The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1921-11-09
DR.. Sam Small

| \\IESTERDAY, when l dropped n
| TO call on DR.. Sam Small 1
! felt perfectly sure that I'd
make a mistake and never call him
DR.. Small. but 1 knew that I'd greet
min in the way I've always thought
OIL MIN and always heard of him, by
the friendly name of Sam Small"
giving him no handle" to his name.
nor yet a title, for since the very
nrst day that l ever heard of the
worId-famous' newspaper man-evan-
seltst- speaker, l have never heard
anybody refer to him as anything
but Sam Small"
ia just as soon think of calling
! Billy Sunday DIR. Sunday" or the
late beloved Sam Jones, DIR Jones'"
or the vivid Mel Trotter, DIR. Trot-
ter"
When 1 was wee bit of girl, and
II remember it oh so distinctly, my
Father came back to our old home in
Columbus from Jackson, Miss, where
he had heard for the first time Sam
Jones and Sam Small; and he told
JUS children" all about these two
famous evangelists. and sang us the
songs that Mr.. Excel sang, and we
learned to love the names of Sam
Jones and Sam Small, and then,
child-like, we wanted to show our
appreciation.
The chance came when the big old
family cat replenished her supply of
kittens with a half dozen or more,
| and we picked out the two best
looking kitty cats" and named them
Sam Jones and Sam Small.
| What a sweet "reminiscences it was
yesterday to recall this childish idea
n 10
talking to me about my beloved
father, and those old days when he
and Sam Jones thrilled the world
with their evangelism and opened the
gates of light to sorrowing and
bruised hearts, holding out the cup
of cold water" to the parching lips
and offering solace to the wounded
and the hurtl
Sam Small-face to facets a
vivid, colorful personality; his mind
is all sunshine and optimism; there
isn't gray day in his calendar:
there are no sensitive reserves or
significant shadows, but all is as
clear and as obvious as the daylight,
and this combined with charming
sense of humor that "softens the con-
tours of controversy, makes him per-
haps the best popular orator of the
times.
Sam Small has the serenity and the
uncomfortable optimism OF a tremen-
deus belief in the world.
He cries:
| Personalities pass and disappear;
but the principle of justice is eter-
nal; ignorant men may nail it to
the cross, but the third day 1t rises
again and mounts to heaven, and this
! triumph of righteousness is reflected
in the life of meni Do 1 think the
world is growing better or worse
since those days when Sam Jones
and l preached the gospel of Christ
and the worlds salvation SO years
ago? My answer is it is growing
better. And I don't think this; 1
Know 1t. The devil, of course, is at
work in the land with modern de-
vices and up-to-date ways, but he
| has to do this in order to inveigle
his victims. Another thing, 1t has
become more fashionable, more sty-
lish to do some of the things that
are not right than it used to be; but
are we not told in the Bible that
Evil men shall wax worse and
worse? True, but we are not told that
they shall wax more and more. Not
a bit of IL, and that's why say the
world is better than it used to be,
because there are more righteous
people than there used to be. Since
the days of Babylon down to the
present time. satan with his wiles has
been at work to knock the founda-
ton out of Christianity, but he has
never been able to do it. and he never
will"
Sam Small says just what he
thinks always; he doesn't mince mat
tiers; he doesn't hesitate. Like Mr..