The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1920-06-25

| Mrs Escott said, illustrating this idea:
Il must tell you about Annie-such
a sweet, refined, dainty girl, but oh
think Of it-only seventeen and In
court for drunkenness and vagrancy.
annie was with US several months,
but she never would tell her name.
My mother shall never hear Of me.
She must be dead anyway she said.
Finally, Annie was converted, and then
! she told the circumstances Of her
| downfall. She lived in little town
never mind where; 1t was nearby
and she had never been allowed to
come to the city alone. A shopping
trip had been planned, and on the day
appointed, Annie's mother was too Ill
to go. Annie begged to go alone.
why, mother, l am seventeen;
can perfectly well go. l will come
back on the 4 o'clock train. Do say
can go!'
Against her vague mother fears, she
let the child go. If only she had not!'
Mrs. Escott's mother heart was wrung
with the memory.
Annie did not return at o'clock
that day, nor for a year; and then only
to die broken wreck in the arms OF
her broken-hearted parents.
while shopping" said Mrs. Escott,
"she met former high school mate,
beautifully gowned and bejeweled, who
glibly told her little friend of her
wealthy husband and pretty home, and
insisted ON taking Annie home to
lunch, promising to take her to the
train at four.
"The home was in the red light dis
trict. Annie lunched in all innocence
of her true surroundings. She was
drugged, to awaken next day to the
horror of the full truth. A few days
after, brain fever set in and long
illness followed. Convinced that her
delicate mother had not survived the
shock Of her non-appearance, Annie
threw herself into the widest dissipa-
ton, shortly landed in the courts and
from there in the Rescue Home.
Realizing that her frail body was
breaking and death was only matter
Of time, the Salvation Army officers
/ managed to learn the name of the
town from which she had come. One
of them went in person from door to
door, asking Have you by any chance
a daughter away from homer"
A whole day spent thus yielded moth
ing but disappointment. Finally, when
about ready to give up, the officer no
home on a street, woman dejectedly
rocking before the FIRE with hopeless
expression. To herself the officer said,
"That must be Annie's mother!"
A knock brought weary elderly
man who swayed pitifully at the ques-
ton, and In hoarse whispers begged
the visitor not to let his wife hear, as
she was losing her mind from grief.
But II Annie is your daughter, bring
you good news!" Too sacred, too
heart-wracking, to tell Of the meeting
between the girl and her parents-how
the officer took her home to them the
next morning-and after few months
Of reunion, the girls death was soon
followed by the mothers.
mo case is ever hopeless" says Mrs,
Escott. Gods power Is omnipotent.
Take for example the celebrated news
paper man--no, l won't tell you his
name-gambling and drink brought
him to the lowest of the slums, where
for year or more he lived in filth and
squalor, disowned by friends and FAM
lily. A $10,000-a-year man sleeping on
park benches, grating and begging the
price of a drink.
''He stumbled into one of our out
door meetings. The singing caught hia
attention. His condition was observed
by the leader of the services. She
talked to him. begged him to come
back next day. He did. Three days
later, he brought her fifty cents,
clutched so tightly that his nails had
left their imprint in his palm, in his
struggle to pass by the temptations in
the two-mile tramp from the spot
where he had earned 1t to the meeting
He became converted, cleaned up,
helped to a position In one OF the in
dustrial homes, soon came reconcilia'
ton with his wife and family. Today,
he ID earning $1,000 year!
"You see," continued Mrs, Escott
"that is what we work for-eonversion
and no work is too slow nor toe
difficult for the Salvationist in helping
wanderer back to Christ,
II have seen my husband be at the
door Of lodging house. or mans
home, morning after morning for three
weeks or more on a steady stretch, tc
give that man morning cheer, a word
of prayer, and walk to the door of HE
workshop or factory with him; be
there again at closing time and &c
home with him. until he had gathered
courage and strength in his new faith
to go on alone.
q could tell you stories of the work
in the prisons, for the condemned men.
and best of all. the work and help