The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-10
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

This Is to be story of George Truett
 Baptist not of George Stuart tho
 Methodist, though am, proud of the two
 Georges, and glad to be able to call eacf
 one friend.
 Now George Truett is all to the Bap.
 lists that George Stuart is to the Meth
 odists and that is about as high praise
 as any preacher need want in the south yet both Stuart and Truett have nation
 wide reputations as pulpiteers. l The reason I am writing about Dr
 Truett is that he is on visit to Ala
 bama and has been in great meeting
 with pr. R. A. Bateman at Troy, one of our most eloquent young Baptist min- isters. The meeting has not only touched Troy, but the surrounding towns and cities. Troy merchants in spite of the
 busy season, closed their stores in the
 morning to attend the services. l Dr. Truett was on the train en route tc Troy on which I was traveing to the
 Methodist conference at Dothan and il
 was mighty hard for me not to get off
 with him as the pastor and the deacon | who met the train were most insistent that do so I heard from the meeting going over on the trains and by auto mobiles.
 | I daresay that nine out of 10 Baptists 1 if asked who is the most beloved preacher in your denomination in the south" would without a moments hesi- tation say: George Truett.' He was to have held meeting at the Southside Baptist church with Dr. Blake, but al the last moment had to cancel date on account of sickness.
 i ss
 George Truett is not sensational preacher, not 8 bit of it. but he, in my candid opinion, is one of the greatest living gospel preachers. I put him in the first rank among all those whom l ever heard. and I have sat under Spur geon, heard Beecher, Talmage living, Parker, Pere Hyacinthe, storrs, Moody Jones and other pulpit luminaries. | George Truett is not merely g. great preacher, but he Is a great soul His influence in the southern Baptist con- vention is always felt as among the | most uplifting things of the annual gath ! erings- He is master of ceremonies, and leader who leads by staying in the ! background as much as his brethren will let him. His words ring true in pulpit | l. t.1 man.
 I He comes from the mountains of North Carolina, where great men are born and ,, nurtured. The strength of the hills is l in his great body, and his message | breathes the air of the hills He is a superb physical specimen and has what the theatrical people call stage pres ence." He looks the part he plays. He Is Q strangely modest man. His ! frank face is good to look upon. It mir TOTS forth a heart that is pure and l which beats in sympathy with every good cause. The strange thing about him is, he is absolutely unspoiled and as free from posing as any man of note I have ever met. Practically every honor that Baptists can confer is his 1 for the asking, but he has never reached out his hand to grasp any prize, but has turned his back on many coveted places. l He lives in the shadow of a great sor- row. He and dear friends went bird hunting, and he accidentally shot and killed him. He has never gotten over 1t It shows in his face, it breaks out in a smothered note in his voice at times, i 1t betrays him in his distrait manner He has the air of a man who spends much time alone with God.
 He has a strange hold on men of all classes He Is straightforward, lika- ble mans man. He breaches as one ot the university preachers at the Univer- sity of Chicago and scholars of interna- tional renown are melted to tears. He speaks in the convention and the dele gates hang on his every word. He holds meeting in a great city and the life ot the whole community is touched.
 
 bub HC Ab tAo iooi VI tiAc SSWOO LAe 1 lives at Dallas, Tex, being pastor of one of the greatest churches in the country Every year he disappears for awhile and goes up into the hills far away from the railroads to be with the COW punch CTS. They flock to hear him from miles around and some of the tales he brings back of their conversions are packed with human interest.
 
 l He is not great scholar, yet he has been a hard student, and his published sermons, while reading we'll, do not show the man behind them as he is when with soul on fire he sends them fortt pulsing out of his own great heart. He grips his hearers with forceful inspir. | ing eloquence that is redolent of prayer for George Truett is primarily a mar of prayer The spirit of prayer breathe! out of every talk he makes. every ad l dress he delivers and every sermon h, breaches.
 This is no boost of my friend. H. needs none from me. It is but to le lthousands of his friends in Alabam' I know that he has been in the stat speaking good word, for his Master. Praise he doesn ot care for, publicity Il shuns, for he is as modest as woma and as simple as child. He is abso
 lutely without pretense of any kind, an yet every one whose life he touches h
 blesses and lifts to better things. I al sure that Troy is better for his havin
 spent a week in its midst.