The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1894-11-21
BOOTH AED HIS ARMY.

had he landed in New York before Ee
was bcset 10y squad Of reporters. His
talk was a surprise. The reading pub
lie knows that few years ago hc de-
viscd "A scheme for aiding the "sul,-
merged tenth" as he call the poorest
Of England pcople, bat it was general
/ ~ taken for granted that the plan was
utopian. II + rally something Of a
| success.
we have" says the general, lO2 IL
stitutions in England, including -
sluEI post reserves, - homes for ex-
criminals, u shelters, 81 labor bureaus
and Il farm colonies. We are able To
reform people in the cities. OF the lo=t
girls we have rescued, 20 per cent have
proved faithful after a three years test.
our idea Is to get people cat Of the
cOngested towns and back into the
/ country, where they can become har-
dy, thrifty peasantry, the glory Of any
nation, but 1 don't propose TO dump
/ down in a wild country Tot Of helpless
d
don't transfer loafers. The men are
I tested first in orr homes in town. If
they want to work, they are the kind Of
nicn we want. The backbone Of such
/ colonies should De men who have been
soIndly converted, and after the proper
( tests we can send them 70 over sea col
onics."
.'Do YOU think the millennium will
come if all the world j. converted to the
Salvation Army 9'' asked mischiey-
ous reporter.
1T would be very near at hand, and If
the newspaper men were converted it
would he a long step in that direction
said the general, with a twinkle in his
eye, and no more questions were asked
General Booth j. tall and wiry man,
slightly stopped, with hair once very
/ black, but now nearly all gray, with
deep, clear grayish eyes and a long and
rather feshy nose and long gray beard.
He has d decided air Of command and
the general appearance Of a natural Or
ganizer. And such he certainty i, fer
at the age Of 4S he suddenly changed
the plans and habits Of lifetime and
extemporized q new and very unique
organization, which in less than a score
of years has spread all over the civilized
world, and, whatever may be thought
of its method :, l. certainly one Of the
great potencies OF theage. He has a re-
markable memory for details and
figures and can tell az "a moments no
tiee how far he has Travelled on his
present tour, having been in Canada
four weeks before going 20 New York,
and hOw many addTes5es he has deii,-
ered and at what places and the average
81, Of his audiences.
Counting from the first movement n
the east or London in 1853, il : nearly
- years since General Booth began IA
peculiar sort Of work, bI. the Salvation
Army proper is much younger. The
general was reared in the Established
church. bat a. the result of peculiar
religious experience became a Wesleyan
Methodist ani in no long time an ex-
hortcr. lie stadied diligently To til him
self for the ministry and in due time
became q licensed preacher in the New
Connection, an ofi,hoot of the Wesleyan
church. In IS7I he quit the regular
ministry in order that he and his wife
,..s.-r.. J..,--t. .l,..r,,-.I,-.- aurir1Ix- q,
work among the very poor Of London,
aad it is a question ifthe wife was not
really the originator of the Salvation
Army. Its members always spoke OF
her a. its mother, and the remarkable
proceedings AZ her funeral few years
ago attracted mJch attention His son,
Ballington Booth, and the latter's wife
are equllly active in the work.
Both the ladies had superior Opportu-
mites in their youth, and Mrs. Gather
ine Booth, wife Of the general, was a
writer of great ability. Although the
mother Of eight children ani very eIii-
cient in training them, Sie preached
often and wrote many interesting
WORKS.
No matter what one may think OF
General Booths scheme for reelaimins
I.oldon's poorest, his writings thereon
are well worth reading merely a. scin-
tillatioas of an active and peculiar in
tailect. They ore thiclssct with sen-
tences which remind one OF IngersOll's
epigrams OF Carlyle'S c0ndenSatiOns.
For instance: - masscd population
in the city Outgrows its intelligence
What we have to DO, therefore, i -
grow q new nervous system for the body
p1..t.c, t creIte means Of swift com
munic-ttion between the comnIaity a.
a whole all tn IA an st OF i-s m.n-
be,s, - that the city may regain what
the village possesses.
1t i a mistake 10 imagine that men
ob-ec; To u. governed. They like TO be
governed provided that the governor
has his head screwed on right and Is
ready To recognize what i vital To the
community. All the departments of
tn. scheme will be governed not on the
principle OF counting noses, but on the
principle Of admitting 10 noses that
will not be governed by the directing
BRAIN"
Il was late in iSS7 that General and
Mrs. Booth projected their frs; plan for
aiding the Lonl1n p,lr, bIt they soon
abandoned it, their very practical minds
realizing tl85 q system Of mere giving
could not d, maintained, and that i It
could il would do more harm than good.
After much study they devised the
three-foIl plan Of ''metr0pole,' home
colony anI colony over the sea. The
first Wa, L give immediate though tem-
poriry emoioymen; IN the city After
sifty Dr1c.ss there the willing were
t. 20 - hon, clioIy, aad thence in
due tim, ID a c,I1a- o.er the sca. The
general in his Darkest England in-
timatei tia. oG--tenth of the entire
population i in eXtreae poverty, and
of that taa.h about One-thirt i in the
very depths Of misery AMI vice. This
NAV b, an eNag.,rItion, but the reality
is bal cnoI sh II, sIys the difli 'Ilty
has been not with money, but with