Next | 1. New York | 2. Virginia | 3. Ohio | 4. Kansas | 5. California | 6. Dakota | 7. Africa | 8. England
Contact Ron | Foreword | Preface | Index | Tellout
1C. Providence and Wall Street 
My sales skills again came in useful later that summer. A group of cadets went to Brooklyn and New York for a house-to-house visitation campaign. Some doors opened a few inches, or a pair of eyes appeared through a letter box. When we asked, "Have you a church home, sir?," some Jewish immigrants, remembering the holocaust in Nazi Germany replied with fearful tones, "Ve ave no church ome!" A Roman Catholic householder thought that the Priest had sent for a donation and handed me a dime! Someone whispered through another letter box, "We are Protestants!" Then with great secrecy, as if to warn me of some impending threat, added, "There are CATHOLICS next door!"
Daddy Hall
Later, on Wall Street, we addressed ourselves to Catholic and Protestant alike. I had often listened to midday open air services there but now I was to take part myself. Resplendent in our dark gray uniforms, we proudly marched out onto Broadway from behind Trinity Church's great iron gates. One cadet carried the church's ornate processional cross, another the Stars and Stripes, while I again held aloft the crimson crusaders' shield. We really did feel like soldiers on the march, until the size of the milling crowds suddenly hit us. Thousands of office workers were relaxing, having time out during their lunch break to hear the speakers. At the old Sub-Treasury Building, George Washington stared down icily from his marble pedestal. Beneath his critical eye, Daddy Hall, a famous open air preacher, was still speaking. Seeing our uniforms and banners, he turned and shouted, "Here comes Cox's Army!"
Sweater Girl
Being early enough to hear the self-styled Bishop of Wall Street dealing with hecklers was worth a joke at our expense. One day, someone in the crowd tried to distract him by shouting, "What do you think of the Pope?" With a hearty laugh, Daddy replied, "I've never met the gentleman!" When he had finished speaking of the Saviour, whom he had met, Church Army's turn came. Our youth, representing a well-known church, kept the attention of our listeners. Another time, thousands more unexpectedly poured out unto Broadway. Van loads of police arrived and television cameras too. Though we had no idea who these people had come to see, we were not about to miss our chance. That evening, we saw ourselves on television, "Over here is a little group preaching about sin" The star attraction was sadly not our Saviour, but the famous and glamorous "Sweater Girl!"
Providence Training
Later, I arrived at Bishop McVicar Training College in Providence where the emphasis was how to spread the Gospel in places other Christians would not normally go. Our training was modeled along English lines. Life was made so difficult that any future work would seem easy by comparison! Each morning, at first bell, we emerged from our little rooms, lined up and plunged one by one into the same bath of icy cold water! Awake and alert, we were then ready for our daily prayers and orders. In the quiet solemnity of our plain chapel, with the simple polished brass cross glinting in the early morning sunshine, we learned to meet our Maker at the beginning of each day. At our training college, some of the students were blessed by God with the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit." The college staff, didn't share their enthusiasm. "It doesn't make sense to me!", complained one irate teacher. They make the Christian life attractive with their love of praise and desire to tell others about Jesus. Forbidden from saying, "PRAISE THE LORD," the cadets called out "P. T. L." along the corridors! They told me one day of their blessings and watched carefully for my reaction. My spontaneous reply "PRAISE GOD!" told them I fully understood. Broad smiles split open gleaming faces.
One Spoonful
There was one special secret, I had kept hidden even from the other cadets until the very eve of our Commissioning. I was busy dressing upstairs and some of my friends were downstairs in the kitchen showing our group photographs to the cook and her son. Looking casually at the faces, the cook's son suddenly grinned and burst out, "Hey, that's One Spoonful Pea Lewis!" The others, mimicking his words, trooped upstairs and jeered, "One Spoonful Pea Lewis! One Spoonful Pea Lewis!" My secret was out! I had worked with the cook's son at the West Cheshire Mental Institution in New York. I was meticulously careful to count out the same number of peas on to each plate, much to the staff's amusement! One Spoonful was only a happy memory on that day, April 5, 1931. The Church Army was commissioning me to a new and wonderful task as an Evangelist. As we marched down the aisle in Providence Cathedral, the choir sang heartily, "Rescue the perishing, Care for the dying, Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave, Tell them of Jesus the Mighty to save!" God was to give me many such opportunities to speak for Him.
"You've gotta have a glory in the things you do, an alleluia chorus in the heart of you" 
