his graphic portrayal of their desires for righteousness and decency and
fair opportunity.

He was always one of the speakers held in reserve for the crucial last
days of the campaigns, and at the large daily luncheons held in the
Hotel Gibson for the canvassers he was at his best. The following
sentences from a newspaper report of one such address are typical:

You know what this Community Chest has done for this great city,
how it has been, as the old seer said long ago, the river of
life, flowing through the streets of the city, keeping it clean,
refreshing it, strengthening it, heartening it, so that the tree
of life, bearing all manner of fruits, through all the year,
could grow upon its brink and spread forth its branches to
shelter and give new vigor and hope to the inhabitants of the
city. That river of life which we call social service is more
vital, more important and more needed for the steady maintenance
of the morale, well-being, and good life of the whole community
than the Ohio River is, believe me.

By the power of simple, forceful speech, strengthened by his great love
for people and his belief in them, he enabled Cincinnati to see beyond
the horizon, to dream dreams; and by his uncommon labor some of these
dreams became actualities. He looked at the city's welfare from the
religious viewpoint, and in so doing commended religion to the
religiously indifferent. He saw the practical value of spiritual things
and the spiritual value of practical things. When, for example, he
addressed the National Conference for Social Workers at Denver in 1925
and propounded the theme of Immortality, the audience was at first
aghast, and then enthralled. He maintained that they had nothing to work
for unless it was for eternity; that their business was concerned with
souls, and that the souls of the feeble-minded were as much heirs of
immortality as those of others more fortunate, and that no man has the
right to condemn or stand in judgment. It was a bold speech to such an
audience, and held their rapt attention; it was perhaps the more
stimulating because it had been preceded by the scholarly and very
formal address of the president of the conference. It was this occasion
that produced a choice story which Mr. Nelson loved to tell on himself.
At the close of the long evening two men were overheard commenting on
the speeches. One of them remarked, "The first man was over my head, and
the second j