Russell H. Conwell | Page 2

in the days to come, and graciously spare
him to us for many years! We need such men in this old sin-stained and
weary world. He is an inspiration to his brothers in the ministry of
Jesus Christ, He is a proof of the power in the world of pure
Christianity. He is a friend to all that is good, a foe to all that is evil, a
strength to the weak, a comforter to the sorrowing, a man of God.
He would not suffer these words to be printed if he saw them. But they
come from the heart of one who loves, honors, and reverences him for
his character and his deeds. They are the words of a friend.
[Illustration: Floyd W. Tomkins Church of the Holy Trinity
Philadelphia, Oct. 6th 1905.]

FOREWORD
CONWELL THE PIONEER

Speaking of Russell Conwell's career, a Western paper has called it, "a
pioneer life."
No phrase better describes it.
Dr. Conwell preaches to the largest Protestant congregation in America
each Sunday. He is the founder and president of a college that has a
yearly roll-call of three thousand students. He is the founder and
president of a hospital that annually treats more than five thousand
patients. Yet great as these achievements are, they are yet greater in
prophecy than in fulfilment. For they are the first landmarks in a new
world of philanthropic work. He has blazed a path through the dark,
tangled wilderness of tradition and convention, hewing away the
worthless, making a straight road for progress, letting in God's clear
light to show what the world needs done and how to do it.
He has shown how a church can reach out into the home, the business,
the social life of thousands of people until their religion is their life,
their life a religion. He has given the word "church" its real meaning.
No longer is it a building merely for worship, but, with doors never
closed, it is a vital part of the community and the lives of the people.
He has proven that the great masses of people are hungry and thirsty for
knowledge. The halls of Temple College have resounded to the tread of
an army of working men and women more than fifty thousand strong.
The man with an hour a day and a few dollars a year is as eager and as
welcome a student there, and has the same educational opportunities to
the same grade of learning as though he had the birthright of leisure and
money which opens the doors to Harvard and Yale.
He has shown that a hospital can be built not merely as a charity, not
merely as a necessity, but as a visible expression of Christ's love and
command, "Heal the sick."
In all these three lines he has blazed new paths, opened new worlds for
man's endeavors--new worlds of religious work, new worlds of
educational work. He has not only proven their need, demonstrated
their worth, but he has shown how it is possible to accomplish such

results from small beginnings with no large gifts of money, with only
the hands and hearts of willing workers.
Not only has he done a magnificent pioneer work in these great fields,
but from boyhood he has blazed trails of one kind or another, for the
pioneer fever was in his blood--that burning desire to do, to discover, to
strike out into new fields.
As a mere child, he organized a strange club called "Silence," also the
first debating society in the district schoolhouse, and circulated the first
petition for the opening of a post-office near his home in South
Worthington, Mass.
In his school days at Wilbraham Academy, he organized an original
critics' club, started the first academy paper, organized the original
alumni association.
In war time, he built the first schoolhouse for the first free colored
school, still standing at Newport, N.C.; and started the first "Comfort
Bag" movement at a war meeting in Springfield, Mass.
As a lawyer, he opened the first noon prayer meeting in the Northwest,
called the first meeting to organize the Y.M.C.A. at Minneapolis, Minn.,
organized four literary and social clubs in Minneapolis, started the first
library in that city, began the publication of the first daily paper there
called "The Daily Chronicle," afterward "The Minneapolis Tribune."
In Boston, he started the "Somerville Journal," now edited by his son,
Leon M. Conwell, one of the most quoted publications in the country.
He called the first meeting which organized the Boston Young Men's
Congress, and was one of the first editors of the "Boston Globe." He
was the personal adviser of James Redpath, who opened the first
Lecture and Lyceum Bureau in the United States.
He began a new church work in the old Baptist church