The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-03-11

where two. uniettered girls preached.
sang and prayed in the. streets, and
then headed a procession OF the rough
est element I'm the town to a hall. they
were heard by. u young girl. the only
daughter of, the village rector. Again
and again she went to hear them. She
saw the saloons deserted and a thous-
and people crowded into the hall list
ening to services such as Dinah Morris
conducted, with hearty responses, live
ly singing, fervent prayers. simple ex-
hortations, differing but little from mis-
sion revival services. She saw that
many went to scoff and stayed to pray
and went away different men.
This was Maude Charlesworth, now
Mrs. Ballington Booth. against whose
removal protests are being made to-
day. She told her father what she had
been, and begged to be allowed to join
these strolling evangelists of unknown
antecedents from East London. He re-
fused. and she ran away to London to
General Booth, who promptly returned
her to her father, telling her the first
rule of the army was obedience TO
authority. She owed obedience to her
father. He probably thought he had
seen the last Of her. But several years
later she returned. Her father was
dead, and on his deathbed had con-
sented to her joining the army.
A lady by birth and training, delicate
ly reared, with a fresh country beauty
and wild-rose bloom she has never lost,
accomplished in the languages and mu-
her life in the slums of London. she
nursed wretched babies. prayed with
loathsome death, led fallen women to
the Rescue home. Her zeal grew, her
eloquence developed. her appeal reached
the most hardened. her sweet voice.
attuned to the organ, rang out pure and
clear in the alleys where Jack the Rip
per did his vilest crimes. All her gifts
Of mind and soul and body We're freely
spent in saving souls and raising sub
merged lives to the surface of seif-res
spect. go ht ~ d
THE ARMY's GROWTH. 3
When Ballington Booth. the generals
Benjamin. his best beloved son, re-
turned from Australia, whittier he had
gone at the age OF 2S. they We're mar
rled and came to the United States.
Everyone knows what they have done
here. Penniless on their arrival; they
found but a nucleus of officers left by
Commissioner Raillton and Commits
sioner Frank Smith. Now they have
won their way to comnIendatiOn In
every pulpit in the land. Nearly five
thousand officers have been created by
them. They have half million in prop
erty. and have sent that much to inter-
national headquarters in London to be
used in foreign missions.
They have established rescue homes
in the large cities. slum sisters to live
in the midst of the lowest criminals,
prison-gate houses for the employment
- a,.I 81, ,n1t 1t.p
houses, day nurseries, training homes,
publication Office, uniform clothing
factory. All this has been done with
the pence of the poor.
No other organization since the mid
die ages has required such sacrifices
from those who take up the work as the
Salvation Army; 5000 picked men and
women, In the very flower of their
youth, voluntarily performing the most
arduons labor, living often in vile quar-
ters and on subsistence wages, which
they must first collect. Is the record of
Mr.. and Mrs. Ballington Booth in
America. Wherever these labor they
raise up others fahioned in their own
likeness, whose whole nature and man.
ner of living must undergo a sudden
and almost inexplicable change. The
same thing Is going on in every country
on the globe. BY marriage the fighting
force of the Booth family has doubled
In time will be quadrupled, for the nu-
merous children are dedicated to the
service from the cradle. @
MARRIAGE A CORNERSTONE.
Matrimony is one of the cornerstones
of the organization, and large families
are the rule. Yet marriage Is not pos
sible without mutual VOWS to each 9TH
er and the army. From the very mo-
ment the penitent' at the mourners'
bench confesses his sins, the army
closes around him. He is prisoner of
war for a month, but out on parole, and
Is guarded by a sergeant. Then he Is
a recruit, drilled in all the army prac-
tice; then private, wearing a uniform
and required to be in street parades
and meetings, testifying to his conver-
sion and leading a regenerated life.
II he wishes to give up his ordinary
work and devote himself to the army.
he becomes cadet. If married, he or
she cannot come without the wife or
husband and children. Promotions be-
gin with lieutenant. then captain, adju-
tant or ensign, colonel, major. brigadier,
staff captain and commissioner. The
lowest salary is S. for a cadet, and SIS
to commissioner. Nothing more Is al
lowed than q living wage, and that
must be collected. Everything In ex-
cess of that must be sent to headquar-
ters for extending the work
Among the 10000 officers stationed in
various parts of the globe, there Is
never complaint for the hardships.
The choice positions are the opening of
new posts where scOrn, revllings and
partial starvation Is their portion. The
officers have no property but what they
40 In. hot,
cept no presents. But the more gifted,
seeing special conditions making for
social degradation, have wanted to ex-
coed Instructions. Since the movement
became large, and attracted men and
women of wide capacity, II has been
well known that there were those in
the army more progressive than the
founder.
I'm DARKEST ENGLAND"
1t was not until 1890 that IN Darkest
England and the Way Out" appeared.
1t had a tremendous effect and General
Booth was credited with having origi-
mated the whole scheme. But the truth
is that the general wished to fight only
with spiritual weapons, insisting that
once regenerated spiritually, the man
or woman would be able to life him
self out Of idleness. disease, vice and
crime. His lieutenants, brought face
to face with the ''army of despair" be-
came convinced that physical regenera-
tion must often precede any hope of the
spiritual.
The gospel alone would not feed hun.
cry children nor put wages into the
hands Of the idle, nor shelter a house.
less, defenseless woman. Almost
against his protest. at first. day nur-
series, emergency workshops. food and
shelter houses and rescue homes were
opened In London, by Frank Smith; in
New York by Mr.. and Mrs. Ballington
Booth.
Once started in the right direction
the general distanced them all in his
vast scheme for eliminating the un-
worthy. His factories, farm colonies
colonial emigrations, Salvation army
ships and other details Of the scheme
striiclf tho rop,,laY IN, n pin t;np A.