YANKEE EVANGELIST RAGGED

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 490, 20 October 1928, Page 1

YANKEE EVANGELIST RAGGED

Aimee Was “Scared Stiff”

VISIT TO GLASGOW Riotous Reception By Students BEER-BOTTLES AND CARDS . (United P.A. —By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) Received 1.20 p.m. LONDON, Friday. A THOUSAND Glasgow undergraduates, who were in hilarious mood in connection with the university rectorial elections, gave an amazing reception to Mrs. Aimee McPherson; the American evangelist, in the University debating hall.

Four burly students squatted on the floor below the platform playing pontoon. Others whisked empty beer and whisky bottles from their pockets, and placed a glass of beer in lieu of water on the speaker’s table/. Twelve girl students, under a notice, “Ladies May Smoke,” puffed cigarettes. Placards were hung in the galleries, inscribed, “Have You Brought Your Chewing Gum?” “Here’s to Good Old Whisky.”

The card-players shied their cards on to the platform. Everybody rose and sang, "Oh Aimee dear, we love you so. Do we? Hell!” and “Here's to Good old Whisky.” A student in the gallery lowered a beer bottle in front of the bewildered evangelist. Paper streamers submerged the platform. Mrs. McPherson coughed, and re-

fused the proffered glass of beer. She referred to her school days, evoking a chorus of, “Old Soldiers Never Die.” “I am scared stiff,” she said. “Let’s have a couple of minutes for dear Lord n Jesus.”

The evangelist prayed emotionally amid a temporary silence. Resumption of the uproar led the chairman to appeal for fair play, resulting in a courteous hearing. Her interrupters were won over by her story about the undertaker, who, burying the atheist, remarked, “Poor man. He does not believe in heaven or hell. He is all dressed up and nowhere to go.”

The students terminated the proceedings with the Varsity anthem, and tied streamers to Mrs. McPherson’s car, in which she drove off, remarking, “They’re just typical college boys and girls.”