +Gough, with his armor on, went on into Glory. He never found that +earthly rest he had promised himself. His garden never showed its +flowers, and his fields were never strewn with grain. + +When our regiment was encamped in Faneuil Hall at Boston before +embarking for the war in 1863, Mr. Wendell Phillips sent an invitation +to the officers of the regiment to visit his home. But when we reached +his house we found that he had been called to Worcester suddenly to +make a speech. But we found his wife there in her rolling chair, for +she was a permanent invalid. Our evening was spent very pleasantly, +but I said to her: "Are you not very lonesome when Mr. Phillips is +away so much?" "Yes," she said, "I am very lonesome; he is father, +mother, brother, sister, husband and child to me," and said she, "he +cares for me with the tenderness of a mother; he waits upon me, he +takes me out, and brings me in; he dresses me, and it now seems so +strange that he is not by my side. If it were not for him, I should +die, but he says that as soon as the slaves are free that he will come +back and be the same husband he was before." The officers standing +around me smiled as they heard of his promise to retire, but said she, +"Oh, yes, he will do as he promised." When the war was over and the +slaves were free, and he had scolded General Grant all he wished, he +did do as he promised, and did retire. He sold his house in the city +and bought one in Waverly, Massachusetts. He did prove the exception +and went back to the private life that he had promised himself and +his wife. Every Sunday morning as I drove by his home I could see him +swinging on his gate. It was a double gate over the driveway, and he +would pull that gate far in, get on it and then swing way out over the +side-walk and then in again. Well, he used to swing on that gate every +Sunday morning, and my family wondered why it was that he always did +it on that particular morning. One Sunday morning when I drove by, +I found Mr. Phillips swinging on his gate over the side-walk, and I +said, "Mr. Phillips, my family wish me to ask you why you swing on +this gate every Sunday morning." Mr. Phillips, who had a very deep +sense of humour, stepped off the gate, stood back, and assuming a +dignified, ministerial air, "I am requested to discourse to-day upon +the text 'Why I swing upon this gate on Sunday morning,' and I will, +therefore, divide my text into two heads." I quickly told him that I +must get to church some time that day. "Then," said he, with a smile, +"just one word more: Why do I swing on a gate? Because the first time +I saw my wife she was swinging on the gate, and the second time I saw +her, we kissed each other over the top of the gate, and when I swing +it reminds me of other happy days long gone by. That, sir, is the +reason I swing upon this gate." Then his humor all disappeared and he +said: "I really swing upon this gate on Sunday morning because I think +the next thing to the love of God is love of man for a true woman--as +you cannot say you love God and hate your brother, neither can you say +you love God unless you have first loved a human being, and I swing on +this gate on Sunday morning because to me it is next to life's highest +worship." And then, in a majestic manner, he said, "Conwell, all +within this gate is PARADISE and all without it MARTYRDOM." In that +wonderful sentence, which I feel sure I recall accurately, he uttered +the most glorious expression that could ever come from uninspired +lips. + +I had a glimpse of James G. Elaine when I went to his home in Augusta, +Maine, to write his biography for the committee. A day or two after it +was finished a distinguished Senator from Washington came to see me in +Philadelphia and asked if Mr. Blaine had seen the book, and I told him +that he certainly had. "Did he see that second chapter?" "Of course he +did," said I; "he corrected it." Then he wanted to know how much money +it would take to get the book out of circulation. "Why, what is the +matter with the book," said I, but he would not tell me, and said that +he would pay me well if I would only keep the book from circulation. +He did not tell me what was the matter. I told him that the publishers +owned the copyright, having bought it from me. He said, "Is it not +possible for you to take a trip to Europe to-morrow morning?" "But why +take a trip to Europe?" "The committee will pay all of your expenses, +all your family's expenses, and of any servants you wish lo take with +you--only get out of the country." "Well," I said, "I am not going to +leave the country for my country's good, unless I know what I am going +for." I never could find out what the trouble with that second chapter +was, and I afterwards asked Mrs. Blaine if she knew what was the +matter. She then broke out in a paroxysm of grief and said that if he +had stayed in Washington, Pennsylvania, where he was a teacher, "he +would be living yet." She said "he had given thirty years of his life +to the public service, and now they have so ungratefully disgraced his +name, sent him to an early grave, and all in consequence of what he +has done for the public. He is a stranger to his country--a stranger +to his friends," and then she said, "O would to God he had stayed in +Pennsylvania!" I left her then, but I have never known what was in +that second chapter that caused the disturbance. But I do know +the second chapter was concerning their early and happy life in +Washington, Pennsylvania, where he taught in the college. + +Near our home in Newton, Massachusetts, was that of F.F. Smith, who +wrote "America." It was of him that Oliver Wendell Holmes said that +"Nature tried to hide him by naming him Smith." Smith lived that quiet +and restful life that reminds one of Tennyson's "Brook" when thinking +of him. He knew the glory of modest living. + +The last time I saw the sweet Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, +was in Amesbury, before he died. He sent a note to the lecture hall +asking me to come to come to him. I asked him what was his favorite +poem of his own writing. He said he had not thought very much about +it, but said that there was one that he especially remembered: + + "I know not where His islands lift + Their fronded palms in air, + I only know I cannot drift + Beyond His love and care." + +I then asked him, "Mr. Whittier, how could you write all those war +songs which sent us young men to war, and you a peaceful Quaker? I +cannot understand it." He smiled and said that his great-grandfather had +been on a ship that was attacked by pirates, and as one of the pirates +was climbing up the rope into their ship, his great-grandfather +grasped a knife and cut the rope, saying: "If thee wants the rope, +thee can have it." He said that he had inherited something of the same +spirit. + +At Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Bayard Taylor took me to the grave of +his wife, and said "Here is the spot where I determined to live anew. +From this grave the real experiences of my life began." There he was +completing his home called "Cedar Croft." But he died while U.S. +Minister to Germany. The Young Men's Congress of Boston, when +arranging for a great memorial service in Tremont Temple, asked me to +call on Dr. Oliver Wendel Holmes to ask him to write a poem on Bayard +Taylor's death. When I asked Mr. Holmes to write this poem, to be read +in the Tremont Temple, he was sitting on the rocking chair. He rocked +back and kicked up his feet, and began to laugh. "I write a poem on +Bayard Taylor--ah, no--but I tell you, if you will get Mr. Longfellow +to write a poem on Bayard Taylor's death, I will read it." These +things only show the eccentricities of Mr. Holmes. So I went to Mr. +Longfellow and told him what Dr. Holmes had said, and here is the poem +he wrote: + + "Dead he lay among his books! + The peace of God was in his looks. + As the statues in the gloom + Watch o'er Maximilian's tomb, + So those volumes from their shelve. + Watched him, silent as themselves. + Ah, his hand will never more + Turn their storied pages o'er. + Never more his lips repeat + Songs of theirs, however sweet. + Let the lifeless body rest! + He is gone who was its guest. + Gone as travellers haste to leave + An inn, nor tarry until eve. + + "Traveller! in what realms afar, + In what planet, in what star, + In what gardens of delight + Rest thy weary feet to-night? + Poet, thou whose latest verse + Was a garland on thy hearse, + Thou hast sung with organ tone + In Deukalion's life thine own. + On the ruins of the Past + Blooms the perfect flower, at last + Friend, but yesterday the bells + Rang for thee their loud farewells; + And to-day they toll for thee, + Lying dead beyond the sea; + Lying dead among thy books; + The peace of God in all thy looks." + +That great traveller, like Mr. Longfellow, used to tell me of his +first wife. He always said that her sweet spirit occupied that room +and stood by him. I often told him that he was wrong and argued with +him, but he said, "I know she is here." I often thought of the great +inspiration she had been to him in his marvelous poems and books. +Poor Bayard Taylor, "In what gardens of delight, rest thy weary feet +to-night?" Mr. Longfellow once said that Mary "stood between him and +his manuscript," and he could not get away from the impression that +she was with him all the time. How sad was her early death and how he +suffered the martyrdom of the faithful! Longfellow's home life was +always beautiful But his later years were disturbed greatly by +souvenir and curiosity seekers. + +Horace Greeley died of a broken heart because he was not elected +President of the United States, and never was happy in the last years +of his life. His idea of true happiness was to go to some quiet +retreat and publish some little paper. He once declared at a dinner in +Brooklyn that he envied the owner of a weekly paper in Indiana whose +paper was so weakly that the subscribers did not miss it if it failed +to appear. + +Mr. Tennyson told me that he would not exchange his home, walled in as +it was like a fortress for Windsor Castle or the throne of the Queen. + +Mr. Carnegie said to me only a few months ago that if a man owned his +home and had his health he had all the money that man needed to be as +happy as any person can be. Mr. Carnegie was right about that. + +Empress Eugenie, in 1870, was said to be the happiest woman in France. +I saw her in the Tuilleres at a gorgeous banquet and a few years +after, when her husband had been captured, her son killed and she was +a widow, at the Chislehurst Cottage, I said to her, "The last time +I saw you in that beautiful palace you were said to be the happiest +woman in the world." "Sir," she said, "I am far happier now than I was +then." It was a statement that for a long time I could not understand. + +I caught a glimpse of Garibaldi weeping because he did not go back +with his wife, Anita, to South America. + +I visited Charles Dickens at his home and asked him to come to America +again and read from his books, but Mr. Dickens said "No, I will never +cross the ocean; I will not go even to London. When I die, I am to be +buried out there on the lawn," and he pointed out the place to me. A +few weeks later I hired a custodian to let me in early at the rear +gate of Westminster Abbey, for Parliament had changed Mr. Dickens's +will in one respect, and provided that he should not be buried on the +lawn of his cottage, but instead in Westminster Abbey, but they made +no other change in his will. There I looked on the fifteen men, all +whom the will allowed to be present at his funeral, who were bearing +all that was mortal of Charles Dickens to his rest, and I heard Dean +Stanley say "While Mr. Dickens lived, his loss was our gain; but +now his gain is our loss." When he uttered that great truth, very +condensed, in that beautiful language, he showed that human life in +the public service of one's fellow men may be nothing more or less +than continual sacrifice. + +My friends, if you are called to public service; if you have influence +that you can use for the public good, do not hesitate to go if you are +SURE that DUTY calls you. But if, instead, no voice of God, no call of +mankind, doth require that you go out and give up the best of life for +your fellows, remember how fortunate you are. If you can go to your +home at evening and read your paper in peace, and rest undisturbed, +do so, and remember that you have reached the very height of personal +happiness. Then seek no farther, count thyself happy and go no farther +than God shall call you. For the happiest man is not famous, nor +rich, but he who hath his loved ones in an undisturbed peace around. +Remember what Wendell Phillips said, "All within this gate is +Paradise; all without it is MARTYDROM." + +I had a glimpse of Generals Grant and Sheridan wrestling like boys, +over a box of cigars sent into General Grant's tent. They were boys +again. + +I had a glimpse of Li-Hung Chang at Nanking, China, at an execution by +beheading, and a glimpse of him an hour later playing leap frog with +his grandchildren. Childhood was a joy, manhood a tragedy. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Russell H. Conwell, by Agnes Rush Burr + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUSSELL H. CONWELL *** + +***** This file should be named 11421-8.txt or 11421-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/4/2/11421/ + +Produced by Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/11421-8.zip b/old/11421-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aae590f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11421-8.zip diff --git a/old/11421.txt b/old/11421.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e7a07a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11421.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10588 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Russell H. Conwell, by Agnes Rush Burr + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Russell H. Conwell + +Author: Agnes Rush Burr + +Release Date: March 3, 2004 [EBook #11421] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUSSELL H. CONWELL *** + + + + +Produced by Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team. + + + + + +[Illustration: RUSSELL H CONWELL] + + + + +RUSSELL H. CONWELL + +Founder of the Institutional Church in America + + + +THE WORK AND THE MAN + +BY + +AGNES RUSH BURR + + + +With His Two Famous Lectures as Recently Delivered, entitled "Acres of +Diamonds," and "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women" + + + +With an Appreciative Introduction by FLOYD W. TOMKINS, D.D., LL.D. + + + + +1905 + + + + +TO THE MEMBERS + +OF + +GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH + + +TO THOSE WHO IN THE OLD DAYS WORKED WITH SUCH SELF SACRIFICE AND +DEVOTION TO BUILD THE TEMPLE WALLS; TO THOSE WHO IN THE LATER DAYS +ANYWHERE WORK IN LIKE SPIRIT TO ENLARGE THEIR SPHERE OF USEFULNESS, + +THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED + + + + +AN APPRECIATION + + +The measure of greatness is helpfulness. We have gone back to the +method of the Master and learned to test men not by wealth, nor by +birth, nor by intellectual power, but by service. Wealth is not to be +despised if it is untainted and consecrated. Ancestry is noble if the +good survives and the bad perishes in him who boasts of his forebears. +Intellectual force is worthy if only it can escape from that cursed +attendant, conceit. But they sink, one and all into insignificance +when character is considered; for character is the child of godly +parents whose names are self-denial and love. The man who lives not +for himself but for others, and who has a heart big enough to take all +men into its living sympathies--he is the man we delight to honor. + +Biographies have a large place in present day literature. A woman long +associated with some foreign potentates tells her story and it is read +with unhealthy avidity. Some man fights many battles, and his career +told by an amiable critic excites temporary interest. Yet as we read +we are unsatisfied. The heart and mind, consciously or unconsciously, +ask for some deeds other than those of arms and sycophancies. Did he +make the world better by his living? Were rough places smoothed and +crooked things straightened by his energies? And withal, had he that +tender grace which drew little children to him and made him the +knight-attendant of the feeble and overborne amongst his fellows? The +life from which men draw daily can alone make a book richly worth the +reading. + +It is good that something should be known of a man whilst he yet +lives. We are overcrowded with monuments commemorating those into +whose faces we cannot look for inspiration. It is always easy to strew +flowers upon the tomb. But to hear somewhat of living realities; to +grasp the hand which has wrought, and feel the thrill while we hear of +the struggles which made it a beautiful hand; to see the face marked +by lines cut with the chisel of inner experience and the sword of +lonely misunderstanding and perchance of biting criticism, and +learn how the brave contest spelt out a life-history on feature and +brow;--this is at once to know the man and his career. + +This life of a man justly honored and loved in Philadelphia will find +a welcome seldom accorded to the routine biography. It is difficult +for one who rejoices in Dr. Conwell's friendship to speak in tempered +language. It is yet more difficult to do justice to the great work +which Church and College and Hospital, united in a trinity of service, +have accomplished in our very midst. God hath done mighty things +through this His servant, and the end is not yet. To attend the Temple +services on Sunday and feel the pulse of worship is to enter into a +blessed fellowship with God and men. To see the thousands pursuing +their studies during the week in Temple College and to realize the +thoroughness of the work done is to gain a belief in Christian +education. To move through the beautiful Hospital and mark the gentle +ministration of Christian physician and nurse is to learn what Jesus +meant when, quoting Hosea, He said: "I will have mercy and not +sacrifice." And these all bring one very near to the great human +heart, the intelligent and far-reaching judgment, the ripe and real +religion of him whose life this volume tells. + +May God bless Dr. Conwell in the days to come, and graciously spare +him to us for many years! We need such men in this old sin-stained and +weary world. He is an inspiration to his brothers in the ministry +of Jesus Christ, He is a proof of the power in the world of pure +Christianity. He is a friend to all that is good, a foe to all that is +evil, a strength to the weak, a comforter to the sorrowing, a man of +God. + +He would not suffer these words to be printed if he saw them. But they +come from the heart of one who loves, honors, and reverences him for +his character and his deeds. They are the words of a friend. + +[Illustration: Floyd W. Tomkins Church of the Holy Trinity +Philadelphia, Oct. 6th 1905.] + + + + +FOREWORD + +CONWELL THE PIONEER + + +Speaking of Russell Conwell's career, a Western paper has called it, +"a pioneer life." + +No phrase better describes it. + +Dr. Conwell preaches to the largest Protestant congregation in America +each Sunday. He is the founder and president of a college that has a +yearly roll-call of three thousand students. He is the founder and +president of a hospital that annually treats more than five thousand +patients. Yet great as these achievements are, they are yet greater in +prophecy than in fulfilment. For they are the first landmarks in a new +world of philanthropic work. He has blazed a path through the dark, +tangled wilderness of tradition and convention, hewing away the +worthless, making a straight road for progress, letting in God's clear +light to show what the world needs done and how to do it. + +He has shown how a church can reach out into the home, the business, +the social life of thousands of people until their religion is their +life, their life a religion. He has given the word "church" its real +meaning. No longer is it a building merely for worship, but, with +doors never closed, it is a vital part of the community and the lives +of the people. + +He has proven that the great masses of people are hungry and thirsty +for knowledge. The halls of Temple College have resounded to the tread +of an army of working men and women more than fifty thousand strong. +The man with an hour a day and a few dollars a year is as eager and as +welcome a student there, and has the same educational opportunities to +the same grade of learning as though he had the birthright of leisure +and money which opens the doors to Harvard and Yale. + +He has shown that a hospital can be built not merely as a charity, not +merely as a necessity, but as a visible expression of Christ's love +and command, "Heal the sick." + +In all these three lines he has blazed new paths, opened new worlds +for man's endeavors--new worlds of religious work, new worlds of +educational work. He has not only proven their need, demonstrated +their worth, but he has shown how it is possible to accomplish such +results from small beginnings with no large gifts of money, with only +the hands and hearts of willing workers. + +Not only has he done a magnificent pioneer work in these great fields, +but from boyhood he has blazed trails of one kind or another, for +the pioneer fever was in his blood--that burning desire to do, to +discover, to strike out into new fields. + +As a mere child, he organized a strange club called "Silence," also +the first debating society in the district schoolhouse, and circulated +the first petition for the opening of a post-office near his home in +South Worthington, Mass. + +In his school days at Wilbraham Academy, he organized an original +critics' club, started the first academy paper, organized the original +alumni association. + +In war time, he built the first schoolhouse for the first free colored +school, still standing at Newport, N.C.; and started the first +"Comfort Bag" movement at a war meeting in Springfield, Mass. + +As a lawyer, he opened the first noon prayer meeting in the Northwest, +called the first meeting to organize the Y.M.C.A. at Minneapolis, +Minn., organized four literary and social clubs in Minneapolis, +started the first library in that city, began the publication of the +first daily paper there called "The Daily Chronicle," afterward "The +Minneapolis Tribune." + +In Boston, he started the "Somerville Journal," now edited by his son, +Leon M. Conwell, one of the most quoted publications in the country. +He called the first meeting which organized the Boston Young Men's +Congress, and was one of the first editors of the "Boston Globe." +He was the personal adviser of James Redpath, who opened the first +Lecture and Lyceum Bureau in the United States. + +He began a new church work in the old Baptist church building at +Lexington, Mass., and he opened in a schoolhouse the mission from +which grew the West Somerville (Mass.) Baptist church. + +He was special counselor for four new Railroad companies and for two +new National banks. + +In Philadelphia, in addition to being the founder of the first +Institutional church in America, of a college practically free for +busy men and women, and a hospital for the sick poor, he has organized +twenty or more societies for religions and benevolent purposes +including the Philadelphia Orphan's Home Society. + +His pioneer work is not all. As a lecturer Dr. Conwell is known from +the Atlantic to the Pacific, having been on the lecture platform +for forty-three years, speaking from one hundred to two hundred and +twenty-five nights each year. + +As an author he has written books that have run into editions of +hundreds of thousands, his "Life of Spurgeon" selling one hundred and +twenty-five thousand copies in four months. He has been around the +globe many times, counted among his intimate friends Garibaldi, Bayard +Taylor, Stanley, Longfellow, Blaine, Henry Ward Beecher, John G. +Whittier, President Garfield, Horace Greeley, Alexander Stevens, John +Brown, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John B. Gough and General Sherman. + +He fought in the war of the Rebellion, was left for dead on the +battlefield of Kenesaw mountain--in fact, he has had a career as +picturesque and thrilling as a Scott or Dumas could picture. + +Yet the man whose energy has reared enduring monuments of stone, and +more lasting ones in the hearts of thousands whose lives he has made +happier and brighter, fought his way upward alone and single-handed +from a childhood of poverty. He rose by his own efforts, in the face +of great and seemingly insurmountable obstacles and discouragements. +The path he took from that little humble farmhouse to the big church, +the wide-reaching college, the kindly hospital, the head of the +Lecture Platform, it is the purpose of this book to picture, in the +hope that it may be helpful to others, either young or old, who desire +to better their condition, or to do some work of which the inner voice +tells them the world is in need. + +Dr. Conwell believes, with George Macdonald, that "The one secret of +life and development is not to devise or plan, but to fall in with the +forces at work--to do every moment's duty aright--that being the part +in the process allotted to us; and let come ... what the Eternal +Thought wills for each of us, has intended in each of us from the +first." + +Or in the words of the greatest of Books, "See that thou make it +according to the pattern that was shewed thee in the mount." + +Every one at some time in his life has been "in the mount." To follow +and obey the Heavenly Vision means a life of usefulness and happiness. +That obstacles and discouragements can be surmounted, the life of +Russell Conwell shows. For this purpose it is written, that others who +have heard the Voice may go forward with faith and perseverance to +work of which the world stands in need. + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENT + + +In the preparation of this book, the three excellent biographies +already written, "Scaling the Eagle's Nest," by Wm. C. Higgins, "The +Modern Temple and Templars," by Robert J. Burdette, and "The Life of +Russell H. Conwell," by Albert Hatcher Smith, have been of the utmost +help. The writer wishes to acknowledge her great indebtedness to all +for much of the information in the present work. These writers have +with the utmost care gathered the facts concerning Dr. Conwell's early +life, and the writer most gratefully owns her deep obligation to them. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + +Chapter I.--Ancestry. John Conwell, the English Ancestor who fought for +the Preservation of the English Language. Martin Conwell of Maryland. A +Runaway Marriage. The Parents of Russell H. Conwell. + +Chapter II.--Early Environment. The Family Circle. An Unusual Mother. +What She Read Her Children. A Preacher at Three Years of Age. + +Chapter III.--Days of Study, Work and Play. The Schoolhouse in the +Woods. Maple Sugar-making. The Orator of the Dawn. A Boyish Prank. +Capturing the Eagle's Nest. + +Chapter IV.--Two Men and Their Influence. John Brown. Fireside +Discussions. Runaway Slaves. Fred Douglas. Rev. Asa Niles. A Runaway +Trip to Boston. + +Chapter V--Trying His Wings. Boyhood Days. Russell's First Case at Law. +A Cure for Stage Fever. Studying Music. A Runaway Trip to Europe. + +Chapter VI--Out of the Home Nest. School Days at Wilbraham Academy. The +First School Oration and Its Humiliating End. The Hour of Prayer in the +Conwell Home at the Time of John Brown's Execution. + +Chapter VII.--War's Alarms. College Days at Yale. The Outbreak of the +Civil War. Patriotic Speechmaking. New York and Henry Ward Beecher. + +Chapter VIII.--While the Conflict Raged. Lincoln's Call for One Hundred +Thousand Men. Enlistment. Captain Conwell. In Camp at Springfield, Mass. +The Famous Gold-sheathed Sword. + +Chapter IX.--In the Thick of the Fight. Company F at Newberne, N.C. The +Fight at Batchelor's Creek. The Goldsboro Expedition. The Battle of +Kingston. The Gum Swamp Expedition. + +Chapter X.--The Sword and the School Book. Scouting at Bogue Sound. +Captain Conwell Wounded. The Second Enlistment. Jealousy and +Misunderstanding. Building of the First Free School for Colored +Children. Attack on Newport Barracks. Heroic Death of John Ring. + +Chapter XI.--A Soldier of the Cross. Under Arrest for Absence Without +Leave. Order of Court Reversed by President. Certificate from State +Legislature of Massachusetts for Patriotic Services. Appointed by +President Lincoln, Lieutenant-Colonel on General McPherson's Staff. +Wounded at Kenesaw Mountain. Conversion. Public Profession of Faith. + +Chapter XII.--Westward. Resignation from Army. Admission to Bar. +Marriage. Removal to Minnesota. Founding of the Minneapolis Y.M.C.A. +and of the Present "Minneapolis Tribune." Burning of Home. Breaking Out +of Wound. Appointed Emigration Agent to Germany by Governor of +Minnesota. Joins Surveying Party to Palestine. Near to Death in Paris +Hospital. Journey to New York for Operation in Bellevue Hospital. Return +to Boston. + +Chapter XIII.--Writing His Way Around the World. Days of Poverty in +Boston. Sent to Southern Battlefields. Around the World for New York and +Boston Papers. In a Gambling Den in Hong Kong, China. Cholera and +Shipwreck. + +Chapter XIV.--Busy Days in Boston. Editor of "Boston Traveller." Free +Legal Advice for the Poor. Temperance Work. Campaign Manager for General +Nathaniel P. Banks. Urged for Consulship at Naples. His Work for the +Widows and Orphans of Soldiers. + +Chapter XV.--Troubled Days. Death of Wife. Loss of Money. Preaching on +Wharves. Growth of Sunday School Class at Tremont Temple from Four to +Six Hundred Members in a Brief Time. Second Marriage. Death of Father +and Mother. Preaching at Lexington. Building Lexington Baptist Church. + +Chapter XVI.--His Entry Into the Ministry. Ordination. First Charge at +Lexington. Call to Grace Baptist Church, Philadelphia. + +Chapter XVII.--Going to Philadelphia. The Early History of Grace Baptist +Church. The Beginning of the Sunday Breakfast Association. Impressions +of a Sunday Service. + +Chapter XVIII.--First Days at Grace Baptist Church. Early Plans for +Church Efficiency. Practical Methods for. + +Chapter XXXI.--The Manner of the Message. The Style of the Sermons. +Their Subject Matter. Preaching to Help Some Individual Church Member. + +Chapter XXXII.--These Busy Later Days. A Typical Week Day. A Typical +Sunday. Mrs. Conwell. Back to the Berkshires in Summer for Rest. + +Chapter XXXIII.--As a Lecturer. Wide Fame as a Lecturer. Date of Entrance +on Lecture Platform. Number of Lectures Given. The Press on His +Lectures. Some Instances of How His Lectures Have Helped People. Address +at Banquet to President McKinley. + +Chapter XXXIV.--As a Writer. Rapid Method of Working. A Popular +Biographical Writer. The Books He has Written. + +Chapter XXXV.--A Home Coming. Reception Tendered by Citizens of +Philadelphia in Acknowledgment of Work as Public Benefactor. + +Chapter XXXVI.--The Path That Has Been Blazed. Problems That Need +Solving. The Need of Men Able to Solve Them. + +Acres of Diamonds. + +Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women. + +[Illustration: MARTIN CONWELL] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +ANCESTRY + + +John Conwell, the English Ancestor who fought for the Preservation of +the English Language. Martin Conwell of Maryland. A Runaway Marriage. +The Parents of Russell Conwell. + +When the Norman-French overran England and threatened to sweep from +out the island the English language, many time-honored English +customs, and all that those loyal early Britons held dear, a doughty +Englishman, John Conwell, took up cudgels in their defence. Long and +bitter was the struggle he waged to preserve the English language. +Insidious and steady were the encroachments of the Norman-French +tongue. The storm centre was the Castle school, for John Conwell +realized that the language of the child of to-day is the language of +the man of to-morrow. Right royal was the battle, for it was in those +old feudal days of strong feeling and bitter, bloody partisanship. But +this plucky Briton stood to his guns until he won. Norman-French was +beaten back, English was taught in the schools, and preserved in the +speech of that day. + +It was a tale that was told his children and his children's children. +It was a tradition that grew into their blood--the story of +perseverance, the story of a fight against oppression and injustice. +"Blood" is after all but family traditions and family ideals, and this +fighting ancestor handed down to his descendants an inheritance of +greater worth than royal lineage or feudal castle. The centuries +rolled away, a new world was discovered, and the progressive, +energetic Conwell family were not to be held back when adventure +beckoned. Two members of it came to America. Courage of a high +order, enthusiasm, faith, must they have had, or the call to cross +a perilous, pathless ocean, to brave unknown dangers in a new world +would have found no response in their hearts. They settled in Maryland +and into this fighting pioneer blood entered that strange magic +influence of the South, which makes for romance, for imagination, for +the poetic and ideal in temperament. + +[Illustration: MIRANDA CONWELL] + +Of this family came Martin Conwell, of Baltimore, hot-blooded, proud, +who in 1810, visiting a college chum in western Massachusetts, met +and fell in love with a New England girl, Miss Hannah Niles. She was +already engaged to a neighbor's son, but the Southerner cared naught +for a rival. He wooed earnestly, passionately. He soon swept away her +protests, won her heart and the two ran away and were married. But +tragic days were ahead. On her return her incensed father locked her +in her room and by threats and force compelled her to write a note to +her young husband renouncing him. He would accept no such message, but +sent a note imploring a meeting in a nearby schoolhouse at nightfall. +The letter fell into the father's hands. He compelled her to write a +curt reply bidding him leave her "forever." Then the father locked +the daughter safely in the attic, and with a mob led by the rejected +suitor, surrounded the schoolhouse and burnt it to the ground. The +husband, thinking he had been heartlessly forsaken, made a brave fight +against the odds, but seeing no hope of success, leaped from the +burning building, amid the shots fired at him, escaped down a rocky +embankment at the back of the schoolhouse, and under cover of the +woods, fled. They told his wife that he was dead. + +A little son came to brighten her shadowed life, whom she named, after +him, Martin Conwell; and after seven years she married her early +lover. But Martin was the son of her first husband and always her +dearest child, and day after day when old and gray and again a widow, +she would come over the New England hills, a little lonely old woman, +to sit by his fireside and dream of those bygone days that were so +sweet. + +Too proud to again seek an explanation, Martin Conwell, her husband, +returned to his Maryland home, living a lonely, bitter life, believing +to the day of his death, thirty years later, that his young wife had +repudiated and betrayed him. + +Martin Conwell, the son, grew to manhood and in 1839 brought a bride +to a little farm he had purchased at South Worthington, up in the +Hampshire Highlands of the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts. Here and +there among these hills, along the swift mountain streams, the land +sweeps out into sunny little meadows filled in summer with rich, +tender grasses, starred with flowers. It is not a fertile land. The +rocks creep out with frequent and unpleasing persistency. But Martin +Conwell viewed life cheerfully, and being an ingenious man, added to +the business of farming, several other occupations, and so managed to +make a living, and after many years to pay the mortgage on his home +which came with the purchase. The little farmhouse, clinging to the +bleak hillside, seemed daring to the point of recklessness when the +winter's winds swept down the valley, and the icy fingers of the storm +reached out as if to pluck it bodily from its exposed position. + +But when spring wove her mantle of green over the hills, when summer +flung its leafy banners from a million tree tops, then in the +wonderful panorama of beauty that spread before it, was the little +home justified for the dangers it had dared. Back of the house the +land climbed into a little ridge, with great, gray rocks here and +there, spots of cool, restful color amid the lavish green and gold and +purple of nature's carpeting. To the north swept hills clothed with +the deep, rich green of hemlock, the faint green flutter of birch, the +dense foliage of sugar maples. To the east, in the valley, a singing +silver brook flashed in and out among somber boulders, the land +ascending to sunny hilltop pastures beyond. But toward the south from +the homestead lay the gem of the scenery; one of the most beautiful +pictures the Berkshires know. Down the valley the hills divided, +sweeping upward east and west in magnificent curves; and through the +opening, range on range of distant mountains, including Mount Tom, +filled the view with an ever-changing fairyland of beauty--in the +spring a sea of tender, misty green; in the summer, a deep, heaving +ocean of billowy foliage; in the fall, a very carnival of color--gold, +rich reds, deep glowing browns and orange. And always, at morning, +noon and night, was seen subtle tenderness of violet shadows, of hazy +blue mists, of far-away purple distances. + +Such was the site Martin Conwell chose for a home, a site that told +something of his own character; that had marked influence on the +family that grew up in the little farmhouse. + +A mixture of the practical, hard common sense of New England and the +sympathetic, poetic temperament of the South was in this young New +England farmer--the genial, beauty-loving nature of his Southern +father, the rigid honesty, the strong convictions, the shrewd sense of +his Northern mother. Quiet and reserved in general, he was to those +who knew him well, kind-hearted, broad-minded, fun-loving. He not +only took an active interest in the affairs of the little mountain +community, but his mind and heart went out to the big problems of the +nation. He grappled with them, sifted them thoroughly, and having +decided what to him was the right course to pursue, expressed his +convictions in deed as well as word. His was no passive nature. The +square chin denoted the man of will and aggression, and though the +genial mouth and kindly blue eyes bespoke the sympathetic heart, they +showed no lack of courage to come out in the open and take sides. + +The young wife, Miranda Conwell, shared these broader interests of her +husband. She came from central New York State and did not have that +New England reserve and restraint that amounts almost to coldness. Her +mind was keen and vigorous and reached out with her husband's to grasp +and ponder the higher things of life. But the beauty of her character +lay in the loving, affectionate nature that shone from her dark eyes, +in the patient, self-sacrificing, self-denying disposition which found +its chief joy in ministering to her husband and children. Deeply +religious, she could no more help whispering a fervent little prayer, +as she tucked her boys in bed, that the Father above would watch over +and protect them, than she could help breathing, her trust in God +was so much a part of her nature. Such a silent, beautiful influence +unconsciously permeates a child's whole character, moulding it, +setting it. Unconscious of it at the time, some day a great event +suddenly crystalizes it like a wonderful chemical change, and the +beauty of it shines evermore from his life. Miranda Conwell built +better than she knew when in the every-day little things of her life, +she let her faith shine. + +Not a usual couple, by any means, for the early 40's in rugged New +England. Yet their unusualness was of a kind within every one's reach. +They believed the making of a life of more importance than the making +of a living, and they grasped every opportunity of those meagre days +to broaden and uplift their mental and spiritual vision. Martin +Conwell's thoughts went beyond his plow furrow, Miranda's further than +her bread-board; and so the little home had an atmosphere of earnest +thought and purpose that clothed the uncarpeted floors and bare walls +with dignity and beauty. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +EARLY ENVIRONMENT + +The Family Circle. An Unusual Mother. What She Read Her Children. A +Preacher at Three Years of Age. + + +Such was the heritage and the home into which Russell H. Conwell +was born February 15, 1843. Think what a world his eyes opened +upon--"fair, searching eyes of youth"--steadfast hills holding mystery +and fascination in green depths and purple distances, streams rushing +with noisy joy over stony beds, sweet violet gloom of night with +brilliant stars moving silently across infinite space; tender moss, +delicate fern, creeping vine, covering the brown earth with living +beauty--a fascinating world of loveliness for boyish eyes to look upon +and wonder about. + +The home inside was as unpretentious as its exterior suggested. The +tiny hall admitted on one side to a bedroom, on the other to a living +room, from which opened a room used as a store. Above was an attic. +The living room was the bright, cheery heart of the house. The morning +sun poured in through two windows which faced the east; a window and +door on the south claimed the same cheery rays as the sun journeyed +westward. The big open fireplace made a glowing spot of brightness. +The floor was uncarpeted, the walls unpapered, the furnishing of the +simplest, yet cheerfulness and homely comfort pervaded the room as +with an almost tangible spirit. + +A brother three years older and a sister three years younger made a +trio of bright, childish faces about the hearth on winter evenings +as the years went by, while the mother read to them such tales as +childish minds could grasp. It was a loving little circle, one that +riveted sure and fast the ties of family affection and which helped +one boy at her knee in after life to enter with such sure sympathy +into the plain, simple lives of the humblest people he met. He had +lived that same life, he knew the family affection that grows with +such strength around simple firesides, and those of like circumstances +felt this knowledge and opened their hearts to him. + +That Miranda Conwell was an unusual woman for those times and +circumstances is shown in those readings to her children. Not only +did she read and explain to them the beautiful stories of the Bible, +implanting its truths in their impressionable natures to blossom forth +later in beautiful deeds; but she read them the best literature of the +ancient days as well as current literature. Into this poor New England +home came the "New York Tribune" and the "National Era." The letters +of foreign correspondents opened to their childish eyes another world +and roused ambitions to see it. Henry Ward Beecher's sermons, and +"Uncle Tom's Cabin," when it came out as a serial, all such good and +helpful literature, she poured into the eager childish ears. These +readings went on, all through the happy days of childhood. + +Interesting things were happening in the world then; things that were +to mould the future of one of the boys at her knee in a way she little +dreamed. A war was being waged in Mexico to train soldiers for a +greater war coming. Out in Illinois, a plain rail-splitter, farmer and +lawyer was beginning to be heard in the cause of freedom and justice +for all men, black or white. These rumors and discussions drifted into +the little home and arguments rose high around the crackling woodfire +as neighbors dropped in. Martin Conwell was not a man to watch +passively the trend of events. He took sides openly, vigorously, and +though the small, blue-eyed boy listening so attentively did not +comprehend all that it was about, Martin Conwell's views later took +shape in action that had a marked bearing on Russell's later life. + +But the mother's reading bore more immediate, if less useful, fruit. +Hearing rather unusual sounds from the back yard one day, she went +to the door to listen. The evening before she had been reading the +children one of the sermons of Henry Ward Beecher and telling them +something of this great man and his work. Mounted upon one of the +largest gray rocks in the yard, stood Russell, solemnly preaching to +a collection of wondering, round-eyed chickens. It was a serious, +impressive discourse he gave them, much of it, no doubt, a transcript +of Henry Ward Beecher's. What led his boyish fancy to do it, no +one knew, though many another child has done the same, as children +dramatize in play the things they have heard or read. But a chance +remark stamped that childish action upon the boyish imagination, +making it the corner stone of many a childish castle in Spain. Telling +her husband of it in the evening, Miranda Conwell said, half jokingly, +"our boy will some day be a great preacher." It was a fertile seed +dropped in a fertile mind, tilled assiduously for a brief space by +vivid childish imagination; but not ripened till sad experiences of +later years brought it to a glorious fruition. + +Another result of the fireside readings might have been serious. A +short distance from the house a mountain stream leaps and foams over +the stones, seeming to choose, as Ruskin says, "the steepest places +to come down for the sake of the leaps, scattering its handfuls of +crystal this way and that as the wind takes them." The walls of the +gorge rise sheer and steep; the path of the stream is strewn with huge +boulders, over which it foams snow white, pausing in quiet little +pools for breath before the next leap and scramble. Here and there at +the sides, stray tiny little waterfalls, very Thoreaus of streamlets, +content to wander off by themselves, away from the noisy rush of the +others, making little silvery rills of beauty in unobtrusive ways. +Over this gorge was a fallen log. Russell determined to enact the part +of Eliza in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," fleeing over the ice. It was a feat +to make a mother's heart stand still. Three separate times she +whipped him severely and forbade him to do it. He took the punishment +cheerfully, and went back to the log. He never gave up until he had +crossed it. + +The vein of perseverance in his character was already setting into +firm, unyielding mould--the one trait to which Russell H. Conwell, the +preacher, the lecturer, writer, founder of college and hospital, may +attribute the success he has gained. This childish escapade was the +first to strike fire from its flint. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DAYS OF STUDY, WORK AND PLAY + +The Schoolhouse in the Woods. Maple Sugar-making. The Orator of the +Dawn. A Boyish Prank. Capturing the Eagle's Nest. + + +At three years of age, he trudged off to school with his brother +Charles. Though Charles was three years the senior, the little fellow +struggled to keep pace with him in all their childish play and work. +Two miles the children walked daily to the schoolhouse, a long walk +for a toddler of three. But it laid the foundation of that strong, +rugged constitution that has carried him so unflinchingly through +the hard work of these later years. The walk to school was the most +important part of the performance, for lessons had no attraction for +the boy as yet. But the road through the woods to the schoolhouse was +a journey of ever new and never-ending excitement. The road lay along +a silver-voiced brook that rippled softly by shadowy rock, or splashed +joyous and exultant down its boulder-strewn path. It was this same +brook whose music drifted into his little attic bedroom at night, +stilled to a faint, far-away murmur as the wind died down, rising to a +high, clear crescendo of rushing, tumbling water as the breeze stirred +in the tree tops and brought to him the forest sounds. Hour after +hour he lay awake listening to it, his childish imagination picturing +fairies and elves holding their revels in the woods beyond. An +oratorical little brook it was, unconsciously leaving an impress of +its musical speech on the ears of the embryo orator. Moreover, in its +quiet pools lurked watchful trout. Few country boys could walk along +such a stream unheeding its fascinations, especially when the doors +of a school house opened at the farther end, and many an hour when +studies should have claimed him, he was sitting by the brookside, +care-free and contented, delightedly fishing. Nor are any berries +quite so luscious as those which grow along the country road to +school. It takes long, long hours to satisfy the keen appetite of +a boy, and lessons suffered during the berry seasons. Another keen +excitement of the daily journey through a living world of mystery and +enchantment was the search for frogs. Woe to the unlucky frog that +fell in the way of the active, curious boy. Some one had told him that +old, old countryside story, "If you kill a frog, the cows will give +bloody milk." Eager to see such a phenomenon, he watched sharply. Let +an unlucky frog give one unfortunate croak, quick, sure-aimed, flew a +stone, and he raced home at night to see the miracle performed. He was +just a boy as other boys--mischievous, disobedient, fonder of play +than work or study. But underneath, uncalled upon as yet, lay that +vein of perseverance as unyielding as the granite of his native hills. + +The schoolhouse inside was not unattractive. Six windows gave plenty +of light, and each framed woodland pictures no painter's canvas could +rival. The woods were all about and the voice of the little +brook floated in, always calling, calling--at least to one small +listener--to come out and see it dance and sparkle and leap from rock +to rock. If he gained nothing else from his first school days but a +love and appreciation of nature's beauties, it was a lesson well worth +learning. To feed the heart and imagination of a child with such +scenery is to develop unconsciously a love of the beautiful which +brings a pure joy into life never to be lost, no matter what stress +and storm may come. In the darkest, stormiest hours of his later life, +to think back to the serene beauty of those New England hills was as a +hand of peace laid on his troubled spirit. + +This love and joy in nature--and the trait was already in his +blood--was at first all that he gained from his trips to school. Then +came a teacher with a new way of instructing, a Miss Salina Cole, who +had mastered the art of visual memory. She taught her pupils to make +on the mind a photographic impression of the page, which could be +recalled in its entirety, even to the details of punctuation. This +was a process of study that appealed immediately to Russell's boyish +imagination. Moreover, it was something to "see if he could do," +always fascinating to his love of experiment and adventure. It had +numerous other advantages. It was quick. It promised far-reaching +results. If page after page of the school books could be stored in the +mind and called up for future reference, getting an education would +become an easy matter. Besides, they could be called up and pondered +on in various places--fishing, for instance. He quickly decided +to would master this new method, and he went at it with his +characteristic energy and determination. Concentrating all his mental +force, he would study intently the printed page, and then closing his +eyes, repeat it word for word, even giving the punctuation marks. With +the other pupils, Salina Cole was not so successful, but with Russell +Conwell, the results were remarkable. It was a faculty of the utmost +value to him in after years. When in military camp and far from books, +he would recall page after page of his law works and study them during +the long days of garrison duty as easily as though the printed book +were in his hand. + +But the work was of more value to him than the mere mastery of +something new. It whetted his appetite for more. He began to want to +know. School became interesting, and he plunged into studies with an +interest and zest that were unflagging. And as he studied, ambitions +awoke. The history of the past, the accomplishments of great men +stirred him. He began to dream of the things to do in the days to +come. + +Outside of school hours his time was filled with the ordinary duties +of the farm. In the early spring, the maple sugar was to be made +and there were long, difficult tramps through woods in those misty, +brooding days when the miracle of new life is working in tree and vine +and leaf. Often the very earth seemed hushed as if waiting in awe for +this marvelous change that transforms brown earth and bare tree to a +vision of ethereal, tender green. But his books went with him, and in +the long night watches far in the woods alone, when the pans of sirrup +were boiling, he studied. So enrapt did he become that sometimes the +sugar suffered, and the patience of his father was sorely taxed when +told the tale of inattention. + +It was during those long night watches that he learned by heart two +books of Milton's "Paradise Lost," and so firmly were they fixed +in the boyish memory that at this day, Dr. Conwell can repeat them +without a break. Many a time as the shadows lightened and the dim, +misty dawn came stealing through the forest, would the small boy step +outside the rude sugar-house and repeat in that musical, resonant +voice that has since held audiences enthralled, Milton's glorious +"Invocation to the Light." Strange scene--the great shadowy forest, +the distant mist-enfolded hills, the faintly flushing morning sky, +the faint splash of a little mountain stream breaking the brooding +stillness, and the small boy with intent, inspired face pouring out +his very heart in that wonderful invocation: + + "Hail, holy light, offspring of Heaven, Firstborn + Or of the Eternal, co-eternal beam, + May I express thee Unblamed? since God is light, + And never but in unapproached light + Dwelt from eternity--dwelt then in thee, + Bright effluence of bright essence increate! + Or hear'st thou, rather, pure Eternal Stream, + Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun, + Before the Heavens thou wert, and at the voice + Of God as with a mantle didst invest + The rising world of waters dark and deep, + Won from the void and formless Infinite!" + +Later in spring there was plowing, though the farm was so rocky and +stony, there was little of that work to do. But here and there, a +sunny hilltop field made cultivation worth while, and as he followed +the patient oxen along the shining brown furrow, he looked away to the +encircling hills so full of mystery and fascination. What was there? +What was beyond? Then into the the morning and well into the afternoon +they pried and labored. They dug away earth and exerted to the utmost +their childish strength. Charles would soon have given up the gigantic +task, but Russell was not of the stuff that quits, and so they toiled +on. The father and mother at home wondered and searched for the boys. +Then as they began truly to get alarmed, from the woods to the south +came a crash and roar, the sound of trees snapping and then a shock +that made the earth tremble. The rock had fallen, traversing a mile, +in its downward rush to the river bed. Flushed and triumphant the +boys returned, and the neighbors who had heard the noise, when it was +explained to them, went to see the wreckage. It had dropped first a +fall of fifteen feet, where it had paused an instant. Then the earth +giving way under its tons of weight, it had plowed a deep furrow right +down the mountain side, dislodging rocks, uprooting trees, until with +a mighty crash, it struck the borders of the stream where it stands to +this day, a monument to boyish ingenuity and perseverance. + +But of all the mischievous pranks of these childish days, the one that +had perhaps the greatest influence on his life was the capture of +an eagle's nest from the top of a dead hemlock. To the north of the +farmhouse a hill rises abruptly, covered with bare, outcropping rocks, +their fronts sheer and steep. On top clusters a little sombre grove +of hemlock trees, and from the midst of these rose the largest one, +straight, majestic, swaying a little in the wind that swept on from +the distant hills. In the top of this tree, an eagle had built her +nest, and it had long been a secret ambition of the boy to capture +it, the more resolved upon because it seemed impossible. One day in +October he left his sheep, ran to the foot of the hill, and with the +sure-footed agility of a mountain boy climbed the rocks and began the +ascent of the tree. From the top of a high ledge nearby two men hid +and watched him. A fall meant death, and many a time their hearts +stood still, as the intrepid lad placed his foot on a dead branch only +to have it break under him, or reached for a limb to find it give way +at his touch. The tree was nearly fifty feet high and at some time a +stroke of lightning had rent it, splintering the trunk. Only one limb +was left whole, the others had been broken off or shattered by the +storms of winter. In the very crown of the tree swayed the nest, a +rude, uncouth thing of sticks and hay. + +Up and up he climbed, stopping every now and then in the midst of his +struggles to call to the sheep if he saw them wandering too far. He +had only to call them by name to bring them nibbling back again. + +"Not a man in the mountains," wrote one of those who watched him in +that interesting sketch of Mr. Conwell's life, "Scaling the Eagle's +Nest," "would have thought it possible to do anything else but shoot, +that nest down. When we first saw him he was half way up the great +tree, and was tugging away to get up by a broken limb which was +swinging loosely about the trunk. For a long time he tried to break it +off, but his little hand was too weak. Then he came down from knot to +knot like a squirrel, jumped to the ground, ran to his little jacket +and took his jack-knife out of the pocket. Slowly he clambered up +again. When he reached the limb, he clung to another with his left +hand, threw one leg over a splintered knot and with the right hand +hacked away with his knife. + +"'He will give it up,' we both said. + +"But he did not. He chipped away until at last the limb fell to the +ground. Then he pocketed his knife, and bravely strove to get up +higher. It was a dizzy height even for a grown hunter, but the boy +never looked down. He went on until he came to a place about ten feet +below the nest, where there was a long, bare space on the trunk, with +no limbs or knots to cling to. He was baffled then. He looked up at +the nest many times, tried to find some place to catch hold of the +rough bark and sought closely for some rest higher up to put his foot +on. But there was none. An eagle's nest was a rare thing to him, and +he hugged the tree and thought. Suddenly he began to descend again +hastily, and soon dropped to the ground. Away he ran down through the +ravines, leaped the little streams and disappeared toward his home. +In a few minutes the torn straw hat and blue shirt came flitting back +among the rocks and bushes. He called the sheep to him, talked to +them, and shook his finger at them, then he clambered up the tree +again, dragging after him a long piece of his mother's clothes line. +At one end of it, he had tied a large stone, which hindered his +progress, for it caught in the limbs and splinters. The wind blew his +torn straw hat away down a side cliff, and one side of his trousers +was soon torn to strips. But he went on. When he got to the smooth +place on the tree again, he fastened one end of the rope about his +wrist, and then taking the stone which was fastened to the other end, +he tried to throw it up over the nest. It was an awkward and dangerous +position, and the stone did not reach the top. Six or seven times he +threw that stone up, and it fell short or went to one side, and nearly +dragged him down as it fell. + +"The boy felt for his knife again, opened it with his teeth as he held +on, and hauling the rope up, cut off a part of it. He threw a short +piece around the trunk and tied himself with it to the tree. Then +he could lean back for a longer throw. He tied the rope to his hand +again, and threw the stone with all his energy. It went straight as an +arrow, drew the rope squarely over the nest and fell down the other +side of the tree. After a struggle he reached around for the stone, +and tied that end of the rope to a long broken limb. When he drew the +other end of the rope which had been fastened to his hand, it broke +down the sides of the nest, and an old bird arose with a wild scream. + +"Then he loosed the rope which held him to the tree, and pulling +himself up with his hands on the scaling line, digging his bare toes, +heels and knees at times into the ragged bark, he was up in two +minutes to the nest." + +"That is a child's ambition," said one of the men, as they both drew a +breath of relief, when he stepped safely to the ground. "Wait until he +has a man's ambition. If that vein of perseverance doesn't run out, he +will do something worth while." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TWO MEN AND THEIR INFLUENCE + +John Brown. Fireside Discussions. Runaway Slaves. Fred Douglas. Rev. +Asa Niles. A Runaway Trip to Boston. + + +Two men entered into Russell Conwell's life in these formative days of +boyhood who unconsciously had much to do with the course of his after +life. + +One was John Brown, that man "who would rush through fire though it +burn, through water though it drown, to do the work which his soul +knew that it must do." During his residence in Springfield, this man +"possessed like Socrates with a genius that was too much for him" was +a frequent visitor at the Conwell home. Russell learned to know that +face with "features chiselled, as it were, in granite," the large +clear eyes that seemed fairly to change color with the intensity of +his feelings when he spoke on the one subject that was the very heart +of the man. Tall, straight, lithe, with hair brushed back from a high +forehead, thick, full beard and a wonderful, penetrating voice whose +tones once heard were never forgotten, his arrival was always received +with shouts by the Conwell boys. Had he not lived in the West and +fought real Indians! What surer "open sesame" is there to a boy's +heart? He was not so enrapt in his one great project, but that he +could go out to the barn and pitch down hay from the mow with Russell, +or tell him wonderful stories of the great West where he had lived as +a boy, and of the wilderness through which he had tramped as a mere +child when he cared for his father's cattle. Russell was entirely too +young to grasp the meaning of the earnest discussions that went on +about the fireplace of which this Spartan was then the centre. But in +later years their meaning came to him with a peculiar significance. A +light seemed to be shed on the horrors of slavery as if the voice of +his childhood's friend were calling from the grave in impassioned +tones, to aid the cause for which he had given his life. + +Martin Conwell, progressive, aggressive, was not a man to let his +deeds lag behind his words. Such help as he could, he lent the +cause of the oppressed. He made his home one of the stations of the +"Underground Railway," as the road to freedom for escaping slaves was +called. Many a time in the dead of night, awakened by the noise of a +wagon, Russell would steal to the little attic window, to see in the +light of the lantern, a trembling black man, looking fearfully this +way and that for pursuers, being hurried into the barn. Back to bed +went Russell, where his imagination pictured all manner of horrible +cruelties the slaves were suffering until the childish heart was near +to bursting with sympathy for them and with fiery indignation at the +injustice that brought them to this pitiful state. Not often did he +see them, but sometimes childish curiosity was too strong and he +searched out the cowering fugitive in the barn, and if the runaway +happened to be communicative, he heard exaggerated tales of cruelty +that set even his young blood to tingling with a mighty desire to +right their wrongs. Then the next night, the wagon wheels were heard +again and the slave was hurried away to the house of a cousin of +William Cullen Bryant, at Cummington. As the wheels died in the +distance up the mountain road, the boyish imagination pictured the +flight, on, on, into the far north till the Canada border was reached +and the slave free. Little wonder that when the war broke out, this +boy, older grown, spoke as with a tongue of fire and swept men up by +the hundreds with his impassioned eloquence, to sign the muster roll. + +One of these slaves thus helped to freedom is now Rev. J.G. Ramage, of +Atlanta, Ga. In 1905, he applied to Temple College for the degree of +LL.D. Noticing on the letter sent in reply to his request, the name +of Russell Conwell, President of the College, he wrote Dr. Conwell, +telling him that in 1856 when a runaway slave he had stopped at a +farmhouse at South Worthington, Mass., and remembered the name of +Conwell. Undoubtedly Martin Conwell was one of the men who had helped +him to freedom. + +John Brown brought Fred Douglas, the colored orator, with him on one +of his visits. When Russell was told by his father that this was "a +celebrated colored speaker and statesman," the boyish eyes opened wide +with amazement, and not able to control himself, he burst out in a fit +of laughter, saying, "Why, he's not black," much to the amusement of +Douglas, who afterwards told him of his life as a slave. + +The other man who so helped Russell in his younger days was the Rev. +Asa Niles, a cousin of his father's who lived on a neighboring farm. +He had heard of Russell's various exploits and saw that he was a boy +far above the average, that he had talents worth training. Himself a +scholar and a Methodist minister, he knew the value of an education, +and the worth to the world of a brilliant, forceful character with +clear ideas of right, and high ideals of duty. He was a man far ahead +of his times, broad-minded, spiritual in its best sense, and with +a winning personality, just the man to attract a clear-sighted, +keen-witted boy who quickly saw through shams and despised +affectations. Russell at that plastic period could have fallen into +no better hands. With loving interest in the boy's welfare, Asa Niles +inspired him to get the broadest education in order to make the most +of himself, yet ever held before him the highest ideals of life and +manhood. Out of the stores of his own knowledge he told him what to +read, helped, encouraged, talked over his studies with him, and in +every way possible not only made them real and vital to him, but at +every step aided him to see their worth. + +His curiosity keenly aroused, his ambitions kindled by his studies, +Russell was restless to be off to see this great world he had read and +studied about. The mountains suddenly seemed like prison walls holding +him in. An uncontrollable longing swept his soul. He determined to +escape. Telling no one of his intentions, one morning just before +dawn, he raised the window of the little attic in which he and his +brother slept, climbed out over the roof of the woodshed, slipped to +the ground and made off down the valley to seek his fortune in the +world. It was a hasty resolve. In a little bundle slung over his +shoulders he had a few clothes and something to eat. How his heart +thumped as he went down the familiar path in the woods, crossed the +little brook and began the tramp toward Huntington! Every moment he +expected to hear his father's footsteps behind him. Charles might have +awakened, found him missing and roused the family! When morning came +he climbed a little hill, from which he could look back at the house. +He gazed long, and his heart nearly failed him. He could see in +imagination every homely detail of the living room, his father's chair +to the right of the fireplace, his mother's on the left, the clock +between the front windows, which his father wound every night. On a +nail hung his old rimless hat, Charlie's coat, and the little sister's +sunbonnet. His mother would soon be up and getting breakfast. They +would all sit down without him--a lump began to rise in his throat and +he almost turned back. But something in his nature always prevented +him from giving up a thing he had once undertaken. He set his teeth, +picked up his bundle and went down the road between the mountains, +the woods stretching, dense, silent, on each side, the little brook +keeping close by him like the good, true friend it was. + +It was a long, long tramp to the little village of Huntington, a walk +that went for miles beneath overarching green trees, the sunlight +sifting down like a shower of gold in the dim wood aisles. The wild +mountain stream merged into the quiet Westfield river that flowed +placidly through little sunny meadows and rippled in a sedate way here +and there over stones as became the dignity of a river. Small white +farmhouses, set about with golden lilies and deep crimson peonies, +here and there looked out on the road. But his mind was intent on the +wonderful experiences ahead of him; he walked as in a dream. Reaching +Huntington, he asked a conductor if he could get a job on the train to +pay his way to Boston. The conductor eyed the lanky country boy with +sympathetic amusement. He appreciated the situation and told Russell +he didn't think he had any job just then, but he might sit in the +baggage car and should a job turn up, it would be given him. Delighted +with this piece of good luck, Russell sat in the baggage car and +journeyed to Boston. + +He arrived at night. He found himself in a new world, a world of +narrow streets, of hurrying people, of house after house, but in none +of them a home for him. They would not let him sit in the station all +night, as he had planned to do in his boyish inexperience, and he +had no money, for money was a scarce article in the Conwell home. He +wandered up one street and down another till finally he came to the +water. Footsore and hungry, he crawled into a big empty cask lying on +Long Wharf, ate the last bit of bread and meat in his bundle, and went +to sleep. + +The next day was Sunday, not a day to find work, and he faced a very +sure famine. He began again his walk of the streets. It was on +toward noon when he noticed crowds of children hurrying into a large +building. He stood and watched them wistfully. They made him think +of his brother and sister at home. Suddenly an overwhelming longing +seized him to be back again in the sheltering farmhouse, to see his +father, hear his mother's loving voice, feel his sister's hand in his. +Perhaps it was his forlorn expression that attracted the attention of +a gentleman passing into the building. He stopped, asked if he would +not like to go in; and then taking him by the hand led him in with the +others. It was Deacon George W. Chipman, of Tremont Temple, and ever +afterwards Russell Conwell's friend. Many, many years later, the boy, +become a man, came back to this church, organized and conducted one of +the largest and most popular Sunday School classes that famous church +has ever known. + +After Sunday School, Deacon Chipman and Russell "talked things over." +The Deacon, amused and impressed by the original mind of the country +boy, persuaded him to go home, and the next morning put him on the +train that carried him back to the Berkshires. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TRYING HIS WINGS + +Boyhood Days. Russell's First Case at Law. A Cure for Stage Fever. +Studying Music. A Runaway Trip to Europe. + + +So scanty was the income from the rocky farm that the father and +mother looked about them to see how they could add to it. Miranda +Conwell turned to her needle and often sewed far into the night, +making coats, neckties, any work she could obtain that would bring in +a few dollars. She was never idle. The moment her housework was done, +her needle was flying, and Russell had ever before him the picture of +his patient mother, working, ever working, for the family good. The +only time her hands rested was when she read her children such stories +and pointed such lessons as she knew were needed to develop childish +minds and build character. She never lost sight of this in the +pressing work and the need for money. She had that mental and +spiritual breadth of view that could look beyond problems of the +immediate present, no matter how serious they might seem, to the +greater, more important needs coming in the future. + +Martin Conwell worked as a stonemason every spare minute, and in +addition opened a store in the mountain home in a small room adjoining +the living room. Neighbors and the world of his day saw only a poor +farmer, stonemason and small storekeeper. But in versatility, energy +and public spirit, he was far greater than his environment. Considered +only as the man there was a largeness of purpose, a broadness of +mental and spiritual vision about him that gave a subtle atmosphere of +greatness and unconsciously influenced his son to take big views of +life. + +In the little store one day was enacted a drama not without its effect +on Russell's impressionable mind. For a brief time, the store became +a court room; a flour barrel was the judge's bench, a soap box and +milking stool, the lawyers' seats. The proceedings greatly interested +Russell, who lay flat on his breast on the counter, his heels in the +air, his chin in his hands, drinking it in with ears and eyes. + +[Illustration: THE CONWELL FARMHOUSE AT SOUTH WORTHINGTON, MASS.] + +A neighbor had lost a calf, a white-faced calf with a broken horn. In +the barn of a neighbor had been seen a white-faced calf with a broken +horn. The coincidence was suspicions. The plaintiff declared it was +his calf. The defendant swore he had never seen the lost heifer, and +that the one in his barn he had raised himself. Neighbors lent their +testimony, for the little store was crowded, a justice of the peace +from Northampton having come to try the case. One man said he had seen +the defendant driving a white-faced calf up the mountain one night +just after the stolen calf had been missed from the pasture. The +defendant intimated in no mild language that he must be a close blood +relation to Ananias. Hot words flew back and forth between judge, +lawyers and witnesses, and it began to look as if the man in whose +barn the calf was placidly munching was guilty. Just then Russell, +with a chuckle, slipped from the counter and disappeared through the +back door. In a minute he returned, and solemnly pushed a white-faced +calf with a broken horn squarely among the almost fighting disputants. +There was a lull in the storm of angry words. Here was the lost calf. +With a bawl of dismay and many gyrations of tail, it occupied the +centre of the floor. None could dispute the fact that it was the calf +in question. The defendant assumed an injured, innocent air, the +plaintiff looked crestfallen. Russell explained he had found the calf +among his father's cows. But, knowing the true situation, he had +enjoyed the heated argument too hugely to produce the calf earlier in +the case. + +The event caused much amusement among the neighbors. Some said if they +ever were hailed to court, they should employ Russell as their lawyer. +The women, when they dropped in to see his mother, called him the +little lawyer. The boyish ambition to be a minister faded. Once more +he went to building castles in Spain, but this time they had a legal +capstone. + +Thus the years rolled by much as they do with any boy on a farm. +Of work there was plenty, but he found time to become a proficient +skater, and a strong, sturdy swimmer, to learn and take delight in +outdoor sports, all of which helped to build a constitution like iron, +and to give him an interest in such things which he has never +lost. The boys of Temple College find in him not only a pastor and +president, but a sympathetic and understanding friend in all forms of +healthy, honorable sport. + +Attending a Fourth of July parade in Springfield, he was so impressed +with the marching and manoeuvres of the troops that he returned home, +formed a company of his schoolmates, drilled and marched them as if +they were already an important part of the G.A.R. He secured a book on +tactics and studied it with his usual thoroughness and perseverance. +He presented his company with badges, and one of the relics of his +childhood days is a wooden sword he made himself out of a piece of +board. Little did any one dream that this childish pastime would in +later years become the serious work of a man. + +In all the school and church entertainments he took an active part. +His talent for organizing and managing showed itself early, while his +magnetism and enthusiasm swept his companions with him, eager only to +do his bidding. Many were the entertainments he planned and carried +through. Recitations, dialogues, little plays all were presented under +his management to the people of South Worthington. It was these that +gave him the first taste of the fascination of the stage and set him +to thinking of the dazzling career of an actor. He is not the only +country boy that has dreamed of winning undying fame on the boards, +but not every one received such a speedy and permanent cure. + +"One day in the height of the maple sugar season," says Burdette, in +his excellent life of Mr. Conwell, "The Modern Temple and Templars," +"Russell was sent by his father with a load of the sugar to +Huntington. The ancient farm wagon complicated, doubtless, with sundry +Conwell improvements, drawn by a venerable horse, was so well loaded +that the seat had to be left out, and the youthful driver was forced +to stand. Down deep in the valley, the road runs through a dense +woodland which veiled the way in solitude and silence. The very place, +thought Russell, for a rehearsal of the part he had in a play to be +given shortly at school; a beautiful grade, thought the horse, to trot +a little and make up time. Russell had been cast for a part of a crazy +man--a character admirably adapted for the entire cast of the average +amateur dramatic performer. He had very little to say, a sort of +'The-carriage-waits-my-lord' declamation, but he had to say it with +thrilling and startling earnestness. He was to rush in on a love scene +bubbling like a mush-pot with billing and cooing, and paralyze the +lovers by shrieking 'Woe! Woe! unto ye all, ye children of men!' +Throwing up his arms, after the manner of the Fourth of July orator's +justly celebrated windmill gesture, he roared, in his thunderous +voice: 'Woe! Woe! unto ye--' + +"That was as far as the declamation got, although the actor went +considerably farther. The obedient horse, never averse to standing +still, suddenly and firmly planted his feet and stood--motionless as a +painted horse upon a painted highway. Russell, obedient to the laws of +inertia, made a parabola over the dashboard, landed on the back of the +patient beast, ricochetted to the ground, cutting his forehead on the +shaft as he descended, a scar whereof he carries unto this day, and +plunged into a yielding cushion of mud at the roadside." + +He returned home, a confused mixture of blood, mud, black eyes and +torn clothes. Such a condition must be explained. It could not +be turned aside by any off-handed joke. The jeers and jibes, the +unsympathetic and irritating comments effectually killed any desire +he cherished for the life of the stage. It became a sore subject. He +didn't even want it mentioned in his hearing. He never again thought +of it seriously as a life work. + +But one thing these entertainments did that was of great value. They +developed and fostered a love of music and eventually led to his +gaining the musical education which has proven of such value to him. +He had a voice of singular sweetness and great power. At school, at +church, in the little social gatherings of the neighborhood, whenever +there was singing his voice led. It was almost a passion with him. At +the few parades and entertainments he saw in nearby towns, he watched +the musicians fascinated. He was consumed with a desire to learn to +play. Inventive as he was and having already made so many things +useful about the farm or in the house, it is a wonder he did not +immediately begin the making of some musical instrument rather than go +without it. Probably he would, if an agent had not appeared for the +Estey Organ Company. They were beginning to make the little home +organs which have since become an ornament of nearly every country +parlor. But they were rare in those days and the price to Martin +Conwell, almost prohibitive. Knowing Russell's love of music, the +father fully realized the pleasure an organ in the home would give his +son. But the price was beyond him. He offered the man every dollar he +felt he could afford. But it was ten dollars below the cost of the +organ and the agent refused it. + +Martin Conwell felt he must not spend more on a luxury, and the agent +left. Crossing the fields to seek another purchaser, he met Miranda +Conwell. She asked him if her husband had bought the organ. His answer +was a keen disappointment The mother's heart had sympathized with the +boy's passion for music and knew the joy such a possession would be to +Russell. Ever ready to sacrifice herself, she told the man she would +pay him the ten dollars, if he would wait for it, but not to let her +husband know. The agent returned to Martin Conwell, told him he would +accept his offer, and in a short time a brand new organ was installed +in the farmhouse. Miranda Conwell sewed later at nights, that was all. +Not till she had earned the ten dollars with her needle did she tell +her husband why the agent had, with such surprising celerity, changed +his mind in regard to the price. + +Russell's joy in the organ was unbounded, and the mother was more than +repaid for her extra work by his pleasure and delight. He immediately +plunged unaided into the study of music, and he never gave up until he +was complete master of the organ. His was no half-hearted love. The +work and drudgery connected with practising never daunted him. He kept +steadily at it until he could roll out the familiar songs and +hymns while the small room fairly rang with their melody. He also +improvised, composing both words and music, a gift that went with him +into the ministry and which has given the membership of Grace Baptist +Church, Philadelphia, many beautiful hymns and melodies. + +Later he learned the bass viol, violoncello and cornet, and made money +by playing for parties and entertainments in his neighborhood. Years +afterward, when pastor of Grace Church, and with the Sunday School +on an excursion to Cape May, he saw a cornet lying on a bench on the +pier. Seized with a longing to play again this instrument of his +boyhood, he picked it up and began softly a familiar air. Soon lost to +his surroundings, he played on and on. At last remembering where he +was, he laid down the instrument and walked away. The owner, who had +returned, followed him and offered him first five dollars and then ten +to play that night for a dance at Congress Hall. + +Martin Conwell, during Russell's boyhood days, carefully guarded his +son from being spoiled by the flattery of neighbors and friends. He +realized that Russell was a boy in many ways above the average, but +his practical common sense prevented him from taking such pride in +Russell's various achievements as to let him become spoiled and +conceited. Many a whipping Russell received for the personal songs he +composed about the neighbors. But that was not prohibitive. The very +next night, Russell would hold up to ridicule the peculiarity of some +one in the neighborhood, much to his victim's chagrin and to the +amusement of the listeners. He was forever inventing improvements for +the fishing apparatus, oars, boats, coasting sleds, household and farm +utensils, often forgetting the tasks his father had given him while +doing it. Naturally, this exasperated Martin Conwell, who had no help +on the farm but the boys, and the rod would again be brought into +active service. Once, after whipping him for such neglect of work--he +had left the cider apples out in the frost--Martin Conwell asked his +son's pardon because he had invented an improved ox-sled that was of +great practical value. + +When he was fifteen he ran away again. No friendly Deacon Chipman +interfered this time, nor is it likely he would easily have been +turned from the project, for he planned to go to Europe. He went to +Chicopee to an uncle's, whom he frankly told of his intended trip. The +uncle kept Russell for a day or two by various expedients, while he +wrote to his father telling him Russell was there and what he intended +doing. The father wrote back saying to give him what money he needed +and let him go. So Russell started on his journey over the sea. He +worked his way on a cattle steamer from New York to Liverpool. But it +was a homesick boy that roamed around in foreign lands, and as he has +said most feelingly since, "I felt that if I could only get back home, +I would never, never leave it again." He did not stay abroad long and +when he returned to his home, his father greeted him as if he had been +absent a few hours, and never in any way, by word or action, referred +to the subject. In fact, so far as Martin Conwell appeared, Russell +might have been no farther than Huntington. + +Thus boyhood days passed with their measure of work and their measure +of play. He lived the healthy, active life of a farm boy, taking a +keen interest in the affairs of the young people of the neighborhood, +amusing the older heads by his mischievous pranks. He diligently and +perseveringly studied in school hours and out. He read every book he +could get hold of. He was sometimes disobedient, often intractable, in +no way different from thousands of other farm boys of those days or +these. + +But the times were coming which would test his mettle. Would he +continue to climb as he had done after the eagle's nest, though +compelled many times to go to the very ground and begin over again? + +Would the experiences of life transmute into pure gold, these +undeveloped traits of character or prove them mere dross? It +rested with him. He was the alchemist, as is every other man. The +philosopher's stone is in every one's hands. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +OUT OF THE HOME NEST + +School Days at Wilbraham Academy. The First School Oration and Its +Humiliating End. The Hour of Prayer in the Conwell Home at the Time of +John Brown's Execution. + + +The carefree days of boyhood rapidly drew to a close. The serious work +of life was beginning. The bitter struggle for an education was at +hand. And because one boy did so struggle, thousands of boys now are +being given the broadest education, practically free. + +Russell had gone as far in his studies as the country school could +take him. Should he stop there as his companions were doing and settle +down to the work of the farm? The outlook for anything else was almost +hopeless. He had absolutely no money, nor could his father spare him +any. He knew no other work than farming. It was a prospect to daunt +even the most determined, yet Russell Conwell is not the only farmer's +boy who has looked such a situation in the face and succeeded in spite +of it. Nor were helping hands stretched out in those days to aid +ambitious boys, as they are in these. + +Asa Niles, matching Russell's progress with loving interest, told +Martin Conwell the boy ought to go to Wilbraham Academy. His own son +William was going, and he strongly urged that Charles and Russell +Conwell enter at the same time. It was no light decision for the +father to make. He needed the boys in the work on the farm. Not only +was he unable to help them, but it was a decided loss to let them go. +Long and earnest were the consultations the father and mother held. +The mother, willing to sacrifice herself to the utmost, said, of +course, "let them go," deciding she could earn something to help them +along by taking in more sewing. So it was decided, and in the fall +of 1858, Russell and his brother entered the Academy of Wilbraham, a +small town about twelve miles east from Springfield. + +It was bitter, uphill work. All the money the two boys had, both to +pay their tuition and their board, they earned. They worked for the +near-by farmers. They spent long days gathering chestnuts and walnuts +at a few cents a quart. They split wood, they did anything they could +find to do. In fact, they worked as hard and as long as though no +studies were awaiting to be eagerly attacked when the exhausting +labor was finished. Such tasks interfered with their studies, so that +Russell never stood very high in his Academy classes. Part of the time +they lived in a small room on the outskirts of the village, barren of +all furniture save the absolutely necessary, and for six weeks at a +stretch, lived on nothing but mush and milk. Their clothes were of +the cheapest kind, countrified in cut and make, a decided contrast +to those of their fellow students, who came from homes of wealth and +refinement It is very easy for outsiders and older heads to talk +philosophically of being above such things, but young, sensitive boys +feel such a position keenly and none but those who have actually +endured such a martyrdom of pride know what they suffer. It takes the +grittiest kind of perseverance to face such slights, to seem not to +see the amused glance, not to hear the sneering comment, not to notice +the contemptuous shrug. + +Such slights Russell endured daily from certain of his classmates, +and though he realized fully that the opinion of these was of little +value, nevertheless they hurt. But to the world he stood his ground +unflinchingly, even if there were secret heartaches. He studied +hard, and what he studied he learned. He had his own peculiar way +of studying. Once he was missing from his classes several days. The +teachers reported it to the principal, Dr. Raymond, who investigated. +He found Russell completely absorbed in history and mastering it at a +mile-a-minute gait. Dr. Raymond was wise in the management of boys, +especially such a boy as Russell, and he reported to the teachers, +"Let him alone. Conwell is working out his own education, and it isn't +worth while to disturb him." + +His passion for debate and oratory found full scope in the debating +societies of the Academy. These welcomed him with open arms. He was +so quick with his witty repartee, could so readily turn an opponent's +arguments against him, that the nights it was known he would speak, +found the "Old Club" hall always crowded to hear "that boy from the +country." + +Thus working as hard as though he were doing nothing else, and +studying as hard as though he were not working, Russell made his way +through two terms of the academic year. Nobody knows or ever will +know, all he suffered. Often almost on the point of starvation, yet +too proud and sensitive to ask for help, he toiled on, working by day +and studying by night. He never thought of giving up the fight and +going back to the farm. But funds completely ran out for the spring +term and he yielded the struggle for a brief while, returning to help +his father, or to earn what he could teaching school, or working on +neighboring farms, saving every cent like a very miser for the coming +year's tuition. In addition, he kept up with his studies, so that when +he returned the next fall, he went on with his class the same as if he +had attended for the entire year. + +The second year was a repetition of the first, work and study, +grinding poverty, glorious perseverance. Again the spring term found +him out of funds, and this time he replenished by teaching school at +Blandford, Massachusetts. Among his pupils here was a bully of the +worst type, whose conduct had caused most of the former teachers to +resign. In fact, he was quite proud of his ability to give the school +a holiday, and as on former occasions, made his boasts that it +wouldn't be long before the new teacher would take a vacation. The +other pupils watched with eager curiosity for the conflict. In due +course of time it came. Russell at first dealt with him kindly. It +hadn't been so many years since he himself had been the cause of +numerous uproars at school. But this youth was not of the kind to be +impressed by good treatment. He simply took it as a showing of the +white feather on the part of the new teacher and became bolder in his +misconduct. On a day, when he was unruly beyond all pardon, Russell +took down the birch and invited him up before the school to receive +the usual punishment. The great occasion had come. The children waited +with bated breath. The boy refused openly, sneeringly. The next +moment, he thought lightning had struck him. He was grabbed by the +neck, held with a grip of iron despite all his struggles, whipped +before the gaping school, taken to the door and kicked out in the +snow. Then the school lessons proceeded. It made a sensation, of +course. Some of the parents wanted to request the new teacher to +resign. But others rallied to his support and protested to the school +board that the right man had been found at last. And so Russell held +the post until the school term was over. Thirty-five years after, +Russell Conwell, pastor of the Baptist Temple, was asked to head a +petition to get this same evil doer out of Sing Sing prison. + +But despite his hard work and hard study at Wilbraham, the spirit of +fun cropped out as persistently as in his younger days at the country +school. A chance to play a good joke was not to be missed. At one of +the school entertainments, a student whom few liked was to take part. +Relatives of his had given a large sum of money to the Academy, and +on this account he somewhat lorded it over the other boys. He was, in +addition, foppish in his dress, and on account of his money, position, +and tailor, felt the country boys of the class a decided drawback to +his social status. So the country boys decided to "get even," and they +needed no other leader while Russell Conwell was about. Finally it +came the dandy's turn to go on the platform to deliver a recitation. +Just as he stepped out of the little anteroom before the audience, +Russell, with deft fingers, fastened a paper jumping-jack to the tail +of his coat, where it dangled back of his legs in plain view of the +audience but unobserved by himself. With every gesture the figure +jumped, climbed, contorted, and went through all manner of gymnastics. +The more enthusiastic became the young orator, the more active the +tiny figure in his rear. The audience went into convulsions. Utterly +unable to tell what was the matter, he finally retired, red and +confused, and the audience wiped away the tears of laughter. + +It was at one of these entertainments that Russell himself met with a +bitter defeat. A public debate was announced in which he was to take +part. His classmates had spread abroad the story of his eloquence and +the hall was packed to hear him. Knowing that it would be a great +occasion and conscious of his poor clothes, he determined to make an +impression by his speech. He prepared it with the utmost care, and +to "make assurance doubly sure," committed it to memory, a thing he +rarely did. His turn came. There was an expectant rustle through the +audience, some almost audible comments on his clothes, his height, his +thinness. He cleared his voice. He started to say the first word. It +was gone. Frantically he searched his memory for that speech. His mind +was a blank. Again he cleared his voice and wrestled fiercely with his +inner consciousness. Only one phrase could he remember, and shouting +in his thunderous tones, "Give me liberty or give me death," sat down, +"not caring much which he got," as Burdette says, "so it came quickly +and plenty of it." + +It was while at Wilbraham that he laid down text books and stepped +aside for a brief space to pay honor to a hero. Sorrow hung like a +pall over the little home at South Worthington. In far-off Virginia, +a brave, true-hearted man had raised a weak arm against the hosts of +slavery, raised it and been stricken down. John Brown had been tried, +convicted and sentenced to be hanged. The day of his execution was a +day of mourning in the Conwell home. As the hour for the deed drew +near, the father called the family into the little living room where +Brown had so often sat among them. And during the hour while the +tragedy was enacted in Virginia, the family sat silent with bowed +heads doing reverence to the memory of this man who with single-minded +earnestness went forward so fearlessly when others held back, to +strike the shackles from those in chains. + +It was a solemn hour, an hour in which worldly ambitions faded before +the sublime spectacle of a man freely, calmly giving his very life +because he had dared to live out his honest belief that all men should +be free. Like a kaleidoscope, Brown's history passed through Russell's +mind as he sat there. He saw the brutal whipping of the little slave +boy which had so aroused Brown's anger when, a small boy himself, he +led cattle through the western forests. Russell's hands clenched as +he pictured it and he felt willing to fight as Brown had done, +single-handed and alone if need be, to right so horrible a wrong. +He could see how the idea had grown with John Brown's growth and +strengthened with his strength until he came to manhood with a single +purpose dominating his life, and a will to do it that could neither be +broken nor bent. He pictured him in Kansas when son after son was laid +on the altar of liberty as unflinchingly as Abraham held the knife at +his own son's breast at God's behest. Then the first "blow at Harper's +Ferry in the cause of liberty for all men--the capture of the town +of three thousand by twenty-two men, and now this--the public +execution--the fearless spirit that looked only to God for guidance, +that feared neither man nor man's laws, stopped on the very threshold +of the supreme effort for which he had planned his life. Stopped? It +was the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment of Infantry that was the first to +sing on its way South, that song, afterward sung by the armies of a +nation to the steady tramp of feet, + + "John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, + But his soul goes marching on." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WAR'S ALARMS + +College Days at Yale. The Outbreak of the Civil War. Patriotic +Speechmaking. New York and Henry Ward Beecher. + + +School days at Wilbraham ended, Russell determined to climb higher. As +yet, he scarcely knew the purpose of his studying. Ambitions seethed +in him to know, to be able to do. He only realized that he must have +the tools ready when the work came. Not daunted, therefore, by the +bitter experiences at Wilbraham, Russell determined to go to Yale. +This meant a stern fight indeed, one that would call out all his +reserves of determination, perseverance and indifference to the jeers +and jibes of unthinking and unfeeling classmates. But he did not +flinch at the prospect. His brother Charles went with him, and in +the fall of '60 they entered Yale College. If poverty was bitter at +Wilbraham, it was bitterer here. They were utter strangers among +hundreds of boys from all parts of the country, the majority of them +coming from homes of luxury and with money for all their needs. At +Wilbraham, there had been a certain number of boys from their own +section, many of them poor, though few so poor as themselves. They had +not felt so altogether alone as they did at Yale. It is perhaps for +this reason that so little is known of Russell Conwell's career at +Yale. He was as unobtrusive as possible. "Silent as the Sphinx," some +describe him. His sensitive nature withdrew into itself, and since he +could not mingle with his classmates on a ground of equality, he kept +to himself, alone, silent, studying, working, but telling no one how +keenly he felt the difference between his own position and that of his +fellow students. He worked for the nearby farmers as at Wilbraham and +did anything that he could to earn money. But his clothes were poor, +his manner of living the cheapest, and except in classes, his fellow +students met him little. + +He took the law course and followed fully the classical course at the +same time--a feat no student at that time had ever done and few, if +any, since. How he managed it, working as hard as he did at the +same time, to earn money, seems impossible to comprehend. His iron +constitution, for one thing, that seemed capable of standing any +strain, helped him. And his remarkable ability to photograph whole +pages of his text books on his memory was another powerful ally. He +could reel off page after page of Virgil, Homer, Blackstone--anything +he "memorized" in this unusual fashion. Well for him that he grasped +the opportunity to learn this method presented him as a child. But +it has always been one of the traits of his character to see +opportunities where others walk right over them, and to seize and make +use of them. + +He did not register in the classical course as he was too poor to pay +the tuition fee, nor did he join any of the clubs, as he could not +afford it. He seldom appeared in debates or the moot courts, for +he was so shabbily dressed he felt he would not be welcome. It was +undoubtedly these humiliating experiences, combined with certain of +his studies and reading, that caused him to drift into an atheistic +train of thought. Working hard, living poor, desiring so much, yet +on all sides he saw boys with all the opportunities he longed +for, utterly indifferent to them. He saw boys spending in riotous +dissipation the money that would have meant so much to him. He saw +them recklessly squandering health, time, priceless educational +opportunities, for the veriest froth of pleasure. He saw them sowing +the wind, yet to his inexperienced eyes not reaping the whirlwind, but +faring far more prosperously than he who worked and studied hard and +yet had not what they threw so lightly away. It was all at variance +with his mother's teaching, with such of the preaching at the little +white church as he had heard. Bible promises, as he interpreted them, +were not fulfilled. So he scoffed, cynically, bitterly, and said, as +many another has done before he has learned the lessons of the world's +hard school, "There is no God." And having said it, he took rather a +pride in it and said it openly, boastingly. + +As at Wilbraham, funds ran out before the school year was completed +and he left Yale and taught district school during the day and vocal +and instrumental music in the evenings. + +But into this eager, undaunted struggle for an education came the +trumpet call to arms. With the memory of John Brown like a living coal +in his heart, with the pictures of the cowering, runaway slaves ever +before his eyes, he flung away his books and was one of the first to +enlist. But his father interfered. Russell was only eighteen. Martin +Conwell went to the recruiting officer and had his name taken from the +rolls. It was a bitter disappointment. But since he might not help +with his hands, he spoke with his tongue. All his pent-up enthusiasm +flowed out in impassioned speeches that brought men by the hundreds to +the recruiting offices. His fame spread up and down the Connecticut +valley and wherever troops were to be raised, "the boy" was in demand. + +"His youthful oratory," says the author of "Scaling the Eagle's Nest," +"was a wonderful thing which drew crowds of excited listeners wherever +he went. Towns sent for him to help raise their quotas of soldiers, +and ranks speedily filled before his inspiring and patriotic +speeches. In 1862 I remember a scene at Whitman Hall in Westfield, +Massachusetts, which none who were there can forget. Russell had +delivered two addresses there before. On that night there were two +addresses before his by prominent lawyers, but there was evident +impatience to hear 'The boy.' When he came forward there was the most +deafening applause. He really seemed inspired by miraculous powers. +Every auditor was fascinated and held closely bound. There was for a +time breathless suspense, and then at some telling sentence the whole +building shook with wild applause. At its close a shower of bouquets +from hundreds of ladies carpeted the stage in a moment, and men from +all parts of the hall rushed forward to enlist." + +The adulation and flattery showered upon him were enough to turn any +other's head. But it made no impression upon him. Heart, mind and soul +he was wrapped up in the cause. He was burning with zeal to help the +oppressed and suffering. His words poured from a heart overflowing +with pity, love, and indignation. Never once did he think of himself, +only of those in bonds crying, "Come over and help us." + +When Lincoln made his great address in Cooper Institute in 1860, +Russell was there. It was a longer journey from New England to New +York in those days than it is now, and longer yet for a boy who had so +little money, but he let no obstacle keep him away. + +He utilized his visit also to hear Beecher, the man who had taken so +powerful a hold of his childish fancy. Ever since those boyish days +when his mother read Beecher's sermons to him, and standing on the big +gray rock he had imagined himself another Beecher, he had longed to +hear this great man. It was only this childish desire holding fast to +him through the year that took him now, for church-going itself had no +attraction for him. + +He sat on the steps of the gallery and heard this wonderful man preach +a sermon in which he illustrated an auctioneer selling a negro girl at +the block. He sat as one entranced. So did the immense audience, held +spellbound by the scene so graphically pictured. It was the first +interesting sermon he had ever heard. It made a tremendous impression +on him, not only in itself, but as a vivid contrast between the +formal, rattling-of-dry-bones sermon and the live, vital discourse +that takes hold of a man's mind and heart and compels him to go out +in the world and do things for the good of his fellow men. Long it +remained in his memory, but the greatest inspiration from it did not +come till later years, when suddenly it stood forth as if illumined, +to throw a brilliant radiance on a path he had decided to tread. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHILE THE CONFLICT RAGED + +Lincoln's Call for 100,000 Men. Enlistment. Captain Conwell. In Camp +at Springfield, Mass. The Famous Gold-sheathed Sword. + + +In 1862, Lincoln sent out an earnest call for 100,000 men for the war. +Russell was not longer to be denied, and his father permitted him to +enlist. What silent agony, what earnest prayers for his safety went +up from his mother's heart, only other mothers in those terrible days +knew. + +He raised a company from Worthington, Chesterfield, Huntington, +Russell, Blandford and the neighboring towns and was unanimously +elected captain, though only nineteen. His earnest, fiery speeches had +already made him famous, and when it was known he had enlisted and was +raising a company, there was a rush to get into it, and the men as +with one voice, demanded that he be their captain. No one ever thought +of canvassing against him. A committee was appointed to wait on +Governor Andrew to persuade him to commission Russell in spite of his +age, and when he received the appointment, the cheers and applause of +the enthusiastic, the quiet satisfaction of the sedate, showed the +place which he had in their hearts. It is almost incomprehensible to +those not acquainted with the man, but those who have come in contact +with him, know what a hold he would soon gain over those "Mountain +Boys," as the company was called. His kindly sympathy would quickly +make them feel that in their captain, each had a warm personal friend. +His generous heart would back up that belief with a hundred and one +little acts of thoughtful kindness. Over each and every one would be +exercised a watchful care that cheered the long days, lightened heavy +loads, lessened discomforts. It is little wonder that their devotion +to him amounted almost to adoration. Gray-haired men followed him as +proudly as though his years matched theirs. Indeed, to their loyalty +was added a fatherly feeling of guardianship over him, because of his +youth, that brought a new pleasure into the relationship. The company +was knit together with the bonds of loving comradeship as were few +others. + +The rendezvous of the company was at Huntington, and there a banquet +was given before the troops departed for war. Proud day for him when +he marched down the familiar road from South Worthington, through the +autumn woods with their slowly falling leaves, their shadowy forest +aisles all glorious now with the banners of autumn, past the white +farmhouses with their golden lilies, the faithful little brook singing +ever at his side. Sad day for his mother as she watched him go, long +looking after him, till she could see no more for tears. + +From Huntington the company went into camp at Springfield. And now +came into use, those tactics and drills he had studied as a boy, and +others he had been secretly studying ever since the war broke out. His +men were astonished to find how perfectly at home he was in military +tactics. It further added to their pride in him. They fully expected +him to know as little as they, but when he came to his work fully +prepared, to their admiration of him as an orator, their love as a +leader, was now added their confidence as an officer. + +Camp life at Springfield made war no longer a glorious contemplation +but an uncomfortable reality. The ground for a bed, a spadeful +of earth for a pillow, sharp mountain winds, cold autumn storms, +insufficient food, hinted at the hardships to follow. The gold and the +alloy in the men's characters began to shine out, and Company F soon +realized in practical ways, the nature of the man who led them. His +new uniform overcoat went to a shivering boy, his rations were divided +with those less fortunate, his blankets were given to a comrade in +need. Always it was of his men, not himself, he thought. + +Before leaving camp for the seat of war, Captain Conwell was presented +with a sword by his Company, bearing this inscription:-- + +"Presented to Captain Russell H. Conwell by the soldiers of Company F, +46th Mass. Vol. Militia, known as 'The Mountain Boys.' Vera Amicitia +est sempiterna. (True friendship is eternal.)" Colonel Shurtleff made +the speech of presentation. The passionately eloquent reply of the +boy captain is yet remembered by those who heard it. He received the +beautiful, glittering weapon in silence. Slowly he drew the gleaming +steel from its golden sheath and solemnly held it upward as if +dedicating it to heaven, the sunlight bathing the blade with blinding +flashes of light. His eyes were fixed upon the steel, as if in a rapt +vision, he swept the centuries past, the centuries to come, and saw +what it stood for in the destinies of men. Breathless silence fell +upon his waiting comrades. Thus for a few moments he stood and then he +spoke to the sword. + +"He called up the shade of the sword of that mighty warrior Joshua, +which purified a polluted land with libations of blood, and made +it fit for the heritage of God's people; the sword of David, that +established the kingdom of Israel; the sword of that resistless +conqueror, Alexander, that pierced the heart of the Orient; the Roman +short sword, the terrible gladius, that carved out for the Caesars +the sovereignty of the world; the sword of Charlemagne, writing its +master's glorious deeds in mingling chapters of fable and history; the +sword of Gustavus Adolphus, smiting the battalions of the puissant +Wallenstein with defeat and overthrow even when its master lay dead on +the field of Lutzen; the sword of Washington, drawn for human freedom +and sheathed in peace, honor, and victory; then he bade the sword +remember all it had done in shaping the destinies of men and nations; +how it had written on the tablets of history in letters red and lurid, +the drama of the ages; closing, he called upon it now, in the battle +for the Union, to strike hard and strike home for freedom, for +justice, in the name of God and the Right; to fail not in the work to +which it was called until every shackle in the land was broken, every +bondman free, and every foul stain of dishonor cleaned from the flag." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT + +Company F at Newberne, N.C. The Fight at Batchelor's Creek. The +Goldsboro Expedition. The Battle of Kingston. The Gum Swamp +Expedition. + + +Breaking camp, the 46th left the beautiful, placid scenery about +Springfield, its silver river, its silent mountains, for Boston, where +they embarked for North Carolina, November 5th, 1862. They sailed out +of Boston Harbor in the teeth of a winter gale which increased so in +fury that the boat was compelled to put back. When they finally did +leave, the sea was still very rough and they had a slow, stormy +passage. + +It goes without saying that many of the men were ill. The boat was +crowded, the accommodations insufficient, and numbers of the Mountain +Boys had never been on the water before. To the confusion of handling +such a body of men was added inexperience in such work. The members of +Company F would have fared badly had it not been for the forethought +of their boy captain. It seemed as if he had passed beforehand in +mental review, the experiences of these weeks and anticipated their +needs. Out of his own funds, he laid in a stock of medicines and +delicacies for the sick. Indeed, those who know, say that he expended +all of his pay in sutler's stores and various things to make his men +more comfortable. Night and day, he was with those who suffered, +cheering, sympathizing, nursing. He was the life of the ship. His men +saw that his kindness and comradeship were not of the superficial +order, but genuine, sincere, a part of his very self and they became, +if possible, more passionately attached to him than ever. + +The placid Neuse river was a glad sight when at last they reached its +mouth and steamed up to Newberne, North Carolina. General Burnside had +already captured the town and Company F began army duties in earnest +with garrison work in the little Southern city, with its long dull +lines of earthworks, its white tents, its fleet of gunboats floating +lazily on the river. The constant tramp of soldiers' feet echoed along +the side-walks of this erstwhile quiet, Southern town. Sentries stood +on the corners challenging passers-by, wharves creaked under the loads +of ordnance and quartermasters' stores. Army wagons and ambulances +were constantly passing in the street, all strange and novel at first +to the Mountain Boys but soon familiar. Drilling and guard duty +filled their days. Morning and afternoon they drilled, and the actual +possession of the enemies' country, the warlike aspect of everything +about them, made drilling a far more real and important matter than it +had seemed at home. Captain Conwell felt his responsibility and threw +himself into the work with an earnestness that infected his men. They +would rather drill with him two hours than with any other officer a +half hour. They not only caught the contagion of his enthusiasm, but +he changed the dull, monotonous drudgery of it, into real, fascinating +work by marching them into seemingly hopeless situations and then in +some unexpected and surprising way, extricating them. Nor did he +spare himself any of the unpleasant phases of the work. One day, the +Colonel, while drilling the regiment, noticed that many of the men of +Company F marched far out of their places to avoid a mudhole in the +road. He marched and countermarched them over the same ground to +compel the men to keep their rank and file regardless of the mud. +Captain Conwell saw his object, and himself plunged into the mire, his +men followed, and were thus saved the reprimand which threatened. + +During these days, Captain Conwell kept up with the law studies +abandoned at Yale. Every spare minute, he devoted to his books and +committed to memory, one whole volume of Blackstone during the term of +his first enlistment Not many of the soldiers so used their hours +off duty. But it is this turning of every minute to account that has +enabled Dr. Conwell to accomplish so much. He has made his life count +for a half dozen of most person's by never wasting a moment. + +The monotony of garrison duty was broken first by a small fight at +Batchelor's Creek, seven miles above Newbern, but only four companies +were engaged. The Mountain Boys saw the first blood spilled at +Kingston and gained there the first glimpse of the horrors of war. +Nearly the entire marching force was sent into the interior on this +expedition, known as the Goldsboro expedition, the object being to cut +the Weldon railroad at Goldsboro, North Carolina. It was a hard march +with short and uncertain halts and occasional cavalry skirmishes. At +Kingston, they met the enemy in force. The Confederates were massed +about the bridge over the Neuse river and held it bravely till the +charge of the 9th New Jersey and 10th Connecticut drove them from +their position and left the woods and a little open field covered with +the dead and dying. The 46th Massachusetts followed the retreating +army and had that first experience with the grim, bloody side of war +that always makes such a strong impression on the green soldier. + +They bivouacked at Kingston and next day marched to the Weldon +railroad, reaching it at the bridge below Goldsboro, where the +Confederates had massed a large body of troops to protect their lines +of communication and supplies. This was a battle in earnest, the +artillery was deafening, and the enemy repeatedly charged the Union +lines. The Northern batteries were on a knoll in front, and at the +very moment that a long line of gray was seen approaching through this +field and the Massachusetts men were ordered to lie down, so that the +shot and shell could pass over them, their boy captain walked openly +forward to the batteries and stood there in the smoke. Careless of +himself, he yet realized to the full the meaning of this grim duel, +for when the fight was over and the Northern men cheering, he was +silent Captain Walkley asked why he did not cheer with the others. +"Too many hearts made sad to-day," was the significant reply that +showed he counted the cost to its bitter end, though he went forward +none the less bravely. + +Long, monotonous days of garrison duty followed for the men, days of +drilling, of idling up and down the streets of the dull Southern town. +But Captain Conwell used his spare minutes to advantage, and when +no work connected with his company or the personal welfare of his +comrades occupied him, he was studying. Then came the order to drive +the Confederates from a fort they were erecting on the Newbern +Railroad about thirty miles inland. This expedition, known as the Gum +Swamp Expedition, was an experience that tested the mettle of the men +and the resources of the young captain, and an experience none of the +survivors ever forgot. It was a forced march, a quick charge. The +Confederates fled leaving their fort unfinished. The Union men having +successfully completed their work, began the return to Newberne, and +here disaster overtook them. The Confederates hung on their rear, +riddling their ranks with shot and shell. Suffering, maddened, with no +way to turn and fight, for the enemy kept themselves well hidden, with +no way of escape ahead if they remained on the road, they plunged into +the swamp, that swept up black and dismal to the very edge of the +highway. The Confederate prisoners with them, warned them of their +danger, but the men were not to be stayed when a deadly rain of the +enemy's balls was thinning their ranks every minute. The swamp was one +black ooze with water up to their waists, a tangle of grass, reeds, +cypress trees, bushes. Loaded down with their heavy clothing, and +their army accoutrements, one after another the men sank from sheer +exhaustion. No man could succor his brother. It was all he could do to +drag himself through the mire that sucked him down like some terrible, +silent monster of the black, slimy depths. But Captain Conwell would +not desert a man. He could not see his comrades left to die before his +very eyes, those men who came right from his own mountain town, his +own boy friends, the ones who had enlisted under him, marched and +drilled with him. Rather would he perish in the swamp with them. He +worked like a Hercules, encouraging, helping, carrying some of the +more exhausted. A wet, straggling remnant reached Newberne. Even then, +when Captain Conwell found that two of his own company were missing, +he plunged back into the swamp to rescue them. Hours passed, and just +as a relief expedition was starting to search for him, he came back, +his hat gone, his uniform torn into rags, but with one of the men with +him and the other left on a fallen tree with a path blazed to lead the +rescuers to him. No heart could withstand such devotion as that. Young +and old, it touched his men so deeply, they could not speak of it +unmoved. They would gladly have died for him if need be, as one +did later, changing by his heroic act the whole current of Russell +Conwell's life. + +This same earnest desire to save that made him plunge back into that +swamp, regardless of self, is with him still to-day, now that his +whole soul is consumed with a longing to save men from moral death. He +lets nothing stand in his way of reaching out a succoring hand. Then +it was his comrades that he loved with such unselfish devotion. Now, +every man is his brother and his heart goes out with the same earnest +desire to help those who need help. The genuineness, the unselfishness +of it goes straight to every man's heart. It binds men to him as in +the old days, and it gives them new faith in themselves. The love +of humanity in his heart is, and always has been, a clear spring, +unpolluted by love of self, by ambition, by any worldly thing. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SWORD AND THE SCHOOL BOOK + +Scouting at Bogue Sound. Capt. Conwell Wounded. The Second Enlistment. +Jealousy and Misunderstanding. Building of the First Free School for +Colored Children. Attack on Newport Barracks. Heroic Death of John +Ring. + + +Once more, garrison duty laid its dull hand on the troops, varied by +little encounters that broke the monotony and furnished the material +for many campfire stories, but otherwise did little damage. The men +eagerly welcomed these scouting expeditions, and when an especially +dangerous one to Bogue Sound was planned, and Company F, eager to be +selected, Captain Conwell personally interceded with the Colonel that +his men might be given the task. The region into which they were sent +was known to be full of rebels, and as they approached the danger +zone, Captain Conwell ordered his men to lie down, while he went +forward to reconnoitre. Noticing a Confederate officer behind a tree, +he stole to the tree, and reaching as far around as he could, began +firing with his revolver. Not being experienced in the shooting of +men and believing since it must be done, "'twere well it were done +quickly," he shot all his loads in quick succession. His enemy, more +wily, waited till the Captain's ammunition was gone and then slowly +and with steady aim began returning the fire. But Captain Conwell's +comrades watching from a distance saw big peril, and disobeying +orders, rose as one man and came to his rescue. The Confederate fled +but not before he had left a ball in Captain Conwell's shoulder which, +of little consequence at the time, later came near causing his death. + +Thus the days passed away, and as the term of enlistment drew to +a close, General Foster sent for Captain Conwell and promised +to recommend him for a colonelcy if he would enter at once upon +recruiting service among his men. This he willingly consented to do, +and as may be imagined his men nearly all wanted to re-enlist under +him. Such a commission, however, for one so young aroused bitter +jealousy among officers of other companies, and Captain Conwell +hearing of it, decided not to accept the appointment. He wrote the +Governor that he would be content with the captain's commission again +and that he preferred not to raise contention by receiving anything +higher. The company returned home, but before the new re-organization +was effected, Captain Conwell was attacked with a serious fever. By +the time he recovered, the new regiment had been organized and new +officers put over it. Of course, his men were dissatisfied. With the +understanding that such of his old comrades as wished could join it, +he went to work immediately recruiting another company. But nearly all +his old men wanted to come into it, the new men recruited would +not give him up, and the anomalous position arose of two companies +clamoring for one captain. While it created much comment, it did not +lessen the jealousy which his popularity had aroused, among men and +officers not intimately associated with him, so that his second +enlistment began under a cloud of disappointment for his men, and +jealousy among outsiders, that seemed to bring misfortune in its +train. + +His new men, however, never failed him. His thoughtful care for them, +his kindness, his unselfishness won their loyalty and love as it had +done in Company F, and Company D, 2nd Massachusetts Volunteers were to +a man as devoted and as attached to him as ever were his old comrades +of the first days of the war. + +In this company went as Captain Conwell's personal orderly, a young +boy, John Ring, of Westfield, Massachusetts, a lad of sixteen or +seventeen. Entirely too young and too small to join the ranks of +soldiers, he had pleaded with his father so earnestly to be permitted +to go to the war that Mr. Ring had finally consented to put him in +Captain Conwell's charge. The boy was a worshipper at the shrine of +the young Captain. He had sat thrilled and fascinated under the magic +of the burning words which had swept men by the hundreds to enlist. It +was Captain Conwell's speeches that had stirred the boy and moved him +with such fiery ardor to go to war. No greater joy could be given him, +since he could not fight, than to be in his Captain's very tent to +look after his belongings, to minister in small ways to his comfort. A +hero worshipper the lad was, and at an age when ideals take hold of a +pure, high-minded boy with a force that will carry him to any height +of self-sacrifice, to any depth of suffering. He had been carefully +reared in a Christian home and read the Bible every morning and every +evening in their tent, a sight that so pricked the conscience +of Captain Conwell, as he remembered his mother and her loving +instructions, that he forbade it. But though John Ring loved Captain +Conwell with a love which the former did not then understand, the boy +loved duty and right better, and bravely disobeying these orders, he +read on. + +The company was stationed at Fort Macon, North Carolina, for awhile, +and then sent to Newport Barracks. Here it was that Captain Conwell +and his soldiers cut the logs and built the first free schoolhouse +erected for colored children. Colonel Conwell himself taught it at +first and then he engaged a woman to teach. It is still standing. + +Months passed away and the men received no pay. Request after request +Captain Conwell sent to headquarters at Newberne, but received no +reply. The men became discontented and unruly. Some had families at +home in need. All of these tales were poured into the young Captain's +ears. Ready ever to relieve trouble, impatient always to get to work +and remedy a wrong, instead of talking about it, Captain Conwell +decided to ride to Newberne, find out what was the matter and have the +men's money forwarded at once. Leaving an efficient officer in command +and securing a pass, which he never stopped to consider was not a +properly made-out permit for a leave of absence for a commanding +officer, he took an orderly and started. It was a twenty-mile ride +to Newberne and meant an absence of some time. But he anticipated no +trouble, for the rebels had been letting the Northern troops severely +alone for nearly a year. + +He had covered barely two-thirds of the distance, when a Union man +passed, who shouted as he hurried on, "Your men are in a fight." +Conwell and his orderly turned, put their horses to the gallop and +rode back furiously. It was too late. The country between was swarming +with Confederates. He ran into the enemies' pickets and barely escaped +capture by swimming a deep creek, shot spattering all around them. He +made desperate efforts to ride around the lines but failed. Then he +tried descending the river by boat, but the enemy had captured the +entire line of posts. Frustrated at all points, nothing was to be done +but retrace his steps to Newberne, where the worst of news awaited +him. The assault upon his fort had been sudden and in overwhelming +force. His men had been shot down or bayonetted, the remnant driven to +the woods. The whole ground was in the hands of the enemy. + +Nor was this all. Back at that little fort had been enacted one of the +saddest tragedies of the war. When the Union soldiers fled, they had +retreated across the long railroad bridge that spanned the Newport +river, and to prevent the enemy following, had set it on fire. Just as +the flames began to eat into the timbers, John Ring, the boy orderly, +thought of his Captain's sword, that wonderful gold-sheathed sword +which had been presented to Captain Conwell on the memorable day in +Springfield when he had so eloquently called upon it to fight in the +cause of Justice. It had been left behind in the Captain's tent, the +Army Regulations requiring that he wear one less conspicuous. Even now +it might be in the hands of some slave-owning Confederate. Maddened at +the thought, John King leaped on to the burning bridge, plunged +back through the fire, through the ranks of the yelling, excited +Confederates, reached the tent unobserved and grasped the sword of his +idolized Captain. Again he made a rush for the flame-wrapped bridge. +But this time the keen eyes of the enemy discerned him. + +"Look at the Yank with the sword. Wing him! Bring him down." And +bullets sped after the fearless boy. But he fled on undeterred, and +plunged into the mass of flame and smoke. The fire had gained too +great headway by this time for any living thing to pass through it +unhurt. He saw it was useless to attempt to cross as before, and +belting the sword about him, he dropped beneath the stringers and +tried to make his way hand over hand. All about him fell the blazing +brands. The biting smoke blinded him. The very flesh was burning from +his arms. The enemies' bullets sung about him. But still he struggled +on. In sheer admiration of his courage, the Confederate general gave +the order to cease firing, and the two armies stood silent and watched +the plucky fight of this brave boy. Inch by inch, he gained on his +path of fire. But he could see no longer. In torturing blackness +he groped on, fearful only that he might not succeed in saving the +precious sword, that in his blindness he might grasp a blazing timber +and his hand be burnt from him, that death in a tongue of flame be +swept down into his face, that the bridge might fall and the sword be +lost. At last he heard his comrades shouting. They guided him with +their cheers, "A little farther," "Keep straight on," "You're all +right now." And then he dropped blazing into the outstretched arms +of his comrades, while a mighty shout went up from both sides of the +river, as enemy and friend paid the tribute of brave men to a brave +deed. + +[Illustration: LIEUTENANT-COLONEL CONWELL] + +With swelling hearts and tear-blinded eyes, they tenderly laid the +insensible hero on a gun carriage and took him to the hospital. Two +days of quivering agony followed and then he met and bravely faced his +last enemy. Opening his eyes, he said clearly and distinctly, "Give +the Captain his sword." Then his breath fluttered and the little +armor-bearer slept the sleep of peace. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS + +Under Arrest for Absence Without Leave. Order of Court Reversed by +President. Certificate from State Legislature of Massachusetts for +Patriotic Services. Appointed by President Lincoln Lieutenant-Colonel +on General McPherson's Staff. Wounded at Kenesaw Mountain. Conversion. +Public Profession of Faith. + + +The tragic death of John Ring was the final crushing news that came to +Captain Conwell at Newberne. Combined with the nervous strain he had +been under in trying to get back to his men, the condemnation from his +superior officers for his absence, it threw him into a brain fever. +Long days and nights he rolled and tossed, fighting over again the +attack on the fort, making heroic efforts to rescue John Ring from his +fiery death, urging his horse through tangled forests and dark rivers +that seemed never to have another shore. For weeks the fever racked +and wasted him, and finally when feeble and weak, he was once more +able to walk, he found himself under arrest for absence without leave +during a time of danger. + +It had been reported to General Palmer that the defeat of the Federal +troops might have been avoided had the officers been on duty. An +investigation was ordered and Captain Conwell was asked for his permit +to be absent. He had simply his pass through the lines, a vastly +different thing he found from an authorized permit of absence. The +investigation dragged its slow course along, as all such things, +encumbered by red tape, do. Disgusted and humiliated by being kept a +prisoner for months when the country needed every arm in its defense, +by having such a mountain made of the veriest molehill built of a kind +act and boyish inexperience, he refused to put in a defense at the +investigation and let it go as it would. Setting the Court of Inquiry +more against him, a former Commander, General Foster, espoused his +cause too hotly and wrote to General McPherson for an appointment for +a "boy who is as brave as an old man." The Court of Inquiry, made up +of local officers, most of them jealous of his popularity, resented +this outside interference and the verdict was against him. But others +higher in authority took up the matter and Captain Conwell was ordered +to Washington. The President reversed the order of the Court. He +was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel, detailed for service on General +McPherson's staff and ordered West. General Butler, under whose +command Captain Conwell served, afterward made a generous +acknowledgment of the injustice of the findings and expressed in warm +words his admiration of Captain Conwell, and the State Legislature +of Massachusetts gave him a certificate for faithful and patriotic +services in that campaign. + +Nevertheless, it was an experience that sorely embittered his soul. +Intentionally he had done nothing wrong, yet he had been humiliated +and made to eat the bitter fruits of the envy and jealousy of others. +It saddened but did not defeat him. His heart was too big, his nature +too generous. He could forgive them freely, could do them a kindness +the very first opportunity, but that did not take away the pain at his +heart. One may forgive a person who burns him, even if intentionally, +but that does not stop the burn from smarting. + +Saddened, and with the futility of ambition keenly brought home +to him, he joined General McPherson, and in the battle of Kenesaw +Mountain he received a serious wound. He had stationed a lookout +to watch the Confederate fire while he directed the work of two +batteries. It was the duty of the lookout to keep Colonel Conwell and +his gunners posted as to whether the enemy fired shot or shell, easily +to be told by watching the little trail of smoke that followed the +discharge. If a shot were sent, they paid no attention to it for it +did little damage, but if it were a shell it was deemed necessary to +seek protection. + +Colonel Conwell was leaning on the wheel of one of the cannon when +there was a discharge from the guns of the enemy. The lookout yelled, +"Shot." But it was a fatal shell that came careening and screaming +toward them, and before Conwell or his men could leap into the +bomb-proof embankment, it struck the hub of the very wheel against +which he leaned, and burst. + +When he came to himself, the stars were shining, the field was silent +save for the feeble moans of the wounded, the voices and footsteps +of parties searching for the injured. He was in a quivering agony of +sharp, burning pain, but he could neither move nor speak. At last, he +heard the searchers coming. Nearer, nearer drew the voices, then for +a moment they paused at his side. He heard a man with a lantern say, +"Poor fellow! We can do nothing for him." Then they passed on, leaving +him for dead, among the dead. + +All that June night he lay there, looking up at the stars that studded +the infinity of space. About him were dark, silent forms, rigid in the +sleep of death. Those were solemn hours, hours when he looked death in +the face, and then backward over the years he had lived. Useless years +they seemed to him now, years filled with petty ambitions that had to +do solely with self. All the spiritual ideals of life, the things that +give lasting joy and happiness because they are of the spirit and +not of the flesh, he had scoffingly cast aside and rejected. He had +narrowed life down to self and the things of the world. He had no such +faith as made his mother's hard-working life happy and serene because +it transformed its sordid care into glorious service of her Heavenly +King. He had no such faith as carried John Ring triumphant and +undismayed through the gates of fiery death in performance of a loving +service. Suddenly a longing swept over him for this priceless faith, +for a personal, sure belief in the love of a Savior. One by one the +teachings of his mother came back to him, those beautiful immortal +truths she had read him from that Book which is never too old to touch +the hearts of men with healing. Looking up at the worlds swinging +through space to unknown laws, with the immensities of life, death and +infinity all about him, his disbelief, his atheism dropped away. Into +his heart came the premonitions of the peace of God, which passeth +understanding. Life broadened, it took on new meaning and duty, for a +life into which the spirit of God has come can never again narrow down +to the boundaries of self. He determined henceforth to live more for +others, less for himself; to make the world better, somebody happier +whenever he could; to make his life, each day of it, worthy of that +great sacrifice of John Ring. + +He being an officer, they came back for his body, and found a living +man instead of the dead. He was taken to the field hospital. One arm +was broken in two places, his shoulder badly shattered, and because +there was no hope of his living, they did not at once amputate his +arm, which would have been done had he been less seriously injured. + +Long days he lay in the hospital with life going out all about him, +the moan of the suffering in his ears, thinking, thinking, of the +mystery of life and death, as the shadows flitted and swayed through +the dimly lighted wards at night, the sunshine poured down during the +day. His love of humanity burned purer. His desire to help it grew +stronger. Long were the talks he had with the chaplain, a Baptist +preacher, and when he recovered and left the hospital, his mind was +fully made up. Like his father, his actions never lagged behind his +speech, and he made at once an open profession of the faith on which +he now leaned with such happy confidence. + +The fearless, unselfish love of humanity, the desire to help the +oppressed that burned in the bosom of John Brown had sent the +impetuous boy into the war. + +The fearless, unselfish act of John Ring sent Colonel Conwell out of +the war a God-fearing man, determined to spend his life for the good +of humanity. + +Providence uses strange instruments. Thousands in this country to-day +have been inspired, helped, made different men and women through +knowing Russell Conwell. What may not some of them do to benefit +their country and their generation! Yet back of him stand this old +gray-haired man and a young, fearless boy, whose influence turned the +current of his life to brighten and bless countless thousands. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +WESTWARD + +Resignation from Army. Admission to Bar. Marriage. Removal to +Minnesota. Founding of Minneapolis Y.M.C.A. and of the Present +"Minneapolis Tribune." Burning of Home. Breaking Out of Wound. +Appointed Emigration Agent to Germany by Governor of Minnesota. Joins +Surveying Party to Palestine. Near to Death in Paris Hospital. Journey +to New York for Operation in Bellevue Hospital. Return to Boston. + + +When Colonel Conwell was able to leave the hospital, he was still +unable to assume active duty in the field, and he was sent to +Nashville for further rest and treatment. Here he reported to General +Thomas and was instructed to proceed to Washington with a despatch for +General Logan. Colonel Conwell started, but the rough traveling of +those days opened his wounds afresh and he completely broke down +at Harper's Ferry. Too weak longer to resist, he yielded to the +entreaties of his friends, sent in his resignation and returned home +for rest and nursing. Before he fully recovered, peace was declared. + +Free to resume his studies, he entered the law office of Judge W.S. +Shurtleff, of Springfield, Massachusetts, his former Colonel, read law +there for a short time, then entered the Albany University, where he +graduated. + +Shortly after passing his examination at the bar and receiving his +degree, he was married at Chicopee Falls, March 8, 1865, to Miss +Jennie P. Hayden, one of his pupils in the district school at West +Granville, Massachusetts, and later one of his most proficient music +scholars. Her brothers were in his company, and when Company F was in +camp at Springfield after the first enlistment, she was studying at +Wilbraham and there often saw her soldier lover. Anxious days and +years they were for her that followed, as they were for every other +woman with father, husband, brother or sweetheart in the terrible +conflict that raged so long. But she endured them with that silent +bravery that is ever the woman's part, that strong, steady courage +that can sit at home passive, patient, never knowing but that +life-long sorrow and heartache are already at the threshold. + +Immediately after their marriage, they went West and finally settled +in Minneapolis. Colonel Conwell opened a law office, and while waiting +for clients acted as agent for a real estate firm in the sale of land +warrants. He also began to negotiate for the sale of town lots. This +not being enough for a man who utilized every minute, he became local +correspondent for the "St. Paul Press." Nor did he stop here, though +most men would have thought their hands by this time about full. He +took an active part in local politics and canvassed the settlement and +towns for the Republican and temperance tickets. He also was actively +interested in the schools, and not only advocated public schools and +plenty of them, but was a frequent visitor to the city and district +schools, talking to the children in that interesting, entertaining +way that always clothes some helpful lesson in a form long to be +remembered. + +True to the faith he had found in the little Southern hospital, he +joined the First Baptist Church of Saint Paul. But mere joining was +not sufficient. He must work for the cause, and he opened a business +men's noon prayer-meeting in his law office at Minneapolis, rather a +novel undertaking in those days and in the then far West. For three +months, only three men attended. But nothing daunted, he persevered. +That trait in his character always shone out the more brightly, +the darker the outlook. Those three men were helped, and that was +sufficient reason that the prayer-meeting be continued. Eventually it +prospered and resulted finally in a permanent organization from which +grew the Minneapolis Y.M.C.A. + +Poor though he was, and he started in the West with nothing, he made +friends everywhere. His speeches soon made him widely known. His +sincerity, his unselfish desire to help others, his earnestness to aid +in all good works brought him, as always, a host of loyal, devoted +followers. A skating club of some hundred members made him their +President, and his first law case in the West came to him through this +position. + +A skating carnival was to be given, and the club had engaged an +Irishman to clear a certain part of the frozen Mississippi of snow for +the skating. This he failed to do at the time specified and the club +had it cleaned by some one else. Claiming that he would have done +it, had they waited, the Irishman sued the club. Colonel Conwell, of +course, appeared for the defense. The whole hundred members marched to +the court house, the scene being town talk for some days. Needless to +say he won his suit. + +His love for newspaper work led him to start the "Minneapolis +Chronicle" and the "Star of the North," which were afterward merged +into "The Minneapolis Tribune," for which his clever young wife +conducted a woman's column, in a decidedly brilliant, original manner. +Mrs. Conwell wrote from her heart as one woman to other women, and +her articles soon attracted notice and comment for their entertaining +style and their inspiring, helpful ideas. + +At this time they were living in two rooms back of his office, for +they were making financial headway as yet but slowly. But times +brightened and Colonel Conwell was soon able to purchase a handsome +home and furnish it comfortably, taking particular pride in the +gathering of a large law library. + +It seemed now as if life were to move forward prosperously. But +greater work was needed from Russell Conwell than the comfortable +practice of law. One evening while the family were from home, fire +broke out and the house and all they owned was destroyed. Running +to the fire from a G.A.R. meeting, a mile and a half away, Colonel +Conwell was attacked with a hemorrhage of the lungs. It came from +his old army wounds and the doctor ordered him immediately from that +climate, and told him he must take a complete rest. Here was disaster +indeed. Every cent they had saved was gone. And with it the strength +to begin again the battle for a living. It was a hard, bitter blow for +a young, ambitious man, right at the start of his career; a stroke of +fate to make any man bitter and cynical. But his was not a nature to +permit misfortune to narrow him or make him repine. He rose above it. +It did not lesson his ambitions. It broadened, humanized them. It made +him enter with still truer sympathy into other people's misfortune. +And his trust in God was so strong, his faith so unshaken, he knew +that in all these bitter experiences of life's school was a lesson. He +learned it and used it to get a broader outlook. + +His friends rallied to his aid. Prominent as an editor, lawyer, leader +of the Y.M.C.A., it was not difficult to get him an appointment from +the Governor, already a warm friend. He secured the position of +emigration agent to Europe, and he turned his face Eastward. Mrs. +Conwell was left in Minneapolis, and he sailed abroad in the hope that +the sea trip and change of climate would heal the weakened tissue of +his lung and fully restore him to health. But it was a vain hope. His +strength would not permit him to fulfill the duty expected of him as +emigration agent and he was compelled to resign. For several months +he wandered about Europe trying one place, then another in the vain +search for health. He joined a surveying party and went to Palestine, +for even in those days that inner voice could not he altogether +stilled that was calling him to follow in the footsteps of the Savior +and preach and teach and heal the sick. The land where the Savior +ministered had a strong fascination for him, and he gladly seized the +opportunity to become a member of this surveying party and walk over +the ground where the Savior had gone up and down doing good. + +But the trip was of no benefit to his health. Instead of gaining he +failed. He grew weaker and weaker. The hemorrhages became more and +more frequent. Finally he came to Paris and lying, a stranger and +poor, in Necker Hospital was told he could live but a few days. Face +to face again with that grim, bitter enemy of the battlefield, what +thoughts came crowding thick and fast--thoughts of his young wife in +far-away America, of father and mother, memories of the beautiful +woods, the singing streams of the mountain home, as the noise and +clamor of Paris streets drifted into the long hospital ward. + +Then came a famous Berlin doctor to the dying American. He studied the +case attentively, for it was strange enough to arouse and enlist all +a doctor's keen scientific interest. When analyzed, copper had been +found in the hemorrhage, with no apparent reason for it, and the Paris +doctors were puzzling over the cause. "Were you in the war?" asked the +great man. "Were you shot?" + +"Yes." + +"Shot in the shoulder?" + +Then came back to Colonel Conwell, the recollection of the duel with +the Confederate around a tree in the North Carolina woods and the shot +that had lodged in his shoulder near his neck and was never removed. + +"That is the trouble," said the physician. "The bullet has worked down +into the lung and only the most skillful operation can save you, +and only one man can do it"--and that man was a surgeon in Bellevue +Hospital, New York. + +Carefully was the sinking man taken on board a steamer. Only the most +rugged constitution could have stood that trip in the already weakened +condition of his system. But those early childhood days in the +Berkshire Hills had put iron into his blood, the tonic of sunshine and +fresh air into his very bone and muscle. Safely he made the journey, +though no one knew all he suffered in those terrible days of weakness +and pain on the lone, friendless trip across the Atlantic. Safely he +went through the operation. The bullet was removed, and with health +mending, he made his way to Boston where his loving young wife awaited +him. + +But out of these experiences, suffering, alone, friendless, poor, in +a strange city, grew after all the Samaritan Hospital of Philadelphia +that opens wide its doors, first and always, to the suffering sick +poor. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WRITING HIS WAY AROUND THE WORLD + +Days of Poverty in Boston. Sent to Southern Battlefields. Around the +World for New York and Boston Papers. In a Gambling Den In Hong Kong, +China. Cholera and Shipwreck. + + +Abject poverty awaited him on his return to Boston. The fire in St. +Paul had left them but little property, while their enforced hurried +departure compelled that little to be sold at a loss. This money +was now entirely gone, and once more he faced the world in absolute +poverty. He rented a single room in the East district of Boston and +furnished it with the barest necessities. Colonel Conwell secured a +position on "The Evening Traveller" at five dollars a week, and Mrs. +Conwell cheerily took in sewing. Thus they made their first brave +stand against the gaunt wolf at the door. Here their first child was +born, a daughter, Nima, now Mrs. E.G. Tuttle, of Philadelphia. These +were dark days for the little household. Night after night the father +came home to see the one he loved best in all the world, suffering +for the barest necessities of life, yet cheerful, buoyant, never +complaining. So sensitive to the sufferings of others that he must do +all in his power to relieve even his comrades in the war when, injured +or ill, what mental anguish must he have endured when his dearly loved +wife was in want and he so powerless to relieve it. She read his heart +with the sure sympathy of love, knew his bitter anguish of spirit, and +suffered the more because he suffered. But bravely she cheered him, +encouraged him, and spent all her own spare minutes doing what she +could to add to the family income. + +Thus they pluckily-worked, never repining nor complaining at fate, +though knowing in its bitterest sense what it is to be desperately +poor, to suffer for adequate food and clothing. Colonel Conwell +learned in that hard experience what it is to want for a crust of +bread. No man can come to Dr. Conwell to this day with a tale of +poverty, suffering, sickness, but what the minister's eyes turn +backward to that one little room with its pitiful makeshifts of +furniture, its brave, pale wife, the wee girl baby; and his hand goes +out to help with an earnest and heartfelt sympathy surprising to the +recipient. + +But the tide turned ere long. Colonel Conwell's work on the paper soon +began to tell. His salary was raised and raised, until comfort once +more with smiling face took up her abode with them. They moved into a +pretty home in Somerville. Colonel Conwell resumed his law practice +and began, as in the West, to deal in real estate. He also continued +his lecturing. + +Busy days these were, but his life had already taught him much of the +art of filling each minute to an exact nicety in order to get the most +out of it. His paper sent him as a special correspondent to write up +the battlefields of the South, and his letters were so graphic and +entertaining as to become a widely known and much discussed feature +of the paper. Soldiers everywhere read them with eager delight and +through them revisited the scenes of the terrible conflict in which +each had played some part. While on this assignment, he invaded a +gambling den in New Orleans, and interfering to save a colored man +from the drunken frenzy of a bully, came near being killed himself. +Coming to the aid of a porter on a Mississippi steamboat, he again +narrowly escaped being shot, striking a revolver from the hand of a +ruffian just as his finger dropped on the trigger. He mixed with all +classes and conditions of men and saw life in its roughest, +most primal aspect But all these experiences helped him to that +appreciation of human nature that has been of such, value and help to +him since. + +These letters aroused such widespread and favorable comment that the +"New York Tribune" and "Boston Traveller" arranged to send him on a +tour of the world. When the offer came to him, his mind leaped the +years to that poorly furnished room in the little farmhouse, where he +had leaned on his mother's knee and listened with rapt attention while +she read him the letters of foreign correspondents in that very "New +York Tribune." The letter he wrote his mother telling her of the +appointment was full of loving gratitude for the careful way she +had trained his tastes in those days when he was too young and +inexperienced to choose for himself. + +It was a wrench for the young wife to let him go so far away, but she +bravely, cheerfully made the sacrifice. She was proud of his work and +his ability, and she loved him too truly to stand in the way of his +progress. + +This journey took him to Scotland, England, Sweden, Denmark, France, +Italy, Germany, Russia, Palestine, Arabia, Egypt and Northern Africa. +He interviewed Emperor William I, Bismarck, Victor Emanuel, the then +Prince of Wales, now Edward VII of England. He frequently met Henry +M. Stanley, then correspondent for the London papers, who wrote from +Paris of Colonel Conwell, "Send that double-sighted Yankee and he will +see at a glance all there is and all there ever was." + +He also made the acquaintance of Garibaldi, whom he visited in his +island home and with whom he kept up a correspondence after he +returned. Garibaldi it was who called Colonel Conwell's attention to +the heroic deeds of that admirer of America, the great and patriotic +Venetian, Daniel Manin. In the busy years that followed on this trip +Colonel Conwell spent a long time gathering materials for a biography +of Daniel Manin, and just before it was ready for the press the +manuscript was destroyed by fire in the destruction of his home +at Newton Centre, Massachusetts, in 1880. One of his most popular +lectures, "The Heroism of a Private Life," took its inception from the +life of this Venetian statesman. + +He also gave a series of lectures at Cambridge, England, on Italian +history that attracted much favorable comment. + +Mr. Samuel T. Harris, of New York, correspondent of the "New York +Times" in 1870, in a private letter, says, "Conwell is the funniest +chap I ever fell in with. He sees a thousand things I never thought of +looking after. When his letters come back in print I find lots in them +that seems new to me, although I saw it all at the time. But you don't +see the fun in his letters to the papers. The way he adapts himself to +all circumstances comes from long travel; but it is droll. He makes a +salaam to the defunct kings, a neat bow to the Sudras, and a friendly +wink at the Howadji, in a way that puts him cheek-by-jowl with them +in a jiffy. He beats me all out in his positive sympathy with these +miserable heathen. He has read so much that he knows about everything. +The way the officials, English, too, treat him would make you think he +was the son of a lord. He has a dignified condescension in his manner +that I can't imitate." + +Part of the time Bayard Taylor was his traveling companion, and there +grew up between these two kindred spirits an intimate friendship that +lasted until Taylor's death. + +All through the trip he carried books with him, and every minute not +occupied in gathering material for his letters was passed in reading +the history of the scenes and the people he was among, in mastering +their language. Such close application added an interesting background +of historical information to his letters, a breadth and culture, that +made them decidedly more valuable and entertaining than if confined +strictly to what he saw and heard. It was on this journey that he +heard the legend from which grew his famous lecture, "Acres of +Diamonds," which has been given already three thousand four hundred +and twenty times. It gave him an almost inexhaustible fund of material +on which he has drawn for his lectures and books since. + +During his absence his second child, a son, Leon, was born. He +returned home for the briefest time, and then completed the tour by +way of the West and the Pacific. He lectured through the Western +States and Territories, for already his fame as a lecturer was +spreading. He visited the Sandwich Islands, Japan, China, Sumatra, +Siam, Burmah, the Himalaya Mountains, India, returning home by way of +Europe. His Hong Kong letter to "The Tribune," exposing the iniquities +of the labor-contract system in Chinese emigration, created quite a +stir in political and diplomatic circles. It was while on this trip +he gathered the material for his first book, "Why and How the Chinese +Emigrate." It was reviewed as the best book in the market of its kind. +The "New York Herald" in writing of it said: "There has been little +given to the public which throws more timely and intelligent light +upon the question of coolie emigration than the book written by Col. +Russell H. Conwell, of Boston." + +These travels were replete with thrilling adventures and strange +coincidents. When he left Somerville after his brief visit, for his +trip through the Western States, China and Japan, a broken-hearted +mother in Charlestown, Mass., asked him to find her wandering boy, +whom she believed to be "somewhere in China." A big request, but +Colonel Conwell, busy as he was, did not forget it. Searching for him +in such places as he believed the boy would most likely frequent, +Colonel Conwell accidentally entered, one night in Hong Kong, a den of +gamblers. Writing of the event, he says: + +"At one table sat an American, about twenty-five years old, playing +with an old man. They had been betting and drinking. While the +gray-haired man was shuffling the cards for a 'new deal' the young +man, in a swaggering, careless way, sang, to a very pathetic tune, a +verse of Phoebe Carey's beautiful hymn, + + 'One sweetly solemn thought + Comes to me o'er and o'er: + I'm nearer home to-day + Than e'er I've been before.' + +Hearing the singing several gamblers looked up in surprise. The old +man who was dealing the cards grew melancholy, stopped for a moment, +gazed steadfastly at his partner in the game, and dashed the pack upon +the floor under the table. Then said he, 'Where did you learn that +tune?' The young man pretended that he did not know he had been +singing. 'Well, no matter,' said the old man, I've played my last +game, and that's the end of it. The cards may lie there till doomsday, +and I will never pick them up,' The old man having won money from +the other--about one hundred dollars--took it out of his pocket, and +handing it to him said: 'Here, Harry, is your money; take it and +do good with it; I shall with mine.' As the traveler followed them +downstairs, he saw them conversing by the doorway, and overheard +enough to know that the older man was saying something about the song +which the young man had sung. It had, perhaps, been learned at a +mother's knee, or in a Sunday-school, and may have been (indeed it +was), the means of saving these gamblers, and of aiding others through +their influence toward that nobler life which alone is worth the +living." + +The old man had come from Westfield, Mass. He died in 1888, at Salem, +Oregon, having spent the last seven years of his life as a Christian +Missionary among the sailors of the Pacific coast. He passed away +rejoicing in the faith that took him + + "Nearer the Father's House, + Where many mansions be, + Nearer the great white throne, + Nearer the jasper sea." + +The boy, Harry, utterly renounced gambling and kindred vices. + +While coming from Bombay to Aden, cholera broke out on the ship and +it was strictly quarantined. It was a ship of grief and terror. +Passengers daily lost loved ones. New victims were stricken every +hour. The slow days dragged away with death unceasingly busy among +them. Burials were constant, and no man knew who would be the next +victim. But Colonel Conwell escaped contagion. + +On the trip home, across the Atlantic, the steamer in a fearful gale +was so dismantled as to be helpless. The fires of the engine were out, +and the boat for twenty-six days drifted at the mercy of the waves. +No one, not even the Captain, thought they could escape destruction. +Water-logged and unmanageable, during a second storm it was thought to +be actually sinking. The Captain himself gave up hope, the women grew +hysterical. But in the midst of it all, Colonel Conwell walked the +deck, and to calm the passengers sang "Nearer my God to Thee," +with such feeling, such calm assurance in a higher power, that the +passengers and Captain once again took courage. But strangest of all, +on this voyage, while sick, he was cared for by the very colored +porter whose life he had saved on the Mississippi steamboat. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +BUSY DAYS IN BOSTON + +Editor of "Boston Traveller." Free Legal Advice for the Poor. +Temperance Work. Campaign Manager for General Nathaniel P. Banks. +Urged for Consulship at Naples. His Work for the Widows and Orphans of +Soldiers. + + +Returning to Somerville, Mass., the long journey ended, he found the +editorial chair of the "Boston Traveller" awaiting him. He plunged +into work with his characteristic energy. The law, journalism, +writing, lecturing, all claimed his attention. It is almost incredible +how much he crowded into a day. Five o'clock in the morning found him +at work, and midnight struck before he laid aside pen or book. Yet +with all this rush of business, he did not forget those resolves he +had made to lend a helping hand wherever he could to those needing it. +And his own bitter experiences in the hard school of poverty taught +him how sorely at times help is needed. He made his work for others +as much a part of his daily life as his work for himself. It was +an integral part of it. Watching him work, one could hardly have +distinguished when he was occupied with his own affairs, when with +those of the poor. He did not separate the two, label one "charity" +and attend to it in spare moments. One was as important to him as the +other. He kept his law office open at night for those who could not +come during the day and gave counsel and legal advice free to the +poor. Often of an evening he had as many as a half hundred of these +clients, too poor to pay for legal aid, yet sadly needing help to +right their wrongs. So desirous was he of reaching and assisting those +suffering from injustice, yet without money to pay for the help they +needed, that he inserted the following notice in the Boston papers: + +"Any deserving poor person wishing legal advice or assistance will be +given the same free of charge any evening except Sunday, at No. 10 +Rialto Building, Devonshire Street. None of these cases will be taken +into the courts for pay." + +These cases he prepared as attentively and took into court with as +eager determination to win, as those for which he received large fees. +Of course such a proceeding laid him open to much envious criticism. +Lawyers who had no such humanitarian view of life, no such earnest, +sincere desire to lighten the load of poverty resting so heavily on +the shoulders of many, said it was unprofessional, sensational, a "bid +for popularity." Those whom he helped knew these insinuations to be +untrue. His sympathy was too sincere, the assistance too gladly +given. But misunderstood or not, he persevered. The wrongs of many an +ignorant working man suffering through the greed of those over him, +were righted. Those who robbed the poor under various guises were made +to feel the hand of the law. And for none of these cases did he ever +take a cent of pay. + +Another class of clients who brought him much work but no profit were +the widows and orphans of soldiers seeking aid to get pensions. To +such he never turned a deaf ear, no matter the multitude of duties +that pressed. He charged no fee, even when to win the case, he was +compelled to go to Washington. Nor would he give it up, no matter what +work it entailed until the final verdict was given. His partners say +he never lost a pension case, nor ever made a cent by one. + +An unwritten law in the office was that neither he nor his partners +should ever accept a case if their client were in the wrong, or +guilty. But this very fact made wrongdoers the more anxious to secure +him, knowing it would create the impression at once that they were +innocent. + +A story which went the rounds of legal circles in Boston and finally +was published in the "Boston Sunday Times," shows how he was cleverly +fooled by a pick-pocket The man charged with the crime came to Colonel +Conwell to get him to take the case. So well did he play the part of +injured innocence that Colonel Conwell was completely deceived and +threw himself heart and soul into the work of clearing him. When the +case came up for trial, the lawyer and client sat near together in the +court room, and Colonel Conwell made such an earnest and forceful plea +in behalf of the innocent young man and the harm already done him by +having such a charge laid at his door that it was at once agreed the +case should be dismissed, by the District Attorney's consent. So +lawyer and client walked out of court together, happy and triumphant, +to Colonel Conwell's office, where the pick-pocket paid Colonel +Conwell his fee out of the lawyer's own pocketbook which he had deftly +abstracted during the course of the trial. + +The incident caused much amusement at the time, and it was a long +while before Colonel Conwell heard the last of it. + +Into work for temperance he went heart and soul, not only in speech +but in deed. Though he never drank intoxicating liquor himself, he +could never see a man under its baneful influence but that heart and +hand went out to help him. Many a reeling drunkard he took to his +Somerville home, nursed all night, and in the morning endeavored with +all his eloquence to awaken in him a desire to live a different life. +Deserted wives and children of drunkards came to him for aid, and many +of the free law cases were for those wronged through the curse of +drink. + +Friend always of the workingman, he was persistently urged by their +party to accept a nomination for Congress. But he as persistently +refused. But he worked hard in politics for others. He managed one +campaign in which General Nathaniel P. Banks was running on an +independent ticket, and elected him by a large majority. His name +was urged by Senators Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson for the United +States Consulship at Naples, the lectures he had given at Cambridge, +England, on Italian history having attracted so much favorable comment +by the deep research they showed, and the keen appreciation of Italian +character. He was considered an expert in contested election cases and +he frequently appeared before the Legislature on behalf of cities and +towns on matters over which it had jurisdiction. + +Mr. Higgins, who knew him personally, writing of these busy days in +"Scaling the Eagle's Nest," says: + +"He prepared and presented many bills to Congressional Committees at +Washington, and appeared as counsel in several Louisiana and Florida +election eases. His arguments before the Supreme Courts in several +important patent cases were reported to the country by the Associated +Press. He had at one time considerable influence with the President +and Senators in political appointments, and some of the best men still +in government office in this State (Massachusetts) and in other +New England States, say they owe their appointment to his active +friendship in visiting Washington in their behalf. But it does not +appear that through all these years of work and political influence he +ever asked for an appointment for himself." + +Catholics, Jews, Protestants and non-sectarian charities sought his +aid in legal matters, and so broad was his love for humanity that all +found in him a ready helper. At one time he was guardian of more than +sixty orphan children, three in particular who were very destitute, +were through his intercession with a relative, left a fortune of +$50,000. Yet despite all these activities, he found time to lecture, +to write boots, to master five languages, using his spare minutes on +the train to and from his place of business for their study. In 1872 +he made another trip abroad. Speaking of him at this time, a writer in +the London Times says: + +"Colonel Conwell is one of the most noteworthy men of New England. He +has already been in all parts of the world. He is a writer of singular +brilliancy and power, and as a popular lecturer his success has been +astonishing. He has made a place beside such orators as Beecher, +Phillips and Chapin." + +Thus the busy years slipped by, years that brought him close to the +great throbbing heart of humanity, the sorrows and sufferings of the +poor, the aspirations and ambitions of the rich, years in which he +looked with deep insight into human nature, and, illumined by his love +for humanify, saw that an abiding faith in God, the joy of knowing +Christ's love was the balm needed to heal aching hearts, drive evil +out of men's lives, wretchedness and misery from many a home. More and +more was he convinced that to make the world better, humanity happier, +the regenerating, uplifting power of the spirit of God ought to be +brought into the daily lives of the people, in simple sincerity, +without formalism, yet as vital, as cherished, as freely recognized a +part of their lives as the ties of family affection which bound them +together. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +TROUBLED DAYS + +Death of Wife. Loss of Money. Preaching on Wharves. Growth of Sunday +School Class at Tremont Temple from Four to Six Hundred Members in a +Brief Time. Second Marriage. Death of Father and Mother. Preaching at +Lexington. Building Lexington Baptist Church. + + +Into this whirl of successful, happy work, the comforts and luxuries +of prosperity, came the grim hand of death. His loving wife who had +worked so cheerfully by his side, who had braved disaster, bitter +poverty, hardship, with a smile, died of heart trouble after a few +days' illness, January 11, 1872. It was like a thunderbolt from a +cloudless sky. In the loneliness and despair that followed, worldly +ambitions turned to dust and ashes. He could not lecture. He could not +speak. The desolation at his heart was too great. His only consolation +was the faith that was in him, a "very present help," as he found, "in +time of trouble." This bitter trial brought home to him all the more +intensely the need of such comfort for those who were comfortless. His +heart went out in burning sympathy for those sitting in darkness like +himself, but who had no faith on which to lean, nothing to bring +healing and hope to a broken heart. Her death was a loss to the +community as well as to her family. Her writings in the "Somerville +Journal" had made a decided impression, while her sweet womanly +qualities had endeared her to a wide circle of friends. Noting her +death, a writer in one of the Boston papers said: + +"Mrs. Conwell was a true and loving wife and mother. Kind and +sympathetic in her intercourse with all, and possessed of those rare +womanly graces and qualities which endeared her to those with whom she +was acquainted. Her death leaves a void which cannot be filled even +outside her own household. Her writings were those of a true woman, +always healthful in their tone, strong and vigorous in ideas and +concise in language." + +Other troubles came thick and fast. He lost at one time fifty thousand +dollars in the panic of '74, and at another ten thousand dollars by +endorsing for a friend. His old acquaintance, poverty, again took up +its abode with him. In addition, he was heavily in debt. Those were +black days, days that taught him how unstable were the things of this +world--money, position, the ambitions that once had seemed so worthy. +The only thing that brought a sense of satisfaction, of having done +something worth while, was the endeavor to make others happier, to put +joy into lives as desolate as his own. Such work brought peace. + +To forget his own troubles in lightening those of others, he went +actively into religious work. He took a class in the Sunday School of +Tremont Temple, that very Sunday School into which Deacon Chipman had +taken him a runaway boy some twenty years before. The class grew from +four to six hundred in a few months. He preached to sailors on the +wharves, to idlers on the streets, in mission chapels at night. The +present West Somerville, Massachusetts, church grew from just such +work. He could not but see the fruits of his labors. On all sides it +grew to a quick harvest. + +The thought that he was thus influencing others for good, that he +was leading men and women into paths of sure happiness brought him +a spiritual calm and peace such as the gratification of worldly +ambitions had never given him. More and more he became convinced it +was the only work worth doing. The strong love for his fellowmen, the +desire to help those in need and to make them happier which had always +been such a pronounced characteristic, had set him more than once +to thinking of the ministry as a life work. Indeed, ever since that +childish sermon, with the big gray rock as a pulpit, it had been in +his mind, sometimes dormant, breaking out again into strong feeling +when for a moment he stood on some hilltop of life and took in its +fullest, grandest meaning, or in the dark valley of suffering and +sorrow held close communion with God and saw the beauty of serving Him +by serving his fellowmen. That the inclination was with him is shown +by the fact that when he was admitted to the bar in Albany in 1865, he +had a Greek Testament in his pocket. + +As soon as his means permitted after the war, he gathered a valuable +theological library, sending to Germany for a number of the books. In +1875, when he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the +United States, he delivered an address that same evening in Washington +on the "Curriculum of the School of the Prophets in Ancient Israel." +From all parts of the Old World he gathered photographs of ancient +manuscripts and sacred places, and kept up a correspondence with many +professors and explorers interested in these topics. He lectured in +schools and colleges on archaeological subjects, with illustrations +prepared by himself. + +It is not to be wondered that with his keen mind and his gift of +oratory the law tempted him at first to turn aside from the promptings +of the inner spirit. Nor is it to be wondered that even when +inclination led strongly he still hesitated. It was no light thing for +a man past thirty to throw aside a profession in which he had already +made an enviable reputation and take up a new lifework. With two small +children depending upon him, it was a question for still more serious +study. + +But gradually circumstances shaped his course. In 1874, he married +Miss Sarah F. Sanborn whom he had met in his mission work. She was of +a wealthy family of Newton Centre, the seat of the Newton Theological +Seminary. One of the intimate friends of the family was the Rev. Alvah +Hovey, D.D., President of the Seminary. Thus while inclination pulled +one way and common sense pulled the other, adding as a final argument +that he had no opportunity to study for the ministry, he was thrown +among the very people who made it difficult not to study theology. +Troubled in mind he sought Dr. Hovey one day and asked how to decide +if "called to the ministry." "If people are called to hear you," was +the quick-witted, practical reply of the good doctor. But still he +hesitated. His law practice, writing, lecturing, claimed part of him; +his Sunday School work and lay preaching, a second and evergrowing +stronger part. His law practice became more and more distasteful, his +service to the soul needs of others, more and more satisfying. + +[Illustration: MRS. SARAH F. CONWELL] + +In 1874 his father died, and in 1877 he lost his mother, these sad +bereavements still further inclining his heart to the work of the +ministry. They were buried at South Worthington, in a sunny hilltop +cemetery, open to the sky, the voice of a little brook coming softly +up from among the trees below. This visit to his old home under such +sad circumstances, the memory of his father's and mother's prayers +that the world might not be the worse, but that it might be the better +for his having lived in it, deepened the growing conviction that he +should give his life to the work of Christ. + +At last came the deciding event. In 1879, a young woman visited +Colonel Conwell, the lawyer, and asked his advice respecting the +disposition of a Baptist Meeting House in Lexington. He went to +Lexington and called a meeting of the members of the old church, +for the purpose of securing legal action on the part of that body +preparatory to selling the property. He got some three or four old +Baptists together and, as they talked the business over, "they became +reluctant to vote, either to sell, destroy, keep, or give away the +old meeting-house," says Burdette, in "Temple and Templars." "While +discussing the situation with these sorrowful old saints--and one good +old deacon wept to think that 'Zion had gone into captivity,'--the +preacher came to the front and displaced the lawyer. It was the crisis +in his life; the parting of the ways. In a flash of light the decision +was made. 'It flashed upon me, sitting there as a lawyer, that there +was a mission for me there,' Dr. Conwell has often said, in speaking +of his decision to go into the ministry. He advised promptly and +strongly against selling the property. 'Keep it; hold service in it; +repair the altar of the Lord that is broken down; go to work; get +God to work for you, and work with Him; 'God will turn again your +captivity, your months shall be filled with laughter and your tongues +with singing." They listened to this enthusiastic lawyer whom they had +retained as a legal adviser, in dumb amazement 'Is Saul also among the +prophets?' But having given his advice, he was prompt to act upon it +himself. 'Where will we get a preacher?' 'Here is one who will serve +you until you can get one whom you will like better, and who can +do you more good. Announce preaching in the old meeting house next +Sunday!' + +"It was nothing new for Colonel Conwell to preach, for he was engaged +in mission work somewhere every Sunday; so when the day came, he was +there. Less than a score of hearers sat in the moldy old pews. The +windows were broken and but illy repaired by the curtaining cobwebs. +The hand of time and decay had torn off the ceiling plaster in +irregular and angular patches. The old stove had rusted out at the +back, and the crumbling stove-pipe was a menace to those who sat +within range of its fall. The pulpit was what Mr. Conwell called a +'crow's perch,' and one can imagine the platform creaking under the +military tread of the tall lawyer who stepped into its lofty height to +preach. But, old though it was, they say, a cold, gloomy, damp, dingy +old box, it was a meeting house and the Colonel preached in it. That a +lawyer should practice, was a commonplace, everyday truth; but that a +lawyer should preach--that was indeed a novelty. The congregation of +sixteen or seventeen at the first service grew the following Sabbath, +to forty worshippers. Another week, and when the new preacher climbed +into that high pulpit, he looked down upon a crowded house; the little +old chapel was dangerously full. Indeed, before the hour for service, +under the thronging feet of the gathering congregation, one side of +the front steps--astonished, no doubt, and overwhelmed by the unwonted +demand upon its services--did fall down. They were encouraged to +build a fire in the ancient stove that morning, but it was past +regeneration; it smoked so viciously that all the invalids who had +come to the meeting were smoked out. The old stove had lived its +day and was needed no longer. There was a fire burning in the old +meeting-house that the hand of man had not lighted and could not +kindle; that all the storms of the winter could not quench. The pulpit +and the preacher had a misty look in the eyes of the old deacons at +that service. And the preacher? He looked into the earnest faces +before him, into the tearful, hopeful eyes, and said in his own strong +heart, 'These people are hungry for the word of God, for the teachings +of Christ. They need a church here; we will build a new one.' + +"It was one thing to say it, another to achieve it. The church +was poor. Not a dollar was in the treasury, not a rich man in the +membership, the congregation, what there was of it, without influence +in the community. But lack of money never yet daunted Dr. Conwell. The +situation had a familiar look to him. He had succeeded many a time +without money when money was the supreme need, and he attacked this +problem with the same grim perseverance that had carried him so +successfully through many a similar ordeal." + +"After service he spoke about building a new church to two or three of +the members. 'A new church?' They couldn't raise enough money to put +windows in the old one, they told him." + +"'We don't want new windows, we want a new church,' was the reply." + +"They shook their heads and went home, thinking what a pity it was +that such an able lawyer should be so visionary in practical church +affairs. Part of that night Colonel Conwell spent in prayer; early +next morning he appeared with a pick-axe and a woodman's axe and +marched upon that devoted old meeting-house, as he had marched against +Hood's intrenchments before Atlanta. Strange, unwonted sounds saluted +the ears of the early risers and awakened the sluggards in Lexington +that Monday morning. Bang, Bang, Bang! Crash--Bang! Travelers over the +Revolutionary battlefield at Lexington listened and wondered. By and +by a man turned out of his way to ascertain the cause of the +racket. There was a black coat and vest hanging on the fence, and +a professional-looking man in his shirt sleeves was smashing the +meeting-house. The rickety old steps were gone by the time this man, +with open eyes and wide-open month, came to stare in speechless +amazement. Gideon couldn't have demolished 'the altar of Baal and the +grove that was by it' with more enthusiastic energy, than did this +preacher tumble into ruin his own meeting-house, wherein he had +preached not twelve hours before. Other men came, looked, laughed, +and passed by. But the builder had no time to waste on idle gossips. +Clouds of dust hovered about him, planks, boards, and timbers came +tumbling down in heaps of ruin." + +"Presently there came along an eminently respectable citizen, who +seldom went to church. He stared a moment, and said, 'What in the name +of goodness are you doing here?'" + +"'We are going to have a new meeting-house here,' was the reply, as +the pick-axe tore away the side of a window-frame for emphasis." + +"The neighbor laughed, 'I guess you won't build it with that axe,' he +said." + +"'I confess I don't know just exactly how it is going to be done,' +said the preacher, as he hewed away at a piece of studding, 'but in +some way it is going to be done.'" + +"The doubter burst into an explosion of derisive laughter and walked +away. A few paces, and he came back; walking up to Colonel Conwell he +seized the axe and said, 'See here, Preacher, this is not the kind of +work for a parson or a lawyer. If you are determined to tear this old +building down, hire some one to do it. It doesn't look right for you +to be lifting and pulling here in this manner.'" + +"'We have no money to hire any one,' was the reply, 'and the front of +this structure must give way to-day, if I have to tear it down all +alone.'" + +"'I'll tell you what I'll do,' persisted the wavering doubter; 'if you +will let this alone, I'll give you one hundred dollars to hire some +one.'" + +"Colonel Conwell tranquilly poked the axe through.' the few remaining +panes yet unbroken in the nearest window and replied, 'We would like +the money, and I will take it to hire some one to help, but I shall +keep right on with the work myself.'" + +"'All right,' said the doubter; 'go ahead, if you have set your heart +upon it. You may come up to the house for the hundred dollars any time +to-day.'" + +"And with many a backward look the generous doubter passed on, half +beginning to doubt his doubts. Evidently, the Baptists of Lexington +were beginning to do something. It had been many a year since they had +made such a noise as that in the village. And it was a noise destined +to be heard a long, long way; much farther than the doubter and a +great many able scientists have supposed that sound would 'carry.'" + +"After the doubter came a good-natured man who disliked churches in +general, and therefore enjoyed the fun of seeing a preacher tug and +puff in the heavy work of demolition, for the many-tongued rumor by +this time had noised it all around Lexington that the new preacher was +tearing down the Baptist meeting-house. He looked on until he could no +longer keep his enjoyment to himself." + +"'Going to pull the whole thing down, are you?' he asked." + +"'Yes, sir,' replied the working preacher, ripping off a strip of +siding, 'and begin all new.'" + +"'Who is going to pay the bills?' he asked, chuckling." + +"The preacher tucked up his sleeves and stepped back to get a good +swing at an obstinate brace; 'I don't know,' he said, 'but the Lord +has money somewhere to buy and pay for all we need.'" + +"The man laughed, in intense enjoyment of the absurdity of the whole +crazy business." + +"'I'll bet five dollars to one,' he said, with easy confidence of a +man who knows his bet will not be taken up, 'that you won't get the +money in this town.'" + +"Mr. Conwell brought the axe down with a crashing sweep, and the +splinters flew out into the air like a cloud of witnesses to the +efficacy of the blow." + +"'You would lose your money, then,' quietly said the preacher, 'for +Mr.---- just now came along and has given me a hundred dollars without +solicitation.'" + +"The man's eyes opened a trifle wider, and his next remark faded into +a long-drawn whistle of astonishment. Presently--'Did you get the +cash?' he asked feebly." + +"'No, but he told me to call for it to-day.'" + +"The man considered. He wasn't enjoying the situation with quite so +much humor as he had been, but he was growing more interested." + +"'Well! Is that so! I don't believe he meant it,' he added hopefully. +Then, a man after all not disposed to go back on his own assertion, he +said, 'Now I'll tell you what I'll do. If you really get that hundred +dollars out of that man, I'll give you another hundred and pay it +to-night,'" + +"And he was as good as his word." + +"All that day the preacher worked alone. Now came in the training of +those early days on the farm, when he learned to swing an axe; when he +builded up rugged strength in a stalwart frame, when his muscles were +hardened and knotted with toil." + +"'Passers-by called one after another, to ask what was going on. To +each one Colonel Conwell mentioned his hope and mentioned his gifts. +Nearly every one had added something without being asked, and at six +o'clock, when Colonel Conwell laid down the pick and axe at the end of +his day's work, he was promised more than half the money necessary to +tear down the old meeting-house and build a new one." + +"But Colonel Conwell did not leave the work. With shovel, or hammer, +or saw, or paint-brush, he worked day by day all that summer alongside +the workmen. He was architect, mason, carpenter, painter, and +upholsterer, and he directed every detail, from the cellar to the +gilded vane, and worked early and late. The money came without asking +as fast as needed. The young people who began to flock about the +faith-worker undertook to purchase a large bell, and quietly had +Colonel Conwell's name cast on the exterior, but when it came to the +difficult task of hanging it in the tower, they were obliged to call +Colonel Conwell to come and superintend the management of ropes and +pulleys. Then the deep, rich tones of the bell rang out over the +surprised old town the triumph of faith.' An unordained preacher, he +had entered upon his first pastorate, and signalized his entrance upon +his ministry by building a new meeting-house, awakening a sleeping +church, inspiring his congregation with his own enthusiasm and zeal." + +At last he had found his work. With peace and deep abiding joy he +entered it. Doubts no longer troubled him. His heart was at rest. +"Blessed is he who has found his work," writes Carlyle; "let him ask +no other blessedness." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +HIS ENTRY INTO THE MINISTRY + +Ordination. First Charge at Lexington. Call to Grace Baptist Church, +Philadelphia. + + +For this work he had been trained in the world's bitter school of +experience. He had learned lessons there of infinitely more value in +helping humanity than any the theological seminary could teach him. He +knew what it was to be poor, to be utterly cast down and discouraged, +to be sick and suffering, to sit in the blackness of despair for the +loss of loved ones. From almost every human experience he could reach +the hand of sympathy and say, "I know. I have suffered." Such help +touches the heart of humanity as none other can. And when at the same +time, it points the way to the Great Comforter and says again, "I +know, I found peace," it is more powerful than the most eloquent +sermon. Nothing goes so convincingly to a man's heart as loving, +sympathetic guidance from one who has been through the same bitter +trial. + +He was ordained in the year 1879, the council of churches, called for +his ordination, met in Lexington, President Alvah Hovey of Newton +Seminary presiding. Among the members of the council was his life-long +friend, George W. Chipman, of Boston, the same good deacon who had +taken him a runaway boy into the Sunday School of Tremont Temple. +The only objection to the ordination was made by one of the pastors +present, who said, "Good lawyers are too scarce to be spoiled by +making ministers of them." + +The ordination over, the large law offices in Boston were closed. He +gave his undivided time and attention to his work in Lexington. The +lawyer, speaker and writer ceased to exist, but the pastor was found +wherever the poor needed help, the sick and suffering needed cheer, +the mourning needed comfort, wherever he could by word or act preach +the gospel of the Christ he served. + +His whole thought was concentrated in the purpose to do good. No one +who knew him intimately could doubt his entire renunciation of worldly +ambitions, the sacrifice was so great, yet so unhesitatingly made. +Buried from the world in one way, he yet lived in it in a better way. +Large numbers of his former legal, political and social associates +called his action fanaticism. Wendell Phillips, meeting Colonel +Conwell and several friends on the way to church, one Sunday morning, +remarked that "Olympus has gone to Delphi, and Jove has descended to +be an interpreter of oracles." + +His salary at the start was six hundred dollars a year, little more +than ten dollars a week. But it was enough to live on in a little New +England village and what more did he need? The contrast between it +and the ten thousand dollars a year he had made from his law practice +alone, never troubled him. + +[Illustration: THE BAPTIST TEMPLE] + +The church was crowded from the first and the membership grew rapidly. +His influence quickly spread to other than church circles. The town +itself soon felt the effect of his progressive, energetic spirit. It +awoke to new life. Other suburban villages were striding forward into +cities and leaving this old Battlefield of the Revolution sleeping +under its majestic elms. Mr. Conwell sounded the trumpet. Progress, +enterprise, life followed his eloquent encouragement. Strangers +were welcomed to the town. Its unusual beauty became a topic of +conversation. The railroad managers heard of its attractiveness and +opened its gates with better accommodations for travelers. + +The governor of the state (Hon. John D. Long) visited the place on Mr. +Conwell's invitation, and large business enterprises were started and +strongly supported by the townspeople. From the date of Mr. Conwell's +settlement as pastor, the town took on a new lease of life. He showed +them what could be done and encouraged them to do it. + +One of the town officers writing of that time, says: "Lexington can +never forget the benefit Mr. Conwell conferred during his stay in the +community." + +Then all unknown to Mr. Conwell, a man came up to Lexington one Sunday +in 1882, from Philadelphia, and heard him preach in the little stone +church under the stately New England elms. It was Deacon Alexander +Reed of the Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia, and as a result of +his visit, Mr. Conwell received a call from this church to be its +pastor. It was like the call from Macedonia to "come over and help +us." For the church was heavily in debt, and one of the arguments +Deacon Reed used in urging Mr. Conwell to accept was that he "could +save the church." He could have used no better argument. It was the +call to touch Mr. Conwell's heart. A small church, and struggling +against poverty; a people eager to work, but needing a leader. No +message could have more surely touched that heart eager to help +others, to bring brightness, joy and higher aspirations into troubled +lives. It was a wrench to leave Lexington, the church and the people +who had grown so dear to him. But the harvest called. There was need +of reapers and he must go. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +GOING TO PHILADELPHIA + +The Early History of Grace Baptist Church. The Beginning of the Sunday +Breakfast Association. Impressions of a Sunday Service. + + +The church to which Mr. Conwell came and from which has grown the +largest Baptist church in the country, and which was the first +institutional church in America, had its beginning in a tent. In 1870 +a little mission was started in a hall at Twelfth and Montgomery +Avenue by members of the Young Men's Association of the Tenth Baptist +Church. The committee in charge was Alexander Reed, Henry C. Singley, +Fred B. Gruel and John Stoddart. A Sunday School was started and +religious services held Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons. The +little mission flourished, and within a year it was deemed advisable +to put some one in charge who could give it his full time. The Rev. +L.B. Hartman was called and the work went forward with increasing +prosperity. He visited the families in the neighborhood, interested +the children in the Sunday School, held two preaching services every +Sunday and usually two prayer meetings during the week. In 1872, +evangelistic services were held which resulted in a number of +conversions. The need now became so imperative for a recognized +church, that on Feb. 12, 1872, one was formally organized with +forty-seven members, L.B. Hartman pastor, and John A. Stoddart, Henry +O. Singley and G.G. Mayhew, deacons. The membership still increased +rapidly, the little hall was crowded to discomfort, and it was decided +to take a definite step toward securing a church building of their +own. A lot was purchased at Berks and Mervine for $7,500, a tent with +a seating capacity of 500 erected, and Grace Baptist Church had its +first home. The opening services of the tent were memorable for many +things. + +After addresses had been made by Drs. Malcolm, Peddie, Rowland and +Wayland, an effort was made to raise the twelve hundred dollars due on +the tent. A wealthy layman, Mr. William Bucknell, offered to pay the +twelve hundred dollars provided the members of Grace Baptist Church +should henceforth abstain from the use of tobacco. The alert chairman +said, "All who are in sympathy with Brother Bucknell's proposition, +please rise." The entire audience arose. Mr. Bucknell made out his +check next morning for twelve hundred dollars. + +In 1874, the tent was moved to a neighboring lot, where it was used as +a mission. Homeless wanderers were taken in, fed and pointed the +way to a different and better life. From this work grew the Sunday +Breakfast Association of Philadelphia. + +A contract was made for a new church building, and in 1875 Grace +Church moved into the basement of the new building at Berks and +Mervine Streets. But dark days came. The financial burden became +excessive. Judgment bonds were entered against the building, the +sheriff was compelled to perform his unpleasant duty, and the property +was advertised for sale. A council of Baptist churches was called to +determine what should be done. + +The sheriff was persuaded to wait. The members renewed their exertions +and once more the church got on its financial feet sufficiently to +meet current financial expenses. The plucky fight knit them together +in strong bonds of good fellowship. It strengthened their faith, gave +them courage to go forward, and taught them the joy of working in +such a cause. And while they were struggling with poverty and looking +disaster often in the face, up in Massachusetts, the man who was to +lead this chosen people into a new land of usefulness, was himself +fighting that battle as to whether he should hearken to the voice of +the Spirit that was calling him to a new work. But finally he left all +to follow Him, and when this church, going down under its flood of +debt, sent out a cry for help, he heard it and came. To his friends in +Massachusetts it seemed as if he were again throwing himself away. To +leave his church in Lexington on the threshold of prosperity, for a +charge little more than a mission, with only twenty-seven present to +vote on calling him, seemed the height of folly. But he considered +none of these things. He thought only of their need. + +On Thanksgiving Day, 1882, he came. The outer walls of the small +church were up, the roof on, but the upper part was unfinished, +the worshippers meeting in the basement And over it hung a debt of +$15,000. But the plucky band of workers, full of the spirit that +makes all things possible, had found a leader. Both had fought bitter +fights, had endured hardships and privations, had often nothing but +faith to lean on, and pastor and people went forward to the great work +awaiting them. + +Out of his love of God, his great love of humanity, his desire to +uplift, to make men better and happier, out from his own varied +experiences that had touched the deeps of sorrow and seen life over +all the globe, came words that gripped men's hearts, came sermons that +packed the church to the doors. + +It was not many months before his preaching began to bear fruits. Not +only was the neighborhood stirred, but people from all parts of the +city thronged to hear him. + +In less than a year, though the seating capacity of the church was +increased to twelve hundred, crowds stood all through the service. It +became necessary to admit the members by tickets at the rear, it being +almost impossible for them to get through the throngs of strangers at +the front. Upon request, these cards of admission were sent to those +wishing them, a proceeding that led to much misunderstanding among +those who did not know their purpose nor the reason for their use. But +it was the only way that strangers in the city or those wishing to +attend a special service could be sure of ever getting into the +church. + +A Methodist minister of Albany gives a description in "Scaling the +Eagle's Nest," of his attendance at a service that pictures most +graphically the situation: + +"I arrived at the church a full hour before the evening service. There +was a big crowd at the front door. There was another crowd at the side +entrance. I did not know how to get a ticket, for I did not know, till +I heard it in the jam, that I must have one. Two young people, who +like many got tired of waiting, gave me their tickets, and I pushed +ahead. I was determined to see how the thing was done. I was +dreadfully squeezed, but I got in at the back entrance and stood in +the rear of the pretty church. All the camp chairs were already taken. +Also all extra seats. The church was rather fancifully frescoed. But +it is an architectural gem. It is half amphitheatrical in style. It is +longer than it is wide, and the choir gallery and organ are over the +preacher's head. It looks underneath like an old-fashioned sounding +board. But it is neat and pretty. The carpet and cushions are bright +red. The windows are full of mottoes and designs. But in the evening +under the brilliant lights the figures could not be made out. + +"There was an unusual spirit of homeness about the place, such as I +never felt in a church before. I was not alone in feeling it. The +moment I stood in the audience room, an agreeable sense of rest and +pleasure came over me. Everyone else appeared to feel the same. There +was none of the stiff restraint most churches have. All moved about +and greeted each other with an ease that was pleasant indeed. I saw +some people abusing the liberty of the place by whispering, even +during the sermon. They may have been strangers. They evidently +belonged to the lower classes. But it was a curiosity to notice +the liberty every one took at pauses in the service, and the close +attention there was when the reading or speaking began. + +"All the people sang. I think the great preacher has a strong liking +for the old hymns. Of course I noticed his selection of Wesley's +favorite. A little boy in front of me stood upon the pew when the +congregation rose. He piped out in song with all his power. It was +like a spring canary. It was difficult to tell whether the strong +voice of the preacher, or the chorus choir, led most in the singing. A +well-dressed lady near me said 'Good evening,' most cheerfully, as a +polite usher showed me into the pew. They say that all the members do +that. It made me feel welcome. She also gave me a hymn-book. I saw +others being greeted the same. How it did help me praise the Lord! At +home with the people of God! That is just how I felt. I was greatly +disappointed in the preacher. Agreeably so, after all. I expected to +see an old man. He did not look over thirty-five. He was awkwardly +tall. I had expected some eccentric and sensational affair. I do not +know just what, but I had been told of many strange things. I think +now it was envious misrepresentation. The whole service was as simple +as simple can be. And it was surely as sincere as it was simple. The +reading of the hymns was so natural and distinct that they had a +now meaning to me. The prayer was very short, and offered in homely +language. In it he paused a moment for silent prayer, and every one +seemed to hold his breath in the deepest, real reverence. It was so +different from my expectations. Then the collection. It was not an +asking for money at all. The preacher put his notice of it the other +way about He said, 'The people who wish to worship God by giving their +offering into the trust of the church could place it in the baskets +which would be passed to any who wanted to give.' The basket that went +down to the altar by me was full of money and envelopes. Yet no one +was asked to give anything. It was all voluntary, and really an +offering to the Lord. I had never seen such a way of doing things in +church collections. I do not know as the minister or church require it +so. The church, was packed in every corner, and people stood in the +aisles. The pulpit platform was crowded so that the preacher had +nothing more than standing room. Some people sat on the floor, and a +crowd of interested boys leaned against the pulpit platform. When the +preacher arose to speak, I expected something strange. It did not seem +possible that such a crowd could gather year after year to listen to +mere plain preaching. For these are degenerate days. The minister +began so familiarly and easily in introducing his text that he was +half through his sermon before I began to realize that he was actually +in his sermon. It was the plainest thing possible. I had often heard +of his eloquence and poetic imagination. But there was little of +either, if we think of the old ideas. There was close continuous +attention. He was surely in earnest, but not a sign of oratorical +display. There were exciting gestures at times, and lofty periods. +But it was all so natural. At one point the whole audience burst into +laughter at a comic turn in an illustration, but the preacher went on +unconscious of it. It detracted nothing from the solemn theme. It was +what the 'Chautauqua Herald' last year called a 'Conwellian evening.' +It was unlike anything I ever saw or heard. Yet it was good to be +there. The sermon was crowded with illustrations, and was evidently +unstudied. They say he never takes time from his many cares to write a +sermon. That one was surely spontaneous. But it inspired the audience +to better lives and a higher faith. When he suddenly stopped and +quickly seized a hymn-book, the audience drew a long sigh. At once +people moved about again and looked at each other and smiled. The +whole congregation were at one with the preacher. There was a low hum +of whispering voices. But all was attention again when the hymn was +read. Then the glorious song. One of the finest organists in the +country, a blind gentleman by the name of Wood, was the power behind +the throne. The organ did praise God. Every one was carried on in a +flood of praise. It was rich. The benediction was a continuation of +the sermon and a closing prayer, all in a single sentence. I have +never heard one so unique. It fastened the evening's lesson. It was +not formal. The benediction was a blessing indeed. It broke every rule +of church form. It was a charming close, however. No one else but +Conwell could do it. Probably no one will try. Instantly at the close +of the service, all the people turned to each other and shook hands. +They entered into familiar conversation. Many spoke to me and invited +me to come again. There was no restraint. All was homelike and happy. +It was blessed to be there." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +FIRST DAYS AT GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH + +Early plans for Church Efficiency. Practical Methods for Church Work. +The Growing Membership. Need of a New Building. + + +The preaching filled the church. Men and women felt that to miss a +sermon was to miss inspiration and strength for the coming week's +work, a broader outlook on life, a deeper hold on spiritual truths. +But it was more than the sermons that carried the church work forward +by leaps and bounds, added hundreds to its membership, made it a power +for good in the neighborhood that gradually began to be felt all over +the city. + +The spirit of the sermons took practical form. Mr. Conwell followed no +traditions or conventions in his church work. He studied the needs of +the neighborhood and the hour. Then he went to work with practical, +common sense to meet them. First he determined the church should be +a home, a church home, but nevertheless a home in its true sense, +overflowing with love, with kindness, with hospitality for the +stranger within its gates. Committees were formed to make strangers +welcome, to greet them cordially, find them a seat if possible, see +that they had hymn books, and invite them heartily to come again. And +every member felt he belonged to this committee even if not actually +appointed on it, and made the stranger who might sit near him feel +that he was a welcome guest. When the church became more crowded, +members gave up their seats to strangers and sat on the pulpit, and it +was no unusual sight in the church at Berks and Mervine streets to see +the pulpit, as well as every other inch of space in the auditorium, +crowded. Finally, when even this did not give room enough to +accommodate all who thronged its doors, members took turns in staying +away from certain services. No one who has not enjoyed the spiritual +uplift, the good fellowship of a Grace Church service can appreciate +what a genuine personal sacrifice that was. + +After the service, Mr. Conwell stationed himself at the door and shook +hands with all as they left, adding some little remark to show his +personal interest in their welfare if they were members, or a cordial +invitation to come again, if a stranger. The remembrance of that +hearty handclasp, that frank, friendly interest, lingered and stamped +with a personal flavor upon the hearer's heart, the truths of +Christianity that had been preached in such simple, clear, yet +forcible fashion from the pulpit. + +Another of Mr. Conwell's methods for carrying out practical +Christianity was to set every body at work. Every single member of the +church was given something to do. As soon as a person was received +into the membership, he was invited to join some one or other of the +church organizations. He was placed on some committee. In such +an atmosphere of activity there was no one who did not catch the +enthusiasm and feel that being a Christian meant much more than +attending church on Sundays, putting contributions in the box, and +listening to the minister preach. It was a veritable hive of applied +Christianity, and many a man who hitherto thought he had done his full +duty by attending church regularly and contributing to its support had +these ideas, so comfortable and self-satisfied, completely shattered. + +The membership was composed almost entirely of working people, men and +women who toiled hard for their daily bread. There were no wealthy +people to help the work by contributions of thousands of dollars. The +beginnings of all the undertakings were small and unpretentious. But +nothing was undertaken until the need of it was felt; then the people +as a whole put their shoulders to the wheel and it went with a will. +And because it practically filled a need, it was a success. + +The pastor was the most untiring worker of all. With ceaseless energy +and unfailing tact, he was the head and heart of every undertaking. +Day and night he ministered to the needs of his membership and the +community. To the bedside of the sick he carried cheer that was better +than medicine. In the homes where death had entered, he brought the +comfort of the Holy Spirit. Where disgrace had fallen like a pall, he +went with words of hope and practical advice. Parents sought him to +help lead erring children back from a life of wretchedness and evil. +Wherever sorrow and trouble was in the heart or home he went, his +heart full of sympathy, his hands eager to help. + +Much of his time, too, in those early days of his ministry was devoted +to pastoral calls, not the formal ministerial call where the children +tiptoe in, awed and silent, because the "minister is there." Children +hailed his coming with delight, the family greeted him as an old, old +friend before whom all ceremony and convention were swept away. He was +genuinely interested in their family affairs. He entered into their +plans and ambitions, and he never forgot any of their personal history +they might tell him, so that each felt, and truly, that in his pastor +he had a warm and interested friend. + +His own simple, informal manner made every one feel instantly at home +with him. He soon became a familiar figure upon the streets in the +neighborhood of his church, for morning, noon and night he was about +his work, cherry, earnest, always the light of his high calling +shining from his face. The people for squares about knew that here was +a man, skilled and practical in the affairs of the world, to whom they +could go for advice, for help, for consolation, sure that they would +have his ready sympathy and the best his big heart and generous hands +could give. + +Such faithful work of the pastor, such earnest, active work of the +people could not but tell. The family feeling which is the ideal of +church fellowship was so strong and warm that it attracted and drew +people as with magnetic power. The church became more and more +crowded. In less than a year it was impossible to seat those who +thronged to the Sunday services, though the auditorium then had a +seating capacity of twelve hundred. + +"I am glad," the pastor once remarked to a friend, "when I get up +Sunday morning and can look out of the window and see it snowing, +sleeting, and raining, and hear the wind shriek and howl. 'There,' I +say, 'I won't have to preach this morning, looking all the while at +people patiently standing through the service, wherever there is a +foot of standing room.'" + +[Illustration: THE SAMARITAN HOSPITAL OF THE FUTURE] + +The membership rose from two hundred to more than five hundred within +two years. A question began to shape itself in the minds of pastor +and people. "What shall we do?" As a partial solution of it, the +proposition was made to divide into three churches. But, as in the old +days of enlistment when two companies clamored for him for captain, +all three sections wanted him as pastor, and so the idea was +abandoned. + +Still the membership grew, and the need for larger quarters faced them +imperatively and not to be evaded. The house next door was purchased +which gave increased space for the work of the Sunday School and the +various associations. But it was a mere drop in the bucket. Every room +in it was filled to overflowing with eager workers before the ink was +fairly dry on the deed of transfer. + +Then into this busy crowd wondering what should be done came a little +child, and with one simple act cleared the mist from their eyes and +pointed the way for them to go. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +HATTIE WIATT'S LEGACY + +How a Little Child Started the Building Fund for the Great Baptist +Temple. + + +One Sunday afternoon a little child, Hattie Wiatt, six years old, +came to the church building at Berks and Mervine to attend the Sunday +School. She was a very little girl and it was a very large Sunday +School, but big as it was there was not room to squeeze her in. Other +little girls had been turned away that day, and still others, Sundays +before. But it was a bitter disappointment to this small child; the +little lips trembled, the big tears rolled down her cheeks and the +sobs that came were from the heart. The pastor himself told the little +one why she could not come in and tried to comfort her. His heart was +big enough for her and her trouble if the church was not. He watched +the childish figure going so sadly up the street with a heart that was +heavy that he must turn away a little child from the house of God, +from the house raised in the name of One who said, "Suffer little +children to come unto me." + +She did not forget her disappointment as many a child would. It had +been too grievous. It hurt too deeply to think that she could not go +to that Sunday School, and that other little girls who wanted to go +must stay away. With quivering lip she told her mother there wasn't +room for her. With a sad little heart she spent the afternoon thinking +about it, and when bedtime came and she said her prayers, she prayed +with a child's beautiful faith that they would find room for her so +that she might go and learn more about Jesus. Perhaps she had heard +some word dropped about faith and works. Perhaps the childish mind +thought it out for herself. But she arose the next morning with a +strong purpose in her childish soul, a purpose so big in faith, so +firm in determination, it could put many a strong man's efforts to +the blush. "I will save my money," she said to herself, "and build a +bigger Sunday School. Then we can all go." + +From her childish treasures she hunted out a little red pocketbook +and in this she put her pennies, one at a time. What temptations that +childish soul struggled with no one may know! How she shut her eyes +and steeled her heart to playthings her friends bought, to the +allurements of the candy shop window! But nothing turned her from +her purpose. Penny by penny the little hoard grew. Day after day the +dimpled fingers counted it and the bright eyes grew brighter as the +sum mounted. That mite cast in by the widow was no purer, greater +offering than these pennies so lovingly and heroically saved by this +little child. + +But there were only a few weeks of this planning, hoping, saving. The +little Temple builder fell ill. It was a brief illness and then the +grim Reaper knocked at the door of the Wiatt home and the loving, +self-sacrificing spirit was born to the Father's House where there are +many mansions, where there was no lack of room, for the little heart +so eager to learn more of Jesus. + +With her dying breath she told her mother of her treasure, told her it +was for Grace Baptist Church to build. + +In the little red pocketbook was just fifty-seven cents. That was her +legacy. With swelling heart, the pastor reverently took it; with misty +eyes and broken voice he told his people of the little one's gift. + +"And when they heard how God had blessed them with so great an +inheritance, there was silence in the room; the silence of tears and +earnest consecration. The corner stone of the Temple was laid." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +BUILDING THE TEMPLE + +How the Money was Raised. Walking Clubs. Jug Breaking. The Purchase of +the Lot. Laying the Corner Stone. + + +Thus was their path pointed out to them and they walked steadily +forward in it from that day. + +Plans were made for raising money. The work went forward with a vim, +for ever before each worker was the thought of that tiny girl, the +precious pennies saved one by one by childish self-denial. The child's +faith was equaled by theirs. It was a case of "Come unto me on the +water." They were poor. Nobody could give much. But nobody hesitated. + +It was not only a question of giving, even small sums. What was given +must be saved in some way. Few could give outright and not feel it. +Incomes for the most part just covered living expenses, and expenses +must be cut down, if incomes were to be stretched to build a church. +So these practical people put their wits to work to see how money +could be saved. Walking clubs were organized, not for vigorous cross +country tramps in a search for pleasure and health, but with an +earnest determination to save carfare for the building fund. Tired men +with muscles aching from a hard day's work, women weary with a long +day behind the counter or typewriter, cheerfully trudged home and +saved the nickels. Women economized in dress, men who smoked gave it +up. Vacations in the summer were dropped. Even the boys and girls +saved their pennies as little Hattie Wiatt had done, and the money +poured into the treasury in astonishing amounts, considering how small +was each individual gift. All these sacrifices helped to endear the +place to those who wove their hopes and prayers about it. + +A fair was given in a large hall in the centre of the city which +brought to the notice of many strangers the vigorous work the church +was doing and netted nearly five thousand dollars toward the building +fund. It was a fair that went with a vim, planned on business lines, +conducted in a practical, sensible fashion. + +Another effort that brought splendid results was the giving out of +little earthen jugs in the early summer to be brought to the harvest +home in September with their garnerings. It was a joyous evening when +the jugs were brought in. A supper was given, and while the church +members enjoyed themselves at the tables, the committee sat on the +platform, broke the jugs, counted the money and announced the amount. +The sum total brought joyous smiles to the treasurer's face. + +Innumerable entertainments were held in the church and at homes of +the church members. Suppers were given in Fairmount Park during the +summer. Every worthy plan for raising money that clever brains could +devise and willing hands accomplish was used to swell the building +fund. + +Thus the work went ahead, and in September, 1886, the lot on which +The Temple now stands at Broad and Berks was purchased at a cost of +twenty-five thousand dollars. Thus encouraged with tangible results, +the work for the building fund was pushed, if possible, with even +greater vigor. Ground was broken for The Temple March 27, 1889. The +corner stone was laid July 13, 1890, and on the first of March, 1891, +the house was occupied for worship. + +The only large amount received toward the building fund was a gift of +ten thousand dollars on condition that the church be not dedicated +until it was free of debt. In a legal sense, calling a building by the +name of the congregation worshipping in it is a dedication, and so the +building, instead of being called The Grace Baptist Church, was called +the Baptist Temple, a name which will probably cling to it while one +stone stands upon another. + +Raising money and erecting a building did not stop the spiritual work +of the church. Rather it increased it. People heard of the church +through the fairs and various other efforts to raise money, came to +the service, perhaps out of curiosity at first, became interested, +their hearts were touched and they joined. Never did its spiritual +light burn more brightly than in these days of hard work and +self-denial. The membership steadily rose, and when Grace Church moved +into its new temple of worship, more than twelve hundred members +answered the muster roll. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +OCCUPYING THE TEMPLE + +The First Sunday. The Building Itself--Its Seating Capacity, +Furnishing and Lighting. The Lower Temple and its Various Rooms and +Halls. Services Heard by Telephone at the Samaritan Hospital. + + +That was a great day--the first Sunday in the new Temple. Six years +of labor and love had gone to its building and now they possessed the +land. + +"During the opening exercises over nine thousand people were present +at each service," said the "Philadelphia Press" writing of the event. +The throng overflowed into the Lower Temple; into the old church +building. The whole neighborhood was full of the joyful members of +Grace Baptist Church. The very air seemed to thrill with the spirit +of thanksgiving abroad that day. All that Sabbath from sunrise until +close to midnight members thronged the building with prayers of +thankfulness and praise welling up from glad hearts. + +Writing from London several years later, Mr. Conwell voiced in words +what had been in his mind when the church was planned: + +"I heard a sermon which helped me greatly. It was delivered by an old +preacher, and the subject was, 'This God is our God,' He described the +attributes of God in glory, knowledge, wisdom and love, and compared +Him to the gods the heathen do worship. He then pressed upon us the +message that this glorious God is the Christian's God, and with Him we +cannot want. It did me so much good, and made me long so much for more +of God in all my feelings, actions, and influence. The seats were +hard, and the tack of the pew hard and high, the church dusty and +neglected; yet, in spite of all the discomforts, I was blessed. I +was sorry for the preacher who had to preach against all those +discomforts, and did not wonder at the thin congregation. Oh! it is +all wrong to make it so unnecessarily hard to listen to the gospel. +They ought for Jesus' sake tear out the old benches and put +in comfortable chairs. There was an air about the service of +perfunctoriness and lack of object, which made the service indefinite +and aimless. This is a common fault. We lack an object and do not aim +at anything special in our services. That, too, is all wrong. Each +hymn, each chapter read, each anthem, each prayer, and each sermon +should have a special and appropriate purpose. May the Lord help me, +after my return, to profit by this day's lesson." + +No hard benches, no air of cold dreariness marks The Temple. The +exterior is beautiful and graceful in design, the interior cheery and +homelike in furnishing. + +The building is of hewn stone, with a frontage on Broad Street of one +hundred and seven feet, a depth on Berks Street of one hundred and +fifty feet, a height of ninety feet. On the front is a beautiful half +rose window of rich stained glass, and on the Berks Street side a +number of smaller memorial windows, each depicting some beautiful +Biblical scene or thought. Above the rose window on the front is a +small iron balcony on which on special occasions, and at midnight on +Christmas, New Year's Eve and Easter, the church orchestra and choir +play sacred melodies and sing hymns, filling the midnight hour with +melody and delighting thousands who gather to hear it. + +The auditorium of The Temple has the largest seating capacity among +Protestant church edifices in the United States. Its original seating +capacity according to the architect's plans, was forty-two hundred +opera chairs. But to secure greater comfort and safety only thirty-one +hundred and thirty-five chairs were used. + +Under the auditorium and below the level of the street is the part of +the building called the Lower Temple. Here are Sunday School rooms, +with a seating capacity of two thousand. The Sunday School room and +lecture room of the Lower Temple is forty-eight by one hundred and six +feet in dimensions. It also has many beautiful stained-glass windows. +On the platform is a cabinet organ and a grand piano. In the rear of +the lecture room is a dining-room, forty-five by forty-six feet, +with a capacity for seating five hundred people. Folding tables and +hundreds of chairs are stowed away in the store rooms when not in use +in the great dining-room. Opening out of this room are the rooms of +the Board of Trustees, the parlors and reading-rooms of the Young +Men's Association and the Young Women's Association, and the kitchen, +carving-room and cloak-room. Through the kitchen is a passageway to +the engine and boiler rooms. In pantries and cupboards is an outfit +of china and table cutlery sufficient to set a table for five hundred +persons. The kitchen is fully equipped, with two large ranges, +hot-water cylinders, sinks and drainage tanks. In the annex beyond the +kitchen, a separate building contains the boilers and engine room and +the electric-light plants. + +The steam-heating of the building is supplied by four one hundred +horse-power boilers. In the engine room are two one hundred and +thirty-five horse-power engines, directly connected with dynamos +having a capacity of twenty-five hundred lights, which are controlled +by a switchboard in this room. The electrician is on duty every day, +giving his entire time to the management of this plant. The building +is also supplied with gas. Directly behind the pulpit is a small +closet containing a friction wheel, by means of which, should the +electric light fail for any reason, every gas jet in The Temple can be +lighted from dome to basement. + +For cleaning the church, a vacuum plant has been installed, which +sucks out every particle of dust and dirt. It does the work quickly +and thoroughly, in fact, so thoroughly it is impossible even with the +hardest beating to raise any dust on the covered chairs after they +have been cleaned by this process. Such crowds throng The Temple that +some quick, thorough method of cleaning it became imperative. + +Back of the auditorium on the street floor are the business offices of +the church, Mr. Conwell's study, the office of his secretary and of +the associate pastor. All are practically and cheerfully furnished, +fitted with desks, filing cabinets, telephones, speaking tubes, +everything to carry forward the business of the church in a +time-saving, businesslike way. + +The acoustics of the great auditorium are perfect. There is no +building on this continent with an equal capacity which enables the +preacher to speak and the hearers to listen with such perfect comfort. +The weakest voice is carried to the farthest auditor. Lecturers who +have tested the acoustic properties of halls in every state in the +Union speak with praise and pleasure of The Temple, which makes the +delivery of an oration to three thousand people as easy, so far as +vocal effort is concerned, as a parlor conversation. + +Telephonic communication has recently been installed between the +auditorium and the Samaritan Hospital. Patients in their beds can +hear the sermons preached from The Temple pulpit and the music of the +Sunday services. + +Compared with other assembly rooms in this country, the auditorium of +The Temple is a model. It seats thirty-one hundred and thirty-five +persons. The American Academy of Music, Philadelphia, seats +twenty-nine hundred; the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, twenty-four +hundred and thirty-three; Academy in New York, twenty-four hundred and +thirty-three; the Grand Opera House, Cincinnati, twenty-two hundred +and fifty; and the Music Hall, Boston, twenty-five hundred and +eighty-five. + +But greater than the building is the spirit that pervades it. The +moment one enters the vast auditorium with its crimson chairs, its +cheery carpet, its softly tinted walls, one feels at home. Light +filters in through rich windows, in memory of some member gone before, +some class or organization. Back of the pulpit stands the organ, its +rich pipes rising almost to the roof. Everywhere is rich, subdued +coloring, not ostentatious, but cheery, homelike. + +Large as is the seating capacity of The Temple, when it was opened it +could not accommodate the crowds that thronged to it. Almost from the +first, overflow meetings were held in the Lower Temple, that none +need be turned away from the House of God. From five hundred to two +thousand people crowded these Sunday evenings in addition to the large +audience in the main auditorium above. + +The Temple workers had come to busy days and large opportunities. But +they took them humbly with a full sense of their responsibility, with +prayer in their hearts that they might meet them worthily. Their +leader knew the perils of success and with wise counsel guided them +against its insidious dangers. + +"Ah, that is a dangerous hour in the history of men and institutions," +he said, in a sermon on the "Danger of Success," "when they become too +popular; when a good cause becomes too much admired or adored, so that +the man, or the institution, or the building, or the organization, +receives an idolatrous worship from the community. That is always +a dangerous time. Small men always go down, wrecked by such dizzy +elevation. Whenever a small man is praised, he immediately loses +his balance of mind and ascribes to himself the things which others +foolishly express in flattery. He esteems himself more than he is; +thinking himself to be something, he is consequently nothing. How +dangerous is that point when a man, or a woman, or an enterprise has +become accepted and popular! Then, of all times, should the man or the +society be humble. Then, of all times, should they beware. Then, of +all times, the hosts of Satan are marshaled that by every possible +insidious wile and open warfare they may overcome. The weakest hour in +the history of great enterprises is apt to be when they seem to be, +and their projectors think they are, strongest. Take heed lest ye fall +in the hour of your strength. The most powerful mill stream drives the +wheel most vigorously at the moment before the flood sweeps the mill +to wildest destruction." + +Just as plainly and unequivocally did he hold up before them the +purpose of their high calling: + +"The mission of the church is to save the souls of men. That is its +true mission. It is the only mission of the church. That should be its +only thought. The moment any church admits a singer that does not sing +to save souls; the moment a church calls a pastor who does not preach +to save souls; the moment a church elects a deacon who does not work +to save souls; the moment a church gives a supper or an entertainment +of any kind not for the purpose of saving souls--it ceases in so much +to be a church and to fulfil the magnificent mission God gave it. +Every concert, every choir service, every preaching service, every +Lord's supper, every agency that is used in the church must have the +great mission plainly before its eye. We are here to save the souls of +dying sinners; we are here for no other purpose; and the mission of +the church being so clear, that is the only test of a real church." + +The thousands of men and women Grace Church has saved and placed in +paths of righteousness and happiness, show that it has nobly stood +the test, that it has proved itself a church in the true sense of the +word. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +HOW THE CHURCH WORKS + +The Ladies' Aid Society. The Young Women's Association. The Young +Men's Association. The Ushers' Association. The Christian Endeavor +Societies. The Many Other Organizations. What They Do, and How They Do +It. + + +Now that the church was built, now that such power was in its hands, +how should it work? + +"The church of Christ should be so conducted always as to save the +largest number of souls, and in the saving of souls the Institutional +church may be of great assistance," said Russell Conwell in an address +on "The Institutional Church." "It is of little matter what your +theories are or what mine are; God, in His providence, is moving His +church onward and moving it upward at the same time, adjusting it +to new situations, fitting it to new conditions and to advancing +civilization, requiring us to use the new instrumentalities he has +placed in our hands for the purpose of saving the greatest number of +human souls." + +The conditions confronting him, the leader of this church studied. He +turned his eyes backward over the years. He thought of his own boyhood +when church was so distasteful. He thought of those ten busy years in +Boston when he had worked among all classes of humanity, with churches +on all sides, yet few reaching down into the lives of the people in +any vital way. He knew of the silent, agonizing cry for help, for +comfort, for light, that went up without ceasing day and night from +humanity in sorrow, in suffering, in affliction, went up as it were to +skies of brass, yet he knew a loving Savior stood ready to pour forth +his healing love, a Divine Spirit waited only the means, to lay a +healing touch on sore hearts. What was needed was a simple, practical, +real way to make it understandable to men, to bring them into the +right environment, to make their hearts and minds receptive, to point +the way to peace, joy and eternal life. He brought to bear on this +problem all the practical, trained skill of the lawyer, the keen +insight and common sense, the knowledge of the world, of the traveler +and writer. Every experience of his own life he probed for help and +light on this great work Nothing was done haphazard. He studied the +wants of men. He clearly saw the need. He calmly surveyed the field, +then he went to work with practical common sense to fill it, filling +his people with the enthusiasm and the faith that led him, doing with +a will all there was to do, and then leaving the rest with God. Never +did he think of himself, of how he might lighten his tasks, give +himself a little more leisure or rest. The work needing to be done and +how to do it was his study day and night. + +[Illustration: This Picture Shows the Four Speaking Tubes Which +Connect by Telephone with the Samaritan Hospital] + +A reporter of the "Philadelphia Press" once asked Dr. George A. Peltz, +the associate pastor of Grace Church, "if you were called upon to +express in three words the secret of the mysterious power that has +raised Grace Church from almost nothing to a membership of more than +three thousand, that has built this Temple, founded a college, opened +a hospital, and set every man, woman and child in the congregation to +working, what would be your answer?" + +"Sanctified common sense," was the Doctor's unhesitating reply. + +Rev. F.B. Meyer, in speaking on "Twentieth Century Evangelism," at +Bradford, England, in 1902, made a plea for "the institutional church, +the wide outlook, more elastic methods, greater eagerness to reach and +win outsiders, more varied service on the part of Christian people, +that the minister of any place of worship should become the recognized +friend of the entire district in which his chapel is placed." + +The "elastic method" is characteristic of the work of The Temple. +When Dr. Conwell first came to Grace Church, he organized four +societies--the Ladies' Aid Society, the Business Men's Union, the +Young Women's Association, the Young Men's Association. Into one or +another of these, every member of the church fitted, and as the new +members came into the fellowship, they found work for their hands in +one or the other. + +The Ladies' Aid Society is the pastor's right hand. It stands ready +to undertake any project, social, religious, financial, to give +receptions in honor of noted visitors, to hold a series of special +meetings, to plan suppers, festivals, and other affairs--whenever it +is necessary to raise money. Its creed, if one might so call it, is: + + "Use every opportunity to bring in new members. + + "Remember the name of every new church member. + + "Visit useless members and encourage them for their own sake to + become useful. + + "Visit persons when desired by the Pastors. + + "Speak cheerfully to each person present on every opportunity. + + "Regard every patron of your suppers or entertainments, and every + visitor to your religious meetings, as a guest calling on you in + your own house. + + "Accept contributions and subscriptions for the various Christian + enterprises. + + "Bring in every suggestion you hear which is valuable, new or + effective in Christian work elsewhere. + + "Never allow a meeting to pass without your doing _some one + practical_ thing for the advancement of Christ's kingdom. + + "Make yourself and the Society of some certain use to some person, + or some cause, each week." + +The Society helps in the church prayer meetings, in refurnishing +and improving the church property, in celebrating anniversaries, in +missionary enterprises, securing the insertion of tablets in the +Temple walls, in clothing the poor, in supporting the local missions +connected with the church, in calling socially on church members or +members of the congregation, in evangelistic meetings, in household +prayer meetings, in supporting reading rooms, in comforting those in +special affliction, in visiting the sick, in aiding the needy, in +paying the church debt, in maintaining Mother's meetings, in looking +after the domestic wants of the Temple, in sewing for the Hospitals, +the Missions, the Baptist Home, the Orphanage, church fairs, +Missionary workers, the poor, in managing church suppers and +receptions connected with Ordinations, Conventions, and other +religious gatherings. + +It is one of the most important organizations of the church and has +its own rooms handsomely furnished and well supplied with reading +matter. + +The Business Men's Union drew into a close band the business men of +the church and used their knowledge of business affairs to plan and +carry out various projects for raising money for the building fund. +They also took a deep personal interest in each other's welfare as is +shown by the following incident, taken from the "Philadelphia Press": + +"At one time a member became involved in financial difficulties in a +very peculiar way. Previous to connecting himself with the church, +he had been engaged in a business which he felt he could not +conscientiously continue after his conversion. He sold his interest +and entered upon mercantile pursuits with which he was unfamiliar. As +a result, he became involved and his establishment was in danger of +falling into the sheriff's hands. + +"His situation became known to some members of the Business Men's +Union, and a committee was appointed to look into his affairs. His +books were found to be straight and his stock valuable. The members +immediately subscribed the thousands of dollars necessary to relieve +him of all embarrassment, and the man was saved." + +After the building was completed and the imperative need for such an +organization was past, the members joined other organizations needing +their help, and it disbanded. It is typical of the elastic methods of +Grace Church that no society outlives its usefulness. When the need +is past for it as a body, the members look elsewhere for work, and +wherever each is needed, there he goes heart and soul to further some +other endeavor. + +The Young Women's Association is composed of young women of the +church. It bubbles over with youthful enthusiasm and energy and is one +of the strongest agencies for carrying forward the church work. Its +creed is: + + "Secure new members. + + "Attend the meetings, propose new work, urge on neglected duties. + + "Help the prayer meetings. + + "Volunteer for social meetings. + + "Aid in the entertainments. + + "Originate plans for Christian benevolent work. + + "Welcome young women to the Church. + + "Visit the sick members of the Church. + + "Seek after and encourage inquirers. + + "Hold household devotional meetings. + + "Sustain missionary work for young women. + + "Make the Church home cheerful and happy. + + "Arrange social home gatherings for various church or charitable + enterprises. + + "Solicit books or periodicals for the reading room or circulating + library. + + "Secure employment for the needy. + + "Treat all visitors to the rooms as special personal guests in + your home. + + "Undertake large things for the Church and Christ in many ways, as + may be suggested by any new conditions and deeds. + + "Instruct in domestic arts, dressmaking, millinery, cooking, + decoration, and, through the Samaritan Hospital, in the art of + nursing. + + "Furnish statedly instructive entertainments for the young. + + "Develop the various singing services. + + "Specially care for and assist young sisters. + + "Cooeperate in sewing enterprises of all sorts. + + "Aid the Pastors by systematic visitation. + + "Push many branches of City Missions, especially with reference to + developing young women as workers. + + "Maintain suitable young women as missionaries at home or in + foreign fields. + + "Carry sunshine to darkened hearts and homes. + + "Be noble, influential Christian women." + +It has a room of its own in the Lower Temple, with circulating +library, piano and all the cheerful furnishings of a parlor in the +home. To this bright room comes many a girl from her dreary boarding +house to spend the evening in reading and social chat. It has been +the cheery starting point in many a girl's life to a career of happy +usefulness. + +The Young Men's Association follows similar lines and is an equally +important factor in the church work. It plans to: + + "Help increase the membership and efficiency of the Young Men's + Bible Class and other similar organizations. + + "Persistently follow the meetings of these associations and keep + them in the hands of able, consecrated managers and officers, who + will lead in the best enterprises of the church. + + "Make the reading-room attractive and helpful. + + "Help sustain the great Sunday morning prayer meeting. + + "Invite passers-by to enter the church, and welcome strangers who + do enter. + + "Advise seekers after God. + + "Bring back the wandering. + + "Organize relief committees to save the lost young men of the + city. + + "Look after traveling business men at hotels, and bring them to + The Temple. + + "Promote temperance, purity, fraternity and spiritual life. + + "Initiate the most important undertakings of the church. + + "Surround themselves with strong young men, and inaugurate + vigorous, fresh plans and methods for bringing the gospel to the + young men of to-day in store, shop, office, school, college, on + the streets, and elsewhere. + + "Visit sick members, help into lucrative employment, organize + religious meetings, make the church life of the young bright, + inspiring and noble, plan for sociables, entertainments for closer + acquaintance and for raising money for Christian work and to use + their pens for Christ among young men whom they know, and also + with strangers." + +It has a delightful room in the Lower Temple, carpeted, supplied with +books, good light, a piano, comfortable chairs. It is a real home for +young men alone in the city or without family or home ties. + +During the building of The Temple many associations were formed which, +when the need was over, merged into others. As Burdette says: + +"Often a working guild of some sort is brought into existence for a +specific but transient purpose; the object accomplished, the +work completed, the society disbands, or merges into some other +organization, or reorganizes under a new name for some new work. The +work of Grace Church is like the operations of a great army; recruits +are coming to the front constantly; regiments being assigned to this +corps, and suddenly withdrawn to reinforce that one; two or three +commands consolidated for a sudden emergency; one regiment deployed +along a great line of small posts; infantry detailed into the +batteries, cavalry dismounted for light infantry service, yet all +the time in all this apparent confusion and restless change which +bewilders the civilian, everything is clear and plain and +perfectly regular and methodical to the commanding general and his +subordinates." + +Another association of this kind was the "Committee of One Hundred," +organized in 1891. The suggestion for its organization came from the +Young Women's Association. A number of them went to the Trustees and +proposed that the Board should appoint a committee of fifty from among +the congregation to devise ways and means to raise money for paying +off the floating indebtedness of the church. The suggestion was +adopted. The Committee of Fifty was appointed, each organization of +the church being represented in it by one or more members. It met for +organization in 1892. The Young Women's Association, pledged itself to +raise $1,000 during the year. Other societies pledged certain sums. +Individuals went to work to swell the amount, and in one year, the +Committee reported that the floating debt of the church, which at the +time of the Committee's organization was $25,000, was paid. Encouraged +by this success the Committee enlarged itself to one hundred and +vigorously attacked the work of paying off the mortgage of $15,200 on +the ground on which the college was to be built. + +Among the minor associations of the church that promoted good +fellowship and did a definite good work in their time were the +"Tourists' Club," a social development of the Young Women's +Association. The members took an ideal European trip while sitting in +the pleasant reading room in the Lower Temple. A route of travel was +laid out a month in advance. Each member present took some part; to +one was assigned the principal buildings; to another, some famous +painting; to others, parks, hotels, places of amusement, ruins, etc., +until at the close of the evening they almost could hear the tongue of +the strange land through which in fancy they had journeyed. Maps and +pictures helped to materialize the journey. + +The "Girls" Auxiliary was formed to meet the needs of the younger +members of the church. Any girl under sixteen could become a member +by the payment of monthly dues of five cents. There were classes in +embroidery, elocution, sewing, etc. + +The "Youth's Culture League" was organized for the work among youth of +the slums; an effort to supplement public school education, making it +a stepping-stone to higher culture and better living. + +Sports of various kinds of course received attention. The Temple +Guard, the Temple Cyclers, the Baseball League gave opportunity for +all to enjoy some form of healthy outdoor sport. But since the college +and its gymnasium have become so prominent, those who now join such +organizations usually do it through college instead of church doors. + +The following incident from the "Philadelphia Evening Bulletin" is +typical of the help these organizations often gave the church in its +religious work: + +[Illustration: THE OBSERVATORY + +Built on the Site of the Old Hemlock Tree] + +[Illustration: THE PRESENT CONWELL HOMESTEAD IN MASSACHUSETTS] + +"Eight and a half years ago the Rev. Russell H. Conwell surprised a +great many people by organizing a military company among his little +boys. The old wiseacres shook their heads, and the elders of the old +school wondered at this new departure in church work. Then again he +fairly shocked them by making the organization non-sectarian, and +securing one of the best tacticians in the city to instruct the +boys in military science.... From the first the company has clearly +demonstrated that it is the best-drilled military organization in the +city, and the number of prizes fairly won demonstrates this. However, +the company does not wish to be understood as being merely in +existence for prize honors, although it cannot be overlooked that +twenty victories over as many companies afford them the best record in +Pennsylvania. + +"In 1896, the Samaritan Rescue Mission was established by the Grace +Baptist Church, and proving a great financial burden, Dr. Conwell +offered to give a lecture on Henry Ward Beecher. The Guard took the +matter up, brought Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, despite her threescore +years and ten, to Philadelphia for the first time in her life, and +so great was the desire of the church-loving public of this city to +attend that the mission did not perish." + +When the stress of building and paying the church debt was passed, +many of these societies went heart and soul into the Christian +Endeavor work. Indeed, for awhile it seemed as if the Christian +Endeavor would absorb all the church associations. There are at +present fifteen Christian Endeavor Societies in the church. In +addition to the Christian Endeavor pledge, the following special ways +in which they can forward the church work is ever held before each +member: + +"For the sake of your character and future success, as well as for the +supreme cause, keep your pledge unflinchingly. + +"Endeavor persistently, but courteously, to seek after those who ask +for our prayers and advice at any meeting. + +"Never discontinue your endeavors to get new members for the +societies. Follow it continually in the name of the Lord. + +"Endeavor each day to think, speak, act and pray like the Savior. + +"Endeavor and present plans for effective work. Build up a standard of +noble living in the Church. + +"Send comforting messages to members of the Church in sorrow, send +flowers to the sick, or for the funeral, look after the orphans, visit +the widows and the fatherless, write letters of advice, invitation, +condolence, establish missions for new churches in growing parts of +the city, and hold by kindness at least one thousand personal friends +at The Baptist Temple. + +"Select one leading duty, and follow it without waiting to be asked. + +"Make yourself a master of some special line of Christian effort. + +"Save some one!" + +Five of these societies some years ago started a mission at Logan, +a suburb of Philadelphia, and so successful was their work that the +mission soon grew into a flourishing church. + +The Ushers' Association is one of the strongest and most helpful +organizations in furthering the church work. The ushers number +twenty-four, and are banded together in a businesslike association for +mutual pleasure and good fellowship, and also to better conduct their +work and the church interests they have in hand. They are under the +leadership of a chief usher who is president of the Association. The +spirit of hospitality that pervades The Temple finds its happiest +expression in the courteous welcome and ready attention accorded +visitors by the ushers. + +All members of the church who are willing to give up their seats to +strangers on special occasions send their names to the chief usher. +And it is no unusual thing to see a member cheerfully relinquish his +seat after a whispered consultation with an usher in favor of some +stranger who is standing. + +In addition to their work in seating the crowd that throng to The +Temple either for Sunday services or the many entertainments that fill +the church during the week, the Ushers' Association itself during the +winter gives a series of fine entertainments. Its object is to offer +amusement of the very highest class, so that people will come to the +church rather than go elsewhere in their leisure hours and thus be +surrounded by influences of the best character and by an atmosphere +that is elevating and refining. They have also undertaken to pay off +the balance of the church debt. + +Missionary interests at Grace Church are well looked after. The church +has educated and supported a number of missionaries in home and +foreign fields, as well as contributed money and clothing to the +cause. The Missionary Circle combines in one organization all those +interested in missionary work. One afternoon a month the members meet +in the Lower Temple to sew, have supper together, and afterward hold +religious services. The members are advised in the church hand-book +to-- + +"Suggest plans for raising money; arrange for a series of addresses; +organize children's societies; distribute missionary literature; +maintain a circulating library of missionary books; correspond with +missionaries; solicit and work for the 'missionary barrels'; send out +'comfort bags'; advocate missions in the prayer meetings and socials; +encourage those members who are preparing for or are going into +foreign fields, and maintain special missionary prayer meetings." + +Members of the church have started several missions, some of which +have already grown into flourishing churches. The Logan Baptist Church +and the Tioga Baptist Church, are both daughters of The Temple. + +The Samaritan Aid Society sews and secures contributions of clothing +and such supplies for the Samaritan Hospital. Other charities, +however, needing such help, find it ever willing to lend its aid. It +is ready for any emergency that may arise. A hurry call was sent +once for sheets, pillow cases and garments for the sick at Samaritan +Hospital. The President of the Society quickly summoned the members. +Merchants were visited and contributions of muslin and thread secured. +Sewing machines were sent to the Lower Temple. An all-day sewing bee +was held, those who could, came all day, others dropped in as time +permitted, and by sunset more than three hundred pieces of work were +finished. + +Two other organizations very helpful to the members of the church +are the Men's Beneficial Association and the Women's Beneficial +Association. They are purely for the benefit of church members during +sickness or bereavement, and are managed as all such associations are, +paying $5.00 a week during sickness and $100 at death. + +The books are closed at the end of each year and the fund started +afresh. + +The Temple Building and Loan Association was organized by the +membership of the Business Men's Association, and is officered by +prominent members of the church. But it is not in any way a church +organization and is not under the management of the church. It is +very successful and its stockholders are composed largely of church +members. + +To keep members and friends in touch with the many lines of activity +in which the church works, a magazine, "The Temple Review," is +published. It is a private business enterprise, but it chronicles +church work and publishes each week Dr. Conwell's sermons. Many +living at a distance who cannot come often to The Temple find it most +enjoyable and helpful to thus obtain their pastor's sermons, and to +look through the printed page into the busy life of the church itself. +It helps members in some one branch of the church work to keep in +touch with what others are doing. The work of the college and hospital +from week to week is also chronicled, so that it is a very good mirror +of the many activities of the Grace Church membership. + +Thus in good fellowship the church works unitedly to further Christ's +kingdom. New organizations are formed as some enthusiastic member +discerns a new need or a new field. It is a veritable hive of industry +whose doors are never closed day or night. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FAIRS AND ENTERTAINMENTS + +The Temple Fairs. How They are Planned. Their Religious Aim. +Appointment of Committees. How the Committees Work. The Church +Entertainments. Their Character. + + +Not only does the church work in a hundred ways through its regular +organizations to advance the spiritual life of its members and the +community, but once every year, organization fences are taken down and +as a whole and united body, it marches forward to a great fair. The +Temple fairs are famous. They form an important feature of church +life, and an important date in the church calendar. + +"The true object of a church fair should be to strengthen the church, +to propagate the Gospel, and to bring the world nearer to its God." +That is Dr. Conwell's idea of the purpose of a church fair and the +basic principle on which The Temple fairs are built. They always open +on Thanksgiving Day, the anniversary of Dr. Conwell's coming to the +church and continue for ten days or two weeks thereafter. These fairs +are most carefully planned. The membership, of course, know that a +fair is to be held; but before any definite information of the special +fair coming, is given them, a strong foundation of systematic, careful +preparation is laid. In the early summer, before Dr. Conwell leaves +for his two months' rest at his old home in the Berkshires, he and the +deaconess of the church go over the ground, decide on the executive +committee and call it together. Officers are elected, Dr. Conwell +always being appointed president and the deaconess, as a rule, +secretary. The whole church membership is then carefully studied, +and every member put at work upon some committee, a chairman for +the committee being appointed at the same time. A notice of their +appointment, the list of their fellow workers, and a letter from the +pastor relative to the fair are then sent to each. Usually these lists +are prepared and forwarded from Dr. Conwell's summer home. The chief +purpose of the fair, that of saving souls, is ever kept in view. The +pastor in his letter to each member always lays special stress on it. +Quoting from one such letter, he says: + +"The religious purpose is to consolidate our church by a more +extensive and intimate acquaintance with each other, and to enlarge +the circle of social influence over those who have not accepted +Christ. + +"This enterprise being undertaken for the service of Christ, each +church member is urged to enter it with earnest prayer, and to use +every opportunity to direct the attention of workers and visitors to +spiritual things. + +"Each committee should have its prayer circle or a special season set +apart for devotional services. This carnival being undertaken for the +spiritual good of the church, intimate friends and those who have +hitherto worked together are especially requested to separate on +this occasion and work with new members, forming a new circle of +acquaintances. + +"Do not seek for a different place unless it is clear that you can do +much more in another position, for they honor God most who take up His +work right where they are and do faithfully the duty nearest to them. + +"Your pastor prays earnestly that this season of work, offering, and +pleasure may be used by the Lord to help humanity and add to the glory +of His Kingdom on earth." + +This is the tenor of the letters sent each year. This is the purpose +held ever before the workers. + +Each committee is urged to meet as soon as possible, and, as a rule, +the chairman calls a meeting within a week after the receipt of the +list. Each committee upon meeting elects a president, vice-president, +secretary and treasurer, which, together with the original executive +committee, form the executive committee of the fair. + +During the summer and fall, until the opening of the fair, these +various committees work to secure contributions or whatever may be +needed for the special work they have been appointed to do. If they +need costumes, or expensive decorations for the booths, they give +entertainments to raise the money. All this depends upon the character +of the fair in general. Sometimes it is a fair in the accepted sense +of the word, devoted to the selling of such goods as interested +friends and well-wishers have contributed. At other times it takes +on special significance. At one fair each committee represented a +country, the members dressed in the costume of its people, the booth +so far as possible was typical of a home, or some special building. +Such products of the country as could be obtained were among the +articles sold or exhibited. + +Every committee meeting is opened with prayer, and each night during +the fair a prayer meeting is held. In addition, a committee is +appointed to look after the throng of strangers visiting the fair, and +whenever possible, to get them to register in a book kept especially +for that purpose at the entrance. To all those who sign the register, +a New Year's greeting is sent as a little token of recognition and +appreciation of their help. + +Much of the great tide of membership that flows into the church comes +through the doors of these church fairs. The fairs are really revival +seasons. They are practical illustrations of how a working church +prays, and a praying church works. Christianity has on its working +clothes. But it is Christianity none the less, outspoken in its faith, +fearless in its testimony, full of the love that desires to help every +man and woman to a higher, happier life. + +The church entertainments form another important feature of church +life. Indeed, from the first of September until summer is well +started, few weekday nights pass but that some religious service or +some entertainment is taking place in The Temple. In the height of +the season, it is no uncommon thing for two or three to be given +in various halls of The Temple on one evening. An out-of-town man +attending a lecture at the Lower Temple, and seeing the throngs of +people pouring in at various entrances, asked the custodian of the +door if there were a rear entrance to the auditorium. + +"Here's where you go in for the lecture," was the reply. "There are +two other entertainments on hand this evening in the halls of the +Lower Temple. That's where those people are going." + +In regard to church fairs and entertainments, Dr. Conwell said in a +sermon in 1893: + +"The Lord pity any church that has not enough of the spirit of Christ +in it to stand a church fair, wherein devout offerings are brought to +the tithing-house in the spirit of true devotion; the Lord pity any +church that has not enough of the spirit of Jesus in it to endure or +enjoy a pure entertainment. Indeed, they are subjects for prayer if +they cannot, without quarrels, without fightings, without defeat to +the cause of Christ, engage in the pure and innocent things God offers +to His children." + +And in an address on "The Institutional Church," he says: + +"The Institutional church of the future will have the best regular +lecture courses of the highest order. There will be about them +sufficient entertainment to hold the audience, while at the same time +they give positive instruction and spiritual elevation. Every church +of Christ is so sacred that it ought to have within its walls anything +that helps to save souls. If an entertainment is put into a church +for any secular purpose--simply to make money--that church will be +divided; it will be meshed in quarrels, and souls will not be saved +there. There must be a higher end; as between the church and the world +we must use everything that will save and reject everything that will +injure. This requires careful and close attention. You must keep in +mind the question, 'Will Jesus come here and save souls?' Carefully +eliminate all that will show irreverence for holy things or disrespect +for the church. Carefully introduce wherever you can the direct +teachings of the Gospel, and then your entertainments will be the +power of God unto salvation. The entertainments of the church need to +be carefully guarded, and, if they are, then will the church of the +future control the entertainments of the world. The theatre that has +its displays of low and vulgar amusement will not pay, because the +churches will hold the best classes, and for a divine and humane +purpose will conduct the best entertainments. There will be a double +inducement that will draw all classes. The Institutional church of the +future will be free to use any reasonable means to influence men for +good." + +The Temple, as can be seen, believes in good, pure, elevating +amusements. But every entertainment to be given is carefully +considered. In such a vast body of workers, many of them young and +inexperienced, this is necessary. By a vote of the church, every +programme to be used in any entertainment in The Temple must first +be submitted to the Board of Deacons. What they disapprove cannot be +presented to the congregation of Grace Church under any circumstance. + +The concerts and oratorios of the chorus are of the very highest order +and attract music lovers from all parts of the city and nearby towns. +The other entertainments in the course of a year cover such a variety +of subjects that every one is sure to find something to his liking. +Among the lectures given in one year were: + +"Changes and Chances," by Dr. George C. Lorimer. + +"The Greek Church," by Charles Emory Smith. + +"Ancient Greece," by Professor Leotsakos, of the University of Athens. + +An illustrated lecture on the Yellowstone Park, by Professor George L. +Maris. + +"Work or How to Get a Living," by Hon. Roswell G. Horr. + +"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," by Rev. Robert Nourse, D.D. + +"Backbone," by Rev. Thomas Dixon. + +The other entertainments that season included selections from "David +Copperfield," by Leland T. Powers; readings by Fred Emerson Brooks, +concerts by the Germania Orchestra, the Mendelssohn Quintette Club +of Boston and the Ringgold Band of Reading, Pennsylvania; a "Greek +Festival," tableaux, by students of Temple College; "Tableaux of East +Indian Life," conducted by a returned missionary, Mrs. David Downie; +"Art Entertainment," by the Young Women's Association; concert by the +New York Philharmonic Club; and many entertainments by societies of +the younger people, music, recitations, readings, debates, suppers, +excursions, public debates, class socials. The year seems to have been +full of entertainments, teas, anniversaries, athletic meetings, "cycle +runs," gymnasium exhibitions, "welcomes," "farewells," jubilees, +"feasts." But every year is the same. + +A single society of the church gave during one winter a series of +entertainments which included four lectures by men prominent in +special fields of work, four concerts by companies of national +reputation, and an intensely interesting evening with moving pictures. + +"We are often criticised as a church," said Mr. Conwell, in an +address, "by persons who do not understand the purposes or spirit of +our work. They say, 'You have a great many entertainments and socials, +and the church is in danger of going over to the world.' Ah, yes; the +old hermits went away and hid themselves in the rocks and caves and +lived on the scantiest food, and 'kept away from the world,' They were +separate from the world. They were in no danger of 'going over to the +world.' They had hidden themselves far away from man. And so it is in +some churches where in coldness and forgetfulness of Christ's purpose, +of Christ's sacrifice, and the purpose for which the church was +instituted, they withdraw themselves so far from the world that they +cannot save a drowning man when he is in sight--they cannot reach down +to him, the distance is too great--the life line is too short. Where +are the unchurched masses of Philadelphia to-day? Why are they not +in the churches at this hour? Because the church is so far away. The +difference that is found between the church which saves and that which +does not is found in the fact that the latter holds to the Pharisaical +profession that the church must keep itself aloof from the +people--yes, from the drowning thousands who are going down to +everlasting ruin--to be forever lost. The danger is not now so much in +going over to the world as in going away from it--away from the world +which Jesus died to save--the world which the church should lead to +Him." + +In all these entertainments, the true mission of the church is never +forgotten--that mission which its pastor so earnestly and often says +is "not to entertain people. The church's only thought should be to +turn the hearts of men to God." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE BUSINESS SIDE + +How the Finances are Managed. The Work of the Deacons. The Duties of +the Trustees. + + +"The plain facts of life must be recognized," says Dr. Conwell. The +business affairs of Grace Baptist Church are plain facts and big ones. +There is no evading them. The membership is more than three thousand. +A constant stream of money from the rental of seats, from voluntary +offerings, from entertainments, is pouring in, and as quickly going +out for expenses and charitable purposes. It must all be looked after. +A record of the membership must be kept, changes of address made--and +this is no light matter--the members themselves kept in touch with. +It all means work of a practical business nature and to get the best +results at least expenditure of time and money, it must all be done in +skilled, experienced fashion. Dr. Conwell, in speaking of the careful +way in which the business affairs of the church are conducted, says: + +"What has contributed most as the means used of God to bring Grace +Church up to its efficiency? I answer it was the inspired, sanctified, +common sense of enterprising, careful business men. The disciplined +judgment, the knowledge of men, the forethought and skill of these +workers who were educated at the school of practical business +life, helped most. The Trustees and working committees in all our +undertakings, whether for Church, Hospital, College, or Missions, have +been, providentially, men of thorough business training, who used +their experience and skill for the church with even greater care and +perseverance than they would have done in their own affairs. + +"When they wanted lumber, they knew where to purchase it, and how to +obtain discounts. When they needed money, they knew where the money +was, and what securities were good in the market. They saved by +discounting their own bills, and kindly insisted that contractors and +laborers should earn fairly the money they received. They foresaw the +financial needs and always insisted on securing the money in full time +to meet demands. + +"Some men make religion so dreamy, so unreal, so unnatural, that the +more they believe in it the less practical they become. They expect +ravens to feed them, the cruse of oil to be inexhaustible, and the +fish to come to the right side of the ship at breakfast time. They +trust in God and loaf about. They would conduct mundane affairs as +though men were angels and church business a series of miracles. But +the successful church worker is one who recognizes the plain facts of +life, and their relation to heavenly things; who is neither profane +nor crazy, who feels that his experience and judgment are gifts of God +to be used, but who also fully realizes that, after all, unless God +lives in the house, they labor in vain who build it. + +"None of our successful managers have been flowery orators, nor have +they been in the habit of wearying man and the Lord with long prayers. +If they speak, they are earnest and conservative. They are men whom the +banks would trust, whose recommendations are valuable, who know a +counterfeit dollar or a worthless endorsement They read men at a glance, +being trained in actual experience with all classes. They have been the +pillars of the church. While some have been praying with religious +phraseology that the stray calf might be sent home, these men have gone +after him and brought him back. They have faithfully done their part, +and God has answered their earnest prayers for the rest." + +Dr. Peltz, for many years associate pastor of The Temple, in speaking +of the business management of the affairs of the church, says: + +"Many persons imagine that the financial organization of Grace Baptist +Church must be something out of the usual way, because the results +have been so unusual. There is nothing peculiar in the general plan of +financial procedure, but great pains are taken to work the plan for +all it is worth. Special pains have been taken to secure consecrated +and competent men for the Board of Trustees. And the Trustees do this +one thing, a rule of the church permitting a man to hold but one +elective office. Competent financiers, consecrated to this work, and +doing it as carefully as they would do their own business, is the +statement that tells the whole story." + +All these business matters are in the hands of the deacons and +Trustees, the deacons, if any distinction in the work can be made, +looking after the membership, the Board of Trustees attending to the +financial matters. + +[Illustration: _Photo by Gutehunst_ PROFESSOR DAVID D WOOD] + +After a person has signified his intention to join the church, he +meets the deacons, who explain to him the system by which members +contribute to the support of the church. If he desires to contribute +by taking a sitting, he is assigned a seat according to the amount he +wishes to pay, or he can pay the regular church dues, $1.20 a year +for those under eighteen years of age, $3.00 for those over that age. +Those who take sittings find in their seats, on the first of every +month, a small envelope made out in bill form on the face, stating the +month and the amount due. Into this they can place their money, +seal it, and put it into the basket when the offering is taken. The +following Sunday a receipt is placed in their seat, a duplicate being +kept in the office. Envelopes are sent those who do not have sittings, +and in these they can send in their dues any time within the year. + +In addition to the little envelope for the seat rent, every Sunday +envelopes are placed in each seat for the regular Sunday offering. +These envelopes read: + + SPECIAL OFFERING + + THE BAPTIST TEMPLE + + Amount .................. + + Name ........................ + + Address ...................... + + This offering is made in thankful recognition of the Mercy and + Goodness of God during the past week, and with the hope that + my gift and my prayer may he acceptable to God. + + In addition to the amount raised from sittings and dues, it is + necessary for the payment of the debt on the Temple to have + givers for 5 years as follows: + + 100 persons who will contribute 50 cents per week. 300 persons + 25 cents per week. 1000 persons 10 cents per week. 1300 + persons 5 cents per week. + + VISITORS AND MEMBERS + + Can enclose special Messages for the Pastor with their offerings. + + This Gift will be Recorded on the books of the Church. + +All this money pours into the business office of the church, where it +is taken in charge by the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees +and duly recorded by the Financial Secretary. + +The business office is a very businesslike place, with files, +typewriter, letter-copying press, big ledgers and all the modern +appliances of an up-to-date business office. + +The card system is used for keeping the record of member's +contribution, being printed in a form that will last for eight years. + +All payments are entered on these, and at any time at a moment's +notice, a member can tell just what he has paid or what he owes on the +year's account. + +But in addition, the Sunday offerings of all those who place their +contributions in envelopes at the morning and evening service and sign +their names, are entered on cards, and when it is remembered that the +basket collections alone for the year 1904 amounted to $6,995.00, it +can be seen that this is no light task. But The Temple appreciates +what is given it, and likes to keep a record. Any person giving to The +Temple and signing his name to his gift, can find at any time how much +he has contributed during the year. + +All this income is deposited to the order of the church treasurer, +who is then at liberty to draw against it as directed by the Board of +Trustees and properly certified by their chairman and secretary. The +business office is kept open during the entire week with the exception +of two afternoons, and two evenings. + +The pew committee, which is composed of three members of the Board of +Trustees, attends to the rental of the many sittings in The Temple. A +large number of the regular attendants at the services of The Temple +are not members of the church. They enjoy the services and so rent +sittings that they may he sure of a seat. The third committee drawn +from the Board of Trustees is the House Committee, composed of three +members. It has charge of The Temple building; sees to its being kept +in order; arranges for all regular and special meetings; sees that the +building is properly heated and lighted; decides on all questions as +to the use of the house for any purpose, for the use of a part of it +for special purposes; manages the great crowds that so often throng +the building; has charge of the doors when entertainments are going +on; in short, makes the most and the best of the great building under +its care. Six persons are constantly employed in taking care of The +Temple, and often there is necessity for securing extra help for the +caretakers of this church whose doors are never shut. + +The Deacons, as always, look after the welfare of the membership. On +Communion Sundays, cards are passed the members that they may sign +their names. These cards the Deacons take charge of and record the +members present and those absent If a member is away three successive +communion Sundays the Deacons call on him, if he lives in the city, to +find the cause of his absence. If he resides in some neighboring town, +they send a kindly letter to know if it is not possible for him to +attend some of the Communion services. In person or by letter, they +keep a loving watch over the vast membership, so that every member +feels that even though he may not attend often, he is not forgotten. + +Thus the business of Grace Baptist Church is managed prayerfully but +practically. If some part of the machinery seems cumbersome, shrewd +and experienced minds take the matter in hand and see whereby it can +be improved. What may seem a good method to-day, a year from now may +be deemed a waste of time and energy and cast aside for the new and +improved system that has taken its place in the world of every-day +work. In its business methods the church keeps up to the times, as +well as in its spiritual work. It knows it cannot grow if it is not +alive. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE CHORUS OF THE TEMPLE + +Its Leader, Professor David Wood. How he Came to the Church. A sketch +of His life. The Business Management of the Chorus. The Fine System. +The Sheet Music and Its Care. Oratorios and Concerts. Finances of the +Chorus. Contributions it has Made to Church Work. + + +With a pastor who had loved music from childhood, who taught it in +his early manhood, who was himself proficient on several instruments, +music naturally assumed an important place in Temple life and work. +From the moment of his entering upon the pastorate of Grace Baptist +Church, Mr. Conwell made the music an enjoyable feature of the +services. + +In this early work of organizing and developing a church choir, he +found an able and loyal leader in Professor David D. Wood, who threw +himself heart and soul into helping the church to grow musically. He +has been to the musical life of the church what Mr. Conwell has been +to its spiritual growth, and next to their pastor himself, it is +doubtful if any man is so endeared to the Grace Church membership as +is Professor Wood, their blind organist. + +He came to them in May, 1885, the regular organist being sick. His +connection with the church came about in the most simple manner and +yet it has been invaluable to the work of The Temple. His son was an +attendant at the church, and when the regular organist fell ill, +asked his father if he would not take his place. Ever ready to do a +kindness. Professor Wood consented. The organist never sufficiently +recovered to come back to his post, being compelled to go West finally +for his health. Mr. Conwell asked Professor Wood to take the position, +and from that day to the present he has filled it to the satisfaction +and gratification of the Grace Church. + +He was born in Pittsburgh, March 2, 1838. His parents were poor, his +father being a carpenter and he himself built the little log cabin in +which the family lived. When David was a baby only a few months old, +he lost the sight of one eye by inflammation resulting from a severe +cold. When about three years old, he noiselessly followed his sister +into the cellar one day, intending in a spirit of mischief to blow out +the candle she was carrying. Just as he leaned over to do it, she, +unconscious that he was there, raised up, thrusting the candle in her +hand right into his eye. The little boy's cry of pain was the first +warning of his presence. The eye was injured, but probably he would +not entirely have lost its sight had he not been attacked shortly +after this with scarlet fever. When he recovered from this illness +he was entirely blind. But the affliction did not change his sweet, +loving disposition. He entered as best he could into the games and +sports of childhood and grew rugged and strong. One day, while playing +in the road, he was nearly run over by a carriage driven by a lady. +Learning the little fellow was blind, she became interested in him +and told his father of the school for the blind in Philadelphia. His +parents decided to send him to it, and at five years of age he was +sent over the mountains, making the journey in five days by canal. + +He was a bright, diligent pupil and a great reader, showing even at an +early age his passion for music. When eight years old, he learned the +flute. Soon he could play the violin and piano, and in his twelfth +year he began playing the organ. All these instruments he took up and +mastered himself without special instruction. In mathematics, James G. +Blaine was his instructor for two years. + +After leaving school his struggles to succeed as an organist were hard +and hitter. Despite his unusual ability, it was difficult to secure a +position. He met with far more refusals than encouragement. But he was +persistent and cheerful. Finally success came. Two days before Easter +the organist of an Episcopal church was suddenly incapacitated and no +one could be found to play the music. Professor Wood offered himself. +The rector's wife read the music to him. He learned it in an hour, +and rehearsal and the services passed off without a break. He was +immediately engaged, his salary being one hundred dollars a year, his +next position paid him fifty dollars a year. In 1864, he went to St. +Stephen's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, as choirmaster and organist, +which position he still holds, playing at The Temple in the evenings +only. + +He is to-day one of the most widely known organists of the country, +being acknowledged everywhere a master of the instrument. He is a +member of the faculty of the Philadelphia Musical Academy, principal +of the music department in the Pennsylvania School for the Blind. It +is said he has trained more good organists than any other teacher in +Philadelphia. + +His cheery, kindly personality wins loyalty and devotion at once. His +Christianity is the simple, loving, practical kind that fairly shines +from his presence and attracts people to him immediately. The members +of the Chorus of The Temple are devoted to him. No rules are required +to keep them in order; no other inspiration to do their best is needed +than his simple wish. + +In the old church at Mervine and Berks streets he had a volunteer +choir of about twenty, all that the little organ loft would +accommodate. They could sing as the birds sing, because they had +voices and loved it, but of musical training or education they had +little. They were drawn from the membership of the church, composed of +poor working people. + +From this nucleus grew the chorus of The Temple, which was organized +in 1891, six weeks before the membership took possession of its new +building. With the organization of this large chorus, Professor Wood +faced a new and difficult problem. How was he to hold from one hundred +to one hundred and fifty people together, who were not paid for their +services, who were not people of leisure to whom rehearsals are no tax +on time or strength? These were nearly all working people who came to +rehearsal after a day's tiring employment. That he has succeeded so +splendidly in these fourteen years proves his fine leadership. + +He had a body of workers devoted to the church, people before whom was +ever held up the fact that they could serve the Master they all loved +by singing, if they could in no other way; that they could give their +voices, if they could give nothing else. He had a body of workers +devoted also to himself, who would have followed him unhesitatingly no +matter what commands he lay upon them. But he felt they should have +some other encouragement, some other interest to hold them together, +so almost immediately upon their organization he took up the study of +Haydn's "Creation." It seemed a stupendous undertaking for a young and +inexperienced chorus, one with no trained voices, few of whom could +even read music at sight. But they plunged into the study with spirit. +No incentive was needed to come to rehearsals, no one thought of +dropping out. Indeed, the opportunity to study such music under such +a master brought many new members. And in the fall of that year the +oratorio was given with splendid success. + +This method has been followed ever since. Every year some special work +is taken up for study and given in the fall. It is an event that is +now a recognized feature of the city's musical life, eagerly awaited +by music lovers not only of Philadelphia but of nearby towns. In +addition to Haydn's "Creation," which has been sung four times, +the chorus has given Handel's "Messiah" three times, Mendelssohn's +"Elijah" twice, Beethoven's "Mount of Olives," Mendelssohn's "Hymn of +Praise," Miriam's "Song of Triumph." It has also given a number of +secular concerts. For all this extra work neither Professor Wood nor +any member of the chorus has ever received one cent of pay. It is all +cheerfully contributed. The oratorios are given with a full orchestra +and eminent soloists. In the secular concerts the music is always of +the highest order. Guilmant, the celebrated French organist, gave a +recital at The Temple while in this country. The chorus believes +in the best, both in the class of music it gives and the talent it +secures, and has long been looked on by those interested in the city's +musical welfare as a society that encourages and supports all that +is high and fine in music. Among the selections given at the Sunday +services are Gounod's "Sanctus," the magnificent "Pilgrim's Chorus," +the "Gloria," from Mozart's "Twelfth Mass," Handel's beautiful +"Largo," the "St. Cecilia Mass," and others of the same character. + +The plan of fining members for absence from rehearsal, which was +adopted at the time the chorus was organized, has also had much to do +with its success, though it is rather unusual for a choir. Instead of +being paid to sing, they pay if they do not sing. The fine at first +was twenty-five cents for each failure to attend rehearsal or Sunday +service. Many shook their heads and said it was a bad idea, that the +members wouldn't come and couldn't pay the fine, and that the chorus +would go to pieces. But the members did come, and when for any reason +they were compelled to stay away they cheerfully paid the fine and the +chorus flourished. These fines helped to pay the current expenses of +the chorus. In the last three years the amount has been reduced to +ten cents, but it still nets a sum in the course of the year that the +treasurer welcomes most gladly. A collection is also taken at each +service among the members, which likewise helps to swell the chorus +treasury. + +Speaking of the organization and work of such a chorus, Professor Wood +says: + +"In organizing a church chorus one must not be too particular about +the previous musical education of applicants. It is not necessary that +they be musicians, or even that they read music readily. All that I +insist upon is a fairly good voice and a correct ear. I assume, of +course, that all comers desire to learn to sing. Rehearsals must be +scrupulously maintained, beginning promptly, continuing with spirit, +and not interrupted with disorder of any kind. A rehearsal should +never exceed two hours, and a half hour less is plenty long enough, +if there is no waste of time. In learning new music, voices should be +rehearsed separately; that is, all sopranos, tenors, basses, and altos +by themselves first, then combine the voices. You should place before +a choir a variety of music sufficient to arouse the interest of all +concerned. This will include much beyond the direct demand for church +work. The chorus of The Temple has learned and sung on appropriate +occasions war songs, college songs, patriotic songs, and other grades +of popular music. + +"No one man's taste should rule in regard to these questions as +to variety, although the proprieties of every occasion should be +carefully preserved. Due regard must be paid to the taste of members +of the chorus. If any of them express a wish for a particular piece, I +let them have it. When it comes my time to select, they are with me. +Keep some high attainment before the singers all the time. When the +easier tasks are mastered, attempt something more difficult. It +maintains enthusiasm to be ever after something better, and +enthusiasm is a power everywhere. In music, this is 'the spirit which +quickeneth.' + +"In the preparation of chorus work do not insist on perfection. When +I get them to sing fairly well, I am satisfied. To insist on extreme +accuracy will discourage singers. Do not, therefore, overtrain them. + +"An incredible amount may be done even by a crude company of singers. +When the preparation began for the opening of The Temple, there was +but a handful of volunteers and time for but five rehearsals. But +enthusiasm rose, reinforcements came, and six anthems, including the +'Hallelujah Chorus,' were prepared and sung in a praiseworthy manner. +Do not fear to attempt great things. Timidity ruins many a chorus. + +"Do not be afraid to praise your singers. Give praise, and plenty of +it, whenever and wherever it is due. A domineering spirit will prove +disastrous. Severity or ridicule will kill them. Correct faults +faithfully and promptly, but kindly. + +"In the matter of discipline I am a strong advocate of the 'fine +system.' It is the only way to keep a chorus together. The fines +should he regulated according to the financial ability of the chorus. +Our fine at The Temple was at first twenty-five cents for every +rehearsal and every service missed. It has since been dropped to ten +cents. This is quite moderate. In some musical societies the fine is +one dollar for every absence. This system is far better than monthly +dues. + +"The advantages to members of a chorus are many and of great value. +Concerted work has advantages which can be secured in no other way. A +good chorus is an unequaled drill in musical time. The singer cannot +humor himself as the soloist can, but must go right on with the grand +advance of the company. He gets constant help also, in the accurate +reading of music. Then, too, there is an indescribable, uplifting, +enkindling power in the presence and cooeperation of others. The volume +of song lifts one, as when a great congregation sings. It is the +_esprit du corps_ of the army; that magnetic power which comes from +the touch of elbows, and the consecration to a common cause. No +soloist gets this. + +"Some would-be soloists make a great mistake right here. They think +that chorus work spoils them as soloists. Not at all, if they have +proper views of individual work in a chorus. If they propose to sing +out so they shall sound forth above all others, then they may damage +their voices for solo work. But that is a needless and highly improper +use of the voice. Sing along with the others in a natural tone. They +will be helped and the soloist will not be harmed. + +"The best conservatories of music in the world require of their +students a large amount of practice in concerted performance and will +not grant diplomas without it. All the great soloists have served +their time as chorus singers. Parepa-Rosa, when singing in the solo +parts in oratorio, would habitually sing in the chorus parts also, +singing from beginning to end with the others. + +"Many persons have expressed their astonishment at the absence of the +baton both from the rehearsals and public performances of the chorus +of The Temple. Experience has proven to me, beyond a doubt, that a +chorus can be better drilled without a baton than with it, though it +costs more labor and patience to obtain the result. To sing by common +inspiration is far better than to have the music 'pumped out,' as is +too often the case, by the uncertain movements of the leader's baton." + +With a membership that has ranged from one hundred to two hundred +and fifty, skilled business management is needed to keep everything +running smoothly. + +The record of attendance is regulated by the use of checks. Each +member of the chorus is assigned a number. As they come to rehearsal, +service, or concert, the singer removes the check on which is his +number from the board upon which it hangs and gives it to the person +appointed to receive it as he passes up the stairway to his seat +in the choir. When the numbers are checked up at the close of the +evening, the checks which have not been removed from the board are +marked "absent." + +The bill for sheet music for one year is something between $400 and +$500. To care for so much music would be no light task if it were not +reduced to a science. The music is in charge of the chorus librarian, +who gives to each member an envelope stamped with his number and +containing all the sheet music used by the chorus. Each member is +responsible for his music, so that the system resolves itself into +simplicity itself. In the Lower Temple enclosed closets are built in +the wall, divided into sections, in which the envelopes are kept by +their numbers, so that it is but the work of a moment to find the +music for any singer. An insurance of $1,200 is carried on the music. + +Typical of the spirit of self-sacrifice that animates the chorus is +the fact that for nearly ten years after the choir was organized, one +of the members, in order to reduce the expense for sheet music, copied +on a mimeograph all the music used by the members. It was a gigantic +task, but he never faltered while the need was felt. + +In order to avoid confusion both in rehearsals and at each service, +every singer has an appointed seat. There is also a system of signals +employed by the organist, clearly understood and promptly responded +to by the chorus, for rising, resuming their seats, and for any other +duty. This regularity of movement, the precision with which the great +choir leads the attitudes and voices of the congregation in all the +musical services, the entire absence of confusion, impresses the +thoroughness of the chorus drill upon every one, and adds greatly to +the effectiveness and decorum of the service. + +Most remarkable of all the work of the chorus, perhaps, is the fact +that it has not only paid its way, but it has in addition contributed +financially to the help of the church. Most choral societies have to +be supported by guarantors, or friends or members must reach down in +their pockets and make up the deficits that occur with unpleasant +regularity. But the chorus of The Temple has borne its own expenses +and at various times contributed to the church work. + +At the annual banquet in 1905, the following statement was made of the +financial history of the chorus since 1892: + +Amount Received-- + Collections from members $ 2,564.60 + Fines paid by members 975.60 + Gross receipts from concerts 11,299.40 + --------- + $14,839.60 +Amount Disbursed-- + For music $ 2,167.80 + For sundry expenses for socials, flowers for sick, + contributions for benevolent purposes, etc. 1,035.81 + Expenses of concerts 8,506.34 + Contributions to church, college, hospital, Sunday + School, repairs to organ, etc. 3,050.51 + -------- + $14,760.46 + +The chorus has furnished a private room in the Samaritan Hospital at a +cost of $250, pays half the cost of the telephone service to a shut-in +member, so that while lying on his bed of sickness he can still hear +the preaching and singing of his beloved church, and has contributed +to members in need; in fact, whatever help was required, it has come +forward and shouldered its share of the financial burdens of the +church. It is a chorus that helps by its singing in more ways than +singing, though that were enough. + +Out of the chorus has grown many smaller organizations which not only +assist from time to time in the church and prayer meeting services, +but are in frequent demand by Lyceums and other churches. All the +money they earn is devoted to some part of The Temple work. + +The organ which rears its forest of beautiful pipes in the rear of the +church is one of the finest in the country. It was built under the +direct supervision of Professor Wood at a cost of $10,000. The case +is of oak in the natural finish, 35 feet wide, 35 feet high, 16 feet +deep. It has 41 stops, 2,133 pipes, four sets of manuals, each manual +with a compass of 61 notes; there are 30 pedal notes, 9 double-acting +combination pedals; all the metal pipes are 75 per cent pure tin. + +In loving Christian fellowship the chorus abides. No difficulty that +could not be settled among themselves has ever rent it; no jealousies +mar its peaceful course. Professor Wood is a wise leader. He leaves +no loophole for the green-eyed monster to creep in. He selects no one +voice to take solo parts. If a solo occurs, he gives it to the whole +of that voice in the chorus or to a professional. + +Dr. Conwell reads the hymns with so much expression and feeling that +new meaning is put into them. The stranger is quietly handed a hymn +book by some watchful member. The organ swings into the melody of the +hymn, the chorus, as one, rises, and a flood of song sweeps over the +vast auditorium that carries every one as in a mighty tide almost up +to the gates of heaven itself. And as it ebbs and sinks into silence, +faith has been refreshed and strengthened, hardened hearts softened, +the love of Christ left as a precious legacy with many a man and woman +there. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +SERVICES AT THE TEMPLE + +A Typical Sunday. The Young People's Church. Sunday School. The +Baptismal Service. Dedication of Infants. The Pastor's Thanksgiving +Reception to Children. Sunrise Services. Watch Meeting. + + +Sunday is a joyous day at The Temple, and a busy one. It is crowded +with work and it is good to be there. Services begin at half after +nine with prayer meetings in the Lower Temple by the Young Men's +Association and the Young Women's Association. The men's is held in +the regular prayer meeting room; the women's in the room of their +association. Each is led by some member of the association who is +assigned a subject for the morning's study. These subjects, together +with the leaders' names, are prepared in advance and printed on a +little schedule which is distributed among the church members, so that +they may know who has charge of the prayer meeting and the topic for +thought. + +Dr. Conwell has for twenty-two years presided at the organ in the +men's meeting, and usually before the services are over takes a peep +into the women's gathering, leaving a prayer or a brief word of cheer +and inspiration. The meetings are not long, but they are full of +spiritual strength. Men and women, tired with the business life of the +week, find them places of soul refreshment where they can step aside +from the rush and press of worldly cares and commune with the higher, +better things of life. + +By the time the prayer meetings are over, the members of the chorus +are thronging the Lower Temple, receiving their music and attendance +checks, waiting for the signal to march to their seats in the church +above. + +The morning services begin at half after ten, with the singing of +the Doxology, the chanting of the Lord's Prayer by the choir and +congregation, followed by the sermon. At the close of the service, Dr. +Conwell steps from the pulpit and meets all strangers or friends with +a hearty handclasp and a cordial word of greeting. + +While morning service is being conducted in The Temple, a Young +People's Church is held in the Lower Temple. Dr. Conwell has not +forgotten those wearisome Sundays of his boyhood when, too young to +appreciate the church service, he fidgeted, strove to keep awake, +whittled, and ended it all by thoroughly disliking church. He wants no +such unhappy youngsters to sit through his preaching. He wants no such +dislike of the church imbedded in childish hearts and minds. So he +planned the Young People's Church. Boys and girls between three and +fourteen attend it, and Sunday morning the streets in the neighborhood +of The Temple are thronged with happy-faced children on the way to +their own church, the youngest in the care of parents, who are able +later to enjoy more fully The Temple services, since they are not +compelled to keep a watchful eye on a restless child. + +Before the services begin, the children are very much at home. No +stiff, silent formalism chills youthful spirits. They are as joyous +and happy as they would be in their own homes. As the moment +approaches for the services to begin, they take their seats and at a +given signal rise and recite, "The Lord is in His holy Temple. Let all +the earth keep silence before Him." A hush falls and then the sweet, +childish voices begin that beautiful psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd, +I shall not want," and without break or faltering, recite it to the +end. Songs follow, bright, cheerful songs full of life, which they +sing with a will. Then responsive readings and the Lord's Prayer and +always plenty of singing. A short talk is given by the leader, often +some one especially secured for the occasion, a talk not over their +heads, but into their hearts, a talk whose meaning they can grasp and +which sets young minds to thinking of the finer, nobler things of +life and inspires them to so live as to be good and useful. Sometimes +lantern exhibits to illustrate special topics are given. The mere +sight of their bright, happy faces in contrast to the dull, bored +expression of the usual child in church proves the wisdom of the work. + +The children, as far as possible, perform all the duties of the +services. A small boy plays the music for their songs, two small girls +keep a record of the attendance, children take up the offering. But +it is a church in more than mere services. Committees from among the +children are appointed for visiting, for calling on the sick, to plan +for entertainments, provide the games for the socials, and to look +after all details of this character. There are also two officers, a +secretary and treasurer. An advisory committee of ladies, members of +The Temple, keep an oversight and guiding hand on the work of the +children. The instruction is all in the hands of trained teachers, +mostly from the college, including as Director the lady Dean of the +College, Dr. Laura H. Carnell. + +In the afternoon the Sunday Schools meet. The youngest children are +enrolled in the primary or kindergarten department. This has a bright, +cheery room of its own in the Lower Temple, with a leader and a number +of young women scattered here and there among the children to look +after their needs and keep them orderly. Hats are taken off and hung +on pegs on the wall and the youngsters are made to feel very much at +home. + +One of the prettiest features of the service in this department is +the offering of the birthday pennies. All the members who have had a +birthday during the week come forward to put a penny for each year +into the basket. Then the class stands up and recites a verse and +sings a song on birthdays. Very pretty and inspiring both verse and +song are, and then the honored ones return to their seats, wishing, no +doubt, they had a birthday every week. + +The taking of the offering is also a pretty ceremony. Verses on giving +are recited by the children, then one small child takes his stand in +the doorway, holding the basket, and the children all march by and +drop in their pennies. + +The intermediate department claims the next oldest children. It is +led by an orchestra composed of members of the Sunday School, and the +singing is joyous and spirited. The superintendent walks around among +the scholars during the opening exercises, smiling, encouraging, +giving a word of praise, urging them to do better. The fresh, clear +voices rise clear and strong. Outside, on Broad Street, people stop to +listen. Men lean up against the windows and drink in the melody. No +one knows what messages of peace and salvation those songs carry out +to the throng on the city street. + +The classes of the senior department meet in the various rooms of the +college, and the adult class in the auditorium of The Temple. This Dr. +Conwell conducted himself for a number of years, until pressure of +work compelled him to use these hours for rest. A popular feature of +his service was the question box, in which he answered any question +sent to him on any subject connected with religious life or experience +or Christian ethics in everyday life. The questions could be sent by +mail or handed to him on the platform by the ushers. They were most +interesting, and the service attracted men and women from all parts of +the city. The following was one of the questions, during the year of +building the college: + +"Five thousand dollars are due next week, and $15,000 next month. Will +you set on foot means to raise this amount or trust wholly to God's +direction?" + +And the pastor answered from the platform: + +"I would trust wholly in God's direction. This is a sort of test of +faith, and I would make it more so in the building of the College. +I do not know for certain now where the money is to come from next +Wednesday; I have an idea. But a few days ago I did not know at all. I +do not see where the $15,000 is to come from in December unless it be +that the Feast of Tithes will bring in $10,000 towards it; that would +be a marvelous sum for the people to give, but if it is necessary they +will give it. We are workers together with God. I have partly given +up my lecture work this month, as the church thought it was best, but +suppose there should come to me from Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, or +some other place a call to go and lecture on the 10th or 12th +of December, and they should offer me $500 or more--I would say +immediately, 'Yes, I will go'; that is God's call to help the College; +that would be the direction of God. Such opportunities will come to +those who should give this $15,000. If God intends the amount due on +the College to be paid (and I believe he does), he will cause the +hearts of those who desire to help to give money toward this cause. We +trust entirely to God. I don't believe if I were to lie down, and the +church should stop, that it would be paid. But I am sure that if we +work together with God, He will never fail to do as He promises, and +He won't ask us to do the impossible. I tell you, friends, I feel +sure that the $5,000 will be paid next Wednesday, and I feel sure the +$15,000 will be paid when it is due." + +It may be interesting to know that the $5,000 was paid; and when the +$15,000 was due in December, the money was in the treasury all ready +for it. + +From half after six on, there are the meetings of the various +Christian Endeavor Societies in the Lower Temple. At half after seven +the evening services begin and an overflow meeting is held at the same +time in the Lower Temple for those who find it impossible to gain +admittance to the main auditorium. + +The preaching service is followed by a half-hour prayer meeting in the +Lower Temple in which both congregations join, taxing its capacity +to the utmost. It is a half hour that flies, a half hour full of +inspiration and soul communion with the "Spirit that moved on the +waters," a fitting crown to a day devoted to His service. + +After the solemn benediction is pronounced, a half hour more of good +fellowship follows. The pastor meets strangers, shakes hands with +members, makes a special effort to hold a few words of personal +conversation with those who have risen for prayer. Friends and +acquaintances greet each other, and the home life of the church comes +to the surface. The hand of the clock creeps to eleven, sometimes +past, before the last member reluctantly leaves. + +Baptism is a very frequent part of the Sunday services at The Temple, +usually taking place in the morning. It is a beautiful, solemn +ordinance. The baptistry is a long, narrow pool, arranged to resemble +a running stream. Years ago, when Dr. Conwell was in Palestine, he was +much impressed with the beauty of the river Jordan at the place where +Jesus was baptized. Always a lover of the beautiful in nature, the +picture long remained in his memory, especially the leaves and +blossoms that drifted on the stream. When The Temple was planned he +thought of it and determined to give the baptismal pool as much of the +beauty of nature as possible. + +It is fifteen feet wide, sixty feet long, and during the hour of the +solemn ordinance, the brook is running constantly. The sides of the +pool, the pulpit and platform, summer or winter, are banked with +flowers, palms, moss and vines. On the surface of the water float +blossoms, while at the back, banked with mosses and flowers, splashes +and sparkles a little waterfall. Over all falls the soft radiance of +an illuminated cross. It is a beautiful scene, one that never fades +from the memory of the man or woman who is "buried with Christ by +baptism into death," to be raised again in the likeness of His +resurrection. The candidates enter at the right and pass out at +the left, the pastor pressing into the hands of each, some of the +beautiful blossoms that float on the water. During the whole service +the organ plays softly, the choir occasionally singing some favorite +hymn. + +When the number of candidates is large, being on occasion as high as +one hundred and seventy-seven adults, the associate pastor assists. It +is no unusual thing to see members of a family coming together to +make this public profession of their faith. Husband and wife, in many +cases; husband, wife and children in many others; a grandmother and +two grandchildren on one occasion, and on yet another, a venerable +gray-haired nurse came with four of the family in which she had served +for many years, and the five entered the baptistry together. + +"Among the converts," says one who witnessed a baptismal service, +"there were aged persons with their silvered hair. There were stalwart +men, fitted to bear burdens in the church for many years to come. +There were young men and maidens to grow into strong men and women +of the future church. There were little children sweet in their +simplicity and pure love of the Savior, little children who were +carried in the arms of those who assisted, and whom Dr. Conwell +tenderly held in his arms as he buried them with Christ." + +Another solemn service of the church is the dedication of infants. Any +parents who wish, may bring their child and reverently dedicate it to +God, solemnly promising to do all within their power to train it and +teach it to lead a Christian life and to make a public profession of +faith when it has arrived at the years of discretion. The service +reads: + +QUESTION.--Do you now come to the Lord's house to present your child +(children) to the Lord? ANSWER.--We do. + +QUES.--Will you promise before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, +that you will, so far as in you lieth, teach this child the Holy +Scriptures, and bring him (her) up in the nurture and admonition of +the Lord? Will you train his (her) mind to respect the services of the +Lord's House, and to live in compliance with the teachings and example +of our Lord? When he reaches the years of understanding, will you show +him the necessity of repentance, explain to him the way of salvation, +and urge upon him the necessity of conversion, Baptism, and union with +the visible Church of Christ? ANS.--We will. + +QUES.--By what name do you purpose to register him (her or them) at +this time? ANS.-- + + * * * * * + +_Beloved_: These parents have come to the house of God at this time to +present this child (these children) before the Lord in imitation of +the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple as recorded by the +Evangelist Luke, saying, "When the days of her [Mary's] purification +according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him +to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice +according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of +turtle doves or two young pigeons." These parents have learned from +the Lord Jesus himself that he desires that all the children should +come unto him, and that he was pleased when the little children +were brought unto him that he might put his hands on them and pray. +Therefore, in obedience to the scriptures, these parents are here to +present this child unto the Lord Jesus in spirit, that he may take him +up in his arms, place his spiritual hands on him and bless him. + +We will turn, therefore, to the Holy Scriptures for direction, as they +are our only rule of faith and practice, and ascertain the wishes and +commandments of the Lord in this matter. + +_I Sam. I, 26, 27, 28_: + +And Hannah said, O my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I am the +woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. + +For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which +I asked of him; + +Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he +shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there. + + * * * * * + +_Mark X, 13, 14, 15_: + +And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them; and +his disciples rebuked those that brought them. + +But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, +Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for +of such is the kingdom of God. + +Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God +as a little child, he shall not enter therein. + +And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed +them. + + * * * * * + +_Luke XVIII, 15, 16, 17_: + +And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them; but +when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. + +But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to +come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. + +Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God +as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. + + * * * * * + +_Matt. XVIII, 2-6, 14_: + +And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of +them. + +And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as +little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. + +Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the +same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. + +And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. + +But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, +it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, +and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. + +Even so it is not the will of your father which is in heaven, that one +of these little ones should perish. + +Therefore, believing it is wise and that it is a sacred duty to +dedicate our precious little ones to God in this solemn manner; +believing that all the dear children are especially loved by Christ; +and that when taken from this world before active, intentional +participation in sin, they are saved by His merciful grace; and +believing that Christ by His example, and the apostles by their direct +teaching, reserve the sacred ordinance of baptism for repentant +believers, we will now unitedly ask the Lord to accept the +consecration of this child (children), and to take him in His +spiritual arms and bless him. + +PRAYER. + +HYMN. + +BENEDICTION. + + * * * * * + +The pastor's reception to the children Thanksgiving afternoon is a +service the youngsters await from one year to another. Each child is +supposed to bring some article to be given to Samaritan Hospital. One +year each child brought a potato, which in the aggregate amounted to +several barrels. A writer in the "Temple Magazine," describing one of +these services, says: + +"The children came from all directions, of all sizes and in all +conditions. One lad marched up the aisle to a front seat, and his +garments fluttered, flag-like, at many points as he went; others were +evidently rich men's darlings, but all were happy, and their bright +eyes were fixed on the curtained platform, rather than on each other. +They came until four or five thousand of them had arrived, filling +every nook and corner of the Upper Temple." + +"Then Dr. Conwell came in, made them all feel at home--they already +were happy--and music, songs and entertainment followed for an hour +or more. At the close he shook hands with every happy youngster who +sought him--and few failed to do it--gave each a cheery word and +hearty handclasp, and then the little ones scattered, swarming along +the wide pavements of Broad Street till the Thanksgiving promenaders +wondered what had broken loose and whence the swarms of merry children +came." + +Sunrise services are held Easter and Christmas mornings at seven +o'clock. These beautiful days are ushered in by a solemn prayer +meeting, spiritual, uplifting, which seems to attune the day to the +music of heavenly things, and to send an inspiration into it which +glorifies every moment. + +Another service very dear to the members of Grace Baptist Church is +watch meeting. The services begin at eight o'clock New Year's Eve +with a prayer meeting which continues until about half after nine. An +intermission follows and usually a committee of young people serve +light refreshments for those who want them. At eleven o'clock the +watch meeting begins. It is a deeply spiritual meeting, opened by the +pastor with an earnest prayer for guidance in the year to come, for +renewed consecration to the Master's service, for a better and higher +Christian life both as individuals and a church. Hymns follow and a +brief, fervid talk on the year coming and its opportunities, of the +record each will write on the clean white page in the book of life +to be turned so soon. As midnight approaches, every church member is +asked to signify his re-dedication to God and His service by standing. +Then the solemn question is put to others present if they do not want +to give themselves to God, not only for the coming year, but for all +years. As twelve o'clock strikes, all bow in silent prayer while the +organ, under the pastor's touch, softly breathes a sacred melody. + +A few minutes later the meeting adjourns, "Happy New Years" are +exchanged, and the church orchestra on the iron balcony over the great +half rose window on Broad Street breaks into music. + +Sometimes an audience of a thousand people gather on the street to +listen to this musical sermon, preached at the parting of the ways, a +eulogy and a prophecy. A writer in the "Philadelphia Press" relates +the following incident in connection with a watch meeting service: + +"For the last half hour of the old and the first half hour of the new +year the band played sacred melodies to the delight of not less than +a thousand people assembled on the street. Diagonally across Broad +Street and a short distance below the church is the residence of the +late James E. Cooper, P.T. Barnum's former partner, the millionaire +circus proprietor. He had been ailing for months and on this night he +lay dying. + +"Although not a member he had always taken a personal interest in +Grace Church, and one of his last acts was the gift of $1,000 to the +building fund. On this night, the first on which The Temple balcony +had been used for its specially designed purpose, among the last of +earthly sounds that were borne to the ears of the dying man was the +music of 'Coronation' and 'Old Hundred,'--hymns that he had learned in +childhood. The watch meeting closed and from a scene of thanksgiving +and congratulation Rev. Mr. Conwell hurried to the house of mourning, +where he remained at the bedside of the stricken husband and father +until the morning light of earth came to the living and the morning of +eternity to the dying." + +Sacred music on the balcony at midnight also ushers in Christmas +and Easter. "On the street, long before the hour, the crowds gather +waiting in reverent silence for the opening of the service," writes +Burdette, in "Temple and Templars." "The inspiring strains of 'the +English Te Deum,' 'Coronation,' rise on the starlit night, thrilling +every soul and suggesting in its triumphant measures, the lines of +Perronet's immortal hymn made sacred by a thousand associations--'All +hail the power of Jesus' Name.'" "This greeting of the Resurrection, +as it floats out over Monument Cemetery just opposite, where sleep +so many thousands, does seem like an assurance sent anew from above, +cheering those who sleep in Jesus, telling them that as their Lord +and King had risen, and now lives again, so shall they live also. +Men looked at the graves of them that slept, listened to the song of +triumph that was making the midnight glorious, remembered the risen +Christ who was the theme of the song, thought of that other midnight, +the riven tomb, the broken power of Death a conquered conqueror, +and seemed to hear the Victor's proclamation as the apostle of the +Apocalypse heard it, pealing like a trumpet voice over all the earth, +'I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth and was dead; and +behold, I am alive forevermore; Amen; and have the keys of hell and +death!' + +"The music continues, the band playing 'The Gloria,' 'The Heavens are +Telling,' 'The Palms'; now and then the listeners join in singing as +the airs are more familiar, and 'What a Friend we Have In Jesus,' +'Whiter than Snow,' 'Just as I Am,' and other hymns unite many of the +audience on the crowded streets about The Temple in a volunteer choir, +and when the doxology, 'Praise God from whom all blessings flow,' +closes the service, hundreds of voices swell the volume of melody that +greets the Easter morning." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A TYPICAL PRAYER MEETING. + +The Prayer Meeting Hall. How the Meeting is Conducted. The Giving of +Favorite Bible Verses. Requests for Prayer. The Lookout Committee. + + +The prayer meetings of Grace Baptist Church are characterized by a +cheery, homelike atmosphere that appeals forcibly and at once to any +one who may chance to enter, inclining him to stay and enjoy the +service, be he the utmost stranger. + +But underneath this and soon felt, is the deep spiritual significance +of the meeting, which lays hold on men's hearts, inspiring, uplifting, +sending them home with a sense of having "walked with God" for a +little while. + +The large prayer meeting hall is usually crowded, the attendance +including not only members of the church but hundreds who are not +members of any church. It is no unusual sight to see all the various +rooms of the Lower Temple thrown into one by the raising of the +sashes, and this vast floor packed as densely as possible, while a +fringe of standers lines the edges. People will come to these prayer +meetings though they cannot see the platform, though they must lose +much of what is said. But the spirit of the meeting flows into their +hearts and minds, sending them home happier, and with a strengthened +determination to live a more righteous life. + +Frequently Dr. Conwell arrives ten or fifteen minutes before the time +for the service to begin. As he walks to the platform, he stops and +chats with this one, shakes hands with another, nods to many in the +audience. At once all stiffness and formalism vanish. It is a home, a +gathering of brothers and sisters. It is the meeting together of two +or three in His name, as in the old apostolic days, though these two +or three are now counted by the hundreds. + +When Dr. Conwell thus arrives early, the time is passed in singing. +Often he utilizes these few minutes to learn new hymns. So that when +the real prayer meeting is in progress, there will be no blundering +through new tunes or weak-kneed renditions of them. The singing, Dr. +Conwell wants done with the spirit. He will not sing a verse if the +heart and mind cannot endorse it. After singing several hymns in this +earnest, prayerful fashion, every one present is fully in tune for the +services to follow. Prayer meeting opens with a short, earnest prayer. +Then a hymn. It is Dr. Conwell's practice to have any one call out the +number of a hymn he would like sung. And it is no unusual thing to +hear a perfect chorus of numbers after Dr. Conwell's "What shall we +sing?" + +A chapter from the Bible is read and a short talk on it given. Then +Dr. Conwell says, "The meeting now is in your hands," and sits down as +if he had nothing more to do with it. But that subtle leadership which +leads without seeming to do so, is there ready to guide and direct. +He never allows the meeting to grow dull--though it seldom exhibits a +tendency to do so. If no one is inclined to speak, hymns are sung. An +interesting feature, and one that is tremendously helpful in leading +church members to take part in the prayer meeting, is the giving +of Bible verses. It is a frequent feature of Grace Church prayer +meetings. "Let us have verses of Scripture," or "Each one give his +favorite text," Dr. Conwell announces. Immediately from all parts of +the large room come responses. Some rise to give them, others recite +them sitting. Hundreds are given some evenings in a short space of +time, sometimes the speakers giving a bit of personal experience +connected with the verse. + +The prayer meetings are always full of singing, often of silent +prayer; and never does one end without a solemn invitation to those +seeking God and wishing the prayers of the church, to signify it by +rising. While the request is made, the audience is asked to bow in +silent prayer that strength may be given those who want God's help +to make it known. In the solemn hush, one after another rises to his +feet, often as many as fifty making this silent appeal for strength to +lead a better life. Immediately Dr. Conwell leads into an eloquent, +heartfelt prayer that those seeking the way may find it, that the +peace that passeth understanding may come into their hearts and lives. + +But Dr. Conwell doesn't let the matter rest here. A committee of +church members already appointed for just such work, is posted like +sentinels about the prayer meeting room, ready to extend practical +help to those who have asked for the prayers of the church. After +the services are over, each one who has risen is sought out, by some +member of this committee, talked with in a friendly, sympathetic way, +and his name and address taken. These are given to Dr. Conwell If time +permits, he writes to many of them. All of them he makes the subject +of personal prayer. + +Frequently, before asking those to rise who wish the prayers of the +church, Dr. Conwell asks if any one wishes to request prayers for +others. The response to this is always large. A member of the staff +of "The Temple Magazine" made a note at one prayer meeting of these +requests and published it in the magazine. Three requests were made +for husbands, eight for sons, one for a daughter, three for children, +ten for brothers, two for sisters, two for fathers, one for a cousin, +one for a brother-in-law, four for friends, eleven for Sunday School +scholars, one for a Sunday School class, four for sick persons, two +for scoffers, twenty-one for sinners, four for wanderers, five for +persons addicted to drink, three for mission schools, five for +churches--one that was divided, another deeply in debt, another for +a sick pastor and the other two seeking a higher development in +godliness. + +As many of these requests come from church members, both pastor and +people pay especial attention to them and practically, as well as +prayerfully, try to reach those for whom prayers are asked. In many +cases distinct answers to these prayers are secured, so evident that +none could mistake them. At an after-service on Sunday evening a +mother asked prayers for a wayward son in Chicago. Dr. Conwell and +some of the deacons led the church in prayer for the boy, very +definitely and in faith. At that same hour, as the young man afterward +related, he was passing a church in Chicago, and felt strangely +impressed to enter and give his heart to Christ. It was something he +had no intention of doing when he left his hotel a few minutes before. +But he went in, joined in the meeting, asked for forgiveness of his +sins and the prayers of the church to help him lead a better life, +and accepted Christ as his personal Savior. In the joy of his new +experience, he wrote his mother immediately. + +At another prayer meeting, Dr. Conwell read a letter from a gentleman +requesting the prayers of the church for his little boy whom the +doctors had given up to die. He stated in the letter that if God would +spare his child in answer to prayer, he would go anywhere and do +anything the Lord might direct. After reading the letter, Dr. Conwell +led earnestly in prayer, beseeching that the child's life might be +saved since it meant much for the cause of Christ on earth. Several +members of the church made fervent prayers for the child, and at the +close of the meeting, many expressed themselves as being confident +that their prayers would be answered. At that same hour, the disease +turned. The child has grown to be a young man, and with his father is +a member of Grace Church. + +Such direct, unmistakable answers to prayer strengthen faith, give +confidence to ask for prayers for loved ones, and make it a very +earnest, solemn part of the prayer meeting service. Thus working and +praying, praying and working, the church marches forward. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE TEMPLE COLLEGE + +The Night Temple College Was Born. Its Simple Beginning and Rapid +Growth. Building the College. How the Money was Raised. The Branches +it Teaches. Instances of Its Helpfulness. Planning for greater Things. + + +In a letter written to a member of his family, from which we quote the +following, Dr. Conwell tells how the idea of Temple College was born +in his mind one wintry night. + +"A woman, ragged, with an old shawl over her head, met me in an alley +in Philadelphia late one night. She saw the basket on my arm, and +looked in my face wistfully, as a dog looks up beside the dinner +table. She was hungry, and was coming in empty. I shook my head, and +with a peculiarly sad glance she turned down the dark passage. I +had found several families hungry, and yet I felt like a hypocrite, +standing there with an empty basket, and a woman, perhaps a mother, so +pale for lack of decent food. + +"On the corner was a church, stately and architecturally beautiful by +day, but after midnight it looked like a glowering ogre, and looked so +like Newgate Prison, in London, that I felt its chilly shadow. Half +a million cost the cemented pile, and under its side arch lay two +newsboys or boot-blacks asleep on the step. + +"What is the use? We cannot feed these people. Give all you have, and +an army of the poor will still have nothing; and those to whom you do +give bread and clothes to-day will be starving and naked to-morrow. +If you care for the few, the many will curse you for your partiality. +While I stood meditating, the police patrol drove along the street, +and I could see by the corner street lamp that there were two women, +one little girl and a drunken old man in the conveyance, going to +jail! I could do nothing for them. + +"At my door I found a man dressed in costly fashion, who had waited for +me outside, as he had been told that I would come soon, and the family +had retired. He said his dying father had sent for me. So I left the +basket in a side yard and went with the messenger. The house was a +mansion on Spring Garden Street. The house was inelegantly overloaded +with luxurious furniture, money wasted by some inartistic purchasers. +The paintings were rare and rich. The owners were shoddy. The family +of seven or eight gathered by the bedside when I prayed for the dying +old man. They were grief-stricken and begged me to stay until his soul +departed. It was daylight before I left the bedside, and as the dying +still showed that the soul was delaying his journey, I went into the +spacious, handsome library. Seeing a rare book in costly binding among +the volumes on a lower shelf, I opened the door and took it out My +hands were black with dust. I glanced then along the rows and rows of +valuable books, and noticed the dust of months or years. The family +were not students or readers. One son was in the Albany Penitentiary; +another a fugitive in Canada. At the funeral, afterwards, the wife +and daughter from Newport were present, and their tears made furrows +through the paint. Those rich people were strangely poor, and a book +on a side table on the 'Abolition of Poverty' seemed to be in the +right place. + +"That night was conceived the Temple College idea. It was no new +truth, no original invention, but merely a simpler combination of old +ideas. There was but one general remedy for all these ills of poor and +rich, and that could only be found in a more useful education. Poverty +seemed to me to be wholly that of the mind. Want of food, or clothing, +or home, or friends, or morals, or religion, seemed to be the lack of +the right instruction and proper discipline. The truly wise man need +not lack the necessities of life, the wisely educated man or woman +will get out of the dirty alley and will not get drunk or go to +jail. It seemed to me then that the only great charity was in giving +instruction. + +"The first class to be considered was the destitute poor. Not one in a +thousand of those living in rags on crusts would remain in poverty if +he had education enough of the right kind to earn a better living by +making himself more useful. He is poor because he does not know any +better. Knowledge is both wealth and power. + +"The next class who stand in need of the assistance love wishes to +give is the great mass of industrious people of all grades, who are +earning something, who are not cold or hungry, but who should earn +more in order to secure the greater necessities of life in order to be +happy. They could be so much more useful if they knew how. To learn +how to do more work in the same time, or how to do much better work, +is the only true road to riches which the owner can enjoy. + +[Illustration: THE SAMARITAN HOSPITAL Showing the houses in which it +was originally located, and part of the new building] + +"To help a man to help himself is the wisest effort of human love. To +have wealth and to have honestly earned it all, by labor, skill or +wisdom, is an object of ambition worthy of the highest and best. +Hence, to do the most good to the great classes, rich or poor, we must +labor industriously. The lover of his kind must furnish them with the +means of gaining knowledge while they work. + +"Then there was a third class of mankind, starving, with their tables +breaking with luscious foods, cold in warehouses of ready-made +clothing of the most costly fabrics; seeing not in the moon-light, and +restless to distraction on beds of eiderdown. They do not know the +use or value of things. They are harassed with plenty they cannot +appropriate. They are doubly poor. They need education. The library +is a care, an expense and a disgrace to the owner who cannot read. To +give education to those in the possession of property which they might +use for the help of humanity and which they might enjoy, is as clear a +duty and charity as it is to help the beggar. And, indeed, indirectly +the education of the unwise wealthy to become useful may be the most +practical way of raising the poor. There is a need for every dollar of +the nation's property, and it should be invested by men whose minds +and hearts have been trained to see the human need and to love to +satisfy it. + +"The thought that in education of the best quality was to be found the +remedy for hunger, loneliness, crime and weakness was most clearly +emphasized to my mind by the coming of two young men who had felt the +need from the under side. They had received but little instruction; +they were over twenty years of age, and they wished to enter the +ministry. Was there any way open for a poor, industrious laborer to +get the highest education while he supported his mother, sister and +himself? I urged them to try it for the good of many who would +follow them if they made it a clear success. I was elated almost to +uncontrollable enthusiasm the night they came to my study to begin +their course. They brought five with them, and all proved themselves +noble men. One is not, for God took him. But the others are moulding +and inspiring their world." + +Thus was conceived the idea of the institution that is now educating +annually three thousand men and women. The need for it has been +plainly proven. Rev. Forest Dager, at one time Dean of Temple College, +said in regard to the people who in later life crave opportunities for +study: + +"That the Temple College idea of educating working men and working +women, at an expense just sufficient to give them an appreciation of +the work of the Institution, covers a wide and long-neglected field +of educational effort, is at once apparent to a thoughtful mind. +Remembering that out of a total enrollment in the schools of our land +of all grades, public and private, of 14,512,778 pupils, 96-1/2 per +cent are reported as receiving elementary instruction only; that not +more than 35 in 1,000 attend school after they are fourteen years of +age; that 25 of these drop out during the next four years of their +life; that less than 10 in 1,000 pass on to enjoy the superior +instruction of a college or some equivalent grade of work, we begin +to see the unlimited field before an Institution like this. Thousands +upon thousands of those who have left school quite early in life, +either because they did not appreciate the advantages of a liberal +education, or because the stress of circumstances compelled them to +assist in the maintenance of home, awake a few years later to the +realization that a good education is more than one-half the struggle +for existence and position. Their time through the day is fully +occupied; their evenings are free. At once they turn to the evening +college, and grasping the opportunities for instruction, convert those +hours which to many are the pathway to vice and ruin, into stepping +stones to a higher and more useful career ... An illustration of the +wide-reaching influence of the College work is the significant fact +that during one year there were personally known to the president, +no less than ninety-three persons pursuing their studies in various +universities of our country, who received their first impulses toward +a higher education and a wider usefulness in Temple College." + +In 1893, in an address on the Institutional church, delivered before +the Baptist Ministers' Conference in Philadelphia, Dr. Conwell said: + +"At the present time there are in this city hundreds of thousands--to +speak conservatively, (I should say at least five hundred thousand +people) who have not the education they certainly wish they had +obtained before leaving school. There are at least one hundred +thousand people in this city willing to sacrifice their evenings and +some of their sleep to get an education, if they can get it without +the humiliation of being put into classes with boys and girls six +years old. They are in every city. There is a large class of young +people who have reached that age where they find they have made a +mistake in not getting a better education. If they could obtain one +now, in a proper way, they would. The university does not furnish such +an opportunity. The public school does not. + +"The churches must institute schools for those whom the public does +not educate, and must educate them along the lines they cannot reach +in the public schools. + +"We are not to withdraw our support from, nor to antagonize, the +public schools; they are the foundations of liberty in the nation. But +the public schools do not teach many things which young men and young +women need. I believe every church should institute classes for the +education of such people, and I believe the Institutional church will +require it. I believe every evening in the week should be given to +some particular kind of intellectual training along some educational +line; that this training should begin with the more evident needs of +the young people in each congregation, and then be adjusted as the +matter grows, to the wants of each." + +So, because one poor boy struggled so bitterly for an education, +because a man, keen-eyed, saw others' needs, reading the signs by the +light of his own bitter experience, a great College for busy men and +women has grown, to give them freely the education which is very bread +and meat to their minds. + +Most people use for their own benefit the lessons they have learned in +the hard school of experience. They have paid for them dearly. They +endeavor to get out of them what profit they can. Not so Dr. Conwell. +He uses his dearly bought experiences for the good of others, turning +the bitterness which he endured, into sweetness for their refreshment. + +The Temple College was founded, as was stated in its first catalogue, +for the purpose "of opening to the burdened and circumscribed manual +laborer, the doors through which he may, if he will, reach the fields +of profitable and influential professional life. + +"Of enabling the working man, whose labor has been largely with his +muscles, to double his skill through the helpful suggestions of a +cultivated mind. + +"Of providing such instruction as shall be best adapted to the higher +education of those who are compelled to labor at their trades while +engaged in study, or who desire while studying to remain under the +influence of their home or church. + +"Of awakening in the character of young laboring men and women a +strong and determined ambition to be useful to their fellowmen. + +"Of cultivating such a taste for the higher and most useful branches +of learning as shall compel the students, after they have left the +college, to continue to pursue the best and most practical branches +of learning to the very highest walks of mental and scientific +achievement." + +A broad, humanitarian purpose it is, one that grew out of the heart of +a man who loved humanity, who believed in the practical application of +the teachings of Christ, who knew a cause would succeed if it filled a +need. + +Dr. Conwell's own experience, his observations of life had told +him that this great need existed, but it was brought home to him +practically in 1884, when these two young men of whom he speaks in +the letter quoted came to him and said they wanted to study for the +ministry but had no money. His mind leaped the years to those boyhood +days when he longed for an education but had no money. He fixed an +evening and told them he would teach them himself. When the night +came, the two had become seven. The third evening, the seven had grown +to forty. It was in the days when pastor and people were working hard +for their new church and his hands were full. But he did not shirk +this new task that came to him. Forty people eager to study, anxious +to broaden their mental vision, to make their lives more useful, could +not be disappointed, most assuredly not by a man who had known this +hunger of the mind. Teachers were secured who gave their services +free, the lower parts of the church where they were then worshipping +at Berks and Mervine streets were used as class rooms and the work +went forward with vigor. + +The first catalogue was issued in 1887, and the institution chartered +in 1888, at which time there were five hundred and ninety students. +The College overflowed the basement of the church into two adjoining +houses. When The Temple was completed the College occupied the whole +building. When that was filled it moved into two large houses on Park +Avenue. Still growing, it rented two large halls. + +The news that The Temple College had enlarged quarters in these halls +brought such a flood of students that almost from the start applicants +were turned away. Nothing was to be done but to build. It was a +serious problem. The church itself had but just been completed and a +heavy debt of $250,000 hung over it. To add the cost of a college to +this burden of debt required faith of the highest order, work of the +hardest. But God had shown them their work and they could not shirk it. + +"For seven years I have felt a firm conviction that the great work, +the special duty of our church, is to establish the College," said Dr. +Conwell, in speaking of the matter to his congregation. "We are now +face to face with it. How distinctly we have been led of God to this +point! Never before in the history of this nation have a people had +committed to them a movement more important for the welfare of mankind +than that which is now committed to your trust in connection with the +permanent establishment of The Temple College. We step now over the +brink. Our feet are already in the water, and God says, 'Go on, it +shall be dryshod for you yet'; and I say that the success of this +institution means others like it in every town of five thousand +inhabitants in the United States." + +"One thing we have demonstrated--those who work for a living have time +to study. Some splendid specimens of scholarship have been +developed in our work. And there are others, splendid geniuses, yet +undiscovered, but The Temple College will bring them to the light, and +the world will be the richer for it. By the use of spare hours--hours +usually running to waste--great things can be done. The commendation +of these successful students will do more for the college than any +number of rich friends can do. It will make friends; it will bring +money; it will win honor; it will secure success." + +An investment fund was created and once more the people made their +offerings. The same self-sacrificing spirit was evident as in the +building of the church. One boy brought to the pastor fifty cents, the +first money he had ever earned; a woman sent to the treasury a gold +ring, the only gift she could make, which bore interest in the +suggestion that all who chose might offer similar gifts as did the +women in the day of Moses. A business man hearing of this said, "If a +day is appointed, I will on that day give to the College all the gold +and silver that comes into my store for purchases." Every organization +of Grace Church contributed time, work, money, and prayer to the +building of the College. Small wonder then that obligations were met +and payments made promptly. + +One of the most successful methods by which money was raised for +the College was the "Penny Talent" effort in 1893. Burdette, in his +"Temple and Templars" has made a most painstaking record of the +various ways in which the talent was used. He says: + +"Each worker was given a penny, no more. Four thousand were given out +at one service. One man put his penny in a neat box, took it to his +office, and exhibited his 'talent' at a nickel a 'peep.' He gained +$1.70 the first day of his 'show,' A woman bought a 'job lot' of +molasses with her penny, made it into molasses candy, sold it in +square inch cakes, after telling the customer her story; payments were +generous and she netted $1.80. Then the man who sold her the molasses +returned her penny. Another sister established a 'cooky' business, +which grew rapidly. One boy kept his penny and went to work, earned 50 +cents, the first money he ever earned in his life. It was a big penny, +but he was bubbling over with enthusiasm and in it all went; he +brought it straight to his pastor. One worker collected autographs +and sold them. A boy sold toothpicks. One young man made silver +buttonhooks and a young lady sold them. A woman traded her penny up +to a dollar, made aprons from that time on until she earned $10. One +class of seven girls in the Sunday-school united its capital and gave +a supper at the Park and netted $50. The Young Men's Bible Class +constructed a model of the College building, which they exhibited. The +children gave a supper in the Lower Temple, which added $100 to the +College fund. There came into the treasury $1.00 'saved on carfares'; +'whitewashing a cellar' brought $3. Thrice, somebody walked from +Germantown to The Temple and back, saving 75 cents; a wife saved $20 +from household allowances. A little girl of seven years went into a +lively brokerage business with her penny, and took several 'flyers' +that netted her handsome margins. Here is her report-- + +"'Sold the "talent penny" to Aunt Libby for seven cents; sold the +seven cents to Mamma for 25 cents; sold the 25 cents to Papa for 50 +cents. Aunt Caddie, 10 cents; Uncle Gilman, 5 cents; Cousin Walter, 4 +cents; cash, 25 cents,--$1.04 and the penny talent returned.' + +"'Pinching the market-basket' sent in $2.50; 'all the pennies and +nickels received in four months, $12.70'; 'walking instead of riding, +$6.50'; 'singing and making plaster plaques, $7.' A dentist bought of +a fellow dentist one cent's worth of cement filling-material; this he +used, giving his labor, and earned 50 cents; with this he bought 50 +cents' worth of better filling, part of which he used, again giving +his labor, and the College gained $3.00. A boy sold his penny to a +physician for a dollar. The physician sold the 'talent penny' for 10 +cents, which he exchanged at the Mint for bright new pennies. These he +took to business friends and got a dollar apiece for them; added $5.00 +of his own and turned in $15.00. Donations of one cent each were +received through Mr. William P. Harding, from Governor Tillman of +South Carolina, Governor McKinley of Ohio, Governor Russell of +Massachusetts. From Governor Fuller of Vermont--a rare old copper +cent, 1782, coined by Vermont before she was admitted to the Union; +the governors' letters were sold to the highest bidders. Everybody who +worked, everybody who traded with the penny, did something, and every +penny was blessed, so lovingly and so zealously was the trading done. +It was the Master's talent which they were working with. All the +little things that went into the treasury; lead pencils, tacks, $3.00 +in one case and $5.00 in another; 'beefs liver, $14.00'--think of +that! How tired the boarders must have grown of liver away out on +Broad Street--stick pins, hairpins, and the common kind that you bend +and lose; candy, pretzels, and cookies; 'old tin cans,' wooden spoons, +pies; one man sent $50.00 as a gift because he said 'his penny had +brought him luck'; another found 16 pennies, which good fortune he +ascribed to the penny in his pocket. + +"So in October the workers who had received their pennies in April +came together to show what they had done. Four thousand pennies had +been given out; $6,000 came directly from the returns, and indirectly +about $8,000 more. + +"The 'Feast of Tithes,' held in December of the same year, was a great +fair, extending through seven week days. The displays of goods and the +refreshment booths were in the Lower Temple, while fine concerts and +other entertainments were given in the auditorium. The Feast of Tithes +netted $5,500 for the College fund." + +Thus the work progressed. No one could give large amounts, but many +gave a little, and stone by stone the building grew. In August, 1893, +the corner stone of the College building was laid. Taking up the +silver trowel which had been used in laying the corner stone of The +Temple, in 1889, Dr. Conwell said: + +"Friends, to-day we do something more than simply lay the corner stone +of a college building. We do an act here very simply that shows to the +world, and will go on testifying after we have gone to our long rest, +that the church of Jesus Christ is not only an institution of theory, +but an institution of practice. It will stand here upon this great +and broad street and say through the coming years to all passersby, +'Christianity means something for the good of humanity; Christianity +means not only a belief in things that are good and pure and +righteous, but it also means an activity that shall bless those who +need the assistance of others.' It shall say to the rich man, 'Give +thou of thy surplus to those who have not.' It shall say to the poor +man, 'Make thou the most of thy opportunities and thou shalt be the +equal of the rich.' + +"Now, in the name of the people who have given for this enterprise, +in the name of the many Christians who have prayed, and who are now +sending up their prayers to heaven, I lay this corner stone." + +The work went on. In May, 1894, a great congregation thronged The +Temple to attend the dedication services of "Temple College," for it +was in its new home; a handsome building, presenting with The Temple a +beautiful stone front of two hundred feet on the broad avenue which it +faces. Robert E. Pattison, governor of Pennsylvania, presided, saying, +in his introductory remarks, "Around this noble city many institutions +have arisen in the cause of education, but I doubt whether any of them +will possess a greater influence for good than Temple College." Bishop +Foss, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, offered prayer. The orator +was Honorable Charles Emory Smith, of Philadelphia, ex-minister +to Russia. Mr. James Johnson, the builder, gave the keys to the +architect, Mr. Thomas P. Lonsdale, who delivered them to the pastor of +Grace Church and president of Temple College, remarking that "it was +well these keys should be in the hands of those who already held the +keys to the inner temple of knowledge." + +President Conwell, receiving the keys, said that, "by united effort, +penny by penny, and dollar by dollar, every note had been paid, every +financial obligation promptly met. It is a demonstration of what +people can do when thoroughly in earnest in a great enterprise." + +Academies were also started in distant parts of the city for the +benefit of those who could not reach the college in time for classes. +Unfortunately these academies were compelled to close on account of +lack of funds. Many pitiful letters were received at the college +from those who were thus shut out of educational advantages. One in +particular, poorly spelled but breathing its bitter disappointment, +said that the writer (a woman) was just beginning to hope she would +get her head above water some day. But that now she must sink again. A +little light had begun to glimmer for her through the blackness, but +that light had been taken away. She was going down again into the +depth of hopeless ignorance with no one to lend a helping hand--the +tragedy of which Carlyle wrote when he penned "That there should +be one man die ignorant who is capable of knowledge, this I call a +tragedy." + +The College at first was entirely free, but as the attendance +increased, it was found necessary to charge a nominal tuition fee in +order to keep out those who had no serious desire to study, but came +irregularly "just for the fun of the thing." When it was decided to +charge five dollars a year for the privilege of attending the evening +classes, the announcement was received with the unanimous approbation +of the students who honestly wished to study, and who more than any +others were hindered by the aimless element. + +Not only did the poor and those who were employed during the day come, +but before long the sons and daughters of the well-to-do were knocking +at the doors, not for admission to the evening classes but for day +study. So the day department was opened. Not only has it proved +most successful in its work, but it has helped the College to meet +expenses. + +The curriculum of the College is broad. A child just able to walk can +enter the kindergarten class in the day department and receive his +entire schooling under the one roof, graduating with a college degree, +taking a special university course, or fitting himself for business. + +Four university courses are given--theology, law, medicine, pharmacy. +The Medical and Theological Departments take students to their +graduation and upon presentation of their diploma before the State +Board they are admitted to the State Examination. The Theological +Course, of course, graduates a man the same as any other theological +seminary. + +Post-graduate courses are also given. + +The college courses include--arts, science, elocution and oratory, +business, music, civil engineering, physical education. The graduates +of the college course are admitted to the post-graduate courses of +Pennsylvania, Yale, Princeton and Harvard on their diplomas. Students +pass from any year's work of the college course to the corresponding +course of other Institutions. + +The preparatory courses are college preparatory, medical preparatory, +scientific preparatory, law preparatory, an English course and a +business preparatory course. Thus, if one is not ready to enter one of +the higher courses, he can prepare here by night study for them. + +The Business Course includes a commercial course, shorthand course, +secretarial course, conveyancing course, telegraphy course, +advertisement writing and proofreading. + +There are normal courses for kindergarteners and elementary teachers, +and in household science, physical training, music, millinery, +dressmaking, elocution and oratory. + +Special courses are given in civil engineering, chemistry, elocution +and oratory, painting and drawing, sign writing, mechanical and +architectural drawing, music, physical training, dressmaking, +millinery, cooking, embroidery, and nursing, the last being given at +the Samaritan Hospital. + +All of these courses, excepting the Normal Kindergarten, can be +studied day or evening, as best suits the student. + +The kindergarten and model schools cover the work of the public +schools from the kindergarten to the highest grammar grades, fitting +the student to enter the first year of the preparatory department. +These classes are held in the daytime only. + +The power to confer degrees was granted in 1891. The teaching force +has been greatly enlarged until at present there are one hundred +and thirty-five teachers and an average of more than three thousand +regular students yearly. + +The number of students instructed at Temple College in proportion to +money expended and buildings used is altogether out of proportion +to any other college in America. Some idea of the breadth of study +presented at Temple College may be had from a comparison with +Harvard. Harvard has more than five thousand students, four hundred +instructors, and presents five hundred courses of study. Its growth +since 1860 has been wonderful. In 1860, while one man might not have +been able in four years to master all the subjects offered, he could +have done so in six. It was estimated in 1899 that the courses +of study offered were so varied that sixty years would have been +required. It would take one student ninety-six years to take all the +courses presented by the Temple College. + +From the time of the opening of Temple College up to the closing +exercises of 1905, its students have numbered 55,656. If an answer is +desired to the question, "Is such an institution needed," that number +answers is most emphatically. That more than fifty thousand people, +the majority of them wording men and women, will give their nights +after a day of toil, to study, proves that the institution that gives +them the opportunity to study is sorely needed. + +The life story of men and women who have studied here and gone on to +lives of usefulness would make interesting reading. One young girl who +lived in the mill district of Kensington was earning $2.50 a week, +folding circulars, addressing envelopes and doing such work. Her +parents were poor. She had the most meagre education, and the outlook +for her to earn more was dark. Some one advised her to go to Temple +College at night and study bookkeeping. A few years after, her +well-wisher saw her one evening at the college, bright, happy, a +different girl in both dress and deportment She had a position as +bookkeeper at $10 a week and was going on now and taking other +courses. + +That is the ordinary story of the work Temple College does, multiplied +in thousands of lives. Others are not so ordinary. One of the early +students was a poor man earning $6.00 a week. To-day he is earning +$6,000 a year in a government position at Washington, his rise in +life due entirely to the opportunities of study offered him at Temple +College. A lady who had been brought up in refined and cultured +society was compelled to support herself, her husband and child +through his complete physical breakdown. She took the normal course +in dressmaking and millinery, and has this year been appointed the +Director of the Domestic Science work in a large institution at a very +good salary, being able to keep herself and family in comfort. One of +the present college students was a weaver without any education at +all, getting not only his elementary education and his preparatory +education here, but will next year graduate from the college +department. He has been entirely self-supporting in the meantime, and +will make a fine teacher of mathematics. He has been teaching extra +classes in the evening department of the College for several years. + +One of the students who entered the classes in 1886 was a poor boy +of thirteen. For nineteen long years he has studied persistently at +night, passing from one grade to another until this summer (1905) his +long schooling was crowned with success and he was admitted to the +bar. All these weary years he has worked hard during the day, for +there were others depending upon him, and at night despite his +physical weariness, has faithfully pursued his studies. He deserves +his success and the greater success that will come to him, for such a +man in those long years has stored away experiences that will make him +a power. + +Another student in the early days of the college was a poor boy who +had no education whatever, having been compelled to help earn the +family living as soon as he was able, his father being a drunkard. For +fifteen years he studied, passing from one grade to another until in +1899, he had the great joy of being ordained to the ministry, six of +his ministerial brethren gathering around him in the great Temple and +laying on his head the hands of ordination, feeling they were setting +apart to the struggles and hardships of the Gospel ministry one who +had shown himself worthy of his exalted calling. + +One of the official stenographers connected with the Panama Canal +Commission was a breaker boy who came to Philadelphia from the mining +district poor and ignorant, and studied in Temple College at night, +working during the day to earn his living. + +Such records would fill a book. They prove better even than numbers +the worth of such an institution. If only one such man or woman is +lifted to a happier, more useful life, the work is worth while. + +Such an institution can do much for the purification of politics. +Before the students are ever held high ideals of right living, of +honesty, of purity. All the associations of the College are conducive +to clean character and high ideals. As the largest number of the +students are men and women from active business life, they are keenly +alive to the questions of the day. They know the responsibility for +honest government rests with each voter, that to have clean politics +every man and woman must individually do his share to uphold high +standards in political and social life, that only men whose characters +are above reproach should be elected to office. That the President of +their college shares these views and knows also what a power lies in +their hands, is shown by the following letter: + +"Fraternal Greetings: The near approach of an important election leads +me to suggest to you the following: + +"First. There being now in this city over seven thousand voters who +have been students in the Temple College, you have by your votes +and your influence, either by combination or as individuals, a +considerable political power. You should use it for the good of your +city, state, and nation. + +"Second. In city affairs I urge you to think first of the poor. The +rich do not need your care. Vote only for such city candidates as will +most speedily secure for the more needy classes pure water, clean +streets, cheaper homes, cheaper and more useful education, healthier +environment, cheap and quick transportation, the development of the +labor-giving improvements, and the increase of sea-going and inland +commerce. Select large-hearted, cool-headed men for city officers, +regardless of national parties. + +"Third. Let no man or party purchase your patriotic birthright for a +fifty-cent tax bill or any other sum. + +"Fourth. In selecting your candidates for state offices remember the +needs of the people. Favor the granting to the submerged poor a more +favorable opportunity to help themselves. Move in the most reasonable +and direct way toward the ultimate abolition of the sale of +intoxicating liquors as a beverage, and for the increase of hospital +and college privileges for the afflicted and the ignorant. + +"Fifth. In national politics, remember that both parties have a +measure of truth in their principles, and the need of the time is +noble, conscientious lovers of humanity, who will not be led by party +enthusiasm into any wild schemes in either direction which would +result in the destruction of business and the degradation of national +honor. Think independently, vote considerately, stand unflinchingly +against any measure that is wrong, and vigorously in favor of every +movement that is right. This is an opportunity to do a great, good +deed. Quit you like men. With endearing affection, + +"RUSSELL H. CONWELL." + +Even now the press of students is so great the trustees are planning +larger things. The "Philadelphia Press,' speaking of the new work to +be undertaken, said: + +"A city university, with a capacity of seven thousand students, more +than are attending any other one seat of learning in the United +States, is to be built in Philadelphia. It will be the university of +the Temple College and will stand on the site of the old Broad Street +Baptist Church at the southeast corner of Broad and Brown Streets, +and the lot adjoining the church property on the south side on Broad +Street. + +"The new structure will cost $225,000, while the ground on which it +will be built is worth $165,000, making the total value of the new +institution $390,000. + +"Rev. Russell H. Conwell, D.D., pastor of the Grace Baptist Church, +at Broad and Berks Streets, and President of Temple College, said +yesterday that the new university will be completed and ready for +occupancy by September, 1906. In the twenty years of its existence +Temple College has grown as have few educational institutions in +America, until now it has more than three thousand students enrolled +yearly. + +"With the erection of the university building the institution will +have facilities for educating four thousand more students, or a total +of seven thousand. + +"Some idea of how the other great universities of the country compare +with regard to the number of students attending them with this new +university of Philadelphia is shown by the following table: + +Name. Number of Students, + +Temple University 7,000 + +Harvard 5,393 + +Yale 2,995 + +Pennsylvania 2,692 + +Princeton 1,373 + +"The Temple University building will be eight stories high, at +least that is the plan the trustees have in mind at present, but the +structure will be so built that a height of two stories may be added +at any time. It will have a frontage of 129 feet on Broad Street and +140 feet on Brown Street. The corner property was deeded as a gift to +Temple College by the Broad and Brown Streets Church and the College +then purchased the adjoining property on Broad Street. In appreciation +of the gift the College has offered the use of the university chapel, +which will be built in the building, to the Broad and Brown Streets +Church congregation for a place of worship. + +"The university will be built of stone, and while not an elaborate +structure, it will be substantial and suitable in every respect and +imposing in its very simplicity. + +"In addition to the university offices there will be a large +gymnasium, a free dispensary, departments of medicine, theology, law, +engineering, sciences, and, in fact, all the branches of learning that +are taught in any of the great universities. There will be a library +and lecture room for every department, pathological and chemical +laboratories and a sufficient number of classrooms to preclude +crowding of students for the next ten or fifteen years. + +"There are now one hundred and thirty-five instructors in Temple +College, but when the university is opened this number will be +increased to three hundred. + +"The present college building, which adjoins the Baptist Temple, will +continue to be used, but only for the normal classes and lower grade +of work. The building will be remodeled. The dwelling adjoining the +college which has been occupied as the theological department will be +vacated when the university is completed. + +"Dr. Conwell, the father of Temple College and who in years to come +will be spoken of as the father of Temple University, said yesterday: + +"'It will be a university for busy people, the same as the college has +been a college for busy people. Our institution reaches and benefits +a class--in some respects the greatest class--of persons who want +to study and enlarge their education, but cannot attend the other +universities and colleges for financial reasons and because of their +business. + +"'There's many a man and woman, young and middle-aged, who is not +satisfied with himself--he wants to go on farther, he wants to learn +more. But his daily work won't allow him to complete his education +because of the inconvenient hours of the classes and lectures in +other colleges. And he comes to Temple, as there classes are held +practically all day and for several hours at night. The terms of the +course at Temple College are reasonable, and thus many young men or +women may prepare themselves for higher and more remunerative work, +whereas they would not feel that they could afford to pay the tuition +fee at some other institution. The Temple University will be similar +to the London University, a city university for busy persons.'" + +Thus Temple College grows because it is needed. And such an +institution is needed in other cities as well as in Philadelphia. This +is but the pioneer. It can have sister institutions wherever people +want to study and Christian hearts want to help. + +It grows also because in the heart of one man, its founder, is the +bitter knowledge of how sorely such an institution is needed by those +who want to study, and who himself works hand, heart and soul so that +it shall never fail those who need it. + +Says James M. Beck, the noted lawyer: "There have been very wealthy +men who, out of the abundance of their resources, have founded +colleges, but I can hardly recall a case where a man, without abundant +means, by mere force of character and intellectual energy, has both +created and maintained an institution of this size and character,'" + +Far back in the dim light of the centuries, Confucius wrote, "Give +instruction unto those who cannot obtain it for themselves." This is +the great and useful work the Temple College is doing and doing it +nobly, a work that will count for untold good on future generations. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE SAMARITAN HOSPITAL + +Beginning in Two Rooms. Growth. Number of Beds. Management. Temple +Services Heard by Telephone. Faith and Nationality of Those Cared For. + + +His pastoral work among his church members and others of the +neighborhood brought to Dr. Conwell's mind constantly the needs of the +sick poor. Scarcely a week passed that some one did not come to him +for help for a loved one suffering from disease, but without means to +secure proper medical aid. Sick and poor--that is a condition which +sums up the height of human physical suffering--the body racked with +pain, burning with fever, yet day and night battling on in misery, +without medical aid, without nursing, without any of the comforts that +relieve pain. Nor is the sick one the only sufferer. Those who love +him endure the keenest mental anguish as they stand by helpless, +unable to raise a finger for his relief because they are poor. Through +the deep waters of both these experiences Dr. Conwell had himself +passed. He knew the anguish of heart of seeing loved ones suffer, of +being unable to secure for them the nourishing food, the care needed +to make them well. He knew the wretchedness of being sick and poor and +of not knowing which way to turn for help, while quivering flesh and +nerves called in torture for relief. His heart went out in burning +sympathy to all such cases that came to his knowledge, and generously +he helped. But they were far too many for one man, big-hearted and +open-handed as he might be. More and more the need of a hospital in +that part of the city was impressed upon him. Accidents among his +membership were numerous, yet the nearest hospital was blocks and +blocks away, a distance which meant precious minutes when with every +moment life was ebbing. + +He laid the matter before his church people. Down through the +centuries came ringing in their ears that command, "Heal the sick." +They knew it was Christ's work--"Unto Him were brought all sick people +that were taken with divers diseases and he healed them." + +So they decided to rent two rooms where the sick could be cared for, +and later built a hospital for the poor, where without money and +without price, the best medical aid, the tenderest nursing were at the +command of those in need. + +"The Hospital was founded," says Dr. Conwell, "and this property +purchased in the hope that it would do Christ's work. Not simply to +heal for the sake of professional experience, not simply to cure +disease and repair broken bones, but to so do those charitable acts as +to enforce the truth Jesus taught, that God 'would not that any should +perish, but that all should come unto Him and live.' Soul and body, +both need the healing balm of Christianity. The Hospital modestly +and touchingly furnishes it to all classes, creeds, and ages whose +sufferings cause them to cry out, 'Have mercy on me!'" + +So far as buildings were concerned, it began in a small way, though +its spirit of kindness and Christian charity was large. After one year +in rented rooms, a house was purchased on North Broad Street, near +Ontario Street, and fitted up as a hospital with wards, operating room +and dispensary. It was situated just where a network of railroads +focuses and near a number of large factories and machine shops, where +accidents were occurring constantly. Almost immediately its wards were +filled. The name "Samaritan Hospital" was given as typical of its work +and spirit, its projectors and supporters laying down their money and +agreeing to pay whatever might be needed, as well as giving of their +personal care and attention to the sufferer. But though Dr. Conwell's +heart is big, his head is practical. He does not believe in +indiscriminate charity. + +"Charity is composed of sympathy and self-sacrifice. There is no +charity without a union of these two," he said, in an address years +ago at Music Hall, Boston. "To make a gift become a charity the +recipient must feel that it is given out of sympathy; that the +donor has made a sacrifice to give it; that it is intended only as +assistance and not as a permanent support, unless the needy one he +helpless; and that it is not given as his right. To accomplish this +end desired by charitable hearts demands an acquaintance with the +persons to be assisted or a study of them, and a great degree of +caution and patience. It is not only unnecessary, but a positive wrong +to give to itinerant beggars. There is no such thing as charity about +a so-called state charity. It is statesmanship to rid the community of +nuisances, to feed the poor and prevent stealing and robbery, but it +should not be called 'a charity.' The paupers take their provision as +their right, feel no gratitude, acquire no ambition, no industry, no +culture. The state almshouse educates the brain and chills the heart. +It fastens a stigma on the child to hinder and curse it for life. Any +institution supported otherwise than by voluntary contribution, or +in the hands of paid public officials, can never have the spirit of +charity nor be correctly called a charity. Boston's public charitable +institutions, so called, are not charities at all; the motive is not +sympathy, but necessity. The money for the support of paupers is not +paid with benevolent intentions by the tax-payers, nor do the inmates +of almshouses so receive it. I have been engaged in gathering +statistics, and have found sixty-three per cent of all persons who +applied for assistance at the various institutions were impostors, +while many were swindlers and professional burglars." + +The sick poor are never turned away from Samaritan Hospital, but those +who are able to pay are requested to do so. Dr. Conwell believes +it would be a wrong to treat such people free, an injustice to +physicians, as well as an encouragement of a wrong spirit in +themselves. The hospital has a number of private rooms in which +patients are received for pay. Many have been furnished by members of +Grace Baptist Church in memory of some loved one "gone before," or by +Sunday School classes or church organizations. + +It may have been the fact that it started in an ordinary house that +gave the Hospital its cheery, homelike atmosphere. It may have been +the spirit of the workers. But its homelike air is noticeable. While +rules are strictly enforced, as they must be, there is a feeling of +personal interest in each patient that makes the sick feel that she is +something more than a "case" or a "number." + +"The lovely Christ spirit," says Dr. Conwell, "which inclines men and +women to care for their unfortunate fellowmen, is especially beautiful +when in addition to the healing of wounds and disease, the afflicted +sufferers are welcomed to such a home as the Samaritan Hospital has +become. All such kind deeds become doubly sweet when done in the name +of Christ, because they carry with them sympathy for those in pain, +love for the loveless, a home for the homeless, friendship for the +friendless, and a divine solace, which are often more than surgical +skill or medical science. Such an institution the Samaritan Hospital +is ever to be. It began in weakness and inexperience, but with +Christian devotion and affection, its founders and supporters have +conquered innumerable difficulties, and can now say unreservedly that +they have a hospital with all the conveniences and all the influences +of a Christian home." + +The hospital was opened February 1, 1892. It did not take long to +prove the need of the work. Before the year was out it was so crowded +that an addition had to be built, and now magnificent buildings stand +adjoining the original "house" as a monument to the untiring work +and zeal of Grace Church members and their friends. It is now an +independent corporation. + +The hospital is fitted with all modern appliances for caring for the +sick. It has a hundred and seventy beds, and a large and competent +staff of physicians numbering many of the best in the city. There is +also a training school for nurses, the original hospital building +being now fitted up and furnished as a nurses' home. More than five +thousand different cases are ministered to during the year in the beds +and dispensary. The annual expense of running the hospital is more +than forty thousand dollars, the value of the property more than three +hundred thousand dollars. + +In addition to the customary weekly visiting days, visitors are +allowed on one evening during the week and on Sunday afternoons. These +rather unusual visiting hours are an innovation of Dr. Conwell's for +the benefit of busy workers who cannot visit their sick friends or +relatives on week days. + +A novel feature of the hospital and one which brings great pleasure to +the patients, is the telephone service connecting it with The Temple, +whereby those who are able, can hear the preaching of the pastor +Sunday morning and evening at the big church farther down Broad +Street. + +One of the most efficient aids in the hospital's growth has been +the Board of Lady Managers. When the hospital was opened in 1892, a +committee of six ladies was appointed by Mr. Conwell to take charge of +the housekeeping affairs, and from this committee has grown this Board +which has done so much to aid the hospital, both by raising money and +looking after its household affairs. + +This committee had entire charge of the house department, visiting it +weekly, inspecting the house, and making suggestions to the trustees +for improving the work in that department. + +The Board is divided into Finance, Visiting, Flower, Linen, Ward +Supplies, House Supplies and Sewing Committee. The chairman of these +committees, together with the five officers, constitute the Executive +Committee, and meet with the trustees at their regular monthly +meetings. + +In addition to paying the housekeeping bills, the board has come many +times to the assistance of the trustees, and by giving entertainments, +holding sales, teas, receptions, has raised large sums of money for +special purposes. In connection with this Board is the Samaritan Aid +Society which annually contributes about three hundred new articles of +clothing and bedding. + +The Board of Trustees is composed of able, experienced business men +who apply their knowledge of business affairs to the conduct of the +hospital. It means a sacrifice of much time on their part, but it is +cheerfully given. + +The hospital is non-sectarian. Suffering and need are the only +requisites for admission. During the past year among those who were +cared for were: + +Catholic 284 +Baptist 134 +Methodist 141 +Episcopalian 112 +Lutheran 97 +Presbyterian 96 +Hebrew 89 +Protestant 54 +Reformed 25 +Friends 12 +Confucianism 5 +Congregational 4 +United Brethren 3 +Evangelist 3 +Christian 2 +Not recorded 60 + ---- + 1141 + +[Illustration: ATTENDING SERVICE IN BED] + +The nativity of the patients showed that nearly all countries were +represented--Russia, Poland, Italy, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Scotland, +England, Germany, Ireland, China, Hungary, Australia, Switzerland, +Jerusalem, Roumania and Armenia. + +Never was the worth of its work better shown than in the terrible Ball +Park accident, which happened in Philadelphia in 1904, when by the +collapsing of the grandstand hundreds were killed and injured. Without +a moment's notice, more than a hundred patients were rushed to the +hospital and cared for. When the wards were filled, cots were placed +in the halls, in the offices, wherever there was room, and the injured +tenderly treated. + +Thus from small beginnings and a great need it has steadily grown, +supported by contributions and upheld by the faithful work of those +who labor for the love of the Master. Sacrifices of time and money +have been freely made for it, for the people who have worked to +support it are few of them rich. It still needs help, for "the poor +ye have always with you." And while there are poor people and sick +people, Samaritan Hospital will always need the help of the more +fortunate to aid it in its great work of relieving pain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE MANNER OF THE MAN + +Boundless Love for Men. Utter Humility. His Simplicity and +Informality. Keen Sense of Humor. His Unconventional Methods of Work. +Power as a Leader. His Tremendous Faith. + + +What of the personality of the man back of all this ceaseless work, +these stupendous undertakings? Much of it can be read in the work +itself. But not all. One must know Dr. Conwell personally to realize +that deep, abiding love of humanity which is the wellspring of his +life and which shows itself in constant and innumerable acts of +thoughtfulness and kindness for the happiness of others. He cannot see +a drunkard on the street without his heart going out in a desire to +help him to a better life. He cannot see a child in tears, but that +he must know the trouble and mend it. From boyhood, it was one of the +strongest traits of his character, and when it clasped hands with a +man's love of Christ, it became the ruling passion of his life. The +woes of humanity touch him deeply. He freely gives himself, his time, +his money to lighten them. But he knows that to do his best, is but +comparatively little. To him it is a pitiful thing that so much of the +world's, misery cannot be relieved because of the lack of money; that +people must starve, must suffer pain and disease, must go without the +education that makes life brighter and happier, simply for the want of +this one thing of so little worth compared with the great things of +life it has the power to withhold or grant. + +One must also be intimately associated with Dr. Conwell to realize the +deep humility that rules his heart, that makes him firmly believe any +man who will trust in God and go ahead in faith can accomplish all +that he himself has done, and more. + +"You do not know what a struggle my life is," he said once to a +friend. "Only God and my own heart know how far short I come of what I +ought to be, and how often I mar the use He would make of me even when +I would serve Him." + +And again, at the Golden Jubilee services, in honor of his fiftieth +birthday, he said publicly what he many times says in private: + +"I look back on the errors of by-gone years; my blunders; my pride; +my self-sufficiency; my willfulness--if God would take me up in my +unworthiness and imperfection and lift me to such a place of happiness +and love as this--I say, He can do it for any man. + +"When I see the blunders I unintentionally make in history, in +mathematics, in names, in rhetoric, in exegesis, and yet see that God +uses even blunders to save men--I sink back into the humblest place +before Him and say, 'If God can use such preaching as that, blunders +and mistakes like these; if He can take them and use them for His +glory, He can use anybody and anything.' I let out the secret of my +life when I tell you this: If I have succeeded at all, it has been +with the conscious sense that as God has used even me, so can He use +others. God saved me and He can save them. My very faults show me, +they teach me, that any person can be helped and saved." + +Speaking of his sermons, which are taken down by a stenographer and +typewritten for publication in the "Temple Review," he said, with +the utmost dejection, "Positively they make me sick. To think that I +should stand up and undertake to preach when I can do no better than +that" + +He has ever that sense of defeat from which all great minds suffer +whose high ideals ever elude them. + +In manner and speech, he is simple and unaffected, and approachable at +all times. When not away from the city lecturing, he spends a certain +part of the day in his study at the church, where any one can see +him on any matter which he may wish to bring to his attention. The +ante-room is thronged at the hour when it is known that he will be +there. People waylay him in the church corridors, and on the streets, +so well known is his kindly heart, his attentive ear, his generous +hand. + +Not only do these visitors invade the church, but they come to his +home. Early in the morning they are there. They await him when he +returns late at night. As an instance of their number, one Saturday +afternoon late in June he had one hour free which he hoped to take for +rest and the preparation of the next morning's sermon. During that one +hour he had six callers, each staying until the next arrived. One of +these was a young man whom Dr. Conwell had never seen, a boy no more +than seventeen or eighteen. He had a few weeks before made a runaway +marriage with a girl still younger than himself. Her parents had +indignantly taken the bride home, and the young husband came to Dr. +Conwell to ask him to seek out these parents and persuade them to let +the child wife return to her husband. + +He has a knack of putting everybody at ease in his presence, which +perhaps accounts for the freedom with which people, even utter +strangers, come to him and pour into his ear their life secrets. This +earnest desire to help people, to make them happier and better, +shines from his life with such force that one feels it immediately on +entering his presence and opens one's heart to him. He helps, advises, +and, because he is so preeminently a man of faith and believes so +firmly that all he has done has been accomplished by faith and +perseverance, he inspires others with like confidence in themselves. +They go away encouraged, hopeful, strengthened for the work that lies +ahead of them, or for the trouble they must surmount It is little +wonder the people throng to him for help. + +His simple, informal view of life is shown in other things. During a +summer vacation in the Berkshires he was scheduled to lecture in one +of the home towns. His old friends and neighbors dearly love to hear +him, and nearly always secure a lecture from him while he is supposed +to be resting. Entirely forgetting the lecture, he planned a fishing +trip that day. Just as the fishing party was ready to start, some one +remembered the lecture. There would not be time to go fishing, +return, dress and go to the lecture town. But Dr. Conwell is a great +fisherman, and he disliked most thoroughly to give up that fishing +trip. He thought about it a few minutes, and then in his informal, +unconventional fashion, decided he would both fish and lecture. He +packed his lecturing apparel in a suit case, tied a tub for the +accommodation of the fish on the back of the wagon and started. All +day he fished, happy and contented. When lecturing time drew near, +rattling and splashing, with a tubful of fish, round-eyed and +astonished at the violent upheavals of their usual calm abiding place, +he drove up to the lecture hall, changed his clothes, and at the +appointed time appeared on the platform and delivered one of the best +lectures that section ever heard. + +Some people call his methods sensational. They are not sensational +in the sense of merely making a noise for the purpose of attracting +attention. They are unconventional. Dr. Conwell pays no attention to +forms if the life has gone out of them, to traditions, if their spirit +is dead, their days of usefulness past. He lives in the present He +sees present needs and adopts methods to fit them. No doubt, many said +it was sensational to tear down that old church at Lexington himself. +But there was no money and the church must come down. The only way to +get it down and a new one built, was to go to work. And he went to +work in straightforward, practical fashion. It takes courage and +strength of mind thus to tear down conventions and forms. But he does +not hesitate if he sees they are blocking the road of progress. This +disregard of customs, this practical common-sense way of attacking +evil or supplying needs is seen in all his church work. And because it +is original and unusual, it brings upon him often, a storm of adverse +criticism. But he never halts for that. He is willing to suffer +misrepresentation, even calumny, if the cause for which he is working, +progresses. He cares nothing for himself. He thinks only of the Master +and the work He has committed to his hands. + +Though the great masses in their ignorance and poverty appeal to him +powerfully and incite him to tremendous undertakings for their relief, +he does not, because his hands are so full of great things, turn +aside from opportunities to help the individual. Indeed, it is this +readiness to answer a personal call for help that has endeared him +so to thousands and thousands. No matter what may he the labor or +inconvenience to himself, he responds instantly when the appeal comes. + +Two men, now members of the church, often tell the incident that led +to their conversion. One evening they fell to discussing Dr. Conwell +with some young friends who were members of the church. The young men +stoutly maintained that "Conwell was like all the rest--in it for the +almighty dollar." The church members as stoutly asserted that he was +actuated by motives far above such sordid consideration. But the +men would not yield their point and the subject was dropped. A few +evenings later, coming out of a saloon at midnight into a blinding +snowstorm, they heard a man say, "My dear child, why did you not tell +me before that you were in need. You know I would not let you suffer." + +"That's Conwell," said one of the young fellows. + +"Nothing of the kind," replied the other. "What's the matter with you? +Catch him out a night like this." + +"But I tell you that was Conwell's voice," said the first man. "I know +it. Let's follow him and see what he's doing." + +Through the thickly falling snow, they could see the tall figure of +Dr. Conwell with a large basket on one arm and leading a little child +by the hand. Keeping a sufficient distance behind, they followed him +to a poor home in a little street, saw him enter, saw the light flash +up and knew that he was living out in deed the doctrine he preached. +Silent, they turned away. What his spoken word in The Temple could not +do his ministry at midnight had accomplished, and they became loyal +and devoted members of the church. + +In conversation with a street car conductor at one time, he found the +man eager to hear of Christ and His love, but unable to give heed on +the car because he might be reported for inattention to his duties and +lose his place. Dr. Conwell asked him where he took dinner, and at the +noon hour was there and, plainly and simply, as the man ate his lunch, +told what Christ's love in his heart and life would mean. + +Such stories could be multiplied many times of this personal ministry +that seeks day and night, in season and out, to make mankind better, +to lift it up where it may grasp eternal truth. + +Francis Willard says: + +"To move among the people on the common street; to meet them in the +market-place on equal terms; to live among them not as saint or monk, +but as a brother man with brother men; to serve God not with form or +ritual, but in the free impulse of the soul; to bear the burden +of society and relieve its needs; to carry on its multitudinous +activities in the city, social, commercial, political, and +philanthropic--this is the religion of the Son of man." This is the +religion of Dr. Conwell. + +As a leader and organizer he is almost without an equal in church +work. He sees a need. His practical mind goes to work to plan ways to +meet it. He organizes the work thoroughly and carefully; he rallies +his workers about him and then leads them dauntlessly forward to +success. He has weathered many a fierce gale of opposition, won out in +many a furious storm of criticism. The greater the obstacles, the more +brightly does his ability as a leader shine. He seems to call up from +some secret storehouse reserves of enthusiasm. He gets everybody +energetically and cheerfully at work, and the obstacles that seemed +insurmountable suddenly melt away. As some one has said, "He attempts +the impossible, yet finds practical ways to accomplish it" + +The way he met an unexpected demand for money during the building of +the church illustrates this: + +The trustees had, as they thought, made provision for the renewal of a +note of $2,000, due Dec. 27th. Late Friday, Dec. 24th, the news came +that the note could not be renewed, that it must be paid Monday. +They had no money, nothing could be done but appeal to the people on +Sunday. + +But it was not a usual Sunday. The Church, just the night before, had +closed a big fair for the College. Many had served at the fair tables +almost until the Sabbath morning was ushered in. They were tired. All +had given money, many even beyond what they could afford. It was, +besides, the day after Christmas, and if ever a man's pocketbook is +empty, it is then. To make the outlook still drearier, the day opened +with a snowstorm that threatened at church time to turn into a +drizzling rain. Here was truly the impossible, for none of the people +at any time could give a large sum. Yet he faced the situation +dauntlessly, aroused his people, and by evening $2,200 had been +pledged for immediate payment, and of that $1,300 was received in cash +that Sunday. + +In a sermon once he said: + +"Last summer I rode by a locality where there had been a mill, now +partially destroyed by a cyclone. I looked at the great engine lying +upon its side. I looked at the wheels, at the boilers so out of place, +thrown carelessly together. I saw pieces of iron the uses of which I +did not understand. I saw iron bands, bearings, braces, and shafting +scattered about, and I found the great circular saw rusting, flat in +the grass. I went on my way wondering why any person should abandon so +many pieces of such excellent machinery, leaving good property to go +to waste. But again, not many weeks ago, I went by that same place and +saw a building there, temporary in its nature, but with smoke pouring +out of the stack and steam hissing and puffing from the exhaust pipe. +I heard the sound of the great saw singing its song of industry; I saw +the teamsters hauling away great loads of lumber. The only difference +between the apparently useless old lumber and scrap iron, piled +together in promiscuous confusion, machinery thrown into a heap +without the arrangement, and the new building with its powerful engine +working smoothly and swiftly for the comfort and wealth of men, +was that before the rebuilding, the wheels, the saw, the shafting, +boilers, piston-rod, and fly wheel had no definite relation to each +other. But some man picked out all these features of a complete mill +and put them into proper relation; he adjusted shaft, boiler, and +cogwheel, put water in the boiler and fire under it, let steam into +the cylinders, and moved piston-rod, wheels, and saw. There were no +new cogs, wheels, boilers, or saws; no new piece of machinery; there +has only been an intelligent spirit found to set them in their proper +places and relationship. + +"One great difficulty with this world, whether of the entire globe or +the individual church, is that it is made up of all sorts of machinery +which is not adjusted; which is out of place; no fire under the +boiler; no steam to move the machinery. There is none of the necessary +relationship--there can he no affinity between cold and steam, +between power wasted and utility; and to overcome this difficulty is +one of the great problems of the earth to-day. The churches are very +much in this condition. There are cogwheels, pulleys, belting, and +engines in the church, but out of all useful relationship. There are +sincere, earnest Christians, men and women, but they are adjusted +to no power and no purpose; they have no definite relationship to +utility. They go or come, or lie still and rust, and a vast power for +good is unapplied. The text says "We are ambassadors for Christ"; that +means, in the clearest terms, the greatest object of the Christian +teacher and worker should be the bringing into right relations all the +forces of men, and gearing them to the power of Christ" + +He undoubtedly understands bringing men together, and getting them +at work to secure almost marvelous results. A friend speaking of his +ability once said: "I admire Mr. Conwell for the power of which he is +possessed of reaching out and getting hold of men and grappling them +to himself with hooks of steel. + +"I admire him not only for the power he has of binding men not only +to himself, but of binding men to Christ, and of binding them to one +another; for the power he has of generating enthusiasm. His people +are bound not only to the church, to the pastor, to God, but to one +another." + +He never fails to appreciate the spirit with which a church member +works, even if results are not always as anticipated, or even if the +project itself is not always practical. He will cheerfully put his +hand down into his pocket and pay the bill for some impractical +scheme, rather than dampen the ardor of an enthusiastic worker. He +knows that experience will come with practice, but that a willing, +zealous worker is above price. + +Those who know him most intimately find in him, despite his strong, +practical common sense, despite his years of hard work in the world, +despite the many times he has been deceived and imposed upon, a +certain boyish simplicity and guilelessness of heart, a touch of the +poetic, idealistic temperament that sees gold where there is only +brass; that hopes and believes, where reason for hope and belief +there is none. It is a winning trait that endears friends to him +most closely, that makes them cheerfully overlook such imprudent +benefactions as may result from it, though he himself holds it with +a strong rein, and only reveals that side of his nature to those who +know him best. + +He studies constantly how he may help others, never how he may rest +himself. At his old home at South Worthington, Mass., he has built and +equipped an academy for the education of the boys and girls of the +neighborhood. He wants no boy or girl of his home locality to have +the bitter fight for an education that he was forced to experience. +It is a commodious building with class-rooms and a large public hall +which is used for entertainments, for prayer meetings, harvest homes +and all the gatherings of the nearby farming community. + +Many other enterprises besides those directly connected with the +church grow out of Dr. Conwell's desire to be of service to mankind. +But like the organizations of the church, the need for them was +strongly felt before they took form. + +While officiating at the funeral of a fireman who had lost his life by +the falling walls of a burning building and who had left three small +children uncared for, Dr. Conwell was impressed with the need of a +home for the orphans of men who risked their lives for the city's +good. Pondering the subject, he was called that same day to the +bedside of a shut-in, who, while he was there, asked him if there was +any way by which she could be of service to helpless children left +without paternal care or support. She said the subject had been on her +mind and such a work was dear to her heart. She was a gifted writer +and wielded considerable influence and could, by her pen, do much good +for such a work, not only by her writings but by personal letters +asking for contributions to establish and support an orphanage. The +coincidence impressed the matter still more strongly on Dr. Conwell's +mind. But that was not the end of it. Still that same day, a lady came +to him and asked his assistance in securing for her a position as +matron of an orphanage; and a woman physician came to his study +and offered her services free, to care for orphan children in an +institution for them. + +Such direct leading was not to be withstood. Dr. Conwell called on a +former chief of police and asked his opinion as to an orphanage for +the children of fireman and policeman. The policeman welcomed the +project heartily, said he had long been thinking of that very problem, +and that if it were started by a responsible person, several thousand +dollars would be given by the policeman for its support. Still +wondering if he should take such leadings as indications of a definite +need, Dr. Conwell went to his study, called in some of his church +advisers and talked the matter over. Nothing at that meeting was +definitely settled, because some work interrupted it and those present +dispersed for other duties. But as they disbanded and Dr. Conwell +opened his mail, a check fell out for $75 from Rev. Chas. M. Sheldon, +which he said in the letter accompanying it, he desired to give toward +a movement for helping needy children. + +Dr. Conwell no longer hesitated, and the Philadelphia Orphans' Home +Society, of which he is president, was organized, and has done a good +work in caring for helpless little ones, giving its whole effort to +securing permanent homes for the children and their adoption into +lonely families. + +Although most of the money from his lectures goes to Temple College, +he uses a portion of it to support poor students elsewhere. He has +paid for the education of 1,550 college students besides contributing +partly to the education of hundreds of others. In fact, all the money +he makes, outside of what is required for immediate needs of his +family, is given away. He cares so little for money for himself, his +wants are so few and simple, that he seldom pays any attention as to +whether he has enough with him for personal use. He found once when +starting to lecture in New Jersey that after he had bought his ticket +he hadn't a cent left. Thinking, however, he would be paid when the +lecture was over, he went on. But the lecture committee told him they +would send a check. Having no money to pay a hotel bill, he took the +train back. Reaching Philadelphia after midnight he boarded a trolley +and told the conductor who he was and his predicament, offering to +send the man the money for his fare next day. But the conductor was +not to be fooled, said he didn't know Dr. Conwell from Adam, and +put him off. And Dr. Conwell walked twenty long blocks to his home, +chuckling all the way at the humor of the situation. + +He has a keen sense of humor, as his audiences know. Though the +spiritual side of his nature is so intense, his love of fun and +appreciation of the humorous relieves him from being solemn or +sanctimonious. He is sunny, cheerful, ever ready at a chance meeting +with a smile or a joke. Children, who as a rule look upon a minister +as a man enshrouded in solemn dignity, are delightfully surprised to +find in him a jolly, fun-loving comrade, a fact which has much to do +with the number of young people who throng Grace church and enter its +membership. + +The closeness of his walk with God is shown in his unbounded faith, +in the implicit reliance he has in the power of prayer. Though to the +world he attacks the problems confronting him with shrewd, practical +business sense, behind and underneath this, and greater than it all, +is the earnestness with which he first seeks to know the will of God +and the sincerity with which he consecrates himself to the work. +Christ is to him a very near personal friend, in very truth an Elder +Brother to whom he constantly goes for guidance and help, Whose will +he wants to do solely, in the current of Whose purpose he wants to +move. "Men who intend to serve the Lord should consecrate themselves +in heart-searching and prayer," he has said many and many a time. And +of prayer itself he says: + +"There is planted in every human heart this knowledge, namely, that +there is a power beyond our reach, a mysterious potency shaping the +forces of life, which if we would win we must have in our favor. There +come to us all, events over which we have no control by physical or +mental power. Is there any hope of guiding those mysterious forces? +Yes, friends, there is a way of securing them in our favor or +preventing them from going against us. How? It is by prayer. When a +man has done all he can do, still there is a mighty, mysterious agency +over which he needs influence to secure success. The only way he can +reach that is by prayer." + +He has good reason to believe in the power of prayer, for the answers +he has received in some cases have seemed almost miraculous. + +When The Temple was being built, Dr. Conwell proposed that the new +pipe organ be put in to be ready for the opening service. But the +church felt it would be unwise to assume such an extra burden of debt +and voted against it. Dr. Conwell felt persuaded that the organ ought +to go in, and spent one whole night in The Temple in prayer for +guidance. As the result, he decided that the organ should be built. +The contract was given, the first payment made, but when in a few +months a note of $1,500 came due, there was not a cent in the treasury +to meet it. He knew it would be a most disastrous blow to the church +interests, with such a vast building project started, to have that +note go to protest. Yet he couldn't ask the membership to raise the +money since it had voted against building the organ at that time. +Disheartened, full of gloomy foreboding, he came Sunday morning to the +church to preach. The money must be ready next morning, yet he knew +not which way to turn. He felt he had been acting in accordance with +God's will, for the decision had been made after a night of earnest +prayer. Yet here stood a wall of Jericho before him and no divine +direction came as to how to make it fall. As he entered his study, his +private secretary handed him a letter. He opened it, and out fell a +check for $1,500 from an unknown man in Massillon, Ohio, who had once +heard Dr. Conwell lecture and felt strangely impelled to send him +$1,500 to use in The Temple work. Dr. Conwell prayed and rejoiced in +an ecstasy of gratitude. Three times he broke down during the sermon. +His people wondered what was the matter, but said he had never +preached more powerfully. + +He is a man of prayer and a man of work. Loving, great-hearted, +unselfish, cheery, practical, hard-working, he yet draws his greatest +inspiration from that silent inner communion with the Master he serves +with such single-hearted, unfaltering devotion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE MANNER OF THE MESSAGE + +The Style of the Sermons. Their Subject Matter. Preaching to Help Some +Individual Church Member. + + +In the pulpit, Dr. Conwell is as simple and natural as he is in his +study or in the home. Every part of the service is rendered with the +heart, as well as the understanding. His reading of a chapter from the +Bible is a sermon in itself. The vast congregation follow it with as +close attention as they do the sermon. He seems to make every verse +alive, to send it with new meaning into each heart. The people in it +are real people, who have lived and suffered, who had all the hopes +and fears of men and women of to-day. Often little explanations are +dropped or timely, practical applications, and when it is over, if +that were all of the service one would be repaid for attending. + +The hymns, too, are read with feeling and life. If a verse expresses a +sentiment contrary to the church feeling, it is not sung. He will not +have sung what is not worthy of belief. + +The sermons are full of homely, practical illustrations, drawn from +the experiences of everyday life. Dr. Conwell announces his text and +begins quite simply, sometimes with a little story to illustrate his +thought. If Bible characters take any part in it, he makes them real +men and women. He pictures them so graphically, the audience sees +them, hears them talk, knows what they thought, how they lived. In a +word, each hearer feels as if he had met them personally. Never again +are they mere names. They are living, breathing men and women. + +Dr. Conwell makes his sermons human because he touches life, the +life of the past, the life of the present, the lives of those in his +audience. He makes them interesting by his word pictures. He holds +attention by the dramatic interest he infuses into the theme. He has +been called the "Story-telling Preacher" because his sermons are so +full of anecdote and illustrations. But every story not only points +a moral, but is full of the interest that fastens it on the hearer's +mind. Children in their teens enjoy his sermons, so vivid are they, so +full of human, every day interest. Yet all this is but the framework +on which is reared some helpful, inspiring Biblical truth which is +the crown, the climax, and which because of its careful upbuilding by +story and homely illustration is fixed on the hearer's mind and heart +in a way never to be forgotten. It is held there by the simple things +of life he sees about him every day, and which, every time he sees +them, recall the truth he has heard preached. Dr. Thomas May Pierce, +speaking of Dr. Conwell's method of preaching, says: + +"Spurgeon sought the masses and found them by preaching the gospel +with homely illustrations; Russell H. Conwell comes to Philadelphia, +he seeks out the masses, he finds them with his plain presentation of +the old, old story." + +Occasionally he paints word pictures that hold the audience +enthralled, or when some great wrong stirs him, rises to heights of +impassioned oratory that bring his audience to tears. He never writes +out his sermons. Indeed, often he has no time to give them any +preparation whatever. Sometimes he does not choose his text until he +comes on the platform. Nobody regrets more than Dr. Conwell this lack +of preparation, but so many duties press, every minute has so many +burdens of work, that it is impossible at times to crowd in a thought +for the sermon. It is left for the inspiration of the moment. "I +preach poor sermons that other men may preach good ones," he remarked +once, meaning that so much of his time was taken up with church work +and lecturing that he has little to give his sermons, and almost all +of the fees from his lectures are devoted to the education of men for +the ministry. + +His one purpose in his sermons is to bring Christ into the lives of +his people, to bring them some message from the word of God that will +do them good, make them better, lift them up spiritually to a higher +plane. His people know he comes to them with this strong desire in his +heart and they attend the services feeling confident that even though +he is poorly prepared, they will nevertheless get practical and +spiritual help for the week. + +When he knows that some one member is struggling with a special +problem either in business, in the home circle, in his spiritual life, +he endeavors to weave into his sermon something that will help him, +knowing that no heart is alone in its sorrow, that the burden one +bears, others carry, and what will reach one will carry a message or +cheer to many. + +"During the building of The Temple," says Smith in his interesting +life of Dr. Conwell, "a devoted member, who was in the bookbinding +business, walked to his office every morning and put his car-fare into +the building fund. Dr. Conwell made note of the sacrifice, and asked +himself the question, 'How can I help that man to be more prosperous?' +He kept him in mind, and while on a lecturing trip he visited a town +where improved machines for bookbinding were employed. He called at +the establishment and found out all he could about the new machines. +The next Sunday morning, he used the new bookbinder as an illustration +of some Scriptural truth. The result was, the church member secured +the machines of which his pastor had spoken, and increased his income +many-fold. The largest sum of money given to the building of the new +Temple was given by that same bookbinder. + +"A certain lady made soap for a fair held in the Lower Temple. Dr. +Conwell advised her to go into the soap-making business. She hesitated +to take his advice. He visited a well known soap factory, and in one +of his sermons described the most improved methods of soap-making as +an illustration of some improved method of Christian work. Hearing the +illustration used from the pulpit, the lady in question acted on the +pastor's previous advice, and started her nephew in the soap business, +in which he has prospered. + +"A certain blacksmith in Philadelphia who was a member of Grace +Church, but who lived in another part of the city, was advised by Dr. +Conwell to start a mission in his neighborhood. The mechanic pleaded +ignorance and his inability to acquire sufficient education to enable +him to do any kind of Christian work. On Sunday morning Dr. Conwell +wove into his sermon an historical sketch of Elihu Burritt, that poor +boy with meagre school advantages, who bound out to a blacksmith, at +the age of sixteen, and compelled to associate with the ignorant, yet +learned thirty-three languages, became a scholar and an orator of +fame. The hesitating blacksmith, encouraged by the example of Elihu +Burritt, took courage and went to work. He founded the mission which +soon grew into the Tioga Baptist Church." + +In addition to helping his own church members, this method of +preaching had other results. Smith gives the following instance: + +"A few years ago the pastor of a small country church in Massachusetts +resolved to try Dr. Conwell's method of imparting useful information +through his illustrations, and teaching the people what they needed +to know. Acting on Dr. Conwell's advice, he studied agricultural +chemistry, dairy farming, and household economy. He did not become +a sensationalist and advertise to preach on these subjects, but he +brought in many helpful illustrations which the people recognized as +valuable, and soon the meeting-house was filled with eager listeners. +After careful study the minister became convinced that the farmers on +those old worn-out farms in Western Massachusetts should go into the +dairy business, and feed their cows on ensilage through the long New +England winter. One bright morning he preached a sermon on 'Leaven,' +and incidentally used a silo as an illustration. The preacher did not +sacrifice his sermon to his illustration, but taught a great truth +and set the farmers to thinking along a new line. As a result of that +sermon one poor farmer built a silo and filled it with green corn in +the autumn; his cows relished the new food and repaid him splendidly +with milk. That farmer Is the richest man In the country to-day. This +is only one of a great many ways in which that practical preacher +helped his poor, struggling parishioners by using the Conwell method. +What was the spiritual result of such preaching among the country +people? He had a great, wide, and deep revival of religion, the first +the church had enjoyed for twenty-five years." + +Thus Dr. Conwell weaves practical sense and spiritual truths together +in a way that helps people for the span of life they live in this +world, for the eternal life beyond. He never forgets the soul and its +needs. That is his foremost thought. But he recognizes also that there +is a body and that it lives in a practical world. And whenever and +wherever he can help practically, as well as spiritually, he does it, +realizing that the world needs Christians who have the means as well +as the spirit to carry forward Christ's work. + +Speaking of his methods of preaching, Rev. Albert G. Lawson, D.D., +says: + +"He has been blessed in his ministry because of three things: He has a +democratic, philosophic, philanthropic bee in his bonnet, a big one, +too, and he has attempted to bring us to see that churches mean +something beside fine houses and good music. There must be a +recognition of the fact that when a man is lost, he is lost in body as +well as in soul One needs, therefore, as our Lord would, to begin at +the foundations, the building anew of the mind with the body; and +I bless God for the democratic, and the philosophic, and the +philanthropic idea which is manifest in this strong church. I hope +there will be enough power in it to make every Baptist minister sick +until he tries to occupy the same field that Jesus Christ did in his +life and ministry; until every one of the churches shall recognize the +privilege of having Jesus Christ reshaped in the men and women near +them." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +THESE BUSY LATER DAYS + +A Typical Week Day. A Typical Sunday. Mrs. Conwell. Back to the +Berkshires in Summer for Rest. + + +By the record of what Dr. Conwell has accomplished may be judged how +busy are his days. + +In early youth he learned to use his time to the best advantage. +Studying and working on the farm, working and studying at Wilbraham +and Yale, told him how precious is each minute. Work he must when he +wanted to study. Study he must when he needed to work. Every minute +became as carefully treasured as though it were a miser's gold. But it +was excellent training for the busy later days when work would press +from all sides until it was distraction to know what to do first. + +"Do the next thing," is the advice he gives his college students. It +is undoubtedly a saving of time to take the work that lies immediately +at hand and despatch it. But when the hand is surrounded by work in a +score of important forms, all clamoring for recognition, what is "the +next thing" becomes a question difficult to decide. + +Then it is that one must plan as carefully to use one's minutes as he +does to expend one's income when expenses outrun it. + +His private secretary gave the following account, in the "Temple +Magazine," of a week day and a Sunday in Dr. Conwell's life: + +"No two days are alike in his work, and he has no specified hour for +definite classes of calls or kinds of work. + +"After breakfast he goes to his office in The Temple. Here visitors +from half a dozen to twenty await him, representing a great variety of +needs or business. + +"Visitors wait their turn in the ante-room of his study and are +received by him in the order of their arrival. The importance of +business, rank or social position of the caller does not interfere +with this order. + +[Illustration: THE CHORUS OF THE BAPTIST TEMPLE] + +"Throughout the whole day in the street, at the church, at the +College, wherever he goes, he is beset by persons urging him for +money, free lectures, to write introductions to all sorts of books, +for sermons, or to take up collections for indigent individuals or +churches. Letters reach him even from Canada, asking him to take care +of some aunt, uncle, runaway son, or needy family, in Philadelphia. +Sometimes for days together he does not secure five minutes to attend +to his correspondence. Personal letters which he must answer himself +often wait for weeks before he can attend to them, although he +endeavors, as a rule, to answer important letters on the day they +are received. People call to request him to deliver addresses at +the dedication of churches, schoolhouses, colleges, flag-raisings, +commencements, and anniversaries, re-unions, political meetings, and +all manner of reform movements. Authors urge him to read their work in +manuscript; orators without orations write to him and come to him for +address or sermon; applications flow in for letters of introduction +highly recommending entire strangers for anything they want. Agents +for books come to him for endorsements, with religious newspapers for +subscriptions and articles, and with patent medicines urging him to be +'cured with one bottle.' + +"It is well known that he was a lawyer before entering the ministry, +and orphans, guardians, widows, and young men entering business come +to him asking him to make wills, contracts, etc., and to give them +points of law concerning their undertakings. Weddings and funerals +claim his attention. Urgent messages to visit the sick and the dying +and the unfortunate come to him, and these appeals are answered first +either by himself or the associate pastor; the cries of the suffering +making the most eloquent of all appeals to these two busy men." + +Frequently he comes to the church again in the afternoon to meet +some one by appointment. Both afternoon and evening are crowded with +engagements to see people, to make addresses, to attend special +meetings of various kinds, with College and Hospital duties. + +"I am expected to preside at six different meetings to-night," he said +smilingly to a friend at The Temple one evening as the membership +began to stream in to look after its different lines of work. + +Much, of the time during the winter he is away lecturing, but he keeps +in constant communication with The Temple and its work. By letter, +wire or telephone he is ready to respond to any emergency requiring +his advice or suggestion. These lecture trips carry him all over the +country, but they are so carefully planned that with rare exceptions +he is in the pulpit Sunday morning. Frequently, when returning, he +wires for his secretary to meet him part way, if from the West, at +Harrisburg or Altoona; if from the South, at Washington or beyond. The +secretary brings the mail and the remaining hours of the journey are +filled with work, dictating letters, articles for magazines or press, +possibly material for a book, whatever work most presses. + +Pastoral calls in the usual sense of the term cannot be made in a +membership of more than three thousand. But visits to the sick, to +the poor, to the dying, are paid whenever the call comes. To help and +console the afflicted, to point the way to Christ, is the work nearest +and dearest to Dr. Conwell's heart and always comes first. Funerals, +too, claim a large part of the pastor's time, seven in one day among +the Grace Church membership calling for the services of both Dr. +Conwell and his associate. Weddings are not an unimportant feature, +six having been one day's record at The Temple. + +Of his Sundays, his secretary says: + +"From the time of rising until half-past eight, he gives special +attention to the subject of the morning sermon, and usually selects +his text and general line of thought before sitting down to breakfast. +After family prayers, he spends half an hour in his study, at home, +examining books and authorities in the completion of his sermon. +Sometimes he is unable to select a text until reaching The Temple. He +has, though rarely, made his selection after taking his place at the +pulpit. + +"At nine-thirty, he is always promptly in his place at the opening of +the Young Men's prayer-meeting or at the Women's prayer-meeting in the +Lower Temple. At the Young Men's meeting he plays the organ and leads +the singing. If he takes any other part in the meeting he is very +brief, in talk or prayer. + +"At half-past ten he goes directly to the Upper Temple, where as a +rule he conducts all the exercises with the exception of the 'notices' +and a prayer offered by the associate pastor, or in his absence at an +overflow service in the Lower Temple, by the dean of the College or +chaplain of the Hospital. The pastor meets the candidates for +baptism in his study before service, for conference and prayer. In +administering the ordinance, he is assisted by the associate pastor, +who leads the candidates into the baptistry. + +"The pastor reads the hymns. It is his custom to preach without +any notes whatever; rarely, a scrap of paper may lie on the desk +containing memoranda or suggestions of leading thoughts, but +frequently even when this is the case the notes are ignored. + +"A prominent--possibly the prevailing--idea in the preparation of his +sermons is the need of individuals in his congregation. He aims to +say those things which will be the most helpful and inspiring to the +unconverted seeking Christ, or to the Christian desiring to lead a +nobler spiritual life. It may be said of nearly all his illustrations +that they present such a variety of spiritual teaching that different +persons will catch from them different suggestions adapted to needs of +each. + +"The morning service closes promptly at twelve o'clock; then follows +an informal reception for thirty minutes or it may be an hour, for +hundreds, sometimes a thousand and more, many of them visitors from +other cities and states, press forward to shake hands with him. This, +Dr. Conwell considers an important part of his church work, giving him +an opportunity to meet many of the church members and extend personal +greetings to those whom he would have no possible opportunity to visit +in their homes. + +"He dines at one o'clock. At two, he is in The Temple; again he +receives more callers, and if possible makes some preparation for +services of the afternoon, in connection with the Sunday-school work. +At two-thirty, he is present at the opening of the Junior department +of the Sunday-school in the Lower Temple, where he takes great +interest in the singing, which is a special feature of that +department. At three o'clock, he appears promptly on the platform in +the auditorium where the Adult department of the Sunday-school meets, +gives a short exposition of the lesson for the day, and answers from +the Question Box. These cover a great variety of subjects, from the +absurdity of some crack-brained crank to the pathetic appeal of some +needy soul. Some of these questions may be sent in by mail during the +week, but the greater part of them are handed to the pastor by the +ushers. To secure an answer the question must be upon some subject +connected with religious life or experience, some theme of Christian +ethics in everyday life. + +"When the questions are answered, the pastor returns to the Lower +Temple, going to the Junior, Intermediate, or Kindergarten department +to assist in the closing exercises. At the close of the Sunday-school +session, teachers and scholars surround him, seeking information or +advice concerning the school work, their Christian experience or +perhaps to tell him their desire to unite with the church.[A] + +[Footnote A: Lately (1905), however, he has had to give up much of +this Sunday-school work on account of the need of rest.] + +"As a rule, he leaves The Temple at five o'clock If he finds no +visitors with appeals for counsel or assistance waiting for him at his +home, he lies down for half an hour. Usually the visitors are there, +and his half-hour rest is postponed until after the evening service. + +"Supper at five-thirty, after which he goes to his study to prepare +for the evening service, selecting his subject and looking up such +references as he thinks may be useful. At seven-fifteen, he is in The +Temple again, often visiting for a few moments one of the Christian +Endeavor societies, several of which are at that time in session in +the Lower Temple. At half-past seven the general service is held in +the auditorium. The evening sermon is published weekly in the "Temple +Review." He gives all portions of this service full attention. + +"At nine o'clock this service closes, and the pastor goes once more +to the Lower Temple, where both congregations, the 'main' and the +'overflow' unite, so far as is possible, in a union prayer service. +The hall of the Lower Temple and the rooms connected with it are +always overcrowded at this service meeting, and many are unable to +get within hearing of the speakers on the platform. Here Dr. Conwell +presides at the organ and has general direction of the evangelistic +services, assisted by the associate pastor. As enquirers rise for +prayers,--the prayers of God's people,--Dr. Conwell makes note of each +one, and to their great surprise recognizes them when he meets them on +the street or at another service, long afterward. This union meeting +is followed by another general reception especially intended for a few +words of personal conversation with those who have risen for prayer +and with strangers who are brought forward and introduced by members +of the church. This is the most fatiguing part of the day's work and +occupies from one hour to an hour and a half. He reaches home about +eleven o'clock and before retiring makes a careful memoranda of such +people as have requested him to pray for them, and such other matters +as may require his attention during the week. He seldom gets to bed +much before midnight." + +In all the crowd and pressure of work, he is ably assisted by Mrs. +Conwell. In the early days of his ministry at Grace Church she was +his private secretary, but as the work grew for both of them, she was +compelled to give this up. + +She enters into all her husband's work and plans with cheery, helpful +enthusiasm. Yet her hands are full of her own special church work, for +she is a most important member of the various working associations of +the church, college and hospital. For many years she was treasurer of +the large annual fairs of The Temple, as well as being at the head of +a number of large teas and fairs held for the benefit of Samaritan +Hospital. In addition to all this church and charitable work, she +makes the home a happy centre of the brightest social life and a +quiet, well-ordered retreat for the tired preacher and lecturer when +he needs rest. + +A writer in "The Ladies' Home Journal," in a series of articles on +"Wives of Famous Pastors," says of Mrs. Conwell: + +"Mrs. Conwell finds her greatest happiness in her husband's work, and +gives him always her sympathy and devotion. She passes many hours at +work by his side when he is unable to notice her by word or look; she +knows he delights In her presence, for he often says when writing, 'I +can do better if you remain.' Her whole life is wrapped up in the work +of The Temple, and all those multitudinous enterprises connected with +that most successful of churches. + +"She makes an ideal wife for a pastor whose work is varied and whose +time is as interrupted as are Mr. Conwell's work and time. On her +husband's lecture tours she looks well after his comfort, seeing to +those things which a busy and earnest man is almost sure to overlook +and neglect. In all things he finds her his helpmeet and caretaker." + +From this busy life the family escape in summer to Dr. Conwell's +boyhood home in the Berkshires. Here amid the hills he loves, with the +brook of his boyhood days again singing him to sleep, he rests and +recuperates for the coming winter's campaign. + +The little farmhouse is vastly changed since those early days. Many +additions have been made, modern improvements added, spacious porches +surround it on all sides, and a green, velvety lawn dotted with +shrubbery and flowers has replaced the rocks and stones, the sparse +grass of fifty years ago. If Martin and Miranda Conwell could return +and see the little house now with its artistic furnishings, its walls +hung with pictures from those very lands the mother read her boy +about, they would think miracles had indeed come to pass. + +In front of the house where once flashed a little brook that "set the +silences to rhyme" is now a silvery lake framed in rich green foliage. +Up in the hill where swayed the old hemlock with the eagle's nest for +a crown rises an observatory. From the top one gazes in summer into a +billowy sea of green in which the spire of the Methodist church rises +like a far distant white sail. + +It is a happy family that gathers in the old homestead during the +summer days. His daughter, now Mrs. Tuttle, comes with her children, +Mr. Turtle, who is a civil engineer, joining them when his work +permits. Dr. Conwell's son Leon, proprietor and editor of the +Somerville (Mass.) "Journal," with his wife and child, always spend as +much of the summer there as possible. One vacant chair there is in the +happy family circle. Agnes, the only child of Dr. and Mrs. Conwell, +died in 1901, in her twenty-sixth year. She was the wife of Alfred +Barker. A remarkably bright and gifted girl, clever with her pen, +charming in her personality, an enthusiastic and successful worker in +the many interests of church, college and hospital, her death was a +sad loss to her family and friends. + +Not only the beauty of the place but the associations bring rest and +peace to the tired spirit of the busy preacher and lecturer, and he +returns to his work refreshed, ready to take up with rekindled energy +and enthusiasm the tasks awaiting him. + +Thus his busy life goes on, full of unceasing work for the good of +others. Over his bed hangs a gold sheathed sword which to him is a +daily inspiration to do some deed worthy of the sacrifice which it +typifies. "I look at it each morning," said Dr. Conwell to a friend, +"and pray for help to do something that day to make my life worthy of +such a sacrifice." And each, day he prays the prayer his father prayed +for him in boyhood days, "May no person be the worse because I have +lived this day, but may some one be the better." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +AS A LECTURER + +His Wide Fame as a Lecturer. Date of Entrance on Lecture Platform. +Number of Lectures Given. The Press on His Lectures. Some Instances of +How His Lectures Have Helped People. Address at Banquet to President +McKinley. + + +In the maze of this church, college and hospital work, Dr. Conwell +finds time to lecture from one hundred to two hundred and twenty-five +times in a year. Indeed, he frequently leaves Philadelphia at midnight +after a Sunday of hard work, travels and lectures as far as Kansas and +is back again for Friday evening prayer meeting and for his duties the +following Sunday. + +As a lecturer, he is probably known to a greater number of people +than he is as a preacher, for his lecturing trips take him from the +Atlantic to the Pacific. Since he began, he has delivered more than +six thousand lectures. + +He has been on the lecture platform since the year 1862, giving on +an average of two hundred lectures in a year. In addition, he has +addressed many of the largest conventions in America and preaches +weekly to an audience of more than three thousand. So that he has +undoubtedly addressed more people in America than any man living. He +is to-day one of the most eminent and most popular figures on the +lecture platform of this country, the last of the galaxy of such men +as Gough, Beecher, Chapin. "There are but ten real American lecturers +on the American platform to-day," says "Leslie's Weekly." "Russell +Conwell is one of the ten and probably the most eminent." + +His lectures, like his sermons, are full of practical help and good +sense. They are profusely illustrated with anecdote and story that +fasten the thought of his subject. He uses no notes, and gives his +lecture little thought during the day. Indeed, he often does not know +the subject until he hears the chairman announce it. If the lecture is +new or one that he has not given for many years, he occasionally has a +few notes or a brief outline before him. But usually he is so full +of the subject, ideas and illustrations so crowd his mind that he is +troubled with the wealth, rather than the dearth, of material. He +rarely gives a lecture twice alike. The main thought, of course, is +the same. But new experiences suggest new illustrations, and so, no +matter how many times one hears it, he always hears something new. +"That's the third time I've heard Acres of Diamonds," said one +delighted auditor, "and every time it grows better." + +Perhaps the best idea of his lectures can be gleaned from the press +notices that have appeared, though he never keeps a press notice +himself, nor pays any attention to the compliments that may have been +paid him. These that have been collected at random by friends by no +means cover the field of what has been said or written about him. + +Speaking of a lecture in 1870, when he toured England, the London +"Telegraph" says: + +"The man is weirdly like his native hills. You can hear the cascades +and the trickling streams in his tone of voice. He has a strange and +unconscious power of so modulating his voice as to suggest the roar of +the tempest in rocky declivities, or the soft echo of music in distant +valleys. The breezy freshness and natural suggestiveness of varied +nature in its wild state was completely fascinating. He excelled in +description, and the auditor could almost hear the Niagara roll as he +described it, and listened to catch the sound of sighing pines in his +voice as he told of the Carolinas." + +"The lecture was wonderful in clearness, powerful, and eloquent in +delivery," says the London "News." "The speaker made the past a living +present, and led the audience, unconscious of time, with him in his +walks and talks with famous men. When engrossed in his lecture his +facial expression is a study. His countenance conveys more quickly +than his words the thought which he is elucidating, and when he refers +to his Maker, his face takes on an expression indescribable for its +purity. He seems to hold the people as children stare at brilliant and +startling pictures." + +"It is of no use to try to report Conwell's lectures," is the verdict +of the Springfield "Union." "They are unique. Unlike anything or any +one else. Filled with good sense, brilliant with new suggestions, and +inspiring always to noble life and deeds, they always please with +their wit. The reader of his addresses does not know the full power of +the man." + +"His stories are always singularly adapted to the lecturer's purpose. +Each story is mirth-provoking. The audience chuckled, shook, swayed, +and roared with convulsions of laughter," says the "London Times." "He +has been in the lecture field but a few years, yet he has already made +a place beside such men as Phillips, Beecher, and Chapin." + +"The only lecturer in America," concludes the Philadelphia "Times," +"who can fill a hall in this city with three thousand people at a +dollar a ticket." + +The most popular of all his lectures is "Acres of Diamonds," which he +has given 3,420 times, which is printed, in part, at the end of the +book. But his list of lectures is a long one, including: + + "The Philosophy of History." + "Men of the Mountains." + "The Old and the New New England." + "My Fallen Comrades." + "The Dust of Our Battlefields." + "Was it a Ghost Story?" + "The Unfortunate Chinese." + "Three Scenes in Babylon." + "Three Scenes from the Mount of Olives." + "Americans in Europe." + "General Grant's Empire." + "Princess Elizabeth." + "Guides." + "Success in Life." + "The Undiscovered." + "The Silver Crown, or Born a King." + "Heroism of a Private Life." + "The Jolly Earthquake." + "Heroes and Heroines." + "Garibaldi, or the Power of Blind Faith." + "The Angel's Lily." + "The Life of Columbus." + "Five Million Dollars for the Face of the Moon." + "Henry Ward Beecher." + "That Horrid Turk." + "Cuba's Appeal to the United States." + "Anita, the Feminine Torch." + "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women." + +His lecturing tours now are confined to the United States, as his +church duties will not permit him to go farther afield, but so wide is +his fame that a few years ago he declined an offer of $39,000 for a +six months' engagement In Australia. This year (1905) he received an +offer of $50,000 for two hundred lectures in Australia and England. + +He lectures, as he preaches, with the earnest desire ever uppermost +to help some one. He never goes to a lecture engagement without a +definite prayer to God that his words may be so directed as to do some +good to the community or to some individual. When he has delivered +"Acres of Diamonds," he frequently leaves a sum of money with the +editor of the leading paper in the town to be given as a prize for any +one who advances the most practical idea for using waste forces in the +neighborhood. In one Vermont town where he had lectured, the money was +won by a young man who after a careful study of the products of +the neighborhood, said he believed the lumber of that section was +especially adapted to the making of coffins. A sum of $2,000 was +raised, the water power harnessed and a factory started. + +A man in Michigan who was on the verge of bankruptcy, having lost +heavily in real estate speculation, heard "Acres of Diamonds," and +started in, as the lecture advises, right at home to rebuild his +fortunes. Instead of giving up, he began the same business again, +fought a plucky fight and is now president of the bank and a leading +financier of the town. + +A poor farmer of Western Massachusetts, finding it impossible to +make a living on his stony place, had made up his mind to move and +advertised his farm for sale. He heard "Acres of Diamonds," took to +heart its lessons. "Raise what the people about you need," it said to +him. He went into the small fruit business and is now a rich man. + +The man who invented the turnout and switch system for electric cars +received his suggestion from "Acres of Diamonds." + +A baker heard "Acres of Diamonds," got an idea for an improved oven +and made thousands of dollars from it. + +A teacher in Montrose, Pennsylvania, was so impressed with the +practical ideas in the now famous lecture that he determined to teach +what his pupils most needed to know. Being in a farming district, he +added agricultural chemistry to their studies with such success that +the next year he was elected principal of one of the Montrose schools +and shortly afterward was appointed Superintendent of Education and +President of the State University of Ohio. + +But incidents by the hundreds could be related or practical, helpful +results that flow from Dr. Conwell's lectures. + +There is yet another side of their helpfulness that the world knows +little about. In his early lecturing days, he resolved to give his +lecture fees to the education of poor boys and faithfully through all +these years has that resolve been kept The Redpath Lyceum Bureau has +paid him nearly $300,000, and more than $200,000 of this has gone +directly to help those poor in purse who hunger after knowledge, as he +himself did in those days at Wilbraham when help would have been so +welcome. The balance has been given to Temple College, which in itself +is the strongest and most helpful hand ever stretched out to those +struggling for an education. + +In addition to his lectures, he is called upon to make innumerable +addresses at various meetings, public gatherings and conventions. +Those who have never heard him speak may gather some idea of the +impression he makes by the following letter written by a gentleman +who attended the banquet given to President McKinley at the G.A.R. +encampment in Philadelphia in 1899: + +"At the table with the President was Russell H. Conwell, and no one +near me could tell me who he was. We mistook him for the new Secretary +of War, until Secretary Root made his speech. There was a highly +intelligent and remarkably representative audience of the nation at a +magnificent banquet in the hall decorated regardless of cost. + +"The addresses were all specially good and made by men specially +before the nation. Yet all the evening till after midnight there +were continuous interruptions and much noise of voices, dishes, and +waiters. Men at distant tables laughed out often. It was difficult to +hear at best, the acoustics were so bad. The speakers took it as a +matter of course at such a 'continuous performance.' Some of the +Representatives must have thought they were at home in the House at +Washington. They listened or not, as they chose. The great hall was +quiet only when the President gave his address, except when the +enclosed remarks were made long after midnight, when all were worn out +with speeches. + +"When, about the last thing, Conwell was introduced by the chairman, +no one heard his name because of the noise at the tables. Two men +asked me who he was. But not two minutes after he began, the place +was still and men craned their necks to catch his words. I never saw +anything so magical. I know how you would have enjoyed it. Its effect +was a hot surprise. The revelers all worn; the people ready to go +home; the waiters impatient; the speech wholly extemporaneous. It was +a triumph that did honor to American oratory at its best. The applause +was decisive and deafening. I never heard of anything better done +under such circumstances. + +"None of the morning papers we could get on the train mentioned either +Conwell or his great speech. Perhaps Conwell asked the reporters to +suppress it. I don't know as to that. But it was the first thing we +looked for. Not a word. There is no clue to account for that. Yet that +is the peculiarity of this singular life: one of the most public, one +of the most successful men, but yet one of the least discussed or +written about. He was to us as visitors the great feature of that +banquet as a speaker, and yet wholly ignored by the press of his own +city. The United States Senator Penrose seemed only to know in a +general way that Conwell was a great benefactor and a powerful citizen +and preacher. Conwell is a study. I cogitated on him all day. I was +told that he marched throughout the great parade in the rear rank of +his G.A.R. post. It is the strangest case of a private life I have +ever heard mentioned. The Quakers will wake up resurrection day and +find out Conwell lived in Philadelphia. It is startling to think how +measureless the influence of such a man is in its effect on the world. +Through forty years educating men, healing the sick, caring for +children, then preaching to a great church, then lecturing in the +great cities nearly every night, then writing biographies; and also an +accessible counselor to such masses of young people!" + +The address referred to in the foregoing letter was taken down in +shorthand, and was substantially as follows: + +"Comrades: I feel at this moment as Alexander Stephens said he felt at +the close of the war of 1865, and it can well be illustrated by the +boasting athlete who declared he could throw out twenty men from a +neighboring saloon in five minutes. He requested his friend to stand +outside and count as he went in and threw them out. Soon a battered +man was thrown out the door far into the street. The friend began his +count and shouted, 'One!' But the man in the street staggered to his +feet and angrily screamed, 'Stop counting! It's me!' When this feast +opened I was proudly expecting to make a speech, but the great men who +have preceded me have done all and more than I intended to do. The +hour is spent--they are sounding 'taps' at the door. I could not hope +to hold your attention. It only remains for me to do my duty in behalf +of Meade Post, and do it in the briefest possible space. + +"Comrades of Boston and New York, you have heard the greetings +when you entered the city--you have seen the gorgeous and artistic +decorations on halls and dwellings--you have heard the shouts of the +million and more who pressed into the streets, waved handkerchiefs +from the stands, and looked over each other's heads from all the +windows and roofs throughout that weary march. Here you see the lovely +decorations, the most costly feast, and listen to the heart-thrilling, +soul-subduing orchestra. All of these have already spoken to you an +unmistakable message of welcome. Knowing this city as I do, I can say +to you that not one cornet or viol, not one hymn or shout, not one +wave in all the clouds which fair hands rolled up, not one gun of all +that shook the city, not one flush of red on a dear face of beauty, +not one blessing from the aged on his cane, not one tear on the +eyelids which glowed again as your march brought back the gleam of a +morning long since dead, not one clasp of the hand, not one 'God bless +you!' from saint or priest in all this fair city, but I believe has +been deeply, earnestly, sincere. + +"This repast is not the result of pride--is not arranged for gluttony +or fashion. No political scheme inspired its proposal, and no ulterior +motive moved these companions to take your arm. The joy that seems to +beam in the comrade's eye and unconsciously express itself in word and +gesture, is real. It is the hearty love of a comrade who showed his +love for his country by battle in 1862, and who only finds new ways in +time of peace for expressing the same character now. The eloquence of +this night has been unusually, earnestly, practically patriotic and +fraternal. It has been the utterance of hearts beating full and strong +for humanity. Loyalty, fraternity, and charity are here in fact. It is +true, honest, heart. Such fraternal greetings may be as important for +liberty and justice as the winning of a Gettysburg. For the mighty +influence of the Grand Army of the Republic is even more potent now +than it was on that bloody day. Peace has come and the brave men +of the North recognize and respect the motives and bravery of that +Confederate army which dealt them such fearful blows believing _they_ +were in the right. But the glorious peace we enjoy and the greatness +of our nation's name and power are due as much to the living Grand +Army as to the dead. I am getting weary of being counted 'old,' but I +am more tired of hearing the soldier overpraised for what he did in +1861. You have more influence now than then, and are better men in +every sense. At Springfield, Illinois, they illustrated the growth of +the city by telling me that in 1856 a lunatic preacher applied to Mr. +Lincoln for his aid to open the legislative chamber for a series of +meetings to announce that the Lord was coming at once. Mr. Lincoln +refused, saying, 'If the Lord knew Springfield as well as I do, he +wouldn't come within a thousand miles of it.' But now the legislative +halls are open, and every good finds welcome in that city. The world +grows better--cities are not worse. The nation has not gone backward, +and all the good deeds did not cease in 1865. The Grand Army of the +Republic, speaking plainly but with no sense of egotism, has been +praised too much for the war and too little for its heroism and power +in peace. Does it make a man an angel to eat hardtack? Or does it +educate in inductive philosophy to chase a pig through a Virginia +fence? Peace has its victories no less renowned than war. + +"The Grand Army is not growing old. You all feel younger at this +moment than you did at the close of the day's march. Your work is not +finished. You were not fossilized in 1865. The war was not a nurse, +nor was it a very thorough schoolmaster. It did serve, however, to +show to friends and country what kind of men America contained. Not I +nor you perhaps can take this pleasing interpretation to ourselves, +but looking at the five hundred thousand men who outlived the war, we +see that they were the same men before the war and have remained +the same since the war. Their ability, friendship, patriotism, and +religion were better known after they had shown their faith by deeds, +but their identity and character were in great measure the same. + +"Many of our Presidents have been taken from the ranks of the army. +But it would be a mockery of political wisdom to declare that a free, +intelligent people elect a chief executive simply to reward him for +having been in the war of 1861. Captain Garfield, Lieutenant Hayes, +Major McKinley, and General Grant were not put at the head of the +nation as one would vote a pension. They were elected because the +people believed them to be the very best statesmen they could select +for the office. For a time every foreign consul except four was a +soldier. Two-thirds of Congress had been in the army. Twenty-nine +governors in the same year had been in military service. Nine +presidents of universities had been volunteers in 1863. Three thousand +postmasters appointed in one year were from the army. Cabinet +officers, custom-house officers, judges, district attorneys, and +clerks in public offices were almost exclusively selected from army +men. Could you look in the face of the nations and declare that with +all our enterprise, learning, progress, and common sense, we had such +an inadequate idea of the responsibilities of government that we +elected men to office who were incapable, simply because they had +carried a gun or tripped over a sword! No, no. The shrewd Yankee and +the calculating Hoosier are not caught with such chaff. They selected +these officers as servants of the nation because the war had served to +show what sort of men they were. + +"In short, they appointed them to high positions because they were +true men. They are just as true men now. They are as patriotic, as +industrious, as unselfish, as brave to-day as they were in the dark +days of the rebellion. Their efforts are as honest now as they were +then, to perpetuate free institutions and maintain the honor of the +flag. + +"They have endowed colleges, built cathedrals, opened the wilderness +to railroads, filled the American desert with roses, constructed +telephone, telegraph, and steamship lines. They have stood in +classroom and in the pulpit by the thousand; they have honored our +courts with their legal acumen; they have covered the plains with +cities, and compelled the homage of Europe to secure our scholars, our +wheat and our iron. The soldier has controlled the finances of +banking systems and revolutionized labor, society, and arts with his +inventions. They saw poor Cuba, beautiful as her surf and femininely +sweet as her luscious fruits, tortured in chains. They saw her lovely +form through the blood that covered her, and Dewey, Sampson, Schley, +Miles, Merritt, Sigsbee, Evans, Philip, Alger, and McKinley of the +Grand Army led the forces to her rescue. The Philippines in the +darkness of half-savage life were brought unexpectedly under our +colors because Dewey and his commanders were in 1898 just the same +heroes they were in 1864. + +"At the bidding of Meade Post, then, I welcome you and bid you +farewell. This gathering was in the line of duty. Its spectacle has +impressed the young, inspired the strong man, and comforted the aged. +The fraternity here so sincerely expressed to-night will encourage us +all to enfold the old flag more tenderly, to love our country more +deeply, and to go on in every path of duty, showing still the spirit +of '61 wherever good calls for sacrifice or truth for a defender." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +AS A WRITER + +His Rapid Method of Working. A Popular Biographical Writer. The Books +He Has Written. + + +Still the minutes are not full. The man who learned five languages +while going to and from his business on the street cars of Boston +finds time always to crowd in one thing more. Despite his multitude of +other cares, Dr. Conwell's pen is not idle. It started to write in his +boyhood days and it has been writing ever since. + +His best known works are his biographies. Charles A. Dana, the famous +editor and publisher of the New York "Sun," just before his death, +wrote to Harper Brothers recommending that Mr. Conwell be secured to +write a series of books for an "American Biographical Library," and in +his letter said: + +"I write the above of my own notion, as I have seldom met Mr. Conwell; +but as a writer of biographies he has no superior. Indeed, I can say +considerately, that he is one of America's greatest men. He never +advertises himself, never saves a newspaper clipping concerning +himself, never keeps a sermon of his own, and will not seek applause. +You must go after him if you want him. He will not apply to you. His +personal history is as fascinating as it is exceptional. He took +himself as a poor back country lad, created out of the crude material +the orator which often combines a Webster with Gough, and made himself +a scholar of the first rank. He created from nothing a powerful +university of high rank in Philadelphia, especially for the common +people. He created a great and influential church out of a small +unknown parish. He has assisted more men in securing an education than +any other American. He has created a hospital of the first order and +extent. He has fed the poor and housed large numbers of orphans. He +has written many books and has addressed more people than any other +living man. To do this without writing or dictating a line to +advertise himself is nothing else than the victory of a great genius. +He is a gem worth your seeking, valuable anywhere. I say again that I +regard Russell H. Conwell, of Philadelphia, as America's greatest man +in the best form. I cannot do your work; he can." + +His most successful biography, his "Life of Charles H. Spurgeon," was +written in a little more than two weeks. In fact, it was not written +at all, it was dictated while on a lecturing trip. When Spurgeon died, +a publisher telegraphed Dr. Conwell if he would write a biography of +the great London preacher. Dr. Conwell was traveling at the time in +the West, lecturing. He wired an affirmative, and sent for his private +secretary. It was during the building of the College when great +financial responsibilities were resting on him, and he was lecturing +every night to raise money for the college building fund. His +secretary accompanied him on the lecture trip. Dr. Conwell dictated +the book on the train during the day, the secretary copied it from his +notes at night while Dr. Conwell lectured. At the end of two weeks +the book of six hundred pages was nearly completed. It had a sale of +125,000 copies in four months. And all the royalties were given to a +struggling mission of Grace Baptist Church. + +[Illustration: TEMPLE COLLEGE] + +His biography of Elaine was written almost as rapidly. In a few hours +after Blaine was nominated as candidate of the Republican party for +the presidency. Dr. and Mrs. Conwell boarded a train and started for +Augusta, Maine. In three weeks the book was completed. + +He has worked at times from four o'clock in the morning until twelve +at night when work pressed and time was short. + +His life of Bayard Taylor was also written quickly. He had traveled +with Taylor through Europe and long been an intimate friend, so that +he was particularly well fitted for the work. The book was begun after +Taylor's death, December 19, 1878, in Germany, and completed before +the body arrived in America. Five thousand copies were sold before the +funeral. + +Dr. Conwell presided at the memorial service held in Tremont Temple, +Boston. Many years after, in a sermon preached at The Temple, he thus +described the occasion: + +"When Bayard Taylor, the traveler and poet, died, great sorrow was +felt and exhibited by the people of this nation. I remember well the +sadness which was noticed in the city of Boston. The spontaneous +desire to give some expression to the respect in which Hr. Taylor's +name was held, pressed the literary people of Boston, both writers and +readers, forward to a public memorial in the great hall of Tremont +Temple. As a friend of Mr. Taylor's I was called upon to preside at +that memorial gathering. That audience of the scholarly classes was a +wonderful tribute to a remarkable man, and one for which. I feel still +a keen sense of gratitude. I remember asking Mr. Longfellow to write +a poem, and to read it, and standing on the broad step at his front +door, in Cambridge, he replied to my suggestion with the sweet +expression: 'The universal sorrow is almost too sacred to touch with a +pen.' + +"But when the evening came, although Professor Longfellow was too ill +to be present, his poem was there. The great hall was crowded with +the most cultivated people of Boston. On the platform sat many of +the poets, orators and philosophers, who have since passed into +the Beyond. When, after several speeches had been made, I arose to +introduce Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the pressure of the crowd was too +great for me to reach my chair again, and I took for a time the seat +which Dr. Holmes had just left, and next to Ralph Waldo Emerson. +Never were words of poet listened to with a silence more respectfully +profound than were the words of Professor Longfellow's poem as they +were so touchingly and beautifully read by Dr. Holmes: + + "'Dead he lay among his books, + The peace of God was in his looks! + + * * * * * + + Let the lifeless body rest, + He is gone who was its guest.-- + Gone as travelers haste to leave + An inn, nor tarry until eve! + Traveler, in what realms afar, + In what planet, in what star, + In what vast, aerial space, + Shines the light upon thy face? + In what gardens of delight + Rest thy weary feet to-night--' + + * * * * * + +"Before Dr. Holmes resumed his seat, Mr. Emerson whispered in my ear, +in his epigrammatic style, 'This is holy Sabbath time.'" + +Among the books which Dr. Conwell has written are: + + "Lessons of Travel." + "Why and How Chinese Emigrate." + "Nature's Aristocracy." + "History of the Great Fire in Boston." + "The Life of Gen. U.S. Grant." + "Woman and the Law." + "The life of Rutherford B. Hayes." + "History of the Great Fire in St. Johns." + "The Life of Bayard Taylor." + "The Life, Speeches, and Public Service of James A. Garfield." + "Little Bo." + "Joshua Gianavello." + "The Life of James G. Blaine." + "Acres of Diamonds." + "Gleams of Grace." + "The Life of Charles H. Spurgeon." + "The New Day." + +The manuscript which he prepared most carefully was the "Life of +Daniel Manin," which was destroyed by fire when his home at Newton +Centre was burned. He had spent much time and labor collecting data on +Italian history for it, and the loss was irreparable. + +"Joshua Gianavello" is a biographical story of the great Waldensian +chieftain who loved religions liberty and feared neither inquisition +nor death. It is dedicated to "the many believers in the divine +principle that every person should have the right to worship God +according to the dictates of his own conscience; and to the heroic +warriors who are still contending for religious freedom in the yet +unfinished battle." + +The same powerful imagination that pictures so realistically to his +lecture and church audiences the scenes and people he is describing, +makes them live in his books. His style holds the reader by its +vividness of description, its powerful delineation of character and +emotion. + +His latest book, "The New Day," is an amplification of his great +lecture, "Acres of Diamonds." It is not only delightful reading but +it is full of practical help for the affairs of everyday life. For +no matter in what field Dr. Conwell works, this great desire of his +life--to help his brother man--shines out. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +A HOME COMING + +Reception Tendered by Citizens of Philadelphia in Acknowledgment of +Work as Public Benefactor. + + +One more scene in the life of this man who, from a barefoot country +boy with no advantages, has become one of the most widely known of the +preachers, lecturers and writers of the day, as well as the founder +of a college and hospital holding an honored position among the +institutions of the country. + +In 1894, acting upon the advice of his physician, Dr. Conwell went +abroad. It is no unusual thing for pastors to go abroad, nor for +members of their church and friends to see them off. But for Grace +Baptist Church personally to wish its pastor "Bon voyage" is something +of an undertaking. A special train was chartered to take the members +to New York. Here a steamer engaged for the purpose awaited them, and +twelve hundred strong, they steamed down the harbor alongside the "New +York" that Dr. Conwell's last glimpse of America might be of the faces +of his own church family. + +On his return six hundred church members met him and gave him a royal +welcome, and a large reception was held in The Temple to show how glad +were the hearts of his people that he was restored to them in health. + +But it was not enough. The people of Philadelphia said, "This man +belongs to us." In all parts of the city, in all walks of life, were +men and women who had studied at Temple College, whose lives were +happier, more useful because of the knowledge they had gained there, +for whom he had opened these college doors. The Samaritan Hospital had +sent forth people by the hundreds whose bodies had been healed and +their spirits quickened because his kindly heart had foreseen their +need and his generous hands labored to help it. Everywhere throughout +the whole city was felt the leaven of his work, and the people as a +body said, "We will show our appreciation of the work he has done for +Philadelphia, we will show that we recognize him as one of the city's +greatest benefactors and philanthropists." + +A committee of twenty-one citizens was formed, of which the Mayor, +Edwin S. Stuart, was chairman, and a reception was tendered Dr. and +Mrs. Conwell and the others of his party in the name of the citizens +of Philadelphia. It was given at the Academy of Fine Arts. With its +paintings and statuary, its broad sweeping staircases, it made a +magnificent setting for the throngs of men and women who crowded to +pay their respects to this man who had lived among them, doing good. + +The line of waiting guests reached for two blocks and more and for +hours moved in steady procession before the receiving party. At last +the final farewell was said and on toward midnight Dr. Conwell stepped +into the carriage waiting to take him home. + +But the affair was not over. The college boys felt that shaking hands +in formal fashion did not express sufficiently their loyalty and +devotion, their joy in the return of their beloved "Prex." They +unharnessed the horses, and with college cheers and yells triumphantly +drew their president all the way from the Academy of Fine Arts to his +home, a distance of two miles. As they passed Temple College, their +enthusiasm broke all bounds and they drew up the carriage at the +Doctor's residence, two blocks beyond the College, with a yell and a +flourish that fairly lifted the neighbors from their beds. + +It was in every way a homecoming and a welcome that proved how +wide-reaching has been the work Dr. Conwell has done, how deeply it +has touched the lives of thousands of people in Philadelphia. This +spontaneous act of appreciation was but the tribute paid by grateful +hearts. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +THE PATH THAT HAS BEEN BLAZED + +Problems that Need Solving. The Need of Men Able to Solve Them. + + + "O do not pray for easy lives + Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for + Tasks equal to your powers. Pray + For powers equal to your tasks. + Then the doing of your work shall be + No miracle. But you shall be a miracle, + Every day you shall wonder at yourself, + At the richness of life that has come to you + By the Grace of God." + +wrote that great preacher, Phillips Brooks. + +The world does not want easy lives but strong men. Every age has its +problems. Every age needs men with clear moral vision, strong hands, +humane hearts to solve these problems. Character, not the fortune of +birth, qualifies for leadership in such a work. And such work ever +waits, the world over, to be done. In every large city of the country +are thousands crying for better education, the suffering poor are +holding up weak hands for help, men and women morally blind, are +asking for light to find Christ--the Christ of the Bible, not the +Christ of dogma and creed, religion pure and undefiled, the church in +the simplicity of the days of the apostles, the church that reaches +out a helping hand to all the needs of humanity. + +Institutional churches are needed, not one, but many of them, in the +cities, churches that help men to grapple with the stern actualities +of everyday life, churches that preach by works as well as by word, +churches in which the man in fustian is as welcome as the one in +broadcloth, churches whose influence reaches into the highways and +byways and compels people to come in by the very cordiality and +kindness of the invitation, churches that help people to live better +and more happily in this world, while at the same time preparing them +for the world to come. + +"In no other city in the country is there such an example of the +quickening force of a united and working church organization as +is given by the North Broad Street Temple, Philadelphia," says an +editorial writer in the Philadelphia "Press." "Twenty such churches +in this city of 1,250,000 people would do more to evangelize it and +re-awaken an interest in the vital truths of Christianity than the +hundreds of church organizations it now has. The world is demanding +more and better returns from the church for the time and money given +it. Real, practical Christian work is what is asked of the church. The +sooner it conforms to this demand, the more quickly it will regain +its old influence and be prepared to make effective its fight against +evil." + +Hospitals are needed that heal in the name of Christ, that heal ills +of the body and at the same time by the spirit of love that permeates, +by the Christian spirit that animates all connected with them, cure +the ills of the soul and send the sufferers away rejoicing in spirit +as well as in body, with a brighter outlook on the world and increased +faith in humankind. + +Colleges are needed the length and breadth of this land, wherever the +poor and ignorant sit in darkness. In every town of five thousand or +more, a college for working people on the lines of the Temple College +would be thronged with eager, rejoicing students. And the world is the +better for every man and woman raised to a higher plane of living. Any +life, no matter how sordid and narrow, how steeped in ignorance, if +swept sweet and clean by God's love, if awakened by ambition and then +given the opportunity to grow, can be changed into beauty, sweetness +and usefulness. And such work is worth while. + +The way has been blazed, the path has been pointed out, it only +remains for those who follow after to walk therein. And if they walk +therein, they will gain that true greatness and deep happiness which +Phillips Brooks says comes ever "to the man who has given his life +to his race, who feels that what God gives him, He gives him for +mankind." + + + + +ACRES OF DIAMONDS + +Dr. Conwell's most famous lecture and one of his earliest has been +given at this writing (October, 1905) 3420 times. The income from it +if invested at regular rates of interest would have amounted very +nearly to one million dollars. + + +PERSONAL GLIMPSES OF CELEBRATED MEN AND WOMEN + +Is Dr. Conwell's latest lecture. It is a backward glance over his own +life in which he tells in his inimitable fashion many of its most +interesting scenes and incidents. It is here published for the first +time. + + + + +ACRES OF DIAMONDS.[A] + +[Footnote A: Reported by A. Russell Smith and Harry E. Greager.] + +[Mr. Conwell's lectures are all delivered extemporaneously and differ +greatly from night to night.--Ed.] + + +I am astonished that so many people should care to hear this story +over again. Indeed, this lecture has become a study in psychology; +it often breaks all rules of oratory, departs from the precepts of +rhetoric, and yet remains the most popular of any lecture I have +delivered in the forty-four years of my public life. I have sometimes +studied for a year upon a lecture and made careful research, and then +presented the lecture just once--never delivered it again. I put too +much work on it. But this had no work on it--thrown together perfectly +at random, spoken offhand without any special preparation, and it +succeeds when the thing we study, work over, adjust to a plan is an +entire failure. + +The "Acres of Diamonds" which I have mentioned through so many years +are to be found in Philadelphia, and you are to find them. Many have +found them. And what man has done, man can do. I could not find +anything better to illustrate my thought than a story I have told +over and over again, and which is now found in books in nearly every +library. + +In 1870 we went down the Tigris River. We hired a guide at Bagdad to +show us Persepolis, Nineveh and Babylon, and the ancient countries of +Assyria as far as the Arabian Gulf. He was well acquainted with the +land, but he was one of those guides who love to entertain their +patrons; he was like a barber that tells you many stories in order to +keep your mind off the scratching and the scraping. He told me so +many stories that I grew tired of his telling them and I refused to +listen--looked away whenever he commenced; that made the guide quite +angry, I remember that toward evening he took his Turkish cap off his +head and swung it around in the air. The gesture I did not understand +and I did not dare look at him for fear I should become the victim of +another story. But, although I am not a woman, I did look, and the +instant I turned my eyes upon that worthy guide he was off again. Said +he, "I will tell you a story now which I reserve for my particular +friends!" So then, counting myself a particular friend, I listened, +and I have always been glad I did. + +He said there once lived not far from the River Indus an ancient +Persian by the name of Al Hafed. He said that Al Hafed owned a very +large farm with orchards, grain fields and gardens. He was a contented +and wealthy man--contented because he was wealthy, and wealthy because +he was contented. One day there visited this old farmer one of those +ancient Buddhist priests, and he sat down by Al Hafed's fire and told +that old farmer how this world of ours was made. He said that this +world was once a mere bank of fog, which is scientifically true, and +he said that the Almighty thrust his finger into the bank of fog and +then began slowly to move his finger around and gradually to increase +the speed of his finger until at last he whirled that bank of fog +into a solid ball of fire, and it went rolling through the universe, +burning its way through other cosmic banks of fog, until it condensed +the moisture without, and fell in floods of rain upon the heated +surface and cooled the outward crust. Then the internal flames burst +through the cooling crust and threw up the mountains and made the +hills of the valley of this wonderful world of ours. If this internal +melted mass burst out and cooled very quickly it became granite; that +which cooled less quickly became silver; and less quickly, gold; and +after gold diamonds were made. Said the old priest, "A diamond is a +congealed drop of sunlight." + +This is a scientific truth also. You all know that a diamond is pure +carbon, actually deposited sunlight--and he said another thing I would +not forget: he declared that a diamond is the last and highest of +God's mineral creations, as a woman is the last and highest of God's +animal creations. I suppose that is the reason why the two have such a +liking for each other. And the old priest told Al Hafed that if he had +a handful of diamonds he could purchase a whole county, and with a +mine of diamonds he could place his children upon thrones through the +influence of their great wealth. Al Hafed heard all about diamonds +and how much they were worth, and went to his bed that night a +poor man--not that he had lost anything, but poor because he was +discontented and discontented because he thought he was poor. He said: +"I want a mine of diamonds!" So he lay awake all night, and early in +the morning sought out the priest. Now I know from experience that +a priest when awakened early in the morning is cross. He awoke that +priest out of his dreams and said to him, "Will you tell me where I +can find diamonds?" The priest said, "Diamonds? What do you want with +diamonds?" "I want to be immensely rich," said Al Hafed, "but I don't +know where to go." "Well," said the priest, "if you will find a river +that runs over white sand between high mountains, in those sands you +will always see diamonds." "Do you really believe that there is such a +river?" "Plenty of them, plenty of them; all you have to do is just go +and find them, then you have them." Al Hafed said, "I will go." So he +sold his farm, collected his money at interest, left his family in +charge of a neighbor, and away he went in search of diamonds. He began +very properly, to my mind, at the Mountains of the Moon. Afterwards he +went around into Palestine, then wandered on into Europe, and at last +when his money was all spent, and he was in rags, wretchedness and +poverty, he stood on the shore of that bay in Barcelona, Spain, when +a tidal wave came rolling in through the Pillars of Hercules and the +poor afflicted, suffering man could not resist the awful temptation to +cast himself into that incoming tide, and he sank beneath its foaming +crest, never to rise in this life again. + +When that old guide had told me that very sad story, he stopped the +camel I was riding and went back to fix the baggage on one of the +other camels, and I remember thinking to myself, "Why did he reserve +that for his _particular friends_?" There seemed to be no beginning, +middle or end--nothing to it. That was the first story I ever heard +told or read in which the hero was killed in the first chapter. I had +but one chapter of that story and the hero was dead. When the guide +came back and took up the halter of my camel again, he went right on +with the same story. He said that Al Hafed's successor led his camel +out into the garden to drink, and as that camel put its nose down into +the clear water of the garden brook Al Hafed's successor noticed a +curious flash of light from the sands of the shallow stream, and +reaching in he pulled out a black stone having an eye of light that +reflected all the colors of the rainbow, and he took that curious +pebble into the house and left it on the mantel, then went on his way +and forgot all about it. A few days after that, this same old priest +who told Al Hafed how diamonds were made, came in to visit his +successor, when he saw that flash of light from the mantel. He rushed +up and said, "Here is a diamond--here is a diamond! Has Al Hafed +returned?" "No, no; Al Hafed has not returned and that is not a +diamond; that is nothing but a stone; we found it right out here in +our garden." "But I know a diamond when I see it," said he; "that is a +diamond!" + +Then together they rushed to the garden and stirred up the white sands +with their fingers and found others more beautiful, more valuable +diamonds than the first, and thus, said the guide to me, were +discovered the diamond mines of Golconda, the most magnificent diamond +mines in all the history of mankind, exceeding the Kimberley in its +value. The great Kohinoor diamond in England's crown jewels and the +largest crown diamond on earth in Russia's crown jewels, which I had +often hoped she would have to sell before they had peace with Japan, +came from that mine, and when the old guide had called my attention to +that wonderful discovery he took his Turkish cap off his head again +and swung it around in the air to call my attention to the moral. +Those Arab guides have a moral to each story, though the stories are +not always moral. He said had Al Hafed remained at home and dug in his +own cellar or in his own garden, instead of wretchedness, starvation, +poverty and death in a strange land, he would have had "acres of +diamonds"--for every acre, yes, every shovelful of that old farm +afterwards revealed the gems which since have decorated the crowns of +monarchs. When he had given the moral to his story, I saw why he had +reserved this story for his "particular friends." I didn't tell him I +could see it; I was not going to tell that old Arab that I could see +it. For it was that mean old Arab's way of going around a thing, like +a lawyer, and saying indirectly what he did not dare say directly, +that there was a certain young man that day traveling down the Tigris +River that might better be at home in America. I didn't tell him I +could see it. + +I told him his story reminded me of one, and I told it to him quick. I +told him about that man out in California, who, in 1847, owned a +ranch out there. He read that gold had been discovered in Southern +California, and he sold his ranch to Colonel Sutter and started off to +hunt for gold. Colonel Sutter put a mill on the little stream in +that farm and one day his little girl brought some wet sand from the +raceway of the mill into the house and placed it before the fire to +dry, and as that sand was falling through the little girl's fingers +a visitor saw the first shining scales of real gold that were ever +discovered in California; and the man who wanted the gold had sold +this ranch and gone away, never to return. I delivered this lecture +two years ago in California, in the city that stands near that farm, +and they told me that the mine is not exhausted yet, and that a +one-third owner of that farm has been getting during these recent +years twenty dollars of gold every fifteen minutes of his life, +sleeping or waking. Why, you and I would enjoy an income like that! + +But the best illustration that I have now of this thought was found +here in Pennsylvania. There was a man living in Pennsylvania who +owned a farm here and he did what I should do if I had a farm in +Pennsylvania--he sold it. But before he sold it he concluded to secure +employment collecting coal oil for his cousin in Canada. They first +discovered coal oil there. So this farmer in Pennsylvania decided that +he would apply for a position with his cousin in Canada. Now, you see, +this farmer was not altogether a foolish man. He did net leave his +farm until he had something else to do. Of all the simpletons the +stars shine on there is none more foolish than a man who leaves one +job before he has obtained another. And that has especial reference to +gentlemen of my profession, and has no reference to a man seeking a +divorce. So I say this old farmer did not leave one job until he had +obtained another. He wrote to Canada, but his cousin replied that he +could not engage him because he did not know anything about the oil +business. "Well, then," said he, "I will understand it." So he set +himself at the study of the whole subject. He began at the second day +of the creation, he studied the subject from the primitive vegetation +to the coal oil stage, until he knew all about it. Then he wrote to +his cousin and said, "Now I understand the oil business." And his +cousin replied to him, "All right, then, come on." That man, by the +record of the county, sold his farm for eight hundred and thirty-three +dollars--even money, "no cents." He had scarcely gone from that farm +before the man who purchased it went out to arrange for the watering +the cattle and he found that the previous owner had arranged the +matter very nicely. There is a stream running down the hillside there, +and the previous owner had gone out and put a plank across that stream +at an angle, extending across the brook and down edgewise a few inches +under the surface of the water. The purpose of the plank across that +brook was to throw over to the other bank a dreadful-looking scum +through which the cattle would not put their noses to drink above the +plank, although they would drink the water on one side below it. Thus +that man who had gone to Canada had been himself damming back for +twenty-three years a flow of coal oil which the State Geologist of +Pennsylvania declared officially, as early as 1870, was then worth to +our State a hundred millions of dollars. The city of Titusville now +stands on that farm and those Pleasantville wells flow on, and that +farmer who had studied all about the formation of oil since the second +day of God's creation clear down to the present time, sold that farm +for $833, no cents--again I say "no sense." + +But I need another illustration, and I found that in Massachusetts, +and I am sorry I did, because that is my old State. This young man I +mention went out of the State to study--went down to Yale College and +studied Mines and Mining. They paid him fifteen dollars a week during +his last year for training students who were behind their classes in +mineralogy, out of hours, of course, while pursuing his own studies. +But when he graduated they raised his pay from fifteen dollars to +forty-five dollars and offered him a professorship. Then he went +straight home to his mother and said, "Mother, I won't work for +forty-five dollars a week. What is forty-five dollars a week for a man +with a brain like mine! Mother, lets go out to California and stake +out gold claims and be immensely rich." "Now" said his mother, "it is +just as well to be happy as it is to be rich." + +But as he was the only son he had his way--they always do; and they +sold out in Massachusetts and went to Wisconsin, where he went into +the employ of the Superior Copper Mining Company, and he was lost from +sight in the employ of that company at fifteen dollars a week again. +He was also to have an interest in any mines that he should discover +for that company. But I do not believe that he has ever discovered a +mine--I do not know anything about it, but I do not believe he has. I +know he had scarcely gone from the old homestead before the farmer +who had bought the homestead went out to dig potatoes, and as he was +bringing them in in a large basket through the front gateway, the ends +of the stone wall came so near together at the gate that the basket +hugged very tight. So he set the basket on the ground and pulled, +first on one side and then on the other side. Our farms in +Massachusetts are mostly stone walls, and the farmers have to be +economical with their gateways in order to have some place to put the +stones. That basket hugged so tight there that as he was hauling it +through he noticed in the upper stone next the gate a block of native +silver, eight inches square; and this professor of mines and mining +and mineralogy, who would not work for forty-five dollars a week, when +he sold that homestead in Massachusetts, sat right on that stone to +make the bargain. He was brought up there; he had gone back and forth +by that piece of silver, rubbed it with his sleeve, and it seemed to +say, "Come now, now, now, here is a hundred thousand dollars. Why +not take me?" But he would not take it. There was no silver in +Newburyport; it was all away off--well, I don't know where; he didn't, +but somewhere else--and he was a professor of mineralogy. + +I do not know of anything I would enjoy better than to take the whole +time to-night telling of blunders like that I have heard professors +make. Yet I wish I knew what that man is doing out there in Wisconsin. +I can imagine him out there, as he sits by his fireside, and he is +saying to his friends, "Do you know that man Conwell that lives in +Philadelphia?" "Oh, yes, I have heard of him." "And do you know that +man. Jones that lives in that city?" "Yes, I have heard of him." And +then he begins to laugh and laugh and says to his friends, "They have +done the same thing I did, precisely." And that spoils the whole joke, +because you and I have done it. + +Ninety out of every hundred people here have made that mistake this +very day. I say you ought to be rich; you have no right to be poor. To +live in Philadelphia and not be rich is a misfortune, and it is doubly +a misfortune, because you could have been rich just as well as be +poor. Philadelphia furnishes so many opportunities. You ought to be +rich. But persons with certain religious prejudice will ask, "How can +you spend your time advising the rising generation to give their time +to getting money--dollars and cents--the commercial spirit?" Yet I +must say that you ought to spend time getting rich. You and I know +there are some things more valuable than money; of course, we do. Ah, +yes! By a heart made unspeakably sad by a grave on which the autumn +leaves now fall, I know there are some things higher and grander and +sublimer than money. Well does the man know, who has suffered, that +there are some things sweeter and holier and more sacred than gold. +Nevertheless, the man of common sense also knows that there is not any +one of those things that is not greatly enhanced by the use of money. +Money is power. Love is the grandest thing on God's earth, but +fortunate the lover who has plenty of money. Money is power; money has +powers; and for a man to say, "I do not want money," is to say, "I do +not wish to do any good to my fellowmen." It is absurd thus to talk. +It is absurd to disconnect them. This is a wonderfully great life, and +you ought to spend your time getting money, because of the power there +is in money. And yet this religious prejudice is so great that some +people think it is a great honor to be one of God's poor. I am looking +in the faces of people who think just that way. I heard a man once +say in a prayer meeting that he was thankful that he was one of God's +poor, and then I silently wondered what his wife would say to that +speech, as she took in washing to support the man while he sat and +smoked on the veranda. I don't want to see any more of that kind of +God's poor. Now, when a man could have been rich just as well, and he +is now weak because he is poor, he has done some great wrong; he has +been untruthful to himself; he has been unkind to his fellowmen. We +ought to get rich if we can by honorable and Christian methods, and +these are the only methods that sweep us quickly toward the goal of +riches. + +I remember, not many years ago a young theological student who came +into my office and said to me that he thought it was his duty to come +in and "labor with me." I asked him what had happened, and he said: "I +feel it is my duty to come in and speak to you, sir, and say that the +Holy Scriptures declare that money is the root of all evil." I asked +him where he found that saying, and he said he found it in the Bible. +I asked him whether he had made a new Bible, and he said, no, he had +not gotten a new Bible, that it was in the old Bible. "Well," I +said, "if it is in my Bible, I never saw it. Will you please get the +text-book and let me see it?" He left the room and soon came stalking +in with his Bible open, with all the bigoted pride of the narrow +sectarian, who founds his creed on some misinterpretation of +Scripture, and he puts the Bible down on the table before me and +fairly squealed into my ear, "There it is. You can read it for +yourself." I said to him, "Young man, you will learn, when you get a +little older, that you cannot trust another denomination to read the +Bible for you." I said, "Now, you belong to another denomination. +Please read it to me, and remember that you are taught in a school +where emphasis is exegesis." So he took the Bible and read it: "The +_love_ of money is the root of all evil." Then he had it right. The +Great Book has come back into the esteem and love of the people, and +into the respect of the greatest minds of earth, and now you can quote +it and rest your life and your death on it without more fear. So, when +he quoted right from the Scriptures he quoted the truth. "The love of +money is the root of all evil." Oh, that is it. It is the worship of +the means instead of the end, though you cannot reach the end without +the means. When a man makes an idol of the money instead of the +purposes for which it may be used, when he squeezes the dollar until +the eagle squeals, then it is made the root of all evil. Think, if you +only had the money, what you could do for your wife, your child, and +for your home and your city. Think how soon you could endow the Temple +College yonder if you only had the money and the disposition to give +it; and yet, my friend, people say you and I should not spend the time +getting rich. How inconsistent the whole thing is. We ought to be +rich, because money has power. I think the best thing for me to do is +to illustrate this, for if I say you ought to get rich, I ought, at +least, to suggest how it is done. We get a prejudice against rich men +because of the lies that are told about them. The lies that are told +about Mr. Rockefeller because he has two hundred million dollars--so +many believe them; yet how false is the representation of that man +to the world. How little we can tell what is true nowadays when +newspapers try to sell their papers entirely on some sensation! The +way they lie about the rich men is something terrible, and I do not +know that there is anything to illustrate this better than what the +newspapers now say about the city of Philadelphia. A young man came +to me the other day and said, "If Mr. Rockefeller, as you think, is a +good man, why is it that everybody says so much against him?" It is +because he has gotten ahead of us; that is the whole of it--just +gotten ahead of us. Why is it Mr. Carnegie is criticised so sharply by +an envious world? Because he has gotten more than we have. If a man +knows more than I know, don't I incline to criticise somewhat his +learning? Let a man, stand in a pulpit and preach to thousands, and if +I have fifteen people in my church, and they're all asleep, don't I +criticise him? We always do that to the man who gets ahead of us. Why, +the man you are criticising has one hundred millions, and you have +fifty cents, and both of you have just what you are worth. One of +the richest men in this country came into my home and sat down in my +parlor and said: "Did you see all those lies about my family in the +paper?" "Certainly I did; I knew they were lies when I saw them." "Why +do they lie about me the way they do?" "Well", I said to him, "if you +will give me your check for one hundred millions, I will take all the +lies along with it" "Well," said he, "I don't see any sense in their +thus talking about my family and myself. Conwell, tell me frankly, +what do you think the American people think of me?" "Well," said I, +"they think you are the blackest-hearted villain that ever trod the +soil!" "But what can I do about it?" There is nothing he can do about +it, and yet he is one of the sweetest Christian men I ever knew. If +you get a hundred millions you will have the lies; you will be lied +about, and you can judge your success in any line by the lies that are +told about you. I say that you ought to be rich. But there are ever +coming to me young men who say, "I would like to go into business, +but I cannot." "Why not?" "Because I have no capital to begin on." +Capital, capital to begin on! What! young man! Living in Philadelphia +and looking at this wealthy generation, all of whom began as poor +boys, and you want capital to begin on? It is fortunate for you that +you have no capital. I am glad you have no money. I pity a rich man's +son. A rich man's son in these days of ours occupies a very difficult +position. They are to be pitied. A rich man's son cannot know the very +best things in human life. He cannot. The statistics of Massachusetts +show us that not one out of seventeen rich men's sons ever die rich. +They are raised in luxury, they die in poverty. Even if a rich man's +son retains his father's money even then he cannot know the best +things of life. + +A young man in our college yonder asked me to formulate for him what +I thought was the happiest hour in a man's history, and I studied it +long and came back convinced that the happiest hour that any man ever +sees in any earthly matter is when a young man takes his bride over +the threshold of the door, for the first time, of the house he himself +has earned and built, when he turns to his bride and with an eloquence +greater than any language of mine, he sayeth to his wife, "My loved +one, I earned this home myself; I earned it all. It is all mine, and +I divide it with thee." That is the grandest moment a human heart may +ever see. But a rich man's son cannot know that. He goes into a finer +mansion, it may be, but he is obliged to go through the house and say, +"Mother gave me this, mother gave me that, my mother gave me that, +my mother gave me that," until his wife wishes she had married his +mother. Oh, I pity a rich man's son. I do. Until he gets so far along +in his dudeism that he gets his arms up like that and can't get them +down. Didn't you ever see any of them astray at Atlantic City? I saw +one of these scarecrows once and I never tire thinking about it. I was +at Niagara Falls lecturing, and after the lecture I went to the hotel, +and when I went up to the desk there stood there a millionaire's son +from New York. He was an indescribable specimen of anthropologic +potency. He carried a gold-headed cane under his arm--more in its head +than he had in his. I do not believe I could describe the young man if +I should try. But still I must say that he wore an eye-glass he could +not see through; patent leather shoes he could not walk in, and pants +he could not sit down in--dressed like a grasshopper! Well, this human +cricket came up to the clerk's desk just as I came in. He adjusted his +unseeing eye-glass in this wise and lisped to the clerk, because it's +"Hinglish, you know," to lisp: "Thir, thir, will you have the kindness +to fuhnish me with thome papah and thome envelopehs!" The clerk +measured that man quick, and he pulled out a drawer and took some +envelopes and paper and cast them across the counter and turned away +to his books. You should have seen that specimen of humanity when the +paper and envelopes came across the counter--he whose wants had always +been anticipated by servants. He adjusted his unseeing eye-glass and +he yelled after that clerk: "Come back here thir, come right back +here. Now, thir, will you order a thervant to take that papah and +thothe envelopes and carry them to yondah dethk." Oh, the poor +miserable, contemptible American monkey! He couldn't carry paper and +envelopes twenty feet. I suppose he could not get his arms down. I +have no pity for such travesties of human nature. If you have no +capital, I am glad of it You don't need capital; you need common +sense, not copper cents. + +A.T. Stewart, the great princely merchant of New York, the richest man +in America in his time, was a poor boy; he had a dollar and a half and +went into the mercantile business. But he lost eighty-seven and a half +cents of his first dollar and a half because he bought some needles +and thread and buttons to sell, which people didn't want. Are you +poor? It is because you are not wanted and are left on your own hands. +There was the great lesson. Apply it whichever way you will it comes +to every single person's life, young or old. He did not know what +people needed, and consequently bought something they didn't want, and +had the goods left on his hands a dead loss. A.T. Stewart earned there +the great lesson of his mercantile life and said, "I will never buy +anything more until I first learn what the people want; then I'll make +the purchase." He went around to the doors and asked them what they +did want, and when he found out what they wanted, he invested his +sixty-two and a hall cents and began to supply "a known demand." I +care not what your profession or occupation in life may be; I care not +whether you are a lawyer, a doctor, a housekeeper, teacher or whatever +else, the principle is precisely the same. We must know what the world +needs first and then invest ourselves to supply that need, and success +is almost certain. A.T. Stewart went on until he was worth forty +millions. "Well," you will say, "a man can do that in New York, but +cannot do it here in Philadelphia." The statistics very carefully +gathered in New York in 1889 showed one hundred and seven millionaires +in the city worth over ten millions apiece. It was remarkable and +people think they must go there to get rich. Out of that one hundred +and seven millionaires only seven of them made their money in New +York, and the others moved to New York after their fortunes were made, +and sixty-seven out of the remaining hundred made their fortunes in +towns of less than six thousand people, and the richest man in +the country at that time lived in a town of thirty-five hundred +inhabitants, and always lived there and never moved away. It is not +so much where you are as what you are. But at the same time if the +largeness of the city comes into the problem, then remember it is the +smaller city that furnishes the great opportunity to make the millions +of money. The best illustration that I can give is in reference to +John Jacob Astor, who was a poor boy and who made all the money of the +Astor family. He made more than his successors have ever earned, and +yet he once held a mortgage on a millinery store in New York, and +because the people could not make enough money to pay the interest and +the rent, he foreclosed the mortgage and took possession of the store +and went into partnership with the man who had failed. He kept the +same stock did not give them a dollar of capital, and he left them +alone and went out and sat down upon a bench in the park. Out there on +that bench in the park he had the most important, and to my mind, the +pleasantest part of that partnership business. He was watching the +ladies as they went by; and where is the man that wouldn't get rich +at that business? But when John Jacob Astor saw a lady pass, with her +shoulders back and her head up, as if she did not care if the whole +world looked on her, he studied her bonnet; and before that bonnet +was out of sight he knew the shape of the frame and the color of the +trimmings, the curl of the--something on a bonnet Sometimes I try to +describe a woman's bonnet, but it is of little use, for it would be +out of style to-morrow night. So John Jacob Astor went to the store +and said: "Now, put in the show window just such a bonnet as I +describe to you because," said he, "I have just seen a lady who likes +just such a bonnet. Do not make up any more till I come back." And he +went out again and sat on that bench in the park, and another lady of +a different form and complexion passed him with a bonnet of different +shape and color, of course. "Now," said he, "put such a bonnet as that +in the show window." He didn't fill his show window with hats and +bonnets which drive people away and then sit in the back of the store +and bawl because the people go somewhere else to trade. He didn't put +a hat or bonnet in that show window the like of which he had not seen +before it was made up. + +In our city especially there are great opportunities for +manufacturing, and the time has come when the line is drawn very +sharply between the stockholders of the factory and their employes. +Now, friends, there has also come a discouraging gloom upon this +country and the laboring men are beginning to feel that they are being +held down by a crust over their heads through which they find it +impossible to break, and the aristocratic money-owner himself is so +far above that he will never descend to their assistance. That is the +thought that is in the minds of our people. But, friends, never in the +history of our country was there an opportunity so great for the poor +man to get rich as there is now and in the city of Philadelphia. The +very fact that they get discouraged is what prevents them from getting +rich. That is all there is to it. The road is open, and let us keep it +open between the poor and the rich. I know that the labor unions have +two great problems to contend with, and there is only one way to solve +them. The labor unions are doing as much to prevent its solving as are +the capitalists to-day, and there are positively two sides to it. The +labor union has two difficulties; the first one is that it began to +make a labor scale for all classes on a par, and they scale down a man +that can earn five dollars a day to two and a half a day, in order to +level up to him an imbecile that cannot earn fifty cents a day. That +is one of the most dangerous and discouraging things for the working +man. He cannot get the results of his work if he do better work or +higher work or work longer; that is a dangerous thing, and in order to +get every laboring man free and every American equal to every other +American, let the laboring man ask what he is worth and get it--not +let any capitalist say to him: "You shall work for me for half of what +you are worth;" nor let any labor organization say: "You shall work for +the capitalist for half your worth." Be a man, be independent, and +then shall the laboring man find the road ever open from poverty to +wealth. The other difficulty that the labor union has to consider, and +this problem they have to solve themselves, is the kind of orators who +come and talk to them about the oppressive rich. I can in my +dreams recite the oration I have heard again and again under such +circumstances. My life has been with the laboring man. I am a laboring +man myself. I have often, in their assemblies, heard the speech of the +man who has been invited to address the labor union. The man gets up +before the assembled company of honest laboring men and he begins by +saying: "Oh, ye honest, industrious laboring men, who have furnished +all the capital of the world, who have built all the palaces and +constructed all the railroads and covered the ocean with her +steamships. Oh, you laboring men! You are nothing but slaves; you are +ground down in the dust by the capitalist who is gloating over you as +he enjoys his beautiful estates and as he has his banks filled with +gold, and every dollar he owns is coined out of the hearts' blood of +the honest laboring man." Now, that is a lie, and you know it is a +lie; and yet that is the kind of speech that they are all the time +hearing, representing the capitalists as wicked and the laboring men +so enslaved. Why, how wrong it is! Let the man who loves his flag and +believes in American principles endeavor with all his soul to bring +the capitalist and the laboring man together until they stand side by +side, and arm in arm, and work for the common good of humanity. + +He is an enemy to his country who sets capital against labor or labor +against capital. + +Suppose I were to go down through this audience and ask you to +introduce me to the great inventors who live here in Philadelphia. +"The inventors of Philadelphia," you would say "Why we don't have any +in Philadelphia. It is too slow to invent anything." But you do have +just as great inventors, and they are here in this audience, as ever +invented a machine. But the probability is that the greatest inventor +to benefit the world with his discovery is some person, perhaps some +lady, who thinks she could not invent anything. Did you ever study the +history of invention and see how strange it was that the man who made +the greatest discovery did it without any previous idea that he was an +inventor? Who are the great inventors? They are persons with plain, +straightforward common sense, who saw a need in the world and +immediately applied themselves to supply that need. If you want to +invent anything, don't try to find it in the wheels in your head nor +the wheels in your machine, but first find out what the people need, +and then apply yourself to that need, and this leads to invention on +the part of people you would not dream of before. The great inventors +are simply great men; the greater the man the more simple the man; and +the more simple a machine, the more valuable it is. Did you ever know +a really great man? His ways are so simple, so common, so plain, that +you think any one could do what he is doing. So it is with the great +men the world over. If you know a really great man, a neighbor of +yours, you can go right up to him and say, "How are you, Jim, good +morning, Sam." Of course you can, for they are always so simple. + +When I wrote the life of General Garfield, one of his neighbors took +me to his back door, and shouted, "Jim, Jim, Jim!" and very soon "Jim" +came to the door and General Garfield let me in--one of the grandest +men of our century. The great men of the world are ever so. I was down +in Virginia and went up to an educational institution and was directed +to a man who was setting out a tree. I approached him and said, "Do +you think it would be possible for me to see General Robert B. Lee, +the President of the University?" He said, "Sir, I am General Lee." +Of course, when you meet such a man, so noble a man as that, you will +find him a simple, plain man. Greatness is always just so modest and +great inventions are simple. + +I asked a class in school once who were the great inventors, and a +little girl popped up and said, "Columbus." Well, now, she was not so +far wrong. Columbus bought a farm and he carried on that farm just as +I carried on my father's farm. He took a hoe and went out and sat down +on a rock. But Columbus, as he sat upon that shore and looked out upon +the ocean, noticed that the ships, as they sailed away, sank deeper +into the sea the farther they went. And since that time some other +"Spanish ships" have sunk into the sea. But as Columbus noticed that +the tops of the masts dropped down out of sight, he said: "That is the +way it is with this hoe handle; if you go around this hoe handle, the +farther off you go the farther down you go. I can sail around to the +East Indies." How plain it all was. How simple the mind--majestic +like the simplicity of a mountain in its greatness. Who are the great +inventors? They are ever the simple, plain, everyday people who see +the need and set about to supply it. + +I was once lecturing in North Carolina, and the cashier of the bank +sat directly behind a lady who wore a very large hat. I said to that +audience, "Your wealth is too near to you; you are looking right over +it." He whispered to his friend, "Well, then, my wealth is in that +hat." A little later, as he wrote me, I said, "Wherever there is a +human need there is a greater fortune than a mine can furnish." He +caught my thought, and he drew up his plan for a better hat pin than +was in the hat before him, and the pin is now being manufactured. He +was offered fifty-five thousand dollars for his patent. That man +made his fortune before he got out of that hall. This is the whole +question: Do you see a need? + +I remember well a man up in my native hills, a poor man, who for +twenty years was helped by the town in his poverty, who owned a +wide-spreading maple tree that covered the poor man's cottage like +a benediction from on high. I remember that tree, for in the +spring--there were some roguish boys around that neighborhood when I +was young--in the spring of the year the man would put a bucket there +and the spouts to catch the maple sap, and I remember where that +bucket was; and when I was young the boys were, oh, so mean, that +they went to that tree before than man had gotten out of bed in the +morning, and after he had gone to bed at night, and drank up that +sweet sap. I could swear they did it. He didn't make a great deal of +maple sugar from that tree. But one day he made the sugar so white +and crystaline that the visitor did not believe it was maple sugar; +thought maple sugar must be red or black. He said to the old man: "Why +don't you make it that way and sell it for confectionary?" The old man +caught his thought and invented the "rock maple crystal," and before +that patent expired he had ninety thousand dollars and had built a +beautiful palace on the site of that tree. After forty years owning +that tree he awoke to find it had fortunes of money indeed in it. And +many of us are right by the tree that has a fortune for us, and we own +it, possess it, do what we will with it, but we do not learn its value +because we do not see the human need, and in these discoveries, and +inventions this is one of the most romantic things of life. + +I have received letters from all over the country and from England, +where I have lectured, saying that they have discovered this and that, +and one man out in Ohio took me through his great factories last +spring, and said that they cost him $680,000, and said he, "I was +not worth a cent in the world when I heard your lecture "Acres of +Diamonds"; but I made up my mind to stop right here and make my +fortune here, and here it is." He showed me through his unmortgaged +possessions. And this is a continual experience now as I travel +through the country, after these many years. I mention this incident, +not to boast, but to show you that you can do the same if you will. + +Who are the great inventors? I remember a good illustration in a man +who used to live in East Brookfield, Mass. He was a shoemaker, and he +was out of work, and he sat around the house until his wife told him +"to go out doors." And he did what every husband is compelled by law +to do--he obeyed his wife. And he went out and sat down on an ash +barrel in his back yard. Think of it! Stranded on an ash barrel and +the enemy in possession of the house! As he sat on that ash barrel, he +looked down into that little brook which ran through that back yard +into the meadows, and he saw a little trout go flashing up the stream +and hiding under the bank. I do not suppose he thought of Tennyson's +beautiful poem: + + "Chatter, chatter, as I flow, + To join the brimming river, + Men may come, and men may go, + But I go on forever." + +But as this man looked into the brook, he leaped off that ash barrel +and managed to catch the trout with his fingers, and sent it to +Worcester. They wrote back that they would give him a five dollar bill +for another such trout as that, not that it was worth that much, but +he wished to help the poor man. So this shoemaker and his wife, now +perfectly united, that five dollar bill in prospect went out to get +another trout They went up the stream to its source and down to the +brimming river, but not another trout could they find in the whole +stream; and so they came home disconsolate and went to the minister. +The minister didn't know how trout grew, but he pointed the way. Said +he, "Get Seth Green's book, and that will give you the information you +want." They did so, and found all about the culture of trout. They +found that a trout lays thirty-six hundred eggs every year and every +trout gains a quarter of a pound every year, so that in four years a +little trout will furnish four tons per annum to sell to the market +at fifty cents a pound. When they found that, they said they didn't +believe any such story as that, but if they could get five dollars a +piece they could make something. And right in that same back yard with +the coal sifter up stream and window screen down the stream, they +began the culture of trout. They afterwards moved to the Hudson, and +since then he has become the authority in the United States upon the +raising of fish, and he has been next to the highest on the United +States Fish Commission in Washington. My lesson is that man's wealth +was out there in his back yard for twenty years, but he didn't see it +until his wife drove him out with a mop stick. + +I remember meeting personally a poor carpenter of Hingham, +Massachusetts, who was out of work and in poverty. His wife also drove +him out of doors. He sat down on the shore and whittled a soaked +shingle into a wooden chain. His children quarreled over it in the +evening, and while he was whittling a second one, a neighbor came +along and said, "Why don't you whittle toys if you can carve like +that?" He said, "I don't know what to make!" There is the whole thing. +His neighbor said to him: "Why don't you ask your own children?" Said +he, "What is the use of doing that? My children are different from +other people's children." I used to see people like that when I taught +school. The next morning when his boy came down the stairway, he said, +"Sam, what do you want for a toy?" "I want a wheel-barrow." When his +little girl came down he asked her what she wanted, and she said, "I +want a little doll's washstand, a little doll's carriage, a little +doll's umbrella," and went on with a whole lot of things that would +have taken his lifetime to supply. He consulted his own children right +there in his own house and began to whittle out toys to please them. +He began with his jack-knife, and made those unpainted Hingham toys. +He is the richest man in the entire New England States, if Mr. Lawson +is to be trusted in his statement concerning such things, and yet +that man's fortune was made by consulting his own children in his own +house. You don't need to go out of your own house to find out what to +invent or what to make. I always talk too long on this subject. + +I would like to meet the great men who are here to-night. The great +men! We don't have any great men in Philadelphia. Great men! You +say that they all come from London, or San Francisco, or Rome, +or Manayunk, or anywhere else but here--anywhere else but +Philadelphia--and yet, in fact, there are just as great men in +Philadelphia as in any city of its size. There are great men and women +in this audience. Great men, I have said, are very simple men. Just as +many great men here as are to be found anywhere. The greatest error in +judging great men is that we think that they always hold an office. +The world knows nothing of its greatest men. Who are the great men of +the world? The young man and young woman may well ask the question. It +is not necessary that they should hold an office, and yet that is the +popular idea. That is the idea we teach now in our high schools and +common schools, that the great men of the world are those who hold +some high office, and unless we change that very soon and do away +with that prejudice, we are going to change to an empire. There is +no question about it. We must teach that men are great only on their +intrinsic value, and not on the position that they may incidentally +happen to occupy. And yet, don't blame the young men saying that they +are going to be great when they get into some official position. I ask +this audience again who of you are going to be great? Says a young +man: "I am going to be great" "When are you going to be great?" "When +I am elected to some political office," Won't you learn the lesson, +young man; that it is _prima facie_ evidence of littleness to hold +public office under our form of government? Think of it. This is a +government of the people, and by the people, and for the people, and +not for the office-holder, and if the people in this country rule as +they always should rule, an officeholder is only the servant of the +people, and the Bible says that "the servant cannot be greater than +his master," The Bible says that "he that is sent cannot be greater +than him who sent him." In this country the people are the masters, +and the office-holders can never be greater than the people; they +should be honest servants of the people, but they are not our greatest +men. Young man, remember that you never heard of a great man holding +any political office in this country unless he took that office at an +expense to himself. It is a loss to every great man to take a public +office in our country. Bear this in mind, young man, that you cannot +be made great by a political election. Another young man says, "I am +going to be a great man in Philadelphia some time." "Is that so? When +are you going to be great?" "When there comes another war! When we get +into difficulty with Mexico, or England, or Russia, or Japan, or with +Spain again over Cuba, or with New Jersey, I will march up to the +cannon's mouth, and amid the glistening bayonets I will tear down +their flag from its staff, and I will come home with stars on my +shoulders, and hold every office in the gift of the government, and I +will be great." "No, you won't! No, you won't; that is no evidence +of true greatness, young man." But don't blame that young man for +thinking that way; that is the way he is taught in the high school. +That is the way history is taught in college. He is taught that the +men who held the office did all the fighting. + +I remember we had a Peace Jubilee here in Philadelphia soon after the +Spanish war. Perhaps some of those visitors think we should not have +had it until now in Philadelphia, and as the great procession was +going up Broad street I was told that the tally-ho coach stopped right +in front of my house, and on the coach was Hobson, and all the people +threw up their hats and swung their handkerchiefs, and shouted "Hurrah +for Hobson!" I would have yelled too, because he deserves much more of +his country than he has ever received. But suppose I go into the High +School to-morrow and ask, "Boys, who sunk the Merrimac?" If they +answer me "Hobson," they tell me seven-eighths of a lie--seven-eighths +of a lie, because there were eight men who sunk the Merrimac. The +other seven men, by virtue of their position, were continually exposed +to the Spanish fire, while Hobson, as an officer, might reasonably be +behind the smoke-stack. Why, my friends, in this intelligent audience +gathered here to-night I do not believe I could find a single person +that can name the other seven men who were with Hobson. Why do we +teach history in that way? We ought to teach that however humble the +station a man may occupy, if he does his full duty in his place, he is +just as much entitled to the American peopled honor as is a king upon +a throne. We do teach it as a mother did her little boy in Now York +when he said, "Mamma, what great building is that?" "That is General +Grant's tomb." "Who was General Grant?" "He was the man who put down +the rebellion." Is that the way to teach history? + +Do you think we would have gained a victory if it had depended on +General Grant alone? Oh, no. Then why is there a tomb on the Hudson at +all? Why, not simply because General Grant was personally a great man +himself, but that tomb is there because he was a representative man +and represented two hundred thousand men who went down to death for +their nation and many of them as great as General Grant. That is why +that beautiful tomb stands on the heights over the Hudson. + +I remember an incident that will illustrate this, the only one that I +can give to-night. I am ashamed of it, but I don't dare leave it out. +I close my eyes now; I look back through the years to 1863; I can see +my native town in the Berkshire Hills, I can see that cattle-show +ground filled with people; I can see the church there and the town +hall crowded, and hear bands playing, and see flags flying and +handkerchiefs steaming--well do I recall at this moment that day. +The people had turned out to receive a company of soldiers, and that +company came marching up on the Common. They had served out one term +in the Civil War and had re-enlisted, and they were being received +by their native townsmen. I was but a boy, but I was captain of that +company, puffed out with pride on that day--why, a cambric needle +would have burst me all to pieces. As I marched on the Common at the +head of my company, there was not a man more proud than I. We marched +into the town hall and then they seated my soldiers down in the center +of the house and I took my place down on the front seat, and then the +town officers filed through the great throng of people, who stood +close and packed in that little hall. They came up on the platform, +formed a half circle around it, and the mayor of the town, the +"chairman of the Select men" in Kew England, took his seat in the +middle of that half circle, He was an old man, his hair was gray; he +never held an office before in his life. He thought that an office was +all he needed to be a truly great man, and when he came up he adjusted +his powerful spectacles and glanced calmly around the audience with +amazing dignity. Suddenly his eyes fell upon me, and then the good old +man came right forward and invited me to come up on the stand with the +town officers. Invited me up on the stand! No town officer ever took +notice of me before I went to war. Now, I should not say that. One +town officer was there who advised the teacher to "whale" me, but I +mean no "honorable mention." So I was invited up on the stand with the +town officers. I took my seat and let my sword fall on the floor, and +folded my arms across my breast and waited to be received. Napoleon +the Fifth! Pride goeth before destruction and a fall. When I had +gotten my seat and all became silent through the hall, the chairman of +the Select men arose and came forward with great dignity to the table, +and we all supposed he would introduce the Congregational minister, +who was the only orator in the town, and who would give the oration +to the returning soldiers. But, friends, you should have seen the +surprise that ran over that audience when they discovered that this +old farmer was going to deliver that oration himself. He had never +made a speech in his life before, but he fell into the same error that +others have fallen into, he seemed to think that the office would make +him an orator. So he had written out a speech and walked up and down +the pasture until he had learned it by heart and frightened the +cattle, and he brought that manuscript with him, and taking it from +his pocket, he spread it carefully upon the table. Then he adjusted +his spectacles to be sure that he might see it, and walked far back on +the platform and then stepped forward like this. He must have studied +the subject much, for he assumed an elocutionary attitude; he rested +heavily upon his left heel, slightly advanced the right foot, threw +back his shoulders, opened the organs of speech, and advanced his +right hand at an angle of forty-five. As he stood in that elocutionary +attitude this is just the way that speech went, this is it precisely. +Some of my friends have asked me if I do not exaggerate it, but I +could not exaggerate it. Impossible! This is the way it went; although +I am not here for the story but the lesson that is back of it: + +"Fellow citizens." As soon as he heard his voice, his hand began to +shake like that, his knees began to tremble, and then he shook all +over. He coughed and choked and finally came around to look at his +manuscript. Then he began again: "Fellow citizens: We--are--we are--we +are--we are--We are very happy--we are very happy--we are very +happy--to welcome back to their native town these soldiers who have +fought and bled--and come back again to their native town. We are +especially--we are especially--we are especially--we are especially +pleased to see with us to-day this young hero (that meant me)--this +young hero who in imagination (friends, remember, he said +"imagination," for if he had not said that, I would not be egotistical +enough to refer to it)--this young hero who, in imagination, we have +seen leading his troops--leading--we have seen leading--we have +seen leading his troops on to the deadly breach. We have seen his +shining--his shining--we have seen his shining--we have seen his +shining--his shining sword--flashing in the sunlight as he shouted to +his troops, 'Come on!'" + +Oh, dear, dear, dear, dear! How little that good, old man knew about +war. If he had known anything about war, he ought to have known what +any soldier in this audience knows is true, that it is next to a crime +for an officer of infantry ever in time of danger to go ahead of his +men. I, with my shining sword flashing in the sunlight, shouting to my +troops: "Come on." I never did it. Do you suppose I would go ahead of +my men to be shot in the front by the enemy and in the back by my own +men? That is no place for an officer. The place for the officer is +behind the private soldier in actual fighting. How often, as a staff +officer, I rode down the line when the Rebel cry and yell was coming +out of the woods, sweeping along over the fields, and shouted, +"Officers to the rear! Officers to the rear!" and then every officer +goes behind the line of battle, and the higher the officer's rank, +the farther behind he goes. Not because he is any the less brave, but +because the laws of war require that to be done. If the general came +up on the front line and were killed you would lose your battle +anyhow, because he has the plan of the battle in his brain, and must +be kept in comparative safety. I, with my "shining sword flashing in +the sunlight." Ah! There sat in the hall that day men who had given +that boy their last hardtack, who had carried him on their backs +through deep rivers. But some were not there; they had gone down to +death for their country. The speaker mentioned them, but they were but +little noticed, and yet they had gone down to death for their country, +gone down for a cause they believed was right and still believe was +right, though I grant to the other side the same that I ask for +myself. Yet these men who had actually died for their country were +little noticed, and the hero of the hour was this boy. Why was he the +hero? Simply because that man fell into that same foolishness. This +boy was an officer, and those were only private soldiers. I learned +a lesson that I will never forget. Greatness consists not in holding +some office; greatness really consists in doing some great deed with +little means, in the accomplishment of vast purposes from the private +ranks of life; that is true greatness. He who can give to this people +better streets, better homes, better schools, better churches, more +religion, more of happiness, more of God, he that can be a blessing to +the community in which he lives to-night will be great anywhere, but +he who cannot be a blessing where he now lives will never be great +anywhere on the face of God's earth. "We live in deeds, not years, in +feeling, not in figures on a dial; in thoughts, not breaths; we should +count time by heart throbs, in the cause of right." Bailey says: "He +most lives who thinks most." + +If you forget everything I have said to you, do not forget this, +because it contains more in two lines than all I have said. Bailey +says: "He most lives who thinks most, who feels the noblest, and who +acts the best." + + + + +"PERSONAL GLIMPSES OF CELEBRATED MEN AND WOMEN."[A] + +[Footnote A: Stenographic report by A. Russell Smith, Sec'y.] + +When I had been lecturing forty years, which is now four years ago, +the Lecture Bureau suggested that before I retire from the public +platform, that I should prepare one subject and deliver it through the +country. For I had told the Bureau thirty years ago that when I had +lectured forty years, I would retire. They therefore suggested a talk +on this topic, "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and Women." But a +death in our family which destroyed the homeness of our house produced +such an effect upon us that after the forty years came we found that +we would rather wander than stay at home, and consequently we are +traveling still, and will do so until the end. This explanation will +show why many of these things are said. For I must necessarily bring +myself often into this topic, sometimes unpleasantly to myself. Mark +Twain says, that the trouble with an old man is that he "remembers so +many things that ain't so," and with Mark Twain's caution in my ears, +I will try to give you these "Personal Glimpses of Celebrated Men and +Women." + +I do not claim to be a very intimate friend of great men. But a fly +may look at an elephant, and for this reason we may glance at the +great men and women whom I have seen through the many years of public +life. Sometimes those glimpses give us a better idea of the real man +or woman than an entire biography written while he was living would +do; and to-night as a grandfather would bring his grandchildren to his +knee and tell them of his little experiences, so let me tell to you +these incidents in a life now so largely lived out. + +As I glance back to the Hampshire Highlands of the dear old Berkshire +Hills in Massachusetts, where my father worked as a farmer among the +rooks for twenty years to pay off a mortgage of twelve hundred dollars +upon his little farm, my elder brother and myself slept in the attic +which had one window in the gable end, composed of four lights and +those very small. I remember that attic so distinctly now, with the +ears of corn hung by the husks on the bare rafters, the rats running +over the floor and sometimes over the faces of the boys; the patter of +the rain upon the roof, and the whistle of the wind around that gable +end, the sifting of the snows through the hole in the window over +the pillow on our bed. While these things may appear very simple and +homely before this great audience, yet I mention them because in this +house I had a glimpse of the first great man I ever saw. It was far in +the country, far from the railroad, far from the city, yet into +that region there came occasionally a man or woman whose name is a +household word in the world. In those mountains of my boyhood there +was then an "underground railroad" running from Virginia to Canada. +It was called an "underground railroad," although it was a system +by which the escaped slaves from Virginia came into Delaware, from +Delaware into Philadelphia, then to New York, then to Springfield, and +from Springfield my father took the slaves by night to Worthington, +Mass., and they were sent on by St. Albans, over the Canada line into +liberty. This "underground railroad" system was composed of a chain of +men of whom my father was one link. One night my father drove up in +the dark, and my elder brother and I looked out to see who it was he +had! brought home with him. We supposed he had brought a slave whom he +was helping to escape. Oh, those dreary, dark days, when we were +in continual dread lest the United States Marshal should arrest my +father, throw him into prison for thus assisting these fugitive +slaves. The gloomy memory of those early years chills me now. But as +we gazed out that dark night, we saw that it was a white man with +father and who helped unhitch the horses and put them in the barn. In +the morning this white man sat at the breakfast table and my father +introduced him to us, saying: "Boys, this is Frederick Douglass, the +great colored orator," While I looked at him, giggling as boys will +do, Mr. Douglass turned to us and said, "Yes, boys, I am a colored +man; my mother was a colored woman and my father a white man," and +said he, "I have never seen my father, and I do not know much about +my mother. I remember her once when she interfered between me and the +overseer, who was whipping me, and she received the lash upon her +cheek and shoulder, and her blood ran across my face. I remember +washing her blood from my face and clothes." That story made a deep +impression on us boys, stamped indelibly on our memories. Frederick +Douglass is thus mentioned to illustrate the subject that I have come +to teach to-night. He frequently came to our house after that and my +mother often said to him, "Mr. Douglass, you will work yourself to +death," but he replied that until the slaves were free, and that would +be very soon, he must devote his life to them. But after that, said +he, "I will retire to Rochester, New York, where I have some land and +will build a house." He told us how many rooms it would have, what +decorations would be there, but when the war had been over several +years, he came to the house again and my father asked him about the +house in Rochester. "Well," he said, "I have not built that one yet, +but I have my plans for it. I have some work yet to do; I must take +care of the freedmen in the South, and look after their financial +prosperity, then I will build my cottage." You all remember that he +never built his house, but suddenly went on into the unknown of the +greatest work of his life. + +I remember that in 1852, my father came with another man who was put +for the night into the northwest bedroom--this is the room where those +New Englanders always put their friends, because, perhaps, pneumonia +comes there first--that awful, cold, dismal, northwest bedroom. +Thinking a favorite uncle had come, I went to the door early in the +morning. The door was shut--one of those doors which, if you lift +the latch, the door immediately swings open. I lifted the latch and +prepared to leap in to awaken my uncle and astonish him by my early +morning greeting. But when the door swung back, I glanced toward the +bed. The astonishment chills me at this moment, for in that bed was +not my uncle; but a giant, whose toes stood up at the foot-board, +and whose long hair was spread out over the pillow and his long gray +whiskers lay on the bed clothes, and oh, that snore--it sounded like +some steam horn. That giant figure frightened me and I rushed out +into the kitchen and said, "Mother, who is that strange man in the +northwest bed room?" and she said, "Why, that is John Brown." I had +never seen John Brown before, although my father had been with him +in the wool business in Springfield. I had heard some strange things +about John Brown, and the figure of the man made them seem doubly +terrible. I hid beside my mother, where I said I would stay until the +man was through his breakfast, but father came out and demanded that +the boys should come in, and he set me right under the wing of that +awful giant. But when John Brown saw us coming in so timidly, he +turned to us with a smile so benign and beautiful and so greatly in +contrast to what we had pictured him, that it was a transition. He +became to us boys one of the loveliest men we ever knew. He would go +to the barn with us and milk the cows, pitch the hay from the hay-mow; +he drove the cattle to water for us, and told us many a story, until +the dear, good old man became one of the treasurers of our life. It is +true that my mother thought he was half crazy, and consequently she +and father did not always agree about him, and did not discuss him +before the children. But nevertheless, be he a crank, or a fanatic, +or what he may, one thing is sure, the richest milk of human kindness +flowed from that heart and devoted itself sincerely to the uplift of +humanity. I remember him with love, love deep and sacred, up to this +present time. However great an extremist John Brown was, there were +many of them in New England. Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison +and John Brown never could agree. John Brown used to criticise Wendell +Phillips severely. He said that Wendell Phillips could not see to read +the clearest signs of revolution, and he was reminded by the husband +who bought a grave-stone that had been carved for another woman, but +the stone-cutter said "That has the name of another person." "Oh," +said the widower, "that makes no difference; my wife couldn't read." +John Brown once said of Wm. Lloyd Garrison that he couldn't see the +point and was like the woman who never could see a joke. One morning, +seated at the breakfast table, her husband cracked a joke, but she did +not smile, when he said, "Mary, you could not see a joke if it were +fired at you from a Dalgreen gun," whereupon she remarked: "Now John, +you know they do not fire jokes out of a gun." Well do I recall that +December 2d of 1859. Only a few weeks before John Brown came to our +house and my father subscribed to the purchase of rifles to aid in the +attempt to raise the insurrection among the slaves. The last time I +saw John Brown he was in the wagon with my father. Father gave him the +reins and came back as though he had forgotten something. John Brown +said, "Boys, stay at home; stay at home! Now, remember, you may never +see me again," and then in a lower voice, "And I do not think you ever +will see me again," but "Remember the advice of your Uncle Brown (as +we called him), and stay at home with the old folks, and remember +that you will be more blessed here than anywhere else on earth." The +happiest place on earth for me is still at my old home in Litchfield, +Connecticut. I did not understand him then, but on December 2d at +eleven o'clock my father called us all into the house and all that +hour from eleven to twelve o'clock we sat there in perfect silence. As +the old clock in that kitchen struck eleven, I heard the bell, ring +from the Methodist Church, its peal coming up the valley, from hill to +hill, and echoing its sad tone as the hour wore on. The peal of that +bell remains with me now; it has ever been a source of inspiration to +me. Sixty times struck that old bell. Once a minute, and when the +long sad hour was over, father put his Bible upon the mantel and went +slowly out, and we all solemnly followed, going to our various duties. +That solemn hour had a voice in the coming great Civil War of 1861-65. +At that hour John Brown was hanged in Virginia. All through New +England, they kept that hour with the same solemn services which +characterized my father's family. When the call came for volunteers +the young men of New England enlisted in the army, and sang again and +again, that old song, "John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, +but his soul goes marching on." His soul is still marching on. And +while I am one of those who would be the first to resist any attempt +to mar the sweet fraternity that now characterises the feeling between +the North and South, as I believe that the Southern soldier fought +for what he believed to be right, and consequently is entitled to our +fraternal respect, and while I believe that John Brown was sometimes a +fanatic, yet this illustration teaches us this great lesson and that +John Brown's advice was true. His happiest days were passed far back +in the quiet of his old home. + +Near to our home, in the town of Cummington, lived William Cullen +Bryant, one of the great poets of New England. He came back there to +spend his summers among the mountains he so clearly loved. He promised +the people of Cummington that he would again make his permanent home +there. I remember asking him if he would come clown to the stream +where he wrote "Thanatopsis" and recite it for us. The good, old +neighbor, white haired and trembling, came down to the banks of that +little stream and stood in the shade of the same old maple where he +had written that beautiful poem, and read from the wonderful creation +that made his name famous. + + "So live that when thy summons comes, to join + The innumerable caravan which moves + To that mysterious realm where each must take + His chamber in the silent halls of death, + Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night, + Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed + By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave + Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch + About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." + +"Yes," he said, "I will come back to Cummington." So he went to Europe +but came not back to occupy that home. He loved the old home. We were +driving by his place one day when we saw him planting apple trees in +July. We all know that apple trees won't grow when planted in July, so +my father, knowing him well, called to him and said, "Mr. Bryant, what +are you doing there? They won't grow." Mr. Bryant paused a moment and +looked at us, and then said half playfully: "Conwell, drive on, you +have no part nor lot in this matter. I do not expect these trees to +grow; I am setting them out because I want to live over again the days +when my father used to set trees when they would grow. I want to renew +that memory." He was wise, for in his work on "The Transmigration of +Races" he used that experience wonderfully. + +In 1860, when we were teaching school, my elder brother and myself, in +Blanchford, Massachusetts, were asked to go to Brooklyn with the body +of a lady who died near our schools. We went to Brooklyn on Saturday +and after the funeral, our friends asked us to stay over Sunday, +saying that they would take us to hear Henry Ward Beecher! That was a +great inducement, because my father read the "Tribune" every Sunday +morning after his Bible (and sometimes before it) and what Henry Ward +Beecher said, my father thought, "was law and Gospel." Sunday night, +we went to Plymouth Church, and there was a crowd an hour before the +service, and when the doors were opened we were crowded up the stairs. +We boys were thrust back into a dirty corner where we could not +see. Oh, yes, that is the way they treat the boys, put them any +place--they're only boys! I remember the disappointment of that night, +when we went there more to see than hear. But finally Mr. Beecher came +out and gave out his text. I remember that I did not pay very much +attention to it. In the middle of the sermon Mr. Beecher began in the +strangest way to auction off a woman: "How much am I offered for the +woman?" he yelled, and while in his biographies, they have said that +this woman was sold in the Broadway Tabernacle, but I afterwards asked +Mrs. Beecher and she said that Mr. Beecher had not sold this woman +twice, so far as she knew, but that she recalled distinctly the sale +in the Plymouth Church. I remember standing up on tip-toes to look +for that woman that was being sold. After he had finished, after the +singing of the hymn, he said "Brethren, be seated," and then said, +"Sam, come here." A colored boy came up tremblingly and stood beside +him. "This boy is offered for $770.00; he is owned in South Carolina +and has run away. His master offers him to me for $770.00, and now if +the officers of the church will pass the plates the boy shall be set +free," and when the plates were returned over $1700.00 came in. As we +went our way home I said to my elder brother: "Oh, what a grand thing +it must be to preach to a congregation of fifteen hundred people." But +my elder brother very wisely said: "You don't know anything about it; +you do not know whether he is happy or not." "Well," I suggested, +"wasn't it a strange thing to introduce a public auction in the middle +of a sermon," and my elder brother again said that if they did more +of that in a country church they would have a larger congregation. +Afterwards I was quite fortunate to know Mr. Beecher and frequently +reported his sermons. I often heard him say that the happiest years +he ever knew were back in Lawrenceville, Ohio, in that little church +where there were no lamps and he had to borrow them himself, light +them himself, and prepare the church for the first service. He told +how he swept the church, lighted the fire in the stove, and how it +smoked; then how he sawed the wood to heat the church, and how he went +into carpenter work to earn money to pay his own salary, yet he +said that was the happiest time of his life. Mrs. Beecher told me +afterwards that Mr. Beecher often talked about those days and said +that bye and bye he would retire and they would again go back to the +simple life they had enjoyed so much. + +When he had built his new home near the Hudson, Robert Collier and I +visited him. We found in the rear of an addition that clap-boards had +been put up in all sorts of adjustment. Mr. Collier asked him: "Where +did you find a carpenter to do such poor work as that?" and Mr. +Beecher said humorously: "You could not hire that carpenter on your +house." Then he said: "Mr. Collier, I put those boards on that house +myself. I insisted that they leave that work for me to do. I have been +happy putting on these boards and driving these nails. They took me +back to the old days at Lawrenceville, where we lived over a store +and our pantry was a dry goods box. But there we were so happy. I am +hoping sometime to be as happy again, but it is not possible to do it +while I am in the service of the public." He had promised himself and +his wife some day to go back to that simple life. But his sudden death +taught the same great lesson with all the examples I give of great men +and women. Rev. Robt. Collier always enjoyed the circus--the circus +was the great place of enjoyment outside, perhaps, of his pulpit work. +It was Robert Collier who used to tell the story of the boy whose aunt +always made him go to church, but after going to a circus he wrote to +his aunt: "Auntie, if you had ever been to a circus, you wouldn't go +to another prayer-meeting as long as you live." The love of Collier +for the circus only shows the simplicity of the great man's mind. Mr. +Collier is said to have paid a dollar for a fifty cent ticket to the +circus, only making it conditional that he was to have the privilege +of going 'round to the rear and crawling under the tent, showing what +he must have done when a boy. The fact of Mr. Collier's love for the +circus was one of the strange things in the eccentricities of a great +man's life. Once Mr. Barnum came into Mr. Collier's church and Mr. +Collier said to the usher: "Please show Mr. Barnum to a front seat +for he always gives me one in _his_ circus." These simplicities often +show that somewhere back in each man's life there is a point where +happiness and love are one, and when, that point is passed, we go on +longing to the return. + +The night after he went to hear Henry Ward Beecher's great sermon they +persuaded us to stay until the following Monday night, because there +was to be a lecture at the Cooper Institute and there was to be a +parade of political clubs, and fire works, so as country boys, easily +influenced, we decided that the school could wait for another day, and +staid for the procession. We went to Cooper's Institute and there +was a crowd as there was at Beecher's church. We finally got on the +stairway and far in the rear of the great crowd, but my brother stood +on the floor, and I sat on the ledge of the window sill, with my feet +on his shoulders, so he held me while I told him down there what was +going on over yonder. The first man that came on the platform, and +presided at that meeting, was William Cullent Bryant, our dear old +neighbor. When we boys in a strange city saw that familiar face, oh, +the emotions that arose in our hearts! How proud we were at that hour, +that he, our neighbor, was presiding on that occasion. He took his +seat on the stage, the right of which was left vacant for some one yet +to come. Next came a very heavy man, but immediately following him +a tall, lean man. Mr. Bryant arose and went toward him, bowing and +smiling. He was an awkward specimen of a man and all about me people +were asking "Who is that?" but no man seemed to know. I asked a +gentleman who that man was, but he said he didn't know. He was an +awkward specimen indeed; one of the legs of his trousers was up about +two inches above his shoe; his hair was dishevelled and stuck out like +rooster's feathers; his coat was altogether too large for him in the +back, his arms much longer than the sleeves, and with his legs twisted +around the rungs of the chair, was the picture of embarrassment. When +Mr. Bryant arose to introduce the speaker of that evening, he was +known seemingly to few in that great hall. Mr. Bryant said: "Gentlemen +of New York, you have your favorite son in Mr. Seward and if he were +to be President of the United States, every one of us would be proud +of him." Then came great applause. "Ohio has her favorite son in Judge +Wade; and the nation would prosper under his administration, but +Gentlemen of New York, it is a great honor that is conferred upon me +to-night, for I can introduce to you the next President of the United +States, Abraham Lincoln." Then through that audience flew the query as +to whom Abraham Lincoln was. There was but weak applause. Mr. Lincoln +had in his hand a manuscript. He had written it with great care and +exactness and the speech which you read in his biography is the one +that he wrote, not the one that he delivered as I recall it, and it is +fortunate for the country that they did print the one that he wrote. I +think the one he wrote had already been set up in type that afternoon +from his manuscript, and consequently they did not go over it to see +whether it had been changed or not. He had read three pages and had +gone on to the fourth when he lost his place and then he began to +tremble and stammer. He then turned it over two or three times, threw +the manuscript upon the table, and, as they say in the west, "let +himself go." Now the stammering man who had created only silent +derision up to that point, suddenly flashed out into an angel of +oratory and the awkward arms and dishevelled hair were lost sight +of entirely in the wonderful beauty and lofty inspiration of that +magnificent address. The great audience immediately began to follow +his thought, and when he uttered that quotation from Douglass, "It is +written on the sky of America that the slaves shall some day be free," +he had settled the question that he was to be the next President +of the United States. The applause was so-great that the building +trembled and I felt the windows shake behind me. Afterward, as we +walked home, I said to my elder brother again, "Wasn't it a great +thing to be introduced to all those people as the next President of +the United States?" and my elder brother very wisely said: "You do not +know whether he was really happy or not." Afterwards, in 1864, when +one of my soldiers was unjustly sentenced and his gray-haired mother +plead with me to use what influence I would have with the President, I +went to Washington and told the story to the President. He said he +had heard something about it from Mr. Stanton, and he said he would +investigate the matter, and he did afterward decide that the man +should not be put to death. At the close of that interview I said to +the President: "I beg your pardon, Mr. Lincoln, but is it not a most +exhausting thing to sit here hearing all these appeals and have all of +this business on your hands?" He laid his head on his hand, and in a +somewhat wearied manner, said, with a deep sigh: "Yes, yes; no man +ought to be ambitious to be President of the United States," and said +he, "When this war is over, and that won't be very long, I tell my +"Tad" that we will go back to the farm where I was happier as a boy +when I dug potatoes at twenty-five cents a day than I am now; I tell +him I will buy him a mule and a pony and he shall have a little cart +and he shall make a little garden in a field all his own," and the +President's face beamed as he arose from his chair in the delight of +excitement as he said: "Yes, I will be far happier than I have ever +been here." The next time I looked in the face of Abraham Lincoln was +in the east room of the White House at Washington as he lay in his +coffin. Not long ago at a Chautauqua lecture I was on the very farm +which he bought at Salem, Illinois, and looked around the place where +he had resolved to build a mansion, but which was never constructed. + +Near my home in the Berkshires, Charles Dudley Warner was born. When +he had accomplished great things in literature and had written "My +Summer in a Garden," that popular work which attracted the attention +of his newspaper friends, he went to Hartford, where the latter gave +him a banquet. I was invited to attend and report it for the public +press. They lauded him and said how beautiful it was to be so elevated +above his fellow men, and how great he was in the estimation of the +world But he in his answer to the toast said, "Gentlemen, I wish for +no fame, I desire no glory and you have made a mistake if you think +I enjoy any such notoriety. I envy the Hartford teacher whose smile +threw sunshine along her pathway." Then he told us the story of a poor +little boy, cold and barefooted, standing on the street on a terribly +cold day. A lady came along, and looking kindly at him, said, "Little +boy, are you cold?" The little fellow, looking up into her face, said, +"Yes Ma'am, I was cold till you smiled." He would rather have a smile +like that and the simple love of his fellow men than to have all the +fame of the earth. He was honored in all parts of the world by the +greatest of the great, yet he was a sad man when he wrote "My Summer +in a Garden," and it all seems a mystery how he could in such grief +have written that remarkable little tale. This sadness is often +associated with humorists. Mr. Shaw was one of the saddest men I +ever met. Why, he cried on the slightest occasion. I went one day to +interview him in Boston, and Mr. Shepard, his publisher, said "Please +don't trouble Josh Billings now." "What is the matter?" "Oh, he is +crying again," said Mr. Shepard. I asked him how Mr. Shaw could write +such funny things as he did. He then showed me the manuscript (which +Mr. Shaw had just placed on his desk and which he had just written), +in which he says, "I do not know any cure for laziness, but I have +known a second wife to hurry it up some." Artemus Ward wrote the most +laughable things while his heart was in the deepest wretchedness. +Often these glimpses of the funny men whose profession would seem to +show them to be the happiest of earth's people, prove that they are +sometimes the most gloomy and miserable. + +John B. Gough, the great temperance orator, the greatest the world has +ever seen, said to me one evening at his home that he would lecture +for forty years, and then would stop. But his wife said, "Now, John, +you know you won't give it up." He assented, "Yes, I will." But his +wife said, "No you won't. You men when you drink of public life find +it like a drink of whiskey, and you are just like the rest of the +men." "No," said he. Then Mr. Gough told again his familiar story of +the minister who was preaching in his pulpit in Boston when he saw the +Governor of the State coming up the aisle. Immediately he began to +stammer, and finally said: "I see the Governor coming in, and as I +know you will want to hear an exhortation from him, I think that I had +better stop." Then one of the old officials leaped up from one of the +front seats and said, "I insist upon your going on with your sermon, +sir; you ought not be embarrassed by the Governor's coming in. We are +all worms! All worms! nothing but worms!" Then the minister was +angry and shouted: "Sir, I would have you understand that there is +a difference in worms." Mr. Gough said he was different from other +people yet the years came and went, and he stayed on the public +platform. One night a committee from Frankford, Philadelphia, asked me +to write him and ask him to lecture for them. I wrote and whether my +influence had anything to do with it or not, I do not know, but he +came from New York and when he was in about the middle of his lecture, +he came to that sentence, "Young man, keep your record clear, for a +single glass of intoxicating liquor may somewhere, in after years, +change into a horrid monster that shall carry you down to woe." And +when he had uttered that wonderful sentence of advice, he slopped to +get breath, reached for a drink of water, swung forward and fell over. +The doctor said he was too late for any earthly aid, and John B. +Gough, with his armor on, went on into Glory. He never found that +earthly rest he had promised himself. His garden never showed its +flowers, and his fields were never strewn with grain. + +When our regiment was encamped in Faneuil Hall at Boston before +embarking for the war in 1863, Mr. Wendell Phillips sent an invitation +to the officers of the regiment to visit his home. But when we reached +his house we found that he had been called to Worcester suddenly to +make a speech. But we found his wife there in her rolling chair, for +she was a permanent invalid. Our evening was spent very pleasantly, +but I said to her: "Are you not very lonesome when Mr. Phillips is +away so much?" "Yes," she said, "I am very lonesome; he is father, +mother, brother, sister, husband and child to me," and said she, "he +cares for me with the tenderness of a mother; he waits upon me, he +takes me out, and brings me in; he dresses me, and it now seems so +strange that he is not by my side. If it were not for him, I should +die, but he says that as soon as the slaves are free that he will come +back and be the same husband he was before." The officers standing +around me smiled as they heard of his promise to retire, but said she, +"Oh, yes, he will do as he promised." When the war was over and the +slaves were free, and he had scolded General Grant all he wished, he +did do as he promised, and did retire. He sold his house in the city +and bought one in Waverly, Massachusetts. He did prove the exception +and went back to the private life that he had promised himself and +his wife. Every Sunday morning as I drove by his home I could see him +swinging on his gate. It was a double gate over the driveway, and he +would pull that gate far in, get on it and then swing way out over the +side-walk and then in again. Well, he used to swing on that gate every +Sunday morning, and my family wondered why it was that he always did +it on that particular morning. One Sunday morning when I drove by, +I found Mr. Phillips swinging on his gate over the side-walk, and I +said, "Mr. Phillips, my family wish me to ask you why you swing on +this gate every Sunday morning." Mr. Phillips, who had a very deep +sense of humour, stepped off the gate, stood back, and assuming a +dignified, ministerial air, "I am requested to discourse to-day upon +the text 'Why I swing upon this gate on Sunday morning,' and I will, +therefore, divide my text into two heads." I quickly told him that I +must get to church some time that day. "Then," said he, with a smile, +"just one word more: Why do I swing on a gate? Because the first time +I saw my wife she was swinging on the gate, and the second time I saw +her, we kissed each other over the top of the gate, and when I swing +it reminds me of other happy days long gone by. That, sir, is the +reason I swing upon this gate." Then his humor all disappeared and he +said: "I really swing upon this gate on Sunday morning because I think +the next thing to the love of God is love of man for a true woman--as +you cannot say you love God and hate your brother, neither can you say +you love God unless you have first loved a human being, and I swing on +this gate on Sunday morning because to me it is next to life's highest +worship." And then, in a majestic manner, he said, "Conwell, all +within this gate is PARADISE and all without it MARTYRDOM." In that +wonderful sentence, which I feel sure I recall accurately, he uttered +the most glorious expression that could ever come from uninspired +lips. + +I had a glimpse of James G. Elaine when I went to his home in Augusta, +Maine, to write his biography for the committee. A day or two after it +was finished a distinguished Senator from Washington came to see me in +Philadelphia and asked if Mr. Blaine had seen the book, and I told him +that he certainly had. "Did he see that second chapter?" "Of course he +did," said I; "he corrected it." Then he wanted to know how much money +it would take to get the book out of circulation. "Why, what is the +matter with the book," said I, but he would not tell me, and said that +he would pay me well if I would only keep the book from circulation. +He did not tell me what was the matter. I told him that the publishers +owned the copyright, having bought it from me. He said, "Is it not +possible for you to take a trip to Europe to-morrow morning?" "But why +take a trip to Europe?" "The committee will pay all of your expenses, +all your family's expenses, and of any servants you wish lo take with +you--only get out of the country." "Well," I said, "I am not going to +leave the country for my country's good, unless I know what I am going +for." I never could find out what the trouble with that second chapter +was, and I afterwards asked Mrs. Blaine if she knew what was the +matter. She then broke out in a paroxysm of grief and said that if he +had stayed in Washington, Pennsylvania, where he was a teacher, "he +would be living yet." She said "he had given thirty years of his life +to the public service, and now they have so ungratefully disgraced his +name, sent him to an early grave, and all in consequence of what he +has done for the public. He is a stranger to his country--a stranger +to his friends," and then she said, "O would to God he had stayed in +Pennsylvania!" I left her then, but I have never known what was in +that second chapter that caused the disturbance. But I do know +the second chapter was concerning their early and happy life in +Washington, Pennsylvania, where he taught in the college. + +Near our home in Newton, Massachusetts, was that of F.F. Smith, who +wrote "America." It was of him that Oliver Wendell Holmes said that +"Nature tried to hide him by naming him Smith." Smith lived that quiet +and restful life that reminds one of Tennyson's "Brook" when thinking +of him. He knew the glory of modest living. + +The last time I saw the sweet Quaker poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, +was in Amesbury, before he died. He sent a note to the lecture hall +asking me to come to come to him. I asked him what was his favorite +poem of his own writing. He said he had not thought very much about +it, but said that there was one that he especially remembered: + + "I know not where His islands lift + Their fronded palms in air, + I only know I cannot drift + Beyond His love and care." + +I then asked him, "Mr. Whittier, how could you write all those war +songs which sent us young men to war, and you a peaceful Quaker? I +cannot understand it." He smiled and said that his great-grandfather had +been on a ship that was attacked by pirates, and as one of the pirates +was climbing up the rope into their ship, his great-grandfather +grasped a knife and cut the rope, saying: "If thee wants the rope, +thee can have it." He said that he had inherited something of the same +spirit. + +At Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Bayard Taylor took me to the grave of +his wife, and said "Here is the spot where I determined to live anew. +From this grave the real experiences of my life began." There he was +completing his home called "Cedar Croft." But he died while U.S. +Minister to Germany. The Young Men's Congress of Boston, when +arranging for a great memorial service in Tremont Temple, asked me to +call on Dr. Oliver Wendel Holmes to ask him to write a poem on Bayard +Taylor's death. When I asked Mr. Holmes to write this poem, to be read +in the Tremont Temple, he was sitting on the rocking chair. He rocked +back and kicked up his feet, and began to laugh. "I write a poem on +Bayard Taylor--ah, no--but I tell you, if you will get Mr. Longfellow +to write a poem on Bayard Taylor's death, I will read it." These +things only show the eccentricities of Mr. Holmes. So I went to Mr. +Longfellow and told him what Dr. Holmes had said, and here is the poem +he wrote: + + "Dead he lay among his books! + The peace of God was in his looks. + As the statues in the gloom + Watch o'er Maximilian's tomb, + So those volumes from their shelve. + Watched him, silent as themselves. + Ah, his hand will never more + Turn their storied pages o'er. + Never more his lips repeat + Songs of theirs, however sweet. + Let the lifeless body rest! + He is gone who was its guest. + Gone as travellers haste to leave + An inn, nor tarry until eve. + + "Traveller! in what realms afar, + In what planet, in what star, + In what gardens of delight + Rest thy weary feet to-night? + Poet, thou whose latest verse + Was a garland on thy hearse, + Thou hast sung with organ tone + In Deukalion's life thine own. + On the ruins of the Past + Blooms the perfect flower, at last + Friend, but yesterday the bells + Rang for thee their loud farewells; + And to-day they toll for thee, + Lying dead beyond the sea; + Lying dead among thy books; + The peace of God in all thy looks." + +That great traveller, like Mr. Longfellow, used to tell me of his +first wife. He always said that her sweet spirit occupied that room +and stood by him. I often told him that he was wrong and argued with +him, but he said, "I know she is here." I often thought of the great +inspiration she had been to him in his marvelous poems and books. +Poor Bayard Taylor, "In what gardens of delight, rest thy weary feet +to-night?" Mr. Longfellow once said that Mary "stood between him and +his manuscript," and he could not get away from the impression that +she was with him all the time. How sad was her early death and how he +suffered the martyrdom of the faithful! Longfellow's home life was +always beautiful But his later years were disturbed greatly by +souvenir and curiosity seekers. + +Horace Greeley died of a broken heart because he was not elected +President of the United States, and never was happy in the last years +of his life. His idea of true happiness was to go to some quiet +retreat and publish some little paper. He once declared at a dinner in +Brooklyn that he envied the owner of a weekly paper in Indiana whose +paper was so weakly that the subscribers did not miss it if it failed +to appear. + +Mr. Tennyson told me that he would not exchange his home, walled in as +it was like a fortress for Windsor Castle or the throne of the Queen. + +Mr. Carnegie said to me only a few months ago that if a man owned his +home and had his health he had all the money that man needed to be as +happy as any person can be. Mr. Carnegie was right about that. + +Empress Eugenie, in 1870, was said to be the happiest woman in France. +I saw her in the Tuilleres at a gorgeous banquet and a few years +after, when her husband had been captured, her son killed and she was +a widow, at the Chislehurst Cottage, I said to her, "The last time +I saw you in that beautiful palace you were said to be the happiest +woman in the world." "Sir," she said, "I am far happier now than I was +then." It was a statement that for a long time I could not understand. + +I caught a glimpse of Garibaldi weeping because he did not go back +with his wife, Anita, to South America. + +I visited Charles Dickens at his home and asked him to come to America +again and read from his books, but Mr. Dickens said "No, I will never +cross the ocean; I will not go even to London. When I die, I am to be +buried out there on the lawn," and he pointed out the place to me. A +few weeks later I hired a custodian to let me in early at the rear +gate of Westminster Abbey, for Parliament had changed Mr. Dickens's +will in one respect, and provided that he should not be buried on the +lawn of his cottage, but instead in Westminster Abbey, but they made +no other change in his will. There I looked on the fifteen men, all +whom the will allowed to be present at his funeral, who were bearing +all that was mortal of Charles Dickens to his rest, and I heard Dean +Stanley say "While Mr. Dickens lived, his loss was our gain; but +now his gain is our loss." When he uttered that great truth, very +condensed, in that beautiful language, he showed that human life in +the public service of one's fellow men may be nothing more or less +than continual sacrifice. + +My friends, if you are called to public service; if you have influence +that you can use for the public good, do not hesitate to go if you are +SURE that DUTY calls you. But if, instead, no voice of God, no call of +mankind, doth require that you go out and give up the best of life for +your fellows, remember how fortunate you are. If you can go to your +home at evening and read your paper in peace, and rest undisturbed, +do so, and remember that you have reached the very height of personal +happiness. Then seek no farther, count thyself happy and go no farther +than God shall call you. For the happiest man is not famous, nor +rich, but he who hath his loved ones in an undisturbed peace around. +Remember what Wendell Phillips said, "All within this gate is +Paradise; all without it is MARTYDROM." + +I had a glimpse of Generals Grant and Sheridan wrestling like boys, +over a box of cigars sent into General Grant's tent. They were boys +again. + +I had a glimpse of Li-Hung Chang at Nanking, China, at an execution by +beheading, and a glimpse of him an hour later playing leap frog with +his grandchildren. Childhood was a joy, manhood a tragedy. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Russell H. Conwell, by Agnes Rush Burr + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUSSELL H. 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