The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1907-08-16
TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI F DAY AUGUST l6 1907
The Great Gates Meeting.
Written by COL. w. L. CLAYTON.

Rev. Mr.. Gates. While | feel
my incompetency to write this
history, yet | was there and saw
and heard what was said and
done and also received into my
heart and life much OF the good
that came my way, and am
therefore a competent witness.
Men who profess to write histo.
ry without proper data, make
many mistakes; and that class Of
men especially who condemn
without knowledge, are unwor-
thy our conf ,ence, whether the
error of judgment is intentional
or unintentional.
Brother Gates is Of rather
striking figure, tall and straight,
black hair, and having keen,
piercing eyes, with well-formed
and splendidly poised head. All
the while he was here, except
one day, he wore a suit Of light
gray, somewhat like the old
Confederate gray of war times.
The meeting had been conducted
by the pastors of the different
churches at the Methodist church
from Monday till Wednesday.
He came in just as the services
were ready to conclude at the
ten o'clock hour, and made a
few remarks, told the Christian
people that he had not come to
spend his time to get them ready
for the meeting, and that if they
were not ready for him he would
go where they were ready and
anxiously calling for him. AS
the meeting was adjourned he
called for the committees, which
had been chosen to select a place
for the meetings, and went with
them himself, first having thor
oughly examined the Methodist
church. We then went and
looked at the big addition which
had been recently erected by the
Tupelo Cotton Oil Mills, Mr.. H.
Strain, the president of that cor
poration, being with us, and
freely offering the building for
the use of the meeting. Bro.
Gates is a general. Just as soon
as he fixed his eyes on the build
ing and looked it over, he said,
Brethren, the hand of the Lord
was in the construction of this
building. 1t is splendidly laid
out for our purposes, and here's
where the services should be
held, unless the noise Of the
moving trains too much interfere
with US" We discussed the
noise proposition and decided to
use the building for the meeting.
This was something after IL
o'clock and it was necessary to
plank off a part of the building
to break the noise and to pre-
vent confusion by people getting
in behind the speaker and to
erect platform for the leader
and the ministers and one for
the choir: and yet, when 8 o'clock
at night came, everything was
ready for the first service in the
tabernacle, including seating and
lighting. But Of course, we put
in seats from time to time as the
people focked to the services,
until we could seat about two
thousand, and many had to
stand through several services.
We were hoping for great things
from what we had heard of the
preacher, but when he came and
we had seen and heard, like the
Queen of Sheba, we were ready
to exclaim, "The half had not
been told," | named the taber-
nacle the Wonder Land of Glory.
| have been in many protracted
meetings, and seen many man.
ifestations of Gods power. but
never aught like this. You ask
how was it and how could he
draw such crowds and hold them
through all the long services
Well, the first thing | observed
about the man was his wonder
full belief in prayer united, per
sistent prayer. | never attended
a meeting in which so many and
such earnest prayers were off
cred. His services were appoin-
ted for ten in the morning and
eight at night, and yet before
those hours arrived there would
be a song service interspersed
with prayers many prayers,
and then the praying had just
begun. so to speak.
Brother Gates usually sat In q
high chair from the time he came
| in until he began preaching, and
gave many and divers lntroduc.
tory services, on which the peo-
pie hung as if he were In the
midst of a great sermon, and al
these Introductory services were
lined with prayer and thanks
givings, and bubbled over with
helpful suggestions. That which
/ call the Gates Shiloeth, was
repeated by the whole congrega-
ton after each conversion or sci
of onryorciopc y,rnoodnd ALWAYS