apparel in a suit case, tied a tub for the accommodation of the fish on the back of the wagon and started.  All day he fished, happy and contented.  When lecturing time drew near, rattling and splashing, with a tubful of fish, round-eyed and astonished at the violent upheavals of their usual calm abiding place, he drove up to the lecture hall, changed his clothes, and at the appointed time appeared on the platform and delivered one of the best lectures that section ever heard.

Some people call his methods sensational.  They are not sensational in the sense of merely making a noise for the purpose of attracting attention.  They are unconventional.  Dr. Conwell pays no attention to forms if the life has gone out of them, to traditions, if their spirit is dead, their days of usefulness past.  He lives in the present He sees present needs and adopts methods to fit them.  No doubt, many said it was sensational to tear down that old church at Lexington himself.  But there was no money and the church must come down.  The only way to get it down and a new one built, was to go to work.  And he went to work in straightforward, practical fashion.  It takes courage and strength of mind thus to tear down conventions and forms.  But he does not hesitate if he sees they are blocking the road of progress.  This disregard of customs, this practical common-sense way of attacking evil or supplying needs is seen in all his church work.  And because it is original and unusual, it brings upon him often, a storm of adverse criticism.  But he never halts for that.  He is willing to suffer misrepresentation, even calumny, if the cause for which he is working, progresses.  He cares nothing for himself.  He thinks only of the Master and the work He has committed to his hands.

Though the great masses in their ignorance and poverty appeal to him powerfully and incite him to tremendous undertakings for their relief, he does not, because his hands are so full of great things, turn aside from opportunities to help the individual.  Indeed, it is this readiness to answer a personal call for help that has endeared him so to thousands and thousands.  No matter what may he the labor or inconvenience to himself, he responds instantly when the appeal comes.

Two men, now members of the church, often tell the incident that led to their conversion.  One evening they fell to discussing Dr. Conwell with some young friends who were members of the church.  The young men stoutly maintained that “Conwell was like all the rest—­in it for the almighty dollar.”  The church members as stoutly asserted that he was actuated by motives far above such sordid consideration.  But the men would not yield their point and the subject was dropped.  A few evenings later, coming out of a saloon at midnight into a blinding snowstorm, they heard a man say, “My dear child, why did you not tell me before that you were in need.  You know I would not let you suffer.”

“That’s Conwell,” said one of the young fellows.