Perhaps in this case we may say humbly
that our asking was largely in the form of gaining the confidence of the
men, for when we had all become friends the movement began quietly one
night through the action of an agent of the Pocket Testament League, who
was spending the evening with us. The meetings looked prosaic enough to
the eye; there was no band or solo singing or outward excitement, and
the hut was a plain wooden building, but the strain was very intense at
times. Sometimes as many as a hundred in one week would stay behind and
profess conversion, desiring to yield to the profound spiritual impulse
urging them from within to make Christ's mind and spirit their principle
in life. All had been cast loose from their moorings and had been trying
to find their feet in new surroundings. Most of them were just decent
lads who had never thought much about it before. There were others who
at last saw a chance to make a fresh start and grasped thankfully at it.
A few were 'corner-boys,' learning in discipline and comradeship a
lesson they had never dreamed of. I think there was everywhere in the
new army a certain moral uplift arising from the consciousness of a hard
duty undertaken, and it was not difficult to lead this on to a more
personal and spiritual crisis.
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