"
He told me that there were two others who he believed were somewhat
serious. We agreed to take up the subject of religion in earnest, and seek
it together. We invited the other two, and held a prayer-meeting in my room
on the next Saturday afternoon. And, O, what a prayer-meeting! We knew not
how to pray, but tried to do it. We sang in a suppressed manner, for we
feared the other students. But they found us out, and gathered round the
door, and made such a noise that the officers had to disperse them.
So serious was the disturbance that the president, the late excellent Rev.
Dr. John B. Smith, investigated the matter at prayers that evening in the
chapel hall. When he demanded the reason of the riot, a ringleader in
wickedness rose up and stated that it was occasioned by three or four of
the boys holding prayer-meetings, and they were determined to have no such
doings there. The good president heard the statement with deep emotion,
and, looking at the youths charged with the sin of praying, said, with
tears in his eyes, "O, is there such a state of things in this college?
Then God has come near to us.
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