through an open window as Sankey sang it in another building and, probably without ever seeing the singer, reformed to become one of the most enthusiastic revival helpers in town.[68]
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Finally, in 1875, Moody and Sankey sailed from Liverpool for home aboard the Spain. As the ship passed down the Mersey, the people in the tender who had come to see them off sang "Hold the Fort" and "Work, for the Night is Coming" while the evangelists stood at the ship's rail, bowing and waving their handkerchiefs.
Years later Sankey recollected that the famous philanthropist Lord Shaftesbury "said at our farewell meeting in London: 'If Mr. Sankey has done no more than teach the people to sing "Hold the Fort," he has conferred an inestimable blessing on the British Empire.'"[69] As Elias Nason put it:
It was a pleasure never to be forgotten, to hear ten thousand Londoners singing heartily "Hold the Fort," and other familiar songs. Everybody seemed to know them; and in the cars, the homes of the people, as well as in the churches, they were heard. It was almost impossible to get out of the reach of these holy, heavenly melodies. The hearts of the old and young were filled with them.[70]
