Connecticut western news., 1893-10-19
MOODY AND SANKEY.
STORY OF HOW MOODY DISCOVERED
 THE MAN TO HELP HIM.

THE MAN TO HELP HIM.
 It Was at . Meeting In Indianapolis That
 the Voice of the Great Singer Was First
 Heard by the Stirring Evangelist-Their
 First Work.
 1t was at Indianapolis in 1870 that these two men first made each others acquaintance. MT. Moody was already which subsequently made him famous, though then his efforts and his reputa- tion were confined largely to Chicago. MT. Sankey's> home was in Newcastle, Pa., where he was then serving as an in- ternal revenue officer. His father was a banker and active in politics and held under Linooln's appointment the impor- tant position of collector of inland rev. enue for four large counties in western Pennsylvania. Young Sankey was then @ Christian, having been converted a number of years before during Metho- dist revival, and his talent of song had already begun to be used for his Master.
 Coming to Indianapolis to attend as a delegate from Newcastle the national convention of the Young Mems Christian association, MT. Sankey attended one morning o'clock prayer meeting, held in the basement of the First Baptist church, led by MT. Moody. The singing dragged, and MT. Sankey, at the sugges- hon of minister who was seated beside him, started up the familiar hymn,
 "There is fountain filled with blood" It went well and was followed by other songs equally successful, and Mir. Moody became so interested that he looked about to see whence the new impetus in singing came. After the meeting closed, with characteristic quiokness of deci- sion, MT. Moody, hardly waiting for an introduction, said to MT. Sankey:
 "You're the man I have been looking for for the last eight years. Come and lunch with me-" The invitation was accepted, and later in the day the two men got together, and the subject of future combination of forces was talked over in downright earnest. MT. Moody pressed upon Mir. Sankey the duty of at once joining him in Chicago, but in Sankey's mind there were some prac- hcal objections arising from his busi- ness and family connections. "I am government oficer," he said to MT. Moody, land may find it difficult to get released" "There Is a better govern ment to serve than this," was the re- ply that flashed instantly out. But, persuasive as MT. Moody was, he did not carry his point then and there Mr. Sankey took several manths in which to consider the matter.
 That very afternoon, however, the first Moody and Sankey public meeting was held, with no advertisement except the singing as led by MT. Moody's newly found friend. It was an outdoor gather ing, and the masses were there. Mir. Moody brought out box from store to favorably located street corner, mounted it, and there short but fer vent service of preaching and song was held. At the close of this open air meet ing the two evangelists headed pro cession for the Academy of Music, where the convention meetings were held, sing ing as they marched with the crowd in to the Academy of Music, the convention having adjourned the discussion of How to Reach the Masses" and gone to supper. When the delegates got back to the academy building, they found it nearly half full of the very "lapsed masses" about whom they had been discussing. MT. Moody cut short his second address, dismissed the audi ence and went out with MT. Sankey to get something to eat. MT. Sankey was greatly impressed with these two meet ings and said to Mir. Moody, "You are reaching the masses while other people are talking about them."
 After the convention was over MT. Sankey went back to Newcastle and talked the question over with his wife and family. He did not see his duty clearly all at once, but MT. Moody kept writing for him to come to Chicago and at last persuaded him to go out for week to look the ground over. Arriving in Chicago in the early morning, he went first to Mir. Moody's house, reaching there just as family prayers were being held. Almost before MT. Moody intro duced him to his family he asked him to sing a hymn and thus contribute his part toward the informal service of praise. Then the two men went out into the streets of the city visiting the sick and unfortunate.
 That day must have been a notable one in the personal history of the two men, who afterward commanded the eager attention of great audiences on both sides of the sea. On this occasion, as two ordinary missionaries, they went about from house to house, singing and reading the Bible and speaking the word of cheer and hope wherever it was needed. This was their first days labor together. Evening meetings were held during the week in the Illinois street church, of which MT. Moody was the head and leader.
 On Sunday large meeting was held in Farwen hall, and as the organist hap pened to be absent MT. Sankey had to sing without instrumental accompani- ment, not having even small cabinet organ there. The effect of the service upon the people there was so marked that MT. Moody turned to the singer and said, You see I was right" There were that night not less than 100 inquiries. The earnest preaching and consecrated song had gone home to many heart. From that time until the present these men have been colaborers, and the story of their career here and in Great Britain is so familiar that 1t need not again be