"A young man rose and told of his conversion a year ago, thanking

God that he had been kept through the year.

"A negro, of the name of Burton, interested the Meeting much by

telling of his first Open-Air Service, which he had held during the

past week in Ratcliff Highway, one of the worst places in London.

He said, when the people saw him kneel in the gutter, engaged in

prayer for them, they thought he was mad. The verse--

Christ now sits on Zion's hill,

He receives poor sinners still,

Was then sung.

"A young man under the right-hand gallery, having briefly spoken,

one of Mr. Booth's helpers, a Yorkshireman, with a strong voice and

hearty manner, told of the Open-Air Meetings, the opposition they

encountered, and his determination to go on, in spite of all

opposition from men and Devils.

"A middle-aged man on the right, a sailor, told how he was brought

to Christ during his passage home from Colombo. One of the Dublin

tracts, entitled, 'John's Difficulty,' was the means of his

conversion.

"A young man to the right, having told how, as a backslider, he had

recently been restored, a cabman said he used to be in the

public-houses constantly; but he thanked God he ever heard William

Booth, for it led to his conversion.

"Three young men on the right then spoke. The first, who comes five

miles to these Meetings, told how he was lost through the drink,

and restored by the Gospel; the second said he was unspeakably

happy; the third said he would go to the stake for Christ.

"A middle-aged man in the centre spoke of his many trials. His

sight was failing him, but the light of Christ shone brilliantly in

his soul.

"The chorus--

Let us walk in the light,

was then sung.

"A young man described his feelings as he had recently passed the

place where he was born; and a sister spoke of her husband's

conversion, and how they were both now rejoicing in God.

"After a young man on the left had told how his soul had recently

revived, another on the right testified to the Lord having pardoned

his sins in the theatre on the previous Sunday.

"Two sailors followed. The first spoke of his conversion through

reading a tract while on his way to the Indies four months ago. The

other said he was going to sea next week, and was going to take

some Bibles, hymns, and tracts with him, to see what could be done

for Christ on board.

"The verse--

I believe I shall be there,

And walk with Him in white,

was then sung.

"A young man of the name of John, sometimes called 'Young

Hallelujah,' told of his trials while selling fish in the streets;

but he comforted himself by saying, ''Tis better on before.' He had

been drawn out in prayer at midnight on the previous night, and had

dreamed all night that he was in a Prayer Meeting. He was followed

by a converted thief, who told how he was 'picked up,' and of his

persecutions daily while working with twenty unconverted men.

"A man in the centre, who had been a great drunkard, said, 'What a

miserable wretch I was till the Lord met with me! I used to think I

could not do without my pint a day, but the Lord pulled me right

bang out of a public-house into a place of worship.'

"He was followed by a young man who was converted at one of the

Breakfast Meetings last year, and who said he was exceedingly

happy. Another young man on the left said his desire was to speak

more and work more for Jesus.

"Two sisters then spoke. The first uttered a brief, inaudible

sentence, and the second told of being so happy every day, and

wanting to be more faithful.

"The verse--

Shall we meet beyond the River,

Where the surges cease to roll?

was then sung.

"A young woman said: 'I well remember the night I first heard Mr.

Booth preach here. I had a heavy load of sin upon my shoulders. But

I was invited to come on the stage. I did so, and was pointed to

Jesus, and I obtained peace.'

"Another told of his conversion by a tract, four years ago, on his

passage to Sydney. 'To my sorrow,' he said, 'I became a backslider.

But I thank God He ever brought me here. That blessed man, Mr.

Booth, preached, and I gave my heart to God afresh. I now take

tracts to sea regularly. I have only eighteen shillings a week, but

I save my tobacco and beer money to buy tracts.'

"The verse--

I never shall forget the day

When Jesus took my sins away,

was then sung.

"A stout man, a navvy, who said he had been one of the biggest

drunkards in London, having briefly spoken, was followed by one

known as 'Jemmy the butcher,' who keeps a stall in the Whitechapel

Road. Some one had cruelly robbed him, but he found consolation by

attending the Mission Hall Prayer Meeting.

"Two young lads, recently converted, having given their experience,

a dock labourer, converted seventeen months ago, asked the prayers

of the Meeting for his wife, yet unconverted. Some of his comrades

during the last week said, 'What a difference there is in you now

to what there used to be!'

"Three young women followed. The first spoke but a sentence or two.

The desire of the second was to live more to Christ. The third had

a singularly clear voice, and gave her experience very

intelligently. It was a year and a half since she gave her heart to

the Saviour; but her husband does not yet see with her. Her desire

was to possess holiness of heart, and to know more of the language

of Canaan.

"The experience of an old man, who next spoke, was striking. Mr.

Booth had announced his intention, some time back, of preaching a

sermon on 'The Derby,' at the time of the race that goes by that

name. This man was attracted by curiosity, and when listening

compared himself to a broken-down horse. This sermon was the means

of his conversion.

"The verse then sung was:--

Can you tell me what ship is going to sail?

Oh, the old ship of Zion, Hallelujah!

"Two sisters then spoke. The first had been very much cast down for

seven or eight weeks; but she comforted herself by saying, ''Tis

better on before.' The second said it was two years since she found

peace, and she was very happy.

"A young man told how his sins were taken away. He worked in the

city, and some one took him to hear the Rev. E. P. Hammond. He did

not find peace then, but afterwards, as a young man was talking to

him in the street, he was able to see the way of Salvation, and

rejoice in it. He used to fall asleep generally under the

preaching. 'But here,' he said, 'under Mr. Booth, I can't sleep.'

"A little boy, one of Mr. Booth's sons (the present General), gave

a simple and good testimony. He was followed by a young man, and

then an interesting blind girl, whom I had noticed singing heartily

in the street, told of her conversion.

"A girl told how she found peace seventeen months ago; and then Mr.

Booth offered a few concluding observations and prayed. The Meeting

closed by singing:--

I will not be discouraged,

For Jesus is my Friend.

"Such is a brief outline of this most interesting Meeting, held

Sunday after Sunday. Mr. Booth led the singing by commencing the

hymns without even giving them out. But the moment he began, the

bulk of the people joined heartily in them. Only one or two verses

of each hymn were sung as a rule. Most of them are found in his own

admirably compiled Song-Book.

"I could not but wonder at the change which had come over the

people. The majority of those present, probably nearly five

hundred, owed their conversion to the preaching of Mr. Booth and

his helpers. How would they have been spending Sunday afternoon, if

this blessed agency had not been set on foot?

"In the evening I preached in the Oriental Music Hall, High Street,

Poplar, where five or six hundred persons were assembled. This is

one of the more recent branches of Mr. Booth's work, and appears to

be in a very prosperous condition. I found two groups of the

helpers singing and preaching in the streets, who were only driven

in by the rain just before the Meeting commenced inside. This is

how the people are laid hold of.

"Shall this good work be hindered for the want of a few hundred

pounds?"

The supply of "pounds," alas! though called for in such religious

periodicals as at that time were willing to report the work, did not

come, and The General says: "After six years' hard work, we had nothing

better for our Sunday Night Meetings than a small covered alley attached

to a drinking-saloon, together with some old discarded chapels, and a

tumble-down penny theatre for week-nights."

At last a drinking-saloon, "The Eastern Star," having been burnt out,

was acquired, and rebuilt and fitted as a centre for the Work, to be

succeeded ere long by the large covered People's Market in Whitechapel

Road, which was for ten years to be The Army's Headquarters, and which

is now the Headquarters of its English Men's Social Work.

Throughout all these years of struggle, however, the Converts were

being drilled and fitted for the further extension of the Work.

The idea of forming them into a really permanent Organisation only came

to their Leader gradually. He says:--

"My first thought was to constitute an evangelistic agency, the

Converts going to the Churches. But to this there were three main

obstacles:--

i. They would not go where they were sent.

ii. They were not wanted when they did go.

iii. I soon found that I wanted them myself."

And the more time he spent amongst them the more the sense of

responsibility with regard to them grew upon him. He had discovered what

mines of unimagined power for good were to be found amidst the very

classes who seemed entirely severed from religious life. There they

were, and if only proper machinery could be provided and kept going they

could be raised from their present useless, if not pernicious, life to

that career of usefulness to others like themselves for which they were

so well qualified. They could thus become a treasure of priceless value

to their country and to the world.

On the other hand, neglected, or left with no other sort of worship than

as yet existed to appeal to them, they must needs become worse and

worse, more and more hostile to religion of any kind, more and more

unlikely ever to take an interest in anything eternal.

The General could not, therefore, but feel more and more satisfied that

he had begun a work that ought to be permanently maintained and

enlarged, as opportunity might arise, until it could cope with this

state of things wherever it was to be found.

And now that he had at length a centre to which he could invite all his

helpers from time to time, there was no hindrance to the carrying out of

such a purpose.

With the establishment of a Headquarters that cost £3,500, in one of the

main thoroughfares of Eastern London, we may look upon The General as

having at last got a footing in the world.

Chapter VIII

Army-making

What a place for a Christian Mission centre was Whitechapel Road!

"Just look here," said The General to his eldest son, then a boy of

thirteen, as he led him late one Sunday evening through the great

swing-doors of a public-house into the crowded bar. "These are the

people I want you to live and labour for."

The mere appearance of many a thousand in the neighbourhood, whether

inside or outside such houses, was enough to give some idea of the

misery of their lives. The language and the laughter with which those

ragged, dirty, unkempt men and women accompanied their drinking were

such as to leave no doubt that they were wallowing in the mire. At that

time, and, indeed, until the Children Act of 1909 came into force, it

was the custom of thousands of mothers to take their babies and little

children into the public-houses with them, so that the scenes of family

misery and ruin were complete.

In many of the side streets and back lanes, where there was little wheel

traffic, groups of men and women might have been seen bargaining; for

the most dilapidated and greasy articles of old clothing that could

still be worn, whilst lads and even children gambled with half-pence, or

even with marbles, as if they could not early enough learn how fully to

follow the evil courses of their elders. There were, and are still,

streets within ten minutes' walk of the Whitechapel Road where dogs and

birds were traded in, or betted on, competitions in running and singing

being often indispensable to the satisfaction of the buyers and sellers.

By the side of the road along which there was, and is, a continuous

stream of waggon and omnibus, as well as foot traffic, was a broad strip

of unpaved ground, part of it opposite that Sidney Street which a few

years ago became world-renowned as the scene of the battle of the London

Police with armed burglars. This was called the Mile End Waste, and was

utilised for all the ordinary purposes of a fair ground. The

merry-go-rounds, and shows of every description, which competed with the

unfailing Punch and Judy, and wooden swings, kept up a continuous din,

especially on Saturday nights and Sundays.

Amidst all this the vendors of the vilest songs and books, and of the

most astounding medicines, raised their voices so as to attract their

own little rings of interested listeners. There, too, men spoke upon

almost every imaginable evil theme, denouncing both God and Government

in words which one would have thought no decent workman would care to

hear. But all who have seen a fair will have some idea of the scene, if

they can only imagine all the deepest horrors of appearance and

demeanour that drunkenness and poverty, illness and rags, can crowd

together within a few hundred yards of space.

Once you can place all that fairly before your imagination you can form

some conception of the mind that could look upon it all and hunger to

find just there a battlefield for life, as well as of the faith that

could reckon upon the victory of the Gospel in such a place. We have all

read accounts of missionaries approaching some far-away island shore and

seeing the heathen dance round some cannibal feast. But such feasts

could not have been very frequent, amidst such limited populations,

whereas the ever-changing millions of London have furnished all these

years tragedies daily and nightly numerous enough to crowd our memories

with scenes no less appalling to the moral sense than anything witnessed

on those distant pagan shores. To those who take time to think it out,

the marvel of both the eagerness and the reluctance of Mr. and Mrs.

Booth to plunge into this human Niagara will appear ever greater. As we

look nowadays at the world-wide result of their resolve so to do,

despite all their consciousness of ignorance and unfitness for the

task, we cannot but see in the whole matter the hand of God Himself,

fulfilling His great promise: "Even the captives of the mighty shall be

taken away, the prey of the terrible shall be delivered, for I will

contend with them that contend with thee, and I will save thy children.

And all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour, and thy

Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."

As long as the God of that solitary, selfish tramp remains determined to

redeem and save even the most depraved and abandoned of mankind, its

Whitechapels and Spitalfields, and other moral jungles, can be turned

into gardens, blooming with every flower of moral innocence and

beauty--if only gardeners, capable of enough trust in God and toil for

man, can be found.

The Meetings held at noon daily in front of the new Headquarters set an

example of patient, persevering combat which was followed in the

Meetings, outdoors or in, held by what was then known as "The Christian

Mission." The first name used by "The General Superintendent," as our

Founder was then called, was "The East London Christian Revival

Society." This was changed to "The East London Christian Mission," and

the "East London" being dropped, when the work extended outside London,

"The Christian Mission" remained, much as the name was always disliked,

from its appearance of implying a slight on all other missions.

The steadily increasing success of the Whitechapel work was such that

when I first saw it, after it had only had that centre for two years,

the Hall, seating more than 1,200 persons, would be crowded on Sundays,

and, although the people had been got together from streets full of

drunkenness and hostility, the audiences would be kept under perfect

control, once the outer gates were closed, and would listen with the

intensest interest to all that was said and sung.

On Sunday nights I have known ten different bands of speakers take their

stand at various points along the Whitechapel Road, and when they all

marched to the Hall, they could usually make their songs heard above all

the din of traffic, and in spite of any attempts at interruption made

by the opposition.

The enemy constantly displayed his hostility at the Meetings held in the

street, whether in Whitechapel or any of the other poor parishes to

which the work had spread, and was not often content with mere cries of

derision either. Dirt and garbage would be thrown at us, blows and kicks

would come, especially on dark evenings, and the sight of a policeman

approaching, so far from being a comfort, was a still worse trial, as he

would very rarely show any inclination to protect us, but more generally

a wish to make us "move on" just when we had got a good crowd together,

on the plea that we were either "obstructing the thoroughfare" or

"creating a disturbance."

But what a blessed training for War it all was! The Converts learnt not

merely to raise their voices for God, and to persist in their efforts,

in spite of every possible discouragement, but to bridle their tongues

when abused, to "endure hardness," and manifest a prayerful, loving

spirit towards those who despite fully used them. The very fighting made

bold and happy Soldiers out of many of the tenderest and most timid

Converts.

And yet I am not sure whether a still more important part of The

Army-making was not accomplished in the Prayer Meetings, and Holiness

Meetings, which came to be more and more popular, until under the name

of "Days with God" and "Nights of Prayer" they attracted, in many of the

great cities of England, crowds, even of those who did not belong to us,

but who wished to find out the secret of our strength, for it was by the

light and help got in such Meetings that Converts became "steadfast,

unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord," so that instead of

merely carrying on a "Mission" for so many weeks, months, or years, many

of them became reliable warriors for life.

How few of The General's critics, who sneered at his Meetings as though

they were mere scenes of "passing excitement" had any idea of the

profound teaching he gave his people! The then editor of "The

Christian," who took the trouble to visit them, as well as to converse

with The General at length, with remarkable prescience wrote, as early

as 1871, in his preface to The General's first important publication,

"How to Reach the Masses with the Gospel":--

"The following pages tell a fragment of the story of as wonderful a

work, of its kind, as this generation has seen. No doubt it is open

to the same kind of criticism as the sculptor's chisel might award

to the excavator's pick; but I do not hesitate to believe that for

every essential Christian virtue--faith, zeal, self-denial, love,

prayer, and the like--numbers of the Converts of this Mission will

bear not unfavourable comparison with the choicest members of the

most cultivated Churches.

"There is not in this kingdom an agency which more demands the

hearty and liberal support of the Church of Christ. In the East of

London are crowded and condensed a large proportion of the poorer

labouring population of London. The ruined, the unfortunate, the

depraved, the feeble ones, outrun in the race of life, gravitate

thither and jostle one another in the daily struggle for bread;

thousands remain on the edge of starvation from day to day, and the

bulk of these teeming multitudes are as careless of eternity as the

heathen, and far more uncared for by the great majority of the

professed people of God. Mr. Booth's operations are unparalleled in

extent, unsectarian in character, a standing rebuke to the apathy

of Christians, and a witness of the willingness of God to show His

work unto His servants and to establish the work of their hands

upon them."

From the beginning, The General had taught his people to come together

for an hour's prayer early each Sunday morning, and to delight in prayer

at all times, looking ever to God to deliver them personally from "all

evil" and to "make and keep them pure within." These phrases were

familiar to all English people; but that their real meaning might not

only be taken in but kept ever before his people The General had

established two weekly Holiness Meetings in the Mission Halls, one on

Sunday morning and the other on Friday evening. These practices, kept up

wherever The Army has gone all these forty-five years, have resulted in

the cultivation of ideals far above those usual even in the most refined

Christian circles.

Nothing has more astonished me, amongst all the torrents of eulogy

passed upon The General and his Army since his death, than the almost

invariable silence amongst Christian as well as secular papers about

these Holiness Meetings, and that teaching of Holiness which were the

root and secret of all the success of The Army.

Any capable schoolmaster might compile volumes of rules; but how to get

them obeyed is the question. How could it be possible to settle every

question of who shall be the greatest in an Army formed largely of the

most independent and unruly elements, if there were no superhuman power

that could destroy the foundations of envy and ill-feeling, and fill

hearts, once wide apart, with the humble love that can prefer others'

honour before one's own?

The organisation of The Army has been, and is, in all countries a

steady, careful development. But it has only been made possible by the

continual maintenance of a complete confidence in God for the needed

supplies of wisdom and grace to enable each to submit to others for

Christ's sake, to bear and forbear for the good of the whole Army,

seeking ever to learn to do better, and yet being willing to be

forgotten, and even to be undervalued, misunderstood, and ill-treated by

a hasty or unjust superior, for Christ's sake.

General Booth, himself, did not always appear the most patient and

kindly of leaders. He would have been the first to admit how he wounded

tender hearts, and, perhaps, even repulsed some who could have been of

greater helpfulness to him had he been able to endure more patiently

their slowness and timidity.

But, conscious as he was of his own defects, he especially rejoiced when

his son and successor began to shine as a Holiness teacher, whose weekly

Meetings at Whitechapel became a power that was felt all over the world.

The teaching and enjoyment of this great blessing, with all the

deliverance from self-seeking and pride which it brings, has made it

possible to go on imposing more and more of regulation and discipline

on all sorts of men and women without either souring their spirit or

transforming The Army's system into mere machinery. The Army will go on

to carry out its Founder's purpose better and better the more it learns

how to sit constantly at the feet of the one great Master.

Chapter IX

Army Leading

We have seen Mr. Booth beginning on the spot, now marked with a stone,

near the site of "The Vine" public-house (since happily pulled down, the

site being turned into a public garden) on July 5, 1865, scrambling

through the first six years' difficulties until he marched the

beginnings of an Army of saved drunkards, infidels, and sinners into a

People's Market, transformed into a public Hall and Headquarters.

He called all that "The Christian Mission," with only a slowly dawning

consciousness that it was an Army, for six years more.

But he was leading it on, in humble dependence upon God, with increasing

speed and force. He was really hindered by many things, amongst them his

own ministerial habits of thought and plan. That nothing lasting could

be achieved without system and organisation he had always seen. But he

had never yet known a formation equal to that of some of the Churches

around him which depended upon more or less skilled preachers, and a

complete network of elected assemblies. For all purposes of conquest he

had got preachers enough out of the public-houses; but he could not

imagine their holding regular congregations, or developing the work,

without having years for study and just such plans as the Churches had

established. Hence, when he wanted leaders for the enlargement of the

work he advertised for them in Methodist or other publications. He

secured some excellent, well-meaning men, too; but, in almost every

instance, they proved to be slower than the troops they were supposed to

lead, and a kind of ecclesiastical organisation wrapped them all around

with a sort of Saul's armour, in which fighting the heathen was

unthinkable. He had got--by the testimony, as we have seen, of

impartial observers--such a force as was "unparalleled in extent,

unsectarian in character, and a standing rebuke to the apathy of

Christians."

But how was he to go further afield with it? He had not a leader ready

for its extension outside London. In 1873, Mrs. Booth, however, could

not be content without doing something, at least for a season, in

England's great naval base, Portsmouth, and, after that, in the sister

arsenal city of Chatham. The force of new Converts she gathered in each

town must needs be led by somebody, and in each case The General sent

men of proved ability to manufacture preachers of their own _fighting_

type. After having led Missions in those towns, they went and did

likewise in two of the great manufacturing cities of the north. But

their first achievements had led The General to venture upon sending out

others, of much less ability, to smaller communities, where they were

not less successful than the first two.

Already another great difficulty had been solved, for it had been found

that congregations of workmen gathered in the provincial towns would

give collections generally large enough to defray the local expenses.

Thus were cleared away not only two of the main blocks in the path of

progress, but all need or desire for the officialdom that had already

begun to grow threateningly stiff.

"After awhile," writes The General, "the work began to spread and

show wonderful promise, and then, when everything was looking like

progress a new trouble arose. It came about in this wise. Some of

the evangelists whom I had engaged to assist me rose up and wanted

to convert our Mission into a regular Church, with a Committee of

Management and all that sort of thing. They wanted to settle down

in quietness. I wanted to go forward at all costs. But I was not to

be defeated or turned from the object on which my heart was set in

this fashion, so I called them together, and addressing them said,

'My comrades, the formation of another Church is not my aim. There

are plenty of Churches. I want to make an Army. Those among you who

are willing to help me to realise my purpose can stay with me.

Those who do not must separate from me, and I will help them to

find situations elsewhere.'"

They one and all chose to stand by The General, for those who were

really set upon the formation of deliberative assemblies had already

left us.

This was in February, 1877, and in the following July the last Christian

Mission Conference met to celebrate the abandonment of the entire system

that Conference represented, and to assure The General that he had got a

real fighting Army to lead.

It was only at the end of 1878, during which year the "Stations," which

we now call Corps, had increased from thirty to eighty, that in a brief

description of the work we called the Mission a "Salvation Army." But

the very name helped us to increase the speed of our advance.

The rapidity with which The General selected and sent out his Officers

reminds one constantly of the stories of the Gospel. One who became one

of his foremost helpers, had formerly been a notorious sinner, and had

indeed only been converted a fortnight, when because he already showed

such splendid qualities he was sent by a girl Officer to The General

with the strongest recommendation for acceptance.

It was arranged for him to speak with The General on the platform, after

a Meeting. The General, who had, no doubt, observed him during the

evening, looked at him for a moment and then said, "You ought to do

something for God with those eyes! Good-night!"

"I had never had such a shock," says the Commissioner, as he now is. "If

that's being accepted for the Work, I said to myself--what next, I

wonder."

But, sure enough, in another three weeks' time he was called out from

his place of employment by a Staff Officer, who asked him, "Can you be

ready to go to M---- next Monday?" And he went.

This young man had been a devotee of billiards; but had become

interested in The Army by seeing two of our "Special" speakers--one a

very short Officer, the other a giant doctor from Whitechapel, who

weighed some 334 lbs., wheeled up a steep hill in a pig cart, to a great

Open-Air Meeting. After listening many times without yielding, he was

startled out of his coolness by a large Hall in which he attended a

Night of Prayer being burned to the ground the next day. The next

evening, with one of his companions, he went to the Penitent-Form and

found the mercy of God.

When The General was at all in doubt about a Candidate for Officership,

he would often draw such a one out by means of the most discouraging

remarks. To one who had gone expecting a hearty welcome, he said, "Well,

what good do you think you'll be?" The General's eldest son being

present, desiring to help her, remarked upon the high commendation her

Officers gave her. He wished to send her off directly to a Corps; but

The General, still uncertain, said, "No, send her to Emma," which opened

the way for her immediately to leave her business and go to the

newly-opened Training Home for women under his daughter's direction.

A similar Home for young men, under the present Chief of the Staff,

Commissioner Howard, provided means to take those about whose fitness

for the Work there was any doubt, and give them a training prior to

sending them on to the Field.

In 1880, The General addressed the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of the

United Kingdom. That Conference is one of the most powerful Church

assemblies in the world, directing as it does the entire forces of its

Church within the British Empire, and consequently influencing very

largely all Methodists in the world. It was a remarkable testimony to

The General's work that, so early as 1880, its most influential leaders

should have been able to arrange, despite considerable opposition, for

him to address the Conference which that year sat in London. The

President, in welcoming him, warned him that they could only give him a

limited time in which to speak.

What an expression of his sense of liberty and power "from on high,"

that The General should at once have begun by saying, "Mr. President,

in our Meetings we are accustomed to bring any speech that seems likely

to go on too long to a close by beginning to sing. I shall not take it

amiss if you do so in my case." The general laughter with which this

suggestion was greeted banished at once any appearance of stiffness from

the solemn and exclusive assembly, whose members alone were present. He

then proceeded to explain the origin and work of The Army, as follows:--

"I was told that ninety-five in every hundred of the population of

our larger towns and cities never crossed the threshold of any

place of worship, and I thought, 'Cannot something be done to reach

these people with the Gospel?' Fifteen years ago I thus fell in

love with the great crowds of people who seemed to be out of the

pale of all Christian Churches. It seemed to me that if we could

get them to think about Hell they would be certain to want to turn

from it. If we could get them to think about Heaven they would want

to go there. If we could get them to think about Christ they would

want to rush to His open arms.

"I resolved to try, and 'The Salvation Army' is the outcome of that

resolution. In August, 1877, we had 26 Stations. We have now, in

1880, 162. In 1877, we had 35 Evangelists. We have now 285

Evangelists, or, as we now call them, Officers, and in many

instances they have the largest audiences in the towns where they

are at work.

"We have got all those Officers without any promise or guarantee of

salary, and without any assurance that when they reach the railway

station to which they book they will find anybody in the town to

sympathise with them. The bulk would cheerfully and gladly go

anywhere.

"We have got, I think, an improvement upon John Wesley's penny a

week and shilling a quarter, by way of financial support from our

Converts. We say to them, 'You used to give three or four shillings

a week for beer and tobacco before you were converted, and we shall

not be content with a penny a week and a shilling a quarter. Give

as the Lord has prospered you, and down with the money.'" (Loud

laughter.) "When I asked one of my Officers the other day at a

Meeting held after a tea, for which the people had paid a shilling

each, to announce the collection, the woman-Captain, to my

astonishment, simply said, 'Now, friends, go into the collection.

Whack it into the baskets.' The whole audience was evidently fond

of her, and they very heartily responded.

"If asked to explain our methods, I would say: _Firstly, we do not

fish in other people's waters, or try to set up a rival sect._ Out

of the gutters we pick up our Converts, and if there be one man

worse than another our Officers rejoice the most over the case of

that man.

"When a man gets saved, no matter how low he is, he rises

immediately. His wife gets his coat from the pawn-shop, and if she

cannot get him a shirt she buys him a paper front, and he gets his

head up, and is soon unable to see the hole of the pit from which

he has been digged, and would like to convert our rough concern

into a chapel, and make things respectable. That is not our plan.

We are moral scavengers, netting the very sewers. We want all we

can get, but we want the lowest of the low.

"My heart has gone out much after Ireland of late, and ten weeks

ago I sent out there a little woman who had been much blessed, and

four of her Converts. They landed at Belfast at two o'clock in the

morning. They did not know a soul. Our pioneer (contrary to our

usual customs) had taken them a lodging. We had said to her, 'Rest

yourselves till Sunday morning'; but she was not content with this.

After a wash, a cup of tea, and a little sleep, they turned out,

found a Christian gentleman who lent them a little hall, had it

crowded at once, and now, though only ten weeks have passed away,

we have Stations in four other towns, two in Belfast, and two

others are getting ready for opening. Blessed results have

followed. The people, we are told, come in crowds--they are very

poor--they sit and listen and weep, rush out to the Penitent-Form,

and many are saved.

"Now, Mr. President, I think I may say that it is a matter for

great thankfulness to God that there is a way--a simple, ready

way--a cheap way, to get at the masses of the people.

"_Secondly. We get at these people by adapting our measures._ There

is a most bitter prejudice, amongst the lower classes, against

churches and chapels. I am sorry for this; I did not create it, but

it is the fact. They will not go into a church or chapel; but they

will go into a theatre or warehouse, and therefore we use these

places. In one of our villages we use the pawnshop, and they gave

it the name of 'The Salvation Pawnshop,' and many souls were saved

there. Let me say that I am not the inventor of all the strange

terms that are used in The Army. I did not invent the term

'_Hallelujah Lassies_.' When I first heard of it I was somewhat

shocked; but telegram after telegram brought me word that no

buildings would contain the people who came to hear the Hallelujah

Lassies. Rough, uncouth fellows liked the term. One had a lassie at

home, another went to hear them because he used to call his wife

'Lassie' before he was married. My end was gained, and I was

satisfied.

"_Thirdly. We set the Converts to work._" (Hear, hear.) "As soon as

a man gets saved we put him up to say so, and in this testimony

lies much of the power of our work. One of our lassies was holding

a Meeting in a large town the other day when a conceited fellow

came up to her saying, 'What does an ignorant girl like you know

about religion? I know more than you do. I can say the Lord's

Prayer in Latin.' 'Oh, but,' she replied, 'I can say more than

that. I can say the Lord has saved my soul in English.' (Laughter

and cheers.)

"_Lastly. We succeed by dint of hard work._ I tell my people that

hard work and Holiness will succeed anywhere."

Of course, every day's march forward brought with it lessons that were

learned and utilised. Not long could The General continue to interview

Candidates himself, and then forms of application were evolved. The

Candidate must have every opportunity to understand what would be

required of him, and to express his agreement or otherwise with the

teachings and principles of The Army. It was made clear to him or her

that, whilst called upon to offer up a life-long service to this work

for Christ's sake, he must expect no guarantee of salary whatever, and

no engagement even to continue to employ him, should he at any time

cease to act up to his promises, or show himself to be inefficient in

the work.

As for the Soldiers, it was soon required of them that they should sign

"Articles of War" before they could be enrolled. These Articles formed

so simple and clear an expression of The Army's teachings and system,

that the most illiterate in every land could at once take in their

practical effect.

The Articles simply required every one to give up the use of

intoxicants; to keep from any resorts, habits, company, or language that

would be harmful; and to devote all the leisure time, spare energy and

money to the War.

As time went on The General published _Orders and Regulations for

Soldiers_, a booklet of 164 pages, and perhaps as complete a handbook

for the direction of every department of life, public and private, as

was ever written; _Orders and Regulations for Field Officers_,

containing 626 pages of the minutest directions for every branch of the

Work; and _Orders and Regulation's for Staff Officers, _ the most

extraordinary directory for the management of missionaries and

missionary affairs that could well be packed in 357 pages. At later

dates he issued _Orders and Regulations for Territorial Commissioners

and Chief Secretaries_, containing 176 pages, and _Orders and

Regulation's for Social Officers_, the latter a complete explanation of

his thoughts and wishes for the conduct of every form of effort for the

elevation of the homeless and workless and fallen; and _Orders and

Regulations for Local Officers_, containing precise details as to the

duties of all the various non-commissioned or lay Officers, whether

engaged in work for old or young. Smaller handbooks of _Orders and

Regulations for Bands and Songster Brigades_, and for almost every other

class of agents were also issued from time to time.

Thus, step by step, The General not merely led those who gave themselves

up to follow him in the ever-extending War; but furnished them with such

simple and clear directions in print as would enable them at any

distance from him to study his thoughts, principles, and practices, and

sock God's help to do for the people around them all that had been shown

to be possible elsewhere.

With such a complete code of instructions there naturally arose a system

of reporting and inspection which enabled The General to ascertain, with

remarkable accuracy, how far his wishes were being carried out, or

neglected, by any of his followers. He sometimes said, "I would like,

if I could, to get a return from every man and every woman in The Army

as to what they do for God and their fellow-men every day." It soon

became impossible, of course, for any one person to examine the returns

which were furnished by the Corps; but records were kept, and, as the

work increased, Divisional and Provincial Officers were appointed, with

particular responsibility for the Work in their areas; so that in even

the most distant corners of the world, wherever there is a registered

Salvationist, there is some Staff Officer to whom he must report what he

is doing, and who is expected periodically to visit each Corps, see that

the reports made are accurate, and that the work is not merely being

done "somehow," but done as it ought to be, in the Master's Spirit of

Love and Hope for the vilest. And all this without the absolute promise

of a penny reward to any one! In fact, from the first, The General

taught his Officers that they must try to raise all expenses of the work

in their Commands within the borders of the districts in which they were

operating. He has always regarded it as a proper test of the value of

work done that those who see it are willing to pay as much as they can

towards its continuance. And, to this day, The Army's resources consist

not so much in large gifts from outsiders as of the pence of those who

take part in or attend its services.

Regulations are made, from time to time, as to the amount any Officer

may draw for himself, according to the cost of living where he is at

work, though a considerable number do not regularly receive the full

amount. So utterly, indeed, above any such consideration have our

Officers, everywhere, proved themselves to be that, to guard against

needless sacrifice of health and life, it has been necessary to fix,

also, in each country, a minimum allowance, which the Staff Officers

must see that the Field Officers receive. Knowing, as I do, that many

devoted Officers have, for months together, been down at the minimum

level of six shillings per week, in little places where we have no

wealthy friends to help a Corps into greater prosperity, I feel it safe

to say that never was there a religious society raised and led to

victory with so much reliance upon Divine Grace to keep its workers in a

perfectly unselfish and happy condition.

Space forbids any description of the heroic labours by which The General

and Mrs. Booth, travelling, holding Meetings, and corresponding, managed

to extend The Army's work throughout Great Britain; so that before its

name had been adopted ten years, it had made itself loved or dreaded in

many parts.

At the earliest possible date in The Army's history, The General took

steps to get its constitution and rights so legally established that it

should be impossible for any one, after his death, to wrest from it or

turn to other purposes any of the property which had been acquired for

its use by a Deed Poll enrolled in the High Court of Chancery of

England, August 7, 1878. The construction, aims and practices of The

Army are so defined that its identity can never be disputed. Another

Deed Poll, enrolled January 30, 1891, similarly safeguarded The Army's

Social Work, so that persons or corporations desiring to contribute only

to the Social funds could make sure that they were doing so. Similar

Deeds or other provisions are made in every other country where we are

at work, containing such references to the British Deeds, that the

absolute unity of The Army, and the entire subjection of every part of

it to its one General is, in conformity with the laws of each country,

secured for all time.

And again a deed dated July 26th, 1904, has provided for the case of a

General's death without having first named his successor, or for any

other circumstance which might arise rendering a special appointment

necessary.

Subsequent chapters will show how wondrously God helped The General to

carry on this work in other countries as well as in his own, and we

cannot believe that any one will read this book through without being

constrained to admit that there has not merely been the accomplishment,

under The General's own eye, of an enormous amount of good; but the

formation and maintenance of a force for the continual multiplication

of it all, in every clime, such as no other leader ever before

attempted, or even planned. And then most will be constrained surely to

say with us: "It is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes."

Chapter X

Desperate Fighting

One might have supposed that a man who thus raised a force of working

people to do good to others, would in a Christian country have been

honoured and encouraged by all the better elements, and defended with

vigour by the press, the pulpit, and the police against any of the lower

sort who might oppose him or his followers.

To the shame of his fellow-countrymen, alas! it must be told that, so

far from this being the case, The General was generally treated for the

first few years of The Army's work as being unworthy to be received in

any decent society, and his followers, as "blasphemers of religion" and

"disturbers of the peace," who ought by all possible means to be

suppressed.

Those who fattened on the vices of the poor and the opponents of

religion generally were undoubtedly the leaders of opposition to his

work. There were only too many ignorant ruffians ready to delight in any

excuse for disturbance, and very many truly religious people who put

down every disturbance so created to The Army's account, and who,

without taking the trouble to make any inquiry, denounced it

mercilessly.

Condemned almost whenever mentioned, either by press or pulpit, The

General and The Army were naturally treated by many authorities and

largely by respectable citizens, not only as unworthy of any defence,

but as deserving of punishment and imprisonment. In one year alone,

1882, no fewer than 699 of our Officers and Soldiers, 251 of them women

and 23 children under fifteen, were brutally assaulted generally whilst

marching through the streets singing hymns, though often when attending

Meetings in our own hired buildings, and 86, of whom 15 were women,

were imprisoned. True, these persecutions almost always gained for us

sympathy and friends, as many as 30,000 people coming out in one case to

the railway station to welcome an Officer upon his release from prison.

Yet, year after year, such attacks were repeated, and, even during the

last year, imprisonment was suffered by several Officers for leading

Meetings where they had regularly been tolerated for some thirty years;

but where some newly-appointed dignitary would rather not see them.

When we ask in wonder how so bitter an opposition to such a leader, or

his work, could arise, we always find the sort of explanation which that

famous man John Bright once wrote to Mrs. Booth:--

"The people who mob you would doubtless have mobbed the Apostles.

Your faith and patience will prevail. The 'craftsmen' who find

'their craft in danger,' 'the high priests and elders of the

people,' whose old-fashioned counsels are disregarded by

newly-arrived stirrers-up of men, always complain, and then the

governors and magistrates, who may 'care for none of these things,'

but who always act 'in the interests of the public peace,' think it

best to 'straightly charge these men to speak no more' of Christ."

The General's attitude in face of all these storms was ever the same;

"Go straight on" was the pith of all his replies to inquiries, and his

own conduct and bearing amidst the most trying hours were always in

accord with that counsel. As in the case of many popular leaders of

thought in England, the custom was established of meeting him at railway

stations, and escorting him with bands and banners, music and song from

train to theatre, Town Hall, or whatever the meeting-place might be for

the day. When he was received, however, not as in later years with

universal acclamations, but with derisive shouts and groans and

sometimes with showers of stones and mud, he smiled to see the

commotion, and took every opportunity to show his enemies how much he

loved them. Already more than fifty years old, and looking decidedly

older, when the worst of these storms burst upon him, this bearing often

subdued crowds, the moment they really caught sight of his grey beard.

"At Ipswich," says one of our Commissioners, "I remember how he won over

the booing crowd by laughingly imitating them, and saying, 'I can boo as

well as you.' Riding with Mrs. Booth through one of the worst riots that

he experienced, and in full sight of all the violence which nearly cost

one of our Officers his life, The General was seen, even when his

carriage was all splattered with mud and stones, standing as usual to

encourage his Soldiers and to salute the people. Arrived at the great

hall he was fitter than most of his people to conduct the Meeting

there."

How much his own calm and loving spirit was communicated to many of his

followers may best be represented by the remarks of a wounded Lieutenant

on that occasion to a local newspaper whilst he was in hospital.

The fact that this Lieutenant had been the champion wrestler of his

county, and would never, before his conversion, have allowed any one to

take any liberty with him, will explain the way in which from time to

time The General acquired Officers capable of overcoming such crowds.

The Lieutenant, riding in the very dress he had once worn as an athlete,

but with our Salvation Army band around his helmet, was a perfect target

for the enemy.

"When I came to S----, I never thought for one moment that I should have

to suffer and to be taken to a hospital for my blessed Master; but I

have had a happy time there. I can truly say that the Spirit of God has

revealed wondrous things to me since I have been in. Though I have

suffered terrible pains, the Great Physician has been close by my side."

(Whilst being removed into the hospital he was heard to whisper "I hope

they'll all get saved.") But he goes on, "When I became conscious I

found myself in the hospital with a painful head and body; but it was

well with my soul. The grace of God constituted my soul's happiness, so

much so, that when I thought about Paul and Silas being taken to prison,

and how they praised God and sung His praises, my heart sang within me.

I could not sing aloud for the pain I was suffering. Could I have done

so, I would have made the place ring for the victory the Lord had given

me in the battle. Glory to His Name! I remember I had no sleep until

twelve o'clock the second night I was in. The first night was an

all-night of pain. At the same time it was an all-night with Jesus. He

was indeed very precious to my soul. I thought of the sufferings of

Christ for me--even then--the chief of all sinners until saved by His

grace. Hallelujah for His love to me. My suffering was nothing (though I

suffered thirteen weeks) compared to Christ's. Should my blessed Saviour

want me to do the work over again, I should do it to-morrow."

"The General," says one of his chosen associates of those times, "always

reminded me so of the captain of a vessel in a stormy sea. Perfectly

calm himself in a way, yet going resolutely ahead with unerring aim,

quickly deciding whenever a decision was needed, and always ready to

take all the risks; he trained his folks how to go through everything

that came, to victory."

One of the weakest of the many women whom in those days he taught how to

rise up out of their ease and go to battle and victory, says of her

first sight of him, more than forty years ago, "He gave me the

impression in that Meeting of a man of God, whose only aim was the

Salvation of souls. I got saved at one of Mrs. Booth's Meetings, when I

was still a girl only twelve years old. They used to call me 'Praying

Polly.' But, never having had a day's schooling, when he wanted me to

become an Officer, I feared my own incompetence. Mrs. Booth said 'You

will see God will punish you.' She had seen something of my work in

Meetings where I had to take up collections and turn out roughs, and so

had no doubt told The General what she thought I could do.

"Sure enough I was laid up completely, lost the use of one limb, and had

to use crutches. But just as I came weak out of hospital and penniless,

I saw a shilling lying on the ground, picked it up, and with it paid my

way across London to The General's house. I thought, 'Oh, if I can only

see Mrs. Booth, I'll get her to pray for me, and get help from God.'

When I arrived at the door, she was just coming out to go off to the

North of England; but she sent her cab away and stayed for a later

train, to attend to me. She helped me up the steps and said:--

"'Now then, are you willing to follow God?'

"I didn't feel fit for anything; but I said, 'Yes, if God will only help

me, I'll go to the uttermost parts of the earth for Him.'

"Accordingly, after having some care and nursing I recovered strength,

and, soon after returning to my Corps, I, in a Meeting when my name was

called, forgot my crutches and hobbled to the front without them. How

the Soldiers all shouted! The Captain carried them after me on his

shoulder home that night.

"After I had been in the War for some months I was ordered to bid

farewell to Lancaster, and, whilst resting at a little place near, I

received order to go to Scotland. When I was at the station, however, on

the Saturday, I got a wire from The General, 'Orders cancelled. Go

King's Lynn.' Nobody at the station knew, at first, where it was, and

even the stationmaster said, 'You cannot get there to-day.' 'But I

must,' I said, 'I have to commence my work there to-morrow.' And he

found out there was just a chance, by taking an express part of the way.

When I got there, at a quarter to ten at night, I knew of no friend, and

found there had been no announcement made in the town. But, on going to

a Temperance Hotel to put up, I learned that a gentleman near had the

letting of a large hall. I at once went to him.

"'But,' said he, 'we don't let like that, out of business hours. And we

are accustomed to get payment in advance of the £2 10_s._ it costs.'

"As I had only sixpence left, I could pay nothing; but I said to him,

'The Rev. William Booth is responsible. You draw up an agreement. I'll

sign, and you shall have the money Monday morning.' Somehow he felt he

could not refuse me, and so I had got my hall for Sunday afternoon and

evening.

"After a good night's rest, I went out on the Sunday morning and spoke

during the forenoon in twelve streets, making, of course, my

announcement of the afternoon and evening Meetings. A poor woman who

thought I was out singing to get bread came and gave me 1½_d._

saying, 'That's all I have; but you shall have it.' I had to do

everything myself in the afternoon Meeting, for I could not get anybody

who came even to pray. But they gave me twelve shillings. I wanted them

to help me hold a Meeting outdoors at 4:30. At 5:30 we had to open the

doors, as so many were waiting to get in, and at six the building was

packed. We kept up the Meeting till after ten o'clock, by which time

seventeen people had come out to seek Salvation.

"The police sent me a message one Sunday evening, during the Meeting,

that they wanted me at the police station. I replied that I was engaged

that evening; but that I was at their service any time after six the

next morning. So they had me up the Monday morning, and sentenced me to

a month's imprisonment. But they never enforced it, till I left the

town.

"In another place we had no Hall, and I have seen my Soldiers in the

early morning trample snow down till it was hard enough for us to kneel

upon for our Prayer Meeting.

"In Tipton one of the Converts was called the 'Tipton Devil.' He once

sold his dead child's coffin for drink. When we got him, a week later,

to the Penitent-Form, and I said to him, 'Now you must pray,' he said,

'I can't pray.' 'But you must,' I said. After waiting a moment, he just

clapped his great rough hands together and said, 'O God, jump down my

throat and squeeze the Devil out.' And then he said the old child's

prayer:--

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,

Look upon a little child;

Pity my simplicity,

Suffer me to come to Thee.

If ever a big rough fellow came 'like a little child' to Jesus he did,

for his life from that day was absolutely new.

"Another of those men's wives sent for me, and said she feared he was

going mad, for he had hung up his old ragged clothes on the wall. But we

soon heard him come singing up the street, and he said, 'I've hung them

up to remind us all what I was like when Jesus set me free. A lot of our

blokes have turned respectable, and gone and joined the chapel, and I

thought if ever the Devil comes to tempt me that way I'll show him those

clothes, and say, "The hand that was good enough to pick me up will be

good enough to lead me on to the finish."'

"So I said to his wife, 'He might do a worse thing: let them hang there,

if it helps him any.'"

How The Army won so many of its worst opponents to be its Soldiers comes

out beautifully in a more recent story.

"When I was a drunkard," says a poor woman, "I used just to hate The

Army. But one day, as I was drinking in the 'King George' public-house,

I heard them singing to an old tune of my childhood, and that brought me

out. I stood and listened, and the Sergeant of the Cadets, who was

leading, came over to me and said:--

"'Isn't it very cold? Hadn't you better go home? Don't go back to them,'

she said, nodding towards the public-house. And she started to walk with

me, and put her jacket round my shoulders. In that moment I felt that

The Salvation Army was something for me."

Not only did this woman get saved, but her husband and children, too, as

a result of that loving act.

There came times in many cities, both in England and elsewhere, when our

opposers were formally organised against us, under such names as

"Opposition and Skeleton Armies," etc. These were organisations, in some

instances so formidable, especially on Sunday afternoons, that at one

time, in 1882, there would be 1,500 police on extra duty to protect us

from their attack. This, of course, we much disliked, and we gave up our

marches entirely for a few weeks, so that when we began again the police

might get proper control. They never allowed the formation of these

bands again, for they had learned their lesson by that time. But how

marvellously God helped The General by means of those very oppositions!

They brought us into close touch with bodies of young fellows, many of

whom have since become leaders amongst us.

Strange and sad that throughout all the years of our most desperate

fighting we scarcely ever found men from the "better classes" daring to

march with us. One noble exception, Colonel Pepper, of Salisbury, with

his wife, never hesitated, in the roughest times, to take their stand

with their humblest comrades, glad to go through whatever came. To Mrs.

Pepper The General wrote in 1880:--

"The Colonel will have sent you some information of our Meetings.

But any real description is impossible. Manchester has, in many

respects, surpassed everything. The Colonel, himself, has pleased

me immensely--so humble and willing. When I look at him in the

processions, evidently enjoying them, I cannot help wondering at

what God hath wrought, and praising Him. London seems your place,

and it has been borne in on my mind that the time has come for us

to make an attack on the West End, and to raise a Corps there,

principally out of the proper and decent people. I don't mean out

of the Plymouth Brethren, or the 'evangelical party,' so-called;

but out of the wicked and wretched class who have money and

position and education, and who are floating to Hell with it all.

"I shrink from suggesting further sacrifices to you. God give you

wisdom. We have much success and much trial, and much bitter

opposition. We must have more and more success and more trial, and

more bitter opposition. We must have more intelligent Officers, and

you must help us get them."

That West-End attempt, made later by Mrs. Booth, produced for us,

indeed, some Officers who have done much for The Army's advancement;

although, perhaps, not another Colonel Pepper. The very attacks made

upon us, however, helped to attract the attention of thoughtful people,

and to lead to our Meetings persons possessing all the gifts needed for

The Army's world-wide extension.

Amongst these were Colonel Mildred Duff, Editress of our papers for the

young, and authoress of a number of books; Commissioner W. Elwin

Oliphant, then an Anglican Clergyman; Miss Reid, daughter of a former

Governor of Madras and now the wife of Commissioner Booth-Tucker, of

India; Lieut.-Colonel Mary Bennett, as well as Mrs. de Noe Walker, Dr.

and Mrs. Heywood-Smith, and a number of other friends in England and

many other lands who, though never becoming Officers, have in various

ways been our steadfast and useful friends and supporters.

Surely it can only be a question of time! It is true what our great

Master said: "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not

many noble are called."

But, if in the days of our weakness and contempt, it was given us to win

such a force of honourable women and a man now and then, are we to

despair, now that all the world is awakened to the value of our work, of

winning for it more of the excellent of the earth?

The prosecutions of our people by the police also helped us not only to

attain notoriety locally, but to gain a much higher standing generally.

As soon as The General could find legal ground for appealing against the

magistrates' decisions he did so, and this not only obtained for us

judgments that made our pathway clear in the future, but caused the then

Lord Chancellor, the late Earl Cairns, Lord Chief Justice Cockburn,

Archbishop Tait of Canterbury, Bishop Lightfoot of Durham, and other men

of wide influence to speak out in the House of Lords or elsewhere for

us.

And yet, throughout his entire career, right down to his last days, The

General was at times personally assailed with a malevolence and

bitterness that could hardly have been exceeded. It has constantly been

suggested, if not openly stated, that he was simply "making a pile" of

money for himself; and yet, as will be seen in our chapter on Finance he

made the most comprehensive arrangements to render suspicion on this

score inexcusable.

But try, if you can, at every turn throughout all this life, whenever

you hear of General Booth, to realise what it means for such a man,

struggling to carry on and extend such a work, to know every minute, day

and night, that he is being accused and suspected of seeking only his

own, all the time. Remember that his nature was perhaps abnormally

sensitive about any mistrust or suspicion, and about the confidence of

those nearest to him. And then you may have some conception of the cross

he had always to bear, and of the wounded heart that went about, for

years, inside that bold and smiling figure.

And yet there is, thank God! much of the humorous to relieve our

tensions in The Army. A brother Commissioner of mine remembers seeing

The General sail for the United States for the first time. As the

steamer swung off, a bystander remarked, "So he's off?" "Yes." "And when

do you go?" "Go? What do you mean?" "Well, you will never see him again

now, will you?" And then my comrade fairly took in that the man was

alluding to the continual prophecy of those days that The General, once

he had got enough, would disappear with all the money he had raised. So

that man went down to his house laughing, and has been laughing over it

now for twenty-six years!

Perhaps The General gained more than can ever be calculated from having

to begin and to carry on his warfare, for a long time, in the very teeth

of public opinion.

We're marching on to war, we are, we are, we are!

We care not what the people think, nor what they say we are,

was one of the favourite choruses which, in his greatest public

demonstrations in this country, as well as in his ordinary Meetings, he

taught us to sing.

Only in this spirit of utter disregard for public opinion have God's

prophets, in all ages, been able to do their work, and only whilst they

remain indifferent to men's scorn and opposition, can the Soldiers of

The Salvation Army properly discharge their task of "warning and

teaching every man," in all wisdom.

How indispensable this state of mind is to the individual Convert only

those who have lived for Christ amongst the hostile surroundings of a

great city can really know. That we have now so many resolute comrades,

even amongst the young people, who meet with no encouragement, but

rather with every sort of contempt and rebuff in their homes, their

workshops, and the neighbourhoods in which they live, is alike a

remarkable demonstration of the extent to which this great victory has

been won, and, at the same time, of the far wider and grander conquests

that are yet to come.

The gigantic enterprises that lie before us, if Christ is really to

become the First and Last with the millions of Africa, India, Japan, and

China, as with those of America and Europe, would be hopeless were we

not prepared to raise up Soldiers to this great military height of

contempt for civilian opinion.

But it may be that our very attitude in this respect has whetted the

enemy's resolution to do all that could be done to prejudice public

opinion against us. The very large measure of popularity or, at any

rate, respect, so far as The Army generally is concerned, in which we

rejoice to-day, must be attributed to the impression created by the calm

persistence of The General, and those who have truly followed him, in

doing what they believed to be right, and turning from all they believed

to be doubtful and wrong, in spite of the general condemnation and

opposition of those around them.

The very people who to-day applaud our efforts to assist the poorest and

worst to a self-supporting and honourable career, are often blind to the

fact that we have only succeeded by doing the very things which they

once said we ought not to do, and by turning away from all the old

customs to which they would fain have chained us.

Chapter XI

Reproducing The Army in America

So far we have traced the beginnings of The Army in the United Kingdom.

But would The General desire or be able to extend it to other countries?

With regard to the need for it there is now, at any rate, no dispute in

any "Christian country," for almost all intelligent persons, whatever

may be their own creed, or want of creed, admit the presence in their

great cities, if not elsewhere, of only too many of the sort of persons

to whom The Army has proved useful.

But there has been no country in which the need for, or possible value

of, The Army has not been at first hotly disputed. We have seen how

desperately it was at first opposed in the country of its birth. And

that could not have been possible had not so many really religious

people looked upon it as an "un-English" sort of thing, "American" in

its ideas and in its style of action. When it was beginning in Scotland,

many said that it might be tolerated amidst the godless masses across

the border, but that its free style of worship especially "on the Lord's

Day" could not but be "a scandal" in the land of Sabbath stillness;

whilst as to Ireland, we were assured that our outdoor proceedings must

needs lead to bloodshed.

When, however, The General resolved to send Officers to America, there

was hardly a voice in either Church or Press which did not ridicule the

idea of our being of use there. And in the case of almost every other

country the same prejudice against English people having "the

presumption to think" that they can give lessons in true religion to any

other nation has made itself more or less felt, even to this day.

But, happily, The General never took counsel with flesh and blood upon

such questions. He knew that, whatever differences might exist between

one race and another, there was everywhere the one sad similarity when

it came to neglect of God and the soul. That The Army must adapt itself

to each new population he had always taught; but that it would

ultimately succeed wherever there were masses of godless people, he

never doubted.

Really the first extension to the United States came about, however, by

no planning of his. A family belonging to one of the home Corps

emigrated, in 1879, to Philadelphia, where they commenced to hold

Meetings there, meeting with such rapid success that two Corps were

raised before the Officers for whom they pleaded could be sent to them.

When The General paid his first visit to America, in 1886, we had

already 238 Corps in the Union, under the leadership of 569 Officers,

mostly Americans. Ten years later there came that terrible blow to him

and to the Work, when his second son, who had been entrusted with its

direction for a term, left The Army, and founded a separate

organisation. Notwithstanding the misunderstanding which followed, and

the check to our progress that was necessarily involved, The Army went

steadily forward, and The General visited the country from time to time,

receiving on each occasion a very remarkable welcome.

The appreciation of his leadership was always of the more value in the

United States, because the disinclination of the American people to

accept anything like direction, let alone command, from this side the

Atlantic was always so marked. It is this fact which gives such special

value to the sort of experiences we are about to record from one of the

later tours of The General, that of 1902-3.

Summing up the journey and its general impressions to an old friend, he

writes:--

"Well, I have been busy and no mistake. Day after day, hour after

hour, you might say minute after minute, I have had duties calling

for immediate attention. Oh, it has been a whirl! But what a

wonderful rush of success the nine weeks have been since I landed

at New York.

"The people, the Press, the dignitaries of all classes have

combined in the heartiest of welcomes ever given in this country, I

suppose, to 'a foreigner' of any nationality. It has been

remarkable, and, indeed, surprising, for it was so largely

_unexpected_.

"I have just come into this city of Kansas. The two largest hotels

have competed to have the privilege of giving me their best rooms,

with free entertainment. A monster brewery that illumines the whole

city every night with a search-light has been running alternate

slides, one saying, 'Buy our Lager Beer,' and the other, 'General

Booth at the Convention Hall Monday night.' The building for my

Meeting to-night will hold 8,000 people, and on Saturday 4,000

tickets were already sold.

"You will be a little interested in this because you will know

something of the difficulties that seemed to lie ahead of me when I

started. God has been very good, and I hope my Campaign will do

something towards the forwarding of His wishes in the country."

The reception at New York was one of the most enthusiastic The General

ever had. At four o'clock on the Saturday morning, enough of his

followers and friends to fill fifteen small steamers had assembled, so

as to be sure to be in time to meet his liner. By way of salute, when

the great steamer appeared, they discharged seventy-three bombs--one for

each year of his life, as yet completed.

The _New York Herald_ said of his Sunday there:--

"Eight thousand people heard General William Booth speaking

yesterday at the Academy of Music. The rain had no effect in

keeping either Salvation Army people or the general public from the

Meetings. About one-third of those present wore Salvation Regalia.

"General Booth displayed wonderful energy throughout his fatiguing

day's work. His voice has great carrying power, and the speaker was

distinctly heard throughout the auditorium. Despite the fact that

they could not gain admission to the building, at the evening

service, people remained standing in the drenching rain from 7:30

till after 9 o'clock to see The General leave."

"At the close of his last address," says _The Times_, "167 men and

women had been persuaded to his point of view, and went to the

Mercy-Seat."

How generally the whole country, and not merely the central areas, was

stirred by the mere arrival of The General, may be guessed from the

following words taken from the _Omaha Daily News_ article of the Monday

for its readers through far-away Nebraska:--

"One of the arrivals on the steamship _Philadelphia_ is General

William Booth of The Salvation Army. That vessel never carried

before so great a man as this tall, white-haired, white-bearded

organiser, enthusiast, and man-lover.

"Wherever men and women suffer and sorrow and despair, wherever

little children moan and hunger, there are disciples of William

Booth. The man's heart is big enough to take in the world. He has

made the strongest distinct impact upon human hearts of any man

living. This is a man of the Lincoln type. Like Lincoln he has the

saving grace of humour, and sense of proportion. There is something

of the mother-heart in these brooding lovers of their kind. There

is the constraining love that yearns over darkness and cold and

empty hearts. Big hearts are scarce.

"In an age of materialism and greed William Booth has stirred the

world with a passion for the welfare of men. His trumpet-call has

been like the silvery voice of bugles. His spirit will live, not

only in lives made better by his presence, but in the temper of all

the laws of the future."

We shall see from the welcomes given to him by great official

personages, that these remarks do not in the least exaggerate the

feeling created all over the country by the activities of The Army. Had

The General merely made great proposals he would only have been looked

upon in the generally favourable way in which men naturally regard every

prospector of benevolent schemes. But the country recognised in him the

man who, in spite of the extreme poverty of most of his followers, had

raised up, and was then leading on, a force of obedient and efficient

servants of all men.

The journey was arranged, for economy of time, so as to include a visit

to Canada, and its general course was as follows: From New York he

travelled to St. John's, New Brunswick, where the Premier, in welcoming

him, said the work of The Salvation Army had "placed General Booth in a

position perhaps filled by no other religious reformer." From New

Brunswick he passed on to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Montreal (where he

was the guest of Earl Grey, the Governor-General), Ottawla, Kingston,

Hamilton, London, and Toronto. Thence he returned to the States, and

held Meetings in Buffalo, Chicago, Minneapolis, and St. Paul, Des

Moines, Kansas City, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland,

Omaha, St. Joseph, St. Louis, Birmingham, Cincinnati, Cleveland,

Pittsburg, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Worcester, in three of

which cities he conducted Councils of Officers, in addition to public

Meetings.

The impression invariably made wherever he went, was thus ably summed up

by the _Chicago Interocean_:--

"No other man _is_ General of an Army of people that circles the

globe. No emperor commands soldiers serving openly under him in

almost every nation of the earth. No other man is called

'commander' by men and women of a hundred nationalities.

"Aside from his power over the great Organisation of which he is

the head, General Booth is one of the world's most remarkable

figures. His eloquence stirs and stings, soothes and wins; and this

eloquence alone would make him famous, even if he had never

undertaken the great work he has done with The Salvation Army.

"As he speaks, his face is radiant with the fervour that carries

conviction. His tall figure and long arms, used energetically in

gestures that add force to what is said, his white hair and beard,

and his speaking eyes, make him an orator whose speeches remain

long in the minds of those who hear them. The feeling of the

members of The Army towards their Commander has in it both the love

and reverence of a large flock of their pastor, and, added to this,

the enthusiasm, loyalty, and energetic spirit of an Army."

[Illustration: General Bramwell Booth]

Where so wonderful a journey is so filled up with Meetings so

described, and where, from the very highest to the lowest all speak so

warmly of him, it is really difficult within the limited space at our

disposal to give, without danger of monotony, or repetition, any

adequate idea of what took place. Americans are such habitual organisers

of huge demonstrations, and are so generally accustomed to say,

publicly, without reserve, what they think, that the expression of what

to them may appear perfectly natural runs the risk of creating elsewhere

an air of exaggeration and unreality. But if we consider that great

American States like Minnesota, Ohio, and Michigan contain more

inhabitants than some of the kingdoms of Europe, and that their

Governors are men likely to occupy the very highest positions in the

government of America, we can realise how effective amongst the masses

of the people The General's work must have been before such Governors

could be expected to preside at his Meetings, and to speak of him, as

they did.

Said Governor Nash, of Ohio:--

"I never had the privilege of meeting you in person, until I

grasped your hand upon this platform. You have not been unknown,

however, to me or to the people of Ohio. You recognise the fact

that you could not perform this work well without the help of God.

That your work has been well performed is well known to us all from

the fact that the Organisation you have made known as The Salvation

Army has spread throughout the world, turning the feet of

multitudes into the paths of righteousness and peace. It has done

good. It has done a great work wherever it has gone. It is for

these reasons that the people of Ohio welcome you most cordially

to-night, and they and I wish you an abundant harvest in your

life's work, and that at the end you may have the peace and rest

and the joy that God gives to all His own good people."

Similar specially religious references to those used by Governor Nash

came constantly into the speeches of other leaders who expressed their

people's welcomes to The General, showing how faithfully every

opportunity was being utilised to exalt Christ, amongst even the most

unusual crowds assembled on these occasions.

Governor Cummins, of Iowa, said:--

"I have long wanted an opportunity to express publicly my

appreciation of the grand, noble, and untiring work that every day

is being performed by those noble and unselfish men and women, who

have gathered under the Flag of The Salvation Army, loved and

esteemed throughout the whole world.

"In every army there is a leader. The Salvation Army has a Leader

whose commanding figure towers above the Salvationists of the

world, and has drawn to himself more love, more respect, and more

confidence than at this moment centres in any other human being. Of

him it will be said, after he has passed to the beautiful shores of

the hereafter, the best that can be said of any man, that the world

is better because he lived in it."

Lest The General should have been too much puffed up by all his

successes and the praises showered upon him, God almost at the end of

the tour allowed an accident which might easily have ended his career;

but which only gave him an opportunity to show more conspicuously than

ever his resolution to persevere in his ceaseless labours.

It was whilst passing along a dark passage in New York that The General

stumbled, and, but for God's great goodness, would have fallen into a

cellar. As it was, one leg was very much bruised and hurt. He thus

described, in writing, to a friend what followed:--

"March 13, 1903.--The accident came at a very unfortunate moment,

and at the onset it looked like spoiling the closing chapters of

the Campaign.

"But God is good. I was favoured with the services of one of the

most skilful and experienced surgeons in New York. He put my leg

into starch, and then into a plaster of Paris jacket. And by dint

of resolution, and the supporting Spirit of my Heavenly Father, I

went through the last Meeting with apparent satisfaction to

everybody about me, and some little comfort to myself.

"It was a great effort. The Hall is one of the finest and most

imposing I ever spoke in. Three tiers of boxes all round full with

the swell class of people in whom you are so much interested, with

two galleries beyond.

"It called for some little courage to rise up with my walking-stick

to steady me; but God helped me through. I hung my stick on the

rail, and balanced myself on my feet, and talked the straightest

truth I could command for an hour and twenty minutes.

"A little spectacular function followed in the shape of trooping

the Colours of the different nationalities amongst whom we are at

work in the States, and a midnight torchlight procession, with a

massed farewell from the balcony of the Headquarters, closed the

Campaign.

"I am doing the voyage fairly well. Of course, it is very

wearisome, this lying all the time. The ship is rolling and tossing

and pitching considerably, and it looks like doing so, until we get

under shelter of the land."

The probable after-effect of these distant Campaigns of The General

could not be better described than in the words of one of our American

Officers, himself known throughout The Army as one of our most

spiritually-minded and intelligent observers:--

"Seventeen years ago," he says, "the writer first heard The

General, and it has been his privilege to hear him many times

since. Each succeeding effort and series of Meetings seems to

eclipse all the rest. It was so in Pittsburg, which, being one of

the greatest business centres and home of some of the most virile

men of the world, deeply appreciates him.

"He was very weary from his heavy Campaign in Cleveland, but, in

spite of this, to me he seemed at his best. He spent no time in

angling to get into sympathetic touch with them, but with the

precision of a bullet he made direct for the conscience of every

man and woman there. Talk about 'naked truth,' 'judgment,'

'daylight,' 'straight preaching.' We had it that night, as I never

heard it before. There was no escape. Every honest person there had

to pass judgment on himself.

"It was difficult to close that Meeting. The truth was setting men

free. Many wept and prayed and submitted to God, and some fairly

howled at the revelation God gave them of their character and

conduct. It has been my privilege to hear such preachers as

Beecher, Matthew, Simpson, and Phillips Brooks, and such orators as

Wendell Phillips and Gough; but The General is the greatest master

of assemblies I ever met. He played on those vast audiences of

judges, lawyers, ministers, business and working men as Ole Bull

played on the violin. They laughed, they wept, they hung their

heads with conviction, their bosoms heaved with emotions, they were

convinced, convicted, and a multitude were converted. I think at

one time there could not have been less than 3,000 eyes brimming

with tears. He uncovered sin and made it appear as it is, utterly

without excuse, and utterly loathsome; and then he revealed the

love and sympathy and helpfulness of Christ, till many could not

resist, but had to yield.

"A lawyer said to me the next day that the sermons and lecture were

the most wonderful he had ever heard. Another lawyer who had been

to each Meeting stayed in his place till the very close on Sunday

night, saying that he could not tear himself away.

"The common people heard him gladly, and the uncommon people were

overwhelmed with admiration, and conviction. A young lady,

belonging to one of the best families in the city, just home from

Paris, where she had been studying art, heard him and could not

refrain from leaving the box in which she sat and going to the

Penitent-Form. She went home truly converted.

"The wave of power and conviction did not cease when The General

left; and during the next four days we saw fifty-eight persons at

the Penitent-Form."

The special value of all these American testimonies to the effect of The

General's brief visits, lies in the fact that they show the triumph of

the War plan of God, just in the circumstances where weaklings are

tempted to yield to public opinion, substitute orations for real

righting for souls, and to press nobody to an immediate decision, or

change of heart and life.

There can be no doubt that The Army's invariable fight against the drink

has helped to make its General so highly honoured amongst American

statesmen. But in that, as in everything else, the important fact to

note is that it was by establishing an absolute authority that he

secured the faithful carrying on of the campaign against drink and every

other evil at every spot where our Flag flies.

The eyes of the whole world have, in our day, been more or less opened

to the ruinous character of the drink traffic, and The General and his

forces, whilst keeping out of the political arena, have mightily helped

the agitations that have ended in the exclusion of the drink traffic

altogether from many states and cities, and its limitation, in many

ways.

But much less notice has been taken of other evils, which have no less

absorbed the attention, and spoiled the means, the minds, and the souls

of the masses. The sight daily in every great English-reading city when

the sporting editions of the newspapers appear, ought indeed to arouse

every follower of Christ. But the habit of irresponsibility that has

grown up in most "Christian" circles has still to be fought against

everywhere, and The General's persistent testimony against it, indeed

the whole theory of a Divine Army and of War, must remain for ever one

of the strongest features of his life's work. The old song:--

Arm me with jealous care,

As in Thy sight to live;

And, Oh, Thy servant, Lord, prepare

A strict account to give,

has expressed the thought behind all the arrangements of our Army. And

it is remarkable how, in the midst of the general indifference, so large

a measure of this "jealous care" for God and souls has been awakened and

maintained.

Nowhere, alas! does the theory of irresponsibility find a more congenial

soil than in the very places and services where God is most feared,

honoured, and obeyed. His doors are indeed opened to the world; but

whether anybody enters them or no is the care of but sadly too few.

Hymns are so announced as to make it easy for all to join in singing

them, if they choose. But whether the words are sung by many, or only by

a proficient few, and above all, whether hearts as well as voices are

raised in prayer and praise to God, is too often a matter of absolute

indifference to almost every one.

How The General altered all that, wherever his influence was felt! He

made all his people understand that not merely are they responsible for

understanding and heeding God's commands themselves, but for enforcing

attention to them, as those who must give account of their success or

failure.

The sister leader of some little Meeting in the far-away Outpost of a

Corps, thousands of miles from the centre, when she insists upon having

a verse sung for the third time because "I'm sure some of you lads were

not half singing," has little idea of the religious revolution she

represents. That the dislike of so many for any "such innovations"

continues, may help to convince any one who thinks of the urgent need

there was, and is still, for the substitution of responsible for

irresponsible leadership in "Divine Service."

During his visit to the United States in 1907 The General had a severe

illness which seriously threatened to cut short his career. His death

was indeed cabled as an item of news from Chicago. But the report was,

as Mark Twain would have said, "grossly exaggerated." Nobody will

wonder, however, at his having been ill when they read Commissioner

Lawley's report. He writes:--

"We have calculated that in the thirteen meetings of his New York

Campaign the General was on his feet speaking about twenty-six and

three-quarters hours.

"He spent less than six weeks in the Country, travelled about 3,700

miles by train, spoke about eighty-five hours to fifty audiences,

before conferring many hours with leading Officers, and talking to

the Newspaper Reporters in each town he visited."

An Officer describing his illness wrote:--

"I never shall forget his effort to ascend the staircase of the

Commissioner's house on Friday morning after his victory at

Milwaukee the night before. The veteran Warrior had to rest his

head and hands on the rail and pray 'My Lord.' It was clear to me

that the chill he had sustained days before, and which he fought in

vain against would make him a prisoner for days."

What that meant to him when he was already announced for a number of

other cities can be imagined.

His symptoms the following day were very serious, and one cannot but be

glad that he had at his side at the time his daughter--Commander Eva

Booth. Under her loving care, and with all the help of Doctors and

Masters that could be got in Chicago, The General recovered so as to be

able to go on after a few days with his interrupted tour, after which he

wrote in his farewell letter to his American Troops:--

"I have been impressed with the great improvement in the devotion,

spirituality and Blood and Fire character of the forces already in

existence. I have also most pleasantly gratified by a conviction of

the possibility of raising a force in the United States that shall

not only be equal to the demand made upon it by the conditions of

the country but of supplying me with powerful reinforcements of men

and money for the mighty task of bringing the whole world to the

feet of Jesus."

During this visit, The General and the Commander were received by

President Roosevelt at the White House. The General was presented with

the freedom of the City of Philadelphia, and after going through the

gigantic final week described alone in New York was able to sail direct

to Germany for his usual great Repentance Day in Berlin, and he was

already seventy-eight years old.

Need it be said that whilst in this book little mention is made of any

one but The General himself, it not having been his habit in his

journals to refer to those with whom he was for the time associating, we

are not to suppose that at any rate in recent years he was anywhere

fighting alone. In Heaven no doubt the victory won in many a crowded

building was put down to the credit of someone whom few if any of those

occupying the front of the platform would have mentioned; but as a

result of whose prayers, faith and effort the audience was gathered or

the results attained.

It would have been very unfair to the great majority of his Officers to

have called frequent or special attention to the small English Staff who

usually accompanied him, for not only the Commissioners and Chief

Secretaries but the Officers of every nationality laboured

systematically to make the most of his visits to any particular place

and to render to the largest possible extent the results of each visit

permanent.

This may possibly seem specially and curiously unfair in the United

States and Denmark, yet it will only make[1] the principle of this

omission from The General's own records and ours the more clear.

It will doubtless be expected that I make some comment upon the painful

separation from him of three of his own children which were amongst the

saddest events of The General's life, and, yet, I feel it best to say

nothing.

It is not within the scope of this book to tell "all about it," and

telling part could only cause misunderstanding. So I leave it, and hope

everyone else will do the same.

Chapter XII

In Australasia

The entire programme of every tour The General made emphasises so

strongly his advocacy of hard work that one really hesitates to pick out

any one Campaign as more remarkable than another. What is, however,

extraordinary in connexion with one of his far-away Australian journeys

is our having letters which so much more than any others give

particulars of his doings.

"I am resting to-night, and well I think my poor body has earned

some kind of respite. Such a ten days' work I never did before of

sheer hard work. How I have come through it, and come through so

well, I cannot understand, except that God has indeed been my

Helper."

Here is another side-light on The General's own inner life which we get

by the way. We conceal, of course, the identity of the lady in question,

except to say that it was a very distinguished hostess with whom he had

occasion to spend some hours when travelling.

"It was perhaps the loveliest journey I ever had. I talked nearly

all the time, and, in fact, had no alternative. But I think I ought

to have made a more desperate and definite attack on her soul than

I did. She is a very intelligent and amiable lady, and I have no

doubt I made an impression.

"Good-bye. Go on praying and believing for me. I want to be a flame

of fire wherever I go. I thank God for the measure of love and

power I have. _But I must have more._ I am pushing everybody around

me up to this--the inward burning love and zeal and purity. I wish

our _best_ men were _more spiritual_. Give my tenderest love to

all."

In each of The General's visits to Australia there was much of the same

character; but from the letters to his children which he wrote on one of

them, we can extract enough to give some idea of what he saw and felt in

passing through those vast regions:--

"What the reception (at Melbourne) would have been had it not been

for the torrents of rain I cannot imagine. Although it was known

that I could not get in before six or seven o'clock, there was a

great mass of several thousand people waiting at three o'clock. As

it was we did not get into the Exhibition Building till ten, and a

vast crowd had been sitting inside from five, and stayed to hear me

talk till 10:45.

"I had an immense Meeting--they say 5,000 were present on the

Sunday morning, 7,000 in the afternoon, with as many more turned

away.

"The opportunity here is immense beyond conception. The people are

delightful, and the Officers also. If they were my own sons and

daughters, I don't see how either Officers or Soldiers could have

been much more affectionate."

How great was the strain of the Meetings may be guessed from the

following remarks as to the final one:--

"I trembled as I rose. You must understand that the Hall down which

I spoke is about 400 to 450 feet long, and that on this occasion a

partition about ten feet high was drawn across it, some 300 feet

from the spot on which I stood, so that my voice had to travel all

through the entire length of the building before it met with any

obstruction, whilst behind me there was at least another seventy

feet. The Press estimate the crowds at 10,000; but, that is an

exaggeration. There would be 7,000, at least. I had taken the

precaution to send an Officer to the far end to see how far he

could or could not hear me, and he brought back word 'excellently.'

So I drove ahead, speaking over an hour and a half, and not losing

the attention of my audience for a moment. Indeed, I felt I had the

whole house from the moment I opened my lips. Of course, it was the

greatest physical effort a long way that I ever made, and,

considering that it was my seventh address in that 'dreadful'

building, and that I commenced with a bad throat, exhausted with

the fatigues and miseries of the voyage, and that I had

ceaselessly worked at smaller Meetings, etc., all the four days, I

do think it very wonderful how I went through it, and I must

attribute it to the direct holding up and strengthening of the dear

Lord Himself.

"On all hands I think a deep impression was made. To God be the

glory, and to my poor constituents, for whom I live and plead, be

the benefit.

"I am tired this morning, but shall get a little rest to-day and a

little extra sleep in the train. We leave for Bendigo at twelve

o'clock, arriving at four for Meeting to-morrow. We go to Geelong

next day, coming back here on Friday morning, and leaving at five

for Sydney, travelling all night, and arriving there about noon on

Saturday.

"You will get tired of hearing of this round of Meetings, and of

the very echo of this enthusiasm; but you will, I am sure, rejoice,

not merely that the people of this new world have welcomed your

father and General with such heartiness, but that there is for The

Army such an open door in these parts."

That is indeed what lends such endless importance to the recital which

we cannot help reporting ever and anon of The General's Meetings in each

country to which he went. It was not the mere coming together of crowds

to listen to a speaker, but the enthusiastic acceptance and endorsement

of a system, and of demands made by a perfect stranger in which he so

delighted. The General never went anywhere merely to preach or lecture.

All that he did in that way was always so combined with Salvation

Campaigns that at every step he was really recruiting for The Army.

Hence his every movement, the reports of his journeys, the conversations

he held with all whom he met, everything told in the one great War and

helped to create, more and more all over the world, this force of men,

women, and children, pledged to devote themselves to the service of

Christ and of mankind.

There is a very interesting account of a visit to a State School,

especially as it shows The General's keenness to learn, for The Army,

anything possible:--

"At ten o'clock I went by the request of Mrs. McLean, the lady

with whom I am staying, to visit one of her State Schools. I was

met at the door by the managers and members of the board, who

conducted me through the building.

"There were over 1,000 children in ten different classrooms. I was

much interested in them, and spoke in each room, so that I began

the day with at least ten little sermons.

"I was very much struck with the singing of the children, rendered

very effective with some corresponding action with the arms and

feet, which gave life and vigour to the thing. I am satisfied that

we might follow this plan out with very good effect in our Army

singing. The little that is done is always appreciated."

And so whilst the Secular Australian Schools got some little gleam of

the heavenly light, the aged General saw and passed on to all his world,

a valuable suggestion that has since been taken up and acted upon

everywhere in our Children's Meetings and demonstrations.

And then he passes at once to quite another department of his

activities. He always exercised the same care in every country, which we

have already described as to England to ensure the careful settlement of

all property acquired for The Army, so that it may be, as nearly as

possible, made certain that nothing given to the one Army should ever be

removed out of the control of its central authority. How much of time

and care this has demanded will be readily understood by those who have

any experience in property matters, and who know how widely laws and

legal usages differ in different countries:--

"I had an interview with Mr. Maddocks, our solicitor out here--a

very nice fellow indeed, and I should think capable withal. He

seems to grasp the idea of The Army government, and to be anxious

to co-operate with us in such a settlement of our property as will

be in harmony with it."

Only by means of many such interviews, and all the care they represent,

was it possible, under the laws of such thoroughly democratic States, to

leave the local holders of authority under The General's complete

freedom of aggressive action, and yet to secure that everything they

acquired with The Army's funds should remain for all time at the

disposal, for The Army only, of a General with his office at the other

side of the world.

And then we go on to the journey during which he was hoping "to get some

extra sleep"!

"At twelve, left for Bendigo, arriving about four o'clock. Was very

weary on the journey, and had to turn out two or three times to

address the crowds waiting to listen to me on station platforms.

"Bendigo is a town of some 30,000 people, entirely made and

sustained by the gold-digging industry. An immense amount of the

precious metal has been taken here, and sufficient is being secured

still to make it a paying concern, although the miners have to go

to a considerable depth in order to secure the quartz.

"We had a public reception, and they had made a general holiday of

it in the place. People must have come in from miles around to help

make up such a crowd. They pulled up at a splendid fountain in the

centre of the town, intending to separate with three cheers for The

General; but I could not withstand the temptation, and made quite a

little sermon about saving their souls, and serving God."

It is this interest both in the everyday occupations and resources of

the people, and of the tours they made which, joined with all his

intense concern about the soul, constituted The General and all who

truly follow him, the true brethren of all mankind. It must ever be

remembered, to the credit of Australia, that its leading men were the

first to recognise this characteristic of our Officers, and to lend them

all the influence of their public as well as private countenance and

sympathy. It is this fact which makes it a permanent pleasure to record

their kindnesses to The General.

"Came on to Melbourne, on my way to Sydney. Met a body of

representative men to lunch, amongst them Sir James McBain,

President of the Upper Chamber, Mr. Deakin, an ex-Cabinet

Minister, a very nice fellow indeed, a man who appears to me to

have more capacity than any one I have yet met in the Colonies. He

made a speech, and at the close drew me on one side, and said he

wanted to do something for us, and if I could only tell him what it

should be on my return to Melbourne, he would be very glad to do

it.

"I am sure he is prepared to be a good friend. He is a coming Prime

Minister, I should think."

(The General had no idea then that all Australasia would, so soon, be

united into one Commonwealth, much less that Mr. Deakin would, for so

many of the next ten years, be Premier of the whole.)

But a remark he once made respecting the reported scepticism of some

highly-placed Colonials might be made with regard, alas! to many

"statesmen" of Christian lands nowadays, and we cannot but see in that

fact, and in the friendliness of so many such persons with us, a token

of the meaning both of the scepticism, and The Army's position. In how

many instances have men, moving in influential circles, met with a

Christianity manifestly formal and carrying with it no impress of

reality! How natural for them to sink into scepticism! But the moment

they encounter men who convince them instantly that they believe the

Bible they carry, scepticism retires in favour of joyous surprise, and

without any desire to discuss doctrines, they become our lifelong

friends.

The General's ability in securing the assistance of all sorts of men,

including those whose religious opinions widely differed from his own,

or who had got none at all, was remarkable. When reproached, as he was

sometimes, for taking the money even of sporting men, he would always

say that he only regretted that he had not got a larger amount, and that

he reckoned the tears of the poor creatures that would be relieved would

wash the money clean enough in the sight of God for it to be acceptable

in His sight.

"Met Mr.----. He is interested in our Maternity work, and promised

some time back to assist us with the Hospital we are proposing to

erect. He is a multi-millionaire. He promised £2,500 right

away--£1,500 when the sum of £23,500 had been raised, making

thereby a total of £25,000 with which building operations could be

commenced.

"He is a young man; sprightly and generous, I should think. I

wanted him to make his promise £5,000 in round figures. But he

simply said, 'I cannot promise.' We shall see!"

The following description of one Australian night ride may give some

idea both of the eagerness of the people to hear him, and of the amount

of fatigue The General was able to endure:--

"We left at 5 P.M. The journey was certainly unique in my history.

Six or seven times in that night, or early morning, was I fetched

out of my carriage to deliver addresses. The Mayors of two of the

towns were there to receive me, with crowds all placed in orderly

fashion, with torches burning, everything quiet as death while I

spoke, and finishing up only with the ringing of the departing bell

of the train and the hurrahs of the people.

"At two in the morning, at Wagga-Wagga, of Tichborne fame, they

fairly bombarded my carriage shouting, 'General Booth, won't you

speak to us? Won't you come out?' But I thought you could really

have too much of a good thing.

"At another station, after speaking for the twenty minutes allowed

for breakfast, a lady put through the window a really superb

English breakfast, as good as ever I had in my life, with

everything necessary for eating it, and as we went off she added,

'Mind, I am a Roman Catholic.'

"The reception at Sydney was enormous, they say never surpassed,

and only equalled once at the burial of some celebrated oarsman who

died on the way from England. They had arranged a great reception

for him, and they gave it to his corpse. The enthusiasm of the

Meetings is Melbourne over again."

The General's almost invariable escape from illness during so many years

of travelling, in so many varying climates and seasons, can only be

attributed to God's special guidance and care. In Melbourne, influenza

raged in the home where he was billetted, and seized upon one of the

Officers travelling with him. And yet he escaped, and could resume his

journey undelayed. In South Africa, when he was seventy-nine, another of

his companions in travel was separated from him for days by severe

illness; but The General, in spite of a milder attack of the same sort,

was able to fulfil every appointment made for him.

Best of all, however, was the peculiarly blessed inward experience which

he enjoyed amidst all the outward rush of the Australian tour. It has

been so often suggested by truly excellent men that the soul cannot

enjoy all the fulness of fellowship with God without a great deal of

retirement from men, that we should like to have The General's inner

life fairly exhibited, if it were only in order for ever to bury this

monstrous and, we might also say blasphemous, superstition, which has so

often been supported by one or two quotations from the Gospel, though in

defiance of the whole story of Christ, and of every promise He ever

made.

Of what value could a Saviour be who drew back from helping His own

messengers upon the ridiculous pretence that they were too busy doing

His bidding, and did not spend enough time "seeking Him for themselves"?

"Just a P.S. to say that God is wonderfully with me. I don't think

that I ever in the midst of a great Revival had a more powerful

time than last night. It was nothing short of a miracle. I had no

definite line ready, and had no time to get one. I preached an old

sermon at Melbourne, just because I must have something straight

before me that I could shout out to that immense crowd, and I had a

wonderful time; but last night God helped me in every way. The

power upon the people was really wonderful at times."

Little did most of his own Soldiers guess the extreme strain of inward

weight and struggle under which The General was often labouring just

when in some great assembly he appeared to every one to be overflowing

with youthful gaiety and self-confidence.

The following letter to his youngest daughter, and some entries in his

diary, will give some idea of the inner victory he really gained on many

such occasions.

Commissioner Lawley, mentioned in this letter, was The General's almost

constant companion and helper in many years' travel in many lands,

leading the singing, soloing, managing the Prayer Meetings, and

generally aiding in every arrangement, a true armour-bearer and comrade

at every turn:--

"Fair night; might have been better. Plenty of weakness; still,

better than it often is.

"Lawley just been in; he is not over well; says we have got the

biggest theatre (The Empire). He is not quite sure whether its

suitability for talking is beyond the Coliseum at Glasgow, but he

thinks the Meetings are rather heavy for a sick man, whom four

doctors have been conjuring during the week to 'settle down' and

take things quietly, under pain and penalties of the sufferings

described.

"However, I am going on with faith that God won't forsake me. It is

very probable that Mr. MacDougal said something of the same kind

when he retired to rest on his last sleep, and failing to appear in

the morning was found by his son with life extinct, gone to live by

sight; anyway, to have some further assistance to sight through his

faith in the Better Land.

"This has been one of the most remarkable of the many remarkable

days of my history.

"I passed a weary night, and felt altogether unfit for the task

before me. The natural force seemed to have passed out of me, both

mentally and physically. In fact, my heart failed me, and there

seemed nothing before me but the prospect of slackening down. I was

only kept going by the memory of so many deliverances brought out

for me in the past.

"We had one of the largest audiences, and the biggest crowd I ever

addressed in a single day. In the morning it appeared that Satan

sat at my door, suggesting all sorts of discouraging things. He

tried to make me believe that my public work was done, and

especially suggesting that I should renounce the subject on which I

was talking, and wait for better days before I attempted to talk

again. The Prayer Meeting that followed was certainly encouraging.

We had twenty-seven out. Still, I came away with very much the same

feeling that had been aroused while I was talking. I took a little

refreshment, and tried to get a little sleep, but my mind was too

much agitated to allow of it. I woke up and called for the notes

of my lecture. My mind could not put two and two together hardly,

and so I gave up in despair and left myself to my fate. On my way

to the Meeting, however, a strange feeling came over me. It was

like the sun through a rift in the black clouds, and all at once a

spirit of tenderness, hope, and faith came over me. A voice in my

soul seemed to say, 'Go and do the Lord's work, and the people will

gather; go for their souls, and all will be well.' I accepted the

command, my fears vanished, a spirit of confidence took possession

of me, I rose, I addressed the crowd for an hour and twenty minutes

with all the physical vigour and mental liberty I could desire.

"Night. A terrific crowd. I talked for an hour and ten minutes with

the same force and fervour as in my most successful efforts; 147

came on to the stage in the After Meeting."

It was thus in the smaller matters of personal strength and health, as

in the greatest affairs, that The General struggled, believed, and

triumphed all through his career.

Australasia has gone farther than most countries towards State

socialism. But it was well remarked by some statesman many years ago,

"We are all socialists now."

No man within his times was more intensely devoted to the cause of the

poor than William Booth. He was indifferent to no practical scheme or

effort for the improvement of the people's condition in any land. But

for that very reason he loathed, with uncommon vigour, such socialism as

would spurn and crush out of the world the man who is no longer in

first-class physical condition or desirous of earning an honest living

by hard work, instead of going about to create hatred between man and

man, and would prevent those who will not submit to any man's dictation

from leaving their families to starve when work is to be obtained.

The General's indignation was specially aroused when "socialist"

spouters tried to block all his plans of beneficence with their foul

misrepresentations. He fought every such attempt with the utmost

determination, and by the help of God and the more intelligent of his

fellow-countrymen, crushed every such attack more completely than the

public sometimes knew, for he resolutely kept out of any political or

social agitation and went calmly on his way, even when his quietude led

the enemy to imagine that he was yielding. In later years, when all the

pressmen of a city came together to meet him, the Social Democratic

paper representative would, of course, come with the rest. On the

occasion of such an interview once in Denmark, he writes:--

"The Social Democrat usually contents himself by compassionating

the inadequacy of my efforts for dealing with the miseries which

they contemplate, with the remark that I don't go deep enough, that

mine is a superficial operation, whereas they destroy poverty by

dragging it up by the roots!

"My notion is that the principles upon which my efforts are founded

carry me to the lowest roots of all, namely, the selfishness of

human nature. Their notion is that capital is the root of the

misery. Destroy the capital, or rather I expect they mean divide it

up, or let everybody have the benefits that flow out of its

possession. My notion is that the roots of the selfishness are to

be found in human nature itself."

Chapter XIII

Women And Scandinavia

For a number of years it was The General's custom to conduct the annual

review of our Swedish troops at Sodertelge, a beautiful seaside spot,

near enough to Stockholm to make it easily accessible, and yet far

enough down the Fjord to make the journey thither a very delightful

excursion.

The sight of from fifteen to twenty steamers crowded with Salvationists

making their way, with streaming banners, music and song, to the camp

ground, was almost like a glimpse of the coming glory when the whole

earth should rejoice before the Lord. But, of course, there came always

to that great gathering a sufficient number of the unconverted to

furnish abundant opportunity for conquests to be made, and the great

Meetings, lasting throughout the day, never broke up without the

ingathering of many souls.

The Councils for Officers which followed during the next few days in

Stockholm and elsewhere, gave The General great opportunities to confirm

and extend the influence of his teachings throughout the whole of these

Northern countries.

Some of The General's earlier visits to Sweden were, however, still more

interesting, and perhaps even more permanently effective, because, as we

shall see, they helped the newly-rising force, enlisted under their

first leader--a devoted woman--to gain some liberty for demonstrations

and other work outside their own buildings such as they had not had

before, and strengthened them in their resolution to fight, whilst

almost all their fellow-countrymen still looked down upon them with

disdain if not with hatred. It is difficult to realise now what a

dreadful thing The Army in those days must have appeared. Huge crowds

gathered from the very first to the Meetings, convened in theatres and

other public buildings by Major, now Commissioner Ouchterlony, a Swedish

lady who had been appointed by The General to inaugurate the Work in her

own land; but the bulk of the population seemed to regard her as though

she was a suffragette, advocating window-breaking or something worse.

This will explain some of the facts The General records in his diary of

his visit seven years later. The journey began with a great Meeting at

Hull, after which the traveller went on board his steamer for a

miserable two days' voyage to Gothenburg. After Meetings there he

proceeded to Sundsvall, a city from which point his Journal reads:--

"At the conclusion of the evening Meeting the dear Soldiers flocked

to the station, crowding the platform and expressing, as far as

opportunity served them, their love for me, and their desire that

God should bless me. I spoke to them for a few minutes; then came

the signal and the start, and then as we slowly moved off

handkerchiefs were waved, volleys of 'Amens' were fired, the Band

played, and away we were borne out into the darkness. All this was

like a dream to my comrades, as neither the railway officials nor

the police had hitherto allowed a word to be spoken or a note of

music to be played outside our Halls.

"All that night and all the following day we travelled to

Stockholm, which we reached at 6 p.m. Crowds awaited our arrival.

The Soldiers had come down in force, wearing sashes on which the

words, 'God bless The General,' 'Welcome,' and other devices had

been worked. The police had come too. There were 200 of them--some

mounted and some on foot. Our people had been formed into an avenue

down which I passed to an open space. Every face wore a smile, but

there was comparative silence. The Police Master had insisted that

there should be no volley firing or shouting. But hands and

handkerchiefs were waved, and every one appeared delighted. We were

soon in a carriage, galloping off to the Headquarters where we were

to stay."

If all that The General has done for the attainment of a larger liberty

by the peoples of every land were recorded, one might easily make him

appear as a great political reformer. But whilst consistently aiming at

the one great purpose of all his journeys and Meetings, the Salvation of

souls, he has, incidentally, done more to stir the humblest and least

capable to great nation-rousing efforts than any mere political reformer

can hope to do.