Just prior to starting the late April 1913 South Bend revival campaign, Billy Sunday finished his campaign in Wilkes-Barre, PA. He was apparently sorely missed just days afterward as a citizen-employee from Vulcan Ironworks sent this poem to the South Bend Tribune, published Mon, May 05, 1913 ·Page 7.
Tribute to Sunday.
Tell your friends, we knew a fellow
Who’s the real thing through and through.
He’s a friend well worth having,
And he’ll be a friend to you.
When he came to old Wilkes-Barre,
Some of us were pretty tough.
And we thought that Billy Sunday
Was a grafter, sure enough.
But, one night we went to hear him—
With a banner and his band—
And we found that Billy Sunday
Is the best man in all the land.
How he hits the old ‘booze-fighter,’
And his cussing, spewing life—
Tells you how he starves his children,
Kills his poor, long-suffering wife.
Then he preaches Christ the Saviour
And His divine love, until
All the crowds just melt around you,
“Leaving God and you and ‘Bill.'”
When he says, ‘Don’t trust your feelings
“Come to Christ. He’ll never fail.’
And he holds his hand out pleading,
‘Fore you know, you’ve hit the trail.
Why, he makes sin seem so awful,
And religion seems so grand,
That you wish ten thousand “Billies”
Could sweep over this whole land.
But the best part can’t be told, friends,
How God fills your heart with peace,
And with hope and strength and courage,
And with joys that never cease.
So, three cheers for “Billy” Sunday,
Yes, three cheers, and three times three,
For the man who makes salvation
Plain to men like you and me.
And through all this great republic
‘Twould be mighty hard to find
Your grateful bunch of fellows,
Than his friends, the undersigned.
Evangelist Billy Sunday (1862-1935) 