The Brookhaven leader., 1884-03-27
A SUNDAY IN NEW YORK.
Three Great Preacher ard
Their Chu,she-.

| mucous racket OF wagon anu 'Ous "
hushel, the rasping cry of various
vendors is silent. Sunday clothes
give q better aspect TO the jostling
crown. You really feel that it IL a
holy day.
Beecher and Talmage are names
one has heard for years and OF
courSe on Sunday must go
to hear them preach. You must
start early ii you wish seat, so at
nine O'Clock we started to eleven
o'clock service You cross over to
Brooklyn by the Fulton Ferry just
n short distance from the great
bridge. You fini yourself in compa-
ny with hundreds Of others whose
destination is the same as yours.
After 90 minutes ride in the
street car Talmage's church il
reached You would suspect that it
was some where near, for mp and
down every street you SIC one con.
tinuous crowd pushing toward the
Tabernacle. The environment #
this famous church is not as grand
as one could wish. Dirty streets
leaf to it, ugly shanties and squatty
brick buildings are its nearest neigh
bors. The Tabernacle itself is a
square brick structure. Its interior
is semicircle arranged as an
amphitheatre which gives it a
theatrical appearance. The furniture
and finish is beautiful, though
rather fashy for a church. We
were early and had an opportunity
to see the vast crowd assemble
This is perhaps the largest Protes-
tant CHURCH in America. Its seating
capacity is about 1000 and on the
morning Of which ! am writing every
seat was filed, every aisle was
crowded and back Of the pews were
hundreds standing, and hundreds
went away unable to find seats. 1t
was no extra OCCASION; this same
crowd is present every Sabbath.
The music at the Tabernacle is
yer, fine. A male quartette makes
the sweetest music l ever heard.
The congregational singing is grand.
This is led by cornet and organ
Zone of the largest and most COM
plete in the worldly. When q hymn
is announced the hutter of turning
pages makes quite q noise. The old
tunes are used and every one sings.
When 1000 voices sing the Long
Metre Doxology the old building
trembes and your heart thrills with
delight.
Talmage has no pulpit. He sits
upon a platform about II feet wide
and 20 long. Upon this the most
famous preacher Of America dis
courses to the largest congregation in
America. Talmage has been carica-
tured so much and 50 well that every
one knows how he looks His voice
is harsh, shrill and most penetrating,
almost unpleasant. His manner is
unique. He runs rapidly over the
platform, he attitudnizes. he swings
his arms, comforts his body into
belless indcscribable shapes, his
face in its expression is as changeable
as a Kaleidoscope. This is the great
Talmage. He docs not miGd making
his listeners laugh and tley do not
object to being tickled. | always try
to bring off II souvenir from every
great mans sermons that hear. One
expression of Tallhage was this:
Opportunities do not fly in circles,
/ they light once and then take their
flight into eternity" A potent
truth we'll worth memory-room, Tai
IMAGES salary $4,000 year.
After walking back to New York
over the East River bridge we
started to union Sunday School in
the German quarter of the city.
The infant class is What we went to
see. We were conducted into the
gallery of the infant room and be-
low us sat 400 little children under
10 years Of age! This immense
class is taught by single young
ladv-a pretty one too! She is
earnest and active in her manner
and keeps every little face turned
toward her with interest. She tells
the simple story Of the lesson, now
and then pausing to let the children
finish the sentence, and when those
l400 little throats speak they make
no small noise. She will then ques
ton the boys or the girls or the
smallest or the largest, separately
and in this way she keeps every eye
bright with expectancy. Such
ne vous energy l nave never seen
before in any person, thought to
myself what a fine wife she would
make some minister. just then
she waived her hand and l caught
sight Of yellow band on her four
finger. changed the subject of my
thoughts Immediately.
Having seen this infant wonder
we next visited a Chinese Sunday
School. Here we found about 80
Celestials gathered for instructions
They are first taught to read and
write English and each student
requires a teacher, so there are 30
teachers. They are close students
diligent and eager to learn. So III
tent were they upon their books that
no notice was taken of US as we