The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-09-22
FRED B. SMITH,
AN IOWA BOY.
Prominent Y. M. C. A. Worker Who
Viii Visit keokuk September
90 Was Born in the
Hawkeye State.
FORTY SEVEN YEARS AGO
Worked Hard When Young Man,
Converted to Christianity in a
South Dakota Mission
Church.

Fred B. Smith who will be in
Keolruk on September 20, was born
In Iowa, forty-seven years ago. of
stury New England parents. His boy
hood days were days of struggle, of
hard work, of discipline in school and
at home; and one result of that rig
orous life was the development of a
bodily engine, of a physique, of en-
ormous power and of corresponding
endurance.
After he had obtained all the school
ing that was possible at that time,
young Smith worked for several years
as a salesman in the western country,
but after being converted to active
christianity in a little South Dakota
home mission church, he became in
terested in Y M. C. A. work and serv-
ed a term of service as a secretary at
Sioux Falls. From 1891 to 1896 Mr..
Smith was general secretary at Du-
buque. But his great desire was not
t. engage permanently in the manage
ment of a Y. NJ. c. A. What Fred B.
Smith wanted to do was to get out in
the world face to face with men, In
dividually, or in groups, or in great
mass meetings, and preach to them
the gospel es Jesus Christ, absolutely,
definitely: giving them the gospel
straight, and without frills. So. in the
year 1856, the young man cut loose
from the work of Y. NJ. C. A. secre-
tary and sprang into the field of
evangelistic endeavor and for nearly
two years travelled from town to town
and city to city as an evangelist, work
ing with various associations and in
many places.
When the Spanish war opened. the
international committee of the Y. NJ.
c. A. found itself face to face with a
far-reaching opportunity for work
with the soldiers and sailors of the
United States. 1t was at that time
that Fred Smith doomed up as a ma
tional figure Knowing of his sue
cess as an evangelist. for nearly two
years, the International committee
picked him out as the one man above
all others to go to the camp of $4,000
men at Chickamauga, there to preach
the gospel, to comfort the sick and
dying in hospitals, to give courage to
those who needed it sorely and to
strengthen them by his presence as
well as his words, among the tempta-
tions always present in an army
camp. For nine weeks Fred Smith
engaged in daily evangelistic meetings
10 a,-j
work in a half dozen other southern
camps. and then an evangelistic cam
Taign with the army of occupation in
Cuba.
In the fall of 1899 Mr.. Smith was
asked to enter the service of the in
ternational committee of the Young
Mems Christian Association for the
purpose of campaigning the American
city associations, holding confer
ences with officers, con. mitteemen,
and active members, on the organ
ization of their religious work, and
impressing upon the leaders the need
of giving greater emphasis TO the re-
ligious work of the association. His
success during the following eighteen
months Will stand as one OF the high
lights in the historical picture of con
temporary christian work.
Mr.. Smith was the campaign leader
of the Men and Religion Forward
Movement which came to close the
last week in April, 1912.
Mr.. Smith is scheduled 10 speak in
iKeokuk Sunday evening. September
20, at 7:30 O'Clock, in Trinity NJ E.
church. corner of Tenth and Main
streets. 1t will be meeting for men,
and boys fifteen years OF age and
over, No man can afford to miss this
opportunity to hear one of the great
est men this country has ever pro-
duced, and certainly no grander son
has come from the state of Iowa