The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-19
ny ELLIS @. HoLLUNIs

Yesterday morning at IL o'clock
Gipsy Smith told about 1900 of Bir-
mingham's children the old story of
the words of Jesus to little children.
He told them of the incident when
many people were bringing their chill
dren to Christ and the disciples stopped
them, saying that he had no time for
the little ones. Jesus rebuked the
disciples and said Suffer little chill
dren to come unto me-" That was the
text of the evangelist's talk and 1t was
taken from the tenth chapter of Mark.
The services yesterday were the most
beautiful that have yet been held. Pic
ture some 4500 young people gathered
in the auditorium. the bright colors
and various styles of the girls dresses
forming pretty contrast to the more
sober garments of their brothers. The
Boys Industrial school occupied the
center section and their khaki uniforms
helped the general color scheme won
derfully The young people were very
attentive and, as the evangelist said,
were more quiet all through the serv-
ices than their elders usually are.
Sing by Sections
During the song service tho volume
of sound coming from the throats of
hundreds of children was wonderful
Had the parents of those young people
been present they would have been
proud OF them. Mr.. Smith took the
audience assembled by sections and had
them sing "The Old Time Religion,
The southeast section was filled with
little girls from 10 to 13 years of age
and when the evangelist started the
| Il, l. l.
ried 1t along in a manner that was
good to hear Their childish voices
rang out bright and clear. Then Mr.
Smith called upon the center section,
occupied for the most part by the stu
dents of the Boys Industrial school.
Their voices were heavier than the first
section and the volume OF sound was
somewhat larger The other sections
We're taken in turn and everyone in the
building then sang.
Mr.. Smith told the children that he
had never met any real intelligent peo-
pie who objected to the conversion of
children. He said that he had met
some people who did not believe in
the conversion of children but those
persons, he said. were not themselves
converted. No one who knows God
said Mr.. Smith. can help but believe
in converting children. He said that If
children were not converted there
would be no preachers. He turned to
the preachers and asked that all of
them who were converted when they
were children to please rise. Every min
lister on the platform stood. Mr.. Smith
told them that he himself was convert
ed when he was only 16 years old and
said that had he not been converted
at that time he probably would never
have come to Christ.
Have Common Sense
"If people understood children they
would find that most of them have
more good. common sense than Is usu-
ally credited to them" said the evan
gelist. "The disciples may have
thought the children were too young
Jesus did not. however. and he knows.
He rebuked the disciples for turning
away the children and said, Suffer
them to come unto me-
Mr. Smith said he advocated the con-
version of children because they would
never become enmeshed in sin If they
were brought to Christ in their youth.
He told of seeing old men rising in
church and giving testimony of what
Jesus had done for them; of how He
had saved them from sin. He said that
when he heard testimonials of this kind
he felt like getting to his feet and
saying: yes, but Jesus has done more
for me than He ever did for you: he
saved me before l knew of these
things"
The gypsy evangelist told of a recent
visit to the top of Shades mountain
and how he had looked down upon
Birmingham on one side and the beau
tiful valley to the south on the other
He said he told his friends: God is
here: down in the valley is man." He
started to tell of the beauties of the
mountain scene but checked himself
gn vi N w tndl11ua wild
Imagination on nature" He said God
made that great mountain and he also
made the little speclS of dust that is
brushed from the boot. And" said Mr.
Smith, if that grain of dust is placed
under the microscope of Calvary one
could see the crimson cross. God made
the great oak and he also made the
dainty little daisy that grows beside
it,"
Gipsy Smith did not play upon the
emotions of his listeners but rather
preached to them sermon of love and
the divinity of Christ He appealed to
the intellect OF his listeners, for, he
said. children have intellects. He ap-
pealed to their good sense and judg-
ment.
Contrary to the usual procedure
cards were distributed among the chill
dren which read: believing the Lord
Jesus Christ to be the only true Savior,
and knowing that 1 can be saved only
through His grace, I hereby accept
Him as my Savior and will follow
Him." Space for the name and address
followed
Many Respond to Plea
When the evangelist began his plea
to the young people to come to Christ
there was apparently a feeling of hes
itancy among them. One arose here
and there. but 1t was not like it usu
ally is. They did not rise spontan-
eously and quickly. Three of the In
dustrial school boys stood and several