Magic-lantern shows, lectures, prayer-meetings and strawberry festivals, under the auspices of the United Society of Christian Endeavor, were prime young people's diversions 40 years ago. Cinema shows were lacking; social life, especially in small towns, was compactly organized. Practically everyone (except out-&-out renegades) went to mid-week C. E. meetings. The movement swept the nation; in 1895 there were 56,425 delegates to the Christian Endeavor convention in Boston.
To San Francisco last week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of C. E.'s founding went some 14,000 Christian Endeavorers. Fewer than at many a...