text:
Grandma Moses

Anna Mary Robertson Moses (September 7, 1860 – December 13, 1961), or Grandma Moses, was an American folk artist. She began painting in earnest at the age of 78 and is a prominent example of a newly successful art career at an advanced age. Moses gained popularity during the 1950s, having been featured on a cover of Time Magazine in 1953, was a subject of numerous television programs and of a 1950 Oscar-nominated biographical documentary. Her autobiography, titled My Life's History, was published in 1952. She was also awarded two honorary doctoral degrees.

Moses was a live-in housekeeper for a total of 15 years, starting at age 12. An employer noticed her appreciation for their prints made by Currier and Ives, and they supplied her with drawing materials. Moses and her husband began their married life in Virginia, where they worked on farms. In 1905, they returned to the Northeastern United States and settled in Eagle Bridge, New York. They had ten children, five of whom survived infancy. She embroidered pictures with yarn, until disabled by arthritis.

In her 1961 obituary, The New York Times said: "The simple realism, nostalgic atmosphere and luminous color with which Grandma Moses portrayed simple farm life and rural countryside won her a wide following. She was able to capture the excitement of winter's first snow, Thanksgiving preparations and the new, young green of oncoming spring... In person, Grandma Moses charmed wherever she went. A tiny, lively woman with mischievous gray eyes and a quick wit, she could be sharp-tongued with a sycophant and stern with an errant grandchild."

Moses' work has been a subject of numerous museum exhibitions worldwide and has been extensively merchandised, such as on greeting cards. In 2006, her 1943 painting titled Sugaring Off was sold at Christie's New York for US$1.2 million, setting an auction record for the artist.

Early life
Anna Mary Robertson was born in Greenwich, New York on September 7, 1860; she was the third of ten children born to Margaret Shanahan Robertson and Russell King Robertson. She was raised with four sisters and five brothers. Her father ran a flax mill and was a farmer. She briefly attended a one-room school. That school is now the Bennington Museum in Vermont, which has the largest collection of her works in the United States. She was inspired to paint by taking art lessons at school. As a child, she started painting using lemon and grape juice to make colors for her "landscapes" and used ground ocher, grass, flour paste, slacked lime, and sawdust.

At age 12, she left home and performed farm chores for a wealthy neighboring family. She continued to keep house, cook, and sew for wealthy families for 15 years. One of these families, the Whitesides, noticed her interest in their Currier and Ives prints and bought her chalk and wax crayons.

Marriage and children
At age 27, she worked on the same farm with Thomas Salmon Moses, a "hired man". They were married and established themselves near Staunton, Virginia where they spent nearly two decades, living and working in turn on five local farms. Four of them are The Bell Farm or Eakle Farm, The Dudley Farm, Mount Airy Farm (now included within Augusta County's Millway Place Industrial Park), and Mount Nebo. To supplement the family income at Mount Nebo, Anna made potato chips and churned butter from the milk of a cow that she purchased with her savings. Later, the couple bought a farm, Mount Airy, near Verona, Virginia; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. Having bought the house in January 1901, it was the first residence the family owned. They lived there until September 1902.

Five of the ten children born to them survived infancy. Although she loved living in the Shenandoah Valley, in 1905 Anna and Thomas moved to a farm in Eagle Bridge, New York at her husband's urging. When Thomas Moses was about 67 years of age in 1927, he died of a heart attack, after which Anna's son Forrest helped her operate the farm. She never married again. She retired and moved to a daughter's home in 1936. She was known as either "Mother Moses" or "Grandma Moses", and although she first exhibited as "Mrs. Moses", the press dubbed her "Grandma Moses", and the nickname stuck.

Decorative arts
As a young wife and mother, Moses was creative in her home; for example, in 1918 she used housepaint to decorate a fireboard. Beginning in 1932, Moses made embroidered pictures of yarn for friends and family. She created quilted objects, a form of "hobby art". Lucy R. Lippard stated in "The Word in Their Hands" that she found "hobby art" to be "an activity so 'low' on the art lists that it still ranks way below 'folk art...'" She found that hobby art often involves reuse of otherwise discarded objects.

By the age of 76, Moses had developed arthritis, which made embroidery painful. Her sister Celestia suggested that painting would be easier for her, and this idea spurred Moses's painting career in her late 70s. Grandma Moses also told reporters that she turned to painting in order to create the postman's Christmas gift, seeing as it "was easier to make [a painting] than to bake a cake over a hot stove". Being practical, painted works would last longer than her embroidered compositions made of worsted wool, which risked being eaten by moths. Judith Stein noted that "her sense of accomplishment in her painting was rooted in her ability to make 'something from nothing'". When her right hand began to hurt, she switched to her left hand.

Art career
What appeared to be an interest in painting at a late age was actually a manifestation of a childhood dream. With no time in her difficult farm life to pursue painting, she was obliged to set aside her passion to paint. At age 92 she wrote, "I was quite small, my father would get me and my brothers white paper by the sheet. He liked to see us draw pictures, it was a penny a sheet and lasted longer than candy."

Style
Moses painted scenes of rural life from earlier days, which she called "old-timey" New England landscapes. Moses said that she would "get an inspiration and start painting; then I'll forget everything, everything except how things used to be and how to paint it so people will know how we used to live." From her works of art, she omitted features of modern life, such as tractors and telephone poles.

Her early style is less individual and more realistic or primitive, with a lack of knowledge of, or perhaps rejection of, basic perspective. Initially she created simple compositions or copied existing images. As her career advanced, she created complicated, panoramic compositions of rural life.

She was a prolific painter, generating more than 1,500 canvasses in three decades. She initially charged $3 to $5 for a painting, depending upon its size, and as her fame increased her works were sold for $8,000 to $10,000. Her winter paintings are reminiscent of some of the known winter paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, although she had never seen his work. A German fan said, "There emanates from her paintings a light-hearted optimism; the world she shows us is beautiful and it is good. You feel at home in all these pictures, and you know their meaning. The unrest and the neurotic insecurity of the present day make us inclined to enjoy the simple and affirmative outlook of Grandma Moses."

Initial exhibitions
During a visit to Hoosick Falls in 1938, Louis J. Caldor, an art collector who worked as an engineer in the state of New York, saw paintings made by Moses in the window of a drug store. He bought their supply and ten more from her Eagle Bridge house for $3 or $5 each. The next year, three Grandma Moses paintings were included in New York's Museum of Modern Art exhibition titled "Contemporary Unknown American Painters". Her first solo exhibition, "What a Farm Wife Painted", opened in New York in October 1940 at Otto Kallir's Galerie St. Etienne. A meet-and-greet with the artist and an exhibition of 50 paintings at Gimbel's Department Store was held next on November 15. Her art displays included samples of her baked goods and preserves that won Moses prizes at the county fair. Her third solo show in as many months, was held at the Whyte Gallery, Washington, D.C. In 1944, she was represented by the American British Art Center and the Galerie St. Etienne, which increased her sales. Her paintings were exhibited throughout Europe and the United States over the next 20 years. Otto Kallir established the Grandma Moses Properties, Inc. for her.

The paintings of Grandma Moses were used to publicize American holidays, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Mother's Day. A Mother's Day feature in True Confessions (1947) written by Eleanor Early noted how "Grandma Moses remains prouder of her preserves than of her paintings, and proudest of all of her four children, eleven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren." During the 1950s, her exhibitions broke attendance records around the world. Art historian Judith Stein noted: "A cultural icon, the spry, productive nonagenarian was continually cited as an inspiration for housewives, widows and retirees." Her paintings were reproduced on Hallmark greeting cards, tiles, fabrics, and ceramics. They were also used to market products, like coffee, lipstick, cigarettes, and cameras.

Acclaim
In 1950, the National Press Club cited her as one of the five most newsworthy women and the National Association of House Dress Manufacturers honored her as their 1951 Woman of the Year. When she reached 88, Mademoiselle magazine named her a "Young Woman of the Year". She was awarded two honorary doctoral degrees. The first was bestowed in 1949 from Russell Sage College and the second two years later from the Moore College of Art and Design.

President Harry S. Truman presented her with the Women's National Press Club trophy Award for outstanding accomplishment in art in 1949. Jerome Hill directed the 1950 documentary of her life, which was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1952, she published her autobiography, My Life's History. In it she said "I look back on my life like a good day's work, it was done and I feel satisfied with it. I was happy and contented, I knew nothing better and made the best out of what life offered. And life is what we make it, always has been, always will be." In 1955, she appeared as a guest on See It Now, a television program hosted by Edward R. Murrow.

Later years and death
She was a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants and Daughters of the American Revolution. Her 100th birthday was proclaimed "Grandma Moses Day" by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. LIFE magazine celebrated her birthday by featuring her on its September 19, 1960, cover. The children's book Grandma Moses Story Book was published in 1961.

Grandma Moses died at age 101 on December 13, 1961, at the Health Center in Hoosick Falls, New York. She is buried there at the Maple Grove Cemetery. President John F. Kennedy memorialized her: "The death of Grandma Moses removed a beloved figure from American life. The directness and vividness of her paintings restored a primitive freshness to our perception of the American scene. Both her work and her life helped our nation renew its pioneer heritage and recall its roots in the countryside and on the frontier. All Americans mourn her loss." After her death, her work was exhibited in several large traveling exhibitions in the United States and abroad.

Legacy
A 1942 piece, The Old Checkered House, 1862, was appraised at the Memphis 2004 Antiques Roadshow. It was not as common as her winter landscapes. Originally purchased in the 1940s for under $10, the piece was assigned an insurance value of $60,000 by the appraiser, Alan Fausel.

In November 2006, her 1943 work Sugaring Off became her highest-selling work at US $1.2 million.

Otto Kallir of the Galerie St. Etienne gave her painting July Fourth (1951) to the White House as a gift in 1952. The painting also appears on a U.S. commemorative stamp that was issued in Grandma Moses' honor in 1969.

The character Daisy "Granny" Moses (Irene Ryan) on The Beverly Hillbillies, was named as an homage to Grandma Moses, who died shortly before the series began.

Norman Rockwell and Grandma Moses were friends who lived over the Vermont-New York state border from each other. Moses lived in Eagle Bridge, New York and after 1938 the Rockwells had a house in nearby Arlington, Vermont. She appears on the far left edge in the Norman Rockwell painting Christmas Homecoming, which was printed on The Saturday Evening Post's December 25, 1948, cover.

Collections
This is a selection of the public collections of her work:
 * Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vermont, holds the largest public collection of Moses's paintings
 * Brooklyn Museum, New York City
 * Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa
 * Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
 * Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Mississippi
 * Maier Museum of Art at Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Virginia
 * Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, New York
 * Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
 * Muscarelle Museum of Art, William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia
 * National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.
 * The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.
 * Smithsonian American Art Museum
 * University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City

Selected works

 * Sugaring Off, 1943, sold by Christie's in 2006 for US$1,360,000
 * Sugaring Off, 1943, used for a 1947 Christmas Card that became a bestseller for Hallmark Cards
 * Wash Day, 1945, Rhode Island School of Design Museum
 * A Fire in the Woods, 1947, National Gallery of Art
 * The Departure, 1951, Philadelphia Museum of Art
 * A Gay Time, March 27, 1953, 1953, oil on board, sold from the personal collection of Nancy and Ronald Reagan at 668 St. Cloud Road, Bel-Air, at Christie's, New York, 2016 for $93,750
 * Autumn in the Berkshires
 * Black Horses, 1942
 * Country Fair, 1950
 * Bondsville Fair, 1945
 * Catching the Thanksgiving Turkey, San Diego Museum of Art
 * Christmas, 1958, Oil and Tempura on Pressed Wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum
 * Dividing of the Ways, 1947, oil and tempera on masonite, Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York
 * English Cottage Flower Garden, embroidery
 * Get Out the Sleigh, 1960, oil on pressed wood
 * Grandma Moses Goes to the Big City, 1946, Oil on Canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum
 * Haying Time, 1945
 * Home of the Hezekiah King, 1776, 1943, Phoenix Art Museum
 * Home for Thanksgiving, 1952
 * McDonnell Farm, 1943, The Phillips Collection
 * Hoosick Falls in Winter, 1944, The Phillips Collection
 * Hoosick Falls, 1944, Southern Vermont Arts Center
 * Jack 'n Jill
 * July Fourth, 1951
 * My Hills of Home, Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, New York
 * Near Dorset, March 10, 1949 1949, oil on board, sold from the personal collection of Nancy and Ronald Reagan at 668 St. Cloud Road, Bel-Air, at Christie's, New York, 2016 for $22,500
 * Out for Christmas Trees
 * Rockabye, 1957, Grandma Moses with her grandchildren
 * The Childhood Home of Anna Mary Robertson Moses, 1942
 * Thanksgiving Turkey, 1943
 * Great Fire (The Burning of Troy in 1862), 1959
 * The Daughter's Homecoming, oil on pressed wood
 * Checkered House, 1943, formerly IBM art collection
 * The Old Checkered House, 1853, 1946, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
 * The Old Covered Bridge, The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut
 * The Old Oaken Bucket
 * The Old Oaken Bucket, 1945 summer version, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
 * The Old Oaken Bucket, The Last, 1947 winter version
 * The Red Checkered House
 * Turkey in the Straw, c. 1940, private collection
 * White Christmas
 * Winter is Here, 1945
 * Bennington, 1953, Bennington Museum
 * The Battle of Bennington, 1953, Bennington Museum
 * Wagon Repair Shop, 1960, Bennington Museum

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Grandma Moses


text:
George Abbott

George Francis Abbott (June 25, 1887 – January 31, 1995) was an American theatre producer, director, playwright, screenwriter, film director and producer whose career spanned eight decades. He received numerous honors including six Tony Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1982. the National Medal of Arts in 1990. and was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Starting as an actor he later became known for producing numerous Broadway productions such as Pal Joey (1940), On the Town (1944), Call Me Madam (1950), Wonderful Town (1953), The Pajama Game (1954), Damn Yankees (1955), New Girl in Town (1957), Once Upon a Mattress (1959), Fiorello! (book, 1959), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Broadway (1987), Damn Yankees (1994).

Abbot also acted in numerous films in the 1920s and 1930s. He received an Academy Award for Best Writing nomination for All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). He later directed the movie musicals adaptations of The Pajama Game (1957), and Damn Yankees (1958).

Early years
Abbott was born in Forestville, New York, to George Burwell Abbott (May 1858 Erie County, New York – February 4, 1942 Hamburg, New York) and Hannah May McLaury (1869 – June 20, 1940 Hamburg, New York). He later moved to the city of Salamanca, which twice elected his father mayor. In 1898, his family moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he attended Kearney Military Academy. Within a few years, his family returned to New York, and he graduated from Hamburg High School in 1907.

In 1911 he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Rochester, where he wrote his first play, Perfectly Harmless, for the University Dramatic Club. Abbott then attended Harvard University, to take a course in playwriting from George Pierce Baker. Under Baker's tutelage, he wrote The Head of the Family, which was performed at the Harvard Dramatic Club in 1912. He then worked for a year as "author, gofer, and actor" at the Bijou Theatre in Boston, where his play The Man in the Manhole won a contest.

Career
Abbott started acting on Broadway in 1913, debuting in The Misleading Lady. While acting in several plays in New York City, he began to write; his first successful play was The Fall Guy (1925).

Abbott acquired a reputation as an astute "show doctor". He frequently was called upon to supervise changes when a show was having difficulties in tryouts or previews prior to its Broadway opening. His first hit was Broadway, written and directed in partnership with Philip Dunning, whose play Abbott "rejiggered". It opened on September 16, 1926, at the Broadhurst Theatre and ran for 603 performances. Other successes followed, and it was a rare year that did not have an Abbott production on Broadway.

He also worked in Hollywood as a film writer and director while continuing with his theatre work.

Among those who worked with Abbott early in their careers are Desi Arnaz, Gene Kelly, June Havoc, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Leonard Bernstein, Jules Styne, Stephen Sondheim, Elaine Stritch, John Kander, Fred Ebb, Carol Burnett and Liza Minnelli. He introduced the "fast-paced, tightly integrated style that influenced" performers and especially directors such as Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse and Hal Prince.

Autobiography
In 1963, he published his autobiography, Mister Abbott.

Personal life
Abbott was married to Edna Lewis from 1914 to her death in 1930; they had one child. Actress Mary Sinclair was his second wife. Their marriage lasted from 1946 until their 1951 divorce. He had a long romance with actress Maureen Stapleton from 1968 to 1978. She was 43 and he was 81 when they began their affair, then ten years later Abbott left her for a younger woman. His third wife was Joy Valderrama. They were married from 1983 until his death in 1995.

Abbott was a vigorous man who remained active past his 100th birthday by golfing and dancing. He died of a stroke on January 31, 1995, at his home on Sunset Island off Miami Beach, Florida, at age 107. The New York Times obituary read, "Mrs. Abbott said that a week and a half before his death he was dictating revisions to the second act of Pajama Game with a revival in mind, in addition to working on a revival of Damn Yankees.

At the age of 106, he walked down the aisle on opening night of the Damn Yankees revival and received a standing ovation. He was heard saying to his companion, 'There must be somebody important here.'" Just thirteen days before his 107th birthday, Abbott made an appearance at the 48th Tony Awards, coming onstage with fellow Damn Yankees alumni Gwen Verdon and Jean Stapleton at the end of the opening number, a medley performed by the nominees for Best Revival of A Musical, which included Grease, She Loves Me, Carousel, and his own Damn Yankees.

He was cremated at Woodlawn Park Cemetery in Miami and the ashes were taken by his wife.

Family
In addition to his wife, who died in 2020 at 88, Abbott was survived by a sister, Isabel Juergens, who died a year later at the age of 102; two granddaughters, Amy Clark Davidson and Susan Clark Hansley; a grandson, George Clark, and six great-grandchildren.

Honours
In 1965, the 54th Street Theatre was rechristened the George Abbott Theatre in his honour. The building was demolished in 1970. New York City's George Abbott Way, the section of West 45th Street northwest of Times Square, is also named after him.

He received New York City's Handel Medallion in 1976, honorary doctorates from the Universities of Rochester and Miami, and the Kennedy Centre Honors in 1982. He was also inducted into the Western New York Entertainment Hall of Fame and the American Theatre Hall of Fame. In 1990, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

Stage
Source: Playbill

 * 1915: The Yeomen of the Guard (actor)
 * 1918: Daddies (actor)
 * 1920: The Broken Wing (actor)
 * 1923: Zander the Great (actor)
 * 1924: Hell-Bent Fer Heaven (actor)
 * 1925: The Fall Guy (playwright)
 * 1926: Love 'em and Leave 'em  (playwright, director)
 * 1926: Chicago (director)
 * 1926: Broadway (playwright, director)
 * 1928: Gentlemen of the Press (director)
 * 1932: Lilly Turner (playwright, director, producer)
 * 1932: Twentieth Century (director, producer)
 * 1934: Small Miracle (director)
 * 1935: Three Men on a Horse (playwright, director)
 * 1935: Jumbo (director)
 * 1936: On Your Toes (book)
 * 1937: Room Service (director, producer)
 * 1937: Brown Sugar (director, producer)
 * 1938: The Boys from Syracuse (book, director, producer)
 * 1939: Too Many Girls (director, producer)
 * 1940: Pal Joey (director, producer)
 * 1940: The Unconquered (producer, director)
 * 1941: Best Foot Forward (producer, director)
 * 1943: ''Kiss and Tell (play) (producer, director)
 * 1944: A Highland Fling (play) (producer, director)
 * 1944: On the Town (director)
 * 1945: Billion Dollar Baby (musical) (director)
 * 1947: High Button Shoes (director)
 * 1948: Where's Charley?	(book, director)
 * 1949: Mrs. Gibbons' Boys (producer, director)
 * 1950: Call Me Madam (director)
 * 1951: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (book, director, producer)
 * 1953: Wonderful Town (director) Me and Juliet (director)
 * 1954: The Pajama Game (book, director)
 * 1955: Damn Yankees (book, director)
 * 1957: New Girl in Town (book, director)
 * 1959: Once Upon a Mattress (director)
 * 1959: Fiorello! (book, director)
 * 1960: Tenderloin (book, director)
 * 1961: Take Her, She's Mine (director)
 * 1962: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (director)
 * 1962: Never Too Late (director)
 * 1964: Fade Out – Fade In (director)
 * 1965: Flora, The Red Menace (book, director)
 * 1965: Anya (book, director)
 * 1967: How Now, Dow Jones (director)
 * 1968: The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N (director)
 * 1969: The Fig Leaves Are Falling (director)
 * 1970: Norman, Is That You? (director)
 * 1976: Music Is (book, director)
 * 1987: Broadway (revival, book, director)
 * 1994: Damn Yankees (revival, book, consultant, script revisions)

Awards and nominations
Source: Playbill

 * Awards

 * 1955 Tony Award for Best Musical – The Pajama Game
 * 1956 Tony Award for Best Musical – Damn Yankees
 * 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Drama – Fiorello!
 * 1960 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – Fiorello!
 * 1960 Tony Award for Best Musical – Fiorello!
 * 1963 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
 * 1976 Special Tony Award: The Lawrence Langer award
 * 1983 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical – On Your Toes
 * 1987 Special Tony Award on the occasion of his 100th birthday

 * Nominations

 * 1930 Academy Award for Best Achievement in Writing – All Quiet on the Western Front
 * 1958 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical – Damn Yankees
 * 1958 Tony Award for Best Musical – New Girl in Town
 * 1958 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical – The Pajama Game
 * 1959 Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures – Damn Yankees
 * 1963 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play – Never Too Late
 * 1968 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical – How Now, Dow Jones

title: George Abbott


text:
Charles Spurgeon

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (19 June 1834 – 31 January 1892) was an English Particular Baptist preacher.

Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, to some of whom he is known as the "Prince of Preachers." He was a strong figure in the Reformed Baptist tradition, defending the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, and opposing the liberal and pragmatic theological tendencies in the Church of his day.

Spurgeon was pastor of the congregation of the New Park Street Chapel (later the Metropolitan Tabernacle) in London for 38 years. He was part of several controversies with the Baptist Union of Great Britain and later he left the denomination over doctrinal convictions.

While at the Metropolitan Tabernacle he built an Almshouse and the Stockwell Orphanage. He encouraged his congregation to engage actively with the poor of Victorian London. He also founded Spurgeon's College, which was named after him posthumously.

Spurgeon authored sermons, an autobiography, commentaries, books on prayer, devotionals, magazines, poetry, and hymns. Many sermons were transcribed as he spoke and were translated into many languages during his lifetime. He is said to have produced powerful sermons of penetrating thought and precise exposition. His oratory skills are said to have held his listeners spellbound in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and many Christians hold his writings in exceptionally high regard among devotional literature.

Early life
Born in Kelvedon, Essex, he moved to Colchester at 10 months old.

The missionary Richard Knill spent several days with Spurgeon while visiting his grandfather in 1844; he announced to him and his family that the child would one day preach the gospel to great multitudes.

Spurgeon's conversion from nominal Congregationalism came on 6 January 1850, at age 15. On his way to a scheduled appointment, a snowstorm forced him to cut short his intended journey and to turn into a Primitive Methodist chapel in Artillery Street, Newtown, Colchester, where he believed God opened his heart to the salvation message. The text that moved him was Isaiah 45:22 ("Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else"). Later that year, on 4 April, he was admitted to the church at Newmarket. His baptism followed on 3 May in the river Lark, at Isleham. Later that same year he moved to Cambridge, where he later became a Sunday school teacher. Spurgeon preached his first sermon in the winter of 1850–51 in a cottage at Teversham while filling in for a friend. From the beginning of Spurgeon's ministry, his style and ability were considered to be far above average. In the same year, he was installed as pastor of the small Baptist church at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, where he published his first literary work, a Gospel tract written in 1853.

New Park Street Chapel
In April 1854, after preaching three months on probation and just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 19 years old, was called to the pastorate of London's famed New Park Street Chapel in Southwark (formerly pastored by the Particular Baptists Benjamin Keach, and theologian John Gill). This was the largest Baptist congregation in London at the time, although it had dwindled in numbers for several years. Spurgeon found friends in London among his fellow pastors, such as William Garrett Lewis of Westballs Grove Church, an older man who along with Spurgeon went on to found the London Baptist Association.

Within a few months of Spurgeon's arrival at Park Street, his ability as a preacher made him famous. The following year the first of his sermons in the "New Park Street Pulpit" was published. Spurgeon's sermons were published in printed form every week and had a high circulation. By the time of his death in 1892, he had preached nearly 3,600 sermons and published 49 volumes of commentaries, sayings, anecdotes, illustrations and devotions.

Immediately following his fame was criticism. The first attack in the press appeared in the Earthen Vessel in January 1855. His preaching, although not revolutionary in substance, was a plain-spoken and direct appeal to the people, using the Bible to provoke them to consider the teachings of Jesus Christ. Critical attacks from the media persisted throughout his life. The congregation quickly outgrew their building, and moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall. At 22, Spurgeon was the most popular preacher of the day. On 8 January 1856, Spurgeon married Susannah, daughter of Robert Thompson of Falcon Square, London, by whom he had twin sons, Charles and Thomas born on September 20, 1856. At the end of that year, tragedy struck on 19 October 1856, as Spurgeon was preaching at the Surrey Gardens Music Hall for the first time. Someone in the crowd yelled, "FIRE". The ensuing panic and stampede left several dead. Spurgeon was emotionally impacted by the event and it had a sobering influence on his life. For many years he spoke of being moved to tears for no reason known to himself.

Walter Thornbury later wrote in "Old and New London" (1898) describing a subsequent meeting at Surrey: "a congregation consisting of 10,000 souls, streaming into the hall, mounting the galleries, humming, buzzing, and swarming – a mighty hive of bees – eager to secure at first the best places, and, at last, any place at all. After waiting for more than half an hour – for if you wish to have a seat you must be there at least that space of time in advance… Mr. Spurgeon ascended his tribune. To the hum, rush, and trampling of men, succeeded a low, concentrated thrill and murmur of devotion, which seemed to run at once, like an electric current, through the breast of everyone present, and by this magnetic chain the preacher held us fast bound for about two hours. It is not my purpose to give a summary of his discourse. It is enough to say of his voice, that its power and volume are sufficient to reach everyone in that vast assembly; of his language that it is neither high-flown nor homely; of his style, that it is at times familiar, at times declamatory, but always happy, and often eloquent; of his doctrine, that neither the 'Calvinist' nor the 'Baptist' appears in the forefront of the battle which is waged by Mr. Spurgeon with relentless animosity, and with Gospel weapons, against irreligion, cant, hypocrisy, pride, and those secret bosom-sins which so easily beset a man in daily life; and to sum up all in a word, it is enough to say, of the man himself, that he impresses you with a perfect conviction of his sincerity."

Spurgeon's work went on. A Pastors' College was founded in 1856 by Spurgeon and was renamed Spurgeon's College in 1923, when it moved to its present building in South Norwood Hill, London. At the Fast Day, 7 October 1857, he preached to his largest crowd ever – 23,654 people – at The Crystal Palace in London. Spurgeon noted: "In 1857, a day or two before preaching at the Crystal Palace, I went to decide where the platform should be fixed; and, in order to test the acoustic properties of the building, cried in a loud voice, 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.' In one of the galleries, a workman, who knew nothing of what was being done, heard the words, and they came like a message from heaven to his soul. He was smitten with conviction on account of sin, put down his tools, went home, and there, after a season of spiritual struggling, found peace and life by beholding the Lamb of God. Years after, he told this story to one who visited him on his death-bed."

Metropolitan Tabernacle
On 18 March 1861, the congregation moved permanently to the newly constructed purpose-built Metropolitan Tabernacle at Elephant and Castle, Southwark, seating 5,000 people with standing room for another 1,000. The Metropolitan Tabernacle was the largest church edifice of its day. Spurgeon continued to preach there several times per week until his death 31 years later. He never gave altar calls at the conclusion of his sermons, but he always extended the invitation that if anyone was moved to seek an interest in Christ by his preaching on a Sunday, they could meet with him at his vestry on Monday morning. Without fail, there was always someone at his door the next day.

He wrote his sermons out fully before he preached, but what he carried up to the pulpit was a note card with an outline sketch. Stenographers would take down the sermon as it was delivered and Spurgeon would then have opportunity to make revisions to the transcripts the following day for immediate publication. His weekly sermons, which sold for a penny each, were widely circulated and still remain one of the all-time best selling series of writings published in history.

"I would propose that the subject of the ministry of this house, as long as this platform shall stand, and as long as this house shall be frequented by worshippers, shall be the person of Jesus Christ. I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist, although I claim to be rather a Calvinist according to Calvin, than after the modern debased fashion. I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist. You have there (pointing to the baptistry) substantial evidence that I am not ashamed of that ordinance of our Lord Jesus Christ; but if I am asked to say what is my creed, I think I must reply: 'It is Jesus Christ.' My venerable predecessor, Dr. Gill, has left a body of divinity admirable and excellent in its way; but the body of divinity to which I would pin and bind myself for ever, God helping me, is not his system of divinity or any other human treatise, but Christ Jesus, who is the sum and substance of the gospel; who is in himself all theology, the incarnation of every precious truth, the all-glorious personal embodiment of the way, the truth, and the life.

— The kernel of Spurgeon's first sermon at the Tabernacle"

Besides sermons, Spurgeon also wrote several hymns and published a new collection of worship songs in 1866 called "Our Own Hymn Book". It was mostly a compilation of Isaac Watts's Psalms and Hymns that had been originally selected by John Rippon, a Baptist predecessor to Spurgeon. Singing in the congregation was exclusively a cappella under his pastorate. Thousands heard the preaching and were led in the singing without any amplification of sound that exists today. Hymns were a subject that he took seriously. While Spurgeon was still preaching at New Park Street, he entered the Rivulet controversy over a hymn book. He found its theology largely deistic. At the end of his review, he warned:

"We shall soon have to handle truth, not with kid gloves, but with gauntlets, – the gauntlets of holy courage and integrity. Go on, ye warriors of the cross, for the King is at the head of you."

On 5 June 1862, Spurgeon challenged the Church of England when he preached against baptismal regeneration. However, Spurgeon taught across denominational lines as well: for example, in 1877 he was the preacher at the opening of a new Free Church of Scotland church building in Dingwall. It was during this period at the new Tabernacle that Spurgeon found a friend in James Hudson Taylor, the founder of the inter-denominational China Inland Mission. Spurgeon supported the work of the mission financially and directed many missionary candidates to apply for service with Taylor. He also aided in the work of cross-cultural evangelism by promoting "The Wordless Book", a teaching tool that he described in a message given on 11 January 1866, regarding Psalm 51:7: "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." The book has been and is still used to teach people without reading skills and people of other cultures and languages – young and old – around the globe about the Gospel message.

On the death of missionary David Livingstone in 1873, a discolored and much-used copy of one of Spurgeon's printed sermons, "Accidents, Not Punishments," was found among his few possessions much later, along with the handwritten comment at the top of the first page: "Very good, D.L." He had carried it with him throughout his travels in Africa. It was sent to Spurgeon and treasured by him.

Metropolitan Tabernacle Societies and Institutions
In 1876, 22 years after becoming pastor, Spurgeon published "The Metropolitan Tabernacle: Its History and Work". His intention stated in the preface is to give a 'printed history of the Tabernacle'. The book has 15 chapters and of these 5 are given over to what he called 'Societies and Institutions'.

The Five Chapters are:

xi. The Almshouses. Explaining how the New Park Street Chapel site was sold to allow the Tabernacle to build an Almshouse and school.

xiii. The Stockwell Orphanage. This opened for 240 boys in 1867 (and later for girls in 1879). These orphanages continued in London until they were bombed in the Second World War. The inspiration for starting an orphanage came from a visit with George Müller. The orphanage changed its name to Spurgeon's Child Care in 1937, and again in 2005 to Spurgeons. Spurgeon was linked more with the Stockwell orphanage than any other Metropolitan Tabernacle endeavour. There are probably four reasons for this:

"1. It was a large set of buildings in London occupying 4 acre. 2. There was an annual fundraiser at which Spurgeon chose to celebrate his birthday, and often the laying of a foundation stone. The event was called ‘one of the largest bazaars and fancy fairs ever held in South London’ – in one day 1,000 was raised – a lot considering entry was sixpence. Spurgeon accepted money gifts for his birthday, which all went to the orphanage. 3. The Orphanage choir and bell ringers performed concerts to fundraise 4. It had such a large operating budget compared with other Tabernacle activities."

xiv. The Colportage Association. Colporters were employed to take Bibles, good books and periodicals for sale, from house to house. They also were involved in visiting the sick and holding meetings.

xv. Other Institutions Connected with the Tabernacle. Here Spurgeon describes 21 other 'Institutions'. Two examples are: The Ordinance Poor Fund which distributed money amongst poor members of the church of about £800 annually, and the Ladies' Benevolent Society. This group made clothing for the poor and 'relieved' them, with an income of £105.

Eight years later at Spurgeon's fiftieth birthday celebration an updated list of 'Societies and Institutions' was read out. With Spurgeon's strong encouragement and support the 24 groups listed in 'The Metropolitan Tabernacle: Its History and Work', had become 69. Before they are read out Spurgeon says: "I think everybody should know what the church has been moved to do, and I beg to say that there are other societies besides those which will be mentioned, but you will be tired before you get to the end of them." and finishes after the list by saying: "We have need to praise God that he enables the church to carry on all these institutions."

Spurgeon's encouragement for members of the Tabernacle to be involved in these ministries was very strong. Spurgeon's own regular contributions to them meant that he left his wife only 2,000 pounds, when he died, despite having earned millions from his published sermons and books.

He encouraged others to give with comments like these:

On the Green Walk Mission: "Here a good hall must be built. If some generous friend would build a place for this mission, the money would be well laid out",

On colporters: "Mr Charlesworth’s two Bible classes have generously agreed to support a brother with a Bible Carriage in the streets of London. Would not some other communities of young people do well to have their own man at work in the regions where they dwell? THINK OF IT",

On the almshouses: "WE GREATLY NEED AT LEAST £5000 TO ENDOW THE ALMHOUSES, AND PLACE THE INSTITUTION UPON A PROPER FOOTING. Already C. H. Spurgeon, Thomas Olney, and Thomas Greenwood have contributed £200 each towards the fund, and we earnestly trust that either by donations or legacies the rest of the £5000 will be forthcoming."

Spurgeon had one infirmary built, at the Stockwell Orphanage. However, he also recognised that the poor had limited access to health care and so was also an enthusiastic supporter of the Metropolitan Hospital Sunday Fund. He left us this quote: "We must have more hospitals. I do not know whether we shall not be obliged to make the Government spend something in this direction. I don’t believe in the Government doing anything well. I generally feel sorry when anything has to be left to the Government. I don’t mean this Government in particular, but any Government which may be in office for the time being. It is six of one and half-a-dozen of the other. I have a very small opinion of the whole lot. There are some things which we should try ourselves to do as long as ever we can; but if we are driven up a corner, it may come to what I fear. Bones must be set, and the sick must be cared for; the poor must not be left to die, in order not to have to go to the Government for help. So let us all try to give what we can. It is your duty to give, not merely as Christians, but as men. I like the Hospital Sunday movement, for all Christian people can meet, as we are met here to-night, on one platform."

Downgrade controversy
A controversy among the Baptists flared in 1887 with Spurgeon's first "Down-grade" article, published in The Sword & the Trowel. In the ensuing "Downgrade Controversy," the Metropolitan Tabernacle disaffiliated from the Baptist Union, effectuating Spurgeon's congregation as the world's largest self-standing church. Spurgeon framed the controversy in this way: "Believers in Christ's atonement are now in declared union with those who make light of it; believers in Holy Scripture are in confederacy with those who deny plenary inspiration; those who hold evangelical doctrine are in open alliance with those who call the fall a fable, who deny the personality of the Holy Ghost, who call justification by faith immoral, and hold that there is another probation after death… It is our solemn conviction that there should be no pretence of fellowship. Fellowship with known and vital error is participation in sin."

The controversy took its name from Spurgeon's use of the term "Downgrade" to describe certain other Baptists' outlook toward the Bible (i.e., they had "downgraded" the Bible and the principle of sola scriptura). Spurgeon alleged that an incremental creeping of the Graf-Wellhausen hypothesis, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and other concepts were weakening the Baptist Union. Spurgeon emphatically decried the doctrine that resulted: "Assuredly the New Theology can do no good towards God or man; it, has no adaptation for it. If it were preached for a thousand years by all the most earnest men of the school, it would never renew a soul, nor overcome pride in a single human heart."

The standoff caused division amongst the Baptists and other non-conformists, and is regarded by many as an important paradigm.

Opposition to slavery
Spurgeon strongly opposed the owning of slaves. He lost support from the Southern Baptists, sales of his sermons dropped, and he received scores of threatening and insulting letters as a consequence. "Not so very long ago our nation tolerated slavery in our colonies. Philanthropists endeavored to destroy slavery; but when was it utterly abolished? It was when (William) Wilberforce roused the church of God, and when the church of God addressed herself to the conflict, then she tore the evil thing to pieces. I have been amused with what Wilberforce said the day after they passed the Act of Emancipation. He merrily said to a friend when it was all done, 'Is there not something else we can abolish?' That was said playfully, but it shows the spirit of the church of God. She lives in conflict and victory; her mission is to destroy everything that is bad in the land. The Best Warcry, March 4, 1883."

In a letter to the Christian Watchman and Reflector (Boston), Spurgeon declared: "I do from my inmost soul detest slavery… and although I commune at the Lord's table with men of all creeds, yet with a slave-holder I have no fellowship of any sort or kind. Whenever [a slave-holder] has called upon me, I have considered it my duty to express my detestation of his wickedness, and I would as soon think of receiving a murderer into my church… as a man stealer."

Restorationism
Like other Baptists of his time, despite opposing Dispensationalism, Spurgeon anticipated the restoration of the Jews to inhabit the Promised Land. "We look forward, then, for these two things. I am not going to theorize upon which of them will come first – whether they shall be restored first, and converted afterwards – or converted first and then restored. They are to be restored and they are to be converted, too. The Restoration And Conversion of the Jews. Ezekiel 37.1–10, June 16th, 1864"

Final years and death

Spurgeon's wife was often too ill to leave home to hear him preach.

Spurgeon had a long history of poor health. He was already being reported as having gout when he was 33. "It was true, he said, that he had had the gout, and a very horrible pain it was; but he had had the gout in his left leg, and he had preached standing on the other. He had not had the gout in his tongue, and he was not aware that people preached with their legs."

By 1871, when he was 37 he was already being advised by his doctors to leave town for his health.

His favourite place to go to rest was Menton in the South of France. He was often there in the winter months. He was there often enough to have visitors, with George Müller visiting in 1879 and members of the Baptist Union in 1887, attempting to get him to rejoin the Union.

When he was on the improve in Menton he would preach in the local church, or write, such as in 1890 when he wrote a commentary on Matthew while ‘resting’.

He became increasingly unwell and in May 1891 he was forced 'to rest'. In 1891 he went to rest in London, and remained there three months. During this period he wrote 180 pages of commentary. However, he did not recover and died aged 57, while still in London, from gout and congestion of the kidneys. From May 1891 until his death in January 1892 he received 10,000 letters of 'condolence, resolutions of sympathy, telegrams of enquiry'.

After returning the body to England it lay in state in the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

Two days prior to the funeral, four memorial services were held at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. The first service at 11am was for those with current communion cards, the second at 3pm was for ministers and student pastors, the third at 7pm was for Christians who hadn't gotten in yet and the final service at 11pm included the Stockwell Orphans. Police controlled the crowds waiting to get in during the day, and to help with order, at the end of services people left through a back door.

On the day of the funeral eight hundred extra police were on duty along the route the cortège took, from the Metropolitan Tabernacle, past the Stockwell Orphanage and to the Norwood Cemetery. Accounts vary about the number of carriages in the cortege. One account puts it as: "Sixty-five pair-horse broughams were provided by the undertakers for conveying the invited mourners and delegates to the cemetery, but there were altogether from two to three hundred private carriages and other vehicles joining in the procession, which it is estimated must have been nearly two miles in length"

Extra trains were put on to cater for the crowd, along with extra omnibuses and cabs. Except for a few tobacco shops and taverns, the businesses along the funeral route were shut, with some houses displaying black and white material. An estimated total of 100,000 people either passed by Spurgeon as he lay in state or attended the funeral services. An unknown number lined the streets for the cortége. As the cortége passed the Stockwell Orphanage it stopped briefly while the children sang a verse of one of his favourite hymns “For ever with the Lord,” with the refrain “Nearer home. ”. Along the route some flags were at half staff.

Spurgeon was survived by his wife and sons. His remains were buried at West Norwood Cemetery in London, where the tomb is still visited by admirers. His son Tom became the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle after his father died.
 * Born at Kelvedon, Essex, England, 19 June 1834
 * Converted to Christianity at Colchester, 6 January 1850
 * Becomes a Baptist, 3 May 1850 (Baptized in the River Lark, at Isleham)
 * Preaches first sermon, at a cottage in Teversham, 1850
 * Preached first sermon at Waterbeach Baptist Chapel, 12 October 1851
 * Preached first sermon at New Park Street Chapel, London, 18 December 1853
 * Accepts pastorate at New Park Street Chapel, 28 April 1854, (then 232 members)
 * First sermon in the "New Park Street Pulpit" series published, 10 January 1855
 * Marriage to Miss Susannah Thompson (born 15 January 1832), 8 January 1856
 * 10-Day wedding trip in Paris, France by the newly married Spurgeons, Spring 1856
 * Twin sons (not identical) Thomas and Charles born, 20 September 1856
 * Metropolitan Tabernacle Building Committee begins, June 1856
 * Establishes the Pastors' College, 1856, expanded in 1857
 * Metropolitan Tabernacle opens with a great prayer meeting, 18 March 1861
 * First sermon in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, 31 March 1861.
 * Metropolitan Tabernacle Colportage Association founded, 1866
 * Stockwell Orphanage (Boy's side) founded, 1867, foundation stone laid 9 September 1869
 * Foundation stone laid by senior deacon Thomas Olney for the Pastors' College building, 6 May 1867; construction completed in March 1868
 * Begins annual vacations to southern France for rest and recuperation, December 1871
 * 571 new church members added by February 1873, now 4,417 total membership
 * Foundation stone laid for a newer Pastors' College building, 14 October 1873
 * Mrs. Spurgeon's Book Fund inaugurated, 1875
 * Presentation of the pastoral silver wedding gift (offering) 20 May 1879
 * Stockwell Orphanage (Girl's side) founded, 1879; stone laid 22 June 1880
 * Jubilee celebrations and testimonials, 18 & 19 June 1884
 * The seven volumes of "The Treasury of David", an exposition of the Psalms, were published weekly over a 20-year time period in The Sword and the Trowel, with the final volume being released in 1885.
 * "Downgrade" paper No. 1 published in The Sword & the Trowel, March 1887
 * Spurgeon's mother Eliza dies, aged 75 Years, 1888
 * Last sermon delivered at Metropolitan Tabernacle, 7 June 1891
 * During his pastorate, 14,692 were baptised and joined the Tabernacle
 * As year 1891 ends, membership given as 5,311. The Tabernacle capacity was 6,000 people, with 5,500 seated, 500 standing room; the Tabernacle dimensions were 146' long, 81' wide, 68' high
 * Suffers much pain and sickness during the months of June and July 1891
 * Travels to Menton, France again (for the last time), 26 October 1891. While there, becomes severely ill from his long-suffering combination of Rheumatism, Gout and Bright's disease (Kidney)
 * Still resting in Menton, he finally takes to bed, 20 January 1892
 * Spurgeon dies, 31 January 1892
 * Remains interred and buried at West Norwood Cemetery, 11 February 1892
 * His brother (& Asst. Tabernacle Pastor) James dies, aged 61 years, 22 March 1899
 * His brother (& friend) Zach dies, of head trama by pear
 * His father (& pastor) John dies, aged almost 92 years, 14 June 1902
 * His wife Susannah dies, aged 71 years, 22 October 1903
 * His son (& Pastor) Thomas dies, aged 61 years, 17 October 1917
 * His son (& Pastor) Charles dies, aged 70 years, 13 December 1926

Library
William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, purchased Spurgeon's 5,103-volume library collection for £500 ($2500) in 1906. The collection was purchased by Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, in 2006 for $400,000 and can be seen on display at the Spurgeon Center on the campus of Midwestern Seminary. A special collection of Spurgeon's handwritten sermon notes and galley proofs from 1879 to 1891 resides at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Spurgeon's College in London also has a small number of notes and proofs. Spurgeon's personal Bible, with his handwritten notes is on display in the library of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.

Works

 * 2200 Quotations from the Writings of Charles H. Spurgeon
 * A Good Start: A Book for Young Men and Women
 * Able to the Uttermost
 * According to Promise
 * All of Grace : ISBN 1-60206-436-9
 * An All-Round Ministry
 * Around the Wicket Gate
 * Barbed Arrows for the Quiver
 * C.H. Spurgeon's Autobiography : ISBN 0-85151-076-0
 * Christ's Incarnation: "Good Tidings of Great Joy"
 * Come Ye Children
 * Commenting and Commentaries
 * Eccentric Preachers
 * Faith (1856, republished in 1903 as Faith: What It Is and What It Leads To)
 * Feathers For Arrows
 * Flashes of Thought: 1000 Choice Extr. From the Works of C.H. Spurgeon
 * Gleanings Among the Sheaves
 * God Promises You : ISBN 0-88368-459-4
 * Home Worship and the Use of the Bible in the Home
 * John Ploughman's Pictures
 * John Ploughman's Talk
 * Lectures to My Students : ISBN 0-310-32911-6
 * Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit

 * Miracles and Parables of Our Lord
 * Morning and Evening : ISBN 1-84550-014-8
 * Only a Prayer Meeting
 * Our Own Hymn-book: A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Public, Social, and Private Worship
 * Pictures from Pilgrim's Progress
 * Sermons in Candles
 * Sermons for Special Days and Occasions
 * Smooth Stones Taken from Ancient Brooks: Being a Collection of Sentences, Illustrations, and Quaint Sayings, from the Works of that Renowned Puritan : ISBN 978-1-84871-113-6
 * Soul Winner, The : ISBN 1-60206-770-8
 * Speeches ... at Home and Abroad
 * Spurgeon's Commentary on Great Chapters of the Bible
 * Spurgeon's Sermon Notes : ISBN 0-8254-3768-7
 * Talks to Farmers
 * The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith : ISBN 1-85792-221-2
 * The Dawn of Revival (Prayer Speedily Answered)
 * The Down Grade Controversy
 * The Greatest Fight in the World
 * The Interpreter, or Scripture for Family Worship
 * The New Park Street Pulpit
 * The Power of Prayer in a Believer's Life : ISBN 0-88368-441-1
 * The Preachers Power and the Conditions of Obtaining It
 * The Saint and His Saviour
 * The Salt Cellars
 * The Sword and The Trowel
 * The Treasury of David : ISBN 0-8254-3683-4
 * The Two Wesleys: On John and Charles Wesley : ISBN 978-1498205313
 * The Wordless Book
 * Till He Come
 * We Endeavor: Helpful Words For Members of the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor
 * Words of Cheer for Daily Life: One of the rarest works, printed in 1898 with only three copies printed, and barely referenced in history. One reference can be found in the-annual-American-catalogue 1898 "Cheer for Life" Rare work Referenced
 * Word and Spirit : ISBN 0-85234-545-3
 * Words of Advice to Seekers
 * Words of Counsel: For All Leaders, Teachers, and Evangelists
 * Words of Wisdom for Daily Life

Spurgeon's works have been translated into many languages and Moon's and Braille type for the blind. He also wrote many volumes of commentaries and other types of literature.

Others

 * Brackney, William H. A Genetic History of Baptist Thought: With Special Reference to Baptists in Britain and North America. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2004.
 * , 700 pp.
 * , 192 pp.
 * , 700 pp.
 * , 192 pp.
 * , 700 pp.
 * , 192 pp.
 * , 192 pp.

title: Charles Spurgeon


text:
Curb cut

A curb cut (U.S.), curb ramp, depressed curb, dropped kerb (UK), pram ramp, or kerb ramp (Australia) is a solid (usually concrete) ramp graded down from the top surface of a sidewalk to the surface of an adjoining street. It is designed primarily for pedestrian usage and commonly found in urban areas where pedestrian activity is expected. In comparison with a conventional curb (finished at a right angle 4 – above the street surface) a curb cut is finished at an intermediate gradient that connects both surfaces, sometimes with tactile paving.

History
Historically speaking, footpaths were finished at right angles to the street surface with conventional curb treatments. Their introduction to help people pushing prams dates back at least as far as the 1930s in the UK.

Kalamazoo, Michigan installed curb cuts in the 1940s as a pilot project introduced by veteran and lawyer Jack H. Fischer to aid employment of veterans with disabilities. A major project in Berkeley, California led by the grassroots Center for Independent Living led to curb cuts up and down Telegraph and Shattuck Avenues creating an extensive path of travel. Following this, the value of curb cuts was promoted more strongly and their installment was often made on a voluntary basis by municipal authorities and developers.

Curb cuts in Western countries have been mandated by legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) in the United States (which requires that curb cuts be present on all sidewalks) or the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 in Australia. The legislative requirements in some jurisdictions have been increased from the original requirements in recent times, to the point where existing treatments can now fail to meet the most recent design requirements.

When a larger group of people use curb cuts than just the disabled for whom the curb cut requirement was legislated, this new convenience can be seen as a positive externality.

Users and uses

Curb cuts placed at street intersections allow wheelchair users, baby carriages, toddlers on tricycles etc., to move onto or off of a sidewalk with less difficulty. Many curb cuts also feature tactile paving, a pattern of circular bumps that indicate to visually impaired pedestrians that they are about to enter a roadway.

Curb cuts also benefit pedestrians if they are using a walker or cane or wheelchair, pushing a stroller, a pram or a buggy for babies, pushing or pulling a cart or hand truck, or walking next to a bicycle; as well as anyone riding a bicycle, roller skates, or a skateboard.

Other applications
A wider curb cut is also useful for motor vehicles to enter a driveway or parking lot on the other side of a sidewalk. In the UK this is commonly referred to as a 'crossover'.

Smaller curb cuts may be used along streets, parking areas or sidewalks in the manner of a water bar; by redirecting water from traditional drainage ways to stormwater BMPs which allow infiltration, such as a grassed area or rain garden.

Design
Accessible curb cuts transition from the low side of a curb to the high side (usually 15 cm change in level). Accessible curb ramps are a minimum of 1 m wide. They are sloped no greater than 1:12 (8.33%), which means that for every 12 cm of horizontal distance, they rise no more than 1 cm. The concrete curb ramp is sometimes scored with grooves, the texture of which may serve as a warning to vision-impaired persons of the transition to the street. Such grooves also allow for traction and water runoff, and may be stained a color that significantly contrasts with the adjacent concrete. If a curb ramp contains flared sides, they are usually no greater than 1:10 (10%) slope.

Pram ramps in Australia are designed according to Australian Standard AS 1428: Design for access and mobility.

Universal design
Proponents of universal design often point to the curb cut effect as an example when raising awareness of the benefits of this design philosophy.

title: Curb cut


text:
Talk:Alf Landon

ProQuest reference nonexistent?
Being concerned about the poor grammar and punctuation in the quote supposedly sourced from ProQuest ("Maryland GOP mails checks to colored clerics in vote bid, proquest") I started digging and can find absolutely nothing similar to this in ProQuest or any other of the dozens of databases accessible from the university with which I'm associated. In fact, the phrase "colored clerics" shows up nowhere in a full-text search of every available database. The only online sources I can find that refer to this article are sourced from Wikipedia with the same typos, and there's nothing in Google Scholar, either. The only conclusion I can draw is that this was added as a hoax and therefore should be removed until a legitimate source can be identified. Accordingly, I am removing this reference and ask that it not be restored until someone can provide a properly referenced source.  B.Rossow ·  talk  14:15, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

 * The questionable material was added 24 November 2008 by an anonymous editor in this edit. Further research indicates that other material supposedly sourced from ProQuest by this same user (see this revision) doesn't exist and will be similarly removed as apparent fiction.  B.Rossow ·  talk  14:26, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

 * More extensive searching found nothing more for the "GOP mails checks" claim, but I was able to turn up some mid-1930s articles with the quoted material removed in my second pass. I re-added the information along with appropriate citations.  B.Rossow  ·  talk  18:53, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Alf Landon