The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-02-26
MRS. BOOTH TOLD
Of PRISON WORK
BEFORE. LARGE AND
INTERESTED AUDIENCE

Maude Ballington Booths lectur
on prison reform at the First Metho
DIST church last night attracted al
audience that filled the auditorium
and Sunday school rooms to overflow
ing, even standing room being at 8
premium. 1t was an audience thai
was delighted with the attractive per.
sonality of the speaker, her earnest,
ness, her familiarity with her sub,
Ject and her delivery.
She described her work as a won
derful field whitening to the harvest
and said she was neither a criminol-
ogist nor a statistician, but messen-
ger; she did not come to them with
a wall OF woe, but to show them that
the sun might shine even through
prison bars, preferring to bring ray
OF hope rather than note of criti-
cism, Mrs. Booth came here directly
from visit to the federal prison at
Atlanta.
AS most people know, Mr.. and Mrs.
Eallington Booth were originally en-
gagged in the pioneer work of the Sal
walton Army in England, but came to
this country and organized the Vol
unteers of America in which work
Mrs. Booth has been engaged the last
thlrty years. For something over a
score OF years she has been more de
voted to prison work, and described
how this change came about. Mrs.
Booth says that she had never visit
ed a prison to which she had not been
iuvited The initial invitation came in
note signed by several prisoners in
Old San Quentin, near San Francisco.
While she was on visit to California.
She said the extreme change from the
Delights of sea, air, mountain and
sunshine to the prison conditions af-
ter the great door changed behind her
brought new vision to her and
changed her life work.
Her First Glimpse Of Prison
II was not for many years that she
had visible evidence of the success OF
these labors. At the close of Chau-
tauqua lecture in a hot, dusty, tall
grass town in Missouri, there came to
her man with smiles on his face
and tears in his voice and told her
he was one of the men whom she had
inspired with hope in old San Ouen-
tin; he told her he had made good.
and brought his interesting family to
nor to prove it, adding confirmatory
testimony by taking her out to his
farm home few miles away.
As her work progressed she was
confronted with the fact that manv
men were turned out of prison with
out home or friends, the world turn
ing the cold shoulder to them in most
instances, while in the case of life or
lcrg term men, most of their friends
had passed on. From this fact was
born her idea Of Hope hall, where
such and all others who needed n
haven in which to get new grin on
life could be received. Her first one
of these was built in New York, the
next in Illinois, the third in Ohio and
since then Louisiana, Oregon, Massa-
and other states have been
made beneficiaries of these homes
The Chicago one cost $4,000, ami
VI $. Booth Sail il had bapl paid for |
with money srprlied by frrmcr in
oates. Through two of these havens
)t rest have passed almost 1900 men
and, in all, between 10000 and 10000
men had come to them. She declared
,hese are not institutions but a home
& take the place of thier mothers
Or, in many cases. to give them a
aste of something thew never had.
where men who were sick of the cid
life might rise and where the Sob
o!ct of their aching hearts would not
All on dull and unresponsiyc ears.
No "Criminal Class,
Mrs. Booth scouts the idea of a
criminal class, but on the other hand
she does not ask for the batterinc
lGwD of prison walls nor the abro-
gazing of penal laws; she is not
'ickly sentimentalist; rather she
hanks God that there were places
where the ignorant mighC be taught,
he lazy made to work and the crook
ID made straight: where men might
,e reformed rather than derormed in
instances where the home, tba church
IT society had failed to do its work
n this connection size paid high CON-
ailments to the manner in which The
tate prisons Of Kansas and Ohio
this question, and she excori-
Iten the states that were proiteers
rom the earnings Of inmates, and to
hio aantSnnook 1hnA ..ls.