St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1868-10-23
VOLUME 32-NUMBER 1890

ever, it was arranged that perhaps on
the next Sunday evening there might be
prayer meeting there, but it was not
actually settled until the next morning.
A prayer meeting was held in Aliens
dancing saloon on that Sunday night, and
nobody any had idea there ever would
be another one held there. But at that
prayer meeting there seemed to be such
an outpouring of Gods spirit, and the
hearts of the Christian people who were
there were so stirred, and the hearts and
souls of the inhabitants of that portion of
the city were so stirred-many of them
coming forward and asking 10 be prayed
tOr-that 1t was thought best to hold an
other prayer meeting there the next day
at , o'clock; and Mr.. Allen consented.
No arrangement was contemplated be-
You'd that one meeting. That meeting
was held at II o'clock, OH Monday, the
last day of August; and it was such a
| tremendous success, and such striking
manifestations of Gods spirit were made
there, that there was universal express
sion that we should have another meet
ing the next day. Mr. Allen consented
that the meeting should be held, and it
was held. Then it was proposed that
there should be one on Wednesday ard
then on Thursday. And go tue meet
ings went on from day to day, without
any prearrangement whatever, Just as the
Lord led the hearts OF the people, for two
weeks. BY that time, people having
come in from all parts of the land to the
meetings, the movement having become
so powerful, and the effect on the street
and people in the vicinity having be-
come so visible to the naked eye that
any one who had an eye could see, it
was thought best to have some organized
plan for Tie meetings i'll future, and TO
secure legal control Of "a place TO hold
them in. And 50 Aliens place was le-
gally secured at the end of two weeks, he
having borne all the expenses up TO that
time.
We don't know what is going on in
the hearts OF men. even in Water street
Many a time, when | have been subsoil-
INC i'll New \ ork, and have gone to a
i
ing but that he might be agreeably amazed
TO find his heart all ready for the word.
so prayer meetings were held al Tommy
Hadden's. The effect of these meetings
On the denizens of Water street and
vicinity has been marvellous On Mon
day, the last day Of August, as you pass
ed those abomlnable dens called dance
houses, you would have seen sitting in
the Coors and on the doorsteps the wo-
men-well, l cannot tell how they look
ed, 1t would not do. But You can 90
through there now, and you wont see
one of these women that Is not decently
dressed, and without any improper ex-
posture whatever, from one end of the
street TO the other. You will hear but
very little swearing on the street; and
YOU will See the cartman and the long
thorenen at II o'clock going up i'll
ireyes TO the prayer meetings. They
listen respectfully, and they 90 away as
though they had been attending a funer-
al They are powerfully impressed.
l remember that, one day, at John
Aliens, man made me cry like a baby
He was noble looking fellow, and had
Oh semi-naval-uniturm. He got up
and said lie had been fourteen years in the
employ of ncle sam, and had come to
/ New York the Friday before. FIa had
been drinking excessively On Saturday
md Sund ~, and this was Monday. He
came i'll TO see the wickedcSt man i'll New
York and those hymns and prayers had
taken hold Of his heart. His parents
were baltimore Methodlsts, and he had
once sung those hymns with his mother
He SAID Il was once Christian lad
but | have strayed far from the path my
mother Taught me. But this day | want
20 get back TO it, And he appealed 10
Us 10 pray for him, and help him to walk
in the right path and we all wept there
like children. Is there no good i'll that !
lnat is the way the work goes on there.
Men come up the from Wall street, and
yet converted. Men come down from
uptown, and get converted, They come
from the Far West, and get converted.
And they come from the East, from
everywhere, and they centre III there, and
there toi meets lnein.
But perhaps you say ''Where are the
poor people, the vagabonds thought
the revival was for them" IL Is tor
,rhomSoereT wU-just is the invitation Is
aiven in tine Scriptures. And those poor
people do come in.
At the first meeting IN Kit Burns dog
pit, a young gambler came with two
other gamblers 10 see what the new dodge
was. They had seen deg-ights there :;
and they said they thought they would
ike to see Il wrestle with the Lord In the
pit. That young man WAS afraid TO
come cut there, OH account OF his two
companions. He boarded i'll Il gambler ;
boarding house. He looked like So
phomore from Harvard College. He
followed Mr.. Van Meter up to the How
ard Mission, and there spoke to him.
And the young man has since been con-
back to that gamblers boarding house.
Last Monday or Tuesday morning, L
counted twenty-three of those people
from Water street, or that vicinity, rough
looking men, standing in the vestibule of
Mr.. Van Meters office, waiting their
urn to 90 in and talk with him about
their Saviour. Twenty-three of them
that is the way the work is going on.
Mrs. Lincoln has finally sailed for
Europe Her object is TO educate hel
youngest son, and she will spend the
winter in the south of France.