Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-11-06

The matter of opinions let US leave
for others. You can get them gratis
wherever you go. or you can invest
three cents in a newspaper and read
the conclusions Of young army OF our
leading journalists and journalettes, hired
to express same by the yard and the
rsam. be the cost Of white paper what
il may. Brushing them. with due apol-
Ogies. aside. may we confine ourselves
herein to an humble endeavor to relate
merely what happened Sunday at the
tabernacle, when Billy began his re-
vfvzl-
To the casual observer, the opening
day had three outstanding features
the crowd, 4 the music. and Billy Sun
day All we're pretty much on par
in interest
Atlanta has had opera crowds and
baseball crowds and political crowds
and prize-sisht crowds and parade
crowds. But il took a Billy Sunday
revival to wad them all into one and
make a crowd that for sheer human
lure had the others looking like AR.
Sundays zh.rt when he takes il off at
the end OF a .peTspiry day.
From the prsss-box. which has an
advantageous bit exceedingly risky
site. level with AR Sundays platform
and NJ sundays rather reckless feet,
Won had a fine view OF that crowd. You
saw the crowd begin just below you
with A row Of people You saw an
other row behind that TOW, and another
row behind the second, and another and
another until they stopped being rows
after a while and became just floor
OF faces. and after that not even faces
or people. oBiy blur that ended JAM
IN against the back Of the roof. II
.~as that way dead ahead OF you, that
wav 70 the left and right Of you. and
when Won twisted yoJfr neck around
Il was that way behind you. where the
- choir rose IN tiers 10 the rafters
OUT AMONG THE CROWD
Is WHERE THE LURE lay.
II YOU looked hard enough at the
crowd. you could pick out individuals.
I saw the society leader whose box
heads the list at opera; 1 saw the fan
who missed only three home games
last season: I saw the chair-warmers OF
the Kimbau house. the ringside boys
from the Columbia theater. the post
holders from Five Points and the youth
who is always presenting you with 4
ticket to a dental parlor on Marietta
street Behind me was the governor
and the mayor and a whopping big del
egation OF ministers. but IL was out
there in front. among the crowd, that
the lure ny-
In that front row alone. right below
Billy Sundays pulpit, was summed up
the essence of that crowd This was
at the morning service First was a we'll
known Atlanta business man, with his
wife and his two children, a boy about
ten years Old arI little girl OF eight
Next wer- three soldiers. evidently from
Camp Gordon Then came a man who
can always be found at the city hall
generally listening 20 jokes IN some Of
fee. He was talking to two women
one very old dressed in black. white
haired. stopped: the other 7 guessed for
her daughter. a spinster probably. per-
haps a school teacher. young girl
chewing gum and manicuriRg her nails
between hymns. was escorted by a
chauffeur who used TO drive a
Jitney. On the very end was a sun
tanned. red-necked. white moustached
old man. with a Confederate veterans
badge on his threadbare coat He fer
tilted the sawdust with tobacco Juice
sang all the hymns fervently and never
let slip a chance to cut loose with an
Amen whenever the general cussed-
ness Of the world was mentioned.
WHY WE'RE THEY THRE-
THESE CROWDS or PEoPLE7
Looking at them. one by one, you won
dered to yourself why each was there
(continued on Page 10, Column a.