The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-04
Mrs.Booth and
Prison Reform
A Large Audience Listened
to Interesting Address.

The lecture on the work OF the Vol
unteers of America, by Mrs. Maud Bal
lington Booth, In Association hall, last
night was extremely well attended.
there being scarcely a score of unoccu-
pied seats in the entire hall. The re-
marks Of the speaker were listened to
by the audience, which was made up
to a large degree of the members of
the churches of the city, with rapt at
tentton, and the speaker was frequently
obliged to pause and allow the express
sions of approval with which she was
greeted, to subside.
The meeting was opened by the sing
ing of the Volunteers most stirring
hymns by the members of the local
post Of the volunteers. On the plat
form were seated several of the cler-
gymen of the city, including Rev. DR..
A. T. Conrad, Rev. DR.. Daniel Merri-
others. Maj. Fred Gardner OF the Vol
unteers introduced DR.. Conrad, who
made few appropriate remarks Of
welcome to the speaker of the even
ing. He said: Mrs. Booth, we count
1t an honor that we have the privilege
Of greeting you tonight. We have heard
| with pleasure your words on previous
| occasions, and 1t was not long since
| that we also had the inspiration of
hearing the words which your husband
spoke so well here for Christ. On be-
half of the Christians Of all denomin-
ations in this city and in the spirit Of
Christian fellowship, it gives me great
pleasure to introduce you to this aud
Hence"
Mrs. Booth then advanced to the
front of the platform and addressed the
meeting in part as follows: Mr.. chair
imam and dear friends. I appreciate the
words Of welcome that DR., Conrad has
lspoken and l also appreciate the priv
ilege of speaking to this audience. l
appreciate every opportunity of speak
ing to the thinking and educated peo-
pie of the cities that [ visit, because l
and those who work with me hear the
cry that comes up out Of the depths to
the ears of those who follow the ban
ner with the blue star as most of you
cannot hear it. No one can know the
pleasure of living till they have been
in the shadow Of death and have been
called back to take UP again the bur-
den of the work for God, and since ]
have been so near to the end Of my
Il NOIh appreciate Ill Tie Tile
privilege Of speaking as I do tonight,
or as 1 did on Sunday to the prisoners
at the state prison at Charlestown.
Were to try to tell you all that
would like to about the work that is
being done by the Volunteers for those
who are discharged from the penal in
stitutions of the land, you would have
to be here until the beginning Of q
new week, for when l get to talking or
7 no n
stop. Our movement is a new one and
it is a child of America But it is not
because of it's patriotic principles nor
Of its new lines of action that we hope
and believe it will succeed but because
it has In it the spirit Of Christ. We
do not call what it does our work, but
Gods work.
In looking for Illustrations for some
of my remarks, once went into a field
that perhaps few of this audience ever
entered-the hospitals and the vicinity
of the operating table. There 1 saw
how it was that the surgeons treated
a nerve that had been severed. In old
en- times, if this happened. there was
no nope that the injury could be re-
paired. The limb beyond the wound
lost all it's feeling and became useless.
/ Now the surgeon sutures to the ends
/ of the nerve q little tube of prepared
catgut rendered aseptic and free from
disease bearing germs, and soon the
nerve substance grows along it, re-
unites, the limb is restored to health
and feeling and the little connection is
absorbed in the living tissue when 1t
has served its purpose. That is the sort
of process that is needed in the
spiritual world. There, on the one
hand. is the degraded Sustained, poll
luted, Goddess soul, and on the other,
lis the great loving Cod desiring to
bring his life and spiritual health to
the unfortunate sinner. What is need
ed is a connecting link, and this God
expects us to furnish in the message
of the Christ which shall support the
new growth and be absorbed into the
life of the needy SOUL There Is so wide
a field for the religion that says,
though silently: Il not only preach,
but I practice"
The Volunteers do not think so much
of extending the order or its fame as
they do Of saving souls for Christ. They
are not of a single country or creed,
have helped us and worked with US,
and If there were ever any barriers
between us and the other Christian
churches. they have gone down for good
and all.
But I must hasten to tell you of the
branch of our work that is OF the
greatest interest to me. have
preached in all sorts OF places-in sleep
| ing cars coming over the Rocky Noun
tains, in the stock exchange. on the
Bowery at midnight and in the draw
ing rooms on Fifth avenue, and even
late, on board ship, where one Of my
listeners, Jewish rabbi, asked me to
address his people in the near future
but of all places, most enjoy speaking
| to the inmates of the state prisons
Here Mrs. Booth digressed. and
made touching reference to the
breach with the Salvation Army, which
resulted in the formation of the new
organization She referred 20 TIE cruel
blow it was to herself and husband;
RELATED the circumstances Of the design
! ing Of the new banner Of the or'ser and
the decentralization OF it's work. II
was then that the long sought oppor-
tunity that she had desired to devote
herself to prison work presented itself
and was taken advantage OF.
! She then continued lii speaking of
the work now being done in the pris-
ons of the land, 1 speak not from the
standpoint of the lawyer, the judge,
| the philanthropist, the detective, or the
| phrenologist who can proplesy hered-
itary crime, but 1 speak from the
standpoint Of the cell, ard that is the
only place to get view Of the sub
| ject. Some people tell me I am en-
gagged in a mistaken cause and am
! taking wrong course. They say that
| the criminal being one now viii al
| ways be one; that there is no hope Of
hts redemption, and having sinncd he
must take the consequences.
! think I have solved the prison ques-
| ton. The solution lies in the bringing
OF God within the prison walls and
the love Of Christ witain the human
soul. One thing that rctards the work
IS the fact that the prisoner has 50
| long been taught to consider his case
hopeless. With reason they ask, Who
| win give us helping hand, who win
aid US to find employment; what hope
L -. -. Il. L..