Chapter 15
At the close of the General Assembly, which was October 2, I joined Brother E. O. Chalfant and we made a run from Kansas City to Stockton, Illinois. From there to Martintown, Wisconsin, then to Baraboo. From there we went across to Minneapolis and joined Brother Wordsworth over Saturday and Sunday; leaving Minneapolis we came back to the beautiful little town of Menomonie, and made a run ten miles into the country where we have a nice country church. Had a great service with our good pastor, Brother Waltz, then back to Menomonie, got a train and went about a hundred miles; got off the railroad early next morning and went five miles in the country to a beautiful Quaker church and had a beautiful morning and afternoon service. That night we ran twenty miles and took several auto loads to Beulah camp grounds, where there is a large Methodist church, and had a great service. During the day I put the Herald of Holiness in eighty homes. The offering came up beautifully. That night we drove twenty-five miles to Richland Center and spent a part of the night with some good Kentucky friends. At break of day we boarded the train and pulled to Madison, Wisconsin, and had a good morning service and raised money to help take care of the pastor of a new church that had just been organized. That afternoon we ran into Racine; there I was joined by the Aeolian Quartet and held a week’s convention for Oscar Hudson.
At the close of this convention we set in again and toured the most of Illinois, one night at a place. My, my, such trips as we had. We went to at least a dozen new churches that had just been organized since we left in May, giving each one a great boost. In some of them we raised as much as $1,000 to help put them across.
Coming back up to Chicago I gave Brother C. H. Strong a two Sunday meeting in the Austin church. This was a beautiful campaign. There is no finer man living to work for than Brother Strong. At the close of this convention I went over to Woodlawn church and gave Brother Haynie two Sundays. There on Monday, I was joined by good Brother Jarrette and Sister Aycock and we had one week together and they stayed for a week longer. Then I ran to St. Louis and gave my old friend, William E. Fisher, a beautiful campaign. Ran across and gave Kansas City one night. From there to Yuma, Colorado, and gave Brother Howard Eckel ten days. Ran over to Denver and gave Brother Crockett one night. From Denver to Colorado Springs and gave Jim Black one night. From there I ran to Canon City and was there from December 18 over the 23rd. There I was joined by the Aeolian Quartet, who had been touring Colorado. The quartet and this old globe-trotter left Canon City on December 24. We were now headed for Phoenix, Arizona. We spent Christmas day on the train going across Colorado and Arizona. We had one of the greatest turkey dinners we ever sat down to at the beautiful city called Las Vegas. There the train stayed long enough to give the passengers all the time they needed to eat turkey and cranberry sauce. Then we boarded the train westward bound, and about dark pulled into Albuquerque, New Mexico.
There the quartet stopped to give Brother Lee Gaines a two days’ convention but I went on to Phoenix. I arrived there late in the night and was met by E. G. Roberts and wife and Brother Marvin and Sister Lillie Young. They lodged me in a good hotel and my, my, what a rest I had there for two days. The Quartet came on and joined us on Saturday and we ran over the last Sunday of December, which was the opening of the great campaign. Dr. R. T. Williams came on and joined us on Wednesday following. We ran there then over the third Sunday of January. Here we had between three and four hundred people at the altar.
When we closed there we made a run for Los Angeles. However, I stopped off two nights in Somerton where Brother E. Arthur Lewis was holding a great campaign. In his letter he tells me how many were saved each night and he said he wrote down the last night the word “Glory” after the altar service.
The last Sunday of January we opened in the First church in Los Angeles of which Dr. C. H. Babcock was pastor. Professor John E. Moore led the choir and the Aeolian Quartet sang every day. Dr. Williams and I ran over three Sundays there. We literally had hundreds of people at the altar. In these two campaigns we had 865 at the altar and we took more than one hundred people into the church out of the two conventions.
At the close of this convention I worked my way up the coast, stopping at a dozen towns for one or two days at a place. I gave Brother John B. Creighton a ten days’ meeting at Selah, Washington, a few miles from Yakima. Also Brother Hepburn in Yakima two days at the close of our regular meetings. From there I made a run to Billings, Montana, and was there with Brother Kring and Brother Bennett, our District Superintendent, two days and nights.
From there I ran to Casper, Wyoming. I gave Brother Dunn three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which, if my memory serves me correctly, we closed on the second Sunday of May. We ran all day on Sunday. I preached five times; Sunday school at nine, to the church at eleven, to the church at 2:30 and the young people at six and the church again at 7:30. That day we had nineteen saved and sanctified. I left there with Brother Dunn and his wife and their delegate to the District Assembly in Colorado Springs which was to meet after the second Sunday. We pulled out of Casper a little after midnight for Denver. At four o’clock Monday evening we were pulling into Denver and got supper. Brother and Sister Dunn and their delegate ran out to his brother’s but I left that night on a through train for St. Louis, headed for Indianapolis.
There I joined Brother and Sister Lillenas and we had a week’s convention. Brother Kenneth Wells led the singing. Brother Short was boss and general manager. At the close of this convention we put in the last week of May touring the state of Indiana, one night at a place. By June 1 I reached Cincinnati for the great campmeeting. Here were such preachers as Joseph Smith, C. W. Ruth, John and Bona Fleming, George Culp, John Knapp, M. G. Standley, Lew Standley and Brother Charles Slater. I suppose we had three hundred preachers on the ground and people saved day and night for ten days. The Cincinnati Camp is one of the greatest places in the world, to my mind.
At the close of the camp I ran down into Indiana and gave Brother Short’s district one more full week. We made one town each night in the week and three towns on Sunday morning, afternoon and night. I ran back to Cincinnati. There I got a through train on Monday after the third Sunday of June and made a run from Cincinnati for Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
I preached one week in the First Church of the Nazarene. I gave two days and nights in Princeton and gave Brother Roby a week at Miami, but the weather was so warm down there that I almost lost my voice and couldn’t do much. I made a run from Miami, Florida, to Lake Charles, Louisiana. There I joined our good pastor, Dr. McGraw. We had a great convention. From there I ran to Houston and gave one night in the Raymond Richie tabernacle. There were people by the multiplied hundreds. From there I joined Brother Fisher in Waco, Texas, with a great convention. Brother and Sister P. H. Lunn came down from Kansas City and Professor London was there. This was a very remarkable time.
I ran into Dallas for a night and went out and preached at Cedar Hill. From there I made a run to Columbus, Ohio, then to Eaton Rapids, to Romeo, and from there to Gaines, then to Grand Rapids and took in the District Assembly. From Grand Rapids to Clarkesburg, Ontario, Canada. There I was joined by Professor Kenneth Wells. We held a big campmeeting there in September for good Brother Goff, who was the founder of a holiness church in that part of Canada. We had a beautiful meeting, and went from there back to Detroit and went out to the lake with the Vallayde brothers on a two days’ fishing trip. This was the best time of my life. There is no finer band of brothers to go out with than the Vallayde brothers. On the trip I preached one night at Kingsville, Ontario, Canada, in the Canadian Methodist Episcopal church, which is the church home of Jack Miner, a man of nation-wide fame for what he has done with birds.
When my visit was over I made a run to Rochester, Michigan. There I went out to see the silver fox farm, where they had over seven hundred in one great farm. Ran from there to Pontiac for a couple of nights. From there I made a trip through Ohio, giving three or four short conventions, giving one week in Uhrichsville. Here we had a great campaign. From there I ran to Long island, to the New Rockaway church where Brother Paul Hill was pastor. There I joined Professor L. C. Messer and wife and we had a wonderful convention, running over two Sundays. Then we went to our school at Wollaston, Massachusetts, stopping one night in New Haven, Connecticut, and had a service with Brother L. B. Byron, one of the fine young men of the Nazarene movement. The next day we drove in to the Nazarene College. We gave the school the 28th, 29th and 30th of October and had a beautiful convention.
Then I made a run back to Brooklyn and joined Brother Morrison, Brother Zahniser, Brother Yates and Brother Hogue. Brother and Sister Cook presided over the Holiness Association convention. At the close of this convention I went over and held a convention for Brother Brown, in the old Utica Avenue church. Brother Frank Smith of Portland, Maine, led the singing. From Brooklyn I ran down to Pittsburgh and had two nights with Brother Brown. I ran back up the river to a little town and joined Brother Strickland for one night. This was a beautiful service. He put me on the interurban at eleven o’clock and just before midnight we pulled into the union station at Pittsburgh and on Thanksgiving morning I pulled into Chicago and was met by Brother Chalfant and Brother Will McPherson and another fine old Nazarene boy. We had ten days on the north side in the Church of the Nazarene. The Lord gave us a wonderful convention. Our Thanksgiving day and dinner were something never to be forgotten.
Leaving Chicago for Kansas City I stopped off for a night in First church; running through and giving a day and night in Emporia, Kansas. From there I made a run to Amarillo, Texas. I had a week’s convention there with Brother Dunn for whom I had held the convention in May in Casper, Wyoming. We had a great convention in Amarillo. Leaving there I made a run for home and stayed at home until after Christmas.
Then about the last of December I started south, reaching San Antonio and gave Brother Sharpe the last two days of December and the first few days of January, 1925. I ran from there down to Houston and joined Brother and Sister Sutton and we had a great convention for J. E. Moore, running over three Sundays. At the close of this convention I ran down to Port Arthur, and gave our good pastor, Brother Hampton, a two days’ convention. Ran across from there to Lufkin, Texas, for two days with Brother Harmon; then ran over to Nacogdoches and gave Brother Smith one day. From there on up to Dallas and joined Brother Pierce, closing with him on the first day of February.
From Dallas I turned south and made a run to Gulfport, Mississippi. Stopped off with an old friend for three days and preached a half dozen times. My next stop was in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I spent the last three weeks of February in the home of Brother and Sister Frank Davis in Fort Lauderdale. By the time I reached there I was nearly broken down. I had three weeks’ rest, yet while I was there I preached twice in the First church at Lauderdale and twice down at Princeton. I gave Brother Howard Eckel in Miami one Sunday and Brother Roby on the north side one night. These three weeks spent with Brother and Sister Davis, looking at that great country, eating oranges and grapefruit, were three weeks that I will never forget in my life.
Leaving there on March 2, my next stop was Little Rock, Arkansas. There I joined Rev. John Oliver, C. C. Rinebarger and good Sister Oliver. We worked Arkansas as it had never been worked before. We opened on March 4 and closed April 7. We made thirty towns in Arkansas and put the Herald of Holiness in three hundred and eighty homes. This was one of the greatest boosts that Arkansas had ever had. I wrote nine letters on Arkansas as the wonder state and not one unkind word or ugly criticism did I give Arkansas. One of the leading men in the state a year later said publicly that Arkansas ought to put me on a pension, for the Herald of Holiness is read around the world.
After making these thirty towns and putting Arkansas on the map for God and holiness as it had not been before I made a run to Washington, D. C. There Brother Marvin Cooper was pastor, the same dear old Marvin I had worked with in Detroit, and he had called Miss Essie Morris to lead the singing in this convention. We filled the church and ran it over, which some of them said would never be done, but it was done.
From Washington I came back to Alliance, Ohio, and gave Brother Johnson a ten days’ meeting and this was a beautiful convention. From Alliance I ran across to Detroit, Michigan, again and joined Brother Willingham and had a three days’ convention in First church, of which Dr. Howard Jerrett is now pastor.
On the first Sunday of May we ran over into Canada and had one great service in our church in the little city of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. From there Brother Willingham and I started west. We were now on a campaign to work for Olivet College. We stopped off for two nights in Hammond, Indiana, with Brother and Sister Turner, then made a jump to the state of Iowa, opening up in Cedar Rapids. We made twenty towns in the state, and put our school before the people and they stood by us in a most beautiful way. We came back from Iowa to the Olivet Camp. This was a very great campmeeting.
From Olivet Camp I made my way across by Cincinnati and was only there one night in 1925. Leaving Cincinnati after the night service I stopped for three days with Brother Strickland in Youngstown, Ohio. From there I ran down to Akron and gave Brother H. B. Macrory a four days’ convention, closing on the first Sunday of June. From there I ran down to St. Mary’s, Ohio, and gave J. C. Walker an eight days’ convention. This was a very great convention. We had a big tent and then we had to sort of line up the people and preach to them by the acre. He is one great old boy.
From there I started east and stopped off one night in Baltimore where I found E. Arthur Lewis in a great campaign. From Baltimore I made a jump across by New York City and ran away up to Wolcott, Vermont. There our good Brother Manchester was in charge. We had a wonderful convention there. I made a jump from there to Manchester, New Hampshire, with Brother Mann. There I was joined by L. C. Messer and wife and his sister, Eva. We had a beautiful convention. We went from there to North Reading, Massachusetts, to the great New England District Campmeeting. My yokefellow was Brother B. F. Neely, who was at one time my pastor. The singing was in charge of Brother and Sister Lowman. This was a very great campmeeting. From there I ran across to the campmeeting at Beacon, New York. This also was a great camp, run by the New York District. My yokefellow there was Brother Lewis Reed, pastor now of First church, at Long Beach, California. We had a most beautiful campmeeting. It seems a little strange that the campmeeting committee would call two men from southern California, to the state of New York for a campmeeting. Our fellowship was sweet. We had many preachers in the camp. Brother C. B. Jernigan was District Superintendent of the New York District and was a great booster in this camp. Brother Howard Miller was District Superintendent of the New England District and he also was a booster for North Reading Camp. No finer men on earth than our good District Superintendents.
Leaving New York I ran down to Washington, D. C., and gave Marvin Cooper an all-day meeting. From Washington I joined Miss Hattie Goodrich and went down the old Potomac river to one of the old forts on the Maryland side and had a two days’ convention. Coming back to Washington, I made a run to Sale City, Georgia, and joined W. W. McCord; this made the fourth time I had been with him at Sale City. He was one of the most untiring workers I have ever seen I closed there on the last Sunday of July; leaving Monday morning.
I reached Asheville, North Carolina, Tuesday at noon. There I joined E. W. Black in the Wesleyan Methodist church and gave him four days, closing on Friday night. My home was with Brother Lidy Crooks. There are no finer boys than the Wesleyan Methodist boys. From there I made a trip on Saturday down the mountain with a good brother in an automobile to a beautiful camp known as Camp Free at Connellys Springs, North Carolina. This was organized by Rev. Jim Green, one of the finest old boys of North Carolina. This was a very great camp. Brother John Paul of Taylor University was my yokefellow but he didn’t get in for a few days after the meeting started and Brother Raymond Browning did a lot of preaching. He is one of the great preachers of the Southland.
At the close of this camp I went to Hendersonville and spent three days with Raymond Browning giving the story of my life in one of the large Baptist churches and Brother Raymond put me in his big car and drove me nearly three hundred miles over the beautiful mountains of North Carolina, to a campmeeting near the Tennessee line at Fig, North Carolina. Brother Raymond stayed with me over one Sunday. Here we had a beautiful camp. I stayed in the home of a good brother named Maxwell. From Fig a good brother took me across the country to Greensboro and we had a four days’ convention. Then a good brother took me to Greer, South Carolina, and I held a camp for the Southern Methodist church there. This was the greatest campmeeting I have had for years; we had over five hundred people at the altar.
Then we made a run back north and stopped at Concord and took dinner with Brother and Sister Broom and preached at two o’clock; then made a fast drive into Thomasville and preached at night in the high school auditorium to one thousand people and stayed in the home of Brother Mason. Next day we went over to High Point and preached there afternoon and night in the Pilgrim Holiness church of which Brother Ruth was pastor. Leaving there at midnight over the north bound Southern train I pulled into Washington, D. C., the next day for breakfast and Marvin Cooper and the boys met me at the depot and we had a few hours together. My next stop was at Cambridge, Maryland. Here Brother Bean is pastor of the Pilgrim Holiness church. This was a most wonderful convention.
I made a run now from Cambridge, Maryland, to Pasadena, California, reaching home on the 26th of September. Brother Charles Slater and I had a big day in the First Church of the Nazarene. Brother Slater raised a thousand dollars for missions. Monday the 28th, Rev. Charles Slater, Brother Clark Frazier, George C. Wise and this old soldier made a run up over the mountains into the great San Jacinto valley and spent the night with Brother Frank Cooper on his great ranch. Tuesday the 29th, he put us in his big car and drove us to the giant forest. My, this was a trip. The largest known tree in the world is in this forest, the General Sherman. This tree is 36 feet and 6 inches through, 280 feet high and supposed to be not less than five thousand years old. This was one great day among those great trees. There is one rock that stands up over three thousand feet high. We made our way back into the valley that night and spent the night again with Brother Cooper and next evening drove home.
On the first Sunday of October, Dr. C. E. Hardy of Nashville, Tennessee, and I opened a convention at First Church of the Nazarene, Los Angeles, where Brother John Little was pastor. We had a great convention. At the close of this convention I made a jump to Spokane, Washington, and joined Kenneth Wells and wife and had a convention with Brother Henry Wallin in First church. There were such crowds that had to be turned away that Brother Wallin and the board planned to enlarge the church. They went to work and within six months they had a church that would seat 600 people. He is a miracle worker.
Running from Spokane to Portland, Oregon, there we joined Brother O. B. Ong and Ong and Robinson and the Wells had a two weeks’ meeting with First Church of the Nazarene of which Rev. Donnell J. Smith is pastor. This was a very remarkable meeting in every way. In this campaign they also made plans to build a large, new church and already the first installment of it has been dedicated.
From there we ran up to Centralia, Washington, and joined Brother Ralph Gray. We had a great week with Brother Gray. From Centralia we came back to southern California, Robinson and the Wells holding conventions in Anaheim, Long Beach, two in Los Angeles, one or two down in the valley, one full day in First church in Pasadena’ one great day with Paul Goodwin in Lamanda Park, and then stopped for Christmas. This takes us up to Christmas, 1925.
December 28 I left home for the greatest trip I have ever made in my life. I stopped for ten days in McAllen, Texas, with Brother Clyde T. Dilley, preaching in the Southern Methodist church. Their good pastor was a brother beloved of the Lord. Leaving there Monday morning I had a run along the coast from McAllen through the beautiful orchards and gardens until we struck the beach. Then we had a full day right along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. This was a delightful trip. I pulled into Houston at seven o’clock and was met by J. E. Moore who ran me across to the Nazarene church and had a wonderful service, then he ran me back to the depot.
At nine o’clock I got my sleeper and next morning I ate my breakfast in New Orleans. At twelve o’clock, January 12, I pulled into McComb, Mississippi, and was joined by R. H. M. Watson, our good District Superintendent. We had a beautiful convention in McComb, and from January 12 to 31 we made fifteen towns in Mississippi, many of the most beautiful towns of the state. We had two days in Jackson, two days in Hattiesburg and two days in Meridian, and we gave the other towns from one to three days. We were in Columbus three days, preaching on Sunday morning, January 31, then made a run after dinner to Tupelo and preached in the theatre in the afternoon and preached in the evening in the First Methodist, South, church where Dr. Lewis was pastor. This finished up our conventions.
Then to Georgia for February. Rev. A. B. Anderson, District Superintendent, and I toured the state. We made twenty-six towns in the month of February, preaching in ten of the largest Methodist churches in the state.
From there I made a run to Alabama. There I joined Brother H. H. Hooker, District Superintendent, and wife, Miss Essie Morris, song leader, and Miss Linis Jackson, pianist. We made twenty-seven towns in Alabama. This was a great campaign. We preached to people by the thousands. In Georgia and Alabama we put the Herald of Holiness in 600 homes.
Then I made a run to Kentucky There I joined Brother J. W. Montgomery, District Superintendent of the Kentucky District. We made altogether twenty seven churches in a month, preached to people by the thousands, raised three thousand dollars for home missionaries to buy tents with. This was a great campaign.
From there I made a jump to Arkansas again, opening at Batesville the first day of May. There I joined Brother Oliver, Brother Rinebarger, Sister Oliver and daughter Loraine and Paul Hill and wife; two carloads of us. Brother Rinebarger led the singing, Loraine Oliver played the piano, Sister Oliver with the Woman’s Missionary Society and Brother Oliver raised money and Bud Robinson did most of the preaching. During this time we made thirty-three cities. This makes the second time I have toured Arkansas. I ran from there to Olivet Camp for the last week of May and then to Cincinnati for the first week of June. I came from there to Pasadena, reaching home on June 10 and had four days in the District Assembly.