DANCE HALL TO PULPIT

Northern Advocate, 28 June 1935, Page 4

DANCE HALL TO PULPIT

I REVIVALIST IN WALES. i I remarkable girl preacher j I. . I i From * dance hall to Hie revivalisti I platform, from luxury to a life of ex-j treme simplicity. This is the story of j Miss Beryl E. de Vine, a young and j attractive woman from Tasmania, who j 'recently was being hailed as one of the ! ; greatest revivalists South Wales has | ever known. Her meetings were pack- ; cd to the doors, and her name and, fame were spreading like wildfire j through the valleys and mountains of | Wales. j I A tall, well-built young woman ot 25, whose raven-black hair frames a j face which lights up with a lovely | smile and whose hazel eyes eagerly j scan the faces of her audience for signs of repentance, Miss de Vine adopts no half-measures. Equipped with a knowi ledge of Scriptural text which amazes i her companions, she preaches, with | dramatic gesture and great eloquence.-1 of salvation in heaven or of purgatory , in hell. Unsoaring in her fervour, she | reduces her hearers to tears and rouses them tc cries of praise and devotion. At the close of a most emotional meeting which ended her campaign in Glamorgan, she told an interviewer : fhe remarkable story of her life. “A few years ago I was living a life of i idle luxury/’ she said. “I had lovely frocks and dresses, hats, shoes, silk ‘ stockings—everything a young girl I could want was mine. Dancing, driv- ■ j ing, riding, swimming—l did every- . thing. Life as a Dancer. “Today I can pack all my worldly > belongings into one small bag. I have not a penny piece of my own, yet I am a million times richer than I was , then. I spent my qarly girlhood in_ a large dance hall in Hobart, Tasmania. • I was there from early morning until ■ late at night acting as a hostess. I learned to dance, to smoke, to drink ’ wines and cocktails. My sole purpose “■ in life was to look lovely, to charm > and entertain customers. t “This went on for five years. It was i planned that I should go to Paris to ; buy clothes, acquire polish, learn a : few new dance steps, and then to re--3 turn to Tasmania to be a fashion-plate j and model for the young women of 3 Hobart." Many young women, today would consider such ah outlook a glorious t prospect. But not so Miss de Vine. 3 Suddenly she felt impelled to change her life. She abandoned her intended visit to Paris and came into conflict with her family because of her new- - found convictions. , Making the Break. “I said I would never dance, drink or smoke again." continued Miss de i Vine. “When I was converted my I family strongly objected to my relig- , ious views, and when I had stuck to my new life for nearly a year I left 1 home ; and went to Australia, where I entered a Bible college for two years. - I had not a penny to my name, but I L . always found the money to pay for . my board and for my training. It 1 just seemed to come when I needed it. 5 “Then I ( joined a mission and began L to study with the intention of going to s South America. Like any other young woman I fell in love and became engaged. My fiance was the head of a 2 mission in South America. I was to join him. My life seemed settled and 3 my future seemed clear. “I came to London to prepare for 1 my work. I studied and arranged my i passage. Suddenly I knew that I could 1 not go on with that plan. Although I s did not know a single person in Wales or anything about the country, I knew 3 that I must go there, not to South ■ America. The Call of Wales. “I broke off my engagement. I left the mission. I gave away the little money I had saved, keeping only my 3 fare to Wales, arrived down here, not 2 knowing a soul and without a penny “ in my purse. But, just as though my 1 coming had been expected, I found t friends and helpers at once. So I bei gan my campaign. “People have rallied to my side,” said Miss de Vine. “Look at Mr Evan ’ John, here. He used to be an operatic - singer. Now he works for our cause. ,r He broke his journey in order to come to hear me preach six weeks ago. He never went back to catch his train. ‘ Now he gives his voice and his energy to the work of saving people, t “I am not sorry that I lived the life 5 I did when I-was young, for it enabled me to know* how hollow and false all 1 that life is and to tell people, from my > own experience, how much happier it is to be poor in worldly goods and . rich in faith.”