The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-12
A CRUSADER.


OW tnC D8IDCO0C LaNCD tnO WY =
soul-Saving.
The Salvation Army people, taking advan-
tage Of the popular love of noise and
rhythm, have pressed the bass drum and
the tambourine into the service of religion.
but it has remained for Mr.. r. o. Alex
ander, of North Carolina, to so utilize the
barbecue. Mr.. Alexander is a cotton dealer
Of considerable means, whose avocation is
evangelization. He owns a tract of ground
near Black mountain, Buncombe county,,
near the very crest of the mountain sys-
tenn, from which he has cleared the super
abundant rhododendrons and laurel, and
here for a weeks interval each summer he
pitches a big tent and holds services akin
to the ti~me-honored camp meeting. In this
country it is a pretty long walk between
field, which ne cultivates in his own way
with eminent success; and therein lies the
particular interest. He believes. evidently.
that the way to the average mans heart is
through the stomach, and accordingly his
advent is heralded by the announcement
that meetings will be inaugurated by a
goodly feast of beef and mutton. prepared in
true barbecue style. Joyful tidings of this
kind need no newspaper to spread them
abroad, and that is a remote mountaineer
who does not hear Of 1t In plenty Of time.
The barbecueing is done on a Saturday,
and the prepared meats, in generous guam
titles, stored away in great hampers. to be
dispensed Immediately after the Sunday
mornings service. In this starveling land
prime roast beef is a rare and costly bait,
and. incidentally. 1t may be said that the
people come. Not only does the adjacent
town Of Black Mountain empty itself. but
all the valleys and coves send down their
struggling populations, till the gathering
place resembles the camp meeting of pio-
neer times. They come afoot and by saddle,
and by divers kinds of vehicles, the com
monest, perhaps, being the box-bed wagon,
furnished with splint-bottomed chairs and
half filled with grass for the juvenile men,
bers of the family to sit In. These, scat
tered about the grounds contiguous to the
tent. can be utilized to perch in If the tent
Is overcrowded or stuffy, and this enlarg-
ing Of the circle brings the munching horses
within the precincts of the congregation.
The congregation piques the interest of the
visiting stranger. There Is a brave show
ing of brillian raiment, from the variegated
calicoes of the poorer wearears to the more
pretentious colored fabrics of those less
poor. TIL young men who keep store at
Black Mountain (and the general aspira-
ton there seems to run to this business as
the acme of gentility) form a s~artorial
class of themselves. and are quite up-to-
date with their belted pantaloons and
starched shirts.
But, for the most part, inery cuts but a
small part in the mountain life. and sits
pathetically upon those who make a strug-
gle for II. and the especially pathetic figure
is that of the young girl. with her feminine
tendencies, advertising her instinct for
beauty by her precious Sunday frock, but
awed by the crowd and too s~elf-conscious to
stand or sit with comfort. There are other
incongruities. too. some of them funny, and
a picture hat remains vividly with us is
that Of a good-sized girl-child in an i'm
maculate white dress, which, being quite
short and starched very stiffiy. stood out
like a ballet dancers skirt. while below
muslin rags swathed the little legs, other
wise bare, to protect them from briars.
BY his muniicence Mr.. Alexander gets
his congregation where he wants 1t. As the
tent. the grounds and the dinner are all
his. he Is privileged to say what he wants
to-and he smites them hard. His special
crusade Is against whisky. tobacco, snuff
and kindred evils with which the noun