The San Francisco call. [volume], February 23, 1913, Image 3

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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The San Francisco Sunday Call
SOPHIE the
SCRUBWOMAN
PREACHER
Copyright, 1913, by the New Tork Herald Co. AH rights reserTed.
NEW YORK, Saturday.
SOPHIE, the Scrubwoman Preacher.
The title is as proudly borne as
it was arduously won by a Ger
man woman evangelist and missionary.
Few of the thousands whom she has
helped know her by any other name
than "Sophie," the name by which she is
loved and respected. "That name
means wisdom," she explained, "and my
other name, Lichtenfels, means' light
and rock. That la right, the Lord is
my i-oek and I get light to do my work
fr»m him.
"I peddle salvation around the world."
way that Sophie describes her
"I go to peoples of ail nations
n New York and 1 send "mis
sionaries to the places where I can't go
• i South America, China, India and
• Sophie had returned only the
day before from a fortnight's stay in
Middietown, N. V., where she had
send me five dollars for Christmas and
send me five dolars' for Christmas and
T spend it to go and help somebody. I
stay by a nice family, but first nobody
wants to hear me in church. Then God
tells them that I have a message from
him and they ask me come. One Sunday
I talk three times next day I
wash clothes for the minister's wife
and make many noodles for her.
"When I came 'way they took me to
the depot in a carriage and one lady
make me cake to bring home and an
other gives me Jelly. No one pays my
fare, though. I pay that out of money
the Lord gave me. I never buy cake
for myself, nor meat. What do I eat?
Statue From Monastery of Poblet a Relic of
Gothic Art
* KNIGHT on horseback, a bas-
ZA relief sculpture in marble and
from the monastery of Poblet, .is,
according to Mr. Charles Oulment, a
Spanish work of the thirteenth century.
The upper part of the background to
the right, which undoubtedly bore the
chevalier's escutcheon, has been broken
This beautiful Gothic piece, executed
In the purest style and almost Roman
in the firmness and severity of its
lines and its general design, has the
provenance of the famous monastery of
Poblet, in the province of Tarragon.
It belonged to Mr. Stora. Every ose
who has seen this large monument,
imposing in spite of its mutilated con
dition, has been strode with its majestic
character. The tombs within the
monastery are discoverable only
through their \..-liges and without
question this knight formed part of a
funera*ry sculpture in bas-relief.
Acts of vandalism of which Poblet
was the scene In 1843 cruelly disfigured
the monastery, which' remained aban
doned until about 1900. It is most in
teresting therefore to be able to inspect
na actual example of decoration from
the tombs, and thus to gain some con
ception of the artistic wealth that was
Poblet's anterior to 1848.
:,i;. Ramon Salas Ricoma in a
brochure entitled "Resu:nen de la Guia
Historica f Artistica del Monasterio de
Poblet" (Taragon, 1903) gives an elab
orate study of the history and treasure
*%* of the monastery. He speaks of the
royal sepulchres —those of King Jaime
J. 1275; Pedro JV of Arragon and others
•—and of. tomba other than those of
Why, I can get so fat Just on a little
food and the goodness of the Lord that
[ can hardly fasten my clothes, already.
[ can have a Psalm for lunch, Love for
breakfast, Joy for dinner and Peace for
supper. Contentment is a grand des
sert. You could not buy such a feast as
[ can get out of the Bible for a hundred
iollars, but the Trust Company of
[leaven will furnish me with all the
money I need."
Sophie's home is a room at the top of
i three story frame tenement house, No. j
333 West Forty-fourth street. It is
tiung with photographs of persons she
has helped and pictures of members of
her family, with scripture mottoes and
texts. There is a little Christmas tree
In one corner, too. "A lady gave me
that three years ago." said Sophie, "and
every year I have it for some poor peo
ple. I love animals, so this is why I
keep these here," she continued, pick
ing up a small lion and several other |
toy animals from the base of the tree.
"I do love"
Just here the door, which stood ajar,
was pushed open and a little brown dog
came bounding in. Sophie sprang
toward him with a cry of joy.
"Is he your dog?"
"Neln, but we are lovers; he lives
downstairs, but he loves me and comes
to see me. Now, I know what you
want," she added, as the dog began to
sniff and peer around. "You want cake.
kings. But it would be vain to attempt
to identify the monument of which this
chevalier de marbre was a part. One
notes the attitude of the warrior—
V Reading Her Bible V
now see him make off with it. the
hund!"
Sophie had been home only 24 hours,
but she had not stopped to rest from
her journey. She was up before 7 the
morning after her arrival and off for
a day's work. "I did two weeks' wash
ing and ironed the clothes, too; then I
washed six windows and cleaned the
silver. The lady paid me $1.23. I spent
the 25 cents for a new "uroom and gave
a dollar to the Lord."
"Aren't you tired—you, a woman 68
"debout sur ses etriers. pre a foncer sur
l'ennemi" —and the heiratic and mys
terious design of the horse, like a
figure out of the Apocalypse,
I years old —after such a hard day's
work?"
"I am never tired. I can't wear out.
Soon I am going to see a sick woman,
then I go to a service in the church and
after that I go to the slums. I shall
not be home until 2 o'clock."
"What slums do you go to?"
"Tonight it will be Chinatown. I go
wherever there are souls to be saved. I
am nothing, a poor, Ignorant woman,
but the words are given me to speak."
"How long have yqu been preaching?''
Opening Bombs a Gentle Art, if You Believe Owen Egan
NEW YORK, Saturday.
HOW would you like to be official
bomb opener for the city o%
New York? '«,
Owen Egan, good natured, Irish, get
ting on the sunset side of life, is the
incumbent of the office, and he admits
the job is no sinecure.
"One of the easiest ways to lose part
of your anatomy, or to travel to the
promised land on a limited express, is
to trifle with a stick of dynamite or
get curious about the contents of a
loaded bomb," says Mr. Egan. He has
been in the bomb opening business for
some 18 years and has contributed a
finger or so to the cause, so he ought
to know considerable about the dan
gers besetting the position.
When I found the experfj on explo
sives at his desk in the bureau of com
bustibles, fire headquarters, he was
busy adding another item to his list of
captured bombs. The list itself looks
like an Italian directory loaded with
guncotton.
"How do they send them?" repeated
the jovial official, placing an odd look
ing package carefully in the center of
his desk. "Don't get scared. This isn't
a bomb. It's a package of my favorite
tobacco. You never could tell from
the outside of a package of tobacco
what might happen inside when you
pulled the string..though. Bombs- come
In every disguise* under the sun.
"A candy box is a favorite receptacle.
In the first flush of pleasure over re
ceiving a gift of sweets, the recipient
tears open the box. If it's loaded,
everything is over but the obsequies.
"Very few mechanical devices are
used in the manufacture of bombs.
"Most of them are extremely crude in
coiistr-.n lion. sent to the
home of Judge otto*Rosalsky is a typi
cal example of the mechanical kind. 1
lost a finger in the attempt to destroy
it, which proves that it was pretty
cleverly constructed, because experi
ence has taught me to take no chances
with sealed packages.'*
No sooner had I expressed a desire to
Sayings of Sophie, the Scrub-
Woman Preacher
Don't he a hotel Christian, only
coming to stay a short time.
I could not get an automobile, so
the good Lord gave me the bap
tism of fire, and it la my carriage.
It makes all the difference
whether you get religion or sal
vation; one is of the head, the
other of the heart.
Lots of people like to serve God
when it is an easy Job.
God's' promise Is: "His bread
and water shall be sure." And
sometimes he throws in a chicken
leg and some ice cream.
When I am out of work I tell
Father. He is the nest employ
ment agency. You don't have to
pay nor wait.
I scrub as to the Lord and
preach to all in the house.
There's so many blue, moldy
Christians; cemetery Christians, I
call them. They sit weeping on a
tombstone and never get out in
the resurrection life of Christ.
sft Sophie Lives in One Room at the Top of This Tenement Hous*.
"Well, It's 45 years since I was con
verted, and I've been preaching more
or less ever since. . I lived 16 years
with a family as cook and tried to
preach salvation there, for they needed
it, though the man was a minister.
Then I want to work for the Lord more,
so I go to a training school to find out
how. They keep me a year and a half
and I think they send me to preach in
foreign lands, but no, they tell me for
eign peoples are here and I take my
bible and go to my neighbors—Switzers,
Italians, Chinese and some that I don't
know what they are—and I tell them
about our Father. So I'm a mishener,
and then I find that if I send my money
I can help the people In all the places
where I can't go. I send money to
China and Japan and have somebody
teaching for me there, and I send two
little organs to China to make music for
the Lord.
"Then I help to build churches in
South America and in Africa. I'm going
to help build a church in the Congo
next year. I heard that If I gave money
every year I could support an orphan in
India, and have been doing that for
20 years. That means 20 orphans I've
taken care of."
see a really truly bomb than the special
ist invited me to go with him to the
city's hiding place for such toys'.
Away back in a little low brick cellar
between First avenue and avenue A—
never mind the exact location—is the
choicest collection of gunpowder, nitro
glycerin, dynamite and assorted in
struments of destruction and death ever
wrapped up in neat looking parcels
ready for delivery. Each one bears a
tag of the police department, and each
one will be dissected by Egan, the feomb
expert, when the proper time arrives.
"This one was discovered in the fire
place of a tenement after the Italian
family that occupied it moved out," he
said, handling a long, dark object that
resembled a giant firecracker, fuse and
all. "Thelltick of dynamite is attached
to pieces of small Iron of equal length
and inaplated. A candle fuse Is used
because" it burns slowly, Is smokeless,
can be lighted outside, and allows the
'planter' a half hour to get away."
A large box comtaining confetti bombs
was neat iq line—just ordinary card
board cylinders filled with gay little
stars, diamonds and hearts, the kind
you have had pointed at you by a
merrymaker at a masked ball, or, per
haps, have pointed yourself. But
maybe you didn't know that the harm
less little cylinder contains a wad of
guncotton, one of the most dangerous
of explosives, and that the confetti
bombs are barred by the bureau which
conserves the lives and limbs of citi
zens.
t"I must be ready to answer a call any
hour of the day or night," said Mr.
Egan, toying with enough dynamite to
blow us both into kingdom come,
"whenever a suspicious package is re
ceived it is my business to go and open
It. Sometimes the suspicions are not
justified, and after gingerly handling
a package, using every precaution to
provide against a surprise and having
the hearts of a dozen people bumping
with fear, I find nothing more exciting
than a dozen squares of home made
fudge or a glass of apple jelly.
"One time I spent the five hours be
tween midnight and inurning laboring
Sophie Is not a denomlnationallst.
I'm not working for any church; I'm
working for the Lord," she said. "I
used to go to a Baptist church, but it
was torn down. Now I go to the.
Christian Alliance, over in Eighth ave
nue.
"I was married once," Sophie said
suddenly. "It cost me three hundred
dollars. He tried to choke me to get
the Insurance. He said the devil told
him to do It, but God saved me because
he was - stronger than the devil. I saw
that man a long time afterward, when
I was speaking in a gospel meeting
tent; I was the first woman to speak in
tent meetings. I pitied that man, but I
could no more live with him. He would
hinder my work. It is better to go out
scrubbing and washing, but I don't do
that so much now. I get too tired and
God tells me I am too tired to do his
work, so I preach and sell tracts and
when I need anything I just take the
telephone and ask for it. Prayer is my
telephone and It reaches right up to
God.
"One morning I opened my bible to
the words, 'Our Father, which was in
heaven,' and I said, 'Oh, I know that by
heart,* and I didn't read it. I wanted
over what was believed to be a large
consignment of nitroglycerin, all ready
for the big explosion. Every slightest
movement or jar brought a cold
perspiration to the brow of those as
sembled to look on from a distance.
"As the cold dawn crept up over the
eastern roofs the lid was raised, so
slowly the eye could scarcely detect a
movement. Six bottles of food tonic
stared me in the face. Would you be
lieve it? I really think the spectators
were disappointed at not finding a
couple of dozen bombs set and primed
for action. I was satisfied with the
tonic from where I was standing.
"Where do we find 'em? Pretty much
In every place. Some years ago a box
containing 50 pounds of dynamite with
a clock attachment was discovered
aboard one of the big ocean steamships.
The 'planter' was arrested and con
victed.
"Another time a large bomb resem
bling a cannon ball was thrown from
a Third avenue elevated train. Only a
part of it exploded. The other half is
in our" possession. Areaways, vesti
bules, doorsteps and halls are favorite
places for a 'plant.'
"Suppose you find a nice, promising
looking package on the stand in the
hall. You look It over and decide some
one has come across with a little token
of remembrance and esteem. You open
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something fresh. That morning I had
no money to get coffee and rolls for
breakfast, but I thought I would get
them where I was going to waah. When
I got there the family had eaten and
there was no breakfast for me. I
waited for dinner, but the woman went
out and forgot all about me and I had
no dinner. I had to work all day with
out anything to eat and I began to com
plain, when I heard my Father say.
'This morning when you read my book
you didn't want to say "Give us this
day our dally bread." At once I see
my sin and I say, 'Father, forgive me,
and give me this day my daily bread,
for thy child Is hungry.' When I got
off my knees there was a knock at the
door and a neighbor was there with a
cup of coffee and some biscuits. She
said, T thought you were tired and
might not like to get supper, so I
brought these in.' Then I thank my
I Father and begin to shout.
"One morning I ask the Lord if he
wants me to go Into the country for
him. 'If you do, you know the number,'
I say in my telephone prayer. 'Go to
No. — Grove street. Ocean Grove, and
when asked what you want say, "I'm
Sophie." ' I went and found a room
rent paid and a warm welcome. I was
told to go to a hotel and there had my
meals given to me. The Lord had pro
vided.
"One time I found my shoes wearing
out, and I called on the Trust Company
of Heaven. The answer came back,
'You will find a pair on the ash pile in
the morning,' and I did and wore them
until two dollars came soon afterward
to buy a new pair.
"I must go now," said Sophie, "for I
have much work to do for my master. I
am called to Brooklyn to speak in a
ctyurch; then I must go to a hospital
and carry the Lord's comfort. I go to
prison, too, and talk to more than 200
men. All day and into the night I am
busy, scrubbing, preaching, working to
carry on the work of God, so I never
have time to be lonely or sad.
"Sophie can do good, but the Lord
uses her to spread his gospel and to
i save souls for him."
it to see how far your friend has gone
in the gift line, when blooey! You
can't decide whether you have been
kicked in the face by a Missouri mule
or the Brooklyn bridge has collapsed
with you on the underneath side.
"If you're lucky, you come out of the
hospital resolved never mora to toy
with strange parcels. Even Santa Claus
is not invited to wipe his feet on your
welobme mat. On the other hand, It
makes you feel kind of foolish to have
a man working hours over what you
firmly believe to be a gallon of gun
powder, and which turns out to be a
can of maple syrup from your cousin
up the state. Why, we even found a
bomb in a taxicab once!"
"Huh!" is the way this greeting was
received by a patron of the seagoing
vehicles. "That's nothing. I have one
hurled at my head every time the
driver mentions the high cost of taxi
travel."
Mr. Egan has this to say about mys
terious parcels:
"When in doubt, send for Owen Egan."
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