The Washington times., 1917-04-20
2,4OO HIT TRAIL AT
SUNDAYS APPEAL
EvangeIist's First Summons to
Sinners Nets Greatest Re-
suit of Career.

NEW YORK, April 2o.-At ten min
utes past 8 o'clock in the Tabernacle
last night, Billy Sunday, sweat pour
ing from his eager face, voice harsh
and broken from an hours preach
ing of hellfire to unrepentant sinners,
vauIted to the top Of his table ana
shrieked the call to the sawdust trail.
At ten minutes past 10 o'clock 2,4Oo
men and women with the men in the
great majority had shuffled through
the carpeting OF pine shavings and
fraEant wood dust to clasp hands
with Sunday, assure him OF their will
to lead a better life and to give their
names to the census takers or the
churches.
1t was the record breaking re-
sponse to the trail calls Of Billy's
lively life, a response greater than
he had ever received anywhere In
more than twenty years of preaching
up and down and across the country.
When the evangelist escaped to his
dressing room and fell upon coucn
while he painted like an exhausted
runner, he was too excited at FIRST
to talk about the impressive result
When he got his breath and had
rubbed the pa inout of his hands
and wrists that had been squeezed
until the blood came near to burst
ling from fingertips, about all he
could say was "wonderful! Marvel
ousl Don't tell your Uncle Fuller that
old New York Is cold to God!
Tense Feeling In the Air.
And Ma Sunday, lowering over him
like q hen solicitous for the we'll
being Of q chick. wiped the tears from
her eyes a. she patted her energetic
.Tishbits on the shoulder and remind
ed him that It was time to go home.
The summons to the untrod path
that converts must take while the
curious stand and comment came at
the end of a sermon In which SUM-
day had struck with all of his power
at the hearts Of men he conceived
TO be faltering between God and the
devil; in which he had stabbed at
their doubts and wAverings; in which
he had warned them of the fire to
come and had pleaded with them to
empty their souls Of secret miseries
and hidden sins.
And Rodeheaver, with his from
bone, leading the choir OF 1000, had
}tugged at heartstrings and probed
Tor emotion, employing al Oh nelooy
power and influence.
Nobody had known the evangelist
was exactly ready to throw open the
trail which he had been blazing for
twAsty meetings, but the feel that
something dramatic was to occur
was in the air as palpable as ozone
after q thunder STORM. II was the
"feeI" of the psychological moment
for which he always strains. The
congregation sensed ii, the members
of Billy's staff were. aware Of it, the
newspaper reporters caught the tingle
.of it It was an impression, a feel
ing utterly impalpable and yet as
definite and concrete as the tense
stiffness that oppresses before light
ming and thunder signal and herald
the approach OF a storm.
Summons Comes Suddenly.
To Billy Sunday It was as palpable
as a drumbeat. 1t damned the flood
ing words OF his sermon 1t con-
vulsed his thin and worn face, tight
ened his lips, fired his eyes to fanatic
zeal. For a moment he paused, one
foot upon a chair, the other upon the
tabletop, as he swept the vast plain
OF upIifted faces in a silence that
hurt ones ear. On the floor OF the
tabernacle more than 10000 persons
were waiting for the summons, most
OF them leaning forward as people do
when they are tensed to catch the
first quick happening OF a big mo-
sment Then, in a leap, Billy was on
top of the table, his arms out
stretched, his eyes appealing, his
, voice rising to a shrek:
How many in this audience will
jump to their feet and come down
. the aisle and ask to give me their
hand and say, Bill, here's my heart
and my handT Come on! Come oni
I've been preaching for two weeks
in this old God hating, whisky
soaked, sin cursed town! Come on!
Hit the trail, you sinnersr'
On the instant, as Billy sprang
down from the table, bent forward
and lifted the platform section at his
feet, the trapdoor which gives en-
trance to a short flight of steps
leading to his pulpit, his stan mo-
biliZed into action. The ushers ran
forward, some of them taking a po-
sition at the foot of the stairway,
just as Secret Service men press
around a President to hasten and
Eystematize the movement of hand |
shakers.
2y40o Converts Surge Forward.
san army OF secretaries, 200 or
more, that had been sitting in the
front rows of the middle sections, got
to their feet and massed under the
caves of the platform so that their
seats could be taken by trail hitters, |
and 30 that they could distribute con- |
version cards and get the names of |
the professed converts.
George Sunday, Billy's broad-shoul- |
dered and athletic son, ran down the
middle aisle and took charge OF the |
work of filling the mourners' benches |
There was stir and confusion, a tre-
mendous bustling and rustling and