The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1914-10-27
Continued from last week.

lutely soundless and by giving it
base of tamped tan bark it is also i'm
pervious to fire. In many cities where
the danger of fire has been urged
against 1t, the more expedient of
throwing shovelful of blazing Goals
upon the saw dust floor and watching
them die out has convinced the author
ties that their fears were vain. So
thoroughly persuaded is Mr.. Sunday
Of the utility of the tabernacle that he
has refused to use large auditoriums
In the rare instances where he has
found cities supplied with buildings
large enough to accommodate his
crowds. There are other and psyche
logical aspects Of the tabernacle idea,
such as it's democracy, accessibility
and uniqueness, which need not be
considered at this time.
For two or three years Mr.. Sunday
struggled on with only the assistance
Of his wife and such help as came
from the cooperating ministers of the
community in which he was laboring.
Another Of the fundamental facts of a
Sunday campaign, that of absolute CO
operation and unity among the invit'
Ing churches, was also insisted upon
from the first.
In spite Of all the obstacles and diff
culties the work grew, so did the pile
Of sermons, and some of them am
plified, modernized and intensified are
doing duty today.
Mr.. Sunday does not sing and can
not sing, and one of the very first
things that he recognized was of
musical assistant. The first man to
occupy this position officially was Fred
G.. Fischer. Mr.. Fischer began his
work with Mr. Sunday, January 4,
1900, at Bedford. Iowa, and continued
it until July Is, 1910, at Everett,
Wash, when Homer Rodeheaver be-
came the choir leader. In comment
ing upon his association with Mr.. Sun
day, Mr.. Fischer says:
my work had to do with the musical
end. as soloist and chorus conductor for
five years. after which, because If larger
and longer meetings. soloist was
added to the party. I then gave my at
tention to the chorus and song services.
doing some solo and duet work.
Mr. Sunday and I made up the party
in the early years of the work. Length
one-half to three weeks. Gradually the
work grew, the party was enlarged and
longer time was spent in place."
It was in this earlier period Of his
work that Mr.. Sunday attracted the
attention of some few magazine writ
ers. In the American Magazine for
September, 1907, Lindsay Denison
gives this impression of one Of the
earlier meetings:
ITO one who has attended Billy SUM-
day revival the story of the methods by
which he achieves these results seems
almost incredible. But by his works you
must know him. Some of his sermons
ard prayers, in cold type, are Of sort
to make all New England shiver with
horror and cause the ungodly to giggle.
But they make converts, the converts be-
come church members-and the army OF
salvation is magnided by thousands of
permanent recruits. Ffnicky critics must
consider carefully before they deplore
the Rev. William A. Sunday. 1t has
been our habit for centuries to discuss
EeuB1On ana the Affairs OF the SOUL III u
King James vocabulary to depart from
that custom has come to seem some
thing like sacrilege. Billy Sunday talks
to people about God and their souls just
as people talk to one another six days
in the week across the counter OF the
dinner table or on the street"
No ambition for the acclaim that
comes from the masses seems to have
had any weight with Mr.. Sunday In
the choice of his fields of labor. That
he was almost fifty before he became
nationally famous as an evangelist IL
due more to the size of the communt
ties in which he worked than any
other one thing. Naturally difiden'
despite seeming assurance when II
the pulpit. he long hesitated to accept
the calls that came from the big cities
which are the eyes of the world. This
disinclination on his part was intensi
ned because 1t was shared by Mrs
Sunday and 1t was only by degrees
that the remarkable organization
which Mr. Sunday has perfected dem
onstrated it's adaptability to the more
complex conditions which obtain IL
the congested centers OF population
True to his earliest disposition to heet
F. the call for service when he was sur
he had received that call Mr.. Sunda,
gradually undertook larger and large
responsibilities until his work too
him to the truly metropolitan center
Of the United States.