Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-12-31
BILLY SUNDAY HAS
ROUSED PUBLIC MIND
TO KEEN INTEREST
Campaign in Philadelphia
Promises to Surpass High
est Hopes of Evangelist
and His Associates.

The Billy Sunday campaign in TINS CITY
will be Of magnitude never dreamed Oh
in this or any other great metropolis ec-
cordinR to B. d. Ackley, private secretary
and pianist OF the evangelist, Mr.: Ack- OK,
lev declares that the preparations LOT the
revival have not only been more syste-
matte than ever before, but that sreater
and more intense interest has been mani
tested by the citizens OF Philauelpha
than any of those interested In the move
n1ent had hoped for.
''The feature that makes such cam
paign SO remarkable" said Mr.. Ackley'
''is that 1t reaches every class or people.
Mlllionaires and beggars alike are brought
to see life In It's true relationship TO tnem-
selves and are converted. 1t mas peeh
said that Mr.. Sundays appeal Is to the
workingman, but I could cite hundreos Oh
instances in Pittsburgh and Des MONIES
alone TO show you that rich business men
as u,el as highly educated men of all
professions have not only been converted
by the evangelistic campaign but nave
added their financial and moral support
to furthering the work undertaken py
Mr.. Sunday.
"Then there are others who nave sald
that no lasting results could be accom-
pllshed by such campaign among those
who are sinners in every sense OF the
word. refer to the down-and-outers'
7 could cite so many cases to dlsproVe
such statements that you would soon tire
of hearing of them, but will tell OF one
instance which illustrates this phase OF
the question pretty well.
"In Des Moines there was common
bum by the name of Jones. Nobody
ever had good word to say for him and
he was generally feared about the city,
for Jones was a regular giant-oVer feet
3 in height and broad across the shoul-
ders in proportion, He never shaved, or
washed, either, 1 guess, and his clothes
were SO ragged that 1t was wonder to
every one how he managed to keep them
on. When children saw Jones coming
thew were so frightened that they used to
run away as fast as they could.
"Well one night Jones came to one OF
the meetings, probably attracted by the
crowd, or maybe it was just curiosity;
there the next night and every night for
the next two weeks. Instead of sliding
his great hulking frame into saloons he
showed up early each evening and quietly
took a place in the tabernacle where he
could hear all right He spruced up
lot in those two weeks, too-began shaving
and washing and his clothes didn't seem
to look so bad
''Then one night when Mr.. Sunday is
sued the invitation for those who believe
to come up to glory row and acknowl-
edge Christ there was Jones, right down
In 'front.', saying, i III pfetty pau, Bin,
but you've got me all right and I'm goin'
to quit bein' what I've been and be some
body
"And Jones is somebody. too. You
wouldn't know him, he's changed so. He
got a good job and began associating with
the right sort of people. The last L
heard of him was when some business
man of Des Moines was offering to send
Jones to Omaha, Neb.. with all expenses
paid, to do a little eyangellstic work him
self.
'Then could tell you of two old, rum
soaked men who came up and acknowl-
edged Christ and handed Mr.. Sunday
bottles OF whisky from their pockets as
proof of their intention to reform. And
they did reform, too; the cases were
watched. and those men are now as
respectable a pair of Christians as you
would want to see.