The Washington herald., 1915-09-27
HISTORY BUILDERS.
An Evangelist with Unusual Business
Capacity.

SdpdClty.
Written expressly for The Washington HeraIdl
BY DIR. r. }. EDWARDS.
Between Henry w. Rankin, a scholar.
a master of English literature and STU
dent OF Athens, Greece. of the classics
which are written in the Greek tongue.
and the late Dwight L. Moody and MEM
bers of the Moody family, ar intimate
friendship was established. Thls Tas que
to the fact that Mr. Rankin madc his
summer home for years at ;;Yst North
| field. Mass. where Mr.. Moody estab-
| lished the great seminary for girls, new
one of the most fiourishing institutions
of that kind in the United States. 1t was
my privilege to meet Mr.. Rankin some
| time ago and. knowing that he was IA
miliar with the growth of the seminary
and also Of the great Mount Hermon
, School, near Northfield. which also rep
resents Mr.. Moody's activity and infiu-
ence, 1 said to him that 1t seemed to me
that Moody must have had very great
organizing capacity. The Mount Her
mon School Is large enough for the COM
Portable housing Of a thousand boys, and
as many as six hundred are usually IN
attendance there. The seminary at East
Northfied for girls is fully as large. To
create, perfectly organize and thoroughly
TWO lhe lhCsS, Cii-
| tails capacity of the highest order-real
business capacity.
You are quite right" said Mr.. Ran
kim Mr.. Moody would have made. had
| he chosen to remain in business life. one
! of the greatest statesmen of his time in
| the United States. Or IL he had entered
railway life he would surely have been
numbered among the great constructive
forces which have made American rail-
| road development what It IL. While, OF
course, his profound religious character
| was one OF the elements which brought
| to him great success as an evangelist,
nevertheless it was his power of prac-
tical organizati ton which made 1t possible
| for him to MAINTAIN that work upon
an almost stupendous scale for many
years
II was chatting some years ago with
| a man who knew the Moody family well
| who told me that II was with real reluct-
ance that his uncle received the evange-
| list as a clerk in his Boston shoe store
! when Moody was seventeen years OF age.
The uncle was afraid that the boy did
not have the right kind of qualities to
make him a good salesman. But within
| a month the uncle changed his mind. He
learned that the boy had extraordinary
1 gifts for successful salesmanship and ne
| greatly regretted when his nephew de-
| cided to go to Chicago. believing that
| there he would find better business op-
portunity. He had not been in Chicag
| very long, before his employer spoke with
| anna cement of his power as salesman.
\ We now know that that was due TO the
same psychological power with which ne
afterward so amazingly displayed In MS
| work as an evangelist. At 70 years OF
age Moody had accumulated $1,000. This
money represented his savings from MS
! earnings. He received both salary and
! a commission. He expected to increa Sc
the amount to $4,000 and then begin
| business for himself. Instead OF doing
that. he devoted himself to the career OF
an, evangelist
| I asked Mr. Rankin II Mr.. Moody LETT
any property. He died In 1888.
mot a cent" was Mr.. Rankins 8 reply.
In order to feel certain that his wife
| and children would be at least independ-
ent in case anything happened to him
he made over all of the comparatively
small property which represented his
| savings to Mrs Moody and the children.
He executed no will because he had no
| estate"
tCoryrisht 1915. by E. J. Edwards All rights n
l scryedJ
! Tomorrow DR.. Edwards VIII tel OF
| .rhs Evangelist Who Would Have Made
Great Editor.