 Section 20. Co-operating with Governments. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Tom Hirsch. The government of the Dutch East Indies, which was in the hands at the time of a military man, has won forever the honor of appreciating and utilizing the army of the general they had never seen before any of those who had seen him. Certainly the general never ran after earthly rulers, or showed any disposition to court their favor. But he said constantly, Here we are. If any government municipal or national likes to use us, we can save them more than half of what they now spend upon their poor and criminal classes, and do for these far more than Christian government officials, however excellent, ever hoped to do. They are invariably so bound to avoid any meddling with religion that they cannot bring to bear upon those most in need of it the heavenly light and love and power in which we place all our confidence for dealing with these classes. Gentlemen, said a town counselor in a German city, when the question of the army was being discussed, the army can do for your poor what you never can attempt. You can only deal with them from without. The army works upon them from within, and produces results that will considerably lighten your burdens. The general had arranged for the Dutch Indies to be missioned from Australia, that country being our nearest field, and one accustomed to deal with pioneer effort. But when he found that Dutch officialdom dreaded contact with British agents, though ready to welcome Dutch ones, he very quickly changed his plans, and as soon as the colonial government found that the army was as much Dutch as English, and could send them a Dutch leader, they showed themselves ready to use us as fully as possible. Our officers in every town and village are supplied with all the medicines and bandages they can use. For the government has found that they live amongst the poorest all the time, and are always ready to bathe and bandage their wounded limbs and feet, or to give them the few medicines needed to combat the ordinary maladies. Moreover, from some terrible losses by death of officers in our earliest years there, it was made only too plain to everyone that our officers would not abandon their people in times of cholera or other epidemics, but would rather suffer and die with them. More unsanitary surroundings than we have in lovely Java could scarcely be imagined, and no government can hope to alter the habits of an entire people very rapidly. The Chinese and others in the cities have never yet begun to consider dirt in house or street as dangerous, and the entire population has grown up with such a love for bathing in the very same canals, which serve largely for drainage and every other purpose, that there cannot for a long time to come be great hopes of much sanitary improvement. But when it was seen that we had officers not only willing and ready to live and die with the people, but also capable of lifting them into a new life of carrying out any simple administrative duties that might be laid upon them, we had first one, and then another of the government's institutions offered for our care, as well as the provisioning of the hospitals. From daybreak in the morning till the end of their evening meetings, our officers may be seen showing the people old and young, brotherly and sisterly love, and though they may not as yet have succeeded in many places in raising up such a native force as we should desire, the government has found them as persevering as if they had gained the crowd which their toils and endurance have deserved. The first leper institution placed in our charge was so rapidly transformed from a place of despair and misery into a home of salvation, hope and joy, that the government naturally desired to see more such institutions adequate to receive the entire leper population of the islands, which is, alas, large. Our position in Java and the consequent discussion of us in the Dutch parliament led to our first public recognition in the world as a Christian force. Because we do not baptize with water, there has been in Java a disposition amongst some Christian teachers to refuse to any of our people burial in a Christian cemetery. But when in the Dutch budget discussion this was made an objection to our receiving any grant, the colonial minister simply read out the whole of our articles of war and asked how anyone could refuse to recognize as Christians those who had signed such declarations. The governments of the various Australian colonies must, however, have the credit of first giving to our officers public patronage. As has already been mentioned, the governors, premiers and ministers have, for some 27 years past, been seen presiding over the anniversaries of our colonial work, speaking in no measured terms of all our activities and so helping us to get the means to support them. The Queen Mother and the present Queen of Holland were the first royal personages personally to visit our institutions, although the present King of Denmark, when crown prince, had for years used our refuges in that country for cases he thought deserving. And his brother, King Hakkan of Norway, attended as a one friend, one of the generals meetings in Christiania. Canadian and South African governors and ministers have acted like the Australian ones in their public expressions of confidence in us, and they have given us very considerable liberty in their prisons, so that most of the criminal population comes more or less under our influence. The greatest of our governmental victories have, however, been won in Switzerland and Germany, where we were for so many years looked upon as a dangerous, if not harmful, influence, owing chiefly to the gross Calium knees of Christian teachers and writers. The results of our work upon those whose lives had been a disgrace and burden to the community could not be hidden, however, and there is now scarcely a cantonal government in Switzerland which does not subsidize some one or other of our institutions. The cities of Hamburg and Elberfeld in Germany have led the way in granting to us similar assistance, and it can only be a question of time before we gravitate into an equally honored position elsewhere. For although we continue to keep as far as possible aloof from all parties and party feeling, and have not therefore the means of influencing and obtaining grants from politicians in the ordinary way, we compel attention by what we do, and have undoubtedly done more than any other religious community to create that inclination towards intelligent care for the criminal and outcast, which is almost becoming a fashion in governmental circles nowadays. It begins to look as if, had the general lived, some of the South American republics would have been the first, after all, to gladden his heart by a hearty and handsome cooperation. For twenty years he pleaded for an opportunity to show what could be done for those whose life and character have been wrecked amidst the breakers of modern life if they were removed from their old surroundings and compelled to live under our influence in country air. We have come so far in this direction in New Zealand that we have bought islands where former inebriates and their children can be kept completely severed from their old temptations, and so have every opportunity to begin a new life if they will. Men, as well as young people, are frequently handed over to us by the authorities, but there is not yet anywhere a sufficient power given to detain those who are disinclined to hard work. And recently the general was promised in the course of interviews with authorities a considerable extension in the United Kingdom of the liberty to deal with prisoners, which we have long enjoyed in America and Canada. The long night when prisoners were treated only as troublesome animals against whom society needed protection seems to be passing, and with the new earnest resolve to try and fit them for a better life, which without God's help can never be done, we are looking forward to greatly improved opportunities. In India, as has already been noted, many persons belonging to the criminal tribes are already under our care, and wherever we have the opportunity to prove what the power of God can do in such hearts, there can be no doubt of the ultimate result. Upon the question of temperance, there is happily a widespread awakening amongst the nations. So convinced are all governments and people that drinking and crime are closely connected, that much has already been done with good effect to lessen the sale of intoxicants in many lands, and more is being promised. Anxious as we are to see the drink traffic abolished everywhere, it has never appeared to us to be desirable to join in agitations of a political kind on the subject, and the wisdom of this attitude has been shown on both sides of the Atlantic by the manner in which this question has been used to embitter party strife. But it was a puzzle at first to know by which course to steer. The licensing bill was before the English House of Commons, the general wrote, The licensing bill has given me much anxiety, mainly because I see so imperfectly what we ought to do. However, we shall do what seems the best to be done, with what success has yet to be seen. I am heartily sick of politics and parties, and that mainly because they seem to me so insincere. What an unsatisfactory thing is life apart from the real work we do for God and the salvation of souls. I want more faith, more conquering faith. I must have it. I have got work today to do that cannot be done without divine wisdom. I have asked for it. I am asking for it while I write, and surely it will be given. And yet it seems as though the spirit whispers in my ear, you will not believe you have it when it is imparted. But I will. Anyhow, I will make a desperate effort to believe that the spirit of the living God guides my judgment, however I may feel, or whatever the outcome may be. Pray for me. I cling to life and the work I love so well. Remarkably enough, the German police, who more than any other suspected and watched and restricted us at first, have become the first convinced of the value of our operations. And those in the city of Cologne have been the very first heartily to arrange for our cooperation with them by placing at our disposal a convenient hand wagon for the transport of helpless drunkards. And by arranging for their officials to call us upon the telephone whenever such help is needed, instead of taking the poor drunkards to the cells. This plan was arrived at only after the police had seen the work carried out by our people with an ambulance which required the services of two strong men. But there is reason to suppose that our cordial relationships with the authorities in Cologne and elsewhere are largely due to the good impression made upon them by the general himself. Of his great meeting in Cologne, attended by many officials and other persons of influence, he wrote, I had certainly a remarkable campaign, and my meeting in Cologne was one of the most remarkable in my history. Oh, it was a moving, hope-inspiring affair. Oh, what wonders the dear Salvation Army may yet accomplish in the Fatherland. I am sure it will be so, whoever lives to see it. Thank God that he was spared to see another seven years of progress in that direction since this was written. In Japan, which cannot be supposed to be specially favorable to any Christian society, we have long had opportunity regularly to visit all persons in custody, and as we have already seen, to invite all girls living in a moral life to come to our institutions. Why is there still difficulty in the way of our work for the prisoners and other needy ones in Christendom? Chiefly, because there are chaplains and others specially appointed to deal with such needs and who naturally do not wish to see others interfering, as they think with their parishioners. In very many cases nowadays, there is a much better feeling than formerly, and such persons heartily welcome our help knowing that we never wish to meddle with anyone's work, but only to work where others can gain no entrance. In a certain Australian jail, at the time when men there could be sentenced to death for many crimes other than murder, a condemned man was in such agonies of remorse that none of the warders could get any rest. The help of one of our officers was greatly desired, but the chaplain would not consent, so that our officer could not be admitted. In another part of the prison, however, one of our soldiers was a warder, and those who knew this sought him out and brought him to the distressed sinner, whom he very soon succeeded in leading to the Savior, who gave him a peace as complete as that which he gave to his companion in crucifixion. It is by this patience and efficiency that our officers, wherever they get the opportunity, win the favor of authorities, prisoners, and sufferers of every kind. Therefore, we reckon that it can only be a question of time before our way is open to do far more than ever for the friendless of every land. In times of special emergency, the generals officers always find an opportunity to distinguish themselves. Thus, in the last earthquake of Jamaica, our officers in Kingston were said to have been the calmest and readiness to undertake all that needed to be done. In those terrible days, again, of earthquake and fire in San Francisco, the Salvationists provided food and shelter for the Chinese and others of the most despised. And in South Italy such was the impression produced by the way in which our officers labored when Calabria was destroyed by earthquake, that our officer there, Commissioner Cassandri, had the honor of a knighthood conferred upon him in recognition of the manner in which he had superintended the distribution of blankets and other articles provided out of the Lord Mayor of London's fund. The skill he manifested gaining the approval of both the Italian government and the British ambassador there. We seek neither honors nor rewards, however, but only the opportunity to carry out our first general's plans for the good of all men everywhere. End of Section 20, Recording by Tom Hirsch Section 21, Conquering Death This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Tom Hirsch. Only those who have had some experience of a perfect life partnership, such as existed for 35 years between the general and his wife, can form any conception of the sufferings he had to pass through in connection with her prolonged illness and death. She had always been more or less delicate in health. It had, through nearly all those years, triumphed so completely over weakness and suffering as to be at once one of the happiest of wives and mothers and the most daring of comrades in the Great War. During much of 1887 she had suffered more than usually and yet had taken part with him in many great demonstrations. But in February 1888 new symptoms made their appearance and she decided upon consulting one of the ablest of London physicians because she had always dreaded that her end would come, like that of her mother, through cancer and wished to use every possible care to prolong as much as might be possible her days of helpfulness. When in February 1888 Sir James Paget told her that she had undoubtedly got this disease and would probably not be alive for more than 18 months or two years she received the announcement with the greatest calm and fortitude. The general says after hearing the verdict of the doctors she drove home alone that journey can be better imagined than described. She told me how as she looked upon the various scenes through the cab windows it seemed to her as if sentence of death had been passed upon everything. How she had knelt upon the cab floor and wrestled in prayer and how the realization of our grief swept over her. I shall never forget in this world or the next that meeting. I had been watching for the cab and had run out to meet and help her up the steps. She tried to smile upon me through her tears but drawing me into the room she unfolded to me gradually the result of her interview. I sat down speechless. She rose from her seat and came and knelt beside me saying, Do you know what was my first thought? That I should not be there to nurse you at your last hour. I was stunned. I felt as if the whole world was coming to a standstill. She talked like a heroine like an angel to me. She talked as she had never talked before. I could say nothing. I could only kneel with her and try to pray. I was due in Holland for some large meetings. I had arranged to travel there that very night. She would not hear of my remaining at home for her sake. Never shall I forget starting out that evening with the mournful tidings weighing like lead upon my heart. All the conflict of that night journey. I faced two large congregations and did my best although it seemed to me that I spoke as one in a dream. Leaving the meetings to be continued by others I returned to London the following evening and then followed for me the most painful experience of my life. To go home was anguish. To be away was worse. Life became a burden almost too heavy to be born until God in a very definite manner comforted my heart. After this there were two years and a half of such tortures for him to bear. For some time indeed Mrs. Booth was still able occasionally to take part with him even in very large meetings. But anyone can understand how such privileges only increased his sense of coming loss. Her last address was delivered in the city temple on June 21st, 1888 and she had to remain for nearly an hour after in the pulpit before she could move. Nevertheless she was able to continue her help by writing for our publications and to individuals for a long time after this. Before the self-denial week of 1888 she wrote to our soldiers. Although not able to be at the front of the battle in person my heart is there and the greatest pain I suffer arises from my realization of the vast opportunities of the hour and of the desperate pressure to which many of my comrades are subject while I am deprived of the ability to help them as in days gone by. In 1889 she wrote, I am now realizing as never before how much harder it is to suffer than to serve. I can only assure you again by letter that my heart is as much with you as ever. Regard no opposition, persecution or misrepresentation. Millions upon millions wait for us to bring to them the light of life. To the great Crystal Palace demonstration of 1889 she sent a message which was displayed in large letters. My place is empty but my heart is with you. Go forward, live holy lives, be true to the army, God is your strength, love and seek the lost, God is my salvation and refuge in the storm. Hers was indeed a prolonged storm of suffering, the strain of which upon the general cannot easily be realized. He would go out time after time to his great journeys and meetings with necessarily unknowing uncertainty as to what might occur in his absence and would be called again and again to what he thought might be her last agony, only to see her after hours of extraordinary pain and weakness rallying in to suffer more. To the very end her mind continued to be as clear and powerful as of old so that her intense interest in everything connected with his work made it difficult for the general to realize that she might at any moment be called away from him. Often through the long hours of the night he would watch beside her. To a party of officers who visited her in 1889 she said, I feel that at this moment I could put all my children into their graves and go to a workhouse bed to die, sooner than I could see the principles of the Salvation Army for which I have lived and struggled, undermined and sacrificed. God will not fail you. Give the children mild dear love and tell them that if there had been a Salvation Army when I was ten years old I should have been as good a soldier then as I am today. To the last she maintained her interest in comrades who were furthest off as well as in those who were near. To Australians she sent the message, Tell them I look on them and care for them as for my English children and that I expect them to gather in many a souring mother's prodigal who has wandered far from his father's house. Of one of those terrible occasions when it seemed as if the end had come the general writes in December 1889 To stand by the side of those you love and watch the ebbing tide of life unable to stem it or to ease the anguish is an experience of sorrow which words can but poorly describe. There was a strange choking sensation in the throat which threatens suffocation. After several painful struggles there was a great calm and we felt the end had come. What a mercy that nobody knew how many months of agony were yet to follow. It was not until October 1890 that the end really came. She sent that year to the army for its self-denial week the message My dear children and friends I have loved you much and in God's strength have helped you a little Now at his call I am going away from you. The war must go on. Self-denial will prove your love to Christ. All must do something. I send you my blessing. Fight on and God will be with you. Victory comes at last. I will meet you in heaven, Catherine Booth. On October 1st violent hemorrhage set in. The general was telegraphed for her and after days and nights of continual suffering and extreme weakness she passed away on a Saturday afternoon October 4th 1890. Writing immediately afterwards the general said Ever since our first meeting now nearly 40 years ago we have been inseparable in spirit. That is in all the main thoughts and purposes of our lives. Oh what a loss is mine. It cannot be measured. And yet anxious as in every other case to make the very best of the funeral for the good of souls the general rose by God's grace so completely above his own feelings as to be able to take part in all the unparalleled services that followed. More than 40,000 people visited the Congress Hall Clapton to look upon her remains there and to pray and give themselves to God in many cases whilst her favorite hymns were sung by bands of cadets. The coffin was then removed to the Olympia the largest covered building we could hire in London and 30,000 persons passed the turnstiles to attend the funeral service conducted mostly by signs according to a printed program The next day the funeral march was restricted to officers of whom 3,000 were present but the crowds which looked on as it passed right through from our headquarters in the city to the Abney Park Cemetery were beyond all computation a crowd of 10,000 admitted by tickets surrounded the grave where the general spoke as one newspaper reported as a soldier who had disciplined his emotion without effort straight from the heart of his wonderful address we have only room to quote the final words what then is there left for me to do not to count the weeks the days and the hours which shall bring me again into her sweet company seeing that I know not what will be on the morrow nor what an hour may bring forth my work is plainly to fill up the weeks the days and the hours and share my poor heart as I go along with the thought that when I have served my Christ and my generation according to the will of God which I vow this afternoon I will to the last drop of my blood that then she will bid me welcome to the skies as he bade her God bless you all Amen we knelt and kissed the coffin and we lowered it into the grave the chief of staff read a form of covenant which thousands repeated and then we parted from that very day the general rose up and went forward sorrowing as everyone could see to his last days over his irreparable loss but never allowing his grief to hinder his labors for those who amidst their afflictions have no heavenly comforter a still further blow was to fall upon him only three years later Mrs. Booth had delighted especially during her years of suffering in the fellowship of her second daughter Emma who had been married to Commissioner Tucker in 1890 and who had always seemed to the general to be the nearest representative in many respects of her mother he had gladly given her up to go with her husband to India and was equally willing for her later to go to the United States but he always kept up a very full correspondence with her her last letter to him written on an American train said my precious general I am still on the wing we were at St. Louis on Sunday where we had in some respects a rather remarkable day the entire feeling of the city has been distinctly different since your visit the sympathy now is most marked I also spoke for fifteen minutes stretched a little in the merchants exchange a huge marble structure no woman they say has ever been heard there before this was on Saturday at noon and quite a number of the leading business and money men turned up at Sunday's meetings can't write more how I wonder how you are up above us all so high like a diamond in our sky though perhaps I ought to say cyclone or racehorse or but there is no simile fine enough good night with that you were here so that I could say it and hear all that you would like to say and then start off again to try and carry out your wishes with better success as your unfailing Emma alas alas for the uncertainties of human life little did she imagine that before the letter could reach him she would be gone from another train forever from his side her own devotion to the war from her very childhood had always been such as to set an example to all who knew her as head for ten years of our training home for women officers she did more that can ever be known to ensure the purity and excellence of the army's leaders so that it may be easily guessed how much her father valued her as joint leader with her husband of our forces in India and afterwards in the United States she never spared herself but in spite of repeated illnesses and without in any way neglecting her duties as mother of six children she traveled and labored incessantly starting out at one o'clock in the morning of October 28th from Colorado to ride to Chicago she managed to make a rush call between trains in Kansas City to view a new building the army was about to take as an industrial home throughout most of the two days journey she was in conversation with one or another officer as to coming extension of the work until finding the Colonel Addie whose province she had last passed had composed a new song she asked him to sing it over to her and to repeat three times the last verse which was as follows time and place will cease to know you men and things will pass away you'll be moving on tomorrow you are only here today little did either of them imagine how terribly the words were to be verified within four hours of their being sung just as she was leaving her place in one carriage to go to the sleeping birth prepared for her in another a tremendous crash announced to all the passengers that a car through which she and one of our officers were passing had left the rails in bed destroyed both were buried in the debris the Colonel Holland survived but Mrs. Booth Tucker after lingering in unconsciousness a couple of hours passed away what a blow for the general he wrote at the end of the year this has been is and will be to the end of my earthly chapter a mysterious and painful dispensation at least so it appears at the moment what God may do for me in the future and how he may make it work for my good does not at present appear but he is able to make it mightily helpful to his glory and the salvation of souls with this prospect God forbid then that I should be other than content nay filled with praise I am at present strangely supported and cheered and not strangely either for is it not what might have been expected with so many loving prayers going up to heaven on my account hour by hour remembering that he had lost not only the most tenderly beloved one left to him but an officer holding one of the most important posts he had to fill we can somewhat estimate the grace that could thus sustain him and make it possible even then to go gladly forward yet again he was to drink the bitter cup of family bereavement this time affecting his youngest daughter who had married commissioner Helberg already mentioned as one of our first Swedish officers not only had he kept all the promise of his first brave and sturdy stand for the army as a student but gaining by every year's experience in various lands he had shown remarkable ability in many spheres with his no less able and devoted wife he had labored in India at international headquarters in France and in Switzerland when consumption alas showed itself and in spite of all that could be done for him during years of suffering and algears and in various resorts of health seekers he steadily sank though of course death had long threatened him he was caught suddenly at the last and died in Berlin on the journey homewards to Sweden from south Germany at a time when his wife could not be with him it will be readily understood how much more trying this was to the general than if he had been near to comfort his daughter in all her sorrow and yet this blow falling upon him when he was seventy-nine years old found him no less resolute than ever he sent this widowed mother out into Denmark where she was a stranger to persevere in the fight she had showed herself like her father able to plead at the very graveside with the crowd for God in connection with the loss of Mrs. Booth we began a system of special memorial services which have been wonderfully blessed the first one held on the first anniversary of her death in the agricultural hall one of the largest buildings in London was altogether too large for any speaking to be heard the plan was adopted therefore as at the funeral of a complete form of service each point of which was indicated on the program and by large illuminated signs by this means the audience of some fifteen thousand was able closely and unitedly to join in all the songs and prayers whilst scenes from Mrs. Booth's life and messages taken from her writings and from the generals were also on the great lantern screen passed on to them thousands of the most careless and thoughtless were present but there was no break in the solemnity of the service hundreds went as requested from the meeting to a room in the stables to volunteer for life service as officers what had cost the general to be present on this and since then on similar occasions specially after his daughter's death may be imagined but he never hesitated to endure this for the sake of the many souls such services have invariably aroused to repentance faith and self-sacrifice for the war writing in nineteen oh five to a friend he says were you at the memorial service that was a trying ordeal for me but I hear that many were benefited it seems selfish to ask for so many intercessions but I cannot get on without them in all our memorial services all present are asked to unite in prayer for the bereaved ones the mere fact of my knowing that so large a number of the very elect of the kingdom are pleading for power and love on my account helps me forward God bless and keep and comfort you every day and every hour undoubtedly these services whilst blessed to all present have also served to provoke much prayer and faith for all our bereaved ones and for the general most of all and have thus made it easier for him and for all of us to triumph over personal sorrows and losses and press forward to ever increasing victory that the general's example of burying his own sorrows and redoubled effort to cheer and help others has been followed everywhere may count as a large compensation for all he has lost and yet all who knew him best have seen that the wound caused by Mrs. Booth's loss was never healed with the badge of bereavement which we have substituted for any costly mourning ever upon his left arm just as it was twenty years ago our first general went onward to the great reunion above as sorrowful yet always rejoicing his sadness ever touching as many hearts as his merry remarks aroused curiously enough the general whilst anxious at all times to remind everyone of death and judgment and to prevent their being so intoxicated by pleasure and passing trivialities as to prevent their thinking of their souls and of eternity abolished so far as his followers were concerned the horrible formalities which in all countries have come to be thought necessary whenever death and the grave come into view nothing could be more opposed to everything taught by Christ than the usual processes of Christian burial and the records of the departed he who brought life and immortality to life through his gospel could not wish to see his people's graves surrounded exclusively by signs of mourning and then plastered over with flattering records of earthly glory making as a rule no mention of his salvation and the eternal glories it assures he manifested indeed and always shows the deepest sympathy with our sorrows but he does so most by teaching us to make them steps to higher life and joy this great purpose the general aimed at in all his arrangements as to burials and thus alleviated sadness and turned death into victory to a very remarkable extent no widow or orphan under his flag will add to all the inevitable costs of nursing the dying those of fashionable mourning clothing flowers or monuments the cross and crown badge worn on the left arm by himself and his bereaved ones sometimes for years whilst providing a most touching token of abiding affection for lost friends is at the same time a special declaration of faith and hope and yet obviates entirely the need for any peculiar dress for the occasion every funeral thus becomes a very valuable opportunity for comforting and strengthening the mourners and for urging the unsaved to ensure an eternal triumph it would not be easy to compute the total of crowds thus brought under the sound of the gospel in connection with our losses every year thus all these occasions for sadness have been turned into fountains of joy not merely to those most immediately concerned but to the whole community we have not yet had time or opportunity thank God sufficiently to redeem the grave in the cemetery from the scandal of men praising expenditure for any sort of tombstone has generally been too costly for our people what the small simple edge stone which marks the resting place of Catherine Booth mother of the Salvation Army and which asks every passerby do you also follow Christ has set an example consistent with all our past and our eternal future surely the day will come when our generals teaching and practicing this matter will help to lighten the burden of every bereaved family and make every cemetery the birth of crowds of souls the music and song with which we surround every deathbed and funeral still too much tinge sometime with the follies of traditional show have already been used by God's spirit to bring life and gladness to many a spiritually dead soul end of section 21 recording by Tom Hirsch section 22 his social work this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Tom Hirsch most erroneously and unfairly it has been widely assumed that the great work of the general was the establishment in the world of some social institutions happily we have got a verbatim report of an address to his social officers gathered around him a year before his death in which we have a complete statement as to the beginnings and principles of the work so that we can see exactly how he wished it to be regarded one by the social work I mean those operations of the Salvation Army which have to do with alleviation or removal of the moral and temporal evils which cause so much of the misery of the submerged classes and which so greatly hinder their salvation two our social operations as thus defined are the natural outcome of salvationism or I might say of Christianity as instituted, described, proclaimed and exemplified in the life teaching and sacrifice of Jesus Christ here I would like to say that social work in the spirit and practice which it has assumed with us has harmonized with my own personal idea of true religion from the hour I promised obedience to the commands of God to help the poor to minister to them in their slums to sympathize with them in their poverty, afflictions and irreligion was the natural outcome of the life that came to my soul through believing in Jesus Christ before many days, nay, before many hours had passed after my conversion I was to be found praying in the cottages in the working class quarters of the town in which I lived talking in the slums, comforting the dying and doing so far as I knew howl and had ability what seemed to me most likely to help the poor and miserable classes both for this world and the world to come three, but social work as a separate entity or department of the kingdom of Jesus Christ recognized, organized and provided for had to wait for the Salvation Army for many years after the commencement of my public work during which time I had as opportunity served helped the poor in their distress I was deterred from launching out to any great extent in this direction by the fear so commonly entertained that relieving their physical necessities I should be helping to create or at any rate to encourage religious hypocrisy and pretense all this time, nevertheless, I felt and often keenly felt that there surely must be some way by which, without any evil consequences I could legitimately fulfill the cravings of my own heart as well as comply with the commands of my Lord who had expressly told me that I was to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit the prisoners for a long time, however, I failed to see how this work could be done in any organized or extensive manner gradually, however, the way opened and opened largely as a result of our determination to make the godless crowds hear the message of Salvation I said, they shall hear and we will make them hear and if they won't hear in any other way, we will feed them and accompany the food we give them with the message to which they so determinedly turn a deaf ear in the very earliest days of the army, therefore, in order to reach the people whom we could not reach by any other means we gave the hungry wretches a meal and then talked to them about God and eternity four, then came the gradual unfolding of our social methods which have been so remarkably successful my dear wife's heart had been particularly drawn out on behalf of the fallen outcasts of society who, often more sinned against than sinning appealed peculiarly to her large and tender sympathies more than once she found opportunity for extending help to individual cases of misfortune obtaining homes among her friends for some of the children and assisting the poor mothers to win their way back to virtue but it was not until the end of 1883 or thereabouts that anything like a systematic effort in this direction was organized on their behalf touched by the helpless and pitiable condition of some poor girls who had sought salvation at the core at which, with her husband, she fought as a soldier a baker's wife living in one of the most wretched streets in Spitalfields took the girls in distress and trouble into her own home before long it was crowded to its utmost capacity and still other women were clamoring for admission she implored us to help her and we engaged and opened the house as our first rescue home placing it under the direction of Mrs. Bremwell Booth the breaking forth of the same spirit in different directions in other lands quickly followed at about this time our first prison rescue brigade in the colony of Victoria was organized by the late Colonel Barker so striking was the success attending his effort that before many months had passed by magistrates in the city of Melbourne were actually giving delinquents the option of being sent to prison or to our prison gate home and the government placed the former detective police building at our disposal at a nominal rental not only does the genuine Christian spirit carry the soul out in sympathy with misery but it often leads it to prefer certain particular classes of sufferers or wrongdoers on whom to lavish its self-sacrificing love and restlessly spend itself in efforts for their benefit in the case of one salvationist it will be the dying in another the daughters of sin and shame in another the homeless in another the children and in yet another the drunkards with Colonel Barker as with other comrades under our flag today it was the criminals this spirit thrives and becomes more effective by what it feeds upon it must therefore be wise to favor its preferences so far as it is possible to do so without losing sight of the well-being of the whole we did this with Colonel Barker and we are acting on the same principle with others today then came our first women's rescue home in Melbourne to help us in the establishment of which the colonial government gave a thousand pounds it was upon foundations of this character that our social operations in New Zealand France South Africa and several other countries were subsequently built up for years past our officers men and women both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere had carried on what may be spoken of as an unorganized form of slumwork but it fell to the hands of my glorified daughter the council to institute in London what was then and for some time afterwards known as the cellar gutter and Garrett brigade the forerunner of scores of slum posts which are now such a recognized feature of our operations all over the world our first men's shelter was opened in Limehouse London during the winter of 1887 and eight and was soon followed by the opening of similar institutions in other countries fire off and near at hand from our earliest days drunkenness had been one of the many foes of God and man against which we had specially taken our stand and thousands of its slaves had been rescued from its grip and become valiant soldiers in our ranks our first inebriates home conducted in the interest of women was not however opened until 1887 this was in Toronto Canada the social work in the United States had its birth in 1885 in an effort made on behalf of prisoners at Hartford Connecticut similar efforts followed in other cities and rescue and industrial homes shelters and farm colonies followed on in due course all these enterprises and many others to which I have not time now to refer were prior to the publication of in darkest England and the way out and had no doubt a powerful influence in inspiring that volume since then one branch or other of social work has been commenced in every country in which our flag is flying not withstanding the satisfaction produced by these and kindred efforts in my own mind and in the minds of those immediately associated with me and although the results were truly remarkable and the possibilities seemed to be still more wonderful the beginnings of these social enterprises attracted comparatively little notice the new movement for thus I may describe it which with half an eye thoughtful men might have seen to be pregnant with blessings for the whole world was almost unnoticed by either the authorities or the press while our supplies of men and money for its conduct and extension were very limited suddenly however the scene was changed and all at once everybody was asking what is the salvation army who is general booth what is this social scheme this change was largely brought about by the publication of in darkest England and the way out together with the notices of the scheme in the press which it brought about judged by the effect produced the book was certainly a remarkable one in the first place it had a title which in a striking manner described its character everybody wanted to see it and as a result it was sold lent read thought about and talked about in every direction nearly a quarter of a million copies were sold the profits from the publication and sale amounted to about twenty thousand pounds of which some I had the privilege of handing over five thousand three hundred eighty pounds which might have been considered rightfully to accrue to me personally as the author to the fund devoted to the promotion of the object for which the book was published in its pages I propounded those schemes which I thought would prove most successful in alleviating the terrible misery I had described and in rescuing some at least of the sufferers from the conduct that produced it in order to set the scheme in motion I asked the public to give me one hundred thousand pounds and a further thirty thousand pounds per annum to maintain it I can never forget the morning that directly followed the appearance of the volume I was of course in ignorance of what the nation would think or say about it I had made plans for the book to be delivered to the newspapers at one in the same time and regarding the press as being to some extent the voice of the people I was anxious to hear what that voice would say I was not kept long in suspense as I ascended the stairs at headquarters that morning a gentleman with accountants beaming with kindness and anxiety met me I do not think he had ever seen me before and I was certainly in complete ignorance of him general both I believe he said yes sir I answered I have been reading the critique in the times of your darkest English scheme he said and believing your plan to be right and good I want to be the first to express my sympathy and practical assistance in carrying it out and I wish to give you the first one thousand pounds towards the sum asked for this gentleman proved himself a firm friend of the scheme actively cooperating with us so far as he had opportunity a short time afterwards our friend was present at the opening of our first London ex-prisoners home when I had finished speaking he expressed a wish to say a few words I invited him forward for that purpose he came hurried and excited began to speak staggered reeled fell into my arms and immediately expired it may be truly said that he died calling down blessings on the darkest England scheme after meeting this gentleman on the stairs I had scarcely sat down at my desk with his check in my hand before a telegram was handed me from one of the most influential newspaper proprietors in the city expressing a similar hope and promising a similar amount for its realization but along with these cheering expressions of approbation there came the inevitable murmuring objections one of these strove to minimize the value of the effort by arguing that it was only an attempt to extend the army's religious influence people said they would be willing to help if all religious and propagandist motives were eliminated from the scheme one night a gentleman was announced as wishing to see me he declined to give his name and the only description of him I could gain was that he was a prominent member of the stock exchange I want to ask you one question only one, he said upon entering my office about this social scheme of yours alright I replied, as many as you like well he continued I want to know whether you are going to give religion alongside your other benefits to these people whom you seek to help I am not a religious man myself I am not saved and never shall be I am a lost soul but there is no reason why these poor wretches should not have religion and if you will give them religion I will help you yes I answered we will give them religion well we won't refuse to help them because they are irreligious but on the contrary we will take in the vilest and the worst and we will give them all as much religion as we can I will help you he answered as he handed me Bank of England notes for five hundred pounds he came to see us again and again proving for the time being a generous friend then he disappeared in a very short time and in the readiest and most kindly manner one hundred four thousand pounds were subscribed but alas only a very small proportion of the thirty thousand pounds that was asked for annually was forthcoming in this as in many other similar cases I have found that whilst the public will be ready nay eager to embrace a new thing they soon get tired of it run after some other novelty and leave you largely to struggle for its continuance as best you can five it is enough here to state that the results at the onset were remarkable amongst others for which might have been expected were immediately realized the first was the bringing into public view the ocean of tears misery and evil which was rolling around us in every direction another result was that people everywhere were awakened from their selfish lethargy to look upon these waters of tribulation and were amazed to find the depth and darkness and the despair with which they rolled forward as well as the damnation to which they inevitably led a further effect was that a large number of people were won over to care for the class whom it was proposed to benefit and to believe in the possibility of the scheme being realized many of these proved permanent friends of our social operations yet another effect was that the fountains of compassion broke out in the hearts of large numbers of individuals and led them to make similar efforts everywhere the call was sounded to labor for these poor lost people and instances were induced which showed that their humble toil was productive of very striking results but until now nothing or next to nothing had been done to stop this rolling river or deliver those perishing in its water because everybody had felt helpless in the presence of the enormous evil but here now were results of sufficient magnitude to convince those who became interested in the matter that by the employment of the methods set forth in darkest England and the way out something permanently effective might be accomplished on the other hand others as might have been expected who had never manifested any particular interest before either for or against now came out openly as our enemies and a stiff fight followed out of which the social operations although in their infancy may be said to have emerged victorious one of the results of this conflict of opinion was the darkest England inquiry the preparation of in darkest England will forever remain remarkable in my own memory as it was mostly written and corrected in the adjoining chamber to that in which my dear wife was suffering those awful agonies associated with the disease which finally carried her away the spirit which originated and controlled the social work had been preeminently the spirit of her religion she certainly was the most practical exponent of the Christianity of which I have been speaking that it was ever my lot to meet it was her religion she preached it with natural eloquence and remarkable skill and in life and death she exemplified it from that day to this the history of the social work has been one of steady progress and surpassing interest and I have sometimes wondered whether any movement based so solidly upon principles of permanence and so calculated to bless the classes for whose benefit it was by the providence of God called into being has ever existed within the memory of men now what has come out of this beginning here is a list of the various social enterprises we have in hand I do not vouch for its completeness but anyway we have here a goodly number of schemes for the benefit of the poor and friendless already in active and useful operation for the starving we have children's free and farthing breakfasts midnight soup and bread brigades for the homeless cheap food depots special relief funds for cases of special destitution old clothes depots for slum families poor men's hotels cheap grain stores famine loan fund for destitute Indians for the drunkards we have drunkards brigades midnight drunkards brigades of use also in any sudden emergency fire flood etc drunkards advice bureau homes for inebriates men and women for the paupers we have workhouse brigades salvation guardians of the poor pauper colonies pauper transportation labor bureau home for the aged for the unemployed we have labor bureau men and women industrial homes labor wood yards city salvage brigades workshops for the homeless we have midnight scouts shelters for men and women metropoles for the criminals we have prison visitation police court work prison gate work probationary police correspondence bureau ex-criminals homes criminal settlements for the daughters of shame we have visitation of streets brothels clubs etc midnight meetings receiving homes rescue homes factories, laundries etc out of love funds service girls brigades shepherding brigades maternity homes investigation and detective department slum work we have visitation first aid brigades district nursing for the poor aid for the sick we have visitation hospitals dispensaries village dispensing leper hospitals maternity nursing for the lost we have inquiry and correspondence bureau legal assistance prevention and protective work for young girls we have servants homes city institutes theatrical girls home homes anti-suicide bureau we have advice department loan department the home league land schemes we have immigration home colonization colonization over the sea lands and farm colonies small holdings deep sea brigades we have mission boats life boat training colleges village banks the total number of our social institutions is now 954 the value of properties etc held for the use of our social operations is at home in the united kingdom 228,000 pounds in other countries 747,000 pounds total 975,000 pounds in the history of the social work nevertheless there have been as you will know any number of shortcomings we have not realized all our expectations nor fulfilled all our dreams it was not to be expected that we should this is an imperfect world the movement has been imperfect and the people who have carried it on have been imperfect also consequently it's only natural that we have had imperfect results many things have been calculated to cause these shortcomings for example there has been a great lack of direct aim at the true goal of our social work on the part of some officers who have been engaged in its direction some of our comrades have been content with a soap and blanket regime that is to say they have too often been satisfied with the alleviation of the miseries of the hour and have stopped short of the removal of the evils that have caused the poverty vice and agony from which the sufferings sprang consequently the work being superficial has in some cases only has superficial and temporary results you get out of a thing as much as you put in and no more and that not only in quantity but in quality if you go in for root and branch efforts you will get root and branch results another cause of our shortcomings has been the lamentable fact that some of our officers have been deficient in personal religion our social work is essentially a religious business it can neither be contemplated commenced nor carried on with any great success without a heart full of pity and love and endued with the power of the Holy Ghost another of our difficulties has been the scarcity of suitable people for carrying the work on this was also to be expected if we had been content and had sought them out from among the philanthropies and churches we should have found plenty in number but it is equally certain we should have had considerably more doleful failures than those we have experienced we are not only making but we are now training the social officers and we shall doubtless improve in this respect whilst the work they turn out to improve proportionately then again a further reason for our shortcomings has been our shortness of money this need unfortunately is not passing away as you will all well know but I suppose some of you have come from distant lands with bags of francs and dollars to present the general with an ample supply of this requirement he thanks you beforehand nevertheless and not withstanding all our shortcomings the position now occupied by our social operations and the influence exercised by them on the great and small of the earth is in evidence in every continent and on every hand there is no doubt that the world as a whole feels much of the admiration and gratitude which the press lavished upon me on my recent birthday admiration which was assuredly intended not only for myself but for the army as a whole and not only for the army as a whole but for its social workers in particular and now in conclusion let me summarize a few of the advantages which have flowed out of the social work and which will continue to flow out of it as long as time rolls on the first benefit I will mention is the salvation of thousands of souls the world has been further benefited by the knowledge of salvation spread throughout every part of the habitable globe the world has been further benefited by the conviction that has been brought to governmental philanthropic and religious agencies as to the duty they owe to the classes we seek to benefit the world has been further benefited by the sympathy created in the hearts of royal personages scientists literary people and the press generally indeed in every class and grade of mankind the world has been further benefited by the removal of misery on such an extensive scale as has never even been dreamed of as possible think of the multitudes who by our operations were saved from starvation vice crime disease death and a hundred other nameless woes in some of the principal cities in Italy, Holland, Germany and elsewhere visited during my recent continental campaign I have been looked upon with unspeakable satisfaction and enthusiasm as the general of the poor and the salvation army the world has been further benefited by the help which our social operations have afforded to the field and other departments of the army all over the world the world has been further benefited by the confidence the social work has created in the hearts and minds of our own people both officers and soldiers as to the truth and righteousness of the principles and practices the world has been further benefited by the answer which the social work constitutes to the infidel sneers at Christianity and the assertion of its effetness truly our future chroniclers will have to record the fact that our social operations added a celestial luster and imparted a divine dignity to the struggles of the early years of the salvation armies history to our own eyes in the army however that which has been done in connection with the institutions is only a very insignificant part of the whole effect produced until the present movement all over the world in favor of the betterment of the social condition of the masses of the people has had time to accomplish definite results our institutions may yet have a good work to do but the great work the general did in this connection was the restoration to men's minds of the savior's own view that we owed to every man every care that a truly brotherly heart must needs bestow that principle as the general pointed out had always been acted upon as best it could be from the beginning and is daily acted upon today wherever the army exists end of section 22 recording by Tom Hirsch section 23 motoring triumphs this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Tom Hirsch during one of his motor tours the general remarked it was here Banbury that the idea of a motor campaign was conceived seven or eight years ago 1900 I held an afternoon meeting in this place on that occasion a crowd of my own people and friends came to the station to give me a send off such was the affection shown and so manifest was the pleasure derived from my visit that I said to myself why should I not impart this satisfaction to those comrades and friends throughout the country who have never had the satisfaction of seeing my face or hearing my voice and then the idea occurred to my mind that the automobile would not only be the readiest means of transit but the only plan by which I could reach the small towns and outlying hamlets and moreover it would perhaps prove the only method by which we could get through the crowds who would be likely to assemble on such a campaign by most men in their prime it would be thought an ample filling up of any week to address three large meetings on the Sunday and one each weeknight but the general at 74 saw that traveling by motor and visiting in the daytime such smaller towns and villages than him before or not for many years he could not only reckon upon three large indoor meetings every day but speak perhaps to millions of people he had never before addressed and so in six motor tours he passed from end to end and from side to side of Great Britain gathering crowds from day to day for six weeks at a time we have met with people frivolous enough to write of all that as if the generals motor tours were luxuries in one glorious sense they were really so for to him there could never be a greater luxury than to proclaim the gospel to a crowd but as a matter of fact he found it less expensive to travel in this way than to go as he ordinarily did for a long journey to and from London each town separately and the economy of army forces by means of motor tour has been marvelous every little core and village outpost on the route on weekdays being given the opportunity together crowds they never ordinarily reach together and to unite their own efforts for once with those of their general in trying to lift up Christ more than ever before and the general was so alive to the value of any handful of villagers or children but especially of his soldiers and officers to the master that it was to him a continual delight to move about amongst his soldiery in every land the general could rarely venture to plan very far ahead because his public appearances had all to be made to fit in with other and often even more important engagements of which only his staff knew anything it is indeed marvelous how few engagements he made ever had to be broken and how successful almost every campaign of his has been seeing at how short notice most of them were undertaken in one of his diaries I found a bitter complaint of the waste of time involved in having to wait for three hours between the steamboat and the train why he asks I have arranged a meeting for me one who has traveled 8000 miles with him on four motor tours says though everybody everywhere pressmen included were of necessity impressed with his sincerity and transparency they could see that he had all the time only one object in view the glory of God and the salvation of souls and it is the extent to the same spirit which made it easy for arrangements to be made and carry out in so few hours for the very largest demonstrations as to which it was never possible to hold any approach to a rehearsal those joining in them living usually so widely apart from each other an occasional private letter gives perhaps the best possible explanation of his own heart for the cross who that saw him in some grand demonstration could imagine that he had been feeling just before as this letter reveals my feelings alternate but my faith is steadfast morning noon and night I tell God he is my only help he will not fail me tonight's meeting will be as you say a great strain but the memories of God's goodness encourage me to go forward in spite of unutterable sadness and gloom and who that heard him on one of those congresses in which a great company of his officers and soldiers felt themselves to be feasting on heavenly manna for days together could imagine his writing the week after if ever I felt my full agreement with the Lord's definition of service as expressed in the parable I do today after all I am a poor unprofitable servant and I have lost no little sleep since Friday night in criticizing regretfully and condemning my share of the wonderful congress that has certainly taken a large part of the world by storm nevertheless I thank God from the bottom of my heart for the part I have been allowed to have in the matter amongst the incidents of all touring but especially of motoring our storms such as the one the general thus triumphed over we are still rushing on I had five meetings yesterday Friday and an hour's ride through the most blinding storm I ever encountered two of our cars broke down gave up and retreated to the nearest town for the night another got through in a damaged condition and three with difficulty arrived at our destination however we who did get in were rewarded with a big audience and a big reception it was very wonderful I am now reckoning on the closing meeting which takes place on Wednesday afternoon everybody continues to bless me and speak well of me is it not a little surprising and viewed from the master's standpoint a little dangerous you must keep on praying that my faith fail not abundance of trying things await me I must wait for my rest until the morning God bless you well may a man sometimes long for rest who has experiences like the following I nearly killed myself on Saturday and Sunday at Birmingham for some cause or other both throat and head got wrong and it was with difficulty that I had to make promises or pronounce my words and yet I had to meet the great opportunity that was presented I am paying the price today in weariness extreme there is hardly a bone in my body that does not ache or a nerve that does not seem overstrung but I shall rally and be myself again indeed I must for things of vast importance have to be attended to I am always empty and I have to prepare for my autumn campaign in Holland Germany, Italy, etc a mile or two after Penzan's the chauffeur turned to General Booth and now she is waking up he said with a satisfied sigh as the great car began to hurry through the open lanes the general nodded his head meditatively yes he said in his beard he looked up before they began to move England wants waking up I am trying to wake her up myself just a little and then we shall move I asked him what he made of our national apathy he shook his head I don't know how it is he said but people are somehow afraid to examine themselves afraid to see facts as facts there is a spirit in England that is worse than opposition to religion it's a spirit of of detachment of separation a spirit which says I don't want you I can do without you and so long as you leave me alone I shan't interfere with you it's a kind of slackness they want waking up they want rousing they want a good shaking it seems as if they have fallen deep slumber opium eaters he is setting out to rouse England once again make one great final effort for the future of humanity the future of humanity he believes can only be secured by conversion look at him in his car there he sits with a light colored overcoat buttoned around his neck a grey forage cap pressed over his ears his eyes looking straight ahead and his lips biting at his beard an old, old man in the newest of motorcars through lanes where Wesley rode his horse pouring over a book as he went General Booth flies in his be-flagged car on the same errand these two men so dissimilar in nature so opposed in temperament and separated by nearly 200 years the one on horseback the other in a motor car sought and are seeking the same elusive end the betterment of humanity one feels as one rides along our country roads with General Booth the enormous force of simple Christianity in this work of evolution one sees why Wesley succeeded and why the Salvation Army is succeeding we make too much of sin says evolution we don't make half enough of sin cries the general politicians and men of science seem like scene shifters in the dream of life and religion stands out clear and distinct as the only actor people have taken to the Salvation Army because it's so kind to poor people General Booth tells me they know I love the poor they know I weep bitterly for all the hunger and nakedness and sorrow in the world people know I'm sincere that's it they know the Salvation Army is sincere that it's doing kind actions and helping those whom nobody else will help or can help that's what makes us popular sympathy but the secret of the general is not humanness his secret is the reality with which he invests sin hear him talk about sin and you realize the man's spell at one moment he is full of humor in robust talk a genial, merry, shrewd-eyed old gentleman at the next at the mention of real sin his brows contract in his tongue hisses out such hatred and contempt and detestation as no Sibirite could find on the tip of his tongue for anything superlatively coarse or ill-flavored sin, he cries to me sin is a real thing a damnable thing I don't care what science calls it or what some of the pulpits are calling it I know what it is sin is devilish it is sin and only sin which is stopping progress it is sin and only sin which prevents the world from being happy sin go into the slums of the great cities pick up little girls of six years of age sold into infamy by their parents look at the drunken mother murdering her child the father strapping his cripple son sin that's what I call sin something beastly and filthy and devilish and nasty nasty, dreadfully nasty as you listen and as you realize that the Salvation Army contains numberless men changed in the twinkling of an eye from lives of such sin as this to lives of beneficent activity you begin to feel the general booth right or wrong has at least hit upon one of the most effective ways of developing evolution he makes sin as real to the individual as only the mystics can imagine for themselves perhaps humanity likes to be told how black it is how far it is from the perfectness after which nature is blundering and staggering I know not but it is manifest that when this grim old man with the ivory face the black flashing eyes the tangle of white hair and the tangle of beard leans over the rostrum and calls sin beastly and devilish and nasty the people sit as white and spellbound as the patient of the hypnotist it is a different general booth from the villagers flock to see as he drives smiling and genial through Cornish villages whom the band plays into towns and whom the mayors and conciliars receive with honor but the reason of this honor and this popularity is the fact that he is a force a living breathing power who has made sin real to the world and has awakened the religious consciousness of thousands of human beings William Booth was always very wide awake to the discouraging emptiness of mere demonstrations and never expressed himself more contemptuously with regard to them than when he thought that any of his officers in the midst of some grand display which was attracting unusual attention seemed to be likely to be satisfied with the show of what had been done instead of pressing forward to greater things yet he saw that in the presence of the continual and enthralling exhibitions of the world there was absolute need for such manifestations of united force as might encourage every little handful usually toiling out of sight and convince the world that we were determined fully to overcome all its attractions there had been before his time large demonstrations in favor of tea totalism and in some parts of the country the Sunday schools were accustomed annually to make displays of more or less fashionably dressed children and teachers but the general was alone in his own country and time in organizing any such public demonstrations in honor of Christ and of total abstinence from sin and from worldly mindedness how perfectly the general could always distinguish between the enjoyment of demonstration and of real fighting was strikingly manifested on one of our great crystal palace days looking down from the balcony upon the vast display when some 50,000 salvationists were taking part in various celebrations he noticed a comparatively small ring of our converted military and naval men kneeling together on the grass evidently within hearing of one of the bandstands upon which one band after another was playing according to program go and stop that band, he said to one of his ADCs we must not have those praying men hindered in their fight for souls by the music and this was only one example of his frequent abandonment of any program or practice or arrangement which seemed to him only to have demonstrative effect when any more enduring benefit could be other wise secured in short demonstration in his eyes was only valued at its military worth and he never wished anyone to become so occupied with appearance as to miss enduring victory the following description by a writer in a big London daily of one of the generals tours might be fairly accepted as a sample of them all and as giving some idea of the way in which they manifested his care for all that concerned men an easy day was the general's description of that in which we fared to medieval Godelman through the beautiful hind head region of Petersfield and thence in the evening to antiquity and Winchester he meant that he had only to address three great gatherings the day's course admitted of scarcely any primary wayside and hamlet musters so his oratory would be merely a matter of five hours or thereabouts there were solid fact in the general's airy designation it was an easier day than most of those on the tour but it had some distractions of its own apart from the great welcoming meetings it was curious and pleasant to see gypsies salute the general from their wayside on the road to hind head it was delightful to see the general himself as he descended and spoke to the church school children who hailed him by the wayside at Roque in one of the most charming wayside spots on the journey they stood with their teachers under the trees in the sunshine little pictures of bloom and happiness now wouldn't you like to be running round the country a motor he asked them straight away and their answer came with hearty directness in a naive and tender little speech that had a touch of airiness he told them of the joy of motoring turning anon to the many glad and beautiful things within the reach of little people who yet might not go a motoring and so in little touches appealing to the joy of life and soul that the child sense could understand isn't he like Father Christmas a little girl was heard to whisper here he charmed those in the morning of life away at Petersfield in the afternoon the sight of him consoled some in life's evening one poor old lady who had lost the use of both limbs was carried to her door and set in a bath chair and there she remained till the general had passed we noticed the light on her face and how vehemently she waved her handkerchief an army officer chatted with her before we left the town in the evening I can now die happy she said I have seen the general and when the call comes I know that God will send down the hallelujah motor for me and the loss of my old limbs won't matter in the least I have mentioned an easy day as described in a broad way the typical early stages it may be well in a somewhat more intimate and personal way to give an idea of the work moods and trend of the average day of the whole tour the stress and excitement it meant in the long stretch of country from the first town to the last were extraordinary we mustered as a rule at nine in the morning for the days work and travel to the folk in the town where the night had been spent turning out for the send off the general was on the scene almost invariably to the minute nearly always at those starts he looked grave resigned and calm but unexpectedly careworn it was as if he had wrestled with all his problems with a hundred world issues in the watches of the night and was still in the throes of them and unable for the moment to create his attention on the immediate town and crowd that hurried around him but of course he stood up and acknowledged the plot it's though often as one in a dream but the picturesqueness of his appearance in the morning sunshine with his white hair grave face and green motor garb took the imagination of the mass and without a word from him the people were left happy he looked a new personality at the first place reached usually about an hour before noon his air and mood when he stepped to the platform for the public meeting had undergone a radiant change all the more radiant we notice if the children who had hailed him from the way sides had been many and strenuous there was something of the child in his own face as he stepped to the platforms edge and replied to the enthusiasm of the house by clapping his own hands to the people there was always something naive and delightful in the general's preliminary task of applauding the audience here came his first important address of the day lasting an hour and a half or even longer it had many notes and displayed the general in many moods he was apt to be facetious and dryly humorous at first he had racy stories to tell and none can tell a story for the hundredth time with fresh zest than he in illustration of the old and bitter prejudices against the army a typical one was that of an old woman arrested for the hundredth time for being drunk and disorderly who was given the option of going to prison or being arrested for the hundredth time she was a little bit too drunk to realize what she did she decided for the latter she was kindly tended set in a clean cozy bed and watched over by a sister till the morning when she woke the sunlight streamed through the window and the happy unaccustomed surroundings surprised her where am I she exclaimed in bewilderment softly and softly oh goodness gracious rode the old woman take me away or I'll lose my reputation often in these long and comprehensive addresses the general told how he found the work of his life he was never so impressive as at this stage and the tale in its intensity was ever knew his language was nervous intense almost biblical his figure was very impressive of a patriarch's in a tragedy sixty years ago sixty years ago sixty years ago each time with a different and grimmer intonation the spirit of the living god met me I was going down the steep incline when the great god stopped me and made me think in the last stage of his address the social wizard who would recast character and rearrange humanity he gave an epic sense to the story of emigration and colonization but he was invariably clear and lucid in his detail so that the immediate and practical meaning of it all was never lost on the mayors and corporation and council were these who then miles and miles away at the second important stopping place in the early afternoon after incidental wayside speeches and idols he went over the same ground in a further address of an hour or more somehow in the afternoon he appeared to speak with added individuality and passion as if the wants and woes of the world had been growing upon him in the middle of his sleep and then away once more by the wayside and through the welcoming hamlets the third and last great stopping stage was reached as a rule about eight o'clock he typified serene old age as he stood up in the white car passing the long lines of cheering humanity here in the evening light it was not easy to regard him as a christmas or a philosopher who dealt much in abstractions and knew little of men the general who twenty minutes later proclaimed his spiritual truths and his social ideals to the new audience seemed once more an absolutely different personality often at these evening meetings he spoke for the better part of two hours end of section twenty three by Tom Hirsch