Chapter 12

 I reached home and had one day of rest and then took my family and little Sally and her tots
and we made a run for the Southern California campmeeting, that is conducted by the Southern
California Holiness Association at beautiful Santa Monica by the sea. Our workers that year were
Rev. Joseph Smith, Rev. Will Kirby and Rev. Bud Robinson. We had a most beautiful camp out
there. We ran over the Fourth of July and to say that we had people by the thousands is putting it
tame. Oh, the good people that we saw saved and sanctified. We announced one day that the next
morning from six to seven o'clock I would have a healing service. Beloved, by six o'clock the next
morning the campmeeting was working alive with the people. I brought a short message and we
began to anoint people and pray with them and they began to shout and that healing service ran
until eight o'clock. There is no finer association to work for than the Southern California Holiness
Association and no truer yoke-fellows to preach with than Brother Joseph and Will Kirby. This
made the second camp that we had held together. The year before the same band of preachers held
a campmeeting at Huntington Beach. There is nothing finer than the companionship, friendship and
fellowship of preachers of the gospel. May God bless the memory of these two great men.

         But how quick a campmeeting comes to an end when a tired preacher is camping on the
banks of the ocean with his family. It was all too short, for at the close of this camp the Robinson
family with the Welch grandbabies drove back into beautiful Pasadena. There I boarded the
Southern Pacific and headed for Dalhart, Texas. My, my, but going through the deserts, talk about
hot weather, it was well-nigh scalding. This meeting in Dalhart was arranged by our good Brother
Lester Ketchum, who had been connected for a few years with the Pasadena College. My
yokefellow in Dalhart was Rev. J. T. Upchurch, from the Berachah Home at Arlington, Texas, and
his band of faithful workers were in charge of the music. To say that we had a good time is not half
of it. Brother Jim would preach until his red head would almost strike fire and the Berachah
Quartet would literally sing the heavens open. Our fellowship was beautiful and glorious.

        But think of this, reader, and then pity an old, tired evangelist; in that hot, scorching
weather I had to make a run from Dalhart, Texas, to Sale City, Georgia, away down near the
Florida line. The campmeeting there had been established a few years before by that untiring
worker, Rev. W. W. McCord. I have been in that campmeeting four times. It is no trouble to get
crowds to preach to in Georgia in the summer time. We had them to peddle, by the hundreds and I
judge by the thousands. I roomed in the home of Rev. W. W. McCord. He has a very large home
and he filled it up with people. The workers and visitors made it their headquarters. Brother
McCord hired two cooks and almost fed the campmeeting. He bought from twelve to fifteen large
watermelons every morning and peaches and figs by the basket and chickens by the dozens, to feed
the workers and visitors. My, my, what a time we had in that blessed old Southern home. The
people are so clever and kind that it blesses you to just shake hands with them.

       Now think of this run; I left Sale City for Chicago, Illinois. There our good Nazarenes had
planned a big campmeeting in the suburbs of Chicago with such men as Schurman, Messenger, Jack
Berry, Dave Anderson and Rev. C. H. Strong. The called workers were General Superintendent
Williams and Dr. C. H. Babcock, Miss Virginia Shaffer and this writer, with Father Riggs from
New England to hold the early morning prayermeetings. They had singers by the hundreds. Brother
Schurman was the general manager of this great campmeeting. We had seekers until you could not
keep up with the number. Thank the Lord for such campmeetings where the old-time gospel is
preached in its purity and power with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.

         I could only stay for one week in that great camp and my next run was to Conneautville,
Pennsylvania. There I joined Rev. Will H. Huff and Rev. T. C. Henderson and Rev. A. P. Gouthey,
with big Brother John Harris in charge of the music and Brother Jim Harris in charge of the camp
as their general manager. This was the first and also the last time that I have ever visited that
beautiful old camp ground. I was there for only a week. The camp was established some thirty
years ago by that great man, Brother Hampe. The camp is called Peniel, and is located at
Conneautville, Pennsylvania, on a beautiful lake. My stay was beautiful and the fellowship was
sweet and complete.

        While there Dr. and Sister Sloan were in a great campmeeting at New Castle,
Pennsylvania, and they sent a man to Conneautville to take me to New Castle in a car. This was a
lovely trip down through that beautiful old state. We arrived in time for the evening service and it
looked like everybody was trying to get into that one night's service. It was a most beautiful
service.

        At the close of the service, I made a run into Pittsburgh and there I got a train to Frankfort,
Indiana, to join battle with Dr. John W. Goodwin and Miss Virginia Shaffer in the campmeeting
that was run by the International Holiness Church. This was a great camp. Brother Ewing is their
District Superintendent and one of the finest men that you will meet in a life-time's travel. There
were hundreds of fine workers, as their District Assembly was to be held at the close of this
campmeeting. Their preachers and workers were there from all over the state and from several
other states. They have a beautiful camp ground and a very large tabernacle and a great dining
room. Our fellowship was beautiful and God gave us hundreds of precious souls.

       From this camp I ran over for one night to Kokomo and there spoke in the First M. E.
church to at least fifteen hundred people.

        The next night I ran down to Marion and gave them one night and the next day I ran down to
Seymour to attend the District Assembly. This was a most wonderful assembly. Rev. J. W. Short
was District Superintendent and Dr. R. T. Williams presided in the assembly. As our church there
had just been burned down, the pastor of the First M. E. church offered his church for all day
services and the City Park was used at night. Brother George Church, our good pastor, had our
church near enough completed to feed the great crowds in the basement. That was one of the
largest District Assemblies I ever attended I preached at night from the grandstand to several
thousand people. The people of that town said they had no idea that there were as many Nazarenes
on earth as were in Seymour at that time.

        From Seymour I ran down to Springer, Illinois, to the campmeeting. This camp was
established by that good Dutchman, Jacob Flack, and the camp is called Jacob's Camp. My
yoke-fellows were Brother George and Sister Effie Moore. May God bless her precious memory
to the good of every person that she ever preached to. I went to the camp ground for six years. At
the close of this camp I went to Vincennes and joined my good friend, Callie Johnson, for a three
days' convention and from there we went for one night to Bicknell and joined our good friend,
Brother Hertenstein. We had a great night; got forty subscriptions for the Herald of Holiness and
raised $1400 for the church and had nearly twenty saved in that one service. From there I made a
run to Akron, Ohio, and joined Brother H. B. Macrory and had one of the best meetings almost of
my life.

        From there I worked my way across the country and joined Brother C. W. Ruth and
Professor Kenneth Wells and wife. I reached them on November 11, just one year to a day after I
had reached them the year before. This time we opened in Brooklyn, New York, in the Utica
Avenue church. At that time Brother William Howard Hoople was the pastor. The night before I
arrived they had prayed all night and by the next day the glory was on until we could not preach.
This was a most wonderful convention; wave after wave of glory would sweep the congregation
until we could not preach or hardly sing a song. Professor Wells would start a song and the shouts
would begin again until you could not do anything but just let them shout. Our home was with
Brother Hoople. My, my, but what a beautiful brother he was. He, like so many others has gone to
live with Jesus.

        At the close of this great convention we made a run to Ashland, Kentucky. There we had a
great convention and many precious souls were saved and sanctified. Our stay in Ashland was one
of delight.

        From Ashland we made a run to Chicago and had a great convention in the First Church of
the Nazarene. Here we were joined by Rev. John Norberry, from Brooklyn. While we were in
Brooklyn, Brother Ruth had engaged him to travel with the party and we were then together for
four months. At Chicago we had one of the finest conventions on the entire trip as Brother
Schurman has a very strong and a very spiritual church. On the last day in the afternoon they put on
a great missionary rally. The speakers were Sister Stella Crooks and Miss Lela Hargrove. The
missionary offering amounted to several thousand dollars. One man gave a thousand dollars to
foreign missions.

         From Chicago we made a run to Akron, Ohio. In this convention Dr. Sloan and his men met
in a great preachers' convention in connection with the coast-to-coast campaign. As we have
already stated, Brother H. B. Macrory was the pastor. I have never been in a convention that was
better entertained than the one in Akron. I don't think I ever saw so much good provisions brought
in to feed the workers as we saw there, but with Dr. Sloan and Sister Sloan on the district and
Brother Macrory as pastor they simply could do anything they wanted to do. We must have had at
least fifty preachers in attendance.

       From Akron we made a run to Detroit, Michigan. There we had a wonderful convention,
though we had only about thirty Nazarenes in the city. The work had just been organized but there

was more money given in the Detroit convention than in any other on the entire campaign. Rev. I.
G. Martin had just been there and held a great revival and organized a Church of the Nazarene. Our
convention was held in one of the largest halls in the heart of the city. From Detroit we made a run
to Dayton, Ohio. There we have a nice church; Brother Preston Roberts was the fine pastor and
Brother E. E. Wordsworth was the District Superintendent of the Ohio District. We had people
saved by the scores. Our District Superintendent was in charge of the preachers' convention and it
was far-reaching. People from all over the state were there.

        Our next convention was held in First Church of the Nazarene, Indianapolis. We ran over
the holidays and had a great convention, three big services each day, Ruth, Norberry and Robinson
doing the preaching, and the Wells doing the singing. This was a most wonderful convention. The
cold wave struck us and my, my, but we shivered in the cold, but the people came in droves.
Brother Ruth slipped and fell on the ice-covered sidewalk and almost broke his back and we had
to leave him at home for over two weeks.

       Norberry and Robinson and Professor and Sister Wells went on to St. Louis for the first
convention of the new year. We held it in the Maplewood Church of the Nazarene. Our beloved
Brother Cox was the fine pastor and we had a great convention. On Monday night after we closed
we all went to the Flower Memorial church for a great rally and had a great service.

         At midnight we left for Little Rock, Arkansas, and there the two Arkansas Districts, the
Eastern Oklahoma District and the Louisiana District all, as far as they could, united in a great
preachers' meeting and the coast-to-coast convention all in one. The city furnished us the large
tabernacle and lit and fired it all at the expense of the city. We could not have had better crowds or
better entertainment. Brother J. E. Moore, who was at that time in charge of one of the Arkansas
Districts, was elected as the general manager of the entire convention. J. E. Moore is a gentleman
of the first magnitude. He is now our pastor at the First Church of the Nazarene, Houston, Texas.

       At the close of this great convention we made a run to Oklahoma City First Church of the
Nazarene and were with my old friend, Rev. John Oliver, whom we were with a year before.
Brother Ruth had so improved that he came on to Oklahoma City and joined us. We had a great
convention.

        From there we made a run to Sherman, Texas. We held our convention there in the First
Southern Methodist church. Our good pastors, Brother and Sister Dillingham, had secured this
great church for the convention and there we had another preachers' meeting in connection with the
convention. They had secured General Superintendent Williams to preach every morning to the
preachers. They came from all parts of the country. Sherman is a great Methodist school town and
there were a great many fine, old, superannuated preachers there, many of them from seventy-five
to eighty-five years of age. This convention was a great blessing to them. They said they had heard
the greatest preacher in the nation. We had a most glorious time and never had better crowds. The
great church was packed day and night.

        From Sherman we made a run to Hamlin, Texas. Hamlin is on the Hamlin District and Rev.
Allie Irick was their untiring District Superintendent. He brought his preachers from all parts of

Western Texas. At that time Professor A. S. London was in charge of the Hamlin College. They
had secured the First Southern Methodist church and we had there a great convention.

        From Hamlin we made a long run west. We jumped from Hamlin, Texas, to Albuquerque,
New Mexico. Our Hamlin meeting had grown so large that they wanted to run another week and so
Brother John Norberry was left at Hamlin to run a week longer while the rest of the party went to
New Mexico. We had a great convention at the First Southern Methodist church. Brother Lee
Gaines was our Nazarene pastor and Brother Vanderpool was the Southern Methodist pastor. He
opened up his large church and showed us all the kindness that a Christian gentleman could show a
band of Christian workers of another church. At this writing Brother Lee Gaines is our splendid
pastor at North Little Rock, Arkansas, and thank the Lord he is doing fine. At present Brother
Vanderpool is the pastor of the First Southern Methodist Episcopal church at Holdenville,
Oklahoma. I was in his church while touring Oklahoma in December, 1926, and the house was
packed and a great service.

        From Albuquerque we made a run to the First Church of the Nazarene at Phoenix, Arizona,
and there we were joined again by Brother Norberry. We had a fine convention and enjoyed our
old-time friends from Arkansas and Texas and also from Chicago. We were entertained by Brother
Marvin and Sister Lillie Young and it was the limit for goodness. From Phoenix we made a run to
Long Beach, California, and were there with Brother J. I. Hill, who is at this writing our
superintendent in the Barbados islands. Our stay at Long Beach was a most delightful one. After
working the inland states for a full year it was great to visit the old Pacific ocean again and see the
blue breakers roll and splash and run out onto the sandbars and whoop and yell and pick
themselves up and run back to the ocean and turn to saltwater again. We could not have enjoyed
our stay more than we did.

        At the close of the Long Beach convention we made a run to Ontario, California, and there
had a most delightful convention. As many of my readers may know, Ontario is located in the great
orange belt of Southern California, and of course everybody wanted to supply us with oranges off
of their trees.

Chapter 13