Evening journal., 1915-09-27
New News Of Yesterday
An Evangelist With I'm
usual Business Capacity
DI Holland.

Between Henry W. Rankin.
scholar. master of English litera-
ture and student of Athens
Greece. of the classics which are
written in the Greek tongue, and the
late Dwight l.. Moody and members
of the Moody family, an intimate
friendship was established. This was
due IN the fact that Mr.. Rankin made
his summer home for years at. East
Northfeld. Mass, where Mr.. Moody
established the great seminary Tor
girls. now one Of the most tourishing
Institutions Of that kind in the United
states. II was my privilege to meet
Mr. Rankin some time ago, and
knowing that he was familiar with
the growth Of the seminary and also
Of the great Mount Hermon School,
near Northheld, which also repre-
sents Mr.. Moody's activity and innu-
ence. I said to him that IL seemed 10
me that Moody must have had very
great organizing capacity. The
Mount Hermon School is large
enough for the comfortable housing
Of a thousand boys, and as many as
six hundred are usually in attendance
there. The seminary at East North
field for girls is fully as large. To
create. perfectly organize and thor
oughly maintain two institutions like
these entails capacity Of the highest
order-real business capacity.
you are quite right" said Mr..
Rankin "Mr. Moody would have
made, had he chosen to remain in
BUSINESS life, one of the greatest sales
men 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 railroad
DEVELOPMENT what it is. While. OF
course. his profound religious char
acter was one of the elements which
brought to him great success as an
evangelist. nevertheless it was his
mower of practical organization which
made it possible for him to maintain
that work upon an almost stupendous
scale for many years.
"I was chatting some years ago
with a man who knew the Moody Fam
lily we'll who told me that it was with
real reluctance that his uncle re-
ceived the evangelist 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 gifts for successful
craftsmanship and he greatly regret
ted when his nephew decided to go
to Chicago, believing that there he
would find a better business oppor-
tunty. He had not been in Chicago
very long before his employer spoke
with amazement OF his power as a
salesman. We now know that that
was due to the same psychological
power with which he afterward so
amazingly displayed in his work as an
evangelist. At 26 years of age Moody
had accumulated $1,000. This money
represented his savings from his
earnings He received both a salary
and a commission. He expected TO
increase the amount to $4,000 and
then begin business for himself In
stead Of doing that he devoted him
self TO the career of an evangelist.
asked Mr.. Rankin II MIR. Moody
left any property. He died in 1899.
mot a cent" was Mr.. Rankins re-
ply. I'm order to feel certain that his
wife and children would be at least
Independent in case anything happen
ed to him, he made over all of the
comparatively small property which
represented his savings to Mrs.
Moody and the children. He execut-
ed no will because he had no estate"