2 



instrument through which many souls should be 

 turned to Himself. 



We need not dwell on his child life. It was 

 soon seen that God had endowed him with a 

 bright intellect and an amiable and cheerful 

 disposition. As a young man he was fond of 

 society, of which his attractive person, gay dis- 

 position and ready wit made him a welcome 

 member. It was characteristic of him to put his 

 whole soul into whatever he undertook, and in 

 this manner he sought to find satisfaction in the 

 world. He matured rapidly so that at an early 

 age he had tasted its pleasures and discovered 

 their inability to give real or lasting joy. 



His Christian parents had ever striven to lead 

 him into the ways of righteousness ; but the al- 

 lurements of the world led him captive until in 

 the year 1886 at the age of seventeen years, the 

 Holy Spirit so strove with him and convicted him 

 of his sins that he eagerly repented of them, 

 turned to God and found pardon. It was at a 

 revival meeting at Sharps ville, Pa., his home at 

 that time, in the old Methodist Episcopal Church, 

 that he was converted to God. He had gone to 

 the meeting with one of his young friends out of 

 mere curiosity. He sat in the back part of the 

 church during the service, careless and indif- 

 ferent. But while the evangelist was inviting sin- 

 ners to come to Christ, he became so convicted of 



