Timid for a while, he finally ventured to read the Bible and deliver some comments on the local street corners. Although he was jeered and scorned and bricks were thrown at him, young Booth did not get discouraged...this was just a foretaste of the battle ahead of him. At 17 he preached his first sermon and was licensed by the New Wesleyan Convention. One day he brought a group of poor, rugged boys from the slums into the church. Instead of being pleased, the minister was angry and Booth was told next time to bring them through the back door and seat them where they couldn't be seen. As he had feared, the Methodist Church of his day was becoming too "respectable." His long hours in the pawnshop stretched out for six years and though he often worked until 8 p.m., he would hurry to prayer meetings which would last until 10 p.m. Sometimes after this he would call on the sick and dying. It is said that he made hundreds of hospital calls before he was twenty years of age. He also did much street preaching late at night during these years.