El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-02-15
THE SANKEY SERVICES.


Mr.. Sankey sang and spoke Saturd ay
night in the First Methodist church,
to an audience that taxed the capacity
of the house. There was good
volunteer choir on the pulpit platform,
but the audience took hold of the
hymns with such interest that the
choir really was circumsc bed only by
the walls of the house. The instrument
al arrangements were good MIR.
Sankey presided at the cabinet organ
| while Miss Moore graced the pipe Or
gan seat, and rounded out the &C
compartment with the larger instru-
ment, so the com alton sounded re-
marka bly, well. The hymns sung were
contained in a pamphlet furnished by
Mr. Sankey who carries them with
| him for his services of song, and the
melodies to which the songs are writ
| ten are so great an improvement over
| the melodies generally to be found in the
| older books, that they took at once with
| the people. There is a swing,a dash and
| liveliness, that does not detract at all
| from the religious sentiment contained
| in the songs but rather adds to their
general musical value. The leaflet is
| suggestion that the days of the old
drag-net tune is gone by, and melodies
are now being written that SAVIOR of
genuine melody and musical scholar
as pleased with the way the cOngrega-
tion took hold, and the interest main
tanned throughout the evening bid fair
for a crush the following night. The
city pastors sat beside the platform,
and offered prayer as called on by Mr..
Sankey.
In his address. Mr.. Sankey said, I
am pleased to be here once more,
among my FL Paso friends. 1 was sur
prised this evening as L began to reck-
on the years gone by, to remember that
| was here for the third winter. Mr..
Moody and myself were here two years
ago, and year ago l was here again,
and spoke in Chopin hall: and now
again am | here with my wife and son,
and his wife, en- route to southern Cali
fornia. My health was all right when
we left home: but some Buffalo. N. Y,
friends took me out to Niagara Falls,
and the change from the warm train to
an open sleigh gave me severe cold.
got more of Niagara than [ was fgur-
ing on. However in this fine climate, |
find myself improving and shall soon
be entirely well. l left Mr.. Moody in
New York where for four months we
have been engaged in continuous work
both in Carnegie hall and in the Coop
er Union, and [ am pleased to report
the wide spread interest all through
the eastern states. In all instances
the work has resulted in a marked
blessing. But Mr.. Moody in the ma
ture of things cannot work much long
err as hard as he has in years past So
he is inspiring others to take up the
work. In the northwest the work is
progressing finely. 1t should be the
Joy and the mission of the church to
preach the gospel, and Mr.. Moody is
urging the churches with marked sue
cess to enter more than ever before the
pure gospel field. Spiritual preaching
with spiritual singing will start re-
vlval at any time.
Mr.. Sankey said he heard in ST
Louis and in Ell Paso that he had died
sumo years ago, and people had been
congratulating him that he was still
alive. In fact he did not know but
that he would have to congratulate
himself. One woman had told him she
knew he was dead because the papers
said so: and man on a train told him
''You can't fool me: know that Sankey
is dead. 1t is some other Sankey who is
singing" The evangelist said the re
port was due largely to his having
been COMPOUNDED with the late z. Z.
Bliss, the sweet singer in Israel who
was burned to death in the terrible
Ashtabu disaster in Decem Der, 1876,
when train was derailed and burned
up on the Lake Shore road. Mr.. San
key was in Chicago at the time anX-
iously waiting for Mr.. Bliss, and when
the dreadful news came, he was over
whelmed. However. although he could
not unders ia od it, God could and does,
and the day will come when we will see
that it was for the best.
Mr.. Sankey then had the congrega-
ton join him in another song, which
was we'll given, and which was followed
by Gather his loved ones home''-a
solo by the evangelist, the audience
Joining in the refrain. This was fol-
lowed by another solo, Eye hath not
SEEM song by the way that is the
favorite in fremont Temple, Boston.
This was followed by My Ain Coun-
try" a Scotch song, written however,
by an American woman named Mary
Lee, brought up by Scotch nurse who
taught the child the dialect. Mary
Lee, afterwards Mrs. Demorest, is now
buried at Pasadena, and Mr.. Sankey
proposed visiting her grave on reach
ing southern California. The evange-
list said that while Mr.. Moody loved
good music, and enjoyed hearing good
singing every day. he really did not
know one note from another and really
knew but two tunes. One was Old
Hundred. and the other wasn't. How
ever, Mr.. Moody did know one note,
and only one, and he would stay on it
so long in trying to sing that it was
great trial for Mr.. Sankey who would
at times take him to task. Mr.. Moody
invariably replied: 81 am doing the best
can, and that is as good as you CO 90"
So Mr.. Sankey had to make the best of
it.
The evangelist next sang, cover the
Line,' which he said had a remarka BILE
history. Major Mullane, an exBritish
army officer, was in this country, aid
ing Mr.. Moody in his evangelist work
in Massachusetts,, and had been labor
| ing earnestly with young Yale stu
| dent to give mis- soul to his maker. The
| major accompanied the student home
| one night arguing with him in prayer
and tears: aud on the majors leaving
the young man drew line in the sand
with his cane, and said to himself,
| cover the line is for Christ; turning
away is for the world" After debat.