The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-02-27
ROOSEVELT HONORS
THE MEMORY OF
WESLEY
At a Mass Meeting in New
York the President Eulo-
gizes the Pioneer Metho-
dist Preachers and Gives
His View Of the Present
Duty of the Race.

NEW YORK, Feb. 26. = President
Roosevelt was the chief speaker tonight
at a mass meeting at Carnegie hail.
ITO do honor to the character and la
bors of John Wesley, the founder of
Methodism, scholar, missionary, phil
anthropist, preacher and gentleman"
The meeting was held under the aus
pices Of the New York thank Offering
commission, which has had charge Of
the local work of the twentieth CEN
fury thank offering fund of 100000
that has been raised by the Methodists
to celebrate the advent of the TWEEN
tieth century of the Christian era.
Samuel w. Browne presided, with
President Roosevelt at his right, and
on the platform were Bishops Foss,
Walden, Goodsell, Andrews and Fow-
I. Ter and others.
The hall was crowded to the doors
and hundreds were unable to gain ad-
mittance. President Roosevelt reached
the hall, escorted by a detachment Of
mounted police, at $3.50. AS he alight-
ed from his carriage he was hailed by
young man who was struggling in
the crowd and whom the police were
trying to force back.
Mike Cronin Appears.
I'm Mike Cronin, Mr.. President, and
I want to hear you speak," he shouted.
President Roosevelt instantly rec
ognized him as the driver who drove
him on the last stage of his journey
to North Creek to take the train for
Buffalo, after being notified of the
death of President Mckinley
Delighted to see you,' replied the
president, who, addressing the police,
said, Let that man pass"
GraSping Cronin'S hand, he led him
into the hall and saw. that he had
seat near the platform. After the
meeting the president introduced Gro
min to the members of his party, and
told him the story of his furious drive
along the Adirondack road to catch
the train.
Cheers and had-clapping announced
the arrival of President Roosevelt, who
advanced from the rear Of the plat
form, bowed. and then walked over to.
the seat reserved for him behind the
reading desk.
Chairman Browne then announced the
hymn, BLOW, Ye Trumpet, Blow" by
Charles Wesley. Bishop Foss. of Phil
adelphia, led the meeting in prayer,
closing with the Lords Prayer. Mr..
Bovine made a short address, and in
troduced President Roosevelt, the au-
O4e1CS I4SIuS 10 greet MIN.
Words of the President.
The address was devoted mainly to
the work of the pioneer Methodist
preachers. The president, among 9TH
er things, said:
TN the hard and cruel life of the
| border, with it's grim struggle against
the forbidding forces of wild nature
and wilder men, there was much to
pull the frOntiersman down. If left to
himself, without moral teaching and
moral guidance, without any of the in
fluences that tend toward the uplifting
Of man and the subduing of the brute
within him, sad would have been his,
| and therefore our, fate. From this
| fate we have been largely rescued by
| the fact that together with the rest
| Of the pioneers went the pioneer
preachers; and all honor be given to
| the Methodists for the great proportion
| Of these pioneer preachers whom they
| furnished.
Life is not easy, and least of all is
| 1t easy for either the man or the ma
| ton that aspires to do great deeds. In
| the century opening the play of the in
| finitely far-reaching forces and ten
denotes which go to make up our So
cial system bids fair to be even fiercer
| in its activity than in the century that
| has just closed. If during this century
the men Of high and fine moral sense
show themselves weaklings; if they
possess only that clustered virtue that
shrinks shuddering from contact with
the raw facts Of actual life; If they dare
| not go down into the hurly- burly where
| the men of might contend for the mas
terry; If they stand aside from the pres
| sure and conflict; then as surely as
the sun rises and sets, all of our great
material progress, all the multiplica-
ton of the physical agencies which
| tend for our comfort and enjoyment,
| will go for naught, and our civilization
will become a brutal sham and mock
cry.
Advance In Humanity.
IF we are to do as I believe we
shall and will do. If We are to advance
In broad humanity, in kindness, in the
spirit of brotherhood, exactly as we
advance In our conquest over the hid
| den forces of nature, it must be by de-
| Velop1ng strength in virtue and virtue
! In strength, by breeding and training
men who shall be both good and strong
| both gentle and Valiant-men who
scorn wrongdoing and who at the same
| time have both the courage and the
| strength to strive nightly for the right
| Wesley said he did not intend to
| leave all the good tunes to the service
| Of the devil. He accomplished SO
much for mankind because he also re-
~ ASe.FC IAC CIOuSSI, IudLIlof
| qualities to be availed of only in the
| interest of evil. The church he found
| ed has throughout its career been a
| church for the poor as we'll as for the
| rich and has known no distinction of
persons. 1t has been a church whose
members. if true to the teachings of
| Its founder. have sought for no greater
| privilege than to spend and be spent
IN the interest Of the higher life, who
| nave prtded themselves, not on shirk-
Ing rough duty, but on undertaking it
and carrying it through to a successful
| conclusion"
:, The hymn, "See How Great a Flame
Asp1res" was then sung. During the
| singing President Roosevelt retired
from the hall. After additional adj
dresses the meeting closed.