We rose and sang, “There is a green hill far away—­”

Then there were prayers and hymns and more prayers, and a lengthy exhortation from Rask, who avowed that if it wasn’t for God in his heart he couldn’t run his business the way he did; that God was with him every hour of his life,—­and oh, wouldn’t every boy there before him take the decisive step and come to Christ, and find the joy and peace that passeth understanding ... he would not stop exhorting, he asserted, till every boy in the room had come to Jesus....

And row by row,—­Rask still standing and exhorting,—­each student was solicited by the seniors, who went about from bench to bench, kneeling by sinners who proved more refractory ... the professors joined in the task, led by the principal himself.

Finally they eliminated the sheep from the goats by asking all who accepted the salvation of Christ to rise.  In one sweep, most of the boys rose to their feet ... some sheepishly, to run with the crowd ... but a few of us were more sincere, and did not rise ... it was at these that the true fire of the professors and seniors was levelled.

They knelt by us.  They prayed.  They agonised.  They groaned.  They adjured us, by our mothers, to come to Jesus ... all the while, over and over again, softly, was sung, “O Lamb of God, I come, I come!”

  “Just as I am, without one plea,
  But that Thy blood was shed for me!”

Weakening under the pressure, and swung by the power of herd-instinct, most of us “came.”

Then there was the hypnotism of the enthusiasm which laid hold of us.  It was indescribable in its power.  It even made me want to rise and declare myself, to shout and sing, to join the religious and emotional debauch.

When chapel adjourned at ten o’clock many had been cajoled and bullied into the fold.  Then, still insatiable for religion, at the villas and halls, the praying and hymn-singing was kept up.

In the big parlour of Crosston Hall the boys grouped in prayer and rejoicing.  One after the other each one rose and told what God had done for him.  One after the other, each offered up prayer.

Toward three o’clock the climax was reached, when the captain of the hall’s football team jumped to a table in an extra burst of enthusiasm and shouted, “Boys, all together now,—­three cheers for Jesus Christ!”

I was one of the three in our hall who resisted all efforts at conversion.  The next morning a group of convertees knelt and prayed for me, in front of my door ... that God might soften the hardness of my heart and show me the Light.

For two weeks the flame of the revival burned.  Some were of the opinion that from the school this time a fire would go forth and sweep the world....

There were prayer-meetings, prayer-meetings, prayer-meetings ... between classes, during study-periods, at every odd minute of time to be snatched.

Though, my preceding summer, my chief pastime had been to argue against the Bible, all this praying and mental pressure was bound to have an influence on my imaginative nature....