The Amen Corner is not a club. Don't forget that.
It is something that just happened, and, without rhyme or reason, might happen in any well-regulate wide-awake, self respecting urban community.
It happened in Pittsburgh in 18-let me see,-well, as far back as the memory of this scrivener runs, debates to the contrary not withstanding, there has been about town a coterie of boon companions, men of many minds, without regard to race, creed, politics or previous position, who have gathered nocturnally, quite haphazardly, at some place of convenient rendezvous, to discuss as the spirit moved them, any subject under the rising or setting sun, and , without let or hindrance, apply to the arts forensic any system of logic or reason, which, the individual in his sovereign right, might elect.
Membership in the Amen Corner is one of the difficult mysteries of the day. There is no set formula and no rules of procedure are made to guide the ambitious tyro who would have his name inscribed in the roster of membership. Indeed, the only information on this head which is available is that to gain the open sesame one must be one hundred percent man. In truth, manhood is the acid test which the Corner prescribes, apparently in secret, for one never knows when, if or how, he is to become a member until some day he is slapped on the back, hale fellow-like, and is told he is an "Amener".
That's the simple, frank process, but, like the higher degrees in some of the fraternities, the reason why one has been elected is never disclosed.
"Many are called but few are chosen" seems to be quite literally the maxim of this unique fraternity of good fellows.
The progenitor of "The Corner" was called "The Steps" and its place of concourse was at Liberty Avenue and Sixth Street.
One dark night some scalawags, out of tune with that splendid spirit which preserves the best traditions and usages of an epoch, wantonly and without ruth, moved "The Steps" to make room for the ignoble and sordid march of progress,--moved them to no one knew wither.
Up to Grant Street to the offices of one of the groups, the fathers of the Amen Corner trekked and metaphorically pitched their tent.
Not long thereafter this same iconoclastic march of progress-to be exact, in the fall of 1915-the William Penn Hotel offered a rendezvous which the dispossessed members of "The Steps" grasped with an appreciation of the hospitality extended, in a way that warmed the cockles of the heart of the genial Bonifact.
"Come over to the William Penn," he said, "and meet in the corner of the lobby".
So, they came, and out of "The Steps" there evoluted the Amen Corner.
On its roster, as active or honorary members are ambassadors to and from the Old World, Governors, Senators, Judges of all the Courts, clergymen, lawyers, business men, politicians, literati, artists, actors, musicians and notables in greater or lesser degree in nearly every profession, vocation and avocation.
Many brilliant prandial functions have marked the history of The Amen Corner. Annually the president is honored with a testimonial dinner.
But nightly, and now daily since it has its own spacious quarters on the club floor of the Wm. Penn Hotel,--the real zest of membership in The Amen Corner may be judged from the casual gatherings and the open discussions that animate them.
Controversies rage on every conceivable subject. Questions are never settled. That's too much to expect from "men of many minds".
But though the disputation may work itself into the velocity of the typhoon or the heat of the argument may rise to the temperature of Hades, and, the end of the day may leave some sorely tried tempers and furniture may be a bit awry, the day after dawns with the same sunny skies breaking through Pittsburgh's changeful atmosphere, and the same happy, smiling faces and the same warmth of handclasps all around, that prevailed before the last argument.
Eugene L. Connelly (copyright 1927)