th God's all-beholding sun than our lads
have proved themselves to be.'

He had struck the right note now, and the audience responded warmly.
There was something magnetic in Edgecumbe's presence, too, something in
his voice which made the people listen.

'I want to say something else, before getting to that which is in my
heart to say,' he went on. 'We are fighting for something great, and
high and holy. We are contending against tyranny, lies, savagery.
Never did a nation have a greater, grander cause than we, and if
Germany were to win----'

In a few sentences he outlined the great issues at stake and made the
audience see as he saw. It was evident, too, that the occupants of the
platform became aware that a new force was at work.

Then followed the greatest scene I have ever seen at any public
gathering. For some time Edgecumbe seemed to forget who he was, or to
whom he spoke; he was simply carried away by what seemed to him the
burning needs of the times. He spoke of the way thousands of young
fellows were ruined, and of the facilities which existed for their
ruin. He told of scenes he had seen in France, scenes which took place
when the men were 'back for rest,' and were 'out for a good time.' He
described what we had witnessed together in London. He showed, too, in
burning words that the two outstanding evils, 'Drink and Impurity,'
were indissolubly associated, and that practically nothing was done to
stem the tide of impurity and devilry which flowed like a mighty flood.

'I say this deliberately,' he said, 'it is nothing short of a blood-red
crime, it is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit of God, to call men from
the four corners of the earth to fight for a great cause like ours, and
then to allow temptations to stand at every corner to lure them to
destruction. Some one has described in glowing terms the work of the
Y.M.C.A., and I can testify the truth of those terms, but ask Y.M.C.A.
workers what is the greatest hindrance to their work, and they will
tell you it is the facilities for drink, drink which so often leads to
impurity, and all the ghastly diseases that follows in its train.

'How can you expect God's blessing to rest upon us, while the souls of
men are being damned in such a way?'

'What would you do?' cried some one, when the wild burst of cheering
which greeted his words ceased.

'Do?' he cried. 'At least every man here can determine, God helping
him, to fight against the greate