Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-25
SUNDAY TELLS
$1,000 WOMEN
PLAIN TRUTHS
Crowd at Tabernacle IS Sensation
Of Campaign, Drawn to Hear Ser
mon on ~Mafd, Wife, Mother"
By GOTTA BARTHOLOMEW.

Sunday, for women only-and the
men can pass it up and not miss
anything and yet If they do read
IL it won't hurt them, may do them
good
But first I want to say right here
and now that IL by any possible
chance any woman may have been
at the tabernacle last evening eX-
pecting to hear something racy and
which would serve for months to
come as sweet morsals of gossip to
roll on their tongues, they were
grievously disappointed.
And another thing, l want right
here, too. to nail lie that has been
going the rounds from mouth to
mouth to the effect that Mr.. Sun
days talk to women only was a
scandaIous thing that would make
decent women blush with shame.
II any one tells you that Mr. Sun
day in speaking to women on the
subject OF Maid, Wife, Mother, !"
said things that are unprintable or
that could possibly offend the most
modest and chaste woman. you can
tell them for me that it is an ull-
truth. Or IL they say that he told
questionable stories that favored
OF indecency or were suggestive or
smutty or questionable in thnir
motive or of double meaning, or
anything of the kind you can tell
them again that il is an untruth.
To be sure it was not a pleasant
sermon to listen to, l will admit.
because it Wss putting the truth IN
plain language without the veneer
that speakers use more or less in
talking on the questions of morals.
But it is like some medicines that
are bad to take but which produce
mighty good results. Not all good
things are sugar coated
Crowd a Sensation.
But before 1 go any further III
have to stop and speak Of the
crowd, which was one Of the SEN
sations of the campaign. Probably
never in the history of Rock Island
or Scitt counties has such a body
OF women been gathered together
under one roof. Why, that enorm-
GUS auditorium was so damned that
it would almost have been impos-
sible to squeeze in another woman.
They were seated so close it would
have been impossible to have
thrust q scalpei between them.
They were standing six and eight
deep along the outer walls of the
tabernacle, filled every available
inch of space on the platform, were
seated where ever there was an
inch Of sawdust floor and were
standing in the aisles eight and
ten deep almost up to the platform.
It was without doubt the most re-
markable crowd that has ever gath
cred in this community. Seats be
gan TO fill as early as O'Clock and
by Z o'clock there was not seat
10 be had for love nor money.
From the press box the sight of
so many women massed together
presented a most unusual one.
When the women were seated and
others standing quietly at atten-
ton, the thing that struck out most
was the soft, light colOrs. the up
turned, animated faces, light cloth
ing and mixtures Of colOrs in hair,
and the picture was q pleasing one.
But when they had dOnned their
wraps ~and had put on their coats
as the meeting was dismissed Il
was the biggest transformation
imaginable. One could think OF
nothing but q swarming hive Of
bees or an enormous family of
black ants. They were as thick and
close together as swarming bees
and the dark hats and dark cloth
ing produced an effort that was
startlingIy strange in contrast with
the one of a moment before.
And the noise. l know not with
what to compare it. Perhaps the
swarming bees would again serve
as q means Of describing the sound
of the many voices only the bees
droning would have to he a thou
sand times louder than the noise
that they are generally supposed to
make in order to give an. adequate
idea of the sound Of the ten or
eleven thousand women's voices.
Give Close Attention.
Despite the fact that the crowd
was SO enormous and that the wo-
men were packed in so tightly and
that so many of them had to stand
the entire evening, and also that
the evening was oppressive and
very suItry and the tabernacle hot |
almost to suffocation, that audience |
Of women were as quiet as a cat |
watching a mouse. They gave Mr.. |
Sunday the strictest attention. fol-
lowed him with the closest interest |
and received his message in the |
same spirit in which it was given, |
that of a minister of the gospel, !
the husband of a wife whom he !
said he loved with all his heart, !
ana the father of children, for |
whom he would give his LIES |
blood.
The usual preIiminaries OF the |
Sunday meetings we're dispensed |
with because OF the enormous |
crowd. and after a few songs by |
the audience. led and directed by |
Mrs. William Asher. Mr.. Sunday at |
once took the pulpit
He confessed at the outset that /
he suffered much embarrassment
and nervousness (and he showed |
itN in giving this sermon, and re-
GREETED the necessity of doing so
more than he could say in words,
but that he felt 1t was a duty i'm
posed upon him as q minister, a
husband and a father, that he might
give warning to those who were on
the paths of sin or to those who
are unwary and might be drawn
into the maelstrom that would car
~ them down into sin and shame