A serious difficulty confronted Rodney when he had to conduct his first services alone. He could speak, pray, and sing, but as yet he could read only with difficulty. However, he did his best. He would commence to read a chapter and if he came to big words that he could not pronounce, he would stop and talk a little, then begin to read again at the other side of the big word. He soon became known as a good speaker and an earnest worker. The fact that he was a gipsy attracted people's attention and before long he was speaking regularly to large gatherings.
During the few years following Rodney made great progress. He soon learned to read with ease and his addresses were listened to with great interest. He rose early in the mornings and spent several hours in reading and in devotions. During the afternoons he visited those in need, and in the evenings he addressed meetings both in the open-air and in halls. He was often sent to towns where the work of the Christian Mission was at a very low ebb, but wherever he went it was the same, his earnest preaching and sweet singing attracted the people.
While he was stationed at Hull his congregations were greater than ever. Often fifteen hundred people would be gathered at the Sunday-morning prayer meeting at seven a.m., and the crowds at the regular services were so great that often thousands would be unable to get into the large building. Rodney was by this time married and known as "Gipsy Smith", and the Christian Mission had become the Salvation Army. Under his care the work at Hull grew so that 15,000 copies of the War Cry were sold each week.
From Hull Gipsy Smith was sent to Hanley. Here he found a small number of people worshipping in a large building which had been a circus. Soon the old circus which held 2,500 people was crowded to the doors, and crowds as great, if not greater, than those which had gathered at Hull, came to hear the gipsy. There was a great revival of religion and the influence of it was felt for many miles around.
Soon after this Gipsy Smith began work as an evangelist among the churches, and he has continued to do this with great success up to the present time. In 1886, at the earnest request of some friends, he paid his first visit to America. When he arrived in New York he was scarcely known to any and the idea of a gipsy preacher rather startled the ministers and members of the churches. After some hesitation the minister of a large church agreed to have Gipsy Smith conduct a mission in his church. It was a large building, holding fifteen hundred people, but it was packed from the first service, and continued so for the three weeks that the gipsy was there. Soon more requests came in for services than the Gipsy could grant. The newspapers contained glowing accounts of his work, and from all sides came testimonies to the great good that he had done. Thousands of people were blessed under his earnest preaching, and when the time came for him to return to England a vast number of people wished him god-speed.
People who heard Gipsy Smith preach could scarcely believe that he had been born in a gipsy tent and had never spent a day in school. His use of the English language was so good, and his thoughts so fine and clear, that it seemed as if he must have received his training in a university. But he never forgot, himself, nor did he wish any one else to forget, what a very lowly beginning he had.
After his return to England Gipsy Smith became an assistant to the Rev. F. S. Collier, of Manchester. Here he continued to be a means of blessing to great numbers of people. Sometimes he preached to congregations of over five thousand, and always with good results. He soon became known as one of the greatest evangelists of Great Britain and wielded a great influence for good.
Gipsy Smith has paid several visits to America, and each time he has risen higher in the respect and love of the people. Wherever he goes crowds flock to hear him, and they are never disappointed. Americans have learned to look upon his visits as red-letter days for the churches, and if he could be spared from the Homeland, he would be warmly welcomed on this side of the Atlantic.
Gipsy Smith has preached in nearly all parts of the British Empire. He has been, for many years now, one of the great evangelists of the homeland. Thousands of people have been made better by his simple, direct message. Many great men have recognized in him a prophet of God, and they have been glad to honour him as such. He has counted among his friends some of the greatest men living, yet he has never lost his simplicity and gratitude to God for making him what he is. Not long ago he said: "I have had rich and strange experiences. I have lived in many houses, the guest of many sorts and conditions of people. I have been presented to two presidents of the United States, dined with bishops and archbishops. In my study hangs a letter from her late Majesty, Queen Victoria, and another from a royal duchess, but the most treasured things in my home are two pictures which adorn the walls of my bedroom. One is the picture of the wagon in which my mother died, and the other is a picture of a group of gipsies. I never sleep in that room without looking at these pictures and saying to myself: "Rodney, you would have been there to-day but for the grace of God. Glory be to His name for ever."