WORLD-FAMOUS PREACHER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22142, 22 June 1935, Page 10 (Supplement)

WORLD-FAMOUS PREACHER

LIFE WORK OF GIPSY SMITH Seventy-five years ago a little gipsy boy was born in a caravan standing in a small clearing in Epping Forest, close to the main road from Woodford to Epping. One day last month that gip6v boy, now world-famous and loved by hundreds of thousands of people, came back to the spot to celebrate his birthday. It was Gipsy Smith, the evangelist, and he held a service of thanksgiving in the clearing where his father's caravan stood. Ten thousand people packed the small clearing or stood jammed tightly among the trees surrounding it. Some climbed near by trees to hear him speak. Many women fainted in the crush, and friends had to carry them away and lay them on the grass in the shade. Gipsy Smith stood, thick-set, suntanned and amazingly youthful on a caravan. By his side were famous ministers, including the Rev. Luke Wiseman. and Dr. Campbell Morgan, who had come to the birthday service. In the simple language which has moved thousands, the gipsy told of his youth —how he could not read or write, how his father used to play the fiddle outside public houses, while he as a small boy danced for pennies. He held up the chisel with which his father used to make clothes pegs for him to sell. '

Then he told o? his early days as an evangelist and. how he met General Booth. Ho spoke of his life and service to the Master ho loved so much. When he appealed to the people in the crowd to hold up their hands to show that they, too, would serve the Master, scores of hands were held up. Gipsy Smith can read and write now, and he was wearing a stiff collar and tie and a grey suit. But for all that he is still a gipsy. His sun-tanned face shows his love of the open air. Although his hair is now grey and he is seventyfive years old, he was to leavo a fow days later for America to continue the mission to which his whole life has been devoted.