Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-28
LIFE IN PRISON
CELL PORTRAYED
BY MRS. BOOTH
RELIGIOUS CRUSADER TELLS
OF REFORM WORK
LECTURES TO BIG CROWD AT
TEMPLE AUDITORIUM
Fifteen Years of Labor Among Con-
victs ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS from
Her Local Institution
Hear Address

v turned away from Temple Audi
~ torium yesterday afternoon, un-
able to gain ndmittance TO hear Maud
Ballington Booth lecture on prison re-
form.
Three thousand people were admitted
to the Auditorium and filed every
available space from the platform to
the topmost gallery to hear Mrs. Booth
speak on Lights and Shadows of Pris-
on Work"
Mrs. Booth, who with her husband,
Ballington Booth, is one of the found
ers and commanders of the Volunteers
of America, is of small but robust stat
ure, and yesterday afternoon was clad
in a simple costume of white and gray
that but served to set off her beautiful
and kindly face, that lights up with
enthusiasm as she tells of her boys
who are, or have been, in the different
prisons and penitentiarieS in different
parts of the country.
Mrs. Booth first took up her work
among the prisoners fifteen years ago,
believing that the men behind the bars
could be rescued to useful lives. Her
friends told her it would be impossible,
but the many thousands who, she says,
have made useful citizens through her
ministrations have proved that the
prison work is one of great possibi1-
ties.
Mrs. Booth goes to them with a mes
sage of kindness and love, and wins |
their regard and respect, while endeav- |
oring to take them back to better lives |
She has stood sponsor for thousands of |
prisoners who have been paroled to her, |
and she has watched over them, re- |
turning reports of their behavior to |
the prisons until they were discharged. |
In many instances when prisoners were
considered too dangerous to be at lib /
erty after their sentence had expired, |
they have been turned over to Mrs.
Booth, who has established several
Hope Halls for the reception of dis
charged prisoners, where they are cared
for until suitable employment can be
secured for them.
DR.. Baer Presides
DR.. Willis Baer, president Of Occi-
dental college, presided at the mass
meeting yesterday afternoon and intro
duced Mrs. Booth to the large audi
ence. DR.. Baer spoke on "The Gospel
of the Second Chance" DR.. Baer well
coined Mrs. Booth in her first meeting
held in Boston and said that he knew
of no one who was better loved in the
United States than the Little Mother"
Mrs. Booth is a clear and distinct
speaker familiar with platform ora
tory and completely won the audience
by her unaffected manners and sweet
face as well as by the story she told
of work among those branded as out
casts"
"I have learned to appreciate the
opportunity and privilege of the public
speaker" she said. 1T is not for us
to step on platform to deliver words
and thoughts simply because it is our
life work, but if we realize the re-
sponsibility we know that it can be
carried from the hearts that we meet
to the hearts that We may never meet,
and If it be Gods message, 1t may
have unending influence.
"I stand as the messenger of the
tens of thousands. of men whom you
will never see. whose hearts are ach-
ing and breaking behind prison bars;
whose God has called to the great
Christian world to send them the great
truth that no man can slip beyond the
love of God.
II see out beyond this great audi
ence and see my last audience, and
when 1 saw that little prison world I
thanked God that he was as much
there as in the greatest cathedral
so l have come to you Of the free
happy world straight from my boys
I'm bondage. People have no right to
approach the prisoners from the stand
point of prejudice against those on
whom the state has placed the brand
of criminal nor should they approach
the question from resentment only.
Inc inmates u our pIlSOiS Celll
only be approached from the most
practical standpoint. The Bible says,
Rise up and go to thy Father.
Number of Convlcts
"Yhere are $4,000 men branded as
convicts in our prisons. 1t was a joy
TO realize that God sees not the
stripes or bars, that the things which
are swept aside by God, who sees in
every breast a precious, human soul.
1t is the soul that He covets.
"There is today a famous diamond
that is guarded with the precious jew
els of the kingdom in which it is owned
by the king, that a few years ago was
labeled crystal quartz, one franc 1t
was unwanted until one day an eX-
pert saw beneath the surface its value.
He saw not what 1t was, but what it
might be, and now the world knows it
as one of the famous gems in a
crown.
'aThere has been too much of
tendency to ticket people as drunkards,
riff-raff, convlcts, until they seem to
be put aside and to belong to another
world. But we have a right to go in
the name of the Christ Of Calvary to
seek the great possibilities and not to
see SO much of what they have done,
but what they can become.
"when the sin is washed away,
when the man is made to rise not in
the faltering life of ones own strength
but in the strength of Him who can
keep him, then our work is well worth
while
"Flfteen years ago, when I first en-
tered into prison work, people said
that I wouldn't stay six months To-
dav I wouldn't exchange my field
among the prisoners for any field in
the country, for nowhere have I seen
more wonderfully displayed the truths
of God. / have seen the lame walk,
the spiritually blind made to see, the
dead in sin and vice go forth in the
world, where in the past they had
been detriments and where they have
now become blessings.
Make Most of Downfall
''People are ready to make capital
out of the fallen. We try to shield
them. What they need is to come back
into the world like other men and
women.
'sYou could make the path Of the re-
turning prisoner easier by giving him
work, shelter, clothing and food, but
there is one thing more important, we
must give him a new heart that he
win have the power to conquer
"I do not believe in any one sight
seeing inside Of prison walls. II you
knew of the heart thrusts it causes to
be stared at, you would know how
feel about 1t. / would rather have the
freedom of the prisons, strange as it