his public speaking skills and frequently made a point to attend his regular oratories at the school, where many claimed they were spellbound by his charm, wit, passion, and intelligence. He graduated from Wesleyan in 1875 at the age of 19 and was married that year to Georgeanna (Anna), daughter of George Long of Parsons, West Virginia and 1875 graduate of Ohio Wesleyan Female College. Early ministry After completing college, Gunsaulus was ordained to the Methodist Ministry and was an itinerant minister (circuit rider) for several years. In 1879, he entered the Congregational ministry and became pastor of the Eastwood Congregational Church in Columbus, Ohio, where he served until 1881. During this period, he and Georgeanne had three children: Joseph Long (1877), Martha G. (1879) and Beatrice (1881). He then served as a very popular pastor in Newtonville, Massachusetts between 1881 and 1885 and at the Brown Memorial church in Baltimore between 1885 and 1887. While in Baltimore, Gunsaulus spent considerable time at the Johns Hopkins University Library and made contact with faculty members and students. He guest-lectured there on "The Messages of the Great English Poets" and later referred to the programs at Johns Hopkins as an educational model. During this period, he and Georgeanne added Mary J. (1884) and Helen C. (1886) to their family. Plymouth Congregational Church In 1887, Gunsaulus was called to the Plymouth Congregational Church in Chicago. At that time, the Plymouth Church had a mission Sunday school to which Joseph F. Armour, a noted and wealthy Chicago merchant, had contributed liberally. The mission, at 31st and State streets, had started in 1874, just three years after the Great Chicago Fire. When Joseph F. Armour died in 1881, he left $100,000 for his brother, Philip D. Armour, the wealthy meatpacker and grain merchant, to establish a Sunday school. Phillip D. Armour added another $100,000 of his own money and had the "Armour Mission" built. The mission's members were to be non-sectarian without restrictions on race, creed or class. Just before Frank Gunsaulus arrived, about 700 new members joined the experiment in "practical Christian democracy" on its first Sunday in December 1886. Among the workers and teachers from Plymouth Church that assisted was Julia A. Beveridge, the mission librarian. Beveridge discovered that books were not enough to keep the members interested, so she started clay modeling classes. She soon added classes in wood carving, tile-making, freehand