Dalton-in-Furness - Salvation Army

I jogged along by the side of Mrs. Somerton and Capt. Sambo, after my seven-hour ride from London, feeling somewhat anxious to see the object of my visit. As usual I was not disappointed. Very hard work to get up the staircase leading into the Hall, still harder to get up the aisle on to the platform, but would have been, and is still, the hardest job of the lot, to report what I saw when I got there.

It is a small Hall, capable of seating perhaps a few over 300, but there are not far off 400 jammed into it. Around me on the platform were a crowd of saved men, and below my feet is a mass of humanity which seemed to be made up of open mouths and eyes. A sight worth seeing certainly, but now I turn to the sound-

"Never be afraid, never be afraid

Never be afraid to speak for Jesus"

Surely to hear such a sentence as that wrung from the hearts of big men who only nine short weeke ago, used and knew the name of Jesus only as a flourish to their filthy language, to whom God's name meant merely something to swear by, and who looked upon religion as a farce, surely the least we can say about it is, that it was a sound well worth hearing.

I was only able to be in Dalton for two services, but I saw quite enough to assure me that it was a real thing. The Sunday morning meeting in the Sunday Hall, which will seat some 800 people, and which was well filled, proved to me that there were some real praying men and women, under the command of Captain Sambo. And when I tell my readere that in nine weeks nearly 200 Soldiers have been raised up to fight under our colours, then they will, perhaps be able to imagine what The Salvation Army is doing here.

There was just one thing that made me feel sorry about Dalton, not that they had gone to sleep, No! far from that, for they have only just woken up; not that the congregations are falling off, and that there are more seats than seat-holders - but, that we have not a place capable of holding 2,000 instead of 800. But, I suppose the day is at hand for this. A piece of land has already been offered by a gentleman of the town, and we trust that the time is not far distant when a good lump of the population of Dalton will be gathered together in one place to hear about Salvation.

From, "The War Cry," page 4, 19th January 1882.

The new officers have arrived and we were pleased to have them. Our book contains over 300 converts names who have all professed Salvation since we began to fire upon the town two months ago. To God be all the glory!

From, 'The War Cry', May 1882.

I do not know where the meetings were held.