Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-05
WORK OF BOSTON W, SMITH
General Manager Of "Ths Gospel on Wheels
Line Of Chapel Cars.
MESSENGER OF PEACE" IS NOW IN OMAHA
Weli-Eauipped Churches that Are
being Railroaded All over the
Country-How Railroads Assist
I'm Spreading the Gospel.

! Boston W. Smith is in Omaha attending
the Baptist state convention. Uncle Bos-
ton" for that is his familiar cognomen
among Baptists everywhere, is the general
/ manager of a line of chapel cars. One of
! these cars Is now sidetracked at the Web
ster street station. 1t is the Messenger of
Peace and is in charge of s. G. Neil and
| wife. Messenger OF Peace is No 5 in the
list over which Uncle Boston" has general
supervision. The others are "Evangel," !"
Emmanuel" Glad Tidings" and Good
| Will" These cars are assigned to differ
ent territories, each one being in charge Of
| one or more missionaries. The sixth car
| Is now In course Of construction at Detroit
and will be dedicated next May, when the
Baptist anniversaries are held at Detroit.
A Gospel Palace.
The Messenger OF Peace" is eighty feet
long. ten feet and four inches wide, Its
seating capacity is one hundred and twenty
five, but Mr.. Nell says it has been made to
hold considerably larger number. There
| is berth, the same in an ordinary
Pullman; kitchen, equipped with steel
range; refrigerator, china closets, etc.;
cosy living room for the missionary and his
wife, in which rows Of books and papers
line the walls, with just enough pictures to
give the place home-like tinge In ad-
dftion there is "the chapel" with two rows
OF seats for the accommodation of those
who enter the car to hear the preaching.
The chapel looks very much like a church,
despite the fact that it is simply the big
gest end of a palace car. An organ OF
church pattern and regulation pulpit
complete the equipment. 1t is in this end of
The car that the missionaries do their
preaching They never fail to get an audi
ence, no matter how wicked the town into
which they Sidetrack The novelty at
tracts. The exterior OF the car is not diff
ferent from any private car.
This description of the Messenger OF
Peace" describes in a general way all the
other cars of the system supervised by
Uncle Boston," With him the Messenger
OF Peace" simply represents one piece of
equipment of his system. He calls it the
white Line" because he says that line
makes close connections for Heaven.
Typical RaiIroader.
Uncle Boston" is typically railroad in his
methods. In his ordinary conversation he
makes use of many expressions that would
cause him to be taken for a railroad man.
Years ago he was an expert accountant He
left lucrative situation in Minneapolis to
enter missionary work.
1T struck me-" he said, that a man who
deVotes his life to the cause OF the gospel
ought to have better method of transpor-
tation than that afforded by the early day
miss ionaries. In the long ago they walked
from place to place, distributing tracts and
pointing out the way to heaven. Then they
improved little and covered their route
horseback. AT last they got to using
wagons, but in most cases the wagons were
poorly equipped. Many a poor colporter has
had to sleep ont under the trees. But that
difficulty was avoided by building wagons
arranged for a sleeping berth. These wag-
ons are still serviceable for districts not
touched by railroads, but they can't travel
fast enough, SO We had to build these chapel
cars At first it appeared to be a big un-
dertaking The idea OF building private
car especially arranged for the gospel!
Just think of it! But 1 knew 1t could be
done and from the one car with which we
started, our system has grown to five cars,
with another in course Of construction
and still others to come. The Lord gives
the money for this work and noble Chris
tian men and women are His distributing
agents-fils paymasters, We may say"