The Detroit times., 1911-10-25

| A stranger lBnOTdnt VI tho AoSS
that great religious wave Is grip
ping Detroit could have dropped into
the Light Guard armory, Tuesday
night, and easily have imagined that
he had chanced upon great poiiti-
cal meeting OF men. At first glance.
there was scarcely anything that
would suggest a mammoth religious
awakening. The very character OF
the audience was sufficient to lead
TO the belief that people had come
there to hear some great political
issue discussed
| Men OF all classes and all ages
were gathered there. Laborers sat
| side by side with men of wealth.
4 Mechanics. and artisans eibowed
bankers and lawyers. Fresh faced
youths and grizzled veterans took
seats side by side. On the platform
| were half dozen men. and at
table in the center sat Fred b.
! Smith, physical and intellectual
| giant
Ii didn't take long 10 learn that
| the occasion was indeed campaign,
not battle for ballots. but strug-
gle for souls, with Mr.. Smith lead
| ing a vigorous assault upon the
| forces Of evil. He Is a dynamic per-
son, this Mr.. Smith. The program
describes him as being "the worlds
greatest speaker to men" His is
peculiar style of eloquenee. He has
everything the old-style evangelist
possessed and then some. He ex-
horts, commands, flays, pleads. LASH
es his hearers and then soothes and
consoles them. And IL would seem
| he does II ali IN one breath
lie is a positive force. There Is
no halfway course for him. He be-
lieves that to stand still even for an
instant is to retrograde, and he does
not hesitate to point out the utter
| fallacy OF halting on the moral path.
With mailed fist he struck at what
he describes the worlds greatest So
eial evil. the saloon. He literally
! tore IL to shreds. He called IL the
reception hall 10 hell, where there
! is q constant invitation for men to
! walk in and procure through tickets
to that place.
About 1000 men were present to
! hear him. and IL must have graft
fed him immensely TO note the effect
OF his plea. Swayed by the power OF
! his eloquence and the logic of his
argument. a good half hundred OF
these Fese-one at a time TO their
feet and professed that they had not
yet accepted Christ They stood be-
fore their fellows and declared they
were willing and ready to come into
the fold and be prayed for.
For % years. Smith has been work
ing among men. His labors have not
told upon him. He is strong and
vigorous in body and in mind Even
at the close OF Tuesday nights meet
| ing, the strain OF a whole day OF
! strenuous labor seemed not to hats
affected him.
The other man." was the subject
| OF Mr.. Smiths discourse. Ii was a
! powerful appeal, the keynote being
! that we should not be so self-centered
as to be concerned alone about our
! own souls and forget the souls OF
! others. He said that the most sol
emn thing OF life is not the respon-
sibility for your own soul, but for the
soul OF the man behind and beside
you"
lie declared that the most despica-
bic thing in the world is a father
who brings boy into the world and
then sets a pace for that boy that
will lead him straight To ruin.
III you want TO know where your
son is going to land. tell me where
( YOU drink your whisky. where you do
J your gambling what dives you
I vislt?" he shouted. "Of all the men
/ | pity, | pity the man who hasn't the
manhood to lead his boy right. The
/ kind OF a life you are leading now
I settles largely the kind OF life your
/ baby will lead. The kind OF a life
! you are leading now is settling the
I destiny OF a generation TO come"
The speaker iayed those persons
! who spent their entire lives In sin
and in their dying moments call for
minister of God TO bring them SAT-
vation. N\
II cannot see this mushy. death
bed praying job" said he. II have
/ a -