The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-11
EVANGELIST MOVES
AUDIENCE OF 5000
AS NEVER BEFORE
Work of Tremendous Choir
Material Factor In Aid
ing Him
NO NOON MEETING
SCHEDULED TODAY
Tonight Special Service for Negroes
Will be Held-Exum Instructs
Police to Prevent Dis
turbance by Traffic
Nv RICHARD r. LussIER

prayer as a climax of the fifth of the
tremendous revival meetings now being
conducted in Birmingham by the noted
evangelist
1t was the most successful SO far of
the meetings. Before its close it proved
embarrassing in the fact that so many
people were in tears and some unable to
control themselves gave full vent to the
great feeling in their souls. The singing,
which was more powerful and more beau
tifu than ever before, could not drown
entirely the means of anguish of the
guilty souls in the audience. Uncontrol-
liable seemed the grief of some of the
older generation, and one elderly woman
had to be led away as her shrieking of
Praise be the Lord.' Jared upon the
sensitive psychic forces that had appar-
emily stirred the great conglomeration Of
| humanity that was packed in the taber-
nacle.
1t was estimated that so far this week
Gipsy Smith has preached and ninistered
to fully 10000 of the people of Birming-
ham. ut is glorious work., said the
evangelist ''and it is my hope that l
| may reach all of the people of this great
city,
Choir Sings Well
| Outside OF the inuivluual work of Gipsy
Smith, who seemed last night inspired TO
| superhuman efforts in exhortation, the
work of the choir was the feature of
an evening to be remembered for its
remarkable exhibition of religious fer
vor. The choir, under the leadership of
Mr. Alsop, sang its way into the hearts
of all present And here. too, Gipsy Smith
came in for his share of the honors, for
his sweet and yet vibrant emotional voice
always led ana rang clear and high above
all in the mass singing Tine audience
was sWayed TO song and it seemed at
one time that under such power and vol
ume the roof of the auditorium would be
| lifted. Ii was a wonderful spectacle.
| The large, improvised auditorium on
First avenue between Twenty-second and
F., Twenty-third streets. began filling up al
4 Z o'clock. From everywhere the people
4 appeared to come; automobiles and eec-
| tric cars. vehicles of all sorts brought
| their human freight to the tabernacle anc
| by 1880 o'clock the vast expanse of seat:
\ was filled with "a colorful array of men
| women and children. And still they came
There seemed no stopping and soon the
rear of the auditorium presented a solid
mass of standing humanity. The police
guarded the entrances against more com
ing in. As usual, while the people were
being seated the choir sang.
| At 7:i0 o'clock Mr.. Smith appeared or
the rostrum and his appearance as usua
brought applause. The evangelist knelt
in silent prayer while Leader Alsop called
on the choir and audience to sing Il Am
| Bound for the Promised Land" The de-
mand of Mr.. Alsop was heartily respond
ed to and Mr.. Smith finishing his prayer
| stood up with, a good natured smile and
| quizzed the ladies present about removing
their hats. ''Of course said Gipsy Smith
IF you have wig keep your hats on .
| Apparently there were no wigs for all
hats promptly came off
| In the midst of some of the witticisms
of Mr.. Smith with the audience, Miss
Hattie Morton. principal of the Loule
| Compton seminary, came in on the left
| side of the auditorium followed by 4I
white frocked seminary girls They were
seated in a special reserved section and
were congratulated by the evangelist for
| their interest as manifested by their ap-
pearance at the revival
Ramsey's Song Sung
Following the coming of the seminary
girls a new song was brought forward
for the choir to sing. 1t was by a local
| composer, J. e. Ramsey, president of
| the Ramsey class in the First Metho-
| dist church. The title of the song, which
| contained haunting melody and words
of wonderfully sacred sentiment, was:
We Shall Meet Again Some Day" This
| song was sung until the words of its
chorus were on every lip and thunderous
was the delivery Of:
We shall meet again some day."
The close of the singing of Mr.. Ram
seys composition was followed by long
applause which Mr.. Smith urged. He
called upon the audience to applaud the
work of the choir which he stated was
Just getting into its stride. lie called
Tor the ushers and the personal work
ers and lastly for the newspaper men.
He stated that he hoped to convert the
reporters before his revival meetings
were over. And lastly Mr.. Smith called
Tor cheers for himself which were
given with great gusto. This was fol-
lowed by the hymns, "Why Not Now
and True Hearted. Whole Hearted.
by audience and choir
The services began at exactly 7:45
O'CLOCK with prayer by the Rev. w.
| >. Brown At the time all the exits
were closed against more people com
Ing In and the vast auditorium was
Jammed full. The heat was intense.
Nearly every person was welding lus-
tily palm leaf fan which on the whole
made low whirring noise not un-
pleasant to the ear
OA<O VAAA5 eAC IA dy tf MI. 0f1llIn per-
sonally led the audience into the last
hymn before the sermon and collec-
tion. 1t was Saved by Grace" and
its melody and words were beautiful.
Mr.. Smith led with chorus solo before
the assembled singing.
And shall see Him Face to Face. >
"And tell the story saved by Grace. .
Last Song Most Effective
This last song as led by Mr. Smith
was the most effective of the evening.
1t brought the people to him before
he had even uttered word of his SER
mon His cheering cry of Come
along" urged always the crowd and
powerful tonal wave swept the aud
fence and choir. 1t was hysteria OF
song
After the singing was over Mr.. Smith
said: MY brethren do you know Mr..
Jackson? If you do not know him. |
will tell you that he is managing the
finances of this meeting and he tells
that you are not responding as you
should.
/ rs this worth as much as a moving
picture show to your Yes, yes,' went
UP from the audience. "Then," con-
tinued Gipsy Smith. drop in the col
lection box what you would give to
the picture show