le while.

The large prayer meeting hall is usually crowded, the attendance
including not only members of the church but hundreds who are not
members of any church. It is no unusual sight to see all the various
rooms of the Lower Temple thrown into one by the raising of the
sashes, and this vast floor packed as densely as possible, while a
fringe of standers lines the edges. People will come to these prayer
meetings though they cannot see the platform, though they must lose
much of what is said. But the spirit of the meeting flows into their
hearts and minds, sending them home happier, and with a strengthened
determination to live a more righteous life.

Frequently Dr. Conwell arrives ten or fifteen minutes before the time
for the service to begin. As he walks to the platform, he stops and
chats with this one, shakes hands with another, nods to many in the
audience. At once all stiffness and formalism vanish. It is a home, a
gathering of brothers and sisters. It is the meeting together of two
or three in His name, as in the old apostolic days, though these two
or three are now counted by the hundreds.

When Dr. Conwell thus arrives early, the time is passed in singing.
Often he utilizes these few minutes to learn new hymns. So that when
the real prayer meeting is in progress, there will be no blundering
through new tunes or weak-kneed renditions of them. The singing, Dr.
Conwell wants done with the spirit. He will not sing a verse if the
heart and mind cannot endorse it. After singing several hymns in this
earnest, prayerful fashion, every one present is fully in tune for the
services to follow. Prayer meeting opens with a short, earnest prayer.
Then a hymn. It is Dr. Conwell's practice to have any one call out the
number of a hymn he would like sung. And it is no unusual thing to
hear a perfect chorus of numbers after Dr. Conwell's "What shall we
sing?"

A chapter from the Bible is read and a short talk on it given. Then
Dr. Conwell says, "The meeting now is in your hands," and sits down as
if he had nothing more to do with it. But that subtle leadership which
leads without seeming to do so, is there ready to guide and direct.
He never allows the meeting to grow dull--though it seldom exhibits a
tendency to do so. If no one is inclined to speak, hymns are sung. An
interesting feature, and one that is tremendously helpful in leading
church members to take part in the prayer meeting, is the giving
of Bible verses. I