r. Beecher." "I
am from Australia and this is my first visit to this country." These are
but illustrations of the expressions which greeted the ushers every
Sunday.

Of course they all want good seats. It is astonishing how many people
come who are hard of hearing, and want front pews; and if they are
seated on the left they cannot hear in the right ear, and if on the
right, they cannot hear in the left ear. All this was not unnoticed by
Mr. Beecher, as we realised one day when, as he entered the pulpit, he
turned to Mr. Whitney, on duty there, and putting his hand to his ear
quietly said, "I am very hard of hearing, can you not give me a front
seat?" Others, if you give them a front seat, say it tires their eyes to
look up, and if they are seated too far back, they cannot see. It is the
duty of the usher to satisfy all. That strangers come so constantly is
witness to the cordiality and courtesy of their reception and treatment.
Mr. Beecher frequently said that the ushers helped him in no small
degree in the Sunday services.

The interest for the ushers was by no means finished when the seats were
filled and the standing room was apportioned. Then came watching the
effect of the service upon the audience. True, most of the ushers took
seats when their special work of introduction was over--_i. e._, if
there were any seats available, or they had succeeded in reserving any;
but there were always some on duty, and not even Mr. Beecher's eloquence
entirely eclipsed the interest with which the various attitudes were
watched. These attitudes were of all sorts. There were sceptical people,
who evidently wondered whether this man Beecher was really as great as
they tried to make him out; they sat in their seats with a very firm
back, indisposed to bend or yield to any influence. As a rule they got
little farther than the prayer or the second hymn before there was a
very perceptible unbending. Somehow few could withstand the power of
Plymouth Church singing, and Mr. Beecher's prayers had a wonderfully
moving influence. The sermon, however, captured all. If asked what it
was that had conquered they perhaps could not have told, but sure it was
that the shoulders shook, the head bent forward, the whole frame seemed
to respond to the touch of the master hand. Especially interesting was
it to watch the young men. Students came from all over the country to
hear the "greatest pulpit orator" in the land. All sense of surroundings
was