0.14 3.4 the administration of lou b. williams, 1895-1906.  (Page 4/5)

Another ministry that captured the imagination of the period was the use of a "chapel car" or "gospel car," a seventy-five-foot‑long, combination travelling chapel and living quarters. The American Baptist Publication Society donated such a railroad car named "Good Will" to Texas Baptists and outfitted its chapel with a pulpit, organ, and a full complement of their Bibles, song books, maps, charts, tracts, etc. Hollie Harper, the energetic young woman who served as woman's page editor of the Standard and as a Bible woman in Dallas, married the chapel-car minister, E. G. Townsend, and accompanied him on tours around the state in 1897-98. They held four services a day, including one prayer meeting for women that she led. A description of the car and the ministry by Hollie H. Townsend are quoted in Mrs. W. J. J. Smith, pp. 160-62. See also BS, June 24, 1897, p. 10. Unfortunately, she died in childbirth in 1898, and for several years thereafter the presentation of her child to the women's annual meeting served as a continuing tribute to her memory. The chapel car was partially destroyed in the Galveston hurricane of 1900, and the BWMW made pledges to refurbish it. Proceedings of the BWMW of Texas, 1900, p. 142.

The systematic organization of children for religious teaching with a missionary emphasis began with the spread of "Sunbeam Bands" in the 1890s. In many cases the name, which originated in Virginia, was applied to classes that already existed. By 1899 the BWMW appointed a Sunbeam superintendent to encourage and coordinate the 115 existing Texas bands and to assist in organizing more. This work developed rapidly with the early addition of "Baby Bands" and a "Young Woman's Auxiliary"; older boys' and girls' groups were eventually subdivided into "Royal Ambassadors" and "Girl's Auxiliary." The interest in education extended to the women themselves, who with publications generated by the American Baptist Publication Society and gradually by the WMU-SBC were encouraged to engage in more thorough studies of the Bible, as well as missionary topics. The growing opportunity to teach children's groups, to lead classes of other women, or to present missionary programs necessitated their having something to say.

By the end of Mrs. Williams's term of office the need for better religious education for women, particularly those who planned to serve as missionaries, had become a primary concern of WMU women all over the South. As early as 1895 Texas delegates urged the WMU to consider establishing a Missionary Training School, A. Hunt, p. 71. and Kentucky women were anxious to build one near the seminary at Louisville. But some strong SBC leaders (both male and female) opposed the idea and/or the manner in which Kentucky women took the initiative and moved ahead with the project. It was 1907 before the Women's Missionary Training School opened in Louisville, Kentucky. In the meantime Texas women worked for local Baptist schools, particularly "our Baylor" at Belton. Elli Moore, Elli Moore later married E. G. Townsend, widower of Hollie Harper Townsend. For a brief biography and description of the Cottage Home, see BS, July 11, 1895, p. 7. an alumna, principal, and teacher of that institution, resigned from her regular duties in 1893 and canvassed the state, seeking donations from Baptists on behalf of a dream of hers: low-cost housing near the college where young women of limited means could live and share work and expenses while attending school. Her plan worked; the Cottage Home was built and proved to be a remarkable success.