In house-to-house visitation I would take the cadets in turn, speak
with the people on their door-steps, and, if possible, get into their
houses and point them to God. Kate gloried in this. She was a most
successful visitor.
Saloon 'raiding' was, perhaps, our most difficult work. We used 'The
War Cry' as a means of entrance and introduction. Going into the bar
we offered the paper for sale and suggested singing one of the songs
it contained. Conversation with the men and women followed, and before
leaving we would pray. Often we were thrown out of the bars, and
often, as we prayed, beer was dashed into our faces or over us, and on
reaching the Garrison we would need to wash our clothes to remove the
bar-room filth. 'Trench mud' we might have called it, had the war been
on in those days. But the trial hardest of all to endure was the
horrible talk of those dens of sin. Before leaving the Garrison we
used to kneel and ask the Lord to sanctify our ears, and surely that
was not the least of the prayers that He answered for us. Our souls
were entirely delivered from that paralysing horror that the hearing
of such profanity at first produced upon our minds, and we were kept
in purity and simplicity as though such vileness had never been heard.
The only duty which Kate Lee really shrank from was to take up a
collection for the maintenance of the Garrison. This was called the
'Bread and Butter Box'; and the Cadets took turns to stand at the hall
door after each meeting, hold the box and shake it. Kate heartily
disliked this, but it was part of her duty, and she did it with a
smile that brought success. In after years she became a wonderful
woman, but in those early days she held the secret that made her
wonderful. She walked with God. When the cadets had leisure time,
the majority would engage in innocent chat of one kind and another;
but you would find Kate a little withdrawn from the others, with her
Bible. Yet there was nothing censorious about her. She was quick
with a smile and an answer to any remark from the other cadets; but
there she was, already her life was hid with 'Christ in God.'
Captain Lucy rejoiced over her sister with trembling. She understood
Kate's willing, eager spirit, and the more she thought about her, the
less did she believe her to be strong enough to take the position of an
officer on field duty. So Lucy began to pray, and soon she felt inspired
to act. Writing to Miss Evangeline Booth, then the Field Commissioner in
London, she explained her fears for Kate, and asked if, for a year or
two, her sister might be stationed with her.
The Commander was quick to see the wisdom of the suggestion, and after a
few weeks Captain Lucy received orders for Penarth, in Wales, with Kate
as her lieutenant. Her way lay through London, and she knocked at the
home door one night. A quick, light step flew to answer it. 'My captain!'
cried Kate. 'My lieutenant!' cried Lucy, as they clasped one another.
Happy tears glistened in their eyes as they held each other at arms'
length to get a good view of each other in the full glory of their
respective uniforms, and in the eyes of the little mother, who, learning
to walk by faith, was finding the joy as well as the pain of sacrificing
her treasures upon the altar of Christ.