When the Sunday School campaign was finished, Babbitt suggested to
Kenneth Escott, “Say, how about doing a little boosting for Doc Drew
personally?”
Escott grinned. “You trust the doc to do a little boosting for himself,
Mr. Babbitt! There’s hardly a week goes by without his ringing up the
paper to say if we’ll chase a reporter up to his Study, he’ll let us in
on the story about the swell sermon he’s going to preach on the
wickedness of short skirts, or the authorship of the Pentateuch. Don’t
you worry about him. There’s just one better publicity-grabber in town,
and that’s this Dora Gibson Tucker that runs the Child Welfare and the
Americanization League, and the only reason she’s got Drew beaten is
because she has got _some_ brains!”
“Well, now Kenneth, I don’t think you ought to talk that way about the
doctor. A preacher has to watch his interests, hasn’t he? You remember
that in the Bible about--about being diligent in the Lord’s business, or
something?”
“All right, I’ll get something in if you want me to, Mr. Babbitt, but
I’ll have to wait till the managing editor is out of town, and then
blackjack the city editor.”
Thus it came to pass that in the Sunday _Advocate-Times_, under a
picture of Dr. Drew at his earnestest, with eyes alert, jaw as granite,
and rustic lock flamboyant, appeared an inscription--a wood-pulp tablet
conferring twenty-four hours’ immortality:
The Rev. Dr. John Jennison Drew, M.A., pastor of the beautiful
Chatham Road Presbyterian Church in lovely Floral Heights, is a
wizard soul-winner. He holds the local record for conversions.
During his shepherdhood an average of almost a hundred sin-weary
persons per year have declared their resolve to lead a new life and
have found a harbor of refuge and peace.
Everything zips at the Chatham Road Church. The subsidiary
organizations are keyed to the top-notch of efficiency. Dr. Drew is
especially keen on good congregational singing. Bright cheerful
hymns are used at every meeting, and the special Sing Services
attract lovers of music and professionals from all parts of the
city.
On the popular lecture platform as well as in the pulpit Dr. Drew
is a renowned word-painter, and during the course of the year he
receives literally scores of invitations to speak at varied
functions both here and elsewhere.
V
Babbitt let Dr. Drew know that he was responsible for this tribute. Dr.
Drew called him “brother,” and shook his hand a great many times.
During the meetings of the Advisory Committee, Babbitt had hinted that
he would be charmed to invite Eathorne to dinner, but Eathorne had
murmured, “So nice of you--old man, now--almost never go out.” Surely
Eathorne would not refuse his own pastor. Babbitt said boyishly to Drew:
“Say, doctor, now we’ve put this thing over, strikes me it’s up to the
dominie to blow the three of us to a dinner!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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