,illustration3 ,,general ,,booth ,,regeneration ,being an ,account of the ,social ,work of ,the ,salvation ,army in ,great ,britain4 ,h4 ,,rider ,,haggard #aiaj ,,dedication ,i dedicate these pages to the ,officers and ,soldiers of the ,salvation ,army1 in token of my admiration of the self-sacrificing work by which it is their privilege to aid the poor and wretched throughout the world4 ,h4 ,,rider ,,haggard4 ,,ditchingham1 ,november1 #aiaj ,,contents ,,introductory ,,men',s ,,social ,,work1 ,,london ,,spa ,,road ,,elevator ,,great ,,peter ,,street ,,shelter ,,free ,,breakfast ,,service ,,ex-,,criminals ,,men',s ,,workshop3 ,,hanbury ,,street1 ,,whitechapel ,,sturge ,,house1 ,,bow ,,road ,,central ,,labour ,,bureau ,,international ,,investigation ,,department ,,emigration ,,department ,,women',s ,,social ,,work ,,in ,,london ,,headquarters ,,of ,,the ,,women',s ,,social ,,work ,,hillsborough ,,house ,,inebriates' ,,home ,,maternity ,,nursing ,,home ,,maternity ,,receiving ,,home ,,maternity ,,hospital ',,the ,,nest1' ,,clapton ,,training ,,institute ,,for ,,women',s ,,social ,,work ,,women',s ,,industrial ,,home1 ,,hackney ,,inebriates' ,,home ,,women',s ,,industrial ,,home1 ,,southwood ,,women',s ,,shelter1 ,,whitechapel ,,slum ,,settlement1 ,,hackney ,,road ,,piccadilly ,,midnight ,,work ,,anti-,,suicide ,,bureau ,,work ,,in ,,the ,,provinces1 ,,liverpool ,,men',s ,,social ,,work1 ,,manchester ,,oakhill ,,house1 ,,manchester ,,men',s ,,social ,,work1 ,,glasgow ,,ardenshaw ,,women',s ,,home ,,women',s ,,lodging-,,house1 ,,glasgow ,,land ,,and ,,industrial ,,colony1 ,,hadleigh ,,small-,,holdings ,,settlement1 ,,boxted ,,impressions ,,of ,,general ,,booth ,,the ,,chief ,,of ,,the ,,staff ,,note ,,on ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,the ,,salvation ,,army ,,appendices ,,author',s ,,note ,the author desires to thank ,mr4 ,d4,r4 ,,daniel for the kind and valuable assistance he has given him in his researches into the ,social ,work of the ,salvation ,army4 ,he takes this occasion to make it clear that this book does no more than set out the results of his investigations into some of that vast ,social ,work1 and his personal conclusions as to it and those by whom it is prosecuted4 ,to obviate any possible misunderstanding as to the reason of its writing1 he wishes to state further that it has not been compiled by him as a matter of literary business4 ,,introductory ,,what ,,is ,,the ,,salvation ,,army8 ,if this question were put to the ordinary person of fashion or leisure1 how would it be answered8 ,in many cases thus3 ',the ,salvation ,army is a body of people dressed up in a semi-military uniform1 or those of them who are women1 in unbecoming poke bonnets1 who go about the streets making a noise in the name of ,god and frightening horses with brass bands4 ,it is under the rule of an arbitrary old gentleman named ,booth1 who calls himself a ,general1 and whose principal trade assets consist in a handsome and unusual face1 and an inexhaustible flow of language1 which he generally delivers from a white motor-car wherever he finds that he can attract the most attention4 ,he is a clever actor in his way1 who has got a great number of people under his thumb1 and ,i am told that he has made a large fortune out of the business1 like the late prophet ,dowie1 and others of the same sort4 ,the newspapers are always exposing him2 but he knows which side his bread is buttered and does not care4 ,when he is gone no doubt his family will divide up the cash1 and we shall hear no more of the ,salvation ,army6' ,such are still the honest beliefs of thousands of our instructed fellow-countrymen1 and of hundreds of thousands of others of less degree belonging to the classes which are generally typified under the synonym of 'the man in the street1' by which most people understand one who knows little1 and of that little nothing accurately1 but who decides the fate of political elections4 ,let us suppose1 however1 that the questioner should succeed in interesting an intelligent and fair-minded individual holder of these views sufficiently to induce him to make inquiry into the facts concerning this ,salvation ,army4 ,what would he then discover8 ,he would discover that about five and forty years ago some impulse1 wherever it may have come from1 moved a ,dissenting minister1 gifted with a mind of power and originality1 and a body of great strength and endurance1 gifted1 also1 with an able wife who shared his views1 to try1 if not to cure1 at least to ameliorate the lot of the fallen or distressed millions that are one of the natural products of high civilization1 by ministering to their creature wants and regenerating their spirits upon the plain and simple lines laid down in the ,new ,testament4 ,he would find1 also1 that this humble effort1 at first quite unaided1 has been so successful that the results seem to partake of the nature of the miraculous4 ,thus he would learn that the religious ,organization founded by this man and his wife is now established and1 in most instances1 firmly rooted in #ef ,countries and ,colonies1 where it preaches the ,gospel in #cc separate languages3 that it has over #af1jjj ,officers wholly employed in its service1 and publishes #gd periodicals in #bj tongues1 with a total circulation of nearly #a1jjj1jjj copies per issue3 that it accommodates over #bh1jjj poor people nightly in its ,institutions1 maintaining #bbi ,food ,dpts and ,shelters for men1 women1 and children1 and #aeg ,labour ,factories where destitute or characterless people are employed3 that it has #ag ,homes for ex-criminals1 #cg ,homes for children1 #aaf ,industrial ,homes for the rescue of women1 #af ,land ,colonies1 #adi ,slum ,stations for the visitation and assistance of the poor1 #fj ,labour ,bureaux for helping the unemployed1 and #eba ,day ,schools for children3 that1 in addition to all these1 it has ,criminal and ,general ,investigation ,departments1 ,inebriate ,homes for men and women1 ,inquiry ,offices for tracing lost and missing people1 ,maternity ,hospitals1 #cg ,homes for training ,officers1 ,prison-visitation ,staffs1 and so on almost ad infinitum4 ,he would find1 also1 that it collects and dispenses an enormous revenue1 mostly from among the poorer classes1 and that its system is run with remarkable business ability3 that ,general ,booth1 often supposed to be so opulent1 lives upon a pittance which most country clergymen would refuse1 taking nothing1 and never having taken anything1 from the funds of the ,army4 ,and lastly1 not to weary the reader1 that whatever may be thought of its methods and of the noise made by the #bc1jjj or so of voluntary bandsmen who belong to it1 it is undoubtedly for good or evil one of the world forces of our age4 ,before going further1 it may1 perhaps1 be well that ,i should explain how it is that ,i come to write these pages4 ,first1 ,i ought to state that my personal acquaintance with the ,salvation ,army dates back a good many years1 from the time1 indeed1 when ,i was writing ',rural ,england1' in connexion with which work ,i had a long and interesting interview with ,general ,booth that is already published4 ,subsequently ,i was appointed by the ,british ,government as a ,commissioner to investigate and report upon the ,land ,colonies of the ,salvation ,army in the ,united ,states1 in the course of which inquiry ,i came into contact with many of its ,officers1 and learned much of its system and methods1 especially with reference to emigration4 ,also ,i have had other opportunities of keeping in touch with the ,army and its developments4 ,in the spring of #aiaj ,i was asked1 on behalf of ,general ,booth1 whether ,i would undertake to write for publication an account of the ,social ,work of the ,army in this country4 ,after some hesitation1 for the lack of time was a formidable obstacle to a very busy man1 ,i assented to this request1 the plan agreed upon being that ,i should visit the various ,institutions1 or a number of them1 etc41 and record what ,i actually saw1 neither more nor less1 together with my resulting impressions4 ,this ,i have done1 and it only remains for me to assure the reader that the record is true1 and1 to the best of his belief and ability1 set down without fear1 favour1 or prejudice1 by one not unaccustomed to such tasks4 ,almost at the commencement of my labours ,i sought an interview with ,general ,booth1 thinking1 as ,i told him and his ,officers 7the ,salvation ,army is not mealy-mouthed about such matters7 that at his age it would be well to set down his views in black and white4 ,on the whole1 ,i found him well and vigorous4 ,he complained1 however1 of the difficulty he was experiencing1 owing to the complete loss of sight in one eye1 occasioned by an accident during a motor journey1 and the possible deprivation of the sight of the other through cataract4 ,of the attacks that have been and are continually made upon the ,salvation ,army1 some of them extremely bitter1 ,general ,booth would say little4 ,he pointed out that he had not been in the habit of defending himself and his ,organization in public1 and was quite content that the work should speak for itself4 ,their affairs and finances had been investigated by eminent men1 who 'could not find a sixpence out of place'2 and for the rest1 a balance-sheet was published annually4 ,this balance-sheet for the year ending ,september #cj1 #aiji1 ,i reprint in an appendix4#a ,with regard to the ,social ,work of the ,army1 which in its beginning was a purely religious body1 ,general ,booth said that they had been driven into it because of their sympathy with suffering4 ,they found it impossible to look upon people undergoing starvation or weighed down by sorrows and miseries that came upon them through poverty1 without stretching out a hand to help them on to their feet again4 ,in the same way they could not study wrongdoers and criminals and learn their secret histories1 which show how closely a great proportion of human sin is connected with wretched surroundings1 without trying to help and reform them to the best of their abilities4 ,thus it was that their ,social operations began1 increased1 and multiplied4 ,they contemplated not only the regeneration of the individual1 but also of his circumstances1 and were continually finding out new methods by which this might be done4 ,the ,army looked forward to the development of its ,social ,work on the lines of self-help1 self-management and self-support4 ,whenever a new development came under consideration1 the question arose--,how is it to be financed8 ,the work they had in hand at present took all their funds4 ,one of their great underlying principles was that of the necessity of self-support1 without which no business or undertaking could stand for long4 ,the individual must co-operate in his own moral and physical redemption4 ,at the same time this system of theirs was1 in practice1 one of the difficulties with which they had to contend1 since it caused the benevolent to believe that the ,army did not need financial assistance4 ,his own view was that they ought to receive support in their work from the ,government1 as they actually did in some other countries4 ,especially did he desire to receive ,state aid in dealing with ascertained criminals1 such as was extended to them in certain parts of the world4 ,thus only a few weeks before1 in ,holland1 the ,parliament had asked the ,salvation ,army to co-operate in the care of discharged prisoners and gave a grant of money for their support4 ,in ,java the tale was the same4 ,there they were preparing estates as homes for lepers1 and soon a large portion of the leper population of that land would be in their charge4 ,general ,booth told me the story of a celebrated ,danish doctor1 an optician1 who became attracted to the ,army1 and1 giving up his practice and position1 entered its service with his wife4 ,they said they wished to lead a life of real sacrifice and self-denial1 and so1 after going through a training like any other ,cadets1 were sent out to take charge of the medical work in ,java4 ,a recent report stated that this ,officer had attended #af1jjj patients in nine months1 and performed #eaf operations4 ,in ,australia1 the ,government had handed over the work amongst the ,reformatory boys to the ,army4 ,in ,new ,zealand1 the ,government had requested it to take over inebriates1 and was now paying a contribution to that work of #ajs4 per head a week4 ,there the ,army had purchased two islands to accommodate these inebriates1 one on which the men followed the pursuits of agriculture1 fishing1 and so forth1 and the other for the women4 ,in ,canada there was an idea that a large prison should be erected1 of which the ,salvation ,army would take charge4 ,he hoped that in course of time they would be allowed greatly to extend their work in the ,english prisons4 ,general ,booth pointed out to me with reference to their ,social ,work1 that it was necessary to spend large sums of money in finding employment for men whom they had rescued4 ,here1 one of their greatest difficulties was the vehement opposition of members of the ,labour ,party in different countries4 ,this party said1 for example1 that the ,army ought to pay the ,trade ,union rate of wage to any poor fellow whom they had picked up and set to such labour as paper-sorting or carpentry4 ,thus in ,western ,australia they had an estate of #bj1jjj acres lying idle4 ,when he was there a while ago1 he asked the ,officer in charge why he did not cultivate this land and make it productive4 ,the man replied he had no labour2 whereon the ,general said that he could send him plenty from ,england4 ',yes1' commented the ,officer1 'but the moment they begin to work here1 however inefficient or broken down they may be1 we shall have to pay them #gs4 a day6' ,this regulation1 of course1 makes it impossible to cultivate that estate except at a heavy loss4 ,he himself had been denounced as the 'prince of sweaters1' because he took in derelict carpenters at their ,institution in ,hanbury ,street 7which ,i shall describe later71 to whom he did not pay the ,trade ,union wage1 although that ,institution had from the first been worked at a loss4 ,in this case he had made peace with the ,parliamentary ,committee by promising not to make anything there which was used outside the ,army establishments4 ,but still the attacks went on4 ,passing from this subject1 ,i asked ,general ,booth if he had formed any forecast of the future of the ,salvation ,army after his own death4 ,he replied that there were certain factors in the present position of the ,army which seemed to him to indicate its future growth and continuity4 ,speaking impersonally1 he said that the present ,general had become an important man not by his own choice or through the workings of ambition1 but by the will of ,providence4 ,he had acquired a certain standing1 a great hold over his community1 and an influence which helped to concentrate and keep together forces that had grown to be worldwide in their character4 ,it was natural1 therefore1 that people should wonder what would happen when he ceased to be4 ,his answer to these queries was that legal arrangements had been made to provide for this obvious contingency4 ,under the provisions of the constitution of the ,army he had selected his successor1 although he had never told anybody the name of that successor1 which he felt sure1 when announced1 was one that would command the fullest confidence and respect4 ,the first duty of the ,general of the ,army on taking up his office was to choose a man to succeed him1 reserving to himself the power to change that man for another1 should he see good reason for such a course4 ,in short1 his choice is secret1 and being unhampered by any law of heredity or other considerations except those that appeal to his own reason and judgment1 not final4 ,he nominates whom he will4 ,i asked him what would happen if this nominated ,general misconducted himself in any way1 or proved unsuitable1 or lost his reason4 ,he replied that in such circumstances arrangements had been made under which the heads of the ,army could elect another ,general1 and that what they decided would be law4 ,the organization of the ,army was such that any ,department of it remained independent of the ability of one individual4 ,if a man proved incompetent1 or did not succeed1 his office was changed2 the square man was never left in the round hole4 ,each ,department had laws for its direction and guidance1 and those in authority were responsible for the execution of those laws4 ,if for any reason whatsoever1 one commander fell out of the line of action1 another was always waiting to take his place4 ,in short1 he had no fear that the removal of his own person and name would affect the ,organization4 ,it was true1 he remarked1 that leaders cannot be manufactured to order1 and also that the ,army had made1 and would continue to make1 mistakes up and down the world4 ,but those mistakes showed them how to avoid similar errors1 and how and where to improve4 ,as regarded a change of headship1 a fresh individuality always has charms1 and a new force would always strike out in some new direction4 ,the man needed was one who would do something4 ,general ,booth did not fear but that he would be always forthcoming1 and said that for his part he was quite happy as to the future1 in which he anticipated an enlargement of their work4 ,the ,organization existed1 and with it the arrangements for filling every niche4 ,the discipline of to-day would continue to-morrow1 and that spirit would always be ready to burst into flame when it was needed4 ,in his view it was inextinguishable4 ,,men',s ,,social ,,work1 ,,london ,,the ,,middlesex ,,street ,,shelter ,the first of the ,london ,institutions of the ,salvation ,army which ,i visited was that known as the ,middlesex ,street ,shelter and ,working ,men's ,home1 which is at present under the supervision of ,commissioner ,sturgess4 ,this building consists of six floors1 and contains sleeping accommodation for #dfb men4 ,it has been at work since the year #aijf1 when it was acquired by the ,army with the help of that well-known philanthropist1 the late ,mr4 ,george ,herring4 ,of the #dfb men accommodated daily1 #caa pay #c;d4 for their night's lodging1 and the remainder #e;d4 ,the threepenny charge entitles the tenant to the use of a bunk bedstead with sheets and an ,american cloth cover4 ,if the extra #b;d4 is forthcoming the wanderer is provided with a proper bed1 fitted with a wire spring hospital frame and provided with a mattress1 sheets1 pillow1 and blankets4 ,i may state here that as in the case of this ,shelter the building1 furniture and other equipment have been provided by charity1 the nightly fees collected almost suffice to pay the running expenses of the establishment4 ,under less favourable circumstances1 however1 where the building and equipment are a charge on the capital funds of the ,salvation ,army1 the experience is that these fees do not suffice to meet the cost of interest and maintenance4 ,the object of this and similar ,shelters is to afford to men upon the verge of destitution the choice between such accommodation as is here provided and the common lodging-house1 known as a 'kip house1' or the casual ward of a workhouse4 ,those who avail themselves of these ,shelters belong1 speaking generally1 to the destitute or nearly destitute classes4 ,they are harbours of refuge for the unfortunates who find themselves on the streets of ,london at nightfall with a few coppers or some other small sum in their pockets4 ,many of these social wrecks have sunk through drink1 but many others owe their sad position to lack or loss of employment1 or to some other misfortune4 ,for an extra charge of #a;d4 the inmates are provided with a good supper1 consisting of a pint of soup and a large piece of bread1 or of bread and jam and tea1 or of potato-pie4 ,a second penny supplies them with breakfast on the following morning1 consisting of bread and porridge or of bread and fish1 with tea or coffee4 ,the dormitories1 both of the fivepenny class on the ground floor and of the threepenny class upstairs1 are kept scrupulously sweet and clean1 and attached to them are lavatories and baths4 ,these lavatories contain a great number of brown earthenware basins fitted with taps4 ,receptacles are provided1 also1 where the inmates can wash their clothes and have them dried by means of an ingenious electrical contrivance and hot air1 capable of thoroughly drying any ordinary garment in twenty minutes while its owner takes a bath4 ,the man in charge of this apparatus and of the baths was one who had been picked up on the ,embankment during the past winter4 ,in return for his services he received food1 lodging1 clothes and pocket-money to the amount of #cs4 a week4 ,he told me that he was formerly a commercial traveller1 and was trying to re-enter that profession or to become a ship's steward4 ,sickness had been the cause of his fall in the world4 ,adjoining the downstairs dormitory is a dining and sitting-room for the use of those who have taken bed tickets4 ,in this room1 when ,i visited it1 several men were engaged in various occupations4 ,one of them was painting flowers4 ,another1 a watch repairer1 was apparently making up his accounts1 which1 perhaps1 were of an imaginary nature4 ,a third was eating a dinner which he had purchased at the food bar4 ,a fourth smoked a cigarette and watched the flower artist at his work4 ,a fifth was a ,cingalese who had come from ,ceylon to lay some grievance before the late ,king4 ,the authorities at ,whitehall having investigated his case1 he had been recommended to return to ,ceylon and consult a lawyer there4 ,now he was waiting tor the arrival of remittances to enable him to pay his passage back to ,ceylon4 ,i wondered whether the remittances would ever be forthcoming4 ,meanwhile he lived here on #g-a_/b;d4 a day1 #e;d4 for his bed and #b-a_/b;d4 for his food4 ,of these and other men similarly situated ,i will give some account presently4 ,having inspected the upper floors ,i descended to the basement1 where what are called the ',shelter men' are received at a separate entrance at #e4cj in the afternoon1 and buying their penny or halfpennyworth of food1 seat themselves on benches to eat4 ,here1 too1 they can sit and smoke or mend their clothes1 or if they are wet1 dry themselves in the annexe1 until they retire to rest4 ,during the past winter of #aiji #djj men taken from the ,embankment were sheltered here gratis every night1 and were provided with soup and bread4 ,when not otherwise occupied this hall is often used for the purpose of religious services4 ,i spoke at hazard with some of those who were sitting about in the ,shelter4 ,a few specimen cases may be interesting4 ,an old man told me that he had travelled all over the world for fifty years1 especially in the islands of the ,south ,pacific1 until sickness broke him down4 ,he came last from ,shanghai1 where he had been an overseer on railway work1 and before that from ,manila4 ,being incapacitated by fever and rheumatism1 and possessing #a1ejj dollars1 he travelled home1 apparently via ,india and ,burma1 stopping a while in each country4 ,eventually he drifted to a lodging-house1 and1 falling ill there1 was sent to the ,highgate ,infirmary1 where1 he said1 he was so cold that he could not stop4 ,ultimately he found himself upon the streets in winter4 ,for the past twelve months he had been living in this ,shelter upon some help that a friend gave him1 for all his own money was gone4 ,now he was trying to write books1 one of which was in the hands of a well-known firm4 ,he remarked1 pathetically1 that they 'have had it a long time4' ,he was also waiting 'every day' for a pension from ,america1 which he considered was due to him because he fought in the ,civil ,war4 ,most of these poor people are waiting for something4 ,this man added that he could not find his relatives1 and that he intended to stop in the ,shelter until his book was published1 or he could 'help himself out4' ,the next man ,i spoke to was the flower artist1 whom ,i have already mentioned1 whose work1 by the way1 if a little striking in colour1 was by no means bad1 especially as he had no real flowers to draw from4 ,by trade he was a lawyer's clerk2 but he stated that1 unfortunately for him1 the head partner of his firm went bankrupt six years before1 and the bad times1 together with the competition of female labour in the clerical department1 prevented him from obtaining another situation1 so he had been obliged to fall back upon flower painting4 ,he was a married man1 but he said1 ',while ,i could make a fair week's money1 things were comfortable1 but when orders fell slack ,i was requested to go1 as my room was preferable to my company1 and being a man of nervous temperament ,i could not stand it1 and have been here ever since'--that was for about ten weeks4 ,he managed to make enough for his board and lodging by the sale of his flower-pictures4 ,a third man informed me that he had opened twenty-seven shops for a large firm of tobacconists1 and then left to start in business for himself2 also he used to go out window-dressing1 in which he was skilled4 ,then1 about nine years ago1 his wife began to drink1 and while he was absent in hospital1 neglected his business so that it became worthless4 ,finally she deserted him1 and he had heard nothing of her since4 ,after that he took to drink himself4 ,he came to this ,shelter intermittently1 and supported himself by an occasional job of window-dressing4 ,the ,salvation ,army was trying to cure this man of his drinking habits4 ,a fourth man1 a ,eurasian1 was a schoolmaster in ,india1 who drifted to this country1 and had been for four years in the ,colney ,hatch ,asylum4 ,he was sent to the ,salvation ,army by the ,after ,care ,society4 ,he had been two years in the ,shelter1 and was engaged in saving up money to go to ,america4 ,he was employed in the ,shelter as a scrubber1 and also as a seller of food tickets1 by which means he had saved some money4 ,also he had a #e note1 which his sister sent to him4 ,this note he was keeping to return to her as a present on her birthday6 ,his story was long and miserable1 and his case a sad one4 ,still1 he was capable of doing work of a sort4 ,another very smart and useful man had been a nurse in the ,army ,medical ,corps1 which he left some years ago with a good character4 ,occasionally he found a job at nursing1 and stayed at the ,shelter1 where he was given employment between engagements4 ,yet another1 quite a young person1 was a carman who had been discharged through slackness of work in the firm of which he was a servant4 ,he had been ten weeks in the ,institution1 to which he came from the workhouse1 and hoped to find employment at his trade4 ,in passing through this building1 ,i observed a young man of foreign appearance seated in a window-place reading a book1 and asked his history4 ,i was told that he was a ,german of education1 whose ambition it is to become a librarian in his native country4 ,he had come to ,england in order to learn our language1 and being practically without means1 drifted into this place1 where he was employed in cleaning the windows and pursued his studies in the intervals of that humble work4 ,let us hope that in due course his painstaking industry will be rewarded1 and his ambition fulfilled4 ,all these cases1 and others that ,i have no space to mention1 belonged to the class of what ,i may call the regular 'hangers-on' of this particular ,shelter4 ,as ,i visited it in the middle of the day1 ,i did not see its multitude of normal nightly occupants4 ,of such men1 however1 ,i shall be able to speak elsewhere4 ,,the ,,spa ,,road ,,elevator ,,bermondsey ,the next ,institution that ,i inspected was that of a paper-sorting works at ,spa ,road1 ,bermondsey1 where all sorts of waste paper are dealt with in enormous quantities4 ,of this stuff some is given and some is bought4 ,upon delivery it goes to the sorters1 who separate it out according to the different classes of the material1 after which it is pressed into bales by hydraulic machinery and sold to merchants to be re-made4 ,these works stand upon two acres of land4 ,parts of the existing buildings were once a preserve factory1 but some of them have been erected by the ,army4 ,there remain upon the site certain dwelling-houses1 which are still let to tenants4 ,these are destined to be pulled down whenever money is forthcoming to extend the factory4 ,the object of the ,institution is to find work for distressed or fallen persons1 and restore them to society4 ,the ,manager of this ',elevator1' as it is called1 informed me that it employs about #dhj men1 all of whom are picked up upon the streets4 ,as a rule1 these men are given their board and lodging in return for work during the first week1 but no money1 as their labour is worth little4 ,in the second week1 #f;d4 is paid to them in cash2 and1 subsequently1 this remuneration is added to in proportion to the value of the labour1 till in the end some of them earn #hs4 or #is4 a week in addition to their board and lodging4 ,i asked the ,officer in charge what he had to say as to the charges of sweating and underselling which have been brought against the ,salvation ,army in connexion with this and its other productive ,institutions4 ,he replied that they neither sweated nor undersold4 ,the men whom they picked up had no value in the labour market1 and could get nothing to do because no one would employ them1 many of them being the victims of drink or entirely unskilled4 ,such people they overlooked1 housed1 fed1 and instructed1 whether they did or did not earn their food and lodging1 and after the first week paid them upon a rising scale4 ,the results were eminently satisfactory1 as even allowing for the drunkards they found that but few cases1 not more than #aj per cent1 were hopeless4 ,did they not rescue these men most of them would sink utterly2 indeed1 according to their own testimony many of such wastrels were snatched from suicide4 ,as a matter of fact1 also1 they employed more men per ton of paper than any other dealers in the trade4 ,with reference to the commercial results1 after allowing for interest on the capital invested1 the place did not pay its way4 ,he said that a sum of #ae1jjj was urgently required for the erection of a new building on this site1 some of those that exist being of a rough-and-ready character4 ,they were trying to raise subscriptions towards this object1 but found the response very slow4 ,he added that they collected their raw material from warehouses1 most of it being given to them1 but some they bought1 as it was necessary to keep the works supplied1 which could not be done with the gratis stuff alone4 ,also they found that the paper they purchased was the most profitable4 ,these works presented a busy spectacle of useful industry4 ,there was the sorting-room1 where great masses of waste-paper of every kind was being picked over by about #ajj men and separated into its various classes4 ,the resulting heaps are thrown through hoppers into bins4 ,from the bins this sorted stuff passes into hydraulic presses which crush it into bales that1 after being wired1 are ready for sale4 ,it occurred to me that the dealing with this mass of refuse paper must be an unhealthy occupation2 but ,i was informed that this is not the case1 and certainly the appearance of the workers bore out the statement4 ,after completing a tour of the works ,i visited one of the bedrooms containing seventy beds1 where everything seemed very tidy and fresh4 ,clean sheets are provided every week1 as are baths for the inmates4 ,in the kitchen were great cooking boilers1 ovens1 etc41 all of which are worked by steam produced by the burning of the refuse of the sorted paper4 ,then ,i saw the household salvage store1 which contained enormous quantities of old clothes and boots2 also a great collection of furniture1 including a ,turkish bath cabinet1 all of which articles had been given to the ,army by charitable folk4 ,these are either given away or sold to the employes of the factory or to the poor of the neighbourhood at a very cheap rate4 ,the man in charge of this store was an extremely good-looking and gentlemanly young follow of ,university education1 who had been a writer of fiction1 and once acted as secretary to a gentleman who travelled on the ,continent and in the ,east4 ,losing his employment1 he took to a life of dissipation1 became ill1 and sank to the very bottom4 ,he informed me that his ideals and outlook on life were now totally changed4 ,i have every hope that he will do well in the future1 as his abilities are evidently considerable1 and ,nature has favoured him in many ways4 ,i interviewed a number of the men employed in these works1 most of whom had come down through drink1 some of them from very good situations4 ,one had been the superintendent of a sewing-machine company4 ,he took to liquor1 left his wife1 and found himself upon the streets4 ,now he was a traveller for the ,salvation ,army1 in the interests of the ,waste-,paper ,department1 had regained his position in life1 and was living with his wife and family in a comfortable house4 ,another was a grocer by profession1 all of whose savings were stolen1 after which he took to drink4 ,he had been three months in the works1 and at the time of my visit was earning #fs4 a week with food and lodging4 ,another had been a ,barnardo boy1 who came from ,canada as a ship's steward1 and could find nothing to do in ,england4 ,another was a gentleman's servant1 who was dismissed because the family left ,london4 ,another was an auctioneer1 who failed from want of capital1 took to drink1 and emigrated to ,canada4 ,two years later he fell ill with pleurisy1 and was sent home because the authorities were afraid that his ailment might turn to consumption4 ,he stated that at this time he had given up drink1 but could obtain no employment1 so came upon the streets4 ,as he was starving and without hope1 not having slept in a bed for ten nights1 he was about to commit suicide when the ,salvation ,army picked him up4 ,he had seen his wife for the first time in four years on the previous ,whit ,monday1 and they proposed to live together again so soon as he secured permanent employment4 ,another had been a soldier in the ,seaforth ,highlanders1 and served in the ,egyptian ,campaign of #ahha1 and also in the ,american ,army4 ,subsequently he was employed as a porter at a lodging-house at a salary of #bes4 a week1 but left because of trouble about a woman4 ,he came upon the streets1 and1 being unable to find employment1 was contemplating suicide1 when he fell under the influence of the ,army at the ,blackfriars ,shelter4 ,all these men1 and others whom ,i spoke to at random but have no space to write of1 assured me that they were quite satisfied with their treatment at the works1 and repudiated--some of them with indignation--the suggestion that ,i put to them tentatively that they suffered from a system of sweating4 ,for the most part1 indeed1 their gratitude for the help they were receiving in the hour of need was very evident and touching4 ,,the ,,great ,,peter ,,street ,,shelter ,,westminster ,this fine building is the most up-to-date ,men's ,shelter that the ,salvation ,army possesses in ,london4 ,it was once the billiard works of ,messrs4 ,burroughes and ,watts1 and is situated in ,westminster1 quite near to the ,houses of ,parliament4 ,i visited it about eight o'clock in the evening1 and at its entrance was confronted with the word ',full1' inscribed in chalk upon its portals1 at which poor tramps1 deprived of their hope of a night's lodging1 were staring disconsolately4 ,it reminded me of a playhouse upon a first-night of importance1 but1 alas6 the actors here play in a tragedy more dreadful in its cumulative effect than any that was ever put upon the stage4 ,this ,shelter is wonderfully equipped and organized4 ,it contains sitting or resting-rooms1 smoking-rooms1 huge dormitories capable of accommodating about #fjj sleepers2 bathrooms1 lavatories1 extensive hot-water and warming apparatus1 great kitchens1 and butteries1 and so forth4 ,in the sitting and smoking-rooms1 numbers of derelict men were seated4 ,some did nothing except stare before them vacantly4 ,some evidently were suffering from the effects of drink or fatigue2 some were reading newspapers which they had picked up in the course of their day's tramp4 ,one1 ,i remember1 was engaged in sorting out and crumpling up a number of cigar and cigarette ends which he had collected from the pavements1 carefully grading the results in different heaps1 according to the class of the tobacco 7how strong it must be67 either for his own consumption or for sale to other unfortunates4 ,in another place1 men were eating the #a;d4 or #a_/b;d4 suppers that they had purchased4 ,early as it was1 however1 the great dormitories were crowded with hundreds of the lodgers1 either in bed or in process of getting there4 ,i noticed that they all undressed themselves1 wrapping up their rags in bundles1 and1 for the most part slept quite naked4 ,many of them struck me as very fine fellows physically1 and the reflection crossed my mind1 seeing them thus in puris naturalibus1 that there was little indeed to distinguish them from a crowd of males of the upper class engaged1 let us say1 in bathing4 ,it is the clothes that make the difference to the eye4 ,in this ,shelter ,i was told1 by the way1 that there exists a code of rough honour among these people1 who very rarely attempt to steal anything from each other4 ,having so little property1 they sternly respect its rights4 ,i should add that the charge made for accommodation and food is #c;d4 per night for sleeping1 and #a;d4 or #a_/b;d4 per portion of food4 ,the sight of this ,institution crowded with human derelicts struck me as most sad1 more so indeed than many others that ,i have seen1 though1 perhaps1 this may have been because ,i was myself tired out with a long day of inspection4 ,the ,staff-,captain in charge here told me his history1 which is so typical and interesting that ,i will repeat it briefly4 ,many years ago 7he is now an elderly man7 he was a steward on board a ,p4 and ,o4 liner1 and doing well4 ,then a terrible misfortune overwhelmed him4 ,suddenly his wife and child died1 and1 as a result of the shock1 he took to drink4 ,he attempted to cut his throat 7the scar remains to him71 and was put upon his trial for the offence4 ,subsequently he drifted on to the streets1 where he spent eight years4 ,during all this time his object was to be rid of life1 the methods he adopted being to make himself drunk with methylated spirits1 or any other villainous and fiery liquor1 and when that failed1 to sleep at night in wet grass or ditches4 ,once he was picked up suffering from inflammation of the lungs and carried to an infirmary1 where he lay senseless for three days4 ,the end of it was that a ,salvation ,army ,officer found him in ,oxford ,street1 and took him to a ,shelter in ,burne ,street1 where he was bathed and put to bed4 ,that was many years ago1 and now he is to a great extent responsible for the management of this ,westminster ,refuge4 ,commissioner ,sturgess1 one of the head ,officers of the ,army1 told me that their great difficulty was to prevent him from overdoing himself at this charitable task4 ,i think the ,commissioner said that sometimes he would work eighteen or twenty hours out of the twenty-four4 ,one day this ,staff-,captain played a grim little trick upon me4 ,i was seated at luncheon in a ,salvation ,army building1 when the door opened1 and there entered as dreadful a human object as ,i have ever seen4 ,the man was clad in tatters1 his bleeding feet were bound up with filthy rags2 he wore a dingy newspaper for a shirt4 ,his face was cut and plastered over roughly2 he was a disgusting sight4 ,he told me1 in husky accents1 that drink had brought him down1 and that he wanted help4 ,i made a few appropriate remarks1 presented him with a small coin1 and sent him to the ,officers downstairs4 ,a quarter of an hour later the ,staff-,captain appeared in his uniform and explained that he and the 'object' were the same person4 ,again it was the clothes that made the difference4 ,those which he had worn when he appeared at the luncheon-table were the same in which he had been picked up on the streets of ,london4 ,also he thanked me for my good advice which he said he hoped to follow1 and for the sixpence that he announced his intention of wearing on his watch-chain4 ,for my part ,i felt that the laugh was against me4 ,perhaps if ,i had thought the ,salvation ,army capable of perpetrating a joke1 ,i should not have been so easily deceived4 ,this ,staff-,captain gave me much information as to the class of wanderers who frequent these ,shelters1 ,he estimated that about #ej per cent of them sink to that level through the effects of drink4 ,that is to say1 if by the waving of some magic wand intoxicants and harmful drugs should cease to be obtainable in this country1 the bulk of extreme misery which needs such succour1 and it may be added of crime at large1 would be lessened by one-half4 ,this is a terrible statement1 and one that seems to excuse a great deal of what is called 'teetotal fanaticism4' ,the rest1 in his view1 owe their fall to misfortune of various kinds1 which often in its turn leads to flight to the delusive and destroying solace of drink4 ,thus about #be per cent of the total have been afflicted with sickness or acute domestic troubles4 ,or perhaps they are 'knocked out' by shock1 such as is brought on by the loss of a dearly-loved wife or child1 and have never been able to recover from that crushing blow4 ,the remainder are the victims of advancing age and of the cruel commercial competition of our day4 ,thus he said that the large business firms destroy and devour the small shopkeepers1 as a hawk devours sparrows2 and these little people or their employes1 if they are past middle age1 can find no other work4 ,especially is this the case since the ,employers' ,liability ,acts came into operation1 for now few will take on hands who are not young and very strong1 as older folk must naturally be more liable to sickness and accident4 ,again1 he told me that it has become the custom in large businesses of which the dividends are falling1 to put in a man called an ',organizer1' who is often an ,american4 ,this ,organizer goes through the whole staff and mercilessly dismisses the elderly or the least efficient1 dividing up their work among those who remain4 ,so these discarded men fall to rise no more and drift to the poorhouse or the ,shelters or the jails1 and finally into the river or a pauper's grave4 ,first1 however1 many spend what may be called a period of probation on the streets1 where they sleep at night under arches or on stairways1 or on the inhospitable flagstones and benches of the ,embankment1 even in winter4 ,the ,staff-,captain informed me that on one night during the previous ,november he counted no less than #abj men1 women1 and children sleeping in the wet on or in the neighbourhood of the ,embankment4 ,think of it--in this one place6 ,think of it1 you whose women and children1 to say nothing of yourselves1 do not sleep on the ,embankment in the wet in ,november4 ,it may be answered that they might have gone to the casual ward1 where there are generally vacancies4 ,i suppose that they might1 but so perverse are many of them that they do not4 ,indeed1 often they declare bluntly that they would rather go to prison than to the casual ward1 as in prison they are more kindly treated4 ,the reader may have noted as he drove along the ,embankment or other ,london thoroughfares at night in winter1 long queues of people waiting their turn to get something4 ,what they are waiting for is a cup of soup and1 perhaps1 an opportunity of sheltering till the dawn1 which soup and shelter are supplied by the ,salvation ,army1 and sometimes by other charitable ,organizations4 ,i asked whether this provision of gratis food did in fact pauperize the population1 as has been alleged4 ,the ,staff-,captain answered that men do not as a rule stop out in the middle of the winter till past midnight to get a pint of soup and a piece of bread4 ,of course1 there might be exceptions2 but for the most part those who take this charity1 do so because if is sorely needed4 ,the cost of these midnight meals is reckoned by the ,salvation ,army at about #h per #a1jjj1 including the labour involved in cooking and distribution4 ,this money is paid from the ,army's ,central ,fund1 which collects subscriptions for that special purpose4 ',of course1 our midnight soup has its critics1' said one of the ,officers who has charge of its distribution2 'but all ,i know is that it saves many from jumping into the river4' ,during the past winter1 that is from ,november #c1 #aiji1 to ,march #bd1 #aiaj1 #afc1aja persons received free accommodation and food at the hands of the ,salvation ,army in connexion with its ,embankment ,soup ,distribution ,charity4 ,,the ,,free ,,breakfast ,,service ,,blackfriars ,,shelter ,on a ,sunday in ,june ,i attended the ,free ,breakfast service at the ,blackfriars ,shelter4 ,the lease of this building was acquired by the ,salvation ,army from a ,temperance ,company4 ,behind it lay contractors' stables1 which were also bought2 after which the premises were rebuilt and altered to suit the purposes to which they are now put1 the stabling being for the most part converted into sleeping-rooms4 ,the ,officer who accompanied me1 ,lieut4-,colonel ,jolliffe1 explained that this ,blackfriars ,shelter is1 as it were1 the dredger for and the feeder of all the ,salvation ,army's ,social ,institutions for men in ,london4 ,indeed1 it may be likened to a dragnet set to catch male unfortunates in this part of the ,metropolis4 ,here1 as in the other ,army ,shelters1 are great numbers of bunks that are hired out at #c;d4 a night1 and the usual food-kitchens and appliances4 ,i visited one or two of these1 well-ventilated places that in cold weather are warmed by means of hot-water pipes to a heat of about #gj deg41 as the clothing on the bunks is light4 ,i observed that although the rooms had only been vacated for a few hours1 they were perfectly inoffensive1 and even sweet2 a result that is obtained by a very strict attention to cleanliness and ample ventilation4 ,the floors of these places are constantly scrubbed1 and the bunks undergo a process of disinfection about once a week4 ,as a consequence1 in all the ,army ,shelters the vermin which sometimes trouble common lodging-houses are almost unknown4 ,i may add that the closest supervision is exercised in these places when they are occupied4 ,night watchmen are always on duty1 and an ,officer sleeps in a little apartment attached to each dormitory4 ,the result is that there are practically no troubles of any kind4 ,sometimes1 however1 a poor wanderer is found dead in the morning1 in which case the body is quietly conveyed away to await inquest4 ,i asked what happened when men who could not produce the necessary coppers to pay for their lodging1 applied for admission4 ,the answer was that the matter was left to the discretion of the ,officer in charge4 ,in fact1 in cases of absolute and piteous want1 men are admitted free1 although1 naturally enough1 the ,army does not advertise that this happens4 ,if it did1 its hospitality would be considerably overtaxed4 ,leaving the dormitories1 ,i entered the great hall1 in which were gathered nearly #fjj men seated upon benches1 every one of which was filled4 ,the faces and general aspect of these men were eloquent of want and sorrow4 ,some of them appeared to be intent upon the religious service that was going on1 attendance at this service being the condition on which the free breakfast is given to all who need food and have passed the previous night in the street4 ,others were gazing about them vacantly1 and others1 sufferers from the effects of drink1 debauchery1 or fatigue1 seemed to be half comatose or asleep4 ,this congregation1 the strangest that ,i have ever seen1 comprised men of all classes4 ,some might once have belonged to the learned professions1 while others had fallen so low that they looked scarcely human4 ,every grade of rag-clad misery was represented here1 and every stage of life from the lad of sixteen up to the aged man whose allotted span was almost at an end4 ,rank upon rank of them1 there they sat in their infinite variety1 linked only by the common bond of utter wretchedness1 the most melancholy sight1 ,i think1 that ever my eyes beheld4 ,all of them1 however1 were fairly clean1 for this matter had been seen to by the ,officers who attend upon them4 ,the ,salvation ,army does not only wash the feet of its guests1 but the whole body4 ,also1 it dries and purifies their tattered garments4 ,when ,i entered the hall1 an ,officer on the platform was engaged in offering up an extempore prayer4 ',we pray that the ,holy ,spirit may be poured out upon these men4 ,we pray1 ,o ,god1 that ,thou wilt help them to take fresh courage1 to find fresh hope1 and that they may rise once again to fight the battle of life4 ,we pray that ,thou mayst bring to ,thy feet1 this morning1 such as shall be saved eternally4' ,then another ,officer1 styled the ,chaplain1 addressed the audience4 ,he told them that there was a way out of their troubles1 and that hundreds who had sat in that hall as they did1 now blessed the day which brought them there4 ,he said3 ',you came here this morning1 you scarcely knew how or why4 ,you did not know the hand of ,god was leading you1 and that ,he will bless you if you will listen to ,his ,voice4 ,you think you cannot escape from this wretched life2 you think of the past with all its failures4 ,but do not trouble about the years that are gone4 ,seek the ,kingdom of ,god and ,his righteousness1 and all other things shall be added unto you4 ,then there will be no more wandering about without a friend1 for ,i say to you that ,god lives1 and this morning you will hear from others1 who once were in a similar condition to yourself1 what ,he has done for them4' ,next a man with a fine tenor voice1 who1 it seems1 is nicknamed 'the ,yorkshire ,canary1' sang the hymn beginning1 ',god moves in a mysterious way4' ,after this in plain1 forcible language he told his own story4 ,he said that he was well brought up by a good father and mother1 and lost everything through his own sin4 ,his voice was in a sense his ruin1 since he used to sing in public-houses and saloons and there learnt to drink4 ,at length he found himself upon the streets in ,london1 and tramped thence to ,yorkshire to throw himself upon the mercy of his parents4 ,when he was quite close to his home1 however1 his courage failed him1 and he tramped back to ,london1 where he was picked up by the ,salvation ,army4 ,this man1 a most respectable-looking person1 is now a clerk in a well-known business house4 ,in his own words1 ',i knelt down and gave my heart to ,god1 and am to-day in a good situation4' ,next a ,salvation ,army soldier spoke4 ,four years before he had attended the ,sunday morning meeting in this hall and 'found the friendship of ,god4 ,he has helped me to regain the manhood ,i had lost and to do my duty4 ,for two years now ,i have helped to support an invalid sister instead of being a burden to every one ,i knew1 as once ,i was4' ,after the singing of the hymn1 ',rock of ,ages1' another man addressed the meeting4 ,he had been a drunkard1 a homeless wanderer1 who slept night after night on the ,embankment till fortune brought him to this service and to the ,penitent-,form4 ,since that time1 two and a half years before1 no drink had passed his lips1 and once again1 as he declared1 he had become 'a self-respecting1 respectable citizen4' ,then a dwarf whom ,i had seen at work in the ,spa ,road ,elevator1 and who once was taken about the country to be exhibited as a side show at fairs and there fell a victim to drink1 gave his testimony4 ,another verse1 ',could my tears for ever flow1' and after it1 in rapid succession1 spoke a man who had been a schoolmaster and fallen through drink and gambling2 a man who1 or whose brother1 ,i am not sure which1 had been a ,wesleyan preacher1 and who is now employed in a ,life ,assurance ,company2 a man who had been a prisoner2 a man who had been a confirmed drunkard1 and others4 ,always it was the same earnest1 simple tale of drink and degradation1 passed now for ever2 of the ,penitent-,form2 of the building up of a new self1 and of position regained4 ,more singing and an eloquent prayer which seemed to move the audience very much1 some of them to tears2 an address from a woman ,salvation ,army ,officer1 who pleaded with the people in the name of their mothers1 and a brief but excellent sermon from ,commissioner ,sturgess1 based upon the parable of the ,marriage of the ,king's ,son as recorded in the #bbnd chapter of ,st4 ,matthew1 and of the guests who were collected from the highways and byways to attend the feast whence the rich and worldly had excused themselves4 ,then the great and final invocation to ,heaven to move the hearts of these men1 and the invitation to them to present themselves at the ,penitent-,form4 ,lastly a mighty1 thundering hymn1 ',jesu1 ,lover of my soul1' and the ending of the long drama4 ,it was a wonderful thing to see the spiritually-faced man on the platform pleading with his sordid audience1 and to watch them stirring beneath his words4 ,to see1 also1 a uniformed woman flitting to and fro among that audience1 whispering1 exhorting1 invoking--a temptress to ,salvation1 then to note the response and its manner that were stranger still4 ,some poor wretch would seem to awaken1 only to relapse into a state of sullen1 almost defiant torpor4 ,a little while and the leaven begins to work in him4 ,he flushes1 mutters something1 half rises from his seat1 sits down again1 rises once more and with a peculiar1 unwilling gait staggers to the ,penitent-,form1 and in an abandonment of grief and repentance throws himself upon his knees and there begins to sob4 ,a watching ,officer comes to him1 kneels at his side and1 ,i suppose1 confesses him4 ,the tremendous hymn bursts out like a paean of triumph-- ,just as ,i am1 without one plea1 it begins1 the rest ,i forget or did not catch4 ,now the ice is broken4 ,another comes and another1 and another1 till there is no more room at the ,penitent-,bench4 ,they swarm on to the platform which is cleared for them1 and there kneel down1 and ,i observed the naked feet of some of them showing through the worn-out boots4 ,so it goes on4 ,at length the great audience rises and begins to depart1 filing one by one through a certain doorway4 ,as they pass1 ,officers who have appeared from somewhere wait for them with outstretched arms4 ,the most of them brush past shaking their heads and muttering4 ,here and there one pauses1 is lost--or rather won4 ,the ,salvation ,army has him in its net and he joins the crowd upon the platform4 ,still the hymn swells and falls till all have departed save those who remain for good--about #aj per cent of that sad company4 ,illustration3 ,,seeking ,,the ,,homeless ,,at ,,midnight4 ,it is done and the catcher feels that he has witnessed the very uttermost of tragedies1 human and spiritual4 99 99 99 99 99 ,mere common 'revivalism'6 the critic will say1 and it may be so4 ,still such revivalism1 if that is the term for it1 must be judged by its fruits4 ,i am informed that of those who kneel here experience shows that but a small percentage relapse4 ,the most of them become what in the ,salvation ,army cant--if one chooses so to name it--is known as 'saved4' ,this means that from drunkards and wastrels stained with every sort of human fault1 or even crime1 they are turned into ,god-fearing and respectable men who henceforward1 instead of being a pest to society and a terror to all those who have the misfortune to be connected with them1 become props of society and a comfort and a support to their relatives and friends4 ,thus is the mesh of mercy spread1 and such is its harvest4 ,the age of miracles is past1 we are told2 but ,i confess that while watching this strange sight ,i wondered more than once that if this were so1 what that age of miracles had been like4 ,of one thing ,i was sure1 that it must have been to such as these that ,he who is acknowledged even by sceptics to have been the very ,master of mankind1 would have chosen to preach1 had this been the age of ,his appearance1 ,he who came to call sinners to repentance4 ,probably1 too1 it was to such as these that ,he did preach1 for folk of this character are common to the generations4 ,doubtless1 ,judea had its knaves and drunkards1 as we know it had its victims of sickness and misfortune4 ,the devils that were cast out in ,jerusalem did not die2 they reappear in ,london and elsewhere to-day1 and1 it would seem1 can still be cast out4 ,i confess another thing1 also2 namely1 that ,i found all this drama curiously exciting4 ,most of us who have passed middle age and led a full and varied life will be familiar with the great human emotions4 ,yet ,i discovered here a new emotion1 one quite foreign to a somewhat extended experience1 one that ,i cannot even attempt to define4 ,the contagion of revivalism6 again it will be said4 ,this may be so1 or it may not4 ,but at least1 so far as this branch of the ,salvation ,army work is concerned1 those engaged in it may fairly claim that the tree should be judged by its fruits4 ,without doubt1 in the main these fruits are good and wholesome4 ,i have only to add to my description of this remarkable service1 that the number netted1 namely1 about #aj per cent of those present1 was1 ,i am told1 just normal1 neither more nor less than the average4 ,some of these doubtless will relapse2 but if only one of them remains really reformed1 surely the ,salvation ,army has vindicated its arguments and all is proved to be well worth while4 ,but to that one very many ciphers must be added as the clear and proved result of the forty years or so of its activity4 ,whatever may be doubtful1 this is true beyond all controversy1 for it numbers its converts by the thousand4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the congregation which ,i saw on this particular occasion seemed to me to consist for the most part of elderly men2 in fact1 some of them were very old1 and the average age of those who attended the ,penitent-,form ,i estimated at about thirty-five years4 ,this1 however1 varies4 ,i am informed that at times they are mostly young persons4 ,it must be remembered--and the statement throws a lurid light upon the conditions prevailing in ,london1 as in other of our great cities--that the population which week by week attends these ,sunday morning services is of an ever-shifting character4 ,doubtless1 there are some habitus and others who reappear from time to time4 ,but the most of the audience is new4 ,every ,saturday night the highways and the hedges1 or rather the streets and the railway arches yield a new crop of homeless and quite destitute wanderers4 ,these are gathered into the ,blackfriars ,shelter1 and go their bitter road again after the rest1 the breakfast1 and the service4 ,but as we have seen here a substantial proportion1 about #aj per cent1 remain behind4 ,these are all interviewed separately and fed1 and on the following morning as many of them as vacancies can be found for in the ,paper ,works ,elevator or elsewhere are sent thither4 ,i saw plenty of these men1 and with them others who had been rescued previously2 so many1 indeed1 that it is impossible to set out their separate cases4 ,looking through my notes made at the time1 ,i find among them a schoolmaster1 an ,australian who fought in ,south ,africa1 a publican who had lost #b1jjj in speculation and been twelve months on the streets1 a sailor and two soldiers who between them had seen much service abroad1 and a ,university man who had tried to commit suicide from ,london ,bridge4 ,also there was a person who was recently described in the newspapers as the 'dirtiest man in ,london4' ,he was found sitting on the steps of a large building in ,queen ,victoria ,street1 partly paralysed from exposure4 ,so filthy and verminous was he1 that it was necessary to scrape his body1 which mere washing would not touch4 ,when he was picked up1 a crowd of several hundred people followed him down the street1 attracted by his dreadful appearance4 ,his pockets were full of filth1 amongst which were found #es4 in coppers4 ,he had then been a month in the ,shelter1 where he peels or peeled potatoes1 etc41 and looked quite bright and clean4 ,most of these people had been brought down by the accursed drink1 which is the bane of our nation1 and some few by sheer misfortune4 ,neither at the service1 nor afterwards1 did ,i see a single ,jew1 for the fallen of that race seem to be looked after by their fellow religionists4 ,moreover1 the ,jews do not drink to excess4 ,foreigners1 also1 are comparatively scarce at ,blackfriars and in the other ,shelters4 ,,the ,,ex-,,criminals ,on the afternoon of the ,sunday on which ,i visited the ,blackfriars ,shelter1 ,i attended another service1 conducted by ,commissioner ,sturgess1 at ,quaker ,street4 ,here the room was filled by about #aej men1 all of whom had been rescued1 and were then working in the various ,shelters or elsewhere4 ,i may say that ,i have seldom seen a congregation of more respectable appearance1 and never one that joined with greater earnestness in a religious service4 ,i will take this opportunity to observe that the ,salvation ,army enforces no religious test upon those to whom it extends its assistance4 ,if a man is a member of the ,church of ,england or a ,roman ,catholic1 for instance1 and wishes to remain so1 all that it tries to do is to make him a good member of his ,church4 ,its only sine qua non is that the individual should show himself ready to work zealously at any task which it may be able to find for him4 ,the rest of that afternoon ,i spent in interviewing ex-criminals who were then in the charge of the ,salvation ,army4 ,to give details of their cases in this book is impossible4 ,here ,i will only say1 therefore1 that some of these had been most desperate characters1 who had served as much as thirty or forty years in various prisons1 or even been condemned to death for murder4 ,indeed1 the nineteen men whom ,i interviewed had1 between them1 done #cga years of what is known as 'time4' ,i cannot honestly report that ,i liked the looks of all these gentry1 or believed everything that they told me4 ,for instance1 when such people swear that they have been wrongly convicted1 an old lawyer and magistrate like myself1 who knows what pains are taken by every ,english ,court to safeguard the innocent1 is apt to be sceptical4 ,still1 it should be added that many of these jailbirds are now to all appearance quite reformed1 while some of them are doing well in more or less responsible positions1 under the supervision of the ,army4 ,the ,salvation ,army ,officers have authority from the ,home ,office to visit the various prisons1 where the inmates are informed that those who are desirous of seeing them must give in their names4 ,then on a certain day1 the ,officer1 who1 under ,commissioner ,sturgess1 is responsible for the ,prison work of the ,army in ,england1 appears at the ,wandsworth or the ,pentonville ,prison1 or wherever it may be4 ,there he finds1 perhaps1 as many as #aej men waiting to see him1 the total number of ex-prisoners who pass through the hands of the ,army in ,england averaging at present about #a1jjj per annum4 ,he interviews these men in their cells privately1 the prison officials remaining outside1 and stops as long with each of them as he deems to be needful1 for the ,governors of the prisons give him every opportunity of attaining the object of his work4 ,this ,officer informed me that his conversation with the prisoners is not restricted in any way4 ,it may be about their future or of spiritual matters1 or it may have to do with their family affairs4 ,the details of each case are carefully recorded in a book which ,i saw1 and when a convict is discharged and given over to the care of the ,army1 a photograph and an official statement of his record is furnished with him4 ,this statement the ,army finds a great help1 as in dealing with such people it is necessary to know their past in order to be able to guard against their weak points4 ,the ,government authorities have now begun to seek the aid of the ,army in certain special cases4 ,if they feel that it is unnecessary to retain a man any longer1 they will sometimes hand him over1 should the ,salvation ,army ,officers be willing to take him in and be responsible for him4 ,general ,booth and his subordinates think that if this system were enlarged and followed up1 it would result in the mitigation or the abbreviation of many sentences1 without exposing the public to danger4 ,in discussing this matter with them1 ,i ventured to point out that it would be a bad thing if the ,army became in any way identified with the prison ,authorities1 and began1 at any rate in the mind of the criminal classes1 to wear the initials ,g4,r4 instead of those of the ,army upon their collars4 ,this was not disputed by ,commissioner ,sturgess1 with whom ,i debated the question4 ,what the ,army desires1 however1 is that the ,government should subsidize this work in order to enable it to support the ex-convicts until it can find opportunity to place them in positions where they can earn their own bread4 ,the trouble with such folk is that1 naturally enough1 few desire to employ them1 and until they are employed1 which in the case of aged persons or of those with a very bad record may be never1 they must be fed1 clothed1 and housed4 ,after going into the whole subject at considerable length and in much detail1 the conclusion which ,i came to was that this work of the visitation of prisoners by ,salvation ,army ,officers1 and the care of them when released either on or before the completion of their sentences1 is one that might be usefully extended1 should the ,home ,office ,authorities see fit so to do4 ,there is no doubt1 although it cannot guarantee success in every case1 that the ,salvation ,army is peculiarly successful in its dealings with hardened criminals4 ,why this is so is not easy to explain4 ,i think1 however1 that there are two main reasons for its success4 ,the first is that the ,army takes great care never to break a promise which it may make through any of its ,officers4 ,thus1 if a man in jail is told that his relatives will be hunted up and communicated with1 or that an application will be made to the ,authorities to have him committed to the care of the ,army1 or that work will be found for him on his release1 and the like1 that undertaking1 whatever it may be1 is noted in the book which ,i have mentioned1 and although years may pass before it can be fulfilled1 is in due course carried out to the letter4 ,now1 convicts are shy birds1 who put little faith in promises4 ,but when they find that these are always kept they gain confidence in the makers of them1 and often learn to trust them entirely4 ,the second and more potent reason is to be found in the power of that loving sympathy which the ,army extends even to the vilest1 to those from whom the least puritanical of us would shrink4 ,it shows such men that they are not utterly lost1 as these believe2 that it1 at any rate1 does not mark them with a figurative broad arrow and consign them to a separate division of society2 that it is able to give them back the self-respect without which mankind is lower than the beast1 and to place them1 regenerated1 upon a path that1 if it be steep and thorny1 still leads to those heights of peace and honour which they never thought to tread again4 ,this is done not by physical care and comfort1 though1 of course1 these help towards the desired end1 but by its own spiritual means1 or so it would appear4 ,its ,officers pray with the man2 they awake his conscience1 which is never dead in any of us2 they pour the blessed light of hope into the dark places of his soul2 they cause him to hate the past1 and to desire to lead a new life4 ,once this desire is established1 the rest is comparatively simple1 for where the heart leads the feet will follow2 but without it little or nothing can be done4 ,such is the explanation ,i have to offer4 ,at any rate1 ,i believe it remains a fact that among the worst criminals the ,salvation ,army often succeeds where others have failed4 ,another point that should not be overlooked in this connexion is that it must be a great comfort to the sinner and an encouragement of the most practical sort to find1 as he sometimes will1 that the hands which are dragging him and his kind from the mire1 had once been as filthy as his own4 ,when the worker can say to him1 ',look at me2 in bygone days ,i was as bad as or worse than you'2 when he can point to many others whose vices were formerly notorious1 but who now fill positions of trust in the ,army or outside of it1 and are honoured of all men2 then the lost one1 emerging1 perhaps1 for the fifth or sixth time from the darkness of his prison1 sees by the light of these concrete examples that the future has promise for us all4 ,if they have succeeded why should he fail8 ,that is the argument which comes home to him4 ,there remains a matter to be considered4 ,let us suppose that as time goes by the ,authorities become more and more convinced of the value of the ,army's prison work1 and pass over to its care criminals in ever-increasing numbers1 as they are doing in some other countries and in the great ,colonies1 what will be the effect upon the ,army itself8 ,will not this mass of comparatively useless material clog the wheels of the great machine by overlading it with a vast number of ex-prisoners1 some of whom1 owing to their age or other circumstances1 are quite incapable of earning their livelihood1 and therefore must be carried till their deaths8 ,when ,i put the query to those in command1 the answer given was that they did not think so1 as they believed that the ,army would be able to turn the great majority of these men into respectable1 wage-earning members of society4 ,thus of those who have been sent to it lately from the prisons1 it has1 ,i understand1 been forced to return only two1 because these men would not behave themselves1 and proved to be a source of danger and contamination to others4 ,as regards the residuum who are incapacitated by age or weakness of mind or body1 ,general ,booth and his ,officers are of opinion that the ,government should contribute to their support in such places as the ,army may be able to find for them to dwell in under its care4 ,i hope that these forecasts1 which after all are made by men of great experience who should know1 may not prove to be over-sanguine4 ,still it must be remembered that in ,england alone there are1 ,i am told1 some #cj1jjj confirmed criminals in the jails1 not reckoning the #e1jjj who are classed as convicts4 ,if even #bj per cent of these were passed over to the care of the ,army1 with or without ,state grants in aid of their support1 this must in the nature of things prove a heavy burden upon its resources4 ,when all is said and done it is harder to find employment for a jailbird1 even if reformed1 than for any other class of man1 because so damaged a human article has but little commercial value in the ,labour market4 ,if1 however1 the ,salvation ,army is prepared to face this gigantic task1 it may be hoped that it will be given an opportunity of showing what it can do on a large scale1 as it has already shown upon one more restricted4 ,prison reform is in the air4 ,the present system is admitted more or less to have broken down4 ,it has been shown to be incompetent to attain the real end for which it is established2 that is1 not punishment1 as many still believe1 for this hereditary idea is hard to eradicate1 but prevention and1 still more1 reformation4 ,the ',vengeance of the ,law' is a phrase not easy to forget2 but among humane and highly-civilized peoples the word ,vengeance should be replaced by another1 the best that ,i can think of is--,regeneration4 ,the ,law should not seek to avenge--that may be left to the savage codes1 civil and religious1 of the dark ages4 ,except in the case of the death sentence1 which is not everywhere in favour1 it should seek to regenerate4 ,if1 then1 among other agencies1 the ,salvation ,army is able to prove beyond cavil that it can assist our criminal system to attain this noble end1 ought not opportunity to be given it in full measure8 ,is it too much to hope that when the new ,prison ,act1 of which the substance has recently been outlined by the ,home ,secretary1 comes to be discussed1 this object may be kept in view and the offer of the ,salvation ,army to co-operate in the great endeavour may not be lightly thrust aside8 ,if its help is found so valuable in the solution of this particular problem in other lands1 why should it be rejected here1 or1 rather1 why should it not be more largely utilized1 as ,i know from their own lips1 ,general ,booth and his ,officers hope and desire8#b ,,the ,,men',s ,,workshop ,,hanbury ,,street1 ,,whitechapel ,this ,salvation ,army carpentering and joinery shop has been in existence for about fifteen years1 but it does not even now pay its way4 ,it was started by the ,army in order to assist fallen mechanics by giving them temporary work until they could find other situations4 ,the manager informed me that at the beginning they found work for about thirty men4 ,when ,i visited the place some fifty hands were employed--bricklayers1 painters1 joiners1 etc41 none of whom need stop an hour longer than they choose4 ,from #ajj to #aej men pass through this ,workshop in a year1 but many of them being elderly and therefore unable to obtain work elsewhere1 stop for a long while1 as the ,army cannot well get rid of them4 ,all of these folk arrive in a state of absolute destitution1 having even sold their tools1 the last possessions with which a competent workman parts4 ,the ,parliamentary ,committee of the ,labour ,party and the ,trade ,unions have recently stirred up a great agitation1 which has been widely reported in the ,press1 against the ,hanbury ,street ,workshop1 because the ,army does not pay the ,union rate of wages4 ,as a result the ,army now declines all outside contracts1 and confines its operations to the work of erecting1 repairing1 or furnishing its own buildings4 ,here it may be stated that these complaints seem to be unreasonable4 ,the men employed have almost without exception been taken off the streets to save them from starvation or the poorhouse4 ,often enough they are by no means competent at their work1 while some of them have for the time being been rendered practically useless through the effects of drink or other debaucheries4 ,yet it is argued with violence that to such people1 whom no business firm would employ upon any terms1 the ,army ought to pay the full ,trade ,union rate of wages4 ,when every allowance is made for the great and urgent problems connected with the cruel practice of 'sweating1' surely this attitude throws a strange light upon some of the methods of the ,trade ,unions8 ,the inference seems to be that they would prefer that these derelicts should come on the rates or starve rather than that the ,army should house and feed them1 giving them1 in addition1 such wage as their labour may be worth4 ,further comment seems to be needless1 especially when ,i repeat that1 as ,i am assured1 this ,hanbury ,street ,institution never has earned1 and does not now earn1 the cost of its upkeep4 ,it is situated in the heart of a very poor district1 and is rather a ramshackle place to look at1 but still quite suitable to its purposes4 ,i have observed that one of the characteristics of the ,salvation ,army is that it never spends unnecessary money upon buildings4 ,if it can buy a good house or other suitable structure cheap it does so4 ,if it cannot1 it makes use of what it can get at a price within its means1 provided that the place will satisfy the requirements of the sanitary and other ,authorities4 ,all the machines at ,hanbury ,street are driven by electric power that is supplied by the ,stepney ,council at a cost of #a;d4 per unit for power and #c;d4 per unit for lighting4 ,an elderly man whom ,i saw there attending to this machinery1 was dismissed by one of the great railway companies when they were reducing their hands4 ,he had been in the employ of the ,salvation ,army for seven years and received the use of a house rent free and a wage of #cjs4 a week1 which probably he would find it quite impossible to earn anywhere else4 ,the hours of employment are from #f4cj a4m4 to #e4cj p4m4 if the man is engaged on outside work1 or to #f p4m4 if he labours in the workshop1 and the men are paid at various rates according to the value of their work1 and whether they are boarded and lodged1 or live outside4 ,thus one to whom ,i spoke1 who was the son of a former mayor of an important town1 was allowed #cs4 a week plus food and lodging1 while another received #is4 a week1 #es4 of which was sent to his wife1 from whom he was separated4 ,another man1 after living on the ,army for about two years1 made charges against it to the ,carpenters' and ,joiners' ,union4 ,he returned and apologized1 but had practically to be kept under restraint on account of his drinking habits4 ,another man spent twenty years in jail and then walked the streets4 ,he is now a very respectable person1 earns #bgs4 #f;d4 a week1 and lives outside with his wife and family4 ,another was once convicted of cruelty to his children1 whom he placed under the boards of the flooring while he went out to drink4 ,these children are now restored to him1 and he lives with them4 ,another among those with whom ,i happened to speak1 was robbed by a relative of #d1jjj which his father left to him4 ,he was taken on by the ,army in a state of destitution1 but ,i forget what he earned4 ,another1 the youngest man in the ,works1 came to them without any trade at all and in a destitute condition1 but when ,i saw him was in charge of a morticing machine4 ,he had married1 lived out1 and had been in the employ of the ,army for five years4 ,his wage was #bgs4 #f;d4 a week4 ,two others drew as much as #b #es4 #aa;d4 each1 living out2 but1 on the other hand1 some received as little as #cs4 a week with board and lodging4 ,amongst this latter class was a young ,mormon from ,salt ,lake ,city1 who earned #ds4 #f;d4 a week and his board and lodging4 ,he had been in the ,elevator about three months1 having got drunk in ,london and missed his ship4 ,although he attended the ,salvation ,army meetings1 he remained a ,mormon4 ,in these ,works all sorts of articles are manufactured to be used by other branches of the ,salvation ,army4 ,thus ,i saw poultry-houses being made for the ,boxted ,small ,holdings2 these cost from #d #es4 to #d #ajs4 net1 and were excellent structures designed to hold about two dozen fowls4 ,further on large numbers of seats of different patterns were in process of manufacture1 some of them for children1 and other longer ones1 with reversible backs1 to be used in the numerous ,army halls4 ,next ,i visited a room in which mattresses and mattress covers are made for the various ,shelters1 also the waterproof bunk bedding1 which costs #gs4 #i;d4 per cover4 ,further on1 in a separate compartment1 was a flock-tearing machine1 at which the ,mormon ,i have mentioned was employed4 ,this is a very dusty job whereat a man does not work for more than one day in ten4 ,then there were the painting and polishing-room1 the joinery room1 and the room where doors1 window frames1 and articles of furniture are constructed2 also special garden benches1 cleverly planned so that the seat can be protected from rain4 ,these were designed by a young lady whom ,i chance to know in private life1 and who1 as ,i now discovered for the first time1 is also a member of the ,salvation ,army4 ,such is the ,hanbury ,street ,workshop1 where the ,army makes the best use it can of rather indifferent human materials1 and1 as ,i have said1 loses money at the business4 ,,sturge ,,house1 ,,bow ,,road ,this branch of the ,men's ,social ,work of the ,salvation ,army is a home for poor and destitute boys4 ,the house1 which once belonged to the late ,dr4 ,barnardo1 has been recently hired on a short lease4 ,one of the features of the ,army work is the reclamation of lads1 of whom about #b1djj have passed through its hands in ,london during the course of the last eight years4 ,sturge ,house has been fitted up for this special purpose1 and accommodates about fifty boys4 ,the ,officer in charge informed me that some boys apply to them for assistance when they are out of work1 while others come from bad homes1 and yet others through the ,shelters1 which pass on suitable lads4 ,each case is strictly investigated when it arrives1 with the result that about one-third of their number are restored to their parents1 from whom often enough they have run away1 sometimes upon the most flimsy pretexts4 ,not unfrequently these boys are bad characters1 who tell false tales of their past4 ,thus1 recently1 two who arrived at the ,headquarters at ,whitechapel1 alleged that they were farm-labourers from ,norfolk4 ,as they did not in the least look the part1 inquiries were made1 when it was found that they had never been nearer to ,norfolk than ,hampstead1 where both of them had been concerned in the stealing of #aj from a business firm4 ,the matter was patched up with the intervention of the ,army1 and the boys were restored to their parents4 ,occasionally1 too1 lads are brought here by kind folk1 who find them starving4 ,they are taken in1 kept for a while1 taught and fed1 and when their characters are re-established--for many of them have none left--put out into the world4 ,some of them1 indeed1 work daily at various employments in ,london1 and pay #es4 a week for their board and lodging at the ,home4 ,a good proportion of these lads also are sent to the collieries in ,wales1 where1 after a few years1 they earn good wages4 ,in these collieries a man and a boy generally work together4 ,a while ago such a man applied to the ,army for a boy1 and the applicant1 proving respectable1 the boy was sent1 and turned out extremely well4 ,in due course he became a collier himself1 and1 in his turn1 sent for a boy4 ,so the thing spread1 till up to the present time the ,army has supplied fifty or sixty lads to colliers in ,south ,wales1 all of whom seem to be satisfactory and prosperous4 ,as the ,manager explained1 it is not difficult to place out a lad as soon as his character can be more or less guaranteed4 ,the difficulty comes with a man who is middle-aged or old4 ,he added that this ,home does not in any sense compete with those of ,dr4 ,barnardo2 in fact1 in certain ways they work hand in hand4 ,the ,barnardo ,homes will not receive lads who are over sixteen1 whereas the ,army takes them up to eighteen4 ,so it comes about that ,barnardo's sometimes send on cases which are over their age limit to ,sturge ,house4 ,i saw the boys at their dinner1 and although many of them had a bad record1 certainly they looked very respectable1 and likely to make good and useful men4 ,the experience of the ,army is that most of them are quite capable of reformation1 and that1 when once their hearts have been changed1 they seldom fall back into the ways of dishonesty4 ,this ,home1 like all those managed by the ,salvation ,army1 is spotlessly clean1 and the dormitories are very pleasant rooms4 ,also1 there is a garden1 and in it ,i saw a number of pots of flowers1 which had just been sent as a present by a boy whom the ,army helped three years ago1 and who is now1 ,i understand1 a gardener4 ,sturge ,house struck me as a most useful ,institution2 and as there is about it none of the depressing air of the adult ,shelters1 my visit here was a pleasant change4 ,the reclamation or the helping of a lad is a very different business from that of restoring the adult or the old man to a station in life which he seems to have lost for ever4 ,,the ,,central ,,labour ,,bureau ,this ,bureau is established in the ,social ,headquarters at ,whitechapel1 a large building acquired as long ago as #ahgh4 ,here is to be seen the room in which ,general ,booth used to hold some of his first prayer meetings1 and a little chamber where he took counsel with those ,officers who were the fathers of the ,army4 ,also there is a place where he could sit unseen and listen to the preaching of his subordinates1 so that he might judge of their ability4 ,the large hall is now part of yet another ,shelter1 which contains #bcb beds and bunks4 ,i inspected this place1 but as it differs in no important detail from others1 ,i will not describe it4 ,the ,officer who is in charge of the ,labour ,bureau informed me that hundreds of men apply there for work every week1 of whom a great many are sent into the various ,elevators and ,shelters4 ,the ,army finds it extremely difficult to procure outside employment for these men1 for the simple reason that there is very little available4 ,moreover1 now that the ,government ,labour ,bureaux are open1 this trouble is not lessened4 ,of these ,bureaux1 the ,manager said that they are most useful1 but fail to find employment for many who apply to them4 ,indeed1 numbers of men come on from them to the ,salvation ,army4 ,the hard fact is that there are more idle hands than there is work for them to do1 even where honest and capable folk are concerned4 ,thus1 in the majority of instances1 the ,army is obliged to rely upon its own ,institutions and the ,hadleigh ,land ,colony to provide some sort of job for out-of-works4 ,of course1 of such jobs there are not enough to go round1 so many poor folk must be sent empty away or supported by charity4 ,i suggested that it might be worth while to establish a school of chauffeurs1 and the ,officers present said that they would consider the matter4 ,unfortunately1 however1 such an experiment must be costly at the present price of motor-vehicles4 ,i annex the ,labour ,bureau ,statistics for ,may1 #aiaj3-- ,,london ,applicants for temporary employment #dgi ,sent to temporary employment #ahc ,applicants for ,elevators #hfd ,sent to ,elevators #bfj ,sent to ,shelters #cb ,,provinces ,applicants for temporary employment #dfa ,sent to temporary employment #afj ,applicants for ,elevators #dag ,sent to ,elevators #bjb ,sent to ,shelters #bj ,sent to permanent situations #ce ,,the ,,international ,,investigation ,,department ,this is a curious and interesting branch of the work of the ,salvation ,army4 ,about two thousand times a year it receives letters or personal applications1 asking it to find some missing relative or friend of the writer or applicant4 ,in reply1 a form is posted or given1 which must be filled up with the necessary particulars4 ,then1 if it be a ,london case1 the ,officer in charge sends out a skilled man to work up clues4 ,if1 on the other hand1 it be a country case1 the ,officer in charge of the ,corps nearest to where it has occurred1 is instructed to initiate the inquiry4 ,also1 advertisements are inserted in the ,army papers1 known as ',the ,war ,cry' and ',the ,social ,gazette1' both in ,great ,britain and other countries1 if the lost person is supposed to be on the ,continent or in some distant part of the world4 ,the result is that a large percentage of the individuals sought for are discovered1 alive or dead1 for in such work the ,salvation ,army has advantages denied to any other body1 scarcely excepting the ,police4 ,its representatives are everywhere1 and to whatever land they may belong or whatever tongue they may speak1 all of them obey an order sent out from ,headquarters wholeheartedly and uninfluenced by the question of regard4 ,the usual fee charged for this work is #ajs4 #f;d42 but when this cannot be paid1 a large number of cases are undertaken free4 ,the ,army goes to as much trouble in these unpaid cases as in any others1 only then it is not able to flood the country with printed bills4 ,of course1 where well-to-do people are concerned1 it expects that its out-of-pocket costs will be met4 ,the cases with which it has to deal are of all kinds4 ,often those who have disappeared are found to have done so purposely1 perhaps leaving behind them manufactured evidence1 such as coats or letters on a river-bank1 suggesting that they have committed suicide4 ,generally1 these people are involved in some fraud or other trouble4 ,again1 husbands desert their wives1 or wives their husbands1 and vanish1 in which instances they are probably living with somebody else under another name4 ,or children are kidnapped1 or girls are lured away1 or individuals emigrate to far lands and neglect to write4 ,or1 perhaps1 they simply sink out of all knowledge1 and vanish effectually enough into a paupers grave4 ,but the oddest cases of all are those of a complete loss of memory1 a thing that is by no means so infrequent as is generally supposed4 ,the experience of the ,army is that the majority of these cases happen among those who lead a studious life4 ,the victim goes out in his usual health and suddenly forgets everything4 ,his mind becomes a total blank4 ,yet certain instincts remain1 such as that of earning a living4 ,thus1 to take a single recent example1 the son of a large bookseller in a country town left the house one day1 saying that he would not be away for long1 and disappeared4 ,at the invitation of his father1 the ,army took up the case1 and ultimately found that the man had been working in its ,spa ,road ,elevator under another name4 ,afterwards he went away1 became destitute1 and sold matches in the streets4 ,ultimately he was found in a ,church ,army ,home4 ,he recovered his memory1 and subsequently lost it again to the extent that he could recall nothing which happened to him during the period of its first lapse4 ,all that time vanished into total darkness4 ,this business of the hunting out of the missing through the agency of the ,salvation ,army is one which increases every day4 ,it is not unusual for the ,army to discover individuals who have been missing for thirty years and upwards4 ,,the ,,emigration ,,department ,some years ago ,i was present one night in the ,board-room at ,euston ,station and addressed a shipload of emigrants who were departing to ,canada under the auspices of the ,salvation ,army4 ,i forget their exact number1 but ,i think it was not less than #ejj4 ,what ,i do not forget1 however1 is the sorrow that ,i felt at seeing so many men in the prime of life leaving the shores of their country for ever1 especially as most of them were not married4 ,this meant1 amongst other things1 that an equal number of women who remained behind were deprived of the possibility of obtaining a husband in a country in which the females already outnumber the males by more than a million4 ,i said as much in the little speech ,i made on this occasion1 and ,i think that some one answered me with the pertinent remark that if there was no work at home1 it must be sought abroad4 ,illustration3 ,,inmates ,,of ,a ,,men',s ,,industrial ,,home4 ,there lies the whole problem in a nutshell--men must live4 ,as for the aged and the incompetent and the sick and the unattached women1 these are left behind for the community to support1 while young and active men of energy move off to endow new lands with their capacities and strength4 ,the results of this movement1 carried out upon a great scale1 can be seen in the remoter parts of ,ireland1 which1 as the visitor will observe1 appear to be largely populated by very young children and by persons getting on in years4 ,whether or no this is a satisfactory state of affairs is not for me to say1 although the matter1 too large to discuss here1 is one upon which ,i may have my own opinion4 ,colonel ,lamb1 the head of the ,salvation ,army ,emigration ,department1 informed me that during the past seven years the ,army has emigrated about #ej1jjj souls1 of whom #aj1jjj were assisted out of its funds1 the rest paying their own way or being paid for from one source or another4 ,from #h1jjj to #aj1jjj people have been sent during the present year1 #aiaj1 most of them to ,canada1 which is the ,mecca of the ,salvation ,army ,emigration policy4 ,so carefully have all these people been selected1 that not #a per cent have ever been returned to this country by the ,canadian ,authorities as undesirable4 ,the truth is that those ,authorities have the greatest confidence in the discretion of the ,army1 and in its ability to handle this matter to the advantage of all concerned4 ,that this is true ,i know from personal experience1 since when1 some years ago1 ,i was a ,commissioner from the ,british ,government and had authority to formulate a scheme of ,colonial land-settlement1 the ,prime ,minister of ,canada1 ,sir ,wilfrid ,laurier1 told me so himself in the plainest language4 ,indeed1 he did more1 formally offering a huge block of territory to be selected anywhere ,i might choose in the ,dominion1 with the aid of its ,officers1 for the purposes of settlement by poor folk and their children under the auspices of the ,salvation ,army4 ,also1 he added the promise of as much more land as might be required in the future for the same purpose4#c ,most unhappily1 as ,i hold1 that offer was not accepted by the ,british ,government4 ,if this had been done1 by now hundreds of ,english families would have been transferred from conditions of want at home in the ,english towns1 into those of peace and plenty upon the land abroad4 ,moreover1 the recent rise in the value of ,canadian land has been so great that the scheme would not have cost the ,british taxpayer a halfpenny1 or so ,i most firmly believe4 ,unfortunately1 however1 my scheme was too novel in its character to appeal to the official mind1 especially as its working would have involved a loan repayable by instalments1 the administration of which must have been entrusted to the ,salvation ,army or to other charitable ,organizations4 ,so this priceless opportunity was lost1 probably for ever1 as the new and stricter emigration regulations adopted by ,canada1 as ,i understand1 would make it extremely difficult to emigrate the class ,i hoped to help1 namely1 indigent people of good character1 resident in ,english cities1 with growing families of children4 ,young men1 especially if they have been bred on the land1 and young marriageable women are eagerly desired in the ,colonies1 including ,australia2 but at families1 as we have read in recent correspondence in the newspapers1 they look askance4 ',why do they not want families in ,australia8 ,i asked ,colonel ,lamb4 ',because the trouble of housing comes in4 ,it is the same thing in ,canada1 it is the same thing all through the ,colonies4 ,they do not want too much trouble1' he answered4 ,these words define the position very accurately4 ',give us your best1' say the ,colonies4 ',give us your adult1 healthy men and women whom you have paid to rear and educate1 but don't bother us with families of children whom we have to house4 ,above all send us no damaged articles4 ,you are welcome to keep those at home4' ,to my mind this attitude1 natural as it may be1 creates a serious problem so far as ,great ,britain and ,ireland are concerned1 for the question will arise1 ,can we afford to go on parting with the good and retaining the less desirable8 ,on this subject ,i had a long argument with ,colonel ,lamb1 and his answer to the question was in the affirmative1 although ,i must admit that his reasons did not at all convince me4 ,he seemed to believe that we could send out #bej1jjj people1 chosen people1 per annum for the next ten years without harm to ourselves4 ,well1 it may be so1 and1 as he added1 'we are in their 7that is1 the ,colonies'7 hands1 and have to do what they choose to allow4' ,also his opinion was that 'the best thing possible for this country is wholesale emigration1' of course of those whom the ,colonies will accept4 ,he said1 ',people here are dissatisfied with their present condition and want a change4 ,if we had money to assist them1 there is practically no limit to the number who want to go4 ,there are tens of thousands who would conform to the ,canadian regulations4 ,one of the things we advise the man who has been forced out of the country is that rather than come into the town he should go to the ,colonies4' ,on the matter of the complaints which have been made in ,canada of the emigrant from ,london1 ,colonel ,lamb said1 ',the ,londoner1 it is alleged1 is not wanted4 ,the ,canadian is full of self-assertiveness1 and the ,cockney has some of that too2 he does not hesitate to express his views1 and you have conflicting spirits at once4 ,the ,cockney will arrive at the conclusion in about twenty-four hours that he could run ,canada better than it is now being run4 ,the ,scotchman will take a week to arrive at the same conclusion1 and holds his tongue about it4 ,the ,cockney says what he thinks on the first day of arrival1 and the result is--fireworks4 ,he and the ,canadians do not agree to begin with2 but when they get over the first passage of arms they settle down amicably4 ,the ,cockney is finally appreciated1 and1 being industrious and amenable to law and order1 if he has got a bit of humour he gets on all right1 but not at first4' ,colonel ,lamb informed me that in ,australia the ,labour ,party is afraid of the ,army because it believes 'we will send in people to bring down wages4' ,therefore1 the ,labour ,party has sidetracked ,general ,booth's proposals4 ,now1 however1 it alleges that it is not opposed to emigration1 if not on too large a scale4 ',they don't mind a few girls2 but they say the condition that must precede emigration is the breaking up of the land4' ,colonel ,lamb appeared to desire that an ,emigration ,board should be appointed in ,england1 with power and funds to deal with the distribution of the population of the ,empire and to systematize emigration4 ,to this ,imperial ,board1 individuals or ,societies1 such as the ,salvation ,army1 should1 he thought1 be able to submit their schemes1 which schemes would receive assistance according to their merits under such limitations as the ,board might see fit to impose4 ,to such a ,board he would even give power to carry out land-settlement schemes in the ,british ,isles4 ,this is a great proposal1 but one wonders whence the money is to come4 ,also how long will it be before the ,labour ,parties in the various ,colonies1 including ,canada1 gain so much power that they will refuse to accept emigrants at all1 except young women1 or agriculturalists who bring capital with them8 ,but all these problems are for the future4 ,meanwhile it is evident that the ,salvation ,army manages its emigration work with extraordinary success and business skill4 ,those whom it sends from these shores for their own benefit are invariably accepted1 at any rate in ,canada1 and provided with work on their arrival in the chosen ,colony4 ,that the selection is sound and careful is shown1 also1 by the fact that the ,army recovers from those emigrants to whom it gives assistance a considerable percentage of the sums advanced to enable them to start life in a new land4 ,,the ,,women',s ,,social ,,work ,,in ,,london ,at the commencement of my investigation of this branch of the ,salvation ,army activities in ,england1 ,i discussed its general aspects with ,mrs4 ,bramwell ,booth1 who has it in her charge4 ,she pointed out to me that this ,women's ,social ,work is a much larger business than it was believed to be even by those who had some acquaintance with the ,salvation ,army1 and that it deals with many matters of great importance in their bearing on the complex problems of our civilization4 ,among them1 to take some that she mentioned1 which recur to my mind1 are the questions of illegitimacy and prostitution1 of maternity homes for poor girls who have fallen into trouble1 of women thieves1 of what is known as the ,white ,slave traffic1 of female children who have been exposed to awful treatment1 of women who are drunkards or drug-takers1 of aged and destitute women1 of intractable or vicious-minded girls1 and1 lastly1 of the training of young persons to enable them to deal scientifically with all these evils1 or under the name of ,slum ,sisters1 to wait upon the poor in their homes1 and nurse them through the trials of maternity4 ,how practical and efficient this training is1 no one can know who has not1 like myself1 visited and inquired into the various ,institutions and ,refuges of the ,army in different cities of the land4 ,it is a wonderful thing1 as has happened to me again and again1 to see some quiet1 middle-aged lady1 often so shy that it is difficult to extract from her the information required1 ruling with the most perfect success a number of young women1 who1 a few weeks or months before1 were the vilest of the vile1 and what is stranger still1 reforming as she rules4 ,these ladies exercise no severity2 the punishment1 which1 perhaps necessarily1 is a leading feature in some of our ,government ,institutions1 is unknown to their system4 ,i am told that no one is ever struck1 no one is imprisoned1 no one is restricted in diet for any offence4 ,as an ,officer said to me3-- ',if we cannot manage a girl by love1 we recognize that the case is beyond us1 and ask her to go away4 ,this1 however1 very seldom happens4' ,as a matter of fact1 that case which is beyond the regenerating powers of the ,army must be very bad indeed1 at any rate where young people are concerned4 ,in the vast majority of instances a cure is effected1 and apparently a permanent cure4 ,in every one of these ,homes there is a room reserved for the accommodation of those who have passed through it and gone out into the world again1 should they care to return there in their holidays or other intervals of leisure4 ,that room is always in great demand1 and ,i can imagine no more eloquent testimony to the manner of the treatment of its occupants while they dwelt in these ,homes as 'cases4' ,in truth1 a study of the female ,officers of the ,salvation ,army is calculated to convert the observer not only to a belief in the right of women to the suffrage1 but also to that of their fitness to rule among1 or even over men4 ,only ,i never heard that any of these ladies ever sought such privileges2 moreover1 few of the sex would care to win them at the price of the training1 self-denial1 and stern experience which it is their lot to undergo4 ,mrs4 ,bramwell ,booth pointed out to me that although the actual work of the ,army on these women's questions is 'more than just a little1' it had1 as it were1 only touched their fringe4 ,yet even this 'fringe' has many threads1 seeing that over #dd1jjj of these women's cases have been helped in one way or another since this branch of the home work began about twenty years ago4 ,she added that scarcely a month goes by in which the ,army does not break out in a new direction1 open a new ,institution1 or attempt to attack a new problem2 and this1 be it remembered1 not only in these islands but over the face of half the earth4 ,at present its sphere of influence is limited by the lack of funds4 ,give it enough money1 she said1 and there is little that it would not dare to try4 ,everywhere the harvest is plentiful1 and if the workers remain comparatively few1 it is because material means are lacking for their support4 ,given the money and the workers would be found4 ,nor will they ask much for maintenance or salary1 enough to provide the necessary buildings1 and to keep body and soul together1 that is all4#d ,what are these women doing8 ,in ,london they run more than a score of ,homes and ,agencies1 including a ,maternity ,hospital1 which ,i will describe later1 where hundreds of poor deceived girls are taken in during their trouble4 ,i believe it is almost the only one of the sort1 at any rate on the same scale1 in that great city4 ,also they manage various ,homes for drunken women4 ,it has always been supposed to be a practical impossibility to effect a cure in such cases1 but the lady ,officers of the ,salvation ,army succeed in turning about #ej per cent of their patients into perfectly sober persons4 ,at least they remain sober for three years from the date of their discharge1 after which they are often followed no further4 ,another of their objects is to find out the fathers of illegitimate children1 and persuade them to sign a form of agreement which has been carefully drawn by ,counsel1 binding themselves to contribute towards the cost of the maintenance of the child4 ,or failing this1 should the evidence be sufficient1 they try to obtain affiliation orders against such fathers in a ,magistrates' ,court4 ,here ,i may state that the amount of affiliation money collected in ,england by the ,army in #aiji was #a1bag1 of which #bjh was for new cases4 ,further1 #fga was collected and paid over for maintenance to deserted wives4 ,little or none of this money would have been forthcoming but for its exertions4 ,mrs4 ,bramwell ,booth informed me that there exists a class of young men1 most of them in the employ of tradesfolk1 who habitually amuse themselves by getting servant girls into trouble1 often under a promise of marriage4 ,then1 if the usual results follow1 it is common for these men to move away to another town1 taking their references with them and1 sometimes under a new name1 to repeat the process there4 ,she was of opinion that the age of consent ought to be raised to eighteen at least1 a course for which there is much to be said4 ,also she thought1 and this is more controversial1 that when any young girl has been seduced under promise of marriage1 the seducer should be liable to punishment under the criminal law4 ,of course1 one of the difficulties here would be to prove the promise of marriage beyond all reasonable doubt4 ,also to bring such matters within the cognizance of the criminal law would be a new and1 indeed1 a dangerous departure not altogether easy to justify1 especially as old magistrates like myself1 who have considerable experience of such cases must know1 it is not always the man who is to blame4 ,personally1 ,i incline to the view that if the age of consent were raised1 and the contribution exacted from the putative father of an illegitimate child made proportionate to his means1 and not limited1 as it is now1 to a maximum of #es4 a week1 the criminal law might well be left out of the question4 ,it must be remembered further1 as ,mrs4 ,booth pointed out herself1 that there is another remedy1 namely1 that of a better home-training of girls who should be prepared by their mothers or friends to face the dangers of the world1 a duty which these too often neglect4 ,the result is that many young women who feel lonely and desire to get married1 overstep the limits of prudence on receipt of a promise that thus they may attain their end1 with the result that generally they find themselves ruined and deserted4 ,mrs4 ,bramwell ,booth said that the ,army is doing its utmost to mitigate the horrors of what is known as the ,white ,slave traffic1 both here and in many other countries4 ,with this object it has a ,bill before ,parliament at the present time1 of which one of the aims is to prevent children from being sent out of this country to ,france under circumstances that practically ensure their moral destruction4 ,it seems that the state of things in ,paris in this connexion is1 in her own words1 'most abominable1 too horrible for words4' ,children are procured from certain theatre dancing schools1 and their birth certificates sometimes falsified to make it appear that they are over fourteen1 although often they may be as young as twelve or even ten4 ,then they are conveyed to vile places in ,paris where their doom is sure4 ,let us hope that in due course this ,bill will become law1 for if girls are protected up to sixteen in this country1 surely they should not be sent out of it in doubtful circumstances under that age4 ,needless to say abominations of this nature are not unknown in ,london4 ,thus a while ago the ,army received a telegram from a ,german girl asking1 ',can you help8' ,two of its people went at once to the address given1 and1 contriving to get into the house1 discovered there a young woman who1 imagining that she had been engaged in ,germany as a servant in an ,english family1 found herself in a ,london brothel4 ,fortunately1 being a girl of some character and resource1 she held her own1 and1 having heard of the ,salvation ,army in her own land1 persuaded a milkman to take the telegram that brought about her delivery from this den of wickedness4 ,unfortunately it proved impossible to discover the woman who had hired her abroad1 as the victim of the plot really knew nothing about that procuress4 ,this girl was restored to her home in ,germany none the worse for her terrific adventure1 and a few weeks later refunded her travelling expenses4 ,but how many must there be who have never heard of the ,salvation ,army1 and can find no milkman to help them out of their vile prisons1 for such places are no less4 ,another branch of the ,army women's work is that of the rescue of prostitutes from the streets1 which is known as the ',midnight ,work4' ,for the purpose of this endeavour it hires a flat in ,great ,titchfield ,street1 of which1 and of the mission that centres round it1 ,i will speak later in this book4 ,the ,women's ,social ,work of the ,salvation ,army began in ,london1 in the year #ahhd1 at the cottage of a woman-soldier of the ,army who lived in ,whitechapel4 ,this lady1 who was interested in girls without character1 took some of them into her home4 ,eventually she left the place which came into the hands of the ,army1 whereon ,mrs4 ,bramwell ,booth was sent to take charge of the twelve inmates whom it would accommodate4 ,the seed that was thus sown in #ahhd has now multiplied itself into fifty-nine ,homes and ,agencies for women in ,great ,britain alone1 to say nothing of others abroad and in the ,colonies4 ,but this is only a beginning4 ',we look forward1' said ,mrs4 ,bramwell ,booth to me1 'to a great increase of this side of our work at home4 ,no year has passed without the opening of a new ,women's ,home of some kind1 and we hope that this will continue4 ,thus ,i want to build a very big ,maternity ,hospital if ,i can get the money4 ,we have about #bj1jjj in hand for this purpose2 but the lesser of the two schemes before us will cost #ce1jjj4' ,will not some rich and charitable person provide the #ae1jjj that are lacking8 ,,the ,,headquarters ,,of ,,the ,,women',s ,,social ,,work ,,lower ,,clapton ,,road ,the ,women's ,social ,headquarters of the ,salvation ,army in ,england is situated at ,clapton4 ,it is a property of nearly three acres1 on which stand four houses that will be rebuilt whenever funds are forthcoming for the erection of the ,maternity ,hospital and ,training ,institution for nurses and midwives which ,i have already mentioned4 ,at present about forty ,officers are employed here1 most of whom are women1 under the command of ,commissioner ,cox1 one of the foremost of the #fjj women-,officers of the ,salvation ,army in the ,united ,kingdom who give their services to the women's social work4 ,it is almost needless for me to add that ,commissioner ,cox is a lady of very great ability1 who is entirely devoted to the cause to which she has dedicated her life4 ,one of the reasons of the great success of the ,salvation ,army is that only able people exactly suited to the particular work in view are put in authority over that work4 ,here there are no sinecures1 no bought advowsons1 and no freehold livings4 ,moreover1 the policy of the ,army1 as a general rule1 is not to allow any one to remain too long in any one office1 lest he or she should become fossilized or subject to local influences4 ,i remember when ,i was in ,america hearing of a case in which a very leading ,officer of the ,army1 who chanced to be a near relative of ,general ,booth1 declined to obey an order to change his command for another in a totally different part of the world4 ,the order was repeated once or twice1 and as often disobeyed4 ,resignation followed and an attempt to found a rival ,organization4 ,i only mention this matter to show that discipline is enforced in this ,society without fear1 favour1 or prejudice1 which is1 perhaps1 a principal reason of its efficiency4 ,,hillsborough ,,house ,,inebriates' ,,home ,under the guidance of ,commissioner ,cox ,i inspected a number of the ,london ,women's ,institutions of the ,army1 first visiting the ,hillsborough ,house ,inebriates' ,home4 ,this ,home1 a beautifully clean and well-kept place1 has accommodation for thirty patients1 twenty-nine beds being occupied on the day of my visit4 ,the lady in charge informed me that these patients are expected to contribute #ajs4 per week towards the cost of their maintenance2 but that1 as a matter of fact1 they seldom pay so much4 ,generally the sum recovered varies from #gs4 to #cs4 per week1 while a good many give nothing at all4 ,the work the patients do in this ,home is sold and produces something towards the cost of upkeep4 ,the actual expense of the maintenance of the inmates averages about #abs4 #f;d4 a week per head1 which sum includes an allowance for rent4 ,most of the cases stay in the ,home for twelve months1 although some remain for a shorter period4 ,when the cure is completed1 if they are married1 the patients return to their husbands4 ,the unmarried are sent out to positions as governesses1 nurses1 or servants1 that is1 if the authorities of the ,home are able to give them satisfactory characters4 ,as the reader who knows anything of such matters will be aware1 it is generally supposed to be rather more easy to pass a camel through the eye of a needle than to reclaim a confirmed female drunkard4 ,yet1 as ,i have already said1 the ,salvation ,army1 on a three years' test in each case1 has shown that it deals successfully with about #ej per cent of those women who come into its hands for treatment as inebriates or drug-takers4 ,how is this done8 ,largely1 of course1 by effecting through religious means a change of heart and nature1 as the ,army often seems to have the power to do1 and by the exercise of gentle personal influences4 ,but there remains another aid which is physical4 ,with the shrewdness that distinguishes them1 the ,officers of the ,army have discovered that the practice of vegetarianism is a wonderful enemy to the practice of alcoholism4 ,the vegetarian1 it seems1 conceives a bodily distaste to spirituous liquors4 ,if they can persuade a patient to become a vegetarian1 then the chances of her cure are enormously increased4 ,therefore1 in this and in the other female ,inebriate ,homes no meat is served4 ,the breakfast1 which is eaten at #g4cj1 consists of tea1 brown and white bread and butter1 porridge and fresh milk1 or stewed fruit4 ,a sample dinner at one o'clock includes macaroni cheese1 greens1 potatoes1 fruit pudding or plain boiled puddings with stewed figs4 ,on one day a week1 however1 baked or boiled fish is served with pease pudding1 potatoes1 and boiled currant pudding1 and on another1 brown gravy is given with onions in batter4 ,tea1 which is served at six o'clock1 consists--to take a couple of samples--of tea1 white and brown bread and butter1 and cheese sandwiches with salad2 or of tea1 white and brown bread and butter1 savoury rolls1 and apples or oranges4 ,it will be observed that this diet is as simple as it well can be2 but ,i think it right to add1 after personal inspection1 that the inmates appear to thrive on it extremely well4 ,certainly all whom ,i saw looked well nourished and healthy4 ,a book is kept in the ,home in which the details of each case are carefully entered1 together with its record for two years after discharge4 ,here are the particulars of three cases taken by me at hazard from this book which will serve to indicate the class of patient that is treated at this ,home4 ,of course1 ,i omit the names3-- ,a4,b4 ,aged thirty-one4 ,her mother1 who was a drunkard and gave ,a4,b4 drink in her childhood1 died some time ago4 ,a4,b4 drove her father1 who was in good circumstances1 having a large business1 to madness by her inebriety4 ,indeed1 he tried to commit suicide by hanging himself1 but1 oddly enough1 it was ,a4,b4 who cut him down1 and he was sent to an asylum4 ,a4,b4 had fallen very low since her mother's death2 but ,i do not give these details4 ,all the members of her family drank1 except1 strange to say1 the father1 who at the date of my visit was in the asylum4 ,a4,b4 had been in the ,home some time1 and was giving every satisfaction4 ,it was hoped that she will be quite cured4 ,c4,d4 ,aged thirty4 ,c4,d4's father1 a farmer1 was a moderate drinker1 her mother was a temperance woman4 ,her parents discovered her craving for drink about ten years ago4 ,she was unable to keep any situation on account of this failing4 ,four years ago ,c4,d4 was sent to an ,inebriate ,home for twelve months1 but no cure was effected4 ,afterwards she disappeared1 having been dismissed from her place1 and was found again for the mother by the ,salvation ,army4 ,at the time of my visit she had been six months in the ,home1 and was doing well4 ,e4,f4 ,aged forty-eight2 was the widow of a professional man1 whom she married as his second wife1 and by whom she had two children1 one of whom survives4 ,she began to drink before her husband's death1 and this tendency was increased by family troubles that arose over his will4 ,she mismanaged his business and lost everything1 drank heavily and despaired4 ,she tried to keep a boarding house1 but her furniture was seized and she came absolutely to the end of her resources1 her own daughter being sent away to her relatives4 ,e4,f4 was nine months in the ,hillsborough ,home1 and had gone as cook and housekeeper to a situation1 where she also was giving every satisfaction4 ,,the ,,maternity ,,nursing ,,home ,,lorne ,,house1 ,,stoke ,,newington ,her ,royal ,highness ,princes ,louise1 the ,duchess of ,argyll1 defrayed the cost of the purchase of the leasehold of this charming ,home4 ,the lady-,officer in charge informed me that the object of the establishment is to take in women who have or are about to have illegitimate children4 ,it is not1 however1 a lying-in ,home1 the mothers being sent to the ,ivy ,house ,hospital for their confinements4 ,after these are over they are kept for four or sometimes for six months at ,lorne ,house4 ,at the expiration of this period situations are found for most of them1 and the babies are put out to nurse in the houses of carefully selected women with whom the mothers can keep in touch4 ,these women are visited from time to time by ,salvation ,army ,officers who make sure that the infants are well treated in every way4 ,all the cases in this ,home are those of girls who have fallen into trouble for the first time4 ,they belong to a better class than do those who are received in many of the ,army ,homes4 ,the charge for their maintenance is supposed to be #a a week1 but some pay only #es41 and some nothing at all4 ,as a matter of fact1 out of the twelve cases which the ,home will hold1 at the time of my visit half were making no payment4 ,if the ,army averages a contribution of #gs4 a week from them1 it thinks itself fortunate4 ,i saw a number of the babies in cradles placed in an old greenhouse in the garden to protect them from the rain that was falling at the time4 ,when it is at all fine they are kept as much as possible in the open air1 and the results seem to justify this treatment1 for it would be difficult to find healthier infants4 ,five or six of the inmates sleep together in a room2 for those with children a cot is provided beside each bed4 ,i saw several of these young women1 who all seemed to be as happy and contented as was possible under their somewhat depressing circumstances4 ,,the ,,maternity ,,receiving ,,home ,,brent ,,house1 ,,hackney ,this ,home serves a somewhat similar purpose as that at ,lorne ,house1 but the young women taken in here while awaiting their confinement are not1 as a rule1 of so high a class4 ,in the garden at the back of the house about forty girls were seated in a kind of shelter which protected them from the rain1 some of them working and some talking together1 while others remained apart depressed and silent4 ,most of these young women were shortly expecting to become mothers4 ,certain of them1 however1 already had their infants1 as there were seventeen babies in the ,home who had been crowded out of the ,central ,maternity ,hospital4 ,among these were some very sad cases1 several of them being girls of gentle birth1 taken in here because they could pay nothing4 ,one1 ,i remember1 was a foreign young lady1 whose sad history ,i will not relate4 ,she was found running about the streets of a seaport town in a half-crazed condition and brought to this place by the ,officers of the ,salvation ,army4 ,in this house there is a room where ex-patients who are in service can bring their infants upon their holidays4 ,two or three of these women were here upon the occasion of my visit1 and it was a pathetic sight to see them dandling the babies from whom they had been separated and giving them their food4 ,it is the custom in this and other ,salvation ,army ,maternity ,homes to set apart a night in every month for what is called a ,social ,evening4 ,on these occasions fifty or more of the former inmates will arrive with their children1 whom they have brought from the various places where they are at nurse1 and for a few hours enjoy their society1 after which they take them back to the nurses and return to their work1 whatever it may be4 ,by means of this kindly arrangement these poor mothers are enabled from time to time to see something of their offspring1 which1 needless to say1 is a boon they greatly prize4 ,,the ,,maternity ,,hospital ,,ivy ,,house1 ,,hackney ,this ,hospital is one for the accommodation of young mothers on the occasion of the birth of their illegitimate children4 ,it is a humble building1 containing twenty-five beds1 although ,i think a few more can be arranged4 ,that it serves its purpose well1 until the large ,maternity ,hospital of which ,i have already spoken can be built1 is shown by the fact that #bhf babies 7of whom only twenty-five were not illegitimate7 were born here in #aijj without the loss of a single mother4 ,thirty babies died1 however1 which the lady-,officer in charge thought rather a high proportion1 but one accounted for by the fact that during this particular year a large number of the births were premature4 ,in #aijh1 #bgj children were born1 of whom twelve died1 six of these being premature4 ,the cases are drawn from ,london and other towns where the ,salvation ,army is at work4 ,generally they1 or their relatives and friends1 or perhaps the father of the child1 apply to the ,army to help them in their trouble1 thereby1 no doubt1 preventing many child-murders and some suicides4 ,the charge made by the ,institution for these lying-in cases is in proportion to the ability of the patient to pay4 ,many contribute nothing at all4 ,from those who do pay1 the average sum received is #ajs4 a week1 in return for which they are furnished with medical attendance1 food1 nursing1 and all other things needful to their state4 ,i went over the ,hospital1 and saw these unfortunate mothers lying in bed1 each of them with her infant in a cot beside her4 ,although their immediate trial was over1 these poor girls looked very sad4 ',they know that their lives are spoiled1' said the lady in charge4 ,most of them were quite young1 some being only fifteen1 and the majority under twenty4 ,this1 it was explained to me1 is generally due to the ignorance of the facts of life in which girls are kept by their parents or others responsible for their training4 ,last year there was a mother aged thirteen in this ,hospital4 ,one girl1 who seemed particularly sad1 had twins lying beside her4 ,hoping to cheer her up1 ,i remarked that they were beautiful babies1 whereon she hid her face beneath the bedclothes4 ',don't talk about them1' said the ,officer1 drawing me away1 'that child nearly cried her eyes out when she was told that there were two4 ,you see1 it is hard enough for these poor mothers to keep one1 but when it comes to two--6' ,i asked whether the majority of these unfortunate young women really tried to support their children4 ,the answer was that most of them try very hard indeed1 and will use all their money for this purpose1 even stinting themselves of absolute necessaries4 ,few of them go wrong again after their first slip1 as they have learned their lesson4 ,moreover1 during their stay in hospital and afterwards1 the ,salvation ,army does its best to impress on them certain moral teachings1 and thus to make its work preventive as well as remedial4 ,places in service are found for a great number of these girls1 generally where only one servant is kept1 so that they may not be taunted by the others if these should find out their secret4 ,this as a rule1 however1 is confided to the mistress4 ,the average wage they receive is about #ah a year4 ,as it costs them #ac1 or #es4 a week1 to support an infant 7not allowing for its clothes71 the struggle is very hard unless the ,army can discover the father1 and make him contribute towards the support of his child1 either voluntarily or through a bastardy order4 ,i was informed that many of these fathers are supposed to be gentlemen1 but when it comes to this matter of payment1 they show that they have little title to that description4 ,of course1 in the case of men of humbler degree1 money is even harder to recover4 ,i may add1 that my own long experience as a magistrate goes to confirm this statement4 ,it is extraordinary to what meanness1 subterfuge1 and even perjury1 a man will sometimes resort1 in order to avoid paying so little as #as4 #f;d4 a week towards the keep of his own child4 ,often the line of defence is a cruel attempt to blacken the character of the mother1 even when the accuser well knows that there is not the slightest ground for the charge1 and that he alone is responsible for the woman's fall4#e ,also1 if the case is proved1 and the order made1 many such men will run away and hide themselves in another part of the country to escape the fulfilment of their just obligations4 ,in connexion with this ,maternity ,hospital1 the ,salvation ,army has a ,training ,school for midwives and nurses1 all of whom must pass the ,central ,midwives ,board examination before they are allowed to practise4 ,some of the students1 after qualifying1 continue to work for the ,army in its ,hospital ,department1 and others in the ,slum ,department1 while some go abroad in the service of other ,societies4 ,the scale of fees for this four months' course in midwifery varies according to circumstances4 ,the ,army asks the full charge of eighteen guineas from those students who belong to1 or propose to serve other ,societies4 ,those who intend to go abroad to work with medical missionaries1 have to pay fifteen guineas1 and those who are members of the ,salvation ,army1 or who intend to serve the ,army in this ,department1 pay nothing1 unless1 at the conclusion of their course1 they decide to leave the ,army's service4 ,at the last examination1 out of fourteen students sent up from this ,institution1 thirteen passed the necessary test4 ',,the ,,nest' ,,clapton ,when ,i began to write this book1 ,i determined to set down all things exactly as ,i saw or heard them4 ,but1 although somewhat hardened in such matters by long experience of a very ugly world1 ,i find that there are limits to what can be told of such a place as ',the ,nest' in pages which are meant for perusal by the general public4 ,the house itself is charming1 with a good garden adorned by beautiful trees4 ,it has every arrangement and comfort possible for the welfare of its child inmates1 including an open-air bedroom1 cleverly contrived from an old greenhouse for the use of those among them whose lungs are weakly4 ,but these inmates1 these sixty-two children whose ages varied from about four to about sixteen6 ,what can ,i say of their histories8 ,only in general language1 that more than one half of them have been subject to outrages too terrible to repeat1 often enough at the hands of their own fathers6 ,if the reader wishes to learn more1 he can apply confidentially to ,commissioner ,cox1 or to ,mrs4 ,bramwell ,booth4 ,illustration3 ,,some ,,of ,,the ,,children ,,at ',,the ,,nest'4 ,here1 however1 is a case that ,i can mention1 as although it is dreadful enough1 it belongs to a different class4 ,seeing a child of ten1 whose name was ,betty1 playing about quite happily with the others1 ,i spoke to her1 and afterwards asked for the particulars of her story4 ,they were brief4 ,it appears that this poor little thing had actually seen her father murder her mother4 ,i am glad to be able to add that to all appearance she has recovered from the shock of this awful experience4 ,indeed1 all these little girls1 notwithstanding their hideous pasts1 seemed1 so far as ,i could judge1 to be extremely happy at their childish games in the garden4 ,except that some were of stunted growth1 ,i noted nothing abnormal about any of them4 ,i was told1 however1 by the ,officer in charge1 that occasionally1 when they grow older1 propensities originally induced in them through no fault of their own will assert themselves4 ,to lessen this danger1 as in the case of the women inebriates1 all these children are brought up as vegetarians4 ,before me1 as ,i write1 is the bill of fare for the week1 which ,i tore off a notice board in the house4 ,the breakfast on three days1 to take examples1 consists of porridge1 with boiling milk and sugar1 cocoa1 brown and white bread and butter4 ,on the other mornings either stewed figs1 prunes1 or marmalade are added4 ,a sample dinner consists of lentil savoury1 baked potatoes1 brown gravy and bread2 boiled rice with milk and sugar4 ,for tea1 bananas1 apples1 oranges1 nuts1 jam1 brown and white bread and butter and cocoa are supplied1 but tea itself as a beverage is only given on ,sundays4 ,a footnote to the bill of fare states that all children over twelve years of age who wish for it1 can have bread and butter before going to bed4 ,certainly the inmates of ',the ,nest1' if any judgment may be formed from their personal appearance1 afford a good argument to the advocates of vegetarianism4 ,it costs #ac a year to endow a bed in this ,institution4 ,amongst others1 ,i saw one which was labelled ',the ,band of ,helpers' ,bed4 ,this is maintained by girls who have passed through the ,institution1 and are now earning their livelihood in the world1 as ,i thought1 a touching and significant testimony4 ,i should add that the children in this ,home are educated under the direction of a certificated governess4 ,my visit to this ,refuge made a deep impression on my mind4 ,no person of sense and experience1 remembering the nameless outrages to which many of these poor children have been exposed1 could witness their present health and happiness without realizing the blessed nature of this work4 ,,the ,,training ,,institute ,,for ,,women ,,social ,,workers ,,clapton ,colonel ,lambert1 the lady-,officer in charge of this ,institution1 informed me that it can accommodate sixty young women4 ,at the time of my visit forty-seven pupils were being prepared for service in the ,women's ,department of what is called ',salvation ,army ,warfare4' ,these ,cadets come from all sources and in various ways4 ,most of them have first been members of the ,army and made application to be trained1 feeling themselves attracted to this particular branch of its work4 ,the basis of their instruction is religious and theological4 ,it includes the study of the ,bible1 of the doctrine and discipline of the ,salvation ,army and the rules and regulations governing the labours of its ,social ,officers4 ,in addition1 these ,cadets attend practical classes where they learn needlework1 the scientific cutting out of garments1 knitting1 laundry work1 first medical aid1 nursing1 and so forth4 ,the course at this ,institution takes ten months to complete1 after which those ,cadets who have passed the examinations are appointed to various centres of the ,army's ,social activities4 ,when these young women have passed out and enter on active ,social work they are allowed their board and lodging and a small salary to pay for their clothing4 ,this salary at the commencement of a worker's career amounts to the magnificent sum of #ds4 a week1 if she 'lives in' 7about the pay of a country kitchen maid72 out of which she is expected to defray the cost of her uniform and other clothes1 postage stamps1 etc4 ,ultimately1 after many years of service1 it may rise to as much as #ajs4 in the case of senior ,officers1 or1 if the ,officer finds her own board and lodging1 to a limit of #a a week4 ,of these ladies who are trained in the ,home few leave the ,army4 ,should they do so1 however1 ,i am informed that they can generally obtain from other ,organizations double or treble the pay which the ,army is able to afford4 ,this ,training ,institution is a building admirably suited to the purpose to which it is put4 ,originally it was a ladies' school1 which was purchased by the ,salvation ,army4 ,the dining-room of the ,cadets was very well arranged and charmingly decorated with flowers1 as was that of the ,officers beyond4 ,there was also a ,cadets' retiring-room1 where ,i saw some of them reading or otherwise amusing themselves on their ,saturday half-holiday4 ,the ,army would be glad to find and train more of these self-sacrificing workers2 but the conditions of the pay which they can offer and the arduous nature of the lifelong service involved1 are such that those of a satisfactory class are not too readily forthcoming4 ,attached to this ,training ,institution is a ,home for girls of doubtful or bad antecedents1 which ,i also visited4 ,this ,rescue ,home is linked up with the ,training ,school1 so that the ,cadets may have the opportunity of acquiring a practical knowledge of the class of work upon which they are to be engaged in after-life4 ,most of the girls in the ,rescue ,home have passed through the ,police-courts1 and been handed over to the care of the ,army by magistrates4 ,the object of the ,army is to reform them and instruct them in useful work which will enable them to earn an honest living4 ,many of these girls have been in the habit of thieving from their mistresses or others1 generally in order to enable them to make presents to their lovers4 ,indeed1 it would seem that this mania for making presents is a frequent cause of the fall of young persons with a natural leaning to dishonesty and a desire to appear rich and liberal4 ,the ,army succeeds in reclaiming a great number of them2 but the thieving instinct is one not easy to eradicate4 ,all these girls seemed fairly happy4 ,a great deal of knitting is done by them1 and ,i saw a room furnished with a number of knitting machines1 where work is turned out to the value of nearly #be a week4 ,also ,i was shown piles of women's and children's underclothing and other articles1 the produce of the girls' needles1 which are sold to help to defray the expenses of the ,home4 ,in the workroom on this ,saturday afternoon a number of the young women were engaged in mending their own garments4 ,after their period of probation many of these girls are sent out to situations found for them by the ,army4 ,,the ,,women',s ,,industrial ,,home ,,hackney ,this ,home is one of much the same class as that which ,i have just described4 ,it has accommodation for forty-eight girls1 of whom over #a1jjj have passed through the ,institution1 where they are generally kept for a period of six months4 ,most of the young women in the ,home when ,i visited it had been thieves4 ,one1 who was twenty-seven years of age1 had stolen ever since she was twelve1 and the lady in charge told me that when she came to them everything she had on her1 and almost all the articles in her trunk were the property of former mistresses4 ,in answer to my questions1 ,commissioner ,cox informed me that the result of their work in this ,home was so satisfactory that they scarcely liked to announce it4 ,they computed1 however1 that taken on a three years' test--for the subsequent career of each inmate is followed for that period--#ij per cent of the cases prove to be permanent moral cures4 ,this1 when the previous history of these young women is considered1 may1 ,i think1 be accounted a great triumph4 ,no money contribution is asked or expected in this particular ,home4 ,indeed1 it would not be forthcoming from the class of girls who are sent or come here to be reformed1 many of whom1 on entering1 are destitute of underclothing and other necessaries1 ,the needlework which they do1 however1 is sold1 and helps to pay for the upkeep of the place4 ,i asked what was done if any of them refused to work4 ,the answer was that this very rarely happened1 as the women-,officers shared in their labours1 and the girls could not for shame's sake sit idle while their ,officers worked4 ,i visited the room where this sewing was in progress1 and observed that ,commissioner ,cox1 who conducted me1 was received with hearty1 and to all appearance1 spontaneous clapping of hands1 which seemed to indicate that these poor young women are happy and contented4 ,the hours of labour kept in the ,home are those laid down in the ,factory ,acts4 ,while looking at the work produced by the inmates1 ,i asked ,commissioner ,cox if she had anything to say as to the charges of sweating which are sometimes brought against the ,army1 and of underselling in the markets4 ,her answer was3-- ',we do not compete in the markets at all1 as we do not make sufficient articles1 and never work for the trade or supply wholesale2 we sell the garments we make one by one by means of our pedlars4 ,it is necessary that we should do this in order to support our girls4 ,either we must manufacture and sell the work1 or they must starve4' ,here we have the whole charge of sweating by the ,army in a nutshell1 and the answer to it4 ,in this ,home a system has been devised for providing each girl with an outfit when she leaves4 ,it is managed by means of a kind of deferred pay1 which is increased if she keeps up to the standard of work required4 ,thus1 gradually1 she earns her outfit1 and leaves the place with a box of good clothes4 ,the first thing provided is a pair of boots1 then a suitable box1 and lastly1 the materials which they make into clothes4 ,this house1 like all the others1 ,i found to be extremely well arranged1 with properly-ventilated dormitories1 and well suited to its purposes4 ,,the ,,inebriates' ,,home ,,springfield ,,lodge1 ,,denmark ,,hill4 ,this house1 which has a fine garden attached1 was a gentleman's residence purchased by the ,salvation ,army1 to serve as an ,inebriates' ,home for the better class of patients4 ,with the exception of a few who give their services in connexion with the work of the place as a return for their treatment1 it is really a ,home for gentlefolk4 ,when ,i visited it1 some of the inmates1 of whom there are usually from twenty-five to thirty1 were talented ladies who could speak several languages1 or paint1 or play very well4 ,all these came here to be cured of the drink or drug habit4 ,the fee for the course ranges from a guinea to #ajs4 per week1 according to the ability of the patient to pay1 but some who lack this ability pay nothing at all4 ,the lady in charge remarked drily on this point1 that many people seemed to think that as the place belonged to the ,salvation ,army it did not matter if they paid or not4 ,as is the practice at ,hillsborough ,house1 a vegetarian diet is insisted upon as a condition of the patient receiving treatment at the ,home4 ,often this is a cause of much remonstrance1 as the inmates1 who are mostly persons in middle or advanced life1 think that it will kill them4 ,the actual results1 however1 are found to be most satisfactory1 as the percentage of successes is found to be #ej per cent1 after a year in the ,home and three years' subsequent supervision4 ,i was told that a while ago1 ,sir ,thomas ,barlow1 the well-known physician1 challenged this statement4 ,he was asked to see for himself1 he examined a number of the patients1 inspected the books and records1 and finally satisfied himself that it was absolutely correct4 ,the ,army attaches much importance to what may be called the after-care of the cases1 for the lack of which so many people who pass through ,homes and then return to ordinary life1 break down1 and become1 perhaps1 worse than they were before4 ,the seven devils of ,scripture are always ready to re-occupy the swept and garnished soul1 especially if they be the devils of drink4 ,moreover1 the experience of the ,army is that relatives and friends are extraordinarily thoughtless in this matter4 ,often enough they will1 as it were1 thrust spirituous liquors down the throat of the newly-reformed drunkard1 or at the least will pass them before their eyes and drink them in their presence as usual1 with results that may be imagined4 ,one taste and in four cases out of six the thing is done4 ,the old longings awake again and must be satisfied4 ,for these reasons the highly-skilled ,officers of the ,salvation ,army hold that reclaimed inebriates should be safeguarded1 watched1 and1 so far as the circumstances may allow1 kept under the influences that have brought about their partial recovery4 ,they say that they owe much of their remarkable success in those cases to a strict observance of such preventive methods for a period of three years4 ,after that time patients must stand upon their own feet4 ,these remarks apply also to the victims of the drug habit1 who are even more difficult to deal with than common drunkards4 ,at this ,home ,i had a conversation with a fine young woman1 an ex-hospital nurse1 who gave me a very interesting account of her experiences of laudanum drinking4 ,she said that in an illness she had gone through while she was a nurse a doctor dosed her with laudanum to deaden her pain and induce sleep4 ,the upshot was that she could not sleep without the help of laudanum or other opiates1 and thus the fatal habit was formed4 ,she described the effects of the drug upon her1 which appeared to be temporary exhilaration and freedom from all care1 coupled with sensations of great vigour4 ,she spoke also of delightful visions2 but when ,i asked her to describe the visions1 she went back upon that statement1 perhaps because their nature was such as she did not care to set out4 ,she added1 however1 that the sleep which followed was haunted by terrible dreams4 ,another effect of the habit1 according to this lady1 is forgetfulness1 which showed itself in all kinds of mistakes1 and in the loss of power of accurate expression1 which caused her to say things she did not mean and could not remember when she had said them4 ,she told me that the process of weaning herself from the drug was extremely painful and difficult2 but that she now slept well and desired it no more4 ,to be plain1 ,i was not satisfied with the truth of this last statement1 for there was a strange look in her eyes which suggested that she still desired it very much2 also she seemed to me to prevaricate upon certain points4 ,further1 those in charge of her allowed that this diagnosis was probably correct1 especially as she is now in the ,home for the second time1 although her first visit there was a very short one4 ,still they thought that she would be cured in the end4 ,let us hope that they were right4 ,the ,army has also another ,home in this neighbourhood1 run on similar lines1 for the treatment of middle-class and poor people4 ,,the ,,women',s ,,industrial ,,home ,,southwood1 ,,sydenham ,,hill ,this is another of the ,salvation ,army ,homes for ,women4 ,when ,i visited ,southwood1 which is an extremely good house1 having been a gentleman's residence1 with a garden and commanding a beautiful view1 there were about forty inmates1 some of whom were persons of gentle birth4 ,for such ladies single sleeping places are provided1 with special dining and sitting-rooms4 ,these are supposed to pay a guinea a week for their board and accommodation1 though ,i gathered that this sum was not always forthcoming4 ,the majority of the other inmates1 most of whom have gone astray in one way or another1 pay nothing4 ,a good many of the cases here are what are called preventive2 that is to say1 that their parents or guardians being able to do nothing with them1 and fearing lest they should come to ruin1 send them to this place as a last resource1 hoping that they may be cured of their evil tendencies4 ,thus one girl whom ,i think ,i saw1 could not be prevented from gadding on the streets1 and therefore had been placed here4 ,another young woman was a schoolmistress who would not get out of bed and refused to work4 ,when she came to the ,home she was very insolent and bad-tempered1 and would do nothing4 ,now1 ,i was informed1 she rises with the lark1 at #f4cj indeed1 and works like a ,trojan4 ,i could not help wondering whether these excellent habits would survive her departure from the ,home4 ,another lady1 who had been sentenced for thefts1 was the daughter of a minister4 ,she horrified the ,officers by regretting that she had gone to jail for so little1 when others who had taken and enjoyed large sums received practically the same sentence4 ,she was reported to be doing well4 ,another1 also a lady1 was the victim of an infatuation which caused her to possess herself of money to send to some man who had followed her about from the time she was in a boarding school4 ,another was a foreigner1 who had been sent to an ,american doctor in the ,east to be trained as a nurse4 ,this poor girl underwent an awful experience1 and was in the care of the ,salvation ,army recovering from shock2 but1 of course1 hers is a different class of case from those which ,i have mentioned above4 ,another was an ,english girl who had been turned out of ,canada because of her bad behaviour with men4 ,and so on4 ,it only remains to say that most of these people appeared to be doing well1 while many of those in the humbler classes of life were being taught to earn their own living in the laundry that is attached to the ,institution4 ,,the ,,women',s ,,shelter ,,whitechapel ,this is a place where women1 most of them old1 so far as my observation went1 are taken in to sleep at a charge of #c;d4 a night4 ,it used to be #b;d4 until the ,london ,county ,council made the provision of sheets1 etc41 compulsory1 when the ,army was obliged to raise the payment4 ,this ,shelter1 which is almost always so full that people have to be turned away1 holds #bfa women4 ,it contains a separate room1 where children are admitted with their mothers1 half price1 namely #a-a_/b;d41 being charged per child4 ,there is a kitchen attached where the inmates can buy a large mug of tea for a #a_/b;d41 and a huge chunk of bread for a second #a_/b;d42 also1 if ,i remember right1 other articles of food1 if they can afford such luxuries4 ,the great dormitory in this ,shelter1 it may be mentioned1 was once a swimming-bath4 ,some of the women who come to this place have slept in it almost every night for eighteen or twenty years4 ,others make use of it for a few months1 and then vanish for a period1 especially in the summer1 when they go hop or strawberry picking1 and return in the winter4 ,every day1 however1 fresh people appear1 possibly to depart on the morrow and be seen no more4 ,i asked whether the aged folk had not been benefited by the ,old ,age ,pensions ,act4 ,the lady ,officer in charge replied that it had been a blessing to some of them4 ,one old woman1 however1 would not apply for her pension1 although she was urged to take a room for herself somewhere4 ,she said that she was afraid if she did so1 she might be turned out and be lonely4 ,i visited this ,shelter in the late afternoon1 before it was filled up4 ,a number of dilapidated and antique females were sitting about in the rooms1 talking or sewing4 ,one old lady was doing crochet work4 ,she told me that she made her living by it1 and by flower-selling4 ,another informed me that it was years since she had slept anywhere else1 and that she did not know what poor women like her would do without this place4 ,another was cooking the broth4 ,her husband was a sea captain1 and when he died1 her father had allowed her #a a week until he died4 ,afterwards she took to drink1 and drifted here1 where1 ,i was informed1 she is doing well4 ,and so on1 and so on1 ad infinitum4 ,the ,hanbury ,street ,women's ,shelter is not a cheerful spot to visit on a dull and rainy evening4 ,,the ,,slum ,,settlement ,,hackney ,,road ,slum work is an important branch of the ,social labours of the ,salvation ,army1 ,thus last year the ,slum ,sisters visited over #aje1jjj families1 over #bj1jjj sick1 and over #cb1jjj public-houses1 in which work they spent more than #ij1jjj hours of time4 ,also they attended #dhb births1 and paid nearly #i1jjj visits in connexion with them4 ,there are nine ,slum ,settlements and ,posts in ,london1 and nineteen others in ,england1 ,scotland1 and ,ireland4 ,the old system used to be for the ,sisters and ,nurses to live among the lowest class of the poor1 lodging in the actual tenements in which their work was carried out4 ,this1 however1 was abandoned as far as possible1 because it was found that after the arduous toil of the day these ladies could get little rest at night1 owing to the noise that went on about them1 a circumstance that caused their health to suffer and made them inefficient4 ,now out of the #aag ,officers engaged in ,slum work in ,great ,britain1 about one-half who labour in ,london live in five houses set apart for them in different quarters of the city2 fifteen ,officers being the usual complement to each house4 ,the particular dwelling of which ,i write is a good specimen of them all1 and from it the ,sisters and ,nurses who live there work ,shoreditch1 ,bethnal ,green1 ,whitechapel1 and the ,hoxton and ,hackney ,road districts4 ,it is decently furnished and a comfortable place in its way1 although1 of course1 it stands in a poor neighbourhood4 ,i remember that there was even the finishing touch of a canary in the window4 ,i should add that no cases are attended in the house itself1 which is purely a residence4 ,to this particular ,settlement two qualified midwives and a nurse are attached4 ,while ,i was there one of the midwives came in1 very tired1 at about half-past eleven in the morning4 ,since three o'clock on that same morning she had attended three confinements1 so no wonder she was tired4 ,she said that one of her cases was utterly unprovided with anything needful as the father was out of work1 although on the occasion of a previous confinement they had all they wanted4 ,now they lived in a little room in which there was not space 'to swing a cat1' and were without a single bite of food or bit of clothing1 so that the baby when it came had to be wrapped up in an old shawl and the woman sent to the ,infirmary4 ,the ,sister in charge informed me that if they had them they could find employment for twice their strength of nurses without overlapping the work of any other charity4 ,the people with whom they deal are for the most part those who have a rooted objection to infirmaries1 although the hospitals are much more used than was formerly the case4 ,the system of the ,army is to make a charge of #fs4 #f;d4 for attending a confinement1 which1 if paid1 is generally collected in instalments of #c;d4 or #f;d4 a week4 ,often1 however1 it is not paid1 and the charge remains a mere formality4 ,she added that many of these poor people are most improvident1 and make no provision whatsoever for these events1 even if they can afford to do so4 ,the result is that the ,army has to lend them baby garments and other things4 ,the ,sister said in answer to my questions that there was a great deal of poverty in their district where many men were out of work1 a number of them because they could find nothing to do4 ,she thought that things were certainly no better in this respect2 indeed1 the state of depression was chronic4 ,owing to the bad summer of #aiji1 which affected the hop-picking and other businesses1 the destitution that year was as great during the warm months as it usually is in the winter4 ,the poor of this district1 she said1 'generally live upon fried fish and chips4 ,you know they cannot cook1 anyway they don't1 and what they do cook is all done in the frying-pan1 which is also a very convenient article to pawn4 ,they don't understand economy1 for when they have a bit of money they will buy in food and have a big feast1 not thinking of the days when there will be little or nothing4 ,then1 again1 they buy their goods in small portions2 for instance1 their coal by the ha'p'orth or their wood by the farthing's-worth1 which1 in fact1 works out at a great profit to the dealers4 ,or they buy a farthing's-worth of tea1 which is boiled up again and again till it is awful-looking stuff4' ,i asked her what she considered to be the main underlying cause of this misery4 ,she answered that she thought it was due 'to the people flocking from the country to the city1' thereby confirming an opinion that ,i have long held and advanced4 ,she added that the overcrowding in the district was terrible1 the regulations of the ,public ,health ,authorities designed to check it being 'a dead letter4' ,in one case with which she had to do1 a father1 mother1 and nine children lived in a room that measured #i ft4 by #i ft41 and the baby came into the world with the children looking on6 ,the general weekly rent for a room containing a family is #es41 or if it is furnished1 #gs4 #f;d4 ,the ,sister described to me the furniture of one for the use of which this extra half-crown is charged4 ,it consisted of a rickety bed1 two chairs1 one without a back and one without a seat1 and a little shaky table4 ,the floor was bare1 and she estimated the total value of these articles at about their weekly rent of #bs4 #f;d41 if1 indeed1 they were worth carrying away4 ,in this chamber dwelt a coachman who was out of place1 his wife1 and three or four children1 ,i wonder what arrangement these poor folk make as to the use of the one chair that has a bottom4 ,to occupy the other must be an empty honour4 ,with reference to this man the ,sister remarked that as a result of the introduction of motor vehicles1 busmen1 cabmen1 and blacksmiths were joining the ranks of her melancholy clientele in numbers4 ,this and some similar stories caused me to reflect on the remarkable contrast between rents in the country and in town4 ,for instance1 ,i own about a dozen cottages in this village in which ,i write1 and the highest rent that ,i receive is #bs4 #e;d4 a week4 ,this is paid for a large double dwelling1 on which ,i had to spend over #ajj quite recently to convert two cottages into one4 ,also1 there is a large double garden thrown in1 so large that a man can scarcely manage it in his spare time1 a pigsty1 fruit trees1 etc4 ,all this for #a;d4 a week less than is charged for the two broken chairs1 the rickety bed1 and the shaky table6 ,again1 for #aj a year1 ,i let a comfortable farmhouse2 that is1 #c a year less than the out-of-work coachman pays for his single room without the furniture4 ,and yet1 as the ,sister said1 people continue to rush from the country to the towns6 ,nor1 it seems1 do they always make the best of things when they get there4 ,thus the ,sister mentioned that the education which the girls receive in the schools causes them to desire a more exalted lot in life than that of a servant4 ,so they try to find places in shops1 or jam factories1 etc4 ,some get them1 but many fail2 and of those who fail1 a large proportion go to swell the mass of the unemployed1 or to recruit the ranks of an undesirable profession4 ,she went so far as to say that most of the domestic servants in ,london are not ,cockneys at all1 but come from the country2 adding1 that the sad part of it was that thousands of these poor girls1 after proper training1 could find comfortable and remunerative employment without displacing others1 as the demand for domestic servants is much greater than the supply4 ,these are cold facts which seem to suggest that our system of free education is capable of improvement4 ,it appears that all this district is a great centre of what is known as 'sweating4' ,thus artificial flowers1 of which ,i was shown a fine specimen1 a marguerite1 are made at a price of #as4 per gross1 the workers supplying their own glue4 ,an expert hand1 beginning at eight in the morning and continuing till ten at night1 can produce a gross and a half of these flowers1 and thus net #as4 #f;d41 minus the cost of the glue1 scissors1 and sundries4 ,the ,officers of the ,army find it extremely difficult to talk to these poor people1 who are invariably too busy to listen4 ,therefore1 some of them have learnt how to make artificial flowers themselves1 so that when they call they can join in the family manufacture1 and1 while doing so1 carry on their conversation4 ,for the making of match-boxes and the sticking on of the labels the pay is #b-a_/b;d4 per gross4 ,few of us1 ,i think1 would care to manufacture #add matchboxes for #b-a_/b;d4 ,i learned that it is not unusual to find little children of four years of age helping their mothers to make these boxes4 ,the ,slum ,sisters attached to the ,settlement1 who are distinct from the ,maternity ,nurses1 visit the very poorest and worst neighbourhoods1 for the purpose of helping the sick and afflicted1 and incidentally of cleaning their homes4 ,also1 they find out persons who are about sixty-nine years of age1 and contribute to their maintenance1 so as to save them from being forced to receive poor-law relief1 which would prevent them from obtaining their old-age pensions when they come to seventy4 ,here is an illustration of the sort of case with which these ,slum ,sisters have to deal2 perhaps1 ,i should say1 the easiest sort of case4 ,an old man and his wife whom they visited1 lived in a clean room4 ,the old woman fell sick1 and before she died the ,slum ,sisters gave her a bath1 which1 as these poor people much object to washing1 caused all the neighbours to say that they had killed her4 ,after his wife's death1 the husband1 who earned his living by selling laces on ,london ,bridge1 went down in the world1 and his room became filthy4 ,the ,slum ,sisters told him that they would clean up the place1 but he forbade them to touch the bed1 which1 he said1 was full of mice and beetles4 ,as he knew that women dread mice and beetles1 he thought that this statement would frighten them4 ,when he was out selling his laces1 they descended upon his room1 where the first thing that they did was to remove the said bed into the yard and burn it1 replacing it with another4 ,on his return1 the old man exclaimed3 ',oh1 my darlings1 whatever have you been doing8' ,they still clean this room once a week4 ,the general impression left upon my mind1 after visiting this place at ,hackney ,road and conversing with its guardian angels1 is1 that in some of its aspects1 if not in all1 civilization is a failure4 ,probably thoughtful people made the same remark in ancient ,rome1 and in every other city since cities were4 ,the truth is1 that so soon as its children desert the land which bore them for the towns1 these horrors follow as surely as the night follows the day4 ,,the ,,piccadilly ,,midnight ,,work ,,great ,,tichfield ,,street ,i visited this place a little before twelve o'clock on a summer night4 ,it is a small flat near ,oxford ,street1 in which live two women-,officers of the ,army1 who are engaged in the work of reclaiming prostitutes4 ,i may mention that for the last fourteen years the ,major in charge1 night by night1 has tramped the streets with this object4 ,the ,titchfield ,street flat is not in any sense a ,home1 but ,i saw a small room in it1 with two beds1 where cases who may be rescued from the streets1 or come here in a time of trouble1 can sleep until arrangements are made for them to proceed to one of the ,rescue ,institutions of the ,army4 ,this work is one of the most difficult and comparatively unproductive of any that the ,army undertakes4 ,the careers of these unfortunate street women1 who are nearly all of them very fine specimens of female humanity1 for the most part follow a rocket-like curve4 ,the majority of them begin by getting into trouble1 at the end of which1 perhaps1 they find themselves with a child upon their hands4 ,or they may have been turned out of their homes1 or some sudden misfortune may have reduced them to destitution4 ,at any rate1 the result is that they take to a loose life1 and mayhap1 after living under the protection of one or two men1 find themselves upon the streets4 ,sometimes1 it may be said to their credit1 if that word can be used in this connexion1 they adopt this mode of life in order to support their child or children4 ,the ,major informed me that if they are handsome they generally begin with a period of great prosperity4 ,one whom she knew earned about #cj a week1 and a good many of them make as much as #a1jjj a year1 and pay perhaps #f weekly in rent4 ,a certain proportion of them are careful1 open a bank account1 save money1 retire1 and get married4 ,generally1 these keep their bank-books in their stockings1 which1 in their peculiar mode of life1 they find to be the safest place1 as they are very suspicious of each other1 and much afraid of being robbed4 ,the majority of them1 however1 are not so provident4 ,they live in and for the moment1 and spend their ill-gotten gains as fast as they receive them4 ,gradually they drift downwards4 ,they begin in ,piccadilly1 and progress1 or rather retrogress1 through ,leicester ,square on to ,tottenham ,court ,road and ,oxford ,street1 and thence to the ,euston ,road1 ending their sad careers in ,bishopsgate and ,whitechapel4 ,the ,major informed me that there are but very few in the ,piccadilly neighbourhood whom she knew when she took up this work1 and that1 as a rule1 they cannot stand the life for long4 ,the irregular hours1 the exposure1 the excitement1 and above all the drink in which most of them indulge1 kill them out or send them to a poorhouse or the hospital4 ,she said1 however1 that as a class they have many virtues4 ,for instance1 they are very kind-hearted1 and will always help each other in trouble4 ,also1 most of them have affection for their children1 being careful to keep them1 if possible1 from any knowledge of their mode of life4 ,further1 they are charitable to the poor1 and1 in a way1 religious2 or1 perhaps1 superstitious would be a better term4 ,thus1 they often go to church on ,sundays1 and do not follow their avocation on ,sunday nights4 ,on ,new ,year's ,eve1 their practice is to attend the ,watch ,night services1 where1 doubtless1 poor people1 they make those good resolutions that form the proverbial pavement of the road to ,hell4 ,nearly all of them drink more or less1 as they say that they could not live their life without stimulant4 ,moreover1 their profession necessitates their walking some miles every night4 ,for the most part these women lodge in pairs in their own flats1 where they pay about #ces4 a week for three unfurnished rooms4 ,the ,officer told me that often some despicable man1 who is called a 'bully1' lives on them1 following them round the streets1 and watching them4 ,even the smartest girls are not infrequently the victims of such a man1 who knocks them about and takes money from them4 ,occasionally he may be a husband or a relative4 ,she added that as a class they are much better behaved and less noisy than they used to be4 ,this improvement1 however1 is largely due to the increased strictness of the police4 ,these women do not decrease in number4 ,in the ,major's opinion1 there are as many or more of them on the streets as there were fourteen years ago1 although the brothels and the procuresses are less numerous1 and their quarters have shifted from ,piccadilly to other neighbourhoods4 ,the ,army methods of dealing1 or rather of attempting to deal with this utterly insoluble problem are simple enough4 ,the ,officers walk the streets every night from about twelve to two and distribute cards in three languages according to the nationality of the girl to whom these are offered4 ,here they are in ,english1 ,french1 and ,german3-- ,mrs4 ,booth will gladly help any ,girl or ,woman in need of a friend4 ,,apply ,,at #gi ,great ,titchfield ,street1 or #bei ,mare ,street1 ,hackney1 ,n4,e4 ,illustration3 ,,bonnes ,,nouvells4 ,vous avez une amie qui est dispose vous aider4 7,s addresser7 ,madame ,booth #gi ,great ,titchfield ,street1 ,oxford ,street1 ,londres1 ,w4 ,,madam ,,booth will herzlich gerne ,jedem ,mdchen oder ,jeder ,frau helfen1 die sich in ,noth auf eine ,freundin befinden4 #bei ,mare ,street1 ,hackney1 #gj ,great ,titchfield ,street1 ,w4 ,most of the girls to whom they are offered will not take them1 but a good number do and1 occasionally1 the seed thus sown bears fruit4 ,thus the woman who takes the card may come to ,great ,titchfield ,street and be rescued in due course4 ,more frequently1 however1 she will give a false address1 or make an appointment which she does not keep1 or will say that it is too late for her to change her life4 ,but this fact does not always prevent such a woman from trying to help others by sending young girls who have recently taken to the trade to the ,titchfield ,street ,refuge in the hope that they may be induced to abandon their evil courses4 ,occasionally the ,army has midnight suppers in its ,regent ,hall for these women1 who attend in large numbers1 perhaps out of curiosity4 ,at the last supper nearly #cjj 'swell girls' were present and listened to the prayers and the exhortations to amend their lives4 ,sometimes1 too1 the ,officers attend them when they are sick or dying4 ,once they buried one of the women1 who died whilst under their care1 holding a midnight funeral over her at their hall in ,oxford ,street4 ,it was attended by hundreds of the sisterhood1 and the ,major described the scene as terrible4 ,the women were seized with hysterics1 and burst into shrieks and sobs4 ,they even tried to open the coffin in order to kiss the dead girl who lay within4 ,amongst many other cases1 ,i was informed of a black girl called ,diamond1 so named because she wore real diamonds on her dresses1 which dresses cost over #ajj apiece4 ,the ,army tried to help her in vain1 and wrote her many letters4 ,in the end she died in an ,infirmary1 when all the letters were found carefully hidden away among her belongings and returned to the ,major4 ,the average number of rescues compassed1 directly or indirectly1 by the ,piccadilly ,midnight work is about fifty a year4 ,this is not a very great result2 but after all the taking of even a few people from this hellish life and their restoration to decency and self-respect is well worth the cost and labour of the mission4 ,the ,officers told me that they meet with but little success in the case of those women who are in their bloom and earning great incomes4 ,it can scarcely be otherwise1 for what has the ,army to offer them in place of their gaudy1 glittering life of luxury and excitement8 ,the way of transgressors is hard1 but the way of repentance is harder2 at any rate1 while the transgressor is doing well4 ,on the one hand jewels and champagne1 furs and motors1 and on the other prayers that talk of death and judgment1 plain garments made by the wearer's labour1 and at the end the drudgery of earning an honest livelihood1 perhaps as a servant4 ,human nature being what it is1 it seems scarcely wonderful that these children of pleasure cling to the path of 'roses' and turn from that of 'thorns4' ,with those that are growing old and find themselves broken in body and in spirit1 who are thrust aside in the fierce competition of their trade in favour of younger rivals2 those who find the wine in their tinsel cup turning1 or turned1 to gall1 the case is different4 ,they are sometimes1 not always1 glad to creep to such shelter from the storms of life as the ,army can offer1 and there work out their moral and physical salvation4 ,for what bitterness is there like to that which must be endured by the poor1 broken woman of the streets1 as scorned1 spat on1 thrust aside1 she sinks from depth to depth into the last depth of all1 striving to drown her miseries with drugs or drink1 if so she may win forgetfulness even for an hour8 ,sometimes1 too1 these patient toilers in the deep of midnight sin succeed in dragging from the brink those that have but dipped their feet in its dark waters4 ,nemo repente fuit turpissimus--no one becomes altogether filthy in an hour--runs the old ,roman saying1 which is as true to-day as it was #b1jjj years ago1 and whether it be spoken of body or of soul1 it is easier to wash the feet than the whole being4 ,when they understand what lies before them certain of the young shrink back and grasp ,mercy's outstretched arms4 ,one night about twelve o'clock1 together with ,lieut4-,colonel ,jolliffe1 an ,officer of the ,army who was dressed in plain clothes1 ,i accompanied the ,major and the lady who is her colleague1 to ,leicester ,square and its neighbourhood1 and there watched their methods of work1 following them at a little distance4 ,dressed in their uniform they mingled with the women who marched the pavements1 and now and again1 with curiously swift and decisive steps glided up to one of them1 whispered a few earnest words into her ear1 and proffered a printed ticket4 ,most of those spoken to walked on stonily as people do when they meet an undesirable acquaintance whom they do not wish to recognize4 ,some thrust past them rudely2 some hesitated and with a hard laugh went their way2 but a few took the tickets and hid them among their laces4 ,so far as the work was concerned that was all there was to see4 ,nothing dramatic happened2 no girl fled to them imploring help or asking to be saved from the persecutions of a man2 no girl even insulted them--for these ,officers to be insulted is a thing unknown4 ,all ,i saw was the sowing of the seed in very stony ground1 where not one kern out of a thousand is like to germinate and much less to grow4 ,yet as experience proves1 occasionally it does both germinate and grow1 yes1 and bloom and come to the harvest of repentance and redemption4 ,it is for this that these unwearying labourers scatter their grain from night to night1 that at length they may garner into their bosoms a scanty but a priceless harvest4 ,it was a strange scene4 ,the air was hot and heavy1 the sky was filled with black and lowering clouds already laced with lightnings4 ,the music-halls and restaurants had given out their crowds1 the midnight mart was open4 ,everywhere were women1 all finely dressed1 most of them painted1 as could be seen in the glare of the electric lights1 some of them more or less excited with drink1 but none turbulent or noisy4 ,mixed up with these were the bargainers1 men of every degree1 the most of them with faces unpleasant to consider4 ,some had made their pact and were departing4 ,i noticed one young girl whose looks would have drawn attention anywhere1 whispering an address from beneath an enormous feathered hat to the driver of a taxicab1 while her companion1 a pleasant-looking1 fresh-coloured boy1 for he was scarcely more1 entered the vehicle1 a self-satisfied air upon his face4 ,she sprang in also1 and the cab with its occupants glided away out of my ken for ever4 ,here and there stalwart1 quiet policemen requested loiterers to move on1 and the loiterers obeyed and re-formed in groups behind them2 here and there a respectable woman pushed her way through the throng1 gathering up her skirts as she did so and glancing covertly at this unaccustomed company out of the corners of her eyes4 ,while watching all these sights we lost touch of the ,salvation ,army ladies1 who wormed their way through the crowd as easily and quickly as a snake does through undergrowth1 and set out to find them4 ,big drops began to fall1 the thunder growled1 and in a moment the concourse commenced to melt4 ,five minutes later the rain was falling fast and the streets had emptied4 ,that night's market was at an end4 ,no farmer watches the weather more anxiously than do these painted women in their muslins and gold-laced shoes4 ,meanwhile1 their night's work done1 the ,salvation ,army ladies were tramping through the wet back to ,titchfield ,street1 for they do not spend money on cabs1 and the buses had ceased to run4 ,,the ,,anti-,,suicide ,,bureau ,this is a branch of the ,army's work with which ,i have been more or less acquainted for some years4 ,the idea of an ,anti-,suicide ,bureau arose in the ,army four or five years ago2 but every one seems to have forgotten with whom it actually originated4 ,i suppose that it grew1 like ,topsy1 or was discovered simultaneously by several ,officers1 like a new planet by different astronomers studying the heavens in faith and hope4 ,at any rate1 the results of the idea are remarkable4 ,thus in ,london alone #a1jfd cases were dealt with in the year #aiji1 and of those cases it is estimated that all but about a dozen were turned from their fatal purpose4 ,let us halve these figures1 and say that #ejj lives were actually saved1 that #ejj men live to-day in and about ,london who otherwise would be dead by their own hands and buried in dishonoured graves4 ,or let us even quarter them1 and surely this remains a wonderful work1 especially when we remember that ,london is by no means the only place in which it is being carried on4 ,how is it done8 the reader may ask4 ,i answer by knowledge of human nature1 by the power of sympathy1 by gentle kindness4 ,a poor wretch staggers into a humble little room at the ,salvation ,army ,headquarters in ,queen ,victoria ,street4 ,he unfolds an incoherent tale4 ,he is an unpleasant and disturbing person whom any lawyer or business man would get rid of as soon as possible4 ,he vapours about self-destruction1 he hints at dark troubles with his wife4 ,he produces drugs or weapons--a point at which most people would certainly show him out4 ,but the ,officers in charge do nothing of the sort4 ,they laugh at him or give him a cup of tea4 ,they bid him brace himself together1 and tell them the truth and nothing but the truth4 ,then out pours the awful tale1 which1 however bad it may be1 they listen to quite unmoved though not unconcerned1 for they hear such every day4 ,when it is finished1 they ask coolly enough why1 in the name of all that their visitor reverences or holds dear1 he considers it necessary to commit suicide for a trifling job like that4 ,a new light dawns upon the desperate man4 ,he answers1 because he can see no other way out4 ,why1 exclaims the ,officer1 there are a dozen ways out4 ,let us find one of them4 ,you1 ,a41 have been faithless to your wife4 ,well1 when the matter is explained to her1 ,i daresay she will forgive you4 ,you1 ,b41 have defrauded your employer4 ,well1 employers are not always relentless4 ,i'll call on him this evening and talk the matter over4 ,you1 ,c41 are hopelessly in debt through horse-racing or speculation4 ,well1 at the worst you can go through the ,court and start afresh4 ,you1 ,d41 have committed a crime4 ,go and own up to it like a man1 stand your trial1 and work out your sentence4 ,i daresay it won't be so very heavy if you take that course1 and we will look after you when it is over4 ,you1 ,e41 have been brought into this state through your miserable vices1 drink1 or whatever they may be4 ,cure yourself of the vices--we'll show you how--don't crown them by cutting your throat like a cur4 ,you1 ,f41 have been afflicted with great sorrows4 ,well1 those sorrows have some purpose and some meaning4 ,there's always a dawn beyond the night2 wait for that dawn2 it will come here or hereafter4 ,and so on1 and on1 through all the gamut of human sin and misery4 ,of course1 there are cases in which the ,army fails4 ,as ,i have said1 there were about a dozen of these last year1 six of which1 if ,i remember right1 occurred with startling rapidity one after the other4 ,the ,suicide ,officers of the ,army always take up the daily paper with fear and trembling1 and not infrequently find that the man whom they thought they had consoled and set upon a different path1 has been discovered dead by drowning in the river1 or by poison in the streets1 or by whatever it may be4 ,but everything has its proportion of failures1 and where intending suicides are concerned #a or #b per cent1 or on the quarter basis that ,i have adopted as beyond question of sincerity of intent1 #d or #h per cent is not a large average4 ,indeed1 #bj per cent would not be large1 or even #ej per cent4 ,but these figures do not occur4 ,of course1 it is suggested that many of those who drift into the ,anti-,suicide ,bureau have no real intention of making away with themselves1 but that they come there only to see what they can get in the way of money or other comfort4 ,as regards money1 the answer is that1 except very occasionally1 the ,army gives none1 for the simple reason that it has none to give4 ,for the rest the fatal cases which happen show that there is a grim purpose at work in the minds of many of the applicants4 ,but ,i repeat1 let us halve the figures1 let us even quarter them1 which1 as ,euclid remarked1 is absurd1 and even then what are we to conclude8 ,before proceeding with my comments upon this work ,i ought to state1 perhaps1 that the ,army has various branches of this ,anti-,suicide ,crusade4 ,thus1 it is at work in almost all our big cities1 and also in ,america1 in ,australia1 and in ,japan4 ,the ,japanese ,bureau was opened last year with very good results4 ,this is the more remarkable in a country where ancient tradition and immemorial custom hallow the system of hara-kiri in any case of trouble or disgrace4 ,moreover1 the idea is spreading1 ,count ,tolstoy is said to have been interested in it4 ,applications have been received from the ,hague for particulars of the ,army methods in the matter4 ,similar work is being carried out in ,vienna1 not by the ,army1 but on its lines4 ,the ,army has been informed that if it will open an ,anti-,suicide ,bureau in ,budapest1 office accommodation1 etc41 will be found for it4 ,and so forth4 ,colonel ,unsworth who1 until recently had charge of the ,anti-,suicide ,bureau from its commencement1 is of opinion that suicide is very much on the increase1 a statement that it would be difficult to dispute in view of the number of cases recorded daily in the local ,press4 ,for instance1 ,i read one on this morning of writing1 in a ,norfolk paper1 where a farmer had blown out his brains1 to all appearance because he had a difference of opinion with his wife as to whether he should1 or should not1 take on another farm4 ,colonel ,unsworth attributed this sad state of affairs to sundry causes4 ,the first of these was the intense and ever-increasing nervous pressure of our time4 ,the second1 the spread of fatalism1 ,the third1 the advance of materialistic ideas1 and of the general disbelief in the doctrine of future retribution4 ,the fourth1 a certain noticeable return in such matters to the standard of ,pagan nations1 especially of ancient ,rome1 where it was held that if things went wrong and life became valueless1 or even uninteresting1 to bring it to an end was in no sense shameful but praiseworthy4 ,in illustration of this point1 he quoted a remark said to have been made by a magistrate not long ago1 to the effect that in certain conditions a man was not to be blamed for taking his own life4 ,his fifth reason was that circumstances arise in which some people convince themselves that their deaths would benefit their families4 ,thus1 insurances may fall in1 for1 after one or two premiums have been paid1 many offices take the risk of suicide4 ,or they may know that when they are gone1 wealthy relatives will take care of their children1 who will thus be happier and better off than these are while they1 the fathers1 live4 ,wrong as it may be1 this1 indeed1 is an attitude with which it is difficult not to feel a certain sympathy4 ,after all1 we are told that there is no greater love than that of a man who lays down his life for his friend1 though there ran be no doubt that the saying was not intended to include this kind of laying down of life4 ,colonel ,unsworth's sixth cause was the increasing atrophy of the public conscience4 ,he stated that suicide is rarely preached against from the pulpit1 as drunkenness is for instance4 ,further1 a jury can seldom be induced to bring in a verdict of felo-de-se4 ,even where the victim was obviously and1 perhaps painfully sane1 his act is put down to temporary insanity4 ,other causes are drink1 hereditary disposition1 madness in all its protean shapes2 incurable disease1 unwillingness to face the consequences of sin or folly2 the passion of sexual love1 which is sometimes so mighty as to amount to madness2 the effects of utter grief such as result from the loss of those far more beloved than self1 of which an instance is at hand in the case of the ,officer in charge of the ,shelter at ,great ,peter ,street1 ,westminster1 mentioned earlier in this book1 who1 it may be remembered1 tried to kill himself after the death of his wife and child2 and lastly1 where women are concerned1 terror and shame at the prospect of giving birth to a child1 whose appearance in the world is not sanctioned by law or custom4 ,suicide among women is1 however1 comparatively rare1 a fact which suggests either that the causes which produce it press on or affect them less1 or that in this particular1 their minds are better balanced than are those of men4 ,i was told1 at any rate1 that but few women apply to the ,suicide ,bureau of the ,army for help in this temptation2 though1 perhaps1 that may be due to the greater secretiveness of the sex4 ,speaking generally1 this magnitude of the evil to be attacked may be gauged from the fact that about #c1hjj people die by their own hands in ,england and ,wales every year1 a somewhat appalling total4 ,intending suicides come into the hands of the ,army ,bureau in various ways4 ,some of them see notices in the ,press descriptive of this branch of the ,social ,work4 ,some of them are found by policemen in desperate circumstances and brought to the ,bureau1 and some are sent there from different localities by ,salvation ,army ,officers4 ,i have looked through the records of numbers of these cases1 but1 for obvious reasons1 it is difficult to give a full and accurate description of any of them4 ,the reader1 therefore1 must be content to accept my assurance of their genuine nature4 ,one or two1 however1 may be alluded to with becoming vagueness4 ,here is an example of a not infrequent kind1 when a person arrives at the office having already attempted the deed4 ,a business man who had recently made a study of agnostic literature1 had become involved in certain complications1 which resulted in a quarrel with his wife4 ,his means not being sufficient to the support of a double establishment1 he took the train to ,london with a bottle of sulphonal in his pocket 7not a drug to be recommended for his purpose7 and swallowed tabloids all the way to town4 ,when he had taken seventy-five grains1 and the bottle1 as ,i saw1 was two-thirds empty1 he found that the drug worked in a way he did not expect4 ,instead of killing him1 it awoke his religious susceptibilities1 which the course of agnostic literature had scotched but not killed1 and he began to wonder with some earnestness whether1 after all1 there might not be a ,hereafter which1 in the circumstances1 he did not care to face4 ,in this acute perplexity he bethought him of the ,salvation ,army1 and arrived at the ,bureau in a state of considerable excitement1 as quickly as a taxicab could bring him4 ,a doctor and a fortnight in hospital did the rest4 ,the ,army found him another situation in place of the one which he had lost1 and composed his differences with his wife4 ,they are now both ,salvationists and very happy4 ,so1 in this instance1 all's well that ends well4 ,case ,two4--,a man1 in a responsible position1 and of rather extravagant habits1 married a wife of more extravagant habits1 and found that1 whatever the proverb may say1 it costs more to keep two than one4 ,his money matters became desperately involved1 but1 being afraid to confide in his wife1 he spent a ,sunday afternoon in trying to make up his mind whether he would shoot or drown himself4 ,while he was thus engaged1 a ,salvation ,army band happened to pass his door1 and reminded him of what he had read about the ,anti-,suicide ,bureau4 ,postponing decision as to the exact method of his departure from this earth1 he called there1 and was persuaded to make a clean breast of the matter to his wife4 ,afterwards the ,army took up his extremely complicated affairs4 ,i saw a pile of documents relating to them that must have been at least #d ins4 thick4 ,the various money-lenders were interviewed1 and persuaded to accept payment in weekly or monthly instalments4 ,the account was almost square when ,i saw it1 and the person concerned extremely happy and grateful4 ,i should say that1 in this case1 a lawyer's bill for the work which was done for nothing would have amounted to quite #ej4 ,in another somewhat similar case1 that of an official who had tampered with moneys in his charge1 though this was not discovered1 some of the creditors had placed the business in the hands of debt-collecting-agencies1 than whom1 said ,colonel ,unsworth1 'there are no harder or more cruel creditors4' ,at any rate1 they drove this poor man almost to madness1 with the usual result4 ,a friend brought him to the ,army1 who shouldered his affairs1 dealt with the debt-collecting agencies1 obtained help from his connexions1 and paid off what was owing by instalments4 ,he and his family are now again quite comfortable4 ,illustration3 ,,at ,,one ,,of ,,the ,,army ,,food ,,depots4 ,case ,three4--,a man was cursed with such a fearful temper that he could keep no situation4 ,he came to ,london in a state of fury1 with a razor in his pocket4 ,happening to see the words ',salvation ,army ,shelter' on a building1 it occurred to him to hear what the ,suicide ,officers had to say before he cut his throat4 ,they dealt with the matter1 and showed him the error of his way4 ,he is now in a very good single-handed situation abroad where1 as he cannot talk the language1 he finds it difficult to quarrel with those about him4 ,case ,four4--,telephone operator1 who was driven mad by that dreadful instrument and by domestic worries4 ,the ,army ,officers saved the man and smoothed over the domestic worries2 but how he gets on with the telephone instruments is not recorded4 ,case ,five4--,unsuitable marriage and bad temper4 ,the wife had become involved in some trouble in early life1 and unwisely1 as it proved1 confessed to the husband1 who brought it up against her every time there was a quarrel between them4 ,in this instance1 also1 suicide was averted and the domestic differences were arranged4 ,case ,six--,a man in a business firm1 married1 with children1 was through no fault of his own thrown out of work1 owing to the appointment of a new manager4 ,he came at last to the ,embankment1 and afterwards applied for a job in answer to an advertisement4 ,the advertiser told him it was a pity that as he had been so near the river he did not go into it4 ,the man determined to commit suicide2 but the ,officers dissuaded him from this course and helped him4 ,he returned a year later in a condition of considerable prosperity1 having worked his way to a ,colony where he is now doing extremely well1 his visit to ,england being in connexion with the business in which he had become a partner4 ,and so on ad infinitum4 ,i might tell many such stories1 some of them of a much more tragic character than those ,i have instanced1 but refrain from doing so lest by chance they should be identified1 especially where the individuals concerned belonged to the upper strata of society4 ,perhaps enough has been said1 however1 to show what a great work is being done by the ,army in this ,department1 where in ,london alone it deals with several would-be suicides every day4 ,of course1 some of these people are frauds4 ,for instance1 one of the ,officers told me that not long ago a medical man1 who was evidently a drunkard1 called on him and said that he would commit suicide unless money were given to him4 ,he was informed that this was against the rules2 whereon the man produced a bottle and said that if the money were not forthcoming1 he would drink its contents and make an end of himself in the office4 ,as may be imagined the ,officer went through an anxious moment1 not quite knowing what to do4 ,however1 he looked the man over1 summed him up to the best of his judgment and ability1 and coming to the conclusion that he was a bully and a braggart1 said that he might do what he liked4 ,the man swallowed the contents of the bottle1 exclaiming that he would be dead in a few minutes1 and a pause ensued1 during which the ,officer confessed to me that he felt very uncomfortable4 ,the end of it was that his visitor said1 with a laugh1 that 'he would not like to cumber the ,salvation ,army with his corpse1' and walked out of the room4 ,the draught which he had taken was comparatively harmless4 ,as ,i have mentioned1 however1 a proportion of the cases are quite irreclaimable4 ,they come and consult the ,army1 then depart and do the deed4 ,six that can be traced have been lost in this way during the last few months4 ,colonel ,unsworth explained to me what ,i had already guessed1 that this business of dealing with scores and hundreds of despairing beings standing on the very edge of the grave1 is a terrible strain upon any man4 ,the responsibility becomes too great1 and he who has to bear it is apt to be crushed beneath its weight4 ,every morning he reads his paper with a sensation of nervous dread1 fearing lest among the police news he should find a brief account of the discovery of some corpse which he can identify as that of an individual with whom he had pleaded at his office on the yesterday and in vain4 ,on former occasions when ,i visited him1 ,colonel ,unsworth used to show me a small museum of poisons1 knives1 revolvers1 etc41 which he had taken from those who proposed to use them to cut the ,gordian knot of life4 ,now1 however1 he has but few of these dreadful relics4 ,i asked him what he had done with the rest4 ,he answered that he had destroyed them4 ',the truth is1' he added1 'that after some years of this business ,i can no longer bear to look at the horrid things2 they get upon my nerves4' ,if ,i may venture to offer a word of advice to the ,chiefs of the ,salvation ,army1 ,i would suggest that the very responsible position of first ,anti-,suicide ,officer in ,london is not one that any man should be asked to fill in perpetuity4 ,,work ,,in ,,the ,,provinces ,,liverpool ,when planning this little book ,i had it in my mind to deal at some length with the ,provincial ,social ,work of the ,army1 ,now ,i find1 however1 that considerations of space must be taken into account2 also that it is not needful to set out all the details of that work1 seeing that to do so would involve a great deal of repetition4 ,the ,salvation ,army machines for the regeneration of fallen men and women1 if ,i may so describe them1 are1 after all1 of much the same design1 and vary for the most part only in the matter of size4 ,the material that goes through those machines is1 it is true1 different1 yet even its infinite variety1 if considered in the mass1 has a certain similitude4 ,for these reasons1 therefore1 ,i will only speak of what is done by the ,army in three of the great ,midland and ,northern cities that ,i have visited1 namely1 ,manchester1 ,liverpool1 and ,glasgow1 and of that but briefly1 although my notes concerning it run to over #ajj typed pages4 ,the lady in charge of the ,slum ,settlement in ,liverpool informed me that the poverty in that city is very great1 and during the past winter of #aiai was really terrible owing to the scarceness of work in the docks4 ,the poor1 however1 are not so overcrowded1 and rents are cheaper than in ,london1 the cost of two dwelling-cellars being about #bs4 #f;d41 and of a room about #cs4 a week4 ,the sisterhood of fallen women is1 she added1 very large in ,liverpool2 but most of these belong to a low class4 ,in this city the ,army has one ,institution for women called the ',ann ,fowler' ,memorial ,home1 which differs a good deal from the majority of those that ,i have seen4 ,it is a ,lodging-,home for ,women1 and is designed for the accommodation of persons of a better class than those who generally frequent such places4 ,this building1 which was provided in memory of her mother by ,miss ,fowler1 a local philanthropist1 at a cost of about #f1jjj1 was originally a ,welsh ,congregational chapel1 that has been altered to suit the purpose to which it is now put4 ,it is extremely well fitted-up with separate cubicles made of oak panelling1 good lavatory accommodation1 and kitchens in which is made some of the most excellent soup that ,i ever tasted4 ,yet strange to say this place is not as much appreciated as it might be1 as may be judged from the fact that although it is designed to hold #aac lodgers1 when ,i visited it there were not more than between forty and fifty4 ,this is remarkable1 as the charge made is only #d;d4 per night1 or #bs4 a week1 even for a cubicle1 and an excellent breakfast of bread and butter1 fish1 and tea can be had for #b;d4 ,other meals are supplied on a like scale1 with the result that a woman employed in outside work can live in considerable comfort in a room or cubicle of her own for about #hs4 a week4 ,the lady in charge told me1 however1 that there are reasons for this state of affairs4 ,one is that it provides for people of a rather higher class than usual1 who1 of course1 are not so numerous as those lower in the social scale4 ,the principal reason1 however1 is prejudice4 ,it is known that most of the women accommodated in the ,army ,shelters are what are known as 'fallen' or 'drunks4' ,therefore1 occupants of a ,home devoted to a higher section of society fear lest they should be tarred with the same brush in the eyes of their associates4 ,here is a story which illustrates this point which ,i remember hearing in the ,united ,states4 ,a woman1 whose inebriety was well known1 was picked up absolutely dead drunk in an ,american city and taken by an ,officer of the ,army to one of its ,homes and put to bed4 ,in the morning she awoke and1 guessing where she was lodged from various signs and tokens1 such as texts upon the wall1 began to scream for her clothes4 ,an attendant1 who thought that she had developed delirium tremens1 ran up and asked what was the matter4 ',matter8' ejaculated the sot1 'the matter is that if ,i don't get out of this ---- place in double quick time1 ,i shall lose my character6' ,the women who avail themselves of this ',ann ,fowler' ,home are of all ages and in various employments4 ,one1 ,i was told1 was a lady separated from her husband1 whose father1 now dead1 had been the mayor of a large city4 ,a ,liverpool ,institution of another class1 known as ',the ,hollies1' is an ,industrial ,home for fallen women1 drunkards1 thieves1 and incorrigible girls4 ,it holds thirty-eight inmates and is always full1 a good many of these being sent to the place from ,police-courts whence they are discharged under the ,first ,offenders ,acts4 ,i saw these women at their evening prayers4 ,the singing was hearty and spontaneous1 and they all seemed happy enough4 ,still1 the faces of most of them 7they varied in age from forty-six to sixteen7 showed traces of life's troubles1 but one or two were evidently persons of some refinement4 ,their histories1 which would fill volumes1 must be omitted4 ,suffice it to say that this ,home1 like all the others1 is extremely well-arranged and managed1 and is doing a most excellent and successful work4 ,when the women are believed to be cured of their evil habits1 whatever they may be1 they are for the most part sent out to service4 ,there are two rooms in the place to which they can return during their holidays1 or when they are changing situations1 at a charge of #es4 a week4 ,this many of them like to do4 ,next door to ',the ,hollies' is another ,home where young girls with their illegitimate babies1 and also a few children1 are accommodated4 ,it is arranged to hold twenty-four mothers1 and is generally full4 ,a charge of #es4 a week is supposed to be made1 but unless the cases are sent from the workhouse1 when the ,guardians pay1 in practice little is recovered from the patients4 ,when they are well again1 their babies are put out to nurse1 as at the ,london ,maternity ,home1 and the girls are sent to service1 no difficulty being experienced in finding them places4 ,during the two years that this ,home had been open eighty-two girls had passed through it1 and of these1 the ,matron informed me1 there were but ten who were not doing so well as they might4 ,the rest were in employment of one sort or another1 and seemed to be in the way of completely regaining their characters4 ,i visited this place late at night1 and in the room devoted to children1 as distinct from infants1 saw one girl of nine with a curious history4 ,this child had been twelve times in the hands of the police before her father brought her to the ,army on their suggestion4 ,her mania was to run away from home1 where it does not appear that she was ill-treated1 and to sleep in the streets1 on one occasion for as long as five nights4 ,this child had a very curious face1 and even in her sleep1 as ,i saw her1 there was about it something wild and defiant4 ,when the ,matron turned her over she did not yawn or cry1 but uttered a kind of snarl4 ,i suppose that here is an instance of atavism1 that the child throw back for thousands or tens of thousands of years1 to when her progenitors were savages1 and that their primitive instincts have reasserted themselves in her1 although she was born in the twentieth century4 ,she had been ten months in the ,home and was doing well4 ,indeed1 the ,matron told me that they had taken her out and given her opportunities of running away1 but that she had never attempted to avail herself of them4 ,the ,officer in charge informed me that there is much need for a ,maternity ,hospital in ,liverpool4 ,there are also ,institutions for men in ,liverpool1 but these ,i must pass over4 ,,the ,,men',s ,,social ,,work ,,manchester ,the ,officer in charge of the ,men's ,social ,work in ,manchester told me the same story that ,i had heard in ,liverpool as to the prevailing distress4 ,he said1 ',it has been terrible the last few winters4 ,i have never seen anything like it4 ,we know because they come to us1 and the trouble is more in a fixed point than in ,london4 ,numbers and numbers come1 destitute of shelter or food or anything4 ,the cause is want of employment4 ,there is no work4 ,many cases1 of course1 go down through drink1 but the most cannot get work4 ,the fact is that there are more men than there is work for them to do1 and this ,i may say is a regular thing1 winter and summer4' ,a sad statement surely1 and one that excites thought4 ,i asked what became of this residue who could not find work4 ,his answer was1 ',they wander about1 die off1 and so on4' ,a still sadder statement1 ,i think4 ,the ,major in charge is a man of great organising ability1 force of character1 and abounding human sympathy4 ,yet he was once one of the melancholy army of wasters4 ,some seventeen years ago he came into the ,army through one of its ,shelters1 a drunken1 out-of-place cabinet-maker1 who had been tramping the streets4 ,they gave him work and he 'got converted4' ,now he is the head of the ,manchester ,social ,institutions1 engaged in finding work for or converting thousands of others4 ,at first the ,army had only one establishment in ,manchester1 which used to be a cotton mill4 ,now it is a ,shelter for #bjj men4 ,then it took others1 some of which are owned and some hired1 among them a great ',elevator' on the ,london plan1 where waste paper is sorted and sold4 ,the turn-over here was over #h1jjj in #aiji1 and may rise to #ab1jjj4 ,i forget how many men it finds work for1 but every week some twenty-five new hands come in1 and about the same number pass out4 ,this is a wonderful place1 filled with what appears to be rubbish1 but which is really valuable material4 ,among this rubbish all sorts of strange things are to be found4 ,thus ,i picked out of it1 and kept as a souvenir1 a beautifully-bound copy of ,wesley's ,hymns1 published about a hundred years ago4 ,lying near it was an early edition of ,scott's ',marmion4' ,this ,elevator more than pays its way2 indeed the ,army is saving money out of it1 which is put by to purchase other buildings4 ,then there are houses where the people employed in the paper-works lodge1 a recently-acquired home for the better class of men1 which was once a mansion of the ,de ,clifford family1 and afterwards a hospital1 and a store where every kind of oddment is sold by ,dutch auction4 ,these articles are given to the ,army1 and among the week's collection ,i saw clocks1 furniture1 bicycles1 a parrot cage1 and a crutch4 ,not long ago the managers of this store had a goat presented to them1 which nearly ate them out of house and home1 as no one would buy it1 and they did not like to send the poor beast to the butcher4 ,in these various ,shelters and ,institutions ,i saw some strange characters4 ,one had been an electrical engineer1 educated under ,professor ,owen1 at ,cardiff ,college4 ,he came into money1 and gambled away #ac1jjj on horse-racing1 although he told me that he won as much as #h1jjj on one ,ascot meeting4 ,his subsequent history is a story in itself1 one too long to set out2 but the end of it1 in his own words1 was ',four years ago ,i came here1 and1 thank ,god6 ,i am going on all right4' ,why do not the writers of naturalistic novels study ,salvation ,army ,shelters8 ,in any one of them they would find more material than could be used up in ten lifetimes2 though1 personally1 ,i confess ,i am content to read such stories in the secret annals of the various ,institutions4 ,another man1 a very pleasant and humorous person1 who was once a ,church worker and a singer in the choir1 etc41 when1 in his own words1 he used 'to put on religion with his ,sunday clothes and take it off again with them1' came to grief through sheer love of amusement1 such as that which is to be found in music-halls and theatres4 ,his habit was to spend the money of an insurance company by which he was employed1 in taking out the young lady to whom he was engaged1 to such entertainments4 ,ultimately1 of course1 he was found out1 and1 when starving on the road1 determined to commit suicide4 ,the ,salvationists found him in the nick of time1 and now he is foreman of their paper-collecting yard4 ,another1 at the ripe age of twenty-four1 had been twenty-seven times in prison4 ,his father was in prison1 his eldest brother committed suicide in prison by throwing himself over the banisters4 ,also1 he had two brothers at present undergoing penal servitude1 who1 when he was a little fellow1 used to pass him through windows to open doors in houses which they were burgling4 ,i suggested that it was a poor game and that he had better give it up4 ,he answered3--',i shall never do it again1 sir1 ,god helping me4' ,really ,i think he meant what he said4 ,another1 in the ,chepstow ,street ,shelter1 where he acted as night-watchman1 was discharged from ,portland1 after serving a fifteen years' sentence for manslaughter4 ,his trouble was that he killed a man in a fight1 and as he had fought him before and had a grudge against him1 was very nearly hanged for his pains4 ,this man earned #i in some way or other during his sentence1 which he sent to his wife4 ,afterwards1 he discovered that she had been living with another man1 who died and left her well off4 ,but she has never refunded the #i1 nor will she have anything to do with her husband4 ,,oakhill ,,house ,,manchester ,oakhill ,house is a ,rescue ,home for women1 which was given to the ,army by ,mrs4 ,crossley1 a well-known local lady4 ,it deals with prison1 fallen1 inebriate1 and preventive cases4 ,at the time of my visit there were sixty-three inmates1 but when a new adjacent building is completed there will be room for more4 ,there is a wonderful laundry in this ,home1 where the most beautiful washing is done at extremely moderate prices4 ,the ironing and starching room was a busy sight1 but what ,i chiefly remember about it was the spectacle of one melancholy old man1 the only male among that crowd of women1 seated by a steam-boiler that drove the machinery1 to which it was his business to attend4 7,no woman can be persuaded to look after a boiler47 ,in the midst of all those females he had the appearance of a superannuated and disillusioned ,turk contemplating his too extensive establishment and reflecting on its monthly bills4 ,the matron in charge informed me that even for these rough women there is no system of punishment whatsoever4 ,no girl is ever restricted in her food1 or put on bread and water1 or struck1 or shut away by herself4 ,the ,army maxim is that it is its mission not to punish but to try to reform4 ,if in any particular case its methods of gentleness fail1 which they rarely do1 it is considered best that the case should depart1 very possibly to return again later on4 ,she added that although many of these women had committed assaults1 and even fought the ,police1 not one of them attacks another in the ,home once in a year1 and that during her twenty years of work1 although she had lived among some of the worst women in ,england1 she had never received a single blow4 ,as an illustration of what the ,salvation ,army understands by this word 'work' ,i may state that throughout these twenty years1 except for the allotted annual fortnight1 this lady has had no furlough4 ,,the ,,men',s ,,social ,,work ,,glasgow ,i saw the ,brigadier in charge of the ,men's ,social ,work in ,glasgow at a great central ,institution where hundreds of poor people sleep every night4 ,the inscriptions painted on the windows give a good idea of its character4 ,here are some of them3 ',cheap beds4' ',cheap food4' ',waste paper collected4' ',missing friends found4' ',salvation for all4' ,in addition to this ,refuge there is an ',elevator' of the usual type1 in which about eighty men were at work1 and an establishment called the ,dale ,house ,home1 a very beautiful ,adams' house1 let to the ,army at a small rent by an ,eye ,hospital that no longer requires it4 ,this house accommodates ninety-seven of the men who work in the ,elevator4 ,the ,brigadier informed me that the distress at ,glasgow was very great last year4 ,indeed1 during that year of #aiji the ,army fed about #ce1jjj men at the docks1 and #fe1jjj at the ,refuge1 a charity which caused them to be officially recognized for the first time by the ,corporation1 that sent them a cheque in aid of their work4 ,now1 however1 things have much improved1 owing to the building of men-of-war and the forging of great guns for the ,navy4 ,at ,parkhead ,forge alone #h1jjj men are being employed upon a vessel of the ,dreadnought class1 which will occupy them for a year and a half4 ,so it would seem that these monsters of destruction have their peaceful uses4 ,glasgow1 he said1 'is a terrible place for drink1 especially of methylated spirits and whisky4' ,drink at the beginning1 ,i need hardly remark1 means destitution at the end1 so doubtless this failing accounts for a large proportion of its poverty4 ,the ,men's ,social ,work of the ,army in ,glasgow1 which is its ,headquarters in ,scotland1 is spreading in every direction1 not only in that city itself1 but beyond it to ,paisley1 ,greenock1 and ,edinburgh4 ,indeed1 the ,brigadier has orders 'to get into ,dundee and ,aberdeen as soon as possible4' ,i asked him how he would provide the money4 ,he answered1 ',well1 by trusting in ,god and keeping our powder dry4' ,as regards the ,army's local finance the trouble is that owing to the national thriftiness it is harder to make commercial ventures pay in ,scotland than in ,england4 ,thus ,i was informed that in ,glasgow the ,corporation collects and sells its own waste paper1 which means that there is less of that material left for the ,salvation ,army to deal with4 ,in ,england1 so far as ,i am aware1 the waste-paper business is not a form of municipal trading that the ,corporations of great cities undertake4 ,another leading branch of the ,salvation ,army effort in ,scotland is its ,prison work4 ,it is registered in that country as a ,prisoners' ,aid ,society1 and the doors of every jail in the land are open to its ,officers4 ,i saw the ,army's prison book1 in which are entered the details of each prison case with which it is dealing4 ,awful enough some of them were4 ,i remember two that caught my eye as ,i turned its pages4 ,the first was that of a man who had gone for a walk with his wife1 from whom he was separated1 cut her head off1 and thrown it into a field4 ,the second was that of another man1 or brute beast1 who had taken his child by the heels and dashed out its brains against the fireplace4 ,it may be wondered why these gentle creatures still adorn the world4 ,the explanation seems to be that in ,scotland there is a great horror of capital punishment1 which is but rarely inflicted4 ,my recollection is that the ,officer who visited them had hopes of the permanent reformation of both these men2 or1 at any rate1 that there were notes in his book to this effect4 ,i saw many extraordinary cases in this ,glasgow ,refuge1 some of whom had come there through sheer misfortune4 ,one had been a medical man who1 unfortunately1 was left money and took to speculating on the ,stock ,exchange4 ,he was a very large holder of shares in a ,south ,african mine1 which he bought at #as4 #f;d4 ,these shares now stand at #g2 but1 unhappily for him1 his brokers dissolved partnership1 and neither of them would carry over his account4 ,so it was closed down just at the wrong time1 with the result that he lost everything1 and finally came to the streets4 ,he never drank or did anything wrong2 it was1 as he said1 'simply a matter of sheer bad luck4' ,another was a ,glasgow silk merchant1 who made a bad debt of #c1jjj that swamped him4 ,afterwards he became paralysed1 but recovered4 ,he had been three years cashier of this ,shelter4 ,another arrived at the ,shelter in such a state that the ,officer in charge told me he was obliged to throw his macintosh round him to hide his nakedness4 ,he was an engineer who took a public-house1 and helped himself freely to his stock-in-trade1 with the result that he became a frightful drunkard1 and lost #a1gjj4 ,he informed me that he used to consume no less than four bottles of whisky a day1 and suffered from delirium tremens several times4 ,in the ,shelter--,i quote his own words--',i gave my heart to ,god1 and after that all desire for drink and wrongdoing' 7he had not been immaculate in other ways7 'gradually left me4 ,from #ahib ,i had been a drunkard4 ,after my conversion1 in less than three weeks ,i ceased to have any desire for drink4' ,this man became night-watchman in the ,shelter1 a position which he held for twelve months4 ,he said3 ',i was promoted to be ,sergeant2 when ,i put on my uniform and stripes1 ,i reckoned myself a man again4 ,then ,i was made foreman of the works at ,greendyke ,street4 ,then ,i was sent to pioneer our work in ,paisley1 and when that was nicely started1 ,i was sent on to ,greenock1 where ,i am now trying to work up a 7,salvation ,army7 business4' ,here1 for a reason to be explained presently1 ,i will quote a very similar case which ,i saw at the ,army ,colony at ,hadleigh1 in ,essex4 ,this man1 also a ,scotsman 7no ,englishman1 ,i think1 could have survived such experiences71 is a person of fine and imposing appearance1 great bodily strength1 and good address4 ,he is about fifty years of age1 and has been a soldier1 and after leaving the ,service1 a gardener4 ,indeed1 he is now1 or was recently1 foreman market-gardener at ,hadleigh4 ,he married a hospital nurse1 and found out some years after marriage that she was in the habit of using drugs4 ,this habit he contracted also1 either during her life or after her death1 and with it that of drink4 ,his custom was to drink till he was a wreck1 and then take drugs1 either by the mouth or subcutaneously1 to steady himself4 ,chloroform and ether he mixed together and drank1 strychnine he injected4 ,at the beginning of this course1 threepennyworth of laudanum would suffice him for three doses4 ,at the end1 three years later 7not to mention ether1 chloroform1 and strychnine71 he took of laudanum alone nearly a tablespoonful ten or twelve times a day1 a quantity1 ,i understand1 which is enough to kill five or six horses4 ,one of the results was that when he had to be operated on for some malady1 it was found impossible to bring him under the influence of the anaesthetic4 ,all that could be done was to deprive him of his power of movement1 in which state he had to bear the dreadful pain of the operation4 ,afterwards the surgeon asked him if he were a drug-taker1 and he told me that he answered3-- ',why1 sir1 ,i could have drunk all the lot you have been trying to give me1 without ever knowing the difference4' ,in this condition1 when he was such a wreck that he trembled from head to foot and was contemplating suicide1 he came into the hands of the ,army1 and was sent down to the ,hadleigh ,farm4 ,now comes the point of the story4 ,at ,hadleigh he 'got converted1' and from that hour has never touched either drink or drugs4 ,moreover1 he assured me solemnly that he could go into a chemist's shop or a bar with money in his pocket without feeling the slightest desire to indulge in such stimulants4 ,he said that after his conversion1 he had a 'terrible fight' with his old habits1 the physical results of their discontinuance being most painful4 ,subsequently1 however1 and by degrees1 the craving left him entirely1 ,i asked him to what he attributed this extraordinary cure4 ,he replied3-- ',to the power of ,god4 ,if ,i trusted in my own strength ,i should certainly fail1 but the power of ,god keeps me from being overcome4' ,now these are only two out of a number of cases that ,i have seen myself1 in which a similar explanation of his cure has been given to me by the person cured1 and ,i would like to ask the unprejudiced and open-minded reader how he explains them4 ,personally ,i cannot explain them except upon an hypothesis which1 as a practical person1 ,i confess ,i hesitate to adopt4 ,i mean that of a direct interposition from above1 or of the working of something so unrecognized or so undefined in the nature of man 7which it will be remembered the old ,egyptians1 a very wise people1 divided into many component parts1 whereof we have now lost count71 that it may be designated an innate superior power or principle1 brought into action by faith or 'suggestion4' ,that these people who have been the slaves of1 or possessed by certain gross and palpable vices1 of which drink is only one1 are truly and totally changed1 there can be no question4 ,to that ,i am able to bear witness4 ,the demoniacs of ,new ,testament history cannot have been more transformed2 and ,i know of no stranger experience than to listen to such men1 as ,i have times and again1 speaking of their past selves as entities cast off and gone1 and of their present selves as new creatures4 ,it is1 indeed1 one that throws a fresh light upon certain difficult passages in the ,epistles of ,st4 ,paul1 and even upon the darker sayings of the ,master of mankind ,himself4 ,they do1 in truth1 seem to have been 'born again4' ,but this is a line of thought that ,i will not attempt to follow2 it lies outside my sphere and the scope of these pages4 ,after the ,officer who used to consume four bottles of whisky a day1 and is now in charge of the ,salvation ,army work in ,greenock1 had left the room1 ,i propounded these problems to ,lieut4-,colonel ,jolliffe and the ,brigadier1 as ,i had done previously to ,commissioner ,sturgess4 ,i pointed out that religious conversion seemed to me to be a spiritual process1 whereas the craving for drink or any other carnal satisfaction was1 or appeared to be1 a physical weakness of the body4 ,therefore1 ,i did not understand how the spiritual conversion could suddenly and permanently affect or remove the physical desire1 unless it were by the action of the phenomenon called miracle1 which mankind admits doubtfully to have been possible in the dim period of the birth of a religion1 but for the most part denies to be possible in these latter days4 ',quite so1' answered the ,colonel1 calmly1 in almost the same words that ,commissioner ,sturgess had used1 'it is miracle2 that is our belief4 ,these men cannot change and purify themselves1 their vices are instantaneously1 permanently1 and miraculously removed by the power and the ,grace of ,god4 ,this is the truth1 and nothing more wonderful can be conceived4' ,here1 without further comment1 ,i leave this deeply interesting matter to the consideration of abler and better instructed persons than myself4 ,to come to something more mundane1 which also deserves consideration1 ,i was informed that in ,glasgow1 with a population of about #ijj1jjj1 there exists a floating class of #hj1jjj people1 who live in lodging-houses of the same sort as1 and mostly inferior to the ,salvation ,army ,shelter of which ,i am now writing4 ,in other words1 out of every twelve inhabitants of this great city1 one is driven to that method of obtaining a place to sleep in at night4 ,in this particular ,refuge there is what is called a free shelter room1 where people are accommodated in winter who have not even the few coppers necessary to pay for a bed4 ,during the month before my visit1 which took place in the summer-time1 the ,brigadier had allotted free beds in this room to destitute persons to the value of #ac4 ,i may add that twice a week this particular place is washed with a carbolic mixture6 ,,the ,,ardenshaw ,,women',s ,,home ,,glasgow ,i visited two of the ,salvation ,army's ,women's ,institutions in ,glasgow4 ,the first of these was a ,women's ,rescue ,home known as ,ardenshaw4 ,this is a very good house1 substantially built and well fitted up1 that before it was bought by the ,army was the residence of a ,glasgow merchant4 ,it has accommodation for thirty-six1 and is always full4 ,the inmates are of all kinds1 prison cases1 preventive cases1 fallen cases1 drink cases4 ,the very worst of all these classes1 however1 are not taken in here1 but sent to the ,refuge in ,high ,street4 ,ardenshaw resembles other ,homes of the same sort that ,i have already dealt with in various cities1 so ,i need not describe it here4 ,its ,officers visit the prisons at ,duke ,street1 ,glasgow1 ,ayr1 and ,greenock1 and ,i saw a letter which had just arrived from the chaplain of one of these jails1 asking the ,matron to interest herself in the case of a girl coming up for trial1 and to take her into a ,home if she were discharged as a first offender4 ,while ,i was eating some lunch in this house ,i noticed a young woman in ,salvation ,army dress coming up the steps with a child of particularly charming appearance4 ,at my request she was brought into the room1 where ,i extracted from her a story which seems to be worth repeating as an illustration of the spirit which animates so many members of the ,army4 ,the young woman herself had once been an invalid who was taken into the ,home and nursed till she recovered1 after which she was sent to a situation in a large town4 ,here she came in contact with a poor family in which the mother is a drunkard and the father a respectable1 hardworking man1 and took a great fancy to one of the children1 the little girl ,i have mentioned4 ,this child1 who is about five years of age1 it is her habit to supply with clothes and more or less to feed4 ,unfortunately1 however1 when the mother is on the drink she pawns the clothes which my ,salvation ,army friend is obliged to redeem1 since if she does not1 little ,bessie is left almost naked4 ,indeed1 before ,bessie was brought away upon this particular visit her protectress had to pay #ads4 to recover her garments from the pawnshop1 a considerable sum out of a wage of about #ah a year4 ,i asked her why she did not take away this very fascinating child altogether1 and arrange for her to enter one of the ,army ,homes4 ,she answered because1 although the mother would be glad enough to let her go1 the father1 who is naturally fond of his children1 objected4 ',of which the result may be1' remarked ,lieut4-,colonel ,jolliffe grimly1 'that about a dozen years hence that sweet little girl will become a street-walking drunkard4' ',not while ,i live1' broke in her foster-mother1 indignantly4 ,this kind-hearted little woman told me she had been six years in service as sole maid-of-all-work in a large house4 ,i inquired whether it was a hard place4 ,she replied that it would be easier if her four mistresses1 who are sisters and old maiden ladies1 did not all take their meals at four different times1 have four different teapots1 insist upon their washing being sent to four different laundries1 employ four different doctors1 and sleep in four different rooms4 ',however1' she added1 'it is not so difficult as it was as there used to be five1 but one has died4 ,also1 they are kind to me in other ways and about ,bessie4 ,they like me to come here for my holiday1 as then they know ,i shall return on the right day and at the right hour4' ,when she had left the room1 having in mind the capacities of the average servant1 and the outcry she is apt to make about her particular 'work1' ,i said that it seemed strange that one young woman could fulfil all these multifarious duties satisfactorily4 ',oh1' said the matter-of-fact ,colonel1 'you see1 she belongs to the ,salvation ,army1 and looks at things from the point of view of her duty1 and not from that of her comfort4' ,it is curious at what a tender age children learn to note the habits of those about them4 ,when this little ,bessie was given #b;d4 she lisped out in her pretty ,scotch accent1 ',mother winna have this for beer6' ,,the ,,women',s ,,lodging-,,house ,,glasgow ,the last place that ,i visited in ,glasgow was the ,shelter for women1 an ,institution of the same sort as the ,shelter for men4 ,it is a ,lodging-house in which women can have a bed at the price of #d;d4 per night2 but if that sum is not forthcoming1 they are not1 as a rule1 turned away if they are known to be destitute4 ,the class of people who frequent this ,home is a very low one2 for the most part they are drunkards4 ,they must leave the ,shelter before ten o'clock in the morning1 when the majority of them go out hawking1 selling laces1 or other odds and ends4 ,some of them earn as much as #bs4 a day2 but1 as a rule1 they spend a good deal of what they earn1 only saving enough to pay for their night's lodging4 ,this place has been open for sixteen years1 and contains #acc beds1 which are almost always full4 ,the women whom ,i saw at this ,shelter were a very rough-looking set1 nearly all elderly1 and1 as their filthy garments and marred countenances showed1 often the victims of drink4 ,still1 they have good in them1 for the lady in charge assured me that they are generous to each other4 ,if one of the company has nothing they will collect the price of her bed or her food between them1 and even pay her debts1 if these are not too large4 ,there were several children in the place1 for each woman is allowed to bring in one4 ,when ,i was there many of the inmates were cooking their meals on the common stove1 and very curious and unappetizing these were4 ,among them ,i noted a dark-eyed lassie of about sixteen who was crying4 ,drawing her aside1 ,i questioned her4 ,it seemed that her father1 a drunken fellow1 had turned her out of her home that afternoon because she had forgotten to give him a message4 ,having nowhere to go she wandered about the streets until she met a woman who told her of this ,lodging-house4 ,she added1 touchingly enough1 that it was not her mother's fault4 ,imagine a girl of sixteen thrown out to spend the night upon the streets of ,glasgow6 ,on the walls of one of the rooms ,i saw a notice that read oddly in a ,shelter for women4 ,it ran3-- ,smoking is strictly prohibited after retiring4 ,,the ,,land ,,and ,,industrial ,,colony ,,hadleigh1 ,,essex ,the ,hadleigh ,colony1 of which ,lieut4-,colonel ,laurie is the ,officer in charge1 is an estate of about #c1jjj acres which was purchased by the ,salvation ,army in the year #ahia at a cost of about #bj the acre1 the land being stiff clay of the usual ,essex type4 ,as it has chanced1 owing to the amount of building which is going on in the neighbourhood of ,southend1 and to its proximity to ,london1 that is within forty miles1 the investment has proved a very good one4 ,i imagine that if ever it should come to the hammer the ,hadleigh ,colony would fetch a great deal more than #bj the acre1 independently of its cultural improvements4 ,these1 of course1 are very great4 ,for instance1 more than #ajj acres are now planted with fruit-trees in full bearing4 ,also1 there are brickfields which are furnished with the best machinery and plant1 ranges of tomato and salad houses1 and a large ,french garden where early vegetables are grown for market4 ,a portion of the land1 however1 still remains in the hands of tenants1 with whom the ,army does not like to interfere4 ,the total turn-over of the land 'in hand' amounts to the large sum of over #cj1jjj per annum1 and the total capital invested is in the neighbourhood of #aaj1jjj4 ,of this great sum about #gh1jjj is the cost of the land and the buildings2 the brickworks and other industries account for #ab1jjj1 while the remaining #bj1jjj represents the value of the live and dead stock4 ,i believe that the mortgage remaining on the place1 which the ,army had not funds to pay for outright1 is now less than #ej1jjj1 borrowed at about #d per cent1 and1 needless to say1 it is well secured4 ,lieut4-,colonel ,laurie informed me on the occasion of my last visit to ,hadleigh1 in ,july1 #aiaj1 that taken as a whole even now the farm does not pay its way4#f ,this result is entirely owing to the character of the labour employed4 ,at first sight1 as the men are paid but a trifling sum in cash1 it would appear that this labour must be extremely cheap4 ,investigation1 however1 gives the story another colour4 ,it costs the ,army #ajs4 a week to keep a man at ,hadleigh in food and lodgings1 and in addition he receives a cash grant of from #f;d to #es4 a week4 ,careful observation shows that the labour of three of these men1 of whom #ib per cent1 be it remembered1 come to the ,colony through their drinking habits1 is about equal to that of one good agricultural hand who1 in ,norfolk1 reckoning in his harvest and sundries1 would earn--let us say1 #ahs4 a week4 ,therefore1 in practice where ,i1 as a farmer1 pay about #ahs41 or in the case of carters and milkmen nearly #a1 the ,army pays #b1 circumstances under which it is indeed difficult to farm remuneratively in ,england4 ,the object of the ,hadleigh ,colony is to supply a place where broken men of bad habits1 who chance in most cases to have had some connexion with or liking for the land1 can be reformed1 and ultimately sent out to situations1 or as emigrants to ,canada4 ,about #djj of such men pass through the ,colony each year4 ,of these men1 ,lieut4-,colonel ,laurie estimates that #g-a_/b per cent prove absolute failures1 although1 he added that1 'it is very1 very difficult to determine as to when a man should be labelled an absolute failure4 ,he may leave us an apparent failure1 and still come all right in the end4' ,the rest1 namely #ia per cent or so1 regain their place as decent and useful members of society1 a wonderful result which is brought about by the pressure of discipline1 tempered with kindness1 and the influence of steady and healthful work4 ,persons of every class drift to this ,colony4 ,thus1 among the #bcj ,colonists who were training there when ,i visited it in ,july1 #aiaj1 were two chemists and a journalist1 while a ,church of ,england clergyman had just left it for ,canada4 ,as a specimen of the ruck1 however1 ,i will mention the first individual to whom ,i happened to speak--a strong young man1 who was weeding a bed of onions4 ,he told me that he had been a farm labourer in early life1 and1 subsequently1 for six years a coachman in a private livery stables in ,london4 ,he lost his place through drink1 became a wanderer on the ,embankment1 was picked up by the ,salvation ,army and sent to one of its ,elevator paper-works4 ,afterwards1 he volunteered to work on the land at ,hadleigh1 where he had then been employed for nine months4 ,his ambition was to emigrate to ,canada1 which1 doubtless1 he has now done1 or is about to do4 ,such cases might be duplicated by the dozen1 but for this there is no need4 ,ex uno disce omnes4 ,all the labour employed1 however1 is not of this class4 ,for instance1 the next man to whom ,i spoke1 who was engaged in ploughing up old cabbage land with a pair of very useful four-year-olds1 bred on the farm1 was not a ,colonist but an agricultural hand1 paid at the rate of wages usual in the district4 ,another1 who managed the tomato-houses1 was a skilled professional tomato-grower from the ,channel ,islands4 ,the experience of the managers of the ,colony is that it is necessary to employ a certain number of expert agriculturalists on the place1 in order that they may train the raw hands who come from ,london and elsewhere4 ,to a farmer1 such as the present writer1 a visit to ,hadleigh is an extremely interesting event1 showing him1 as it does1 what can be done upon cold and unkindly land by the aid of capital1 intelligence1 and labour4 ,still ,i doubt whether a detailed description of all these agricultural operations falls within the scope of a book such as that upon which ,i am engaged4 ,therefore1 ,i will content myself with saying that this business1 like everything else that the ,army undertakes1 is carried out with great thoroughness and considerable success4 ,the extensive orchards are admirably managed1 and were fruitful even in the bad season of #aiaj4 ,the tomato-houses1 which have recently been increased at a capital cost of about #a1jjj1 produce many tons of tomatoes1 and the ,french garden is excellent of its kind4 ,the breed of ,middle-white pigs is to be commended2 so much so in my judgment1 and ,i can give no better testimonial1 that at the moment of writing ,i am trying to obtain from it a pedigree boar for my own use4 ,the ,hadleigh poultry farm1 too1 is famous all over the world1 and the ,officer who manages it was the ,president for #aiaj of the ,wyandotte ,society1 fowls for which ,hadleigh is famous1 having taken the championship prizes for this breed and others all over the kingdom4 ,the cattle and horses are also good of their class1 and the crops in a trying year looked extremely well4 ,all these things1 however1 are but a means to an end1 which end is the redemption of our fallen fellow-creatures1 or such of them as come within the reach of the work of the ,salvation ,army at this particular place4 ,i should add1 perhaps1 that there is a ,citadel or gathering hall1 which will seat #djj1 where religious services are held and concerts are given on ,saturday nights for the amusement of the ,colonists4 ,i may mention that no pressure is brought to bear to force any man in its charge to conform to the religious principles of the ,army4 ,indeed1 many of these attend the services at the neighbouring parish church4 ,notwithstanding the past characters of those who live there1 disturbances of any sort are unknown at ,hadleigh4 ,indeed1 it is extremely rare for a case originating on the ,colony to come before the local magistrates4 ,,the ,,small-,,holdings ,,settlement ,,boxted1 ,,essex ,general ,booth and his ,officers are1 as ,i know from various conversations with them1 firmly convinced that many of the great and patent evils of our civilization result from the desertion of the land by its inhabitants1 and that crowding into cities which is one of the most marked phenomena of our time4 ,indeed1 it was an identity of view upon this point1 which is one that ,i have advanced for years1 that first brought me into contact with the ,salvation ,army4 ,but to preach the advantages of bringing people back to the land is one thing1 and to get them there quite another4 ,many obstacles stand in the way4 ,i need only mention two of these3 the necessity for large capital and the still more important necessity of enabling those who are settled on it to earn out of ,mother ,earth a sufficient living for themselves and their families4 ,that well-known philanthropist1 the late ,mr4 ,herring1 was another person much impressed with the importance of this matter1 and ,i remember about five years ago dining with him1 with ,general ,booth as my fellow-guest1 on an occasion when all this subject was gone into in detail4 ,so lively1 indeed1 was ,mr4 ,herring's interest that he offered to advance a sum of #ajj1jjj to the ,army1 to be used in an experiment of land-settlement1 carried out under its auspices4 ,should that experiment prove successful1 the capital repaid by the tenants was to go to ,king ,edward's ,hospital ,fund1 and should it fail1 that capital was to be written off4 ,of this #ajj1jjj1 #dj1jjj has now been invested in the ,boxted venture1 and if this succeeds1 ,i understand that the balance will become available for other ventures under the provisions of ,mr4 ,herring's will4 ,a long while must elapse1 however1 before the result of the experiment can be definitely ascertained4 ,the ,boxted ,settlement is situated ,in ,north ,essex1 about three miles from ,colchester1 and covers an area of #djj acres4 ,it is a flat place1 that before the ,enclosures ,acts was a heath1 with good road frontages throughout1 an important point where small-holdings are concerned4 ,the soil is a medium loam over gravel1 neither very good nor very bad1 so far as my judgment goes1 and of course capable of great improvement under intensive culture4 ,this estate1 which altogether cost about #bj per acre to buy1 has been divided into sixty-seven holdings1 varying in size from #d-a_/b acres to #g acres4 ,the cottages which stand upon the holdings have been built in pairs1 at a cost of about #chj per pair1 which price includes drainage1 a drinking well1 and1 ,i think1 a soft-water cistern4 ,these are extremely good dwellings1 and ,i was much struck with their substantial and practical character4 ,they comprise three bedrooms1 a large living-room1 a parlour1 and a scullery1 containing a sink and a bath4 ,also there is a tool-house1 a pigstye1 and a movable fowl-house on wheels4 ,on each holding an orchard of fruit trees has been planted in readiness for the tenant1 also strawberries1 currants1 gooseberries1 and raspberries1 which in all occupy about three-quarters of an acre4 ,the plan is that the rest of the holding should be cultivated intensively upon a system that is estimated to return #bj per acre4 ,the arrangement between the ,army and its settlers is briefly as follows3 ,in every case the tenant begins without any capital1 and is provided with seeds and manures to carry him through the first two years1 also with a living allowance at the rate of #ajs4 a week for the man and his wife1 and #as4 a week for each child1 which allowance is to cease after he has marketed his first crops4 ,the tenancy terms are1 that for two years the settler is a tenant at will1 the agreement being terminable by either party at any time without compensation4 ,at the end of these two years1 subject to the approval of the ,director of the ,settlement1 the settler can take a #iii years' lease of his holding1 the ,army for obvious reasons retaining the freehold4 ,after the first year of this lease1 the rental payable for forty years is to be #e per cent per annum upon the capital invested in the settlement of the man and his family upon the holding1 which rent is to include the cost of the house1 land1 and improvements1 and all moneys advanced to him during his period of probation4 ,it is estimated that this capital sum will average #ebj per holding1 so that the tenant's annual rent for forty years will be #bf1 after which he will have nothing more to pay save a nominal rent1 and the remainder of the lease will be the property of himself1 or rather1 of his descendants4 ,this property1 ,i presume1 will be saleable4 ,so1 putting aside all legal technicalities and complications1 it comes to this3 the tenant is started for two years after which he pays about #d a year rent per acre for the next forty years1 and thereby virtually purchases his holding4 ,the whole question1 which time alone can answer1 is whether a man can earn #d per acre rent per annum1 and1 in addition1 provide a living for himself and family out of a five-acre holding on medium land near ,colchester4 ,the problem is one upon which ,i cannot venture to express any decisive opinion1 even after many years of experience of such matters4 ,i trust1 however1 that the answer may prove to be in the affirmative1 and ,i am quite sure that if any ,organization is able to cause it to work out this way1 that ,organization is the ,salvation ,army1 whose brilliant business capacity can1 as ,i know1 make a commercial success of the most unpromising materials4 ,i should like to point out that this venture is one of great and almost of national importance1 because if it fails then it will be practically proved that it is impossible to establish small holders on the land by artificial means1 at any rate1 in ,england1 and at the present prices of agricultural produce4 ,it is not often that a sum of #dj1jjj will be available for such a purpose1 and with it the direction of a charitable ,organization that seeks no profit1 the oversight of an ,officer as skilled and experienced as ,lieut4-,colonel ,hiffe1 and1 in addition1 a trained ,superintendent who will afford advice as to all agricultural matters1 a co-operative society ready to hire out implements1 horses and carts at cost price1 and1 if so desired1 to undertake the distribution or marketing of produce4 ,still1 notwithstanding all these advantages1 ,i have my misgivings as to the ultimate result4 ,the men chosen to occupy these holdings by a ,selection ,committee of ,salvation ,army ,officers1 are for the most part married people who were born in the country1 but had migrated to the towns4 ,most of them have more or less kept themselves in touch with country life by cultivating allotments during their period of urban residence1 and precedence has been given to those who have shown a real desire to return to the land4 ,other essentials are a good character1 both personal and as a worker1 bodily and mental health1 and total abstention from any form of alcohol4 ,no creed test is required1 and there are men of various religious faiths upon the ,settlement1 only a proportion of them being ,salvationists4 ,i interviewed two of these settlers at hazard upon their holdings1 and1 although the year had been adverse1 found them happy and hopeful4 ,no4 #a1 who had been a mechanic1 proposed to increase his earnings by mending bicycles4 ,no4 #b was an agriculturist pure and simple1 and showed me his fowls and pigs with pride4 ,here1 however1 ,i found a little rift within the rural lute1 for on asking him how his wife liked the life he replied after a little hesitation1 ',not very well1 sir3 you see1 she has been accustomed to a town4' ,if she continues not to like it 'very well1' there will1 ,i think1 be an end to that man's prospects as a small holder4 ,i had the pleasure of bring present in ,july1 #aiaj1 at the formal opening of the ,boxted ,settlement1 when the ,salvation ,army entertained several hundred guests to luncheon1 many of them very well-known people4 ,the day for a wonder was fine1 ,general ,booth spoke for over an hour in his most characteristic and interesting way2 the ,chairman1 ,earl ,carrington1 ,president of the ,board of ,agriculture1 blessed the undertaking officially and privately2 everybody seemed pleased with the holdings1 and1 in short1 all went merrily as a marriage bell4 ,as ,i sat and listened1 however1 the query that arose in my mind was--,what would be the state of these holdings and of the tenants or of their descendants on1 say1 that day thirty years8 ,i trust and hope that it will be a good state in both instances2 but ,i must confess to certain doubts and fears4 ,in this parish of ,ditchingham1 where ,i live1 there is a man with a few acres of land1 an orchard1 a greenhouse1 etc4 ,that man works his little tenancy1 deals in the surplus produce of large gardens1 which he peddles out in the neighbouring town1 and1 on an average1 takes piecework on my farm 7at the moment of writing he and his son are hoeing mangolds7 for two or three days a week2 at any rate1 for a great part of the year4 ,he is a type of what ,i may call the natural small holder1 and ,i believe does fairly well4 ,the question is1 can the artificially created small holder1 who must pay a rent of #d the acre1 attain to a like result8 ,again1 ,i say ,i hope so most sincerely1 for if not in ,england 'back to the land' will prove but an empty catchword4 ,at any rate1 the country should be most grateful to the late ,mr4 ,herring1 who provided the funds for this intensely interesting experiment1 and to the ,salvation ,army which is carrying it out in the interests of the landless poor4 ,,impressions ,,of ,,general ,,booth ,it has occurred to the writer that a few words descriptive of ,william ,booth1 the creator and first ,general of the ,salvation ,army1 set down by a contemporary who has enjoyed a good many opportunities of observing him during the past ten years1 may possibly have a future if not a present value4 ,of the greatness of this man1 to my mind1 there can be no doubt4 ,when the point of time whereon we stand and play our separate parts has receded1 and those who follow us look back into the grey mist which veils the past2 when that mist has hidden the glitter of the decorations and deadened the echoes of the high-sounding titles of to-day2 when our political tumults1 our town-bred excitements1 and many of the very names that are household words to us1 are forgotten1 or discoverable only in the pages of history2 when1 perhaps1 the ,salvation ,army itself has fulfilled its mission and gone its road1 ,i am certain that the figure of ,william ,booth will abide clearly visible in those shadows1 and that the influences of his work will remain1 if not still felt1 at least remembered and honoured4 ,he will be one of the few1 of the very few enduring figures of our day2 and even if our civilization should be destined to undergo eclipse for a period1 as seems possible1 when the light returns1 by it he will still be seen4 ,for truly this work of his is fine1 and one that appeals to the imagination1 although we are so near to it that few of us appreciate its real proportions4 ,also1 in fact1 it is the work that should be admired rather than the man1 who1 after all1 is nothing but the instrument appointed to shape it from the clay of circumstance4 ,the clay lay ready to be shaped1 then appeared the moulder animated with will and purpose1 and working for the work's sake to an end which he could not foresee4 ,i have no information on the point1 but ,i should be surprised to learn that ,general ,booth1 when ,providence moved him to begin his labours among the poor1 had even an inkling of their future growth within the short period of his own life4 ,he sowed a seed in faith and hope1 and1 in spite of opposition and poverty1 in spite of ridicule and of slander1 he has lived to see that seed ripen into a marvellous harvest4 ,directly1 or indirectly1 hundreds of thousands of men and women throughout the world have benefited by his efforts4 ,he has been a tool of destiny1 like ,mahomet or ,napoleon1 only in this case one fated to help and not to harm mankind4 ,such1 at least1 is my estimate of him4 ,a little less of the spirit of self-sacrifice1 a different sense of responsibility1 and the same strength of imagination and power of purpose devoted to purely material objects1 might have raised up another multi-millionaire1 or a mob-leader1 or a self-seeking despot4 ,but1 as it happened1 some grace was given to him1 and the river has run another way4 ,opportunity1 too1 has played into his hands4 ,he saw that the recognized and established ,creeds scarcely touched the great1 sordid1 lustful1 drink-sodden1 poverty-steeped masses of the city populations of the world3 that they were waiting for a teacher who could speak to them in a tongue they understood4 ,he spoke1 and some of them have listened3 only a fraction it is true1 but still some4 ,more1 as it chanced1 he married a wife who entered into his thoughts1 and was able to help to fulfil his aspirations1 and from that union were born descendants who1 for the most part1 are fitted to carry on his labours4 ,further1 like ,loyola1 and others1 he has the power of rule1 being a born leader of men1 so that thousands obey his word without question in every corner of the earth1 although some of these have never seen his face4 ,lastly1 ,nature endowed him with a striking presence that appeals to the popular mind1 with a considerable gift of speech1 with great physical strength and abounding energy1 qualities which have enabled him to toil without ceasing and to travel far and wide4 ,thus it comes about that as truly as any man of our generation1 when his hour is ended1 he1 too1 ,i believe1 should be able to say with a clear conscience1 ',i have finished the work that ,thou gavest me to do'3 although his heart may add1 ',i have not finished it as well as ,i could wish4' ,now let me try to convey my personal impressions of this man4 ,i see him in various conversations with myself1 when he has thought that he could make use of me to serve his ever-present and impersonal ends1 trying to add me up1 wondering how far ,i was sincere1 and to what extent ,i might be influenced by private objects2 then1 at last1 concluding that ,i was honest in my own fashion1 opening his heart little by little1 and finally appealing to me to aid him in his labours4 ',i like that man2 he understands me6' ,i once heard him say1 mentioning my name1 and believing that he was thinking1 not speaking4 ,i tell this story merely to illustrate his habit of reflecting aloud1 for as he spoke these words ,i was standing beside him4 ,when ,i repeated it to his ,officers1 one of them remarked horrified3-- ',good gracious6 it might just as well have been something much less complimentary4 ,one never knows what he will say4' ,he is an autocrat1 whose word is law to thousands4 ,had he not been an autocrat indeed1 the ,salvation ,army would not exist to-day1 for it sprang from his brain like ,minerva from the head of ,jove1 and has been driven to success by his single1 forceful will4 ,yet this quality of masterfulness is tempered and illuminated by an unfailing sense of humour1 which he is quite ready to exercise at his own expense4 ,thus1 a few years ago he and ,i dined with the late ,mr4 ,herring1 and1 as a matter of fact1 although ,i had certain things to say on the matters under discussion1 his flow of most interesting conversation did not allow me over much opportunity of saying them4 ,it is hard to compete in words with one who has preached continually for fifty years6 ,when ,general ,booth departed to catch a midnight train1 for the ,continent ,i think1 ,mr4 ,herring went to see him to the door4 ,returning presently1 much amused1 he repeated their parting words1 which were as follows3-- ,,general ,,booth3 ',a very good fellow ,haggard2 but a talker1 you know1 ,herring1 a talker6' ,,mr4 ,,herring 7looking at him73 ',indeed6' ,,general ,,booth 7laughing73 ',ah6 ,herring1 you mean that it was ,i who did the talking1 not ,haggard4 ,well1 perhaps ,i did4' ,some people think that ,general ,booth is conceited4 ',it is a pity that the old gentleman is so vain1' a highly-placed person once said to me4 ,i answered that if he or ,i had done all that ,general ,booth has done1 we might be pardoned a little vanity4 ,in truth1 however1 the charge is mistaken1 for at bottom ,i believe him to be a very humble-minded man1 and one who does not in the least overrate himself4 ,this may be gathered1 indeed1 from the tenor of his remarks on the subject of his personal value to the ,army1 that ,i have recorded at the beginning of this book4 ,what people of slower mind and narrower views may mistake for pride1 in his case1 ,i am sure1 is but the impatient and unconscious assertiveness of superior power1 based upon vision and accumulated knowledge4 ,also1 as a general proposition1 ,i believe vanity to be almost impossible to such a man4 ,so far as my experience of life goes1 that scarce creature1 the innately1 as distinguished from the accidentally eminent man1 he who is fashioned from ,nature's gold1 not merely gilded by circumstance1 is never vain4 ,such a man knows but too well how poor is the fruit of his supremest effort1 how marred by secret weakness is what the world calls his strength1 and when his gifts are in the balance1 how hard it would be for any seeing judge to distinguish his success from common failure4 ,it is the little pinchbeck man1 whom wealth1 accident1 or cheap cleverness has thrust forward1 who grows vain over triumphs that are not worth having1 not the great doer of deeds1 or the seer whose imagination is wide enough to enable him to understand his own utter insignificance in the scale of things4 ,but to return to ,general ,booth4 ,again ,i hear him explaining to me vast schemes1 as yet unrealized1 that lurk at the back of his vivid1 practical1 organizing brain4 ,schemes for settling tens of thousands of the city poor upon unoccupied lands in sundry portions of the earth4 ,schemes for great universities or training colleges1 in which men and women might be educated to deal with the social problems of our age on a scientific basis4 ,schemes for obtaining ,government assistance to enable the ,army to raise up the countless mass of criminals in many lands1 taking charge of them as they leave the jail1 and by regenerating their fallen natures1 saving them soul and body4 ,in the last interview ,i had with him1 ,i read to him a note ,i had made of a conversation which had taken place a few days before between ,mr4 ,roosevelt and myself on the subject of the ,salvation ,army4 ,here is the note1 or part of it4 ,,mr4 ,,roosevelt3 ',why not make use of all this charitable energy1 now often misdirected1 for national ends8' ,,myself3 ',what ,i have called the waste forces of ,benevolence4 ,it is odd1 ,mr4 ,roosevelt1 that we should both have come to that conclusion4' ,,mr4 ,,roosevelt3 ',yes1 that's the term4 ,you see the reason is that we are both sensible men who understand4' ',that is very important1' said ,general ,booth1 when he had heard this extract4 ',make use of all this charitable energy1 now often misdirected for national ends6 ,why not1 indeed8 ,heaven knows it is often misdirected4 ,the ,salvation ,army has made mistakes enough4 ,if only that could be done it would be a great thing4 ,but first we have got to make other people understand besides ,roosevelt and yourself4' ,that1 at least1 was the sense of his words4 ,once more ,i see him addressing a crowded meeting of ,city men in ,london1 on a murky winter afternoon4 ,in five minutes he has gripped his audience with his tale of things that are new to most of them1 quite outside of their experience4 ,he lifts a curtain as it were1 and shows them the awful misery that lies often at their very office doors1 and the duty which is theirs to aid the fallen and the suffering4 ,it is a long address1 very long1 but none of the hearers are wearied4 ,at the end of it ,i had cause to meet him in his office about a certain matter4 ,he had stripped off his coat1 and stood in the red jersey of his uniform1 the perspiration still streaming from him after the exertion of his prolonged effort in that packed hall4 ,as he spoke he ate his simple meal of vegetables 7mushrooms they were1 ,i remember71 and tea1 for1 like most of his family1 he never touches meat4 ,either he must see me while he ate or not at all2 and when there is work to be done1 ,general ,booth does not think of convenience or of rest2 moreover1 as usual1 there was a train to catch4 ,one of his peculiarities is that he seems always to be starting for somewhere1 often at the other side of the world4 ,lastly1 ,i see him on one of his tours4 ,he is due to speak in a small country town4 ,his ,officers have arrived to make arrangements1 and are waiting with the audience4 ,it pours with rain1 and he is late4 ,at length the motors dash up through the mud and wet1 and out of the first of them he appears1 a tall1 cloaked figure4 ,already that day he has addressed two such meetings besides several roadside gatherings1 and at night he must speak to a great audience in a city fourteen miles away2 also stop at this place and at that before he gets there1 for a like purpose4 ,he is to appear in the big city at eight1 and already it is half-past three4 ,five minutes later he has been assisted on to the platform 7for this was before his operation and he was almost blind71 and for nearly an hour pours out a ceaseless flood of eloquence1 telling the history of his ,organization1 telling of his life's work and of his heart's aims1 asking for their prayers and help4 ,he looks a very old man now1 much older than when first ,i knew him1 and with his handsome1 somewhat ,jewish face and long1 white beard1 a very type of some prophet of ,israel4 ,so ,abraham must have looked1 one thinks1 or ,jeremiah1 or ,elijah4 ,but there is no weariness in his voice or his gestures2 and1 as he exhorts and prays1 his darkening eyes seem to flash4 ,it is over4 ,he bids farewell to the audience that he has never seen before1 and will never see again1 invokes a fervent blessing on them1 and presently the motors are rushing away into the wet night1 bearing with them this burning fire of a man4 ,such are some of my impressions of ,william ,booth1 ,general of the ,salvation ,army4 ,,the ,,chief ,,of ,,the ,,staff ,no account of the ,salvation ,army would be complete without some words about ,mr4 ,bramwell ,booth1 ,general ,booth's eldest son and right-hand man1 who in the ,army is known as the ,chief of the ,staff4 ,being convinced of this1 ,i sought an interview with him--the last of the many that ,i have had in connexion with the present work4 ,in the ,army ,mr4 ,bramwell ,booth is generally recognized as 'the power behind the throne4' ,he it is who1 seated in his office in ,london1 directs the affairs and administers the policy of this vast ,organization in all lands2 the care of the countless ,salvation ,army churches is on his shoulders1 and has been for these many years4 ,he does not travel outside ,europe2 his work lies chiefly at home4 ,i understand1 however1 that he takes his share in the evangelical labours of the ,army1 and is a powerful and convincing speaker1 although ,i have never chanced to hear any of his addresses4 ,illustration3 ,,mr4 ,,bramwell ,,booth1 ,chief of the ,staff4 ,in appearance at his present age of something over fifty1 he is tall and not robust1 with an extremely sympathetic face that has about it little of his father's rugged cast and sternness4 ,perhaps it is this evident sympathy that commands the affection of so many1 for ,i have been told more than once that he is the best beloved man in the ,army1 and one who never uses a stern word4 ,i found him busy and pressed for time1 even more so1 if possible1 than ,i was myself2 he had but just arrived by an early train from some provincial city4 ,in fact1 he was then engaged upon his annual visitation to all the ,field ,officers in the country1 which1 as he explained1 takes him away from ,london for three days a week for a period of six weeks1 and throws upon him a considerable extra strain of mind and body4 ,the diocese of the ,salvation ,army is very extensive6 ,i said to ,mr4 ,bramwell ,booth that ,i desired from him his views of the ,army as a religious and a social force throughout the wide world1 in every land where it sets its foot4 ,i wished to hear of the work considered as a whole1 likewise of that work in its various aspects1 and of the different races of mankind among which it is carried on4 ,also1 amongst others1 ,i put to him the following specific questions3-- ,in what way and by what means does the ,army adapt itself to the needs and customs of the various peoples among whom it is established8 ,what is its comparative measure of success with each of these peoples1 and what future is anticipated for it among them respectively8 ,where is the work advancing1 where does it hang in the balance1 and where is it being driven backwards8 ,what are your views upon the future of the ,army as a religious and social power throughout the world1 bearing in mind the undoubted difficulties with which it is confronted8 ,do you consider that now1 after forty-five years of existence1 it is1 speaking generally1 on the downward or on the upward grade8 ,what information can you give me as to the position of the ,army in its relations with other religious bodies8 ,at this point ,mr4 ,bramwell ,booth inquired mildly how much time ,i had to spare4 ,the result of my answer was that we agreed together that it was clearly impossible to deal with all these great matters in an interview4 ,so it was decided that he should take time to think them over1 and should furnish his replies in the form of a written memorandum4 ,this he has done1 and ,i may say without flattery that the paper which he has drawn up is one of the most clear and broad-minded that ,i have had the pleasure of reading for a long while4 ,since it is too long to be used as a quotation1 ,i print it in an appendix1#g trusting sincerely that all who are interested in the ,salvation ,army in its various aspects will not neglect its perusal4 ,indeed1 it is a valuable and an authoritative document1 composed by perhaps the only person in the world who1 from his place and information1 is equal to the task4 ,personally ,i venture upon neither criticism nor comment1 whose rle throughout all these pages is but that of a showman1 although ,i trust one not altogether devoid of insight into the matter in hand4 ,to only one point will ,i call attention--that of the general note of confidence which runs through ,mr4 ,bramwell ,booth's remarks4 ,clearly he at least does not believe that the ,salvation ,army is in danger of dissolution4 ,like his father1 he believes that it will go on from good to good and from strength to strength4 ,there remain1 however1 one or two other points that we discussed together to which ,i will allude4 ,thus ,i asked him if he had anything to say as to the attacks which from time to time were made upon the ,army4 ,he replied as his father had done3 ',nothing1 except that they were best left to answer themselves4' ,then our conversation turned to the matter of the resignation of certain ,officers of the ,army which had caused some passing public remark4 ',we have an old saying here1' he said1 with some humour1 'that we do not often lose any one whom we very much desire to keep4' ,i pointed out that ,i had heard allegations made to the effect that the ,army ,officers were badly paid1 hardly treated1 and1 when they proved of no more use1 let go to find a living as best they could4 ,he replied that1 as to the matter of money1 the ,army had established a ,pension fund in all the ,western countries1 which now amounts to a large total4 ,in this country the sum was about #dd1jjj1 and during #aiji about #a1hjj had been paid here in pensions4 ,this1 however1 was only a beginning1 but he thought that the effort was being made on the right lines1 and that1 notwithstanding their poverty1 a really adequate ,pension fund would be built up in due course4 ,then of a sudden he became eloquent4 ,he said he admitted that the ,army had little to offer4 ,those who came into its service knew that this was so2 that they had no hope of temporal reward2 that thenceforth the great feature of their life and work was that it must be filled with labour and self-denial4 ,the whole business of helping and saving our fellow-creatures was one of struggle and suffering4 ,sacrifice was the key-note of ,christianity as laid down by its ,founder4 ,those who sought money and temporal honour must look elsewhere than to the ,salvation ,army4 ,its pride and glory was that thousands were willing to suffer and deny themselves from year to year1 and to find their joy and their recompense in the consciousness that they were doing something1 however little1 to lighten the darkness and relieve the misery of the world4 ,here are some of his actual words upon this matter that ,i will quote1 as ,i cannot better them3-- ',the two facts of real consequence about our ,officers are these3 ,first1 that their numbers go on increasing year by year1 and second1 that they remain devoted to their work1 very poor1 and absolutely bent on obtaining a reward in ,heaven4 ,but let me quote here from ,general ,booth on this matter3-- ',i resolved that no disadvantage as to birth1 or education1 or social condition should debar any one from entering the list of combatants so long as he was one with me in love for ,god1 in faith for the salvation of men1 and in willingness to obey the orders he should receive from me and from those ,i authorized to direct him4 ,i have1 of course1 had many disappointments--not a few of them very hard to bear at the time--but from the early days of #ahfh1 when ,i engaged my first recognized helper1 to #ahgh1 when the number had increased by slow degrees to about #ajj1 and on to the present day1 when their number is rapidly approaching #bj1jjj1 there has not been a single year without its increase1 not only in quantity1 but in quality4 ',i am sometimes asked1 ,what about those who have left me8 ,well1 ,i am thankful to say that we remain in sympathetic and friendly relations with the great bulk of them4 ,it was to be expected that in work such as ours1 demanding1 as it does1 not only arduous toil and constant self-denial and often real hardships of one kind or another1 some should prove unworthy1 some should grow weary1 and others should faint by the way1 whilst others again1 though very excellent souls1 should prove unsuitable4 ,it could not be otherwise1 for we are engaged in real warfare1 and whoever heard of war without wounds and losses8 ,but even of those who do thus step aside from the position of ,officers1 a large proportion--in this country nine out of ten--remain with us1 engaged in some voluntary effort in our ranks4' ',but1' continued ,mr4 ,bramwell ,booth1 ',i would be the last person to minimize our losses4 ,they may be accounted for in the most natural way1 and yet we cannot but feel them and suffer from them4 ,and yet it is all just a repetition of the ,bible stories of all ages2 nay1 of all stories of genuine fighting in any great cause4 ,the great feature of our present experience in this matter is that the number who go out from us grows every year smaller in proportion to the whole1 and that1 as the ,general says in the above extract1 a very large proportion of those continue in friendly relations with us4 ',the triumph of these splendid men and women1 in the face of every kind of difficulty in every part of the world is1 however1 really a triumph of their faith4 ,it is not the ,army1 it is not their leaders1 it is not even the wonderful devotion which many of them manifest1 which is the secret of their continued life and continued success1 nor is it any confidence in their own abilities4 ,no6 ,the true representative of the ,army is relying at every turn upon the presence1 guidance1 and help of ,god in trying to carry out the ,father's purpose with respect to every lost and suffering child of man4 ,by that test1 alike in the present and future1 we must ever stand or fall4 ,the ,army is either a work of faith or it is nothing at all4 ',everything throughout all our ranks can really be brought to that test1 and ,i regard with composure every loss and attack1 every puzzle and danger1 chiefly because ,i rely upon my comrades' trust in ,god being responded to by ,him according to their need4' ,perhaps ,i may be allowed to add a few remarks upon this subject4 ,a great deal is made of the resignation of a few ,salvation ,army ,officers in order that they may accept excellent posts in other walks of life2 indeed1 it is not uncommon to see it stated that such resignations herald the dissolution of the ,society4 ,inasmuch as the number of the ,army's ,officers is nearing #bj1jjj it would seem that it can very well spare a few of them4 ,what fills me with wonder is not that some go1 but that so many remain4 ,this is one of the facts which1 amongst much that is discouraging1 convinces me of the innate nobility of man4 ,an old friend of mine of pious disposition once remarked to me that he could never have been a ,christian martyr4 ,at the first twist of the cord1 or the first nip of the red-hot pincers1 he was sure that he would have thrown incense by the handful upon the altar of any heathen god or goddess that was fashionable at the moment4 ,his spirit might have been willing1 but his flesh would certainly have proved weak4 ,i sympathized with the honesty of this confession1 and in the same way ,i sympathize with those ,officers of the ,salvation ,army who1 in racing slang1 cannot 'stay the course4' ,let us consider the lot of these men4 ,any who have entered on even a secular crusade1 something that takes them off the beaten1 official paths1 that leads them through the thorns and wildernesses of a new1 untravelled country1 towards some distant goal seen dimly1 or not seen at all except in dreams1 will know what such an undertaking means4 ,it means snakes in the grass2 it means savages1 or in other words veiled and poisonous hatreds and bitter foes1 or1 still worse1 treacherous friends4 ,the crusader may get through1 in which case no one will thank him except1 perhaps1 after he is dead4 ,or he may fail and perish1 in which case every one will mock at him4 ,or he may retreat discouraged and return to the official road1 in which case his friends will remark that they are glad to see that his insanity was only of the intermittent order1 and that at length he has learned his place in the world and to whom he ought to touch his cap4 ,well1 these are official roads to ,heaven as well as to the ,house of ,lords and other mundane goals1 a fact which the ,salvation ,army ,officer and others of his kind have probably found out4 ,on the official road1 if he has interest and ability--the first is to be preferred--he might have become anything1 and with ordinary fortune would certainly have become something4 ,but on the path that he has chosen what is there for him to gain8 ,an inheritance of dim glory beyond the stars1 obscured doubtless from time to time1 if he is like other men1 by sudden and sickening eclipses of his faith4 ,and meanwhile the daily round1 the insolent gibe1 and the bitter ingratitude of men that leaves him grieving4 ,also not enough money to pay for a cab when it is wet1 and considerable uncertainty as to the future of his children1 and even as to his own old age4 ,few comforts for him1 not even those of a glass of wine to stimulate him1 or of tobacco to soothe his nerves1 for these are forbidden to him by the rules of his ,order4 ,unless he can reach the very top of his particular tree also1 which it is most unlikely that he will1 no public recognition even of his faithful1 strenuous work1 and who is there that at heart does not long for public recognition8 ,in short1 nothing that is desirable to man save the consciousness of a virtue which1 after all1 he must feel to be indifferent 7being well aware of his own secret faults71 and the satisfaction of having helped a certain number of lame human dogs over moral or physical stiles4 ,in such a case and in a world which we must admit to be selfish and imperfect1 the wonder is not that certain ,salvation ,army ,officers1 being trained men of high ability1 yield to tempting offers and go1 but that so many of them remain4 ',look at my case1' said one of them to me4 ',with my experience and organizing ability ,i am worth #b1jjj a year as the manager of any big business1 and ,i could have it if ,i liked4 ,here ,i get about #bjj6' ,this was one of those who remain4 ,i say all honour to such noble souls1 for surely they are of the salt of the earth4 ,,note ,,on ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,the ,,salvation ,,army ,the religious faith of the ,salvation ,army1 as ,i have observed and understand it 7for little has been said to me on this matter71 is extremely simple4 ,it believes in an eternal ,heaven for the righteous and--a sad doctrine this1 some of us may think--in a ,hell1 equally eternal1 for the wicked4#h ,its bedrock is the ,bible1 especially the ,new ,testament1 which it accepts as true without qualification1 from the first word to the last1 troubling itself with no doubts or criticisms4 ,especially does it believe in the dual nature of the ,saviour1 in ,christ as ,god1 and in ,christ as man1 and in the possibility of forgiveness and redemption for even the most degraded and defiled of human beings4 ,love is its watchword1 the spirit of love is its spirit1 love arrayed in the garments of charity4 ,in essentials1 with one exception1 its doctrines much resemble those of the ,church of ,england1 and of various dissenting ,protestant bodies4 ,the exception is1 that it does not make use of the ,sacraments1 even of that of ,communion1 although1 on the other hand1 it does not deny the efficacy of those ,sacraments1 or object to others1 even if they be members of the ,army1 availing themselves of them4 ,thus1 ,i have known an ,army ,officer to join in the ,communion ,service4 ,the reason for this exception is1 ,i believe1 that in the view of ,general ,booth1 the ,sacraments complicate matters1 are open to argument and attack1 and are not understood by the majority of the classes with which the ,army deals4 ,how their omission is reconciled with certain prominent passages and directions laid down in the ,new ,testament ,i do not know4 ,to me1 ,i confess1 this disregard of them seems illogical4 ,the motto of the ,army is ',salvation for all1' and1 as ,i have hinted in these pages1 it has a sure conviction of the essential persistence of miracle in these modern days4 ,it holds that when a man kneels at the ,penitent-,form and 'gets converted1' a miracle takes place within him1 if his repentance is true1 and that thenceforward some ,grace from on ,high will give him the power to overcome the evil in his heart and blood4 ,it believes1 too1 in the instant efficacy of earnest prayer1 and in the possibility of direct communication by this means between man and his ,maker4 ,here is an instance of this statement4 ,while inspecting the ,shelters in one of the provincial cities1 ,i was shown a certain building which had recently passed into the possession of the ,army4 ,the ,officer who was conducting me said that the negotiations preliminary to the acquisition of the lease of this building had been long and difficult4 ,i remarked that these must have caused him anxiety4 ',oh1 no1' he answered1 simply4 ',you see ,i had talked with the ,lord about it1 and ,i knew that we should get the place in the end4' ,this reply may cause some to smile1 but ,i confess ,i find such childlike faith touching and even beautiful4 ,there is small doubt that consciously or unconsciously1 the ,salvation ,army has followed ,st4 ,paul's example of being all things to all men1 if 'by all means' it may save some4 ,this is the reason of its methods which to many seem so vulgar and offensive4 ,once ,i spoke to an ,officer high up in the ,army of this matter1 instancing1 amongst other things1 its brass bands and loud-voiced preaching at street corners4 ',my dear sir1' he replied1 'if we came to convert you1 we should not bring a brass band or send a missionary who shouted out sacred names every minute4 ,possibly1 if we thought that you were open to the influences of music1 we might send a first-rate violinist to play pieces from the classical masters1 and we should certainly send a man whom we knew to be your intellectual equal1 and who could therefore appeal to your reason4 ,but our mission at present is not so much to you and your class1 as to the dregs of humanity4 ,the folk we deal with live in a state of noise of which you have no conception1 and if we want to force them to listen to us1 we must begin by making a greater noise in order to attract their attention at all4 ,in the same way it is of no use wasting subtleties on them2 we have to go straight to the main points1 which are clear and sharp enough to pierce their drink-besotted intelligences1 or to reach any fragment of conscience they may have remaining in them4' ,i thought the argument sound and well put1 and results have proved its force1 since the ,salvation ,army undoubtedly gets a hold of people that few other forms of religious effort seem able to grasp1 at least to any considerable extent4 ,i wish to make it clear1 however1 that ,i hold no particular brief for the ,army1 its theology1 and its methods4 ,i recognize fully1 as ,i know it does1 the splendid work that is being done in the religious and social fields by other ,organizations of the same class1 especially by ,dr4 ,barnardo's ,homes1 by the ,waifs and ,strays ,society1 by the ,church ,army1 and1 above all1 perhaps1 by another ,society1 with which ,i have had the honour to be connected in a humble capacity for many years1 that for the ,prevention of ,cruelty to ,children4 ,still it remains true that the ,salvation ,army is unique1 if only on account of the colossal scale of its operations4 ,its fertilizing stream flows on steadily from land to land1 till it bids fair to irrigate the whole earth4 ,what ,i have written about is but one little segment of a work which flourishes everywhere1 and even lifts its head in ,roman ,catholic countries1 although in these1 as yet1 it makes no very great progress4 ,how potent then1 and how generally suited to the needs of stained and suffering mankind1 must be that religion which appeals both to the ,west and to the ,east1 which is as much at home in ,java and ,korea as it is in ,copenhagen or ,glasgow4 ,for it should be borne in mind that the basis of the ,salvation ,army is religious1 that it aims1 above everything1 at the conversion of men to an active and lively faith in the plain1 uncomplicated tenets of ,christianity to the benefit of their souls in some future state of existence and1 incidentally1 to the ,reformation of their characters while on earth4 ,the social work of which ,i have been treating is a mere by-product or consequence of its main idea4 ,experience has shown1 that it is of little use to talk about his soul to a man with an empty stomach4 ,first1 he must be fed and cleansed and given some other habitation than the street4 ,also the ,army has learned that ,christ still walks the earth in the shape of ,charity2 and that religion1 after all1 is best preached by putting its maxims into practice2 that the poor are always with us2 and that the first duty of the ,christian is to bind their wounds and soothe their sorrows4 ,afterwards1 he may hope to cure them of their sins1 for he knows that unless such a cure is effected1 temporal assistance avails but little4 ,except in cases of pure misfortune which stand upon another1 and1 so far as the ,army work is concerned1 upon an outside footing1 the causes of the fall must be removed1 or that fall will be repeated4 ,the man or woman must be born again1 must be regenerated4 ,such1 as ,i understand it1 is at once the belief of the ,salvation ,army and the object of all its efforts4 ,therefore1 ,i give to this book its title of ',regeneration4' ,,the ,,need ,,is ,,great6 99 99 99 99 99 ,the principal items of the ,salvation ,army's expenditure for ,social ,work during the financial year ending ,september #cj1 #aiaa1 are as follows1 and help is earnestly asked to meet these1 the work being entirely dependent upon ,voluntary ,gifts4 ,for ,maintenance of ,work amongst the ,destitute and ,outcast ,men and ,women1 including ,shelters for ,homeless ,men and ,women1 ,homes for ,children1 ,rescue ,homes1 etc4444444444444444444444444444444444444 #ae1jjj ,for ,maintenance of the ,slum ,sisterhood and ,nurses for the ,sick ,poor44444444444444444444444444444444444 44 #c1jjj ,for ,prison ,visitation ,staff and ,prison-,gate ,work44444444 #e1jjj ,for ,work among ,youths and ,boys44444444444444444444444444 #b1jjj ,for ,special ,relief and ,distress ,agencies4444444444444444 #e1jjj ,for ,development of the ,work and ,agricultural ,departments of the ,hadleigh ,colony44444444444444444444 #c1jjj ,for ,assistance and ,partial ,maintenance of the ,unemployed and ,inefficient4444444444444444444444444444 #e1jjj ,for ,assisting suitable ,men and ,women to ,emigrate44444444 #c1jjj ,towards the provision of ,new ,institutions for ,men and ,boys in ,london and various provincial ,cities444444 #aj1jjj ,for the ,general ,management and ,supervision of all the above ,operations44444444444444444444444444444 44444 #b1jjj ------- #ec1jjj ,cheques and ,postal ,orders should be made payable to ,,william ,,booth1 crossed ',bank of ,england1 ,law ,courts ,branch1' and sent to ,,mrs4 ,,booth1 #aja ,queen ,victoria ,street1 ,london1 ,e4,c4 ,clothes for the poor and articles for sale are always needed4 ,,legacies 99 99 99 99 99 ,ladies and ,gentlemen are earnestly asked to remember the needs of the ,salvation ,army's ,social ,work 7the ',darkest ,england' ,social ,scheme71 in connexion with the preparation of their wills4 99 99 99 99 99 ,all kinds of property can now be legally bequeathed for charitable purposes1 and the following form of legacy is recommended4 ,where a legacy does not consist of a certain amount of money1 care should be taken to identify clearly the property1 shares1 stock1 or whatever it may be intended to be bequeathed4 ',i ,,give ,,and ,,bequeath ,,to ,,william ,,booth1 or other the ,general for the time being of the ,salvation ,army1 and ,director of the ,darkest ,england ,social ,scheme1 the sum of 444444444444 7or7 ,,my ,,two freehold houses known as ,nos4444444444 in the county of4444444444444444 7or7 my 444444444444 ordinary stock of the ,london and ,north-,western ,railway ,company 7or7 my shares in444444444444,limited 7or as the case may be7 to be used or applied by him1 at his discretion1 for the general purposes of the ,darkest ,england ,social ,scheme4 ,and ,i direct the said last-mentioned ,legacy to be paid within twelve months after my decease4' 99 99 99 99 99 ,,directions ,,for ,,execution ,,of ,,will 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,will must be executed by the ,testator in the presence of two witnesses1 who must sign their names1 addresses1 and occupations at the end of the ,will in the presence of the ,testator4 ,the best method to adopt for a ,testator to be quite sure that his ,will is executed properly1 is for him to take the ,will and his two witnesses into a room1 lock the door1 and tell the witnesses that he wishes them to attest his ,will4 ,all three must sign in the room and nobody must go out until all have signed4 ,,general ,,booth will always be pleased to procure further advice for any friends desiring to benefit the ,salvation ,army's work in any of its departments1 by ,will or otherwise1 and will treat any communications made to him on the subject as strictly private and confidential4 ,letters dealing with the matter should be marked ,private1 and addressed to ,,general ,,booth1 #aja ,,queen ,,victoria ,,street1 ,,london1 ,e4,c4 ,,appendix ,a ,,notes ,,on ,,the ,,army',s ,,future 7,following ,my ,conversation with ,mr4 ,rider ,haggard7 ,,by ,,bramwell ,,booth ,when asked to give my own view of the present and probable future influence of the ,salvation ,army upon the world1 ,i feel in no danger of exaggeration4 ,if any one could imagine what it has been for me to sit at its centre almost without intermission for more than thirty-five years1 receiving continual reports of its development and progress in one nation after another1 studying from within not only its strength and vitality1 but its weaknesses and failures1 and labouring to devise remedies and preventatives1 until what was a little unknown ,mission in the ,east ,end of ,london has become the widely1 ,i might almost say1 the universally recognized ,army of to-day1 he could perhaps understand something of my great confidence4 ,curious indeed seem to be the thoughts of many people about us6--people1 ,i mean1 who have only had a glance at one of our open-air meetings1 or have only heard some wild challenge of ,general ,booth's good faith1 and have then more or less carefully avoided any closer acquaintance with us4 ,they often appear to be under the impression that you have only to persuade a few people to march through any crowded thoroughfare with a band1 to gather a congregation1 and1 if you please1 to form out of it an ,army1 and from that again to secure a vast revenue6 ,i often wish that such people could know the struggles of almost every individual1 even amongst the very poorest1 between the moment of first contact with us and that of resolving to enlist in our ranks4 ,how few1 even now1 seem aware of the fact that so far from paying or rewarding any one for joining in our efforts1 all who do so are from the first called upon daily not only to give to our funds1 but by sacrifice of time1 labour1 money1 and often of health as well1 to constitute themselves efficient soldiers of their ,corps1 and assist in providing it with every necessity4 ,every one of the #c1jjj1jjj meetings held annually1 even in this country1 depends upon the voluntary giving up of the time and effort of working-men and women who have in most cases to hurry from work to home1 and from home to meeting-place1 after a hard day's labour4 ,much the same may be said of the #dej1jjj meetings held annually on the ,continent of ,europe2 with this difference1 that our people there have mostly to begin work earlier in the day1 and to conclude much later than is the case here4 ,their evening meetings1 in conformity with the habits of the country concerned1 must needs be begun1 therefore1 later1 and conclude much later than similar gatherings in the ,united ,kingdom4 ,a cursory glance through the seventy-four newspapers and periodicals published by the ,army--generally weekly--in twenty-one languages1 would show any one how variously our people everywhere are seeking to meet the different habits of life in each country1 and how constantly new plans are being tried to attain the supreme object of all our multitudinous agencies--the arousing of men's attention to the claims of ,god and their ingathering to ,his ,kingdom4 ,the original plan adopted in this country of going to the people by means of meetings and marches in the streets1 is in many lands not legally permissible1 while in others it is almost useless4 ,our leaders1 therefore1 have always to be finding out other means of attaining the same end4 ,this has resulted in very great gains of liberty in several ways4 ,on the ,continent1 for example1 though it is not possible to get a general permission to hold open-air meetings in the streets1 it is becoming more and more usual to let our people hold such gatherings in the large pleasure-grounds1 provided within or on the outskirts both of the great cities and the lesser towns4 ,in some cases the announcements of further meetings1 made somewhat after the style of the public crier1 develops into a series of short open-air addresses4 ,in other cases1 conspicuously in ,italy1 where our work is only as yet in its infancy--the sale of our paper1 both by individual hawkers and by groups of comrades singing the songs it contains in marketplaces1 largely makes up for the want of the more regularized open-air work4 ,and in the courts of the great blocks of buildings which abound in cities like ,berlin1 ,copenhagen1 ,stockholm1 and elsewhere1 meetings are held which are really often more effective in impressing whole families of various classes than any of our open-air proceedings in countries like ,england and the ,united ,states4 ,but everywhere the ,army seeks especially1 though not by any means exclusively1 for those who are to be found frequenting the public-houses1 cafes1 beer gardens1 dives1 saloons1 and other drinking-places of the world4 ,in all countries our people sell our papers amidst these crowds1 as well as at the doors of the theatres and other places of amusement1 and the mere offer of these papers1 now that their unflinching character as to ,god and goodness is well known1 constitutes an act of war1 a submission to which in so many million cases is no slight evidence of confidence among the masses of the people in our sincerity1 and1 so far1 a sign of our success4 ,but ',the ,war ,cry' seller is in the countries of more scattered population1 such as ,switzerland1 some of the colonies1 and large parts of ,india1 much more than is the case in the big cities1 the representative of every form of helpfulness4 ,he1 or she1 not merely offers the paper for sale to those who have neither opportunity nor inclination to attend religious services of any kind1 but enters himself where no paper ever comes1 holds little meetings with groups of those who have never prayed1 heartens those who are sinking down under pressure of calamity1 visits the sick-room of the friendless1 and often becomes the intermediary of the suffering and destitute and those who can help them in their dismal necessities4 ,of the persistent hopefulness with which our people everywhere go to the apparently abandoned1 ,i will only say that it constitutes a store of moral and material help1 not only for those people themselves1 but for all who become acquainted with it1 the value of which in the present it is difficult to exaggerate1 and the influence of which on the future it is equally difficult to over-estimate4 ,while leaving the utmost possible freedom for initiative to our leaders1 we are seeking everywhere to solidify and regularize every effort that has once been shown to be of any practical use4 ,any one amongst us1 down to the youngest and poorest in any part of the world1 may do a new thing next week which will prove a blessing to his fellows1 and some one will be on the watch to see that that good thing1 once done1 be repeated1 and1 so far as may be1 kept up in perpetuity4 ,where special classes of needs exist1 we must of course employ special agencies4 ,the vitality and adaptability of the ,army in the presence of new opportunities is one of the happy auguries for the future4 ,while all that is virile and forceful in it increases1 there is less and less of the rigid and formal4 ,fourteen or fifteen years ago some ,officers were set apart to visit the ,lapps who range over all the ,territories to the north of ,scandinavia4 ,this meant at first only months of solitary travelling during the summer1 and no little suffering in the winter1 with little apparent result4 ,but gradually a system of meetings was established1 the people's confidence was gained1 and at length it has been found possible to group together various centres of regular activity amongst these interesting but little-known people1 and now experienced leaders will see both to the permanence of all that has already been begun1 and to the further extension of the work4 ,in ,holland1 where our work has assumed the proportions of a national movement1 the beneficent effects of which are recognized by all classes1 the canal population is helped by means of a small sailing ship1 on which are held regular meetings for them4 ,our ,norwegian people also have a life-boat called the ,catherine ,booth stationed upon a stormy and difficult part of the coast1 which not only goes out to help into safety boats and boats' crews1 but whose crew also holds meetings on islands in remote fisher hamlets where no other religious visitors come4 ,the same principle of adaptation to local conditions and requirements will1 ,i doubt not1 quickly ensure success for the small detachment of ,officers we have just sent to commence operations in ,russia4 ,in ,dutch ,india we have not only a growing ,missionary work amongst both ,javanese and ,chinese1 but ,government ,institutions have been placed under our care1 where lepers1 the blind1 and other infirm natives1 as well as neglected children1 are medically cared for and helped in other ways4 ,in ,south ,africa1 both ,english and ,dutch-speaking peoples are united under one ,flag1 and give themselves up to work amongst the native races round them--races which constitute so grave a problem in the eyes of all thoughtful men who know anything of the true position in ,south ,africa4 ,one of the latest items of news is that an ,angoni has accepted salvation at one of our settlements in ,mashonaland1 and on return to his own home and work--lying away between ,lake ,nyassa and the ,zambezi--has begun to hold meetings and to exercise an influence upon his people which cannot but end in the establishment of our work amongst them4 ,but1 to my mind1 one of the most important features of our work in all ,eastern and ,african lands is our development of the native power under experienced guidance to purely ,salvationist and therefore non-political purposes4 ,surely the most potent possible corrective for the sort of half rebel influence that has grown or is growing up in ,africa under the name of ,ethiopianism1 as well as for much of the strange uneasiness among the dumb masses of ,india1 is the complete organization of native races under leaders who1 whilst of their own people1 are devoted to the highest ethical aims1 and stand in happy subjection to men of other lands who have given them a training in discipline and unity which does not contemplate bloodshed4 ,we are now beginning both in ,india and ,africa1 as well as in the ,west ,indies1 to find experienced native ,officers capable of taking ,staff positions2 that is1 of becoming reliable leaders in large districts where we are at work4 ,these men have not merely all the advantages of language and of fitness for the varieties of climate which are so trying to ,westerners1 but they show a courage and tenacity and tact--in short1 a capacity for leadership and administration such as no one--at any rate1 no one that ,i know of--expected to find in them4 ,here is opened a prospect of the highest significance4 ,more than can be easily estimated has been done in spreading information about us for some years past by ,salvationists belonging to various national armies and navies4 ,we encourage all such men to group themselves into brigades1 so far as may be allowed1 in their various barracks and ships4 ,thus united1 they work for their mutual encouragement1 and for the spreading of good influences among others4 ,it was such a little handful that really began our work in the ,west ,indies1 and we have now a ,corps in ,sierra ,leone1 on the west coast of ,africa1 formed by men of a ,west ,indian regiment temporarily quartered there4 ,the same thing has happened in ,sumatra by means of ,dutch and ,javanese soldiers4 ,for ,british ,india we naturally felt ourselves first of all1 as to the heathen world1 under obligation to do something4 ,and no inconsiderable results have followed the efforts which were first commenced there twenty-eight years ago4 ,our pioneers1 though they greatly disturbed the official white world1 won the hearts of the people at a stroke1 by wearing ,indian dress1 living amongst and in the style of the poorer villages4 ,soon ,indian converts offered themselves for service1 and after training2 were commissioned as ,officers1 and it was at once seen that they would be far more influential than any foreigners4 ,from the point at which that discovery was really made1 the work assumed important proportions1 passing at once in large measure from the position of a foreign mission to being a movement of the people themselves4 ,the vastness of the country and the difference of language have led to our treating it as five separate commands1 now under the general lead of one headquarters4 ,incidentally1 this has helped us in dealing with some of the difficulties connected with caste1 as it has been possible to remove ,indian ,officers from one part of ,india to another1 and we have made some efforts which have1 ,i admit1 proved less successful in some districts than in others1 to deal with castes which1 within their own lines1 are often little more than ,trade ,unions with a mixture of superstition4 ,meanwhile1 the practical character of our work has shown itself in efforts to help in various ways the lowest of the people to improve their circumstances4 ,the need for this is instantly apparent when one reflects that some #dj1jjj1jjj of the inhabitants of ,india are always hungry4 ,a system of loan banks1 which has now been adopted in part by the ,government1 has been of great service to the small agriculturalists4 ,the invention of an extremely simple and yet greatly improved hand loom has proved1 and will prove1 very valuable to the weavers4 ,new plans of relief in times of scarcity and famine have also greatly helped in some districts to win the confidence of the people4 ,industrial schools1 chiefly for orphan children1 have also been a feature of the work in some districts4 ,recently the ,government1 having seen with what success our people have laboured for the salvation of the lower castes1 have decided to hand over to us the special care of several of the criminal tribes1 who are really the remnants of the ,aborigines4 ,although this work is at present only in its experimental stage1 all who have examined the results so far have been delighted at the rapidity with which we have brought many into habits of self-supporting industry1 who1 with their fathers before them1 had been accustomed to live entirely by plunder4 ,about #b1jjj persons of this class are already under our care4 ,there are some #c1jjj1jjj of these robbers in different parts of ,india4 ,they are only kept under anything like control at great cost for police and military supervision2 but we are satisfied that1 if reasonable support be given1 a great proportion of them can be reclaimed from their present courses of idleness and crime1 and in any case their children can be saved4 ,we have been able in ,india1 perhaps more than in any other part of the world1 to realize the international character of our work by linking together ,officers from ,england1 ,germany1 ,holland1 and the ,scandinavian countries1 as well as from ,america1 in the one great object of helping the heathen peoples4 ,but most of all we have rejoiced in being able to blend ,east and ,west1 ,european ,officers having often been placed under more experienced ,indian comrades1 as well as vice versa4 ,the great common purpose dominating all sections of the ,army1 and the influences of the ,spirit of ,god1 have united men of different levels of intelligence1 and knit them together in the same fellowship1 without any unwise mingling of races4 ,we have now #b1jjj ,officers in ,india1 and that alone is a testimony of the highest significance to the success of our efforts1 and to the possibilities which lie before us4 ,but even more important in its bearing upon the future1 in my estimation1 is the wonderful ambition dominating our people there to reach every class1 but most of all to deal with the low caste1 or outcast1 as they are sometimes called4 ,many of our ,indian ,officers have followed in the steps of our pioneers in the country1 and1 consumed by an enthusiasm amounting to a passion for their fellows1 have literally sacrificed their lives in the ceaseless pressing forward of their work4 ,in ,america we have had to deal1 perhaps1 with the other extreme of human needs4 ,throughout ,canada there is very little to be seen of poverty and wretchedness4 ,in the ,united ,states the great cities begin indeed to have areas of vice and misery not to be surpassed in any of the older cities of the world4 ,but everywhere we have found people who have become forgetful of ,god1 neglectful of every higher duty1 and abandoned to one or other form of selfishness4 ,our work in the ,united ,states especially has been confronted with difficulties peculiar to the country1 its widespread populations and their cosmopolitan character being not the least of these4 ,nevertheless1 we have now in the ,states and ,canada nearly #d1jjj ,officers leading the work in #a1chj ,corps and ,societies1 and #cej ,social ,institutions4 ,i ought to say that it has not been found easy to raise large numbers in many places1 but of the generosity and devotion of those who have united themselves with us1 and the immense amount of work which they accomplish for their fellows1 it is impossible to speak too highly4 ,i look with confidence to the future in both these great countries4 ,governments and local ,authorities are beginning to grant us the facilities and help we need to deal effectually with their abandoned classes1 as well as to attack some other problems of a difficult nature4 ,within the last few years1 we have placed in ,canada more than #ej1jjj emigrants1 chiefly from this country4 ,their characteristics1 and their success in their new surroundings1 have won for us the highest commendation of the ,authorities concerned4 ,in the vast fields of ,south ,america1 we have as yet only small forces1 but we have established a good footing with the various populations1 and have already received no inconsiderable help for our purely philanthropic work from several of the ,governments4 ,our latest new extensions1 ,chile1 ,paraguay1 and ,peru1 and ,panama1 seem to offer prospects of success1 even greater than we have been able to record in the ,argentine or ,uruguay4 ,before your book is published1 we shall probably have made a beginning also in both ,bolivia and ,brazil4 ,the ,south ,american ,republics--chiefly populated by the descendants of the poorest classes of ,southern ,europe--are professedly ,roman ,catholic4 ,the influence of the priesthood1 however1 owing to various causes1 seems to be on the wane1 and a habit of abandoning all religious thought is much on the increase4 ,but the realization that our people never attack any ,church1 or quibble about details of creed and ceremonial1 has won their way to the hearts of many1 and there can be no doubt that we have a great future amongst these peoples4 ,in ,peru the law does not allow any persons not of the ,romish ,church to offer prayer in public places1 but when it was found that our ,officers made no trouble of this1 but managed all the same to hold open-air and theatre services very much in our usual style1 great numbers of the people were astonished at the 'new religion1' and so many had soon begun to pray 'in private' that we have little doubt about the future of our work there4 ,in thinking of the future1 ,i cannot overlook our plans of organization which have1 ,i am persuaded1 much to do with the proper maintenance and continuance of the work we have taken in hand4 ,while striving as much as possible to avoid red tape1 or indeed any methods likely to hinder initiative and enterprise1 we are careful to apply a systemization comprehensible to the most untrained minds1 so that we may make every one feel a proper degree of responsibility1 as well as guard them from mere emotionalism and spasmodic activity1 accompanied as that kind of thing often is1 by general neglect4 ,thus no one can join the ,army until after satisfying the local ,officer and some resident of the place during a period of trial of the sincerity of his profession4 ,he must then sign our ,articles of ,war4 ,these ,articles describe precisely our doctrines1 our promise to abstain from intoxicants1 worldly pleasures1 and fashions1 bad or unworthy language1 or conduct1 and unfairness to either employer or employ1 as well as our purpose to help and benefit those around us4 7,see ,appendix ,b47 ,some local voluntary worker becomes responsible for setting each recruit a definite task in connexion with our efforts1 and all are placed under the general oversight of their ,captain4 ,a ,corps1 which is the unit of our ,organization1 is organized under a ,captain and ,lieutenant who have been trained in the work they have to do as leaders4 ,corps are linked together into divisions under ,officers1 who1 in addition to seeing that they regularly carry out their work1 have the oversight of a considerable tract of country1 with the duty of extending our operations within that area4 ,in some countries a number of divisions are sometimes grouped into provinces with an ,officer in charge of the whole province1 and each country has its national headquarters under a ,territorial ,commissioner1 all being under the lead of the ,international ,headquarters in ,london4 ,no time is wasted in committee-ing or debating amongst us1 and yet in all matters of finance and property there is such arrangement that several individuals are cognizant of every detail1 and that no one person's fault or neglect shall necessarily involve permanent injury or loss4 ,the central accounts in each country1 including those in ,london1 are under the care of public auditors2 but we have also our own ,international ,audit ,department1 whose representatives visit every headquarters from time to time1 so as to make sure1 not only that the accounts are kept on our approved system1 but that all expenditure is rigidly criticized4 ,all who really look into our financial methods are impressed by their economy and precision4 ,the fact is that almost all our people have been well schooled in poverty4 ,they have learned the value of pence4 ,all this seems to me to have great importance in connexion with estimates of our future4 ,on the one hand we are ever seeking to impress on all our people the supreme need of ,god's spirit of love and life and freedom1 without whose presence the most carefully managed system could not but speedily grow cold and useless4 ,but at the same time1 we insist that the service of ,god1 however full of love and gladness1 ought to be more precise1 more regular1 nay1 more exacting than that of any inferior master4 ,,ii ,as to your question whether we are generally making progress1 ,i think ,i can say that1 viewing the whole field of activity1 and taking into account every aspect of the work1 the ,army is undoubtedly on the up-grade4 ,naturally progress is not so rapid in one country as another1 nor is it always so marked in one period as in another in particular countries1 nor is it always so evident in some departments of effort as in others2 but speaking of the whole1 there is1 as indeed there has been from the very beginnings1 steady advance4 ,in some countries1 of course1 there is more rapid development of our purely evangelistic propaganda1 while in others our philanthropic agencies are more active4 ,progress in human affairs is generally tidal4 ,it has been so with us4 ,a period of great outward activity is sometimes followed by one of comparative rest1 and in the same way the spirit of advance in one department sometimes passes from that for a time to others4 ,a period of great progress in all kinds of pioneer work1 for example in ,germany1 is just now being followed there by one of consolidation and organization4 ,a time of enormous advance in all our departments of charitable effort in the ,united ,states is now being succeeded by a wonderful manifestation of purely spiritual fervour and awakening4 ,in this1 the old country1 our very success has in some ways militated against our continued advance at the old rate of progress4 ,not only has much ground already been occupied1 but innumerable agencies1 modelled outwardly1 at least1 after those we first established1 have sprung into existence1 and are working on a field of effort which was at one time largely left to us4 ,and yet during the last five years the ,army has enormously strengthened its hold on the confidence of all classes of the people here1 increased its numbers1 developed in a remarkable degree its internal organization1 greatly added to its material resources1 as well as maintained and extended its offering of men and money for the support of the work in heathen countries4 ,but even in places where we have appeared to be stagnant1 in the sense of not undertaking any new aggressive activities1 we are constantly making as a part of our regular warfare new captures from the enemy of souls1 maintaining the care of congregations and people linked with us1 working at full pressure our social machinery1 training the children for future labour1 raising up men and women to go out into the world as missionaries of one kind or another1 and doing it all while carrying on vigorous efforts to bring to those who are most needy in every locality both material and spiritual support4 ,like all aggressive movements1 the ,army is1 of course1 peculiarly subject to loss of one kind or another4 ,that arising from the removals of its people alone constitutes a serious item4 ,any one who knows anything of religious work amongst the working-classes will understand how great a loss may be caused--even where the population is1 generally speaking1 increasing--by the removal of one or two zealous local leaders4 ,but such losses are trifling compared with those which follow from some stoppage of employment when large numbers of workmen must either migrate or starve4 ,similar results often occur from the change of leadership4 ,the removal of our ,officers from point to point1 and even from country to country1 is one of our most indispensable needs2 but1 of course1 we have to pay for it1 chiefly in the dislocation and discouragements and losses which it often necessarily entails4 ,so far from such variations being in any way discreditable to us1 we think them one of the most valuable tests of the vitality and courage of our people1 both ,officers and ,soldiers1 that they fight on unflinchingly under such circumstances--fight on happily1 to prove that while fluctuations of this character are very trying1 they often also open the way both to the wider diffusion of our work elsewhere and to the breaking up of entirely new ground in the old centres4 ,in brief1 it is with us at all times a real warfare wherein triumphs can only be secured at the cost of struggles that are very often painful and unpleasant4 ,you cannot have the aggression1 the advance1 the captures of war without the change1 the alarms1 the cost1 the wounds1 the losses1 which are inseparable from it4 ,a very striking and thoughtful description of some of the work done at one of our ,london ,corps has recently been issued by a well-known writer4 ,i refer to ',broken ,earthenware1' by ,mr4 ,harold ,begbie4 ,no one can read the book without being impressed by the sense of personal insight which it reveals4 ,but how few take in its main lesson1 that the ,army is in every place going on1 not only with the recovery but with the development of broken men and women into more and more capable and efficient servants and rescuers of their fellows4 ,that this should be so is remarkable enough as applied to ,westerners1 broken by evil habits and more or less surrounded by wreckage1 but how much more valuable when applied to the teeming populations of the ,east6 ,there in so many cases there is no past of criminality or even of vice as we understand it to forget1 but only an infancy of darkness and ignorance as to ,christ and the liberty ,he brings4 ,many of our best ,indian ,officers have been snatched from one form or other of outrageous selfishness1 but thousands of our people there are gradually emerging from what is really the prolonged childhood of a race to see and know how influential the light of ,god can make even them amongst their fellows4 ,ten years ago in ,japan a ,salvationist ,officer was a strange if not an unknown phenomenon1 but with every increase of the ,christian and ,western influences in that country1 every capable witness to ,christ becomes1 quite apart from any effort of his own1 a much more noticed1 consulted1 and imitated example than he was before4 ,in ,korea1 after a couple of years' effort1 we have seen most striking results of our work1 and have just sent1 to work among their own people1 our first twenty married ,koreans1 after a preliminary period of training for ,officership4 ,it is most difficult to realize the revolution involved in the whole outlook on life to men who have been looked upon as little more than serfs1 without any prospect of influence in their country4 ,the same processes of inner and outer development which have made of the unknown ,english workman or workwoman of twenty years ago1 the recognized servants of the community1 welcomed everywhere by mayors and magistrates to help in the service of the poor1 will1 out of the clever ,oriental1 ,i believe1 far more rapidly develop leaders in the new line of ,christian improvement in every sphere of life4 ,it is considerations such as these which make me say sometimes that the danger in the ,army is not in the direction of magnifying1 but rather of minimizing the influences that are carrying us upward and outward in every part of the world4 ,but in our own estimation there is another reason which perhaps equals all these for calculating upon a wider development of the ,army's future influence4 ,during the last twenty years we have been pressing forward amongst a very large number of ,church and missionary efforts4 ,our speakers have notoriously been amongst the most unlearned and ungrammatical1 and therefore often despised1 while so many thousands of university men were preaching and writing of ,christ4 ,but no one now disputes the fact that the old-fashioned proclamation of the doctrine of ,jesus ,christ as a ,divine ,saviour of the lost has largely gone out of fashion4 ,the influence of the priest1 of the clerk in holy orders1 of the minister1 has been so largely undermined that candidates for the ministry are becoming scarce in many ,churches1 just while we are seeing them arise in steadily increasing numbers from among the very people who know the ,army and its work best1 and who have most carefully observed the demands of sacrifice and labour it makes upon its leaders4 ,one cannot but rejoice when one hears ever and anon of some conference or congress at which various efforts are made to recover1 at any rate1 the appearance of a forward movement in the ,churches4 ,but the most serious fact of all1 perhaps1 is the mixture amongst these ,christianizing plans1 whether in one country or another1 of the unbelieving leaven1 so that it is possible for men to go forth as the emissaries of ,christianity who have ceased to believe in the ,divine nature of its ,founder1 and who look for success rather to schemes of education and of social and temporal improvement than to that new creation of man by ,god's power1 wherein lies all our hope1 as indeed it must be the hope of every true servant of ,christ4 ,but ,i call attention to these facts not to reproach any ,church4 ,far from it4 ,i simply desire to point out one reason for thinking ourselves justified in anticipating for the ,army a future influence far beyond anything we have yet experienced4 ,recent 'defences' of ,christian revelation have1 in our view1 been far more seriously damaging than any attacks that have ever been made from the hostile camp4 ,in the hope--a vain hope--of conciliating opposition1 there has too often been a timid surrender of much that can alone give authority to ,christian testimony4 ,if ,jesus ,christ was not competent to decide the truth or untruth of the ,divine revelation1 which ,he fully and constantly endorsed as such1 how absurd it is to suppose that any eulogies of ,his character can save ,him from the just contempt of all fearless thinkers1 no matter to what nationality they belong4 ,the ,army finds itself already1 and every year seems more and more likely to find itself1 the only firm and unalterable witness to the truth of ,christ and of ,his redeeming work in many neighbourhoods and districts1 among them even some wide stretches of ,christian territory4 ,and the times can only bring upon us1 it seems to me1 more and more the scrutiny of all who wish to know whether the declarations of the ,scriptures as to ,god's work in men are or are not reliable4 ,this1 then1 however melancholy the reflection may be--and to me it is in some aspects melancholy indeed--assures to us a future of far wider importance and influence than any we have dreamed of in the past4 ,our strength1 as your book eloquently shows1 in dealing with the deepest sunken1 the forgotten1 the outcasts of society1 the pariahs and lepers of modern life2 has ever been our absolute certainty with regard to ,christ's love and power to help them4 ,how much greater must of necessity be the value and influence of our testimony where the very existence of ,christ and ,his salvation becomes a matter of doubt and dispute6 ,here1 at any rate1 is one reason which leads me to believe that the ,salvation ,army has before it a future of the highest moment to the world4 ,,iii ,in relation to other religious bodies1 our position is marvellously altered from the time when they nearly all1 if not quite all1 denounced us4 ,i do not think that any of the ,churches in any part of the world do this now1 although no doubt individuals here and there are still bitterly hostile to us4 ,in the ,united ,states and in many of the ,british ,colonies the ,churches welcome our help1 and generally speak well of our work2 and even many ,roman ,catholic leaders1 as well as authorities of the ,jewish faith1 may be included in this statement4 ,on the ,continent there are signs that they are slowly turning the same way4 ,now1 ,i confidently expect a steady extension of this feeling towards us as the ,churches come more and more to recognize that we not only do not attack them1 but that we are actually auxiliaries to their forces1 not only gaining our audiences and recruits from those who are outside their ministrations1 but even serving them by doing work for their adherents which for a variety of reasons they find it very difficult1 if not impossible1 to accomplish themselves4 ,at the same time it would be a mistake to think that we have any desire to adopt any of their methods or ceremonials4 ,we keep everywhere to our simple and non-ecclesiastical habits1 and while we certainly have some very significant and impressive ceremonials of our own1 the way our buildings are fitted1 the style of our songs and music1 and the character of our prayers and public talking are everywhere entirely distinctive1 and are nowhere in any danger of coming into serious competition with the worship adopted by the ,churches4 ,some of our leading ,officers think that in one respect our relations to the ,churches1 their pastors1 and people are unsatisfactory4 ,in the ,united ,states it is customary for the clergy and leaders of every ,church to treat our leaders with the most manifest sympathy and respect4 ,but there is far too marked a contrast between that treatment and that which we receive in many other countries4 ,there are1 of course1 splendid exceptions4 ,still few members of any ,church are willing to be seen in active association with us4 ,i daresay this is very largely a question of class or caste1 and ,i am very far from making it a matter of complaint4 ,we would1 in fact1 far rather that our people should be regarded as outcasts1 than that they should be tempted to tone down the directness of their witness1 or that they should come under the influence of those uncertainties and misgivings to which ,i have already made reference4 ,nevertheless1 it is certainly no wish of ours that there should remain any distance between us and any true followers of ,christ by whatever name they may be called4 ,and so we keep firmly1 even where it may seem difficult or impolitic to do so1 to our original attitude of entire friendliness with all those who name the ,name of ,christ4 ,i give a few figures bearing upon the present extent of our operations3-- ,number of ,countries and ,colonies occupied by the ,salvation ,army #ef ,languages in which the ,work is carried on #cc ,corps1 ,circles1 and ,societies of ,salvationists #h1gfh ,number of persons wholly supported by and employed in ,salvation ,army ,work #ba1cij ,of those1 with ,rank #af1bbj ,without ,rank #e1agj ,number of ,training ,colleges for ,officers and workers #ce ,providing accommodation for #a1hff ,,social ,,operations4-- ,number of ,institutions #ied ,number of ,officers and ,cadets employed #b1egc ,number of ,local ,officers1 voluntary and unpaid #fj1bfj ,,number ,,of ,,periodicals #gd ,these ,periodicals are published in twenty-one languages1 and have a total circulation per issue of about one million copies4 ,,appendix ,b ,,the ,,salvation ,,army',s ,,articles ,,of ,,war ,,having received with all my heart the salvation offered to me by the tender mercy of ,jehovah1 ,i do here and now publicly acknowledge ,god to be my ,father and ,king1 ,jesus ,christ to be my ,saviour1 and the ,holy ,spirit to be my ,guide1 ,comforter1 and ,strength2 and that ,i will1 by ,his help1 love1 serve1 worship1 and obey this glorious ,god through time and through eternity1 ,,believing solemnly that the ,salvation ,army has been raised up by ,god1 and is sustained and directed by ,him1 ,i do here declare my full determination1 by ,god's help1 to be a true ,soldier of the ,army till ,i die4 ,i am thoroughly convinced of the truth of the ,army's teaching4 ,i believe that repentance towards ,god1 faith in our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 and conversion by the ,holy ,spirit are necessary to salvation1 and that all men may be saved4 ,i believe that we are saved by grace1 through faith in our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 and he that believeth hath the witness of it in himself4 ,i have got it4 ,thank ,god6 ,i believe that the ,scriptures were given by inspiration of ,god1 and that they teach that not only does continuance in the favour of ,god depend upon continued faith in and obedience to ,christ1 but that it is possible for those who have been truly converted to fall away and be eternally lost4 ,i believe that it is the privilege of all ,god's people to be wholly sanctified1 and that 'their whole spirit and soul and body' may 'be preserved blameless unto the coming of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1' ,that is to say1 ,i believe that after conversion there remain in the heart of the believer inclinations to evil1 or roots of bitterness1 which1 unless overpowered by divine grace1 produce actual sin2 but these evil tendencies can be entirely taken away by the ,spirit of ,god1 and the whole heart1 thus cleansed from anything contrary to the will of ,god1 or entirely sanctified1 will then produce the fruit of the ,spirit only4 ,and ,i believe that persons thus entirely sanctified may1 by the power of ,god1 be kept unblameable and unreprovable before ,him4 ,i believe in the immortality of the soul2 in the resurrection of the body2 in the general judgment at the end of the world2 in the eternal happiness of the righteous2 and in the everlasting punishment of the wicked4 ,,therefore1 ,i do here and now1 and for ever1 renounce the world with all its sinful pleasures1 companionships1 treasures1 and objects1 and declare my full determination boldly to show myself a soldier of ,jesus ,christ in all places and companies1 no matter what ,i may have to suffer1 do1 or lose1 by so doing4 ,i do here and now declare that ,i will abstain from the use of all intoxicating liquors1 and from the habitual use of opium1 laudanum1 morphia1 and all other baneful drugs1 except when in illness such drugs shall be ordered for me by a doctor4 ,i do here and now declare that ,i will abstain from the use of all low or profane language2 from the taking of the name of ,god in vain2 and from all impurity1 or from taking part in any unclean conversation1 or the reading of any obscene book or paper at any time1 in any company1 or in any place4 ,i do here declare that ,i will not allow myself in any falsehood1 deceit1 misrepresentation1 or dishonesty2 neither will ,i practise any fraudulent conduct in my business1 my home1 nor in any other relation in which ,i may stand to my fellow-men1 but that ,i will deal truthfully1 fairly1 honourably1 and kindly with all those who may employ me1 or whom ,i may myself employ1 ,i do here declare that ,i will never treat any woman1 child1 or other person1 whose life1 comfort1 or happiness may be placed within my power1 in an oppressive1 cruel or cowardly manner1 but that ,i will protect such from evil and danger so far as ,i can1 and promote to the utmost of my ability their present welfare and eternal salvation4 ,i do here declare that ,i will spend all the time1 strength1 money1 and influence ,i can in supporting and carrying on this war1 and that ,i will endeavour to lead my family1 friends1 neighbours1 and all others whom ,i can influence1 to do the same1 believing that the sure and only way to remedy all the evils in the world is by bringing men to submit themselves to the ,government of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,i do here declare that ,i will always obey the lawful orders of my ,officers1 and that ,i will carry out to the utmost of my powers all the orders and regulations of the ,army2 and further that ,i will be an example of faithfulness to its principles1 advance to the utmost of my ability its operations1 and never allow1 where ,i can prevent it1 any injury to its interests1 or hindrance to its success4 ,,and ,i do here and now call upon all present to witness that ,i enter into this undertaking1 and sign these ,articles of ,war of my own free will1 feeling that the love of ,christ1 who died to save me1 requires from me this devotion of my life to ,his service for the salvation of the whole world1 and therefore wish now to be enrolled as a ,soldier of the ,salvation ,army4 ,signed444444444444444444444444444444444 4444444444 ,image 7full ,christian and ,surname7 ,address44444444444444444444444444444444 44444444 ,date444444444444444444444444 ,corps4444444444444 ,,appendix ,c ,,copy ,,of ,,the ,,salvation ,,army ,,balance ,,sheet1 ,,extracted ,,from ,,the ,,forty-,,third ,,annual ,,statements ,,of ,,account ,,for ,,the ,,year ,,ending ,,september #cj1 #aiji4 ,copies of this ,balance ,sheet with ,statements of ,account can be had upon application4 ,the ,balance ,sheet and ,statements of ,account for the year ending ,september #cj1 #aiaj1 will be posted from the press early next year4 ,the ,balance ,sheet of ,the ,army's ,social ,fund can be obtained from the ,secretary4 ,,liabilities ,,dr4 s4 d4 ,,to ,,loans ,,upon ,,mortgage1 including accrued ,interest #edj1bgg #c #aa ,,loans ,,for ,,fixed ,,periods1 including accrued ,interest #aba1ieh #h #a ,,reserve ,,funds1 including ,general and ,special ,reserves #agf1adc #ae ,,sundry ,,creditors #aj1cei #c #b ,,colonial ,,and ,,foreign ,,territories ,,fund #ee1bai #aj #g ,,self-,,denial ,,fund 7,balance7 #c1dfc #ab #c ---------------- ,carried ,forward #ijg1fba #ac #a_/b ,,assets ,,cr4 s4 d4 s4 d4 ,,by ,,freehold and ,,leasehold ,,property 7at or below cost7 in the ,united ,kingdom1 as on ,september #cj1 #aijh #a1jff1ibc #af #b-a_/b ,additions during the year #bc1bga #d #f -------------------- #a1jij1aie #b #h-a_/b ,freehold ,estate in ,australia #aj1cge #c #f ----------------- #a1ajj1ega #f #d-a_/b ,,investments1 including ,investment of ,reserve and ,sinking ,funds #aif1dab #i #b ,,furniture and ,,fittings at ,headquarters1 ,officers' ,quarters1 and ,training ,college1 as on ,september #cj1 #aijh #e1dab #af #a ,additions during the year #b1gfh #i #e-a_/b --------------- #h1aha #e #f-a_/b ,less ,depreciation #b1dcc #ai #i --------------- #e1gdh #e #i-a_/b ----------------- ,carried forward #a1hjb1gcb #a #d ,,balance ,,sheet--continued ,,dr4 ,brought forward #ijg1fba #ac #j-a_/b ,to ,the ,salvation ,army ,fund1 as per last ,balance ,sheet #daa1gja #j #f-a_/d ,donations and ,subscriptions ,for ,capital ,purposes 7including building ,contributions1 #bj1jdd #js4 #b;d47 #cg1jdd #f #b ,general ,income and ,expenditure ,account 7,balance7 #a1cji #ag #h-a_/b ---------------------------------------- ------------------------------ #dej1jfd #ah #d-a_/b ----------------- #a1ceg1gjf #aa #e ,,cr4 ,brought forward #a1cjb1gcb #a #d ,by ,loans ,trade ,headquarters ,fund #bg1ijb #af #e ,sundry ,colonial and ,foreign ,territories #h1fjf #af #j ------------ #cd1ejf #ab #e ,sundry ,debtors #ah1cfj #aj #d ,cash at ,bank #b1ajg #g #d --------------- #a1ceg1gjf #aa #e ,we have examined the above ,statement with the ,books1 ,accounts1 and ,vouchers relating thereto1 and certify the same to be correct4 ,we have also verified the ,bank balances and ,investments4 ,,knox1 ,,cropper ,,co41 ,chartered ,accountants4 #af ,,finsbury ,,circus1 ,e4,c4 ,december #ca1 #aiji4 ,,appendix ,d ,a ,,few ,,figures ,,showing ,,some ,,of ,,the ,,work ,,of ,,the ,,darkest ,,england ,,scheme ,,in ,,the ,,united ,,kingdom4 ,,to ,,september #cj1 #aiji ,,during ,,total ,,to #aiaj ,,sept4 #cj1 #aiaj ,number of ,meals supplied at ,cheap ,food ,dpts #fi1ghd1dhj #f1hfi1hig #gf1fed1cgg ,number of ,cheap ,lodgings for the ,homeless #bg1hej1fgd #b1dde1cjj #cj1bie1igd ,number of ,meetings held in ,shelters #adj1gdg #h1ffj #adi1djg ,number of ,applications from ,unemployed registered at ,labour ,bureaux #cjb1ech #ac1jji #cae1edg ,number received into ,factories #fc1fid #f1ged #gj1ddh ,number for whom ,employment 7temporary or permanent7 has been found #bdi1dec #bj1baj #bfi1ffc ,number of ,ex-,criminals received into ,homes #h1hdj #daf #i1bef ,number of ,ex-,criminals assisted1 restored to ,friends1 sent to situations1 etc4 #g1hhf #a1aff #i1jeb ,number of ,applications for ,lost ,persons #dd1jja #b1abj #df1aba ,number of ,lost ,persons found #ac1gaj #cih #ad1ajh ,number of ,women and ,girls received into ,rescue ,homes #dd1dag #c1fgi #dh1jif ,number of ,women and ,girls received into ,rescue ,homes who were sent to ,situations1 restored to ,friends1 etc4 #cg1afh #c1cdf #dj1ead ,number of ,families visited in ,slums #iih1jgi #aji1gej #a1ajg1hbi ,number of ,families prayed with #egg1eej #fd1ada #fda1fia ,number of ,public-houses visited #fcj1jba #cc1ahh #ffc1bji ,number of ,lodging-houses visited #ag1ccj #c1deg #bj1ghg ,number of ,lodging-house ,meetings held #g1cai #a1gib #i1aaa ,number of ,sick ,people visited and nursed #ic1bcc #ba1iab #aae1ade ,,notes3 #a3 ,see ,appendix ,c #b3 ,the following extract from the recently issued ',report of the ,commissioners of ,prisons and the ,directors of ,convict ,prisons1' for the year ended ,march #ca1 #aiaj1 ,part ,i ,cd4 #ecfj1 published since the above was written1 sets out the present views of the ,authorities on this important matter3-- ',out of the present inmates of convict prisons over #dj per cent have been previously in penal servitude1 viz4 out of #c1jdf male convicts in convict prisons1 #a1bec had been previously sentenced to penal servitude1 #fgb once1 #bga twice1 #aif three times1 and #aad four times or more4 ,mr4 ,secretary ,churchill has referred to us the question whether1 and in what way1 it would be possible to make any impression on this roll of recidivism--this unyielding corpus of habitual crime4 ,the problem is never absent from the minds of those responsible for the administration of prisons and the treatment of crime1 and during recent years great efforts have been made to improve the machinery of assistance on discharge1 fully impressed as we are with the truth of the old ,french saying1 ,le difficile ce n'est pas emprisoner un homme1 c'est de le relcher4 ,we have tried to avail ourselves fully of the resources offered by such powerful agencies as the ,church ,army1 ,salvation ,army1 as well as other societies who have for years operated in this particular field of charitable effort4 ,we recognize the ready help given by all these agencies4 ,no doubt by their efforts many difficult and unpromising cases have been rehabilitated2 but after full consideration we have come to the opinion that the task of rehabilitation in the case of men returning to freedom after a sentence of penal servitude is too difficult and too costly to be left entirely to voluntary societies1 unaided by any grant of public funds1 and working independently of each other at a problem where unity of method and direction is above all things required4 ,mr4 ,secretary ,churchill1 to whom these views have been represented1 at once agreed that the difficulty lay in this question of discharge1 and that the official authority1 acting in close and friendly co-operation with the voluntary societies must take a more active part than hitherto in controlling the passage into free life of a man emerging from penal servitude4 444 ,a plan is now under consideration for establishing a ,central ,agency of ,control for ,discharged ,convicts1 on which both the official and unofficial element will be represented1 with a subsidy from public funds1 the purpose of which will be to take in hand the guidance and direction of every convict on the day of discharge' 7pp4 #ae1 #af74 #c3 ,see ,parliamentary ,blue ,book ,cd4 #befb4 #d3 ,the scale of pay in the ,salvation ,array for ,officers in charge of ,corps 7or ,stations7 is as follows3--,for ,single ,men3 ,lieutenants1 #afs4 weekly2 ,captains1 #ahs4 weekly4 ,for ,single ,women3 ,lieutenants1 #abs4 weekly2 ,captains1 #aes4 weekly4 ,for ,married ,men1 #bgs4 per week and #as4 per week for each child under #g years of age1 and #bs4 per week for each child between the ages of #g and #ad4 ,furnished lodgings are provided in addition4 #e3 ,but the day before this proof came into my hands it was my duty to help to try a case illustrative of these remarks4 ,in that case a girl when only just over the age of sixteen had been seduced by a young man and borne a son4 ,first the father admitted parentage and promised marriage4 ,then he denied parentage1 and1 apparently without a shadow of evidence1 alleged that the child was the result of an incestuous intercourse between its mother and a relative4 ,at the trial1 having1 it seemed1 come to the conclusion that this wicked slander would not enable him to escape an affiliation order1 he again frankly admitted his parentage4 ,in the country districts1 at any rate1 such examples are common4--,h4 ,r4 ,h4 #f3 ,the loss is being reduced annually1 that for the financial year which has just closed being the lowest on record4 #g3 ,see ,appendix ,a #h3 ,on this and other points see the ,salvation ,army's ',articles of ,war1' ,appendix ,b4 ,,index ,affiliation ,orders1 #ia1 #aji-aaj4 ',ann ,fowler' ,home1 #aff1 #afh4 ,anti-,suicide ,bureau1 #aea-afd4 ,ardenshaw ,women's ,home1 ,glasgow1 #ahh4 ,argyll1 ,duchess of1 #ajc4 ',articles of ,war1' #beg4 ,australia1 #ad1 #hc4 ,balance-sheet for #aiji1 #bfj-bfa4 ,barlow1 ,sir ,thomas1 #abc4 ,barnardo1 ,the late ,dr41 #ga1 #gc1 #bcc4 ,blackfriars ,shelter1 #da4 ,booth1 ,general1 #g1 #aj-ab1 #ad-ah1 #eg1 #fa1 #fc1 #he1 #ig1 #bjj-bja1 #bjf1 #bjh-bag1 #bbc4 ,booth1 ,mr4 ,bramwell1 #bah-bbe4 ,booth1 ,mrs4 ,bramwell1 #hg1 #hi1 #ia-ic1 #ie1 #add4 ,boxted ,small ,holdings1 #fi1 #bjj-bjg4 ,british ,government1 ,the1 and ,colonial ,land ,scheme1 #hb4 ,canada1 #ad1 #hb-hf4 ,carrington1 ,earl1 #bjf4 ,central ,labour ,bureau1 #ge4 ,chief of the ,staff1 ,the3 see ,mr4 ,bramwell ,booth4 ,cox1 ,commissioner1 #if1 #ih1 #aai1 #abj4 ,criminals in ,england1 #fa4 ,crossley1 ,mrs41 #agf4 ,drink1 #cg4 ,duke ,street1 ,glasgow1 #ahh4 ,edinburgh1 #agi4 ,embankment ,soup ,distribution1 #bb1 #ci1 #dj4 ,emigration ,department1 #hj2 ,emigration ,board1 #he4 ,employers' ,liability ,act1 #ch4 ,ex-,criminals1 #ed4 ,first ,offenders ,act1 #afh4 ,free ,breakfast ,service1 #da4 ,future of the ,salvation ,army1 ,notes on1 #bcg4 ,glasgow1 #afe1 #agh-ahb1 #aib4 ,government ,labour ,bureaux1 #ge-gf4 ,government ,subsidy1 #eg4 ,great ,peter ,st4 ,shelter1 #cc1 #aeg4 ,great ,titchfield ,st41 #id1 #adj1 #aej4 ,hadleigh ,land ,colony1 #gf1 #ahb1 #ahd1 #aid1 #aih1 #aii4 ,hanbury ,st4 ,workshop1 #fe-gj4 ,herring1 ,the late ,mr4 ,george1 #ai1 #bjj1 #bja1 #bjg1 #bab4 ,hillsborough ,house ,inebriates' ,home1 #ih1 #ajb1 #abb4 ,hollies1' ',the1 #afh1 #afi4 ,home ,office1 ,the1 #ee4 ,iliffe1 ,lieut4-,colonel1 #bjd4 ,impressions of ,general ,booth1 #bjh4 ,india1 #bc4 ,inebriates' ,home1 ,the1 ,springfield ,lodge1 #abb4 ,international ,investigation ,department1 #gg4 ,ivy ,house ,maternity ,hospital1 #ajg4 ,java1 #bcc4 ,jolliffe1 ,lieut4-,colonel1 #da1 #adh1 #ahe-ahf1 #aij-aia4 ,king ,edward ,hospital ,fund1 #bja4 ,labour ,bureau1 ,central1 ,whitechapel1 #ge2 ,statistics1 #gf4 ,labour ,party and ,trade4 ,unions1 #fe1 #he-hf4 ,lamb1 ,colonel1 #ha1 #hc-he4 ,lambert1 ,colonel1 #aae4 ,land ,colony1 ,hadleigh1 #aid4 ,laudanum-drinking1 #abd1 #ahc4 ,laurie1 ,lieut4-,colonel1 #aid-aif4 ,laurier1 ,sir ,wilfrid1 #hb4 ,liverpool1 #afe4 ,london ,county ,council1 #abi4 ,london ,maternity ,home1 #afi4 ,lorne ,house1 #ajc1 #aje4 ,manchester1 #afe2 ,social ,institutions1 #agb4 ,maternity ,home1 ,lorne ,house1 ,stoke ,newington1 #ajc4 ,maternity ,home1 ,brent ,house1 ,hackney1 #aje-ajf4 ,maternity ,hospital1 ,hackney1 #aje1 #ajg2 ,liverpool1 #aga4 ,maternity ,hospital1 ,new1 required1 #agj4 ,men's ,social ,work1 ,glasgow1 #agh2 ,london1 #ai1 #fe2 ,manchester1 #aga4 ,middlesex ,street ,shelter1 #ai4 ,midnight ,work1 ,social1 #id4 ,needs1 ,our1 #bce4 ,nest1' ',the1 ,clapton1 #aab4 ,oakhill ,house1 ,manchester1 #agf4 ,old-,age ,pensions ,act1 #acj4 ,paris1 #ic4 ,parliamentary ,committee of the ,trade ,unions1 #fe4 ,penitent ,form1 ,the1 #df-dh1 #ea1 #bcj4 ,pentonville ,prison1 #ef4 ,piccadilly ,midnight ,work1 #adj4 ,prevention of ,cruelty to ,children1 ,society for the1 #bcc4 ,princess ,louise1 ,h4,r4,h41 #ajc4 ,prison ,act1 ,the ,new1 #fc4 ,prison ,reform1 #fb1 #fc 7note74 ,prison ,visitation1 #ee1 #ahh4 ,prisoners' ,aid ,society1 #ahj4 ,quaker ,street1 #ed4 ,religion of the ,salvation ,army1 ,note on the1 #bbi4 ,rescue ,home1 ,the1 #aag4 ',revivalism6' #di4 ,roosevelt1 ,mr4 #bad-bae4 ',rural ,england1' #aj4 ,sacraments1 ,the1 #bcj4 ,salvation ,army1 ,some ,statistics of the1 #i-aj4 ,scale of pay1 ,officers'1 #ij 7note74 ,scotland1 #aca1 #agi4 ,slum ,settlement1 ,the ,hackney ,road1 #aca4 ,slum ,sisters1 #hh2 ,some ,statistics of their work1 #aca4 ,small ,holdings1 #bjj-bjg4 ,southwood1 ,sydenham1 #abf4 ,spa ,road ,elevator1 #bg1 #df1 #gi4 ,sturge ,house1 #ga-gd4 ,sturgess1 ,commissioner1 #ai1 #cf1 #dg1 #ed1 #ee1 #eg1 #ahf4 ,sweating1 ,charges of1 refuted1 #bh1 #ff1 #abj-aba4 ,titchfield ,street ,home1 ,the1 #adj1 #ade1 #aej4 ,trade ,unions and rate of ,wages1 #ae-af4 ,training ,institute for ,women ,social ,workers1 ,the1 #aae4 ,unsworth1 ,colonel1 #aee1 #aeg1 #afj1 #afd4 ,vegetarianism1 #ii1 #aac-aad4 ,visitation of prisoners by ,salvation ,army ,officers1 #ee-ef4 ,wandsworth ,prison1 #ef4 ,waste ,paper ,department1 ,spa ,road1 #bg1 #ca1 #eb2 ,manchester1 #agb2 ,glasgow1 #ahj4 ,white ,slave ,traffic1 #hg1 #ic4 ,whitechapel1 #gb1 #ge1 #ie1 #acb1 #adb4 ,women's ,industrial ,home1 ,hackney1 #aai2 ,sydenham1 #abf4 ,women's ,shelter1 #abi4 ,women's ,social ,work1 ,london1 #hg2 ,headquarters1 #if4