St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1900-09-05
c. E. CONVENTION IN LONDON.


Visit TO Windsor CasIIe.-Grand Re
view at American Church in Paris
Our disappointment proved to b.
great blessing, in not taking pas
sage on the S. S. "Saale" last Tunt
as we applied for, and being put of
on the S. S. City of Rome" Serene
ly she slipped her dock and went
down close to those fated steamers
at their Hoboken docks only three
hours before that terrible catastrophe
which made the whole nation shud-
der The City of Rome" bore east
ward about 100 Christian Endeav.
orers with her 1900 passengers,
gathered from 26 states and pro-
vinces. Daily games, entertain
ments, songs and religious meetings
brought us altogether into a cherish
ed brotherhood. In eight days we
sighted the north of Ireland and a
small steamer came to US to take off
passengers and freight for London
derry, and brought US intelligence of
the destruction of those steamers.
Landed at Greenock, we took rail to
Glasgow, where the Rev. John Pol.
lock, president of the Scottish Chris
tian Endeavor Union, with a large
number of Christian Endeavorers,
welcomed US at the depot, and held
a reception in the evening in his Scot
fish kirk, and showed US every court
esy. DR.. Clark's son, Eugene, now
a senior in Dartmouth College, where
his father graduated in 1878, as
classmate with the writer, and his
sister, lovely young lady, were also
there to welcome US.
Our party visited the chief cities,
abbeys, cathedrals, castles, lochs and
historic points through Scotland,
Wales, and England. Reserved cars
we're at our service all the way, side
tracked wherever we stopped. A
week was thus richly spent before
-eaching London in season for the
great Convention. Our arrival at
Easton station was hailed by "a large
OF Christian Endeavorers.
Alexandra Palace is an immense
structure on an emipence overlook
ng the city, used for all sorts of pub
&c gatherings, opened in 1873 al an
expense of one and three-iourths mil
ions of dollars! The largest of sew
,ral halls in it is 386 feet long and
l84 feet wide, with a seating capac-
ty of 10000, beside 1000 on the
platform and choir circle. The large
American tents Endeavorer" and
: Mizpah" were also erected and
Used. Three simultaneous meetings
we're held every day and usually
.hree sessions day and for FIVE con-
'ecutive days! The attendance con.
increased to the climax on
he last day, which was $4,000. |
The numbers are not exaggerated es-
Inmates but are reliably authenticated
as all had to pass through register
ng turn-stiles.
DR.. Clark and wife arrived in Lon
Ion from troubled China via the
railway the day before the
Convention began, thus quoting all
for their safety. He
-old us many thrilling adventures of
lis Oriental tour, and the vexed con-
1ltlons now prevailing. He said
hat the missionaries had been blam-
I'd by many as responsible for the
present condition of things, but in
stead of that, they had allayed i'll
will, subdued passion and DELAYED
outbreak. One item of prejudice, as
4 sample, among the natives against
orelgners is that they were made to
believe that the westerners put every
sleeper or tie of the new railway over
buried body OF a Chinese baby, al
ternating boys with girls. Another,
that the locomotive ploughed up the
corpses of their ancestors and dis
turbed their eternal sleep.
Sec, Baer in his report stated that
there are nearly 10000 societies, of
which over two-thirds, or $4,000,
are in the United States, and the
membership aggregates about three
and half millions.
Of the 584 American Endeavorers
enrolled in the United Societies tours
we found the names of only seven
from Vermont, which is altogether
too small a number. OF the several
hundred who were disappointed be.
cause of the destruction of the
"Saale," about $50 took passage on
the "Ultonia," a slow cattle-ship,
which landed them in London after
the Convention had closed, and also
losing the trips through Scotland
and England, and they paid $50
more than we did, and dare not hope
for any rebate.