The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1914-11-15
BOOTH LEADER MIGHT
HAVE BEEN MODEL FOR THE WORLDS FAMOUS

Should there be some sort of a Saliva
ton Army for the rich?" I asked Miss
Evangeline Booth.
Before she answered, and she doesn't
answer without thinking earnestly
and then she answers tempest
ously--just as she speaks on the plat
form--I waited and diagnosed. analysed.
picked to pieces, so to speak, the integral
parts Of this wonderful woman's makeup,
and patched up in my humble mind
all the more humble for sitting in the
presence of this spiritually beautiful and
Christian character-what her great pow
er is--her tremendous Influence over peo-
pie and things-this magnetic woman who
packs the halls of the largest buildings in
gether The hungry souled and heavy
den, painting and thirsting for a word OF
comfort and hope from her lips!
Quickly my mind worked; 1t wasn't the
rst time had met Commander Booth,
ou understand, we are old friends, but
tch time ] see her a new phase of her
arsonality dawns upon me--a new eie-
ient in her nature becomes visible tangi-
lie, and each time l paint different
icture of this many sided woman, in
ny hearti
That Evangeline Booth, the leader of
ne salvation Army. might have proven
wonderful model for an artist or A
'aphael or a Michaelangelo. with the
rush, had she chosen to be a canvas
rtist is undoubted in my mind
More than painter, / see in her re-
t.arkaDle lie and work I In her.
ne characteristics which distinguished
dozart, Joan of Arc some of the old
narshais of France, and best of all, no
Madonna was ever linned with the vital.
magnetic look of holy motherhood in her
ace Which Is seen in the countenance
9f Evangeline Booth as she communes
With the saints in earnest prayer.
BY the side of her. Raphael's Madonnas
become too aesthetic, too little human.
ihe Mona LiSas smile is incompa ra BILE
10 the sweetness. the tenderness, and the
senuineness of Evangeiine Booths.
The universal culture of the greatest
artists is too well known to need COM
Inent. Rubens was the master ambassa-
dor of his time; Michaelangelo was an
engineer and a sonnet-eer; Durer was a
great painter and also a great writer:
the Greek sculptor, Phdias, was unsteady
inclined
Evangeline Booth has the temperament
OF all these worldwide geniuses-and she
could have been equally as successful a
painter, poet. an artist or a musician
had she chosen, as she is a leader of he
Salvation Army.
She has the power of looking at HUI
man nature, or sonnet, or a sunset.
with almost Raphaelic comprehension.
deep spiritual and spiritual charac-
teristics; the power of seeing the COM
plexity of things like a general and
y0FkfnU
q desired end; all these would help to
render her q success as an artist.
However,
Art would be nothing to her as
merely picture painting; 1t would mean
something more important-far deeper
than that; 1t would be painting, in
spired by the highest motives, with no
love of comparison to distress others,
but just the probing to the root OF
things.
Evangeline Booth, above all else, has
the power of seeing the beautiful in
things.
She proves that by seeing in the
people OF ugly. distorted lives the ele-
ments Of good, the possibilities of right
living; 1t is the perception of her ar
tist soul; that Is why she'd paint life
instead of pictures for she sees life
in all of Its inner complexities. She
would paint better from this inner con-
eeption of the soul than to study art
In art schools learning rules.
She has the vision, and from that
vision would paint by reason of her in
domitable Will. courage and concentra-
ton of purpose-and these three at
tributes would make her a successful
cavalry officer, too, IL she chose.
She has much of the spirit Of Mozart;
you remember Mozart heard the music
and then wrote what he seen instead
of learning little rules and sitting down
and working them out. He had the
harmonies. and then the melodies came
to him, and he wrote what came.
Evangeline Booth could do that, and
that's where the inner vision again
declares a dividend; and II she concen-
trated on music the visionary music
would come, and she would be one of
the worlds greatest composers.
This quality is true in everything
pertaining to her; 1t would be the In
ner vision" with which she Is blessed
that would inspire her; that quality
which sees deeply and forgets self in
the delivering of the message.
There is every element of universally
of character in Evangeline Booths pure,
inspiring, God-lovtng, man-loving ma
ture, ever ready to forgive, never rec
ognizing defeat, the conqueror's VIII
of one who moves, who acts, who
brings about events that are vital in
the world OF affairs, the inspired fame
Of q Joan of Arc!
That she neither paints, nor writes,
nor composes music. nor plays It, makes
her none the less artist. for she has an
artists soul-and she has given all her
life. and all the capabilities of her ar
tist nature. to a humanitarian purpose
Evangeline Booths name Is as great
today as any artist that ever lived. and
she Is more dearly beloved by the peo-
pie than any artist the world has ever
known.
That there Is very human side to