,illustration3 ,,the ,,marechale 99,,the ,,marechale99 7,,catherine ,,booth-,,clibborn7 ,,by ,,james ,,strahan ,,author ,,of ,,hebrew ,,ideals1 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,job1 ,,etc4 ,,hodder ,,stoughton ,,new ,,york ,,george ,h4 ,,doran ,,company ,,copyright1 #aiad1 ,,by ,,george ,h4 ,,doran ,,company ,the right of translation is reserved ,dedicated ,,with ,,reverence ,,and ,,affection ,,to ,,theodore ,,monod ,,who ,,taught ,,us ,,to ,,say ,,to ,,our ,,divine ,,master ,,none ,,of ,,self ,,and ,,all ,,of ,,thee 99,,preface99 ,this book is the unexpected result of a brief visit which the ,marechale paid her daughter and the writer in the spring of this year4 ,she was daily persuaded1 not so much to talk of the past1 as to live parts of her life over again1 for in her case the telling of a story is the enacting of a drama4 ,at a meal-time she rarely keeps her seat1 though she is apparently unconscious of leaving it and surprised that she requires to return to it4 ,she begins to describe an incident1 to recall a conversation1 to sketch a character1 and straightway she is suiting the word to the action1 the action to the word1 holding the mirror up to nature1 using her brilliant dramatic gift1 which is as natural to her as singing is to birds1 to call up faces1 to bring back voices1 to restore scenes1 which are all1 whether grave or gay1 summoned out of a dead past that has suddenly1 as by the wave of a magician's wand1 become once more alive4 ,one day ,i said to her1 ,have you never thought of giving all this to the world8 ,she answered1 ,i am often asked to do so1 and some day ,i may4 ,soon after she surprised me by saying1 ,i have come to the conclusion that something ought to be written now1 and you must write it4 ,a mass of materials in ,english1 ,french and ,german--reports1 letters1 diaries1 magazines1 and other documents--has therefore been put at my disposal4 ,i have not used a tithe of what ,i have received1 and much of what is left is as good as what has been taken4 ,more will ere long1 ,i doubt not1 see the light4 ,one of my best sources of information has been the ,marechale's own phenomenal memory1 which ,i have tested times without number1 and found invariably accurate1 except in dates4 ,events are apt to be associated in her mind not so much with years as with homes and children1 which are much more interesting4 ,with regard to the subject of the fourteenth chapter1 the ,marechale would have preferred not to break the silence which she has maintained for a number of years1 but after reading her letters and diaries ,i have urged her to let a brief statement be published1 first because ,i feel that she owes something to her old comrades in the fight1 and second for the sake of her own and her family's future work4 ,members of the family who have been consulted1 as well as other friends1 desire this even more strongly than the writer does4 ,this book consists of a few sections from a life which1 like ,mrs4 ,browning's pomegranate1 shows within a heart blood-tinctured4 ,to a heart of love add a spirit of fire1 and you have the ,marechale4 ,blood and fire--that is what she was at the beginning1 and that is what she will be to the end4 ,one has often heard her say that she has never been more in her element than when1 on entering some town1 she has found herself confronted1 in a theater or casino1 by all the devils of the place4 ,she is happy whenever ,jesus is going to have a chance for a night4 ,in the natural course of things her greatest battles are still before her4 ,england has need of her1 ,france perhaps still greater need4 ,may it be long before the ,marechale reaches her last campaign6 ,meanwhile the old battle-cry1 ,en ,avant6 ,the subject of this sketch--written during a brief respite from other work--is at present far away1 but ,i know that what she desires to give to the world is a sense of the ,divine1 the miracle-working power which rewards a child-like faith1 and that she will be glad if every reader closes the book with a ,gloire a ,dieu6 ,j4 ,s4 99,,contents99 ,,chapter ,i ,finely ,touched to ,fine ,issues ,,chapter ,,ii ,a ,girl ,evangelist ,,chapter ,,iii ,the ,secret of ,evangelism ,,chapter ,,iv ,christ in ,paris ,,chapter ,v ,freedom to ,worship ,god ,,chapter ,,vi ,the ,soul of ,france ,,chapter ,,vii ,woman's ,vocation ,,chapter ,,viii ,the ,renunciation of ,home ,,chapter ,,ix ,the ,friendship of ,christ ,,chapter ,x ,the ,burning ,question ,,chapter ,,xi ,the ,prodigal ,son ,,chapter ,,xii ,so ,great ,faith ,,chapter ,,xiii ,beauty for ,ashes ,,chapter ,,xiv ,to ,thine ,own ,self ,be ,true ,,chapter ,,xv ,sursum ,corda6 99,,list ,,of ,,portraits99 ,the ,marechale 4 4 4 ,frontispiece ,catherine ,booth 4 4 4 #cb 7,from a drawing by ,edward ,clifford1 exhibited in the ,royal ,academy and presented to ,mrs4 ,booth7 ,the ,marechale in the ,cafe 4 4 4 #aad 7,from the painting of ,baron ,cederstroem7 ,the ,marechale 4 4 4 #afj 7,from a photo taken in ,paris1 circa #ahij7 ,the ,marechale 4 4 4 #cjb 7,from a photo taken in ,london in #aiac7 99,,chapter ,i99 99,,finely ,,touched ,,to ,,fine ,,issues99 ,in the summer of #ahfe ,william ,booth1 ,evangelist1 found his life-work4 ,for some time back his imagination had been more than usually active4 ,he could not help thinking that all his past efforts had been but tentative solutions of a difficult problem4 ,he felt the spur of a vague discontent4 ,he seemed to be groping his way towards an unrealised ideal4 ,at length he got the inner light he needed4 ,while he was conducting a series of meetings in a tent pitched on the disused ,quaker burying-ground at ,baker's ,row1 ,whitechapel1 he saw his heavenly vision and heard his divine call4 ,he accepted a mission which was no less real than those of ,hebrew ,prophets and ,christian ,apostles4 ,the words in which he describes his vocation form part of the history of ,christianity in ,england4 ,i found my heart1 he says1 strongly and strangely drawn out on behalf of the million people living within a mile of the tent1 ninety out of every hundred of whom1 they told me1 never heard the sound of the preacher's voice from year to year4 ',here is a sphere6' was being whispered continually in my inward ear by an inward voice 444 and ,i was continually haunted with a desire to offer myself to ,jesus ,christ as an apostle for the heathen of ,east ,london4 ,the idea or heavenly vision or whatever you may call it overcame me2 ,i yielded to it2 and what has happened since is1 ,i think1 not only my justification1 but an evidence that my offer was accepted4 ,thus it was that on a memorable ,june night1 having ended his meeting and after-meeting1 he rushed home1 tired as usual1 but with a strange light in his face which indicated an unusual glow in his heart4 ,darling1 he exclaimed to his wife1 ,i have found my destiny6 ,his unexpected words1 like the touch of ,ithuriel's spear1 proved the quality of his life-mate's womanhood4 ,for a moment she trembled under the test4 ,while her husband poured out his burning words about the heathenism of ,london1 and expressed his conviction that it was his duty to stop and preach to these ,east ,end multitudes1 she sat gazing into the empty fireplace4 ,the voice of the tempter--so she imagined--whispered to her1 ,this means another new departure1 another start in life4 ,she thought of five little heads asleep on their pillows upstairs1 and remembered that she had already passed through more than one time of domestic anxiety4 ,but no woman living at that time was more ready for acts of daring faith2 few1 if any1 were so animated by scorn of miserable aims that end in self4 ,after silently thinking and praying for some minutes1 she said3 ,well1 if you feel you ought to stay1 stay4 ,we have trusted the ,lord once for our support and we can trust ,him again4 ,thus the die was cast1 and the day ended with one of those scenes by which our common humanity is ennobled4 ,together1 he says1 we humbled ourselves before ,god1 and dedicated our lives to the task that it seemed we had been praying for for twenty-five years4 ,her heart came over to my heart4 ,we resolved that this poor1 submerged1 giddy1 careless people should henceforth become our people and our ,god their ,god as far as we could induce them to accept ,him1 and for this end we would face poverty1 persecution1 or whatever ,providence might permit in our consecration to what we believed to be the way ,god had mapped out for us4 ,one feels perfectly certain that these two modern apostles would have fulfilled their destiny even if they had stood alone2 but it could scarcely have been so ample and glorious a destiny if ,god had not given them children who inherited their gifts and helped them to realise their ideals4 ,it is the simple truth that the ruling passion of each of their eight sons and daughters has been the love of souls2 each of them has exulted to spend and be spent in the service of ,christ1 which is the service of humanity2 and if one of them has been too feeble in her health to be a militant ,salvationist1 the great ,captain of our salvation accepts the will for the deed4 ,among all the bold and original acts by which the breath and the flame of a new life have been brought into the modern ,church1 none is more striking1 and yet none more simple and natural1 than the revival1 after all these centuries1 of the apostolic ministry of women4 ,like ,philip the ,evangelist of ,caesarea1 ,william and ,catherine ,booth had four daughters who did prophesy2 brave and gifted ,english girls who1 baptised with the ,holy ,spirit1 used their dower of burning eloquence to bring sinners to the mercy-seat4 ,if to-day the women that publish the tidings are a great host1 the fact illustrates the power of example4 ,in every new movement there must be daring pioneers and self-sacrificing leaders4 ,for woman's liberty of prophesying1 as for every other form of freedom1 the price has had to be paid4 ,the purpose of this little book is to sketch the life of the eldest of ,general ,booth's four daughter-evangelists1 who was called to carry the spirit of the ,gospel--,christ's own spirit of love--first into many of the cities of ,england1 and afterwards1 in fulfilment of her distinctive life-work1 into ,france and ,switzerland1 ,holland and ,belgium4 ,if her story could be told as it deserves to be1 it would stand out as one of the most remarkable modern records of ,christian work1 for there is perhaps no one living to-day who has seen so much of what ,henry ,drummond used to call the contemporary activities of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,catherine ,booth the elder1 the ,mother of the ,army1 was already in her thirty-second year when she wrote her famous brochure upon ,female ,ministry1 and1 not without fear and trembling1 delivered her first evangelistic address in the ,bethesda ,chapel at ,gateshead-on-,tyne1 where her husband was minister4 ,little ,catherine1 who had been baptised in that chapel1 was in her second year when her mother began public speaking1 and in her seventh when her father found his destiny4 ,probably no child ever had greater privileges than she enjoyed4 ,her earthly home was a house of ,god and a gate of heaven2 and from the first she seemed to respond to all that was highest and best in her environment4 ,she was one of those happy souls who have no memory of their conversion1 who cannot recall a time when they did not heartily love the ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,her father was the centre of all her childish thoughts and most vivid recollections1 and nothing could ever really dislodge him from the first place in her affections4 ,an interesting page from her earliest memories may be reproduced4 ,when she was three or four years old1 her father was a ,wesleyan ,pastor in ,cornwall1 where his ministry led to a revival in which hundreds of souls found salvation4 ,one night ,katie was taken by her nurse to the meeting1 and1 on arrival1 found herself before a flight of steps leading up to the gallery4 ,thinking herself quite a big girl1 she wished to climb1 but nurse1 fearing the crowd1 snatched her up and carried her to the top4 ,at length they were inside1 and what the child then saw and heard remained for ever vividly impressed on her imagination4 ,the great building was crammed4 ,away down on the platform stood her father1 with her mother sitting beside him4 ,he was leading the singing1 keeping time with his folded umbrella1 and this was the chorus3 ,let the winds blow high1 or the winds blow low1 ,it's a pleasant sail to ,canaan1 hallelujah6 ,how well did the eager-hearted little maid enjoy that voyage1 and how proud she was of her captain6 ,the winds blew low and the sun shone upon her in those days4 ,but it could not always be fair weather4 ,often since that far-off ,cornish time have the winds blown high1 and sometimes the mariner has felt herself tossed1 chartless and rudderless1 on dark tempestuous seas2 but ever the winds have fallen1 the sun has shone out again over the waves2 and to how many tens of thousands has this daughter of music sung1 with sweet variations1 her father's song--,it's a pleasant sail to ,canaan1 hallelujah6 ,the ,booth children were left in no mist of doubt as to their future4 ,there was an end1 a point1 a purpose1 in their life4 ,they grew up in an atmosphere of decision4 ,many children are made timid1 diffident1 ineffective by their training4 ,they are constantly told how naughty they are1 till they begin to believe that they are good for nothing4 ,the ,booth parents acted on a different principle4 ,they had faith in their children and for their children4 ,when ,katie was still a little girl in socks1 her mother would say to her1 ,now1 ,katie1 you are not here in this world for yourself4 ,you have been sent for others4 ,the world is waiting for you4 ,what a phrase that was to send a little girl to bed with6 ,there she turned the words over and over in her own mind4 ,mother says the world is waiting for me4 ,oh1 ,i must be good4444 ,how selfish ,i was in taking that orange6 ,the lesson was worth ,l#ajjj to a child4 ,in the development of ,katie's mind and character her mother's influence was naturally very strong4 ,the fellowship between them soon became peculiarly intimate1 and it was the mother's joy to find her alter ego in the daughter who bore her name4 ,katie's memories of her early ,london life were bound up with the ,christian ,mission4 ,hand in hand with her sister ,emma1 and often singing with her ,i mean with ,jesus ,christ to dwell1 will you go8 she walked every ,sunday morning along the great road leading to ,whitechapel4 ,ineffaceable impressions were made on her sensitive mind by the open-air preaching at ,mile ,end ,waste1 ,bethnal ,green and ,hackney2 by the apostolic spirit of holy enthusiasm2 by the ,friday morning prayer-meetings1 where the officers met alone to plead with ,god and wrestle in tears for more power4 ,all this became the warp and woof of her own spiritual life1 preparing her for her high calling4 ,and1 though she could not remember the day of her new birth1 she clearly recalled several times when she consecrated herself1 body and soul1 to ,god4 ,in a great whitewashed building in the ,east ,end her father preached on ,the ,king's daughters are all glorious within1 and she prayed that she might have the inner purity which would make her a child of ,god4 ,from a meeting of ,christian workers she ran home to her room1 shut herself in1 and deliberately gave her heart and life to ,christ4 ,she could not1 perhaps1 realise all that her covenant meant1 but one thing she understood--that she was called to yield herself completely to do ,his will and to save souls4 ,there was plenty of laughter and fun in that home4 ,the ,booth children were all born with the dramatic instinct1 and the spirit of the ,christian ,mission invaded the nursery4 ,not only were the great dramas of the ,bible--,joseph and his brothers1 ,david and ,goliath1 ,daniel and the lions1 and a score of others--enacted there1 but the meeting and the penitent form1 the drunkard and the backslider1 the hopeful and the desperate case were all reproduced in the plays of the children4 ,katie and ,emma brought their babies to the meeting1 and the babies generally insisted on crying1 to the despair of ,bramwell or ,ballington1 who stopped preaching to give the stern order1 ,take the babies out of the theatre1 against which the mothers indignantly protested1 ,papa would not have stopped1 papa would have gone on preaching anyhow4 ,but the dramatic masterpiece was ,ballington dealing with an interesting case--generally a pillow--coaxing1 dragging1 banging the poor reluctant penitent to the mercy-seat and exclaiming1 ,ah6 this is a good case1 bless him6 444 ,give up the drink1 brother4 ,that is a scene which is still sometimes re-enacted to the delight of new generations4 ,jesus ,himself watched the games of the children who piped and mourned in the market-place4 ,life is none the less strenuous for its interludes of mirth4 ,catherine1 who was dramatic to the finger-tips1 was very early mastered by a sense of the sacredness of duty4 ,the moral ideal set before her was the highest1 and her conscience was tremulously sensitive4 ,she was oppressed with the sense of what ought to be1 and inconsolable when she failed to attain it4 ,a word of rebuke cut her like a knife1 and she would sometimes weep far into the night if she thought she had put pleasure before duty4 ,it is a great thing to make religion real to children1 and especially to give them a sense of the obligation to please ,christ in everything4 ,mrs4 ,booth found ,katie ready to go all lengths with her1 and even to outrun her1 in her ideas of what was right and what was wrong for ,christians4 ,it is amusing to hear that when the mother was going out one day to buy new frocks for her little girls1 ,katie's words to her were not ,do buy us something pretty6 but ,mind you get something ,christian6 and that when ,mrs4 ,booth came home with her purchases1 and ,katie rushed downstairs to meet her1 the child's first inquiry was1 ,are they ,christian8 ,but the sense of duty may become morbid if it is not transmuted by love4 ,many servants of ,god never learn the secret which makes ,christ's yoke easy and ,his burden light4 ,they have to confess to themselves that they cannot say1 ,to do ,thy will1 ,o ,lord1 ,i take delight4 ,it would have been strange if any of the ,booth children had not learned the secret4 ,catherine discovered it early1 learned it thoroughly1 and it became in after years one of the hidden sources of her power4 ,as a child she lived in union with ,christ2 she practised and felt the ,real ,presence2 she understood that ,christianity is a ,divine ,service transfigured by a ,divine ,friendship4 ,in ,victoria ,park there was a shady alley where she was in the habit of walking1 because ,some ,one walked beside her6 ,in ,clifton1 where she lived for a time1 she had a tiny upper room in which she felt that she was never alone6 ,that was her childhood's religion1 which she never needed to change4 ,she found it to be utterly independent of time and place1 form and ceremony4 ,in the glare of public life1 in the storm of persecution1 in the hour of temptation and danger1 she had always a cathedral into which she could retire that she might find peace4 ,she was spiritually akin with the ,hebrew mystics who lived in the secret place of the ,most ,high1 who had at all times a pavilion from the strife of tongues4 ,in her ,neuchatel prison she wrote some simple words which sent a thrill through the heart of ,christian ,europe3 ,best ,beloved of my soul1 ,i am here alone with ,thee2 ,and my prison is a heaven1 ,since ,thou sharest it with me4 99,,chapter ,,ii99 99,a ,,girl ,,evangelist99 ,when the heart is warm and full the lips become eloquent4 ,jesus expects each of ,his followers to testify for ,him4 ,his redeemed ones should need little persuasion to plead ,his cause4 ,every genuine conversion creates a new advocate for ,his side4 ,dumbness is one of the signs of unreality in religion4 ,the sin of silence received due castigation1 in public and in private1 from the tongues of fire which the ,spirit gave to ,william and ,catherine ,booth4 ,their children therefore learned that it is every ,christian's calling to speak in season and out of season for ,christ1 to press ,his claims upon the willing and the unwilling alike4 ,katie1 it appears1 began among her little companions in the ,victoria ,park4 ,her old nurse still remembers how she would gather little groups about her and tell them of the ,saviour's love4 ,when she was in her twelfth year1 she lived for some time with a family in ,clifton1 along with whom she attended the ,church of ,england4 ,one ,sunday evening the ,vicar1 who had noticed her earnest gaze fixed on his face1 sent for her that he might have a little talk with her4 ,he asked her what she liked best in the ,bible1 and she answered ,the ,atonement4 ,he was so struck by her intelligence that he offered her a children's class1 which soon grew large4 ,week by week she talked to the little ones of sin and the ,saviour4 ,letting story-books go1 she went for their conversion4 ,having to return home on her twelfth birthday--the last day on which she could travel with a half-ticket--she told her mother of her great longing to continue her work among children4 ,her mother readily consented1 and soon there was a weekly gathering of young folk in a downstairs room of the ,gore ,road house4 ,after a while ,katie had the assistance of her sister ,emma1 who was her junior by little more than a year4 ,tears were shed1 confessions made1 and lives changed in that room4 ,and there two of the most brilliant evangelists of our time first learned to deal with souls4 ,they were in every way kindred spirits4 ,long afterwards one finds ,emma writing to ,catherine3 ,we will always be 'special sisters4' ,we were ,ma's two first girls1 and were brought up side by side--and side by side we will labour and love till we stand with our children in her presence again before the ,throne6 ,katie was thirteen when she first spoke in public4 ,no one asked her to do it2 she yielded to an irresistible inward impulse4 ,her eldest brother was conducting an open-air meeting opposite a low public-house at the corner of ,cat and ,mutton ,bridge in ,hackney4 ,katie was beside him1 and whispered1 ,i will say a few words4 ,her brother was delighted1 and she delivered her message with a directness and fluency which compelled attention and proved her a born speaker4 ,not very long after1 she spoke in the hearing of the ,general1 who wrote to his wife1 ,i don't know whether ,i told you how pleased ,i was with dear ,katie speaking in the streets on ,sunday morning4 ,it was very nice and effective4 ,bless her6 ,from this time1 says ,mr4 ,booth in a document of great importance1 she continued occasionally to speak in public meetings1 but it was not until she was between fourteen and fifteen1 when she was with me in ,ryde1 ,isle of ,wight1 that ,i fully realised and settled the question4 ,during that time my eldest son joined us for a few days1 and1 with another friend or two1 held open-air meetings2 on one of these occasions ,catherine accompanied them1 and her brother induced her to say a few words1 which it appears fell with extraordinary power upon the listening crowd of men and others1 such as usually comprise the visitors at these places4 ,on their return my son described to me the effects of her address1 but1 not being fully emancipated from my old ideas of propriety1 ,i remonstrated and urged such objections as ,i presume any other mother1 consecrated but not fully enlightened1 might have urged against her being thrust into such a public position at such an early age4 ,my son1 gazing at me with great solemnity and tenderness1 said1 ',mamma1 dear1 you will have to settle this question with ,god1 for she is as surely called and inspired by ,him for this particular work as yourself4' ,these words were ,god's message to my soul1 and helped me to pull myself up as to the ground of my objection4 ,i retired to my room1 and1 after pouring out my heart to ,god1 settled the question that henceforth ,i would raise no barrier between any of my children and the carrying out of ,his will concerning them1 trying to rejoice that they1 not less than myself1 should be counted worthy to suffer shame for ,his name4 ,from that time ,catherine's path was clearly marked out4 ,while she continued her education1 which included a special liking for ,french1 she gradually undertook more and more public work4 ,her father's delight in her ripening powers found frequent utterance1 and her companionship with him during the next six years of work is one of the most beautiful things in the literature of evangelism4 ,william1 said ,mrs4 ,booth about this time1 writes that he is utterly amazed at ,katie2 he had no idea that she could speak as she does4 ,he says that she is a born leader1 and will if she keeps right see thousands saved4444 ,praise ,his name that she can stand in my stead1 and bear ,his name to perishing souls4 ,after holding meetings in different parts of ,london1 from ,stratford and ,poplar to ,hammersmith1 ,catherine began1 just before she was seventeen1 to conduct evangelistic campaigns in many of the other great cities of ,england1 sometimes lasting three weeks or a month4 ,the largest building in the town densely crowded ,sunday after ,sunday1 and frequently on week nights as well2 hundreds of people to speak to about their souls' salvation every week2 correspondence and travel2 ceaseless labour and responsibility--these things absorbed all her energies of body and mind4 ,she was but a frail girl1 and suffered for a time from a curvature of spine1 which compelled her to lie on her back in great weakness and pain4 ,if she yet overcame1 it is evident that she was marvellously helped4 ,in #ahgf ,katie was one of the speakers at the annual ,conference in the ,people's ,hall1 ,whitechapel4 ,as she appeared on the platform1 she was described by her lifelong friend1 ,r4 ,c4 ,morgan of ,the ,christian1 as a fragile1 ladylike girl of seventeen1 half woman1 half child1 a characteristic product of the ,christian ,mission1 whose words fell like summer rain upon the upturned faces of the crowd4 ,this was the ,conference at which the epoch-making measure was adopted of appointing women evangelists to the sole charge of stations4 ,miss ,booth was reserved for general evangelistic tours4 ,it is interesting to glance through the numbers of the old ,christian ,mission ,magazine and light upon brief reports of ,catherine's work4 ,from ,hammersmith 7#ahge73 ,miss ,kate ,booth age #af spent a ,sabbath with us1 preaching twice with great acceptance4 ,a large audience was deeply impressed1 and some1 we trust1 were truly converted to ,god4 ,from ,poplar3 ,mr4 ,bramwell and ,miss ,c4 ,booth were with us4 ,on the ,sunday and ,monday evening the hall was crowded1 and some thirty souls at the two services sought salvation4444 ,on ,easter ,sunday one sister's face was cut with a stone1 and heavy stones fell upon some on many occasions of late2 but we endure as seeing ,him who is invisible4 ,from ,portsmouth3 ,miss ,booth1 assisted by ,w4 ,bramwell ,booth1 commenced a series of special services1 which ,god owned and blessed to the salvation of many precious souls4 ,in the morning ,miss ,booth preached1 and all felt it good to be there4 ,then a love-feast was conducted by ,w4 ,b4 ,booth in the afternoon4444 ,in the evening ,miss ,booth preached in the music-hall to upwards of three thousand people4 ,the ,spirit applied the ,word with power1 and seventeen broke away from the ranks of sin and enlisted under the banner of ,jesus ,christ4 ,again from ,portsmouth1 some months later3 ,we had a visit from ,miss ,booth with her brother ,mr4 ,bramwell1 and again the dear ,lord blessed their labours in this town4 ,each service was fraught with ,divine power2 many trembled under the ,word1 and anxious ones came forward seeking forgiveness of sins1 until the penitent-rail and vestry were filled with those who1 in bitterness of soul1 sought pardon and peace through ,jesus4 ,from ,limehouse 7#ahgf73 ,we had dear ,miss ,booth and her brother1 and a blessed day4 ,in the evening she preached with wonderful power1 and ten or twelve came out for ,god4 ,may they be kept faithful6 ,from ,portsmouth3 ,miss ,booth's visit was made of the ,lord a great blessing to us all4 ,very few who listened to her in the morning will forget how she pleaded with us to present our bodies a living sacrifice4 ,oh1 may ,god bless her and make her a mighty blessing1 for ,christ's sake4 ,from ,whitechapel 7#ahgg73 ,an earnest appeal was made at one of our ,sunday evening services by ,miss ,booth1 from ',run1 speak to that young man4' ,although in very delicate health1 the ,lord blessedly assisted her4 ,the word was with power1 and eleven souls decided for ,jesus1 among whom was the converted ,potman4 ,this young man was a leader in petty and mischievous annoyances4 ,the genuineness of his conversion was evidenced by his giving up the public-house work to seek more honourable employment4 ,from ,middlesbro' 7#ahgh73 ,miss ,booth visited us for five days1 and many blood-bought souls have been blessed and saved4 ,her first ,sunday with us was a day of power1 and it will not be soon forgotten by those present4 ,it was a grand sight to see a large hall filled to the door with anxious hearers1 while hundreds went away2 but the grandest sight of all was to see old and young flocking to the penitent form4 ,from ,leicester3 ,miss ,booth's services may be summarised in the statement that she had twenty-two souls the first ,sunday evening1 and increasing victory thereafter right on to the end4 ,at ,whitby there was a six weeks' campaign1 organised by ,captain ,cadman4 ,on the first ,sunday the large hall1 which holds three thousand1 was well filled1 and in the after service many souls were brought to ,jesus4 ,on the second ,sunday ,miss ,booth was listened to with breathless attention4 ,in the after service we drew the net to land1 having a multitude of fishes1 and among them we found we had caught a fox-hunter1 a dog-fancier1 drunkards1 a ,roman ,catholic1 and many others4 ,in the week-night services souls were saved every night4 ,the proprietor of the hall had got some large bills out announcing ',troupe of ,arctic ,skaters in the ,congress ,hall for a week1' but he put them off by telling them it was no use coming1 as all the town was being evangelised4 ,the concluding services drew great crowds from all parts of town and country1 rich and poor1 until the hall was so filled that there was no standing room4 ,in a ,consecration meeting1 ,after ,miss ,booth's address we formed a large ring in the centre of the hall1 which brought the power down upon us2 hundreds looked on with astonishment and tears in their eyes1 whilst others gave themselves wholly to ,god4444 ,ministers1 like ,nicodemus of old1 came to see by what power these miracles were wrought1 and1 going back to their congregations1 resolved to serve ,god better1 and to preach the gospel more faithfully in the future4 ,from ,leeds3 ,miss ,booth in the ,circus4 ,a glorious month4 ,hard-hearted sinners broken down4 ,best of all1 our own people have been getting blessedly near to ,god4 ,on ,sunday mornings love feasts from nine to ten4444 ,it would be impossible to give even an outline of the various and glorious cases of conversion that have come under our notice through the month which is past4 ,for truly ,christ has been bringing to ,his fold rich and poor1 young and old4 ,from ,cardiff3 ,the question1 ',does this work stand8' received a magnificent reply on ,sunday4 ,the crowds who filled the ,stuart ,hall1 to hear ,miss ,booth1 were the largest any one can remember seeing during all the four years of the ,mission's history there4 ,from ,king's ,lynn3 ,miss ,booth's ,mission4 ,the town has had a royal visit from the ,lord of ,lords and ,king of ,kings4 ,there has been a great awakening1 and trembling1 and turning to the ,lord4 ,whole families have been saved1 and whole courts have sought salvation4 ,our holiness meeting will never be forgotten4444 ,the work here rolls on gloriously4 ,not only in ,lynn but for miles round the town it is well known that a marvellous work has been done and is still going forward4 ,all these battles and victories were naturally followed by the ,general with intense interest1 and as often as it was possible he was at his daughter's side4 ,mrs4 ,booth joined them when they were opening a campaign together at ,stockton-on-,tees1 and sent her impressions to a friend4 ,pa and ,katie had a blessed beginning yesterday4 ,theatre crowded at night1 and fifteen cases4 ,i heard ,katie for the first time since we were at ,cardiff4 ,i was astonished at the advance she had made4 ,i wish you had been there1 ,i think you would have been as pleased as ,i was4 ,it was sweet1 tender1 forcible1 and ,divine4 ,i could only adore and weep4 ,she looked like an angel1 and the people were melted1 and spellbound like children4 ,the ,general began to call her his ,bluecher1 for she helped to win many a hard-fought battle which he might otherwise have lost4 ,when the rowdies threatened to take the upper hand at a meeting1 he would say1 ,put on ,katie1 she's our last card2 if she fails we'll close the meeting4 ,i remember1 wrote her eldest brother1 a striking instance of this occurring in a certain northern town on a ,sunday night4 ,a crowd assembled at the doors of the theatre1 composed of the lowest and roughest of the town1 who1 overpowering the doorkeepers1 pressed into the building and took complete possession of one of the galleries1 so that by the time the remainder of the theatre was occupied this portion of it represented a scene more like a crowded tap-room than the gallery of what was for the moment a place of worship4 ,rows of men sat smoking and spitting1 others were talking and laughing aloud1 while many with hats on were standing in the aisles and passages1 bandying to and fro jokes and criticisms of the coarsest character4 ,all this continued with little intermission during the opening exercises1 and the more timid among us had practically given up hope about the meeting1 when ,miss ,booth rose1 and standing in front of the little table just before the footlights1 commenced to sing1 with such feeling and unction as it is impossible to describe with pen and ink1 ',the rocks and the mountains will all flee away4 ,and you will need a hiding-place that day4' ,there was instantaneous silence over the whole house2 after singing two or three stanzas1 she stopped and announced her text1 ',let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like ,his4' ,while she did so nearly every head in the gallery was uncovered1 and within fifteen minutes both she and every one of the fifteen hundred people present were completely absorbed in her subject1 and for forty minutes no one stirred or spoke among that unruly crowd1 until she made her concluding appeal1 and called for volunteers to begin the new life of righteousness1 when a great big navvy-looking man rose up1 and in the midst of the throng in the gallery exclaimed1 ',i'll make one6' ,he was followed by thirty others that night4 ,illustration3 ,,catherine ,,booth 7,from a portrait by ,edward ,clifford1 exhibited at the ,royal ,academy and presented to ,mrs4 ,booth7 ,well might the ,general's hopes regarding the young soul-winner be high and confident4 ,papa1 wrote ,mrs4 ,booth1 says he felt very proud of her the other day as she walked by his side at the head of a procession with an immense crowd at their heels4 ,he turned to her and said1 ',ah1 my lass1 you shall wear a crown by-and-by4' ,with what desires and prayers the mother of this ,wunderkind followed such a career is indicated by her letters4 ,oh1 it seems to me that if ,i were in your place--young--no cares or anxieties--with such a start1 such influence1 and such a prospect1 ,i should not be able to contain myself for joy4 ,i should indeed aspire to be 'the bride of the ,lamb1' and to follow ,him in conflict for the salvation of poor1 lost and miserable man4444 ,i don't want you to make any vows 7unless1 indeed1 the ,spirit leads you to do so71 but ,i want you to set your mind and heart on winning souls1 and to leave everything else with the ,lord4 ,when you do this you will be happy--oh1 so happy6 ,your soul will then find perfect rest4 ,the ,lord grant it you1 my dear child4444 ,i have been 'careful about many things4' ,i want you to care only for the one thing4444 ,look forward1 my child1 into eternity--on1 and ,,on1 and ,,on4 ,you are to live for ever4 ,this is only the infancy of existence--the school-days1 the time4 ,then is the grand1 great1 glorious eternal harvest4 ,whatever gifts were the dower of the young evangelist1 she refused to regard herself as different in ,god's sight from the poorest and meanest of sinners4 ,if ,god loved her1 ,he loved all with an equal love4 ,that conviction was the motive-power of all her evangelism4 ,a limited atonement was to her unthinkable4 ,how often she has made vast audiences sing her father's great hymn1 ,o boundless salvation1 so full and so free6 ,when she was conducting a remarkable campaign in ,portsmouth1 she found herself one day among a number of the ministers of the town1 one of whom in his admiration of her and her work persisted in calling her one of the elect4 ,this led to an animated discussion on election4 ,katie listened for a while1 but lost patience at last1 and1 rising1 delivered herself thus3 ,i am not one of the elect1 and ,i don't want to be4 ,i would rather be with the poor devils outside than with you inside4 ,having discharged this bombshell she flew upstairs to her mother4 ,oh6 she cried1 what have ,i done8 ,when she repeated what she had said1 her mother1 whose laugh was always hearty1 screamed with delight4 ,election as commonly taught was rank poison to the ,mother of the ,army4 ,the doctrine that ,god has out of ,his mere good pleasure elected some to eternal life made her wild with indignation4 ,when her son ,bramwell was staying for a time in ,scotland1 she wrote him3 ,it seems a peculiarity of the awful doctrine of ,calvinism that it makes those who hold it far more interested in and anxious about its propagation than about the diminution of sin and the salvation of souls4444 ,it may be ,god will bless your sling and stone to deliver ,his servant out of the paw of this bear of hell--,calvinism4 ,one naturally asks what became of ,catherine's education all this time4 ,on this subject also ,mrs4 ,booth held strong views4 ,when her daughter was sixteen she wrote to her3 ,you must not think that we do not rightly value education1 or that we are indifferent on the subject4 ,we have denied ourselves the common necessaries of life to give you the best in our power1 and ,i think this has proved that we put a right value on it4 ,but we put ,god and righteousness first and education second1 and if ,i had life to begin over again ,i should be still more particular4444 ,i would like you to learn to put your thoughts together forcibly and well1 to think logically and clearly1 to speak powerfully1 i4e4 with good but simple language1 and to write legibly and well1 which will have more to do with your usefulness than half the useful knowledge you would have to spend your time over at ,college4 ,when the principal of a ,ladies' ,college1 who had attended ,mrs4 ,booth's meetings and been blessed1 offered to receive ,catherine and educate her gratuitously1 ,mrs4 ,booth1 after visiting the ,college and breathing the atmosphere of the place1 declined the tempting offer with thanks4 ,some will1 of course1 be disposed to question the wisdom of the mother's decision4 ,it should not be impossible to combine the noblest learning with the most fervent faith4 ,yet every discipline must be judged by its fruits4 ,how many ,catherine ,booths have hitherto been produced by ,newnham and ,girton8 ,long after ,catherine the second had left her home-land1 she continued to receive letters from her ,english converts1 and when1 after many years1 she resumed her evangelistic work in ,england1 people whom she had never seen and never heard of before would come and tell her that they had been saved through her mission at this or that place4 ,all these testimonies were like bells ringing in her soul4 ,one out of many may be resounded4 ,writing to ,paris in #ahif1 ,henry ,howard1 now the ,chief of ,staff in the ,army1 said3 ,i have certainly never forgotten your ,ilkeston campaign of sixteen years ago1 when ,god made your soul a messenger to my soul4 ,you led me towards an open door which ,i am pleased to remember ,i went in at1 and during these many years your own share in my life's transformation has often been the subject of grateful praise4 99,,chapter ,,iii99 99,,the ,,secret ,,of ,,evangelism99 ,after many victories at home1 ,william and ,catherine ,booth began to look abroad4 ,they realised that the field is the world1 and they longed to commence operations on the ,continent4 ,in the summer of #ahha1 with high hopes and some natural fears1 they dedicated their eldest daughter to ,france4 ,in giving her they gave their best4 ,delicate girl though she was1 she had become one of the greatest spiritual forces in ,england4 ,she swayed vast multitudes by something higher than mere eloquence4 ,wherever she went revivals broke out and hundreds were converted4 ,there was a pathos and a power in her appeals which made them irresistible4 ,at the time of her departure she received many letters from friends whom she had spiritually helped1 and who realised how much they would miss her in ,england4 ,nowhere had she done more good1 nowhere could her absence create a greater blank1 than in her own home4 ,her sister ,eva wrote3 ,i cannot bear the thought that you are gone4 ,you have always understood me4 ,i hope one day to be of some use to you1 in return for all you have done for me4 ,and her brother ,herbert wrote her3 ,you cannot know how much ,i felt your leaving4 ,the blow came so suddenly4 ,you were gone4 ,only ,god and myself know how much ,i had lost in you4 ,i can truthfully say that you have been everything to me1 and if it had not been for you ,i should never have been where and what ,i am spiritually at present4 ,god bless you a thousand thousand times4 ,oh6 how ,i long to be of some little service to you after all you have been to me4444 ,thousands upon thousands of true1 loving hearts are bearing you up at the ,eternal throne1 mine among them4 ,you have a chance that men of the past would have given their blood for1 and that the very angels in ,heaven covet4 ,there was no ,entente ,cordiale in those days1 and at the thought of parting with ,katie1 and letting her go to live in the slums of ,paris1 ,mrs4 ,booth confessed that she felt unutterable things4 ,in a letter to a friend she wrote3 ,the papers ,i read on the state of ,society in ,paris make me shudder1 and ,i see all the dangers to which our darling will be exposed6 ,but if her fears were great1 her faith was greater4 ,asked by ,lady ,cairns how she dared to send a girl so young and unprotected into such surroundings1 she answered1 ,her innocence is her strength1 and ,katie knows the ,lord4 ,and if ,katie herself was asked to define ,christianity1 she answered1 ,christianity is heroism6 ,for a girl of this spirit1 was there1 after all1 anything so formidable in the ,french people8 ,was there not rather a pre-established harmony between her and the pleasant land of ,france1 as her remarkable predilection for the ,french language already seemed to indicate8 ,is any nation in the world so chivalrous as the ,french8 any nation so sensitive to the charm of manner1 the magnetic power of personality8 any nation--in spite of all its hatred of clericalism--gifted with so infallible a sense of the beauty of true holiness8 ,courage1 camarade6 ,what were the ideas with which ,catherine began her work in ,paris8 ,what was her plan of campaign8 ,how did she hope to conquer8 ,on these points let us listen to herself4 ,i saw1 she says1 that the bridge to ,france was--making the ,french people believe in me4 ,that is what the ,protestants do not understand4 ,they preach the ,bible1 they write books1 they offer tracts4 ,but that does not do the work4 ',curse your bibles1 your books1 your tracts6' cry the ,french4 ,i have seen thousands of testaments given away to very little purpose4 ,i have seen them torn up to light cigars4 ,and the conviction that took shape in my mind was that1 unless ,i could inspire faith in me1 there was no hope4 ,only if ,jesus is lifted up in flesh and blood1 will ,he to-day draw all men to ,him4 ,if ,i cannot give ,him1 ,i shall fail4 ,france has not waited till now for religion1 for preaching1 for eloquence4 ,something more is needed4 ',i that speak unto thee am ,he'--there is a sense in which the world is waiting for that to-day4 ,you may say that this leads to fanaticism1 to all sorts of error2 and yet ,i always come back to it4 ,christ's primary idea1 ,his means of saving the world1 is1 after all1 personality4 ,the face1 the character1 the life of ,jesus is to be seen in men and women4 ,this is the bridge to the seething masses who believe in nothing1 who hate religion1 who cry ',down with ,jesus ,christ6' ,what sympathy ,i felt with them as ,i listened to their angry cries against something which they had never really seen or known4 ,they shout ',jesuits1' but they have never seen ,jesus4 ,could they but see ,him1 they would still 'receive ,him gladly4' ,it is the priests' religion that has made them bitter4 ',money to be baptised6 ,money to be married6 ,money to be buried6' was what ,i heard them mutter4 ,ah6 they are quick to recognise the comedian in religion1 and equally quick to recognise the real thing4 ,france is more sensitive to disinterested love than any nation ,i have ever known4 ,france will never accept a religion without sacrifice4 ,these were the convictions with which ,i began the work in ,paris1 and1 if ,i had to begin it over again to-day1 ,i would go on the same lines4 ,when ,i knew what ,i had to do1 my mind was at rest4 ,i said1 ',we will lay ourselves out for them2 they shall know where we live1 they can watch us day and night1 they shall see what we do and judge us4' ,and the wonderful thing in those first years of our work in ,france and ,switzerland was the flame4 ,we lighted it all along the line4 ,wherever we went we brought the fire with us1 we fanned it1 we communicated it4 ,we could not help doing so1 because it was in us1 and that was what made us sufferers4 ,the fire had to be burning in us day and night4 ,that is our symbol--the fire1 the fire6 ,seigneur1 ce que mon coeur reclame1 ,c'est le ,feu 444 ,le seul secret de la ,victoire1 ,c'est le ,feu4 ,we all know what the fire is4 ,it warms and it burns2 it scorches the ,pharisees and makes the cowards fly4 ,but the poor1 tempted1 unhappy world knows by whom it is kindled1 and says3 ',i know ,thee who ,thou art--the ,holy ,one of ,god6' ,that was what filled the halls at ,havre and ,rouen1 ,nimes and ,bordeaux1 ,brussels and ,liege4 ,we personified ,some ,one1 and that was the attraction4 ,i have not the insufferable conceit to suppose that it was anything in me that drew them4 ,what am ,i8 ,dust and ashes4 ,but if you have the fire1 it draws1 it melts2 it consumes all selfishness2 it makes you love as ,he loves2 it gives you a heart of steel to yourself1 and the tenderest of hearts to others2 it gives you eyes to see what no one else sees1 to hear what others have never given themselves the trouble to listen to4 ,and men rush to you because you are what you are2 you are as ,he was in the world2 you have ,his sympathy1 ,his ,divine love1 ,his ,divine patience4 ,therefore ,he gives you the victory over the world2 and what is money1 what are houses1 lands1 anything1 compared with that8 ,this was the one attraction4 ,when ,i went to ,france ,i said to ,christ3 ',i in ,you and ,you in me6' and many a time in confronting a laughing1 scoffing crowd1 single-handed1 ,i have said1 ',you and ,i are enough for them4 ,i won't fail ,you1 and ,you won't fail me4' ,that is something of which we have only touched the fringe4 ,that is a truth almost hermetically sealed4 ,it would be sacrilege1 it would be desecration1 it would be wrong1 unfair1 unjust if ,divine power were given on any other terms than absolute self-abandonment4 ,when ,i went to ,france ,i said to ,jesus1 ',i will suffer anything if ,you will give me the keys4' ,and if ,i am asked what was the secret of our power in ,france1 ,i answer3 ,first1 love2 second1 love2 third1 love4 ,and if you ask how to get it1 ,i answer3 ,first1 by sacrifice2 second1 by sacrifice2 third1 by sacrifice4 ,christ loved us passionately1 and loves to be loved passionately4 ,he gives ,himself to those who love ,him passionately4 ,and the world has yet to see what can be done on these lines4 99,,chapter ,,iv99 99,,christ ,,in ,,paris99 ,in the early spring of #ahha ,captain ,catherine ,booth and her intrepid lieutenants1 ,florence ,soper1 ,adelaide ,cox and ,elizabeth ,clark1 who enjoyed the privilege of her example and training1 began life in ,paris4 ,later on they were joined by ,ruth ,patrick1 ,lucy ,johns and others4 ,soon after they were joined by the ,general's youngest son1 ,herbert ,booth1 who is proud of having received his first black eye in assisting his sister during those early fights1 and ,arthur ,sydney ,clibborn1 who lived a life of unparalleled devotion and heroism1 and later became the ,marechale's husband4 ,years before ,canon ,barnett and his band of ,oxford men were attracted to ,whitechapel1 these fresh young ,english girls settled in a similar quarter of the ,french capital4 ,what quixotic impulses carried them thither8 ,they had no social or political ideals to realise4 ,they had not been persuaded that altruism is better than egoism1 that the enthusiasm of humanity is nobler than the pursuit of pleasure or the love of culture4 ,they were not weary of the conventions of society and seeking a new sensation in slumming4 ,they were not playing at soldiers4 ,but they1 too1 had their dreams and visions4 ,they loved ,christ1 and they wished to see ,christ victorious in ,paris4 ,coming into a wilderness of poverty1 squalor and vice1 they dared to believe that they could make the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose4 ,they had the faith which laughs at impossibilities4 ,the first letter ,catherine received from her father after she set foot in ,france breathed tender affection and ardent hope4 ,oh1 my heart does yearn over you6 ,how could you fear for a single moment that you would be any less near and dear to me on account of your brave going forth to a land of strangers to help me in the great purpose and struggle of my life8 ,my darling1 you are nearer and dearer than ever4444 ,france is hanging on you to an extent fearful to contemplate1 and you must regard your health1 seeing that we cannot go on without you4 ,we shall anxiously await information as to when you make a start4 ,everybody who has heard you and knows you feels the fullest confidence in the result4 ,nevertheless ,i shall be glad for you to get to work1 seeing that ,i know you won't be easy in your mind until you have seen a few ,french sinners smashed up at the penitent form4 ,with her own hand ,catherine raised the flag at ,rue d',angouleme #ff1 in ,belleville4 ,here was a hall for six hundred1 situated in a court approached by a narrow street4 ,the bulk of the audience that gathered there night after night were of the artisan class4 ,some were young men of a lower type1 and from these came what disturbance there was4 ,the ,french sense of humour is keen1 and there were many lively sallies at the expense of the speakers and singers on the platform4 ,every false accent1 every wrong idiom1 every unexpected utterance or gesture was received with an outburst of laughter4 ,but the mirth was superficial1 and the expression on the faces of the tired men1 harassed women1 and pale children was one of settled melancholy4 ,catherine instinctively felt that what they needed was a gospel of joy2 certainly not the preaching of hell1 for did they not live in hell8 ,these toiling sisters and brothers were the multitudes on whom ,jesus had compassion4 ,meetings were held night after night1 and for six months the ,capitaine was never absent except on ,saturdays4 ,those were days of fight1 and she fought1 to use her own phrase1 like a tiger4 ,she had to fight first her own heart4 ,she knew her capacity1 and ,god had done great things through her in ,england4 ,the change from an audience of five thousand spellbound hearers in the circus of ,leeds to a handful of gibing ouvriers in the ,belleville quarter of ,paris was indeed a clashing antithesis4 ,a fortnight passed without a single penitent1 and ,catherine was all the time so ill that it was doubtful if she would be able to remain in the field4 ,that fortnight was probably one of the supreme trials of her faith4 ,the work appeared so hopeless6 ,there was nothing to see4 ,but for the ,capitaine faith meant going on4 ,it meant saying to her heart1 ,you may suffer1 you may bleed1 you may break1 but you shall go on4 ,she went on1 believing1 praying1 fighting1 and at last the tide of battle turned4 ,the beginning of what proved a memorable meeting was more than usually unpromising4 ,one of the tormentors1 a terrible woman1 known as the devil's wife1 excelled herself that night4 ,she was of immense size1 and used to stand in the hall with arms akimbo and sleeves rolled up above the elbows1 and with one wink of her eye would set everybody screaming and yelling4 ,on this occasion there was not a thing that she did not turn to ridicule4 ,the fun grew fast and furious1 and some of the audience got up and began to dance4 ,the meeting seemed to be lost2 but by a master-stroke the leader turned defeat into victory4 ,through the din she cried1 ,mes amis6 ,i will give you twenty minutes to dance1 if you will then give me twenty minutes to speak4 ,are you agreed8 ,a tall1 dark1 handsome ouvrier1 in a blue blouse1 who had been a ringleader in the disturbances1 jumped up and said1 ,citizens1 it is only fair play2 and they all agreed4 ,so they had their dance1 and at the end of the appointed time the ouvrier1 standing with watch in hand1 cried1 ,time up1 citizens2 it is the ,capitaine's turn6 ,the bargain was kept4 ,everybody sat down1 and an extraordinary silence filled the place4 ,not for twenty1 but for an hour and twenty minutes the leader had the meeting in the hollow of her hand4 ,when the audience filed out1 the tall ouvrier remained behind1 and ,catherine went down to where he was sitting in the back of the hall4 ,with his chiselled face and firm-set mouth1 he looked like a man who could have seen one burned alive without moving a muscle4 ,thank you1 said the ,capitaine1 you have helped me to-night4 ,have you understood what ,i have been saying8 ,i believe that you believe what you say4 ,oh6 of course ,i believe4 ,well1 ,i was not sure before4 ,with a sigh he added1 ,have you time to listen8 ,yes1 certainly4 ,it was midnight and they were alone4 ,as he began in softest tones to tell the story of his inner life1 she felt the delicacy of the soul that is hidden under the roughest exterior4 ,he said1 ,i had the happiest home in all ,paris4 ,i married the woman ,i loved1 and after twelve months a little boy came to our home4 ,three weeks after1 my wife lost her reason1 and now she is in an asylum4 ,but there was still my little boy4 ,he was a beautiful child4 ,we ate together1 slept together1 walked and talked together4 ,he was all the world to me4 ,he was the first to greet me in the morning1 and the first to welcome me in the evening when ,i came home from work4 ,this went on till the sixth year struck1 and then4444 ,his lips twitched1 and he turned his face away4 ,his hearer softly said1 ,he died4 ,he gave a scarcely perceptible nod1 and smothered a groan4 ,and then1 he continued1 ,i went to the devil4 ,before the open grave in the ,pere ,lachaise cemetery1 with hundreds of my comrades about me1 ,i lifted my hand to heaven and cried1 ',if there be a ,god1 let ,him strike me dead6' ,but ,he did not strike you dead8 ,no4 ,he is very gentle and patient with us all4 ,and now you have come here to-night4 ,does it not seem to you a strange thing that you out of all the millions of ,france1 and ,i out of all the millions of ,england should be all alone together here at midnight8 ,how do you account for it8 ,isn't it because ,god thought of you1 and loves you8 444 ,do you ever pray8 ,i pray8 ,oh1 never6 ,perhaps ,i prayed as a child1 but never now4 ,but ,i pray1 said the ,capitaine1 and1 kneeling down1 she prayed a double prayer1 for herself as well as for him4 ,she wanted this man's salvation for her own sake and the work's sake4 ,for weeks she had been fighting and praying for a break1 and she felt as if on the issue of this wrestling for a single soul depended the whole future of the work in ,france4 ,while she prayed for his salvation from sin she was silently praying for her own deliverance from doubt and fear and discouragement4 ,and both prayers were heard4 ,when she opened her eyes1 she saw his face bathed in tears4 ,she knew that his heart was melted1 and she spoke to him of the love of ,god4 ,but ,i have hated ,him4 ,i have hated religion2 ,i have come here to mock you2 ,i have called you ,jesuits4 ,yet ,god loves you4 ,but why did ,he allow my wife to lose her reason8 ,why did ,he take my child if ,he is love8 ,i cannot answer these questions4 ,you will know why one day4 ,but ,i know ,he loves you4 ,is it possible that ,he can forgive a poor sinner like me8 ,it is certain4 ,emile was won4 ,some nights afterward he gave his testimony1 and for seven years he always stood by the ,marechale4 ,he was her best helper4 ,when he used to get up to speak1 there was immediate attention4 ,citizens1 he would say1 you all know me4 ,you have heard me many times4 ,this ,god whom ,i once hated ,i now love1 and ,i want to speak to you about ,him4 ,after this1 conversions became frequent4 ,the mercy-seat was rarely empty4 ,one of the first ,french songs of ,catherine's composition contained the most curious idioms3 ,quand je suis souffrant1 ,entendez mon cri1 etc4 --,donnez moi ,jesus4 ,but she sang it with such feeling that it was the means of the conversion of a clever young governess1 who became one of her most devoted officers4 ,then another striking conquest was made4 ,one night a rough fellow1 partly drunk1 approached the ,capitaine and said a vile word to her in the hearing of the devil's wife1 who dealt him a blow that sent him reeling across the hall crying1 ,you dare not touch her1 she is too pure for us6 7,elle est trop pure pour nous67 ,catherine rushed between them and stopped the fight4 ,thus la femme du diable was won1 and from that time she got two or three others to join her in forming ,catherine's bodyguard1 who nightly escorted her and her comrades through the ,rue d',allemagne1 which was a haunt of criminals1 and saw her safe at the door of her flat in the ,avenue ,parmentier4 ,when ,baron ,cederstroem was seeking local colour for his painting ,the ,marechale in the ,cafe1#a he drove down with his wife to a meeting in the ,rue d',angouleme4 ,as they approached the hall1 the ,baroness caught sight of some of the faces and took fright4 #a ,this painting is now in the picture gallery of ,stockholm4 ,the artist1 as is well known1 afterwards married ,madame ,patti4 ,go back1 go back6 she shouted to the coachman4 ,the ,baron tried in vain to reassure her4 ,give me my salts6 she cried1 feeling as if she would faint4 ,i never saw such faces in my life4 ,they are all murderers and brigands4 ,to ,catherine1 who came out to welcome her1 she exclaimed1 ,i am sure the good ,god won't send you to ,purgatory1 for you have it here6 ,you have nothing to fear1 was the answer2 ,i am here every night4 ,but as the ,baroness was led up to the front seats1 she still cast scared looks at the people she passed4 ,some of the politically dangerous classes did give trouble for a time4 ,knives were displayed and some blood was shed4 ,an excited sergeant of police declared one night that half the cut-throats of ,paris were in that hall1 and by order of the authorities it was closed4 ,soon1 however1 the meetings were again in full swing1 and when ,catherine's eldest brother ,bramwell1 her comrade in many an ,english campaign1 paid her a flying visit three months after she left home1 he was delighted with all that he saw4 ,the meetings1 he wrote1 are held every night4 ,the congregations vary from #aej to #djj4444 ,on ,sunday1 at three1 ,i attended the testimony meeting1 which is only for converts and friends4 ,about seventy were present4 ,miss ,booth took the centre1 and gathered round her a little company4 ,i cannot describe that meeting4 ,when ,i heard those ,french converts singing that first hymn1 ',nearer to heaven1 nearer to heaven1' ,i wept for joy1 and during the season of prayer which followed my heart overflowed4 ,here1 using another tongue1 among a strange people1 almost alone1 this little band have trusted the ,lord and triumphed4444 ,then testimonies were invited4444 ,i wept and rejoiced1 and wept again4 ,i glorified ,god4 ,had ,i not heard these seventeen people speak in their own language of ,god's saving power in ,paris during those few weeks6 ,i require all who read this to rejoice4 ,i believe they will4 ,remember how great a task it is to awaken the conscience before ,christ can be offered2 to convince of sin as well as of righteousness2 to call to repentence as well as faith4444 ,on the following night #cjj were present4444 ,miss ,booth stepped off the platform as she concluded her address1 and came down1 as so many of us have seen her come down at home1 into the midst of the people4 ,her closing appeal seemed to go through them4 ,many were deeply moved4 ,some of those sitting at the back1 who had evidently come largely for fun1 quailed before one's very eyes1 and seemed subdued and softened4 ,god was working4 ,later in the year the new headquarters on the ,quai de ,valmy were opened4 ,here there was a hall for #abjj4 ,no other form of religion could draw such an assembly of the lowest class of ,parisians as nightly met in it4 ,the men came in their blouses1 kept their caps on their heads1 and--except that they abstained from smoking1 in obedience to a notice at the door--behaved with the freedom and ease of a music-hall audience4 ,but the earnest way in which most of those present joined in the hymns proved that they were not mere spectators1 and it was astonishing that many rough1 unkempt1 and even brutal-looking men soon learned to sing heartily without using the book4 ,there were a hundred converts in the first year and another five hundred in the second4 ,paris herself began to testify that a good work had been begun in her midst4 ,on the way to and from the hall in the ,rue d',angouleme ,catherine1 who by this time had begun to be endearingly known as the ,marechale1 the highest military title in ,france1 used often to meet a priest1 to whom she always said ,bon jour1 mon pere4 ,one day he paused and said1 ,madame la ,marechale1 ,i want to tell you that since you began your work in this quarter the moral atmosphere of the whole place has changed4 ,i meet the fruits everywhere1 and ,i can tell better than you what you are doing4 ,she felt that ,god sent her that word of encouragement4 ,one of her letters of this time indicates what kind of impression her work was making4 ,there is a man1 she wrote1 who has attended our meetings most regularly4 ,he listens with breathless attention1 and sometimes the tears flow down his cheeks4 ,he was visited1 and sent me #gj francs for our work1 with a message that he desired to see me4 ,i saw him1 and he gave me #hj more1 with the words ',sauvez la jeunesse'6 7',save the young6'7 ,i found him very dark and hopeless about himself4444 ,the next week he again called me aside in the hall1 put #ej francs into my hand1 saying he hoped soon we should have a hall in every quarter of ,paris4 ',save the young people6' he again said4 ,i said ',yes1 but ,i want to see you saved4' ',that will come1' he said1 and left the hall4 ,last ,sunday afternoon1 ,i noticed him weeping in a corner of the hall1 as our young people were witnessing for ,jesus1 and1 after the services1 he asked if he might speak to me for two minutes2 this time he handed me #fj francs1 telling me to go on praying for him4 ,he has lived a bad life and is troubled with the thought of the past4 ,it began to be commonly believed that the ,marechale could work certain kinds of miracles4 ,a woman who had attended the meetings1 and been blessed in her soul1 became convinced that the ,english lady had power to cast out devils1 and one day she brought a neighbour to the physician of souls1 introducing her with the remark1 ,she has not only one but seven devils4 ,the new-comer had a frightful face4 ,she was so drunken1 immoral and violent that nobody could live with her4 ,yet she1 too1 had a soul4 ,the ,marechale made her get down on her knees1 put both her hands on her head1 and prayed that the devils might all be cast out4 ,she's now another woman1 was the testimony soon after borne by all her neighbours4 ,one of the surest indications of the success of the work in ,paris is found in the fact that1 before the end of the first year there was a general demand for a newspaper corresponding in some degree to the ,english ,war ,cry4 ,that was a memorable day on which the ,marechale and her officers sat in their ,avenue ,parmentier flat1 like a coterie of ,fleet ,street journalists1 gravely discussing their new venture4 ,it was indicative of the holy simplicity of the editor-in-chief that she thought at first of changing ,the ,war ,cry into ,amour4 ,she did not realise the sensation which the cry ,amour1 un sou6 would have created in the ,boulevards4 ,her proposal was overruled1 but her second suggestion1 to call the paper ,en ,avant1 was received with acclamation4 ,this was a real inspiration4 ,the paper duly appeared in the beginning of #ahhb1 and has gone on successfully ever since4 ,the shouting of its name in the streets set all the world and his wife a-thinking and a-talking4 ,what if the ,man of ,nazareth is after all far ahead of our modern philosophers and statesmen1 and if this handful of ,english girls is come to lead us all forward to true liberty1 equality and fraternity8 ,the reports of the work in ,france were received with feelings of gratitude at home4 ,to ,my dear ,kittens--a family pet-name--her brother ,bramwell wrote3 ,we are more than satisfied with your progress4 ,the ,general says that so far as he can judge your rate of advance in making people is greater than his own was at the beginning4 ,i am sure you ought to feel only the liveliest confidence and greatest encouragement all the time4 ,and to ,my darling ,bluecher the ,general himself wrote1 ,i appreciate and admire and daily thank ,god for your courage and love and endurance4 ,god will and must bless you4 ,we pray for you4 ,i feel ,i live over again in you4 ,we all send you our heartiest greetings and our most tender affection4 ,look up4 ,don't forget my sympathy4 ,don't trouble to answer my scrawls4 ,i never like to see your handwriting because ,i know it means your poor back4 ,remember me to all your comrades4 ,i feel ,i live over again in you4 ,the thought was evidently habitual in the ,general's mind4 ,he bids me tell you1 wrote ,emma1 that you are his second self4 ,the resemblance was physical as well as spiritual4 ,with her tall figure1 her chiselled face1 her aquiline nose1 her penetrating blue eyes1 ,catherine became1 as time went on1 more and more strikingly like her father4 ,one of her sons1 who saw her stooping over the ,general the day before he died1 said that the two pallid faces were like facsimiles in marble4 99,,chapter ,v99 99,,freedom ,,to ,,worship ,,god99 ,in the autumn of #ahhc the ,marechale suddenly leapt into fame as a latter-day ,portia1 brilliantly and successfully pleading in a ,swiss law-court1 before the eyes of ,europe1 the sacred cause of civil and religious liberty4 ,the land of ,tell1 the oldest of modern republics1 has always been regarded as a shrine of freedom4 ,it has shown itself hospitable to all kinds of ideas1 even the newest1 the strangest1 the most anti-,christian1 the most anti-social4 ,there is a natural affinity between free ,england and free ,switzerland4 ,two ,voices are there2 one is of the sea1 ,one of the mountains2 each a mighty ,voice3 ,in both from age to age thou didst rejoice2 ,they were thy chosen music1 ,liberty4 ,in the ,treaty of ,friendship between ,great ,britain and ,switzerland1 drawn up in #ahee1 it was agreed that the subjects and citizens of either of the two contracting parties shall1 provided they conform to the laws of the country1 be at liberty1 with their families1 to enter1 establish themselves1 reside and remain in any part of the territories of the other4 ,yet the presence of a few ,english evangelists in ,switzerland evoked a storm of persecution in which the first principles of religious liberty were as much violated as ever they had been in the days of the ,huguenots4 ,when the ,marechale and some comrades accepted an urgent invitation to ,switzerland1 she little thought that she would be the heroine of an historical trial4 ,she went to preach the gospel4 ,she observed the laws of the land1 and respected the religious susceptibilities of its people4 ,when she entered ,geneva1 she published only one poster1 and that after it had been duly vise2 she allowed no processions1 banners or brass bands in the streets4 ,her only crime was that she sought to gain the ears of those who never entered a place of worship1 and that she marvellously succeeded4 ,if good order was not always maintained at her meetings1 it was not her fault1 but that of the authorities who refused to do their duty4 ,history repeats itself4 ,as in ancient ,thessalonica during the visit of ,st4 ,paul1 so in modern ,geneva1 some citizens1 moved with jealousy1 took unto themselves certain vile fellows of the rabble1 and gathering a crowd set the city on an uproar4 ,the ringleaders of the disturbance were paid by noted traffickers in vice1 who were themselves often seen in the meetings inciting the audience to riot4 ,one of the first converts1 a student1 confessed that he had got twenty francs a night1 and as much whisky as he could drink1 to make a row4 ,the ,department of ,justice and ,police chanced at that time to have as its president a ,councillor of ,state1 ,m4 ,heridier1 who thought it right not to punish the offenders but to banish their victims4 ,in a sitting of the ,grand ,council he said1 ,we have been petitioned to call out a company of gendarmerie to protect these foreigners1 and to prevent brawls and rows4 ,i will not consent to take such a step4 ,there are already eight police agents in these places every evening who have a very hard time of it4444 ,these agents might be doing more useful work elsewhere1 and ,i am just about to withdraw them4 ,that meant handing over the strangers to the tender mercies of the mob4 ,it was a gross breach of the laws of hospitality and chivalry as well as of the constitution of a free country4 ,the city of ,calvin did not know the day of its visitation4 ,the ,marechale and her comrades began their meetings in the ,casino on ,december #bb1 #ahhb4 ,the hall was crowded1 and soon there was raging a great battle between the powers of light and darkness4 ,a disturbance had evidently been organised4 ,a band of students in coloured caps1 who had come early and taken possession of the front of the galleries and other prominent positions1 were on their worst behaviour4 ,the first hymn was interrupted by cries and ribald songs1 and the prayer which followed was almost drowned4 ,but the ,marechale was never more calm and confident than when facing such music4 ,at every slight lull in the storm1 she uttered1 in clear1 penetrating tones1 some pointed words which pierced many a heart4 ,within an hour she not only had subdued her audience but was inviting those who desired salvation to come forward to the penitent form4 ,scoffers of half an hour ago left their places1 trembling under the sense of guilt1 and as they knelt down the ,marechale sang1 in soft notes1 the hymn3 ,reviens1 reviens1 pauvre pecheur1 ,ton ,pere encore t'attend2 ,veux-tu languir loin du bonheur1 ,et pecher plus longtemps8 ,o6 reviens a ton ,sauveur1 ,reviens ce soir1 ,il veut te recevoir1 ,reviens a ton ,sauveur6 ,a strange influence stole over the meeting1 hushing the crowd into profound silence1 and the ,spirit did ,his work in many hearts4 ,the ,marechale conducted a similar service the following night1 and on ,christmas ,eve she faced an audience of #cjjj in the ,salle de la ,reformation4 ,its composition was entirely to her mind1 for she was never so inspired with divine pity and power as when she was confronting the worst elements of a town4 ,the theatres1 the cabarets1 the dancing saloons1 the drinking dens1 and the rendezvous of prostitution had poured their contents into the hall4 ,socialists who had found refuge in ,geneva--men of many nationalities--came en masse4 ,a large part of the audience were so entirely strangers to the idea of worship or of a ,divine ,being1 that the sound of prayer called forth loud derisive laughter1 with questions and cries of surprise and scorn4 ,but the soldiers of ,christ1 clad in armour of light1 were more than a match for the powers of darkness4 ,many a winged word found its mark1 and the after-meeting in the smaller hall1 into which three hundred were crowded1 was pervaded by a death-like stillness1 in which many sought and found salvation4 ,some of the ringleaders of the disturbance had pushed their way into this room2 but they remained perfectly quiet1 evidently subdued and over-awed1 with an expression on their faces of intense interest1 which showed that they felt they were in presence of a reality in religion which they had not before encountered4 ,the ,marechale sang her own hymn ,je viens a ,toi1 dans ma misere1 and many joined in the chorus3 ,ote tous mes peches6 ,agneau de ,dieu1 je viens a ,toi1 ,ote tous mes peches4 ,one of those who were melted by the words wrote3 ,i was like the demoniac of ,gadara4 ,i may say ,i was possessed2 ,i was chained for fifteen years to a frightful life4444 ,it was then that you came4 ,i was at first astonished2 then remorse seized me4 ,then followed a frightful torment in my soul--a real hell4 ,i resolved to put an end to it one way or another4 ,yet ,i thought ,i would go and hear you once more4 ,i had been in darkness and anguish since the day of the first meeting4 ,no word had ,i been able to recall of that day's teaching1 except the words of the sacred song ',ote tous mes peches' 7,take all my sins away74 ,these sounded in my heart and brain through the day and the sleepless night--these and these only4 ,bowed down with grief and despair1 again ,i came to the ,reformation ,hall1 and to the after-meeting4 ,the first sounds which fell on my ear were again those very words1 ',ote tous mes peches1' and then you spoke on the words1 ',though your sins be as scarlet1 they shall be white as snow'2 you seemed to speak to me alone1 to regard me alone--and ,i felt it was ,god who had sent me there to hear those words4 ,hundreds of such letters were written4 ,evidence came from all sides of blessing received in many homes1 of wild sons reclaimed1 of drunkards and vicious men transformed by the power of ,god1 of light and joy brought into families over which a cloud had hung4 ,not only anarchists and prodigals1 but students of theology and the children of pastors had their lives transformed4 ,in a meeting for women only1 at which #cjjj were present1 the daughter of ,pastor ,napoleon ,roussel began the new life4 ,her brother had been one of the converts in the first meeting in the ,reformation ,hall4 ,mlle4 ,roussel was to be the ,marechale's secretary for five years1 and accompany her in a great ,american tour4 ,a divinity student who attended a night with ,jesus on ,new ,year's ,eve1 wrote3 ,i passed a long night of watch1 which ,i shall never forget4 ,since then ,i am ever happy1 and can say ',glory to ,god' every hour of the day4 ,but as the tide of ,divine blessing rose1 the tide of human hatred also rose1 and in the beginning of ,february the exercises of the ,army were by ,cantonal decree forbidden4 ,a week later1 the ,marechale1 with a young companion1 ,miss ,maud ,charlesworth1 now ,mrs4 ,gen4 ,ballington ,booth1 was expelled from the ,canton of ,geneva4 ,during her six weeks in the city she had been used to bring about probably the greatest revival which it had witnessed since the days of the ,reformers4 ,one of the most eminent lawyers of ,geneva1 ,edmond ,pictet1 who had himself been greatly blessed during those stirring weeks1 helped her to draw up an ,appeal 7,recours7 to the ,grand ,council4 ,he found1 however1 that she needed but little help1 and often remarked that with the warm heart of an evangelist she combined the lucid intelligence of an advocate4 ,when the ,council of ,state had deputed two or three of its members to hear her on the subject of her ,appeal1 she came back to ,geneva under a safe-conduct to meet them4 ,in the course of the interview1 at which the ,british ,consul in the city was present1 the leading ,councillor said1 ,you are a young woman2 it is not in accordance with our ideas and customs that young women should appear in public4 ,we are scandalised 7froisses7 by it4 ,the rejoinder which he received was so remarkable a defence of the ,prophesying of ,women that we give it in full4 ,listen to me1 ,i beg of you1 sir4 ,it is contrary1 you tell me1 to your sense of what is right and becoming that young women should preach the ,gospel4 ,now1 if ,miss ,charlesworth and ,i had come to ,geneva to act in one of your theatres1 ,i have no doubt we should have met with sympathy and approval from your public4 ,we could have sung and danced on your stage2 we could have dressed in a manner very different from1 and much less modest than1 that in which you see us dressed2 we could have appeared before a miscellaneous audience1 men and women1 young and old1 and of every class2 members of the ,grand ,council1 ,m4 ,herdier himself and others1 would have come to see us act2 we should have got money2 ,geneva would have paid ungrudgingly in that case2 and you would all have sat and approved2 you would have clapped your hands and cheered us2 you would have brought your wives and daughters to see us1 and they also would have applauded4 ,there would have been nothing to froisser you1 no immorality in all that1 according to your ideas and customs4 ,the noise 7bruit7 we should have thus made would not have caused our expulsion4 ,but when women come to try and save some of the forty or fifty thousand of your miserable1 scoffing1 irreligious population who never enter any place of worship1 when they come with hearts full of pity and love for the ignorant and sinful1 and stand up to tell the glad tidings of salvation to these rebels1 this mob1 among whom many accept the tidings with eager joy--then you cry out that this is unseemly and immodest4 ,you would not bring your wives and daughters to hear us speak of ,jesus1 though you would bring them to hear us if we danced and sang upon the stage of your theatre4 ,now you have expelled us2 but still there are those multitudes in ,geneva who are dark1 lost1 unsaved2 and you know it4 ,there they are2 they exist4 ,what will you do with them8 ,say--what will you do8 ,are they not a danger8 ,does not their lost condition cry out against you8 ,the ,councillor was not only silenced1 but sank into his chair in a state of temporary lapse4 ,for the moment1 at least1 the reality of the picture presented to him had touched his heart4 ,nevertheless the ,marechale's ,appeal was rejected1 and ,m4 ,pictet wrote to her3 ,the wretched storm of anger and prejudice which you witnessed and which your friends deplore so much1 has not blown over by any means4 ,i1 for one1 despair of ever seeing my fellow-citizens properly understand what religious liberty and respect of other people's opinion mean1--therefore the only course left to the ,army seems to be the one indicated in ,st4 ,matthew x4 #bc6 ,you have done your duty1 you cannot be expected to do more than ,paul and ,barnabas did 7,acts xiii4 #ea74 ,meantime the enemies of righteousness rejoiced4 ,the theatrical paper of ,geneva complimented the authorities upon the expulsion4 ,our theatre1 it said1 has lost a formidable rival1 and the crowd is beginning to find its way back to us4 ,at that critical time it was not only the civil but the spiritual leaders who were weighed and found wanting4 ,injustice could scarcely have been pushed so far had not the ,churches sanctioned it by their attitude of silence or open hostility4 ,many religious people took the side of the persecuting government and the godless populace4 ,the bitterest pamphlet against the ,armee du ,salut was written by ,madame la ,comtesse de ,gasparin1 whom the delighted mob hailed as a ,christian if ever there was one4 ,but the most strange and humiliating fact of all was that the ,swiss branch of the ,evangelical ,alliance resolved1 after due deliberation1 to refrain from uttering a single word in defence of religious liberty4 ,no wonder that a number of its most influential members sorrowfully withdrew from its fellowship4 ,banished from ,geneva1 the ,evangelists found refuge for a time in ,neuchatel4 ,coming on the scene just after the authorities had forbidden evening meetings1 the ,marechale gave notice of a morning one to be held the next day4 ,the hall was filled1 and the meetings went on every morning and afternoon1 all through the week4 ,at six o'clock on ,sunday morning the roaring of a crowd of roughs coming up the street reached the ears of those who had already gathered inside the hall4 ,while the noise grew louder and louder1 the ,marechale said to her officers1 ,wait here and pray2 ,i will go and meet them4 ,on stepping outside the door1 she was at once surrounded by rough fellows in their shirt sleeves1 armed with sticks and forks and stones1 who began to demand what she wanted in their town1 and poured upon her the senseless accusations of the tap-rooms4 ,go away6 cried one1 we've got our pastors4 ,my friend1 was the reply1 you don't do them much credit4 ,here is my god6 7,voila mon dieu671 said another1 pulling out his pipe and brandishing it in the ,marechale's face4 ,you will need another when you come to die4 ,you want our money6 shouted a third4 ,what do you say8 ,you say that again6 ,say it6 ,you dare not1 you do not believe it1 you know that it is a lie4 ,and taking this man by the shirt collar1 the ,marechale led him into the hall and up to the front seat1 where he sat listening most attentively for two hours4 ,two rows of penitents sought pardon at the close of the meeting4 ,in ,june the ,grand ,council of ,nauchatel voted for the suppression of the ,armee du ,salut2 and ,zurich and ,canton du ,vaud soon followed suit4 ,it then became clear that the only hope of getting these unconstitutional decrees rescinded lay in disobeying them4 ,jurists who were consulted held that this was the best way to compel the authorities to retrace their steps4 ,many ,swiss converts were ready to suffer for conscience' sake1 but the ,marechale resolved that she would herself1 as a subject of ,queen ,victoria1 assert her right to worship ,god on ,swiss soil4 ,in a new form she would raise the ,apostle's question1 ,is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a ,roman and uncondemned8 ,the interest of the situation was heightened by the fact that it was now a woman's question4 ,all the spirit of the modern world was in the ,marechale's bold declaration1 ,i am a ,british citizen4 ,after working for some months in the south of ,france1 she returned to ,nauchatel and deliberately infringed the ,cantonal decree4 ,on the afternoon of ,sunday1 ,september #i1 she conducted a meeting at ,prise-,imer1 in the ,jura forest1 some five miles above the lake4 ,in a letter to ,england she described the scene4 ,it was a day never to be forgotten4 ,long before the hour the people met1 and we had upwards of #ejj who had come out of ,nauchatel to praise ,god4 ,the weather was beautiful4 ,after so much trouble1 fatigue and a long journey1 we could meet to talk of the things of ,god4 ,hearts and voices rose together1 and it cheered me much to look into the faces of our brave soldiers4 ,there was no mistaking their zeal and determination to go forward4 ,while the hymn ,come1 ,thou burning ,spirit1 come was being sung under the tall pine trees1 a sentinel who had been stationed on the outskirts of the forest announced that the ,prefect in his carriage1 attended by sixteen policemen1 was approaching4 ,the ,marechale gave the news to the audience1 and called on everybody to be calm and confident4 ,take no notice4 ,we shall have a glorious meeting all the same4 ,the gendarmes found the congregation kneeling1 and formed a ring round it1 the ,prefect himself taking his stand close to the ,marechale4 ,he and his followers were all overawed4 ,for over two hours they listened as men spellbound4 ,they heard the ,marechale pray for the ,government1 for the nation of ,switzerland1 for themselves4 ,they heard her speak of the end and aim of the ,armee du ,salut--to save the lost1 to make all thieves1 drunkards1 outcasts1 and plagues of society peaceful and loyal citizens1 through the power of ,jesus to lead the nations to ,god4 ,then they heard the testimonies of converted criminals1 one of whom told of his three years' imprisonment4 ,pointing to a plain-clothes detective1 he said1 ,that policeman over there knows me2 he took me to jail2 but now ,i am a changed man4 ,no wonder that the ,prefect of ,police was profoundly impressed4 ,at the end of the service1 he took out his warrant with trembling hands1 and stammered-- ,i have here 444 ,i ought444 ,yes1 ,i know4 ,you have a decree for my arrest4 ,why didn't you give it me before8 ,well1 ,i could not4 ,yes1 a higher ,power than man was here to restrain you4 ,he could not withhold his tribute of admiration4 ,this is a magnificent work1 if it does but last4 ,you do nothing but good4 ,i beseech you not to hold me responsible for this act4 ,i1 like others1 had judged you without seeing or hearing you4 ,he had1 however1 to obey his orders4 ,the ,marechale and ,captain ,becquet1 one of her officers1 were put under arrest4 ,as they were leaving that pleasant place1 she exclaimed1 ,how strange that we are not to be allowed to worship ,god in these beautiful woods6 ,what a pity to see them standing silent and unused6 ,to some of those who heard her voice that ,sunday evening1 the spot was for ever holy ground4 ,in the audience was a young ,switzer1 ,constant ,jeanmonod1 one of nature's gentlemen1 who found salvation on that day1 gave himself body and soul to ,god1 and afterwards became one of the ,marechale's most devoted friends and comrades in many a hard campaign4 ,he is now at the head of the work in ,belgium4 ,the ,marechale and ,captain ,becquet were brought down to ,nauchatel and conducted to the house of ,m4 ,comtesse1 ,president of the ,council of ,state1 who said to them1 ,you are my prisoners1 and it is my duty to have you locked up this night4 ,the ,marechale1 however1 had just received a telegram begging her to attend the funeral of a brave young ,geneva convert1 who had breathed a dying request that she should speak at his grave-side4 ,she asked permission to fulfil this sacred duty1 and was liberated on bail of #fjjj francs4 ,next morning a service was held in the garden of the farmhouse near ,geneva where ,charles ,wyssa had died1 and there the ,marechale found a lifelong friend4 ,mrs4 ,josephine ,butler was present1 and gave a brief address which lived long in the memory of those who heard it4 ,having spoken of her profound sympathy with the work of the ,armee du ,salut in ,switzerland1 she made a moving reference to the fact that she had lost her only and dearly-loved daughter1 whom she had named ,evangeline in the hope that her life would be dedicated to evangelisation4 ,one fatal evening1 when1 the mother returned home after a long journey1 her little daughter came running downstairs to meet and welcome her4 ,in her extreme eagerness to see her mother again1 the child forgot all danger1 slipped over the staircase balustrade1 and was taken up crushed and unconscious4 ,in less than an hour her gentle spirit had fled4 ,at the coffin of that child1 said ,mrs4 ,butler1 ,i consecrated my life to the relief of my suffering and oppressed brothers and sisters4 ,my great desire was that she should become a preacher of the ,word of ,god4 ,and now1 added the mother1 throwing her arms round the ,marechale1 by another new coffin ,i have found my long-lost daughter1 an ,evangelist chosen and blessed of ,god4 ,when the ,marechale had daughters of her own1 she called the eldest ,catherine ,evangeline and the youngest ,josephine4 ,from that garden the company moved to the churchyard1 where the ,marechale spoke on the beautiful words1 ,who are these which are arrayed in white robes1 and whence came they8 ,just as ,john ,wyssa1 the younger brother of ,charles1 was throwing a handful of earth on the coffin1 and murmuring the words ,au revoir1 mon frere1 the ,mayor of the ,commune approached in order to arrest ,miss ,booth4 ,at this juncture ,col4 ,clibborn interposed1 saying1 ,sir6 this is a funeral4 ,he was a coarse1 brutal fellow1 very different from the ,prefect of ,police in ,neuchatel4 ,the mayor not heeding was putting his hand upon ,miss ,booth's arm1 when she turned upon him with flashing eyes1 and said1 ,hands off6 this is holy ground6 ,don't you see that we are in the presence of the dead8 ,i finish this service1 and then will speak with you4 ,when the funeral rites were ended1 the ,mayor thought his turn was at last come4 ,he was about to proceed with the arrest1 when the ,marechale still objected4 ,you can't arrest me6 ,the ,mayor stared in bewilderment4 ,i say you can't arrest me6 ,may ,i ask why8 ,because with the best will in the world ,i can't go to two prisons in two ,cantons at the same time4 ,i am due in ,nauchatel4 ,the ,mayor saw that she was right1 and retired crestfallen4 ,the ,marechale returned to ,nauchatel and surrendered to her bail4 ,the iron gates of the grim jail closed upon her4 ,the imprisonment was shared by her faithful lieutenant1 ,kate ,patrick1 who refused to leave her4 ,it was twelve days before the trial came on4 ,the ,marechale was in delicate health1 and frequently became sick4 ,the hunger-striking and forcible feeding of these latter days would soon have killed her4 ,she tried to eat1 but had little appetite1 and what little she had was destroyed by the garlic in the food4 ,mice disturbed her nights and in the early morning the odours which came from the passages were insupportable4 ,the only way in which she could get any relief was by putting her face between the iron bars of the window and breathing the air which came up from the lake4 ,she was always thankful that her face was thin and just went through the cold bars4 ,one morning at five or six o'clock she was awakened by happy voices singing dear familiar choruses outside the prison walls4 ,she was very ill1 but she dragged herself from her hard bed to the window1 waved her hand1 and cried ,amen6 ,then she attached her handkerchief to a bar1 and let it flutter like a flag4 ,the signal was received with shouts of ,amen1 ,marechale--be of good cheer--hold on--hallelujah6 ,as the time passed1 she was thrown in upon herself1 and went through a great soul-struggle4 ,she had lately been the victim of a stinging article1 grossly ignorant and cruelly unjust1 which had appeared in a religious paper1 written1 rumour said1 by the wife of a ,swiss pastor4 ,it had accused her of unwomanliness1 immodesty1 and vanity4 ,she made the painful discovery that she could not yet say1 ,none of these things move me4 ,the poisoned arrows had gone deep1 forcing tears from her eyes and attacking her peace of mind4 ,chancing to notice a little slate hanging on the wall of her cell1 she took it down and began to write on it all the accusations which her enemies might bring against her1 asking herself as she did so1 ,could you write your name and say you accept that1 and that8 ,her conscience compelled her to answer ,no1 there are some things which ,i could not endure4 ,she was appalled as she thought of more and greater trials which ,god might ask her to undergo4 ,he might deprive her of health4 ,he might send her to ,japan4 ,he might take away her reputation and make it impossible for her to defend herself4 ,could she bear such things8 ,no1 she could not yet sign her name under the terrible words she wrote4 ,with sorrow she put the slate back in its place1 and for two days it hung against the wall with its list of cruel things which she could not accept4 ,but during those days she pondered and prayed4 ,she rebuked her doubts and fears4 ,how could she ever distrust her ,lord1 who had led her with such infinite tenderness8 ,how imagine that ,he would ever lay upon her more than ,he would give her power to bear8 ,she soon crept up close to ,his arms1 and realised that nothing was really unbearable except doubt4 ,taking her slate down1 she read over again all that she might be called upon to suffer1 and signed ,catherine ,booth4 ,then the ,angels of ,god filled the prison cell2 the peace and joy of heaven flooded her soul2 and from that hour her communion with her ,lord was so sweet that she kissed the walls of her dungeon before she was led forth to her trial4 ,on that day 7,september #ai7 she wrote her exquisite prison song1 ,best beloved of my soul1 and sent it to her father4 ,it was sung1 while she was still in prison1 at a great meeting for prayer1 in ,exeter ,hall1 at which ,mrs4 ,butler spoke4 ,it was first written in ,french1 the language in which she now habitually thought1 and translated by herself into ,english4 ,the latter is well-known1 and many readers will be glad to have the ,french4 ,o ,toi que mon ame adore1 ,je ne suis pas seule ici1 ,car je ,t'y retrouve encore1 ,et je suis au ciel ainsi1 ,ma vie est a ,ton service1 ,je ,t'appartiens sans retour2 ,corps et ame en sacrifice1 ,je ,te suivrai nuit et jour4 ,combattons dans la souffrance1 ,et les yeux baignes de pleurs2 ,bien pres est la delivrance1 ,voici l',homme de douleurs6 ,sa voix chasse ma tristesse1 ,mon chagrin s'est dissipe2 ,je chante avec allegresse1 ,mon cachot est transforme6 ,au milieu de la tempete ,rien ne peut troubler ma paix2 ,son amour que rien n'arrete ,peut me garder a jamais4 ,le combat est dur1 terrible1 ,l'enfer rugit contre nous2 ,mais l',armee est invincible3 ,avec ,dieu nous vaincrons tout4 ,during the twelve days of her imprisonment the ,marechale received many letters of sympathy and good cheer from ,swiss friends1 whose words proved to her how deep and real had been the work of the ,armee du ,salut in the country4 ,one of the most interesting was signed by seventy-two mothers1 who bore glad testimony to the conversion of their sons and daughters1 and two more were signed by a number of wives praising ,god for the conversion of their husbands4 ,more intimate letters came to ,catherine from home1 all breathing warm love1 tender solicitude1 and ardent hope that good would come out of evil4 ,i quite see with you1 wrote her mother1 as to ,god's hand being in all this1 and it appears that when communities or nations get sodden in sin and darkness1 there is no way of arousing them but by such a flashing of the truth in their midst as will provoke persecution4 ,god wants the attention of the people1 and this is the best way to secure it1 no doubt4444 ,perhaps you are right about pleading your own cause1 only you should have some one at your elbow who knows the law4 ,you will not be up on points of law1 ,i fear1 otherwise ,i have no doubt that ,god will give you what you should say4 ,i feel it a great thing to have a child in prison for ,jesus' sake2 there could be only one greater1 namely to be there myself2 but one would hardly have thought it possible in this age4 ,how true that the devil hates real saints as much as ever he did1 and that the spirit of persecution only needs the real presence of the ,spirit of ,god to call it forth4444 ,that the ,lord comfort and keep you and reveal ,himself to you more and more and make you a mother of nations1 prays your loving and sympathising mother4 ,catherine ,booth4 ,the next letter admirably reveals both the father's and the ,general's heart4 ,with the deepest concern for his beloved daughter there is combined a lively sense of the fact that his enemies are overreaching themselves and doing him and his cause the greatest possible service4 ,he wrote3 ,my darling1 no one can tell the anxieties we have all gone through concerning you during this week4444 ,we were awakened by telegraph messenger with a wire from ,geneva to say ',bluecher detained till trial4 ,patrick with her--cared for4' ,the last sentence fills us with relief4 ,we interpret it to mean ,patrick is with you as your secretary or maid1 and you have all your wants supplied and no hardships4444 ,enclosed is this morning's ,times4 ,all the papers have notices of it1 so that it is flying all over the world4 ,if you do not suffer in your health1 ,i don't care4 ,it will all work for good4 ,but your health is of more importance to me in my estimation than all ,switzerland4 ,if you can only get assurance of this6 ,i am all uncertain whether this will reach you4 ,there will be a storm directly and no mistake if these ,swiss go on at this rate4 ,we all send you all our heart's love and heaps of prayers and sympathy4 ,god bless and keep you6 ,remember me to ,lieut4 ,patrick4 ,your affectionate father1 ,william ,booth4 ,mrs4 ,bramwell ,booth1 who as ,miss ,florence ,soper had been one of the ,marechale's first comrades in ,paris1 wrote her3 ,i feel as if you had mounted away to a land where ,i can call you ',katie' no more4 ,but ,i will say1 and ,i do say in my heart of innermost hearts1 my ,saint ,catherine1 counted worthy to suffer4444 ,if only ,i could beseech you to remember that your health is everything4 ,this is the dawning of a glorious morning in your work--the forerunner of a glorious victory4 ,will you send some word through ,patrick of the whole truth--just let me know---just your ,flo--if it is as bad as a prison cell1 and is it doing your body the least bit of harm8 444 ,i wish you could know1 in your solitude1 how we all love you--,i wish the breezes over the lake could bring you some whispers of what we have said of you4 ,the glorious ,god is our ,god for ever and ever1 and ,his chariots of fire are with you--,his invisible army is around you4 ,your own ,flo4 #bj4 #i4 '#hc4 ,her sister ,emma1 who was now at the head of the ,training ,school at the ,congress ,hall1 wrote3 ,what can be said at such times compared with what is felt8 ,i will not attempt to write4 ,i am praying4 ,all hearts here hold you up ceaselessly--your example is before us6 ,in the night and the day ,i am with you--in your sorrow ,i find your joy in what is to come out of all4 ',they know not what they do1' and out of their very efforts to hinder and stop ,god's work shall it spread beyond restraint4 ,the loss is great1 my precious sister1 but the reward will be infinitely greater1 and in both you will have been allowed to share4 ,it would have been easier to be with you1 but ,i'll fight harder than ever in my corner here4 ,filled with deepest sympathy and yearning desire for ,his kingdom to come in ,switzerland6 ,devotedly1 ,emma4 ,,ps4 ,it is your back ,i most tremble for--your poor back6 ,i wonder if you have pillows4 ,bless your dear little ,pattie ,miss ,patrick4 ,oh1 each moment ,i am with you6 ,,jesus is--,he does love and choose and will honour you6 ,among those who wrote to the prisoner was ,george ,railton1#a whom she regarded almost as an elder brother4 ,he had lived with the family during her childhood1 and when she was a girl of twelve and onwards she used to get up at six in the morning--slipping downstairs on her bare feet in order not to awaken mother--to have a ,bible lesson with him4 ,she always regarded the talks in those morning hours as among the great formative influences in her life4 ,railton1 who became the ,general's first commissioner1 watched her career with profound and affectionate interest4 ,he wrote on ,september #be3 ,dear ,marechale ,prisoner1 ,i have just come from that tremendous prayer meeting in ,exeter ,hall1 held as a protest against her imprisonment1 one of the biggest and best this world has ever seen4444 ,the way the volleys burst out at the right time and went ringing all round the ,hall sounded splendid4 ,and the sight of thousands standing up to give themselves to ,god1 hundreds and hundreds for foreign service1 and all for service somewhere1 was magnificent4444 ,my impression is that as they the ,swiss have outraged law all along they may very likely do it when it comes to sentence4444 ,god only knows what is coming next1 but anyhow we shall win4 #a ,since these pages were written1 this remarkable man has died--as he wished--with his armour on1 and been promoted to glory4 ,towards the end of her imprisonment ,catherine wrote3 ,god will open the door for us through this storm4 ,my will is ,god's4 ,all ,i want is to accomplish ,his desire for the world4 ,do not worry at all4 ,jesus is here4 ,there is such wonderful victory ahead that all my cry is1 ,lord1 make us equal to it6--ready in every way6 ,ever fighting1 in jail as well as on the field1 following on to know ,him4 ,i have been looking at that wonderful sight--,calvary4 ,i must ever live in sight of it4 ,the trial took place at ,boudry on ,saturday the #beth and ,monday the #bgth ,september4 ,it excited the greatest interest in ,switzerland and far beyond it4 ,the ,journal de ,geneve said3 ,this prosecution at ,boudry has an immense political significance in the highest sense of that word1 and the decision1 whatever it may be1 will take its place in the history of ,republican rights4 ,even the most sanguine scarcely hoped for the acquittal of the accused4 ,but the unexpected happened1 and the triumph of righteousness was a woman's triumph4 ,the ,public ,prosecutor spent much time in proving that ,salvationists were mountebanks and fanatics4 ,a young ,englishwoman had flung an insult in the face of the ,grand ,council1 accusing them of violating the constitution4 ,her contempt for the law was the more surprising as the ,english never rebel against the law1 however unjust it may be 7674 ,if the ,armee du ,salut was not suppressed they would have to enlarge their asylums4 ,christ1 who was1 perhaps1 the most religious man who ever lived1 favoured private rather than public prayer4 ,silent communion with ,god was better than getting up and shouting ,i am saved6 ,while the accused placed herself above the law1 the ,queen of ,england was obliged to submit to ,acts of ,parliament4 ,having not only ignored1 but deliberately violated the decree1 the ,salutistes must bear the consequences1 and no doubt they would be happy to receive the crown of martyrdom6 ,on the second day of the trial1 after a speech in the defence by ,m4 ,monnier1 the ,marechale rose to plead her own cause4 ,though she had passed twelve days in prison1 and sat many hours in the suffocating atmosphere of a crowded court-house1 she overcame her exhaustion1 her spirit subduing the frail body4 ,she had been accustomed to face great crowds since she was sixteen1 and she was never more completely master of herself or her audience than she was in that critical hour4 ,her voice was never clearer1 nor her manner more commanding4 ,her brother ,herbert1 who was in the court1 said he was amazed at her power4 ,as she pleaded the cause of religious liberty1 her hearers felt that she had not come to be judged but for judgment upon them all4 ,some extracts will serve to indicate the quality of her speech4 ,what is the need of the ,armee du ,salut8 ,allow me to read a passage from one of your own journals3 ',cantonal ,governments will see with alarm the flood of demoralisation rising menacingly higher and higher2 and instead of seeking to destroy the causes of this deluge1 they only take away the remaining dams4' ,it is needless to enlarge on the necessity for an ,armee du ,salut in the face of these facts4 ,the ,prosecutor has said1 in speaking of the work1 that it moved the entire population1 and that there must be a cause for this4 ,he has reason to say so4 ,i agree with him2 there must be a cause1 far deeper than any that has been mentioned here to-day4 ,it is at this cause that we strike--which exists in the heart of man4 ,as to our aim1 we are trying to bring these people who outrage your laws1 who fight against ,god1 to the feet of ,him who alone can change them1 to the only hope that exists for them1 the ,saviour of the world4 ,we work1 we live1 we suffer to do this4 ,this is our one hope and object--to bring the world to the great ,deliverer1 ,jesus ,christ4 ,ah6 ,the question of all questions1 the question which every intelligent man ought to face1 is--,what are we to do with the masses8 ,if they are not reached by the power of the ,gospel1 a day will come when they will turn round against you1 occasioning terrible trouble and disorder1 and awful will be the consequences4 ,then1 gentlemen1 you will have reason to regret your action in this matter4 ,if these disturbers are capable of manifesting such hatred1 such rage against citizens who pray to ,god1 they will also be capable of manifesting the same rebellious spirit against any other opinions1 or any other law1 which may not please them4 ,we have not made the people like this4 ,bear in mind that we have not created this terrible state of barbarism1 which was let loose around that hall1 and which has made my heart bleed many times in witnessing4 ,who is responsible for this8 ,we cannot be1 for we have only been in your town a few months4 ,although we have suffered terribly through misrepresentations that have been wilfully circulated about us1 we are not discouraged6 ,we know that truth and justice will soon triumph4 ,i love ,switzerland all the more for what we have endured 7,applause74 ,a little while and ,switzerland will love us4 ,we shall win thousands to righteousness1 peace and heaven4 ,the ,prosecutor referred to the ,queen saying that even she was subject to the decrees of ,parliament1 but that ,i placed myself above her in refusing to become subject to the decrees of the ,grand ,council4 ,there is no parallel between ,her ,majesty and myself4 ,no act has been passed to forbid her praying in a wood1 or ,i think ,her ,majesty would have something to say on that subject 7,sensation74 ,one word in conclusion4 ,you may punish us2 you may imprison us2 you may prosecute us as long as you are permitted2 but what you cannot do is to stop this work--to suppress it4 ,beware what you do for your country's sake1 for ,jesus ,christ's sake4 ,take care that in banishing us you do not banish the light1 that you do not banish ,jesus ,christ1 and in that great day when you are called to give an account you be found guilty of fighting against ,god4 ,such pleading was irresistible4 ,the jury had not the courage to enforce the law4 ,to their honour1 they let themselves be swayed by considerations of equity4 ,they found that while the accused had violated the decree she had not acted with culpable intention4 ,in consequence of this verdict she was acquitted4 ,the sentence was received by her friends in the court with a burst of fervent ,amens4 ,and the ,marechale deserved the thanks of every ,swiss patriot4 ,by her bold and successful claim of right she had made history4 ,at a time when the old ,republic was forgetful of its noblest traditions1 untrue to itself1 she restored its ideal4 ,she vindicated for every man and woman freedom to worship ,god according to their conscience4 ,she brought back to the hills and valleys of ,switzerland the crown rights of the ,redeemer4 ,no one appreciates or speaks more enthusiastically to-day than the ,marechale of the devotion and bravery of her comrades1 ,colonel ,clibborn first and foremost1 and spiritual children at this time4 99,,chapter ,,vi99 99,,the ,,soul ,,of ,,france99 ,it is not easy to reach the ideal and spiritual elements of character which are masked by the light laughter or the polite scorn of the typical ,frenchman1 who believes1 or pretends to believe1 that religion is only for priests and women4 ,at the opening of a new hall in the ,rue ,oberkamff1 a big fellow shook his fist in the ,marechale's face and said1 ,an ,englishman may accept religion--a ,german--or a heathen1 but a ,frenchman--never6 ,o ,god1 if ,you exist1 save my soul1 if ,i have one6 was the prayer of another man1 who had attended the meetings for some time1 and who indicated with a strange pathos the bewildered state of mind into which many of the educated1 as well as the ignorant1 had sunk4 ,let there be no mistake1 said a ,french writer1 ,louise de ,croisilles2 it is by no means unnatural that the ,army should have taken root in ,india1 or even under ,africa's burning sun1 but that it should be accepted in ,paris1 the centre of free-thought and unbelief1 that is a thing incredible4 ,nevertheless the ,frenchman suffers from the malady of the ideal1 even as other men4 ,his heart is restless until it rests in ,god1 and it is sheer faithlessness to say that he cannot be won by the grace of ,god4 ,if he is sceptical1 it is because he has no conception of the fascinating loveliness of ,christianity2 if he is a scoffer1 it is because he has never come in contact with human lives which suggest to him the infinite goodness of ,god4 ,after the ,marechale's great legal victory1 which was really a triumph of the ,gospel over its enemies1 she returned to ,paris and quietly resumed her tasks4 ,she was in nowise changed1 though public opinion regarding her was undoubtedly changed4 ,she had become a person of note4 ,editors of newspapers and magazines sent reporters to her meetings at the ,quai de ,valmy1 or at the new headquarters in the ,rue ,auber1 and found piquant accounts of her sayings and doings to be excellent copy4 ,visitors to the city came to hear her4 ,artists begged for the honour of painting her portrait for the ,salon1 an honour which she steadily refused4 ,the son of ,garibaldi invited her to visit ,italy1 where1 he said1 she would be welcomed and not treated as she had been in ,switzerland4 ,none of these things1 however1 moved her4 ,as she had promised ,god in her prison that she would never be depressed by the calumnies of men1 so now she prayed that she might never be elated by their praises4 ,with a stronger faith and a more ardent hope1 she plunged again into absorbing work4 ,one sees that she worked with her imagination2 that she obeyed her intuitions2 that she proved the originality and inventiveness of love2 and her efforts were so rewarded that #ahhd was her annus mirabilis1 at the end of which she wrote3 ,can you imagine the bewilderment that comes over me when ,i sit down to convey some idea of the wonderful way in which ,god has led and helped us during the year8 444 ,it is not too much to say that during the past twelve months we have passed from the position of a small and almost unknown mission to that of a great spiritual power1 recognised and felt throughout ,france and ,switzerland4 ,a series of fresh inspirations contributed to this result4 ,the first of these was the visitation of the cafes of ,paris4 ,one winter night the ,marechale and two young comrades1 ,blanche ,young and ,kate ,patrick1 went out with shawls on their heads1 and made their way to one of the boulevard cafes4 ,the leader passed the door1 and passed it again4 ,she turned to her lieutenants and said1 ,you have never known your ,marechale till now2 you see what a coward she is6 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,marechale ,,in ,,the ,,cafe 7,from the painting of ,baron ,cederstroem1 now in the ,picture ,gallery of ,stockholm7 ,no1 no1 no6 they both protested4 ,at last she put her hand on the door1 pushed it open1 and went in4 ,a man in a white apron was selling drink4 ,going up to him1 she said1 ,may ,i sing something8 ,he stared open-mouthed4 ,trembling from head to foot1 she repeated1 ,i should like to sing something4 ,very well6 ,she began3 ,le ciel est ma belle patrie1 ,les anges y font leur sejour2 ,le soldat qui lutte et qui prie ,y sera bientot a son tour4 ,while she sang1 ,blanche chimed in with her guitar and her second voice4 ,as they proceeded1 the smoking1 drinking1 and card-playing ceased1 and every face was turned towards them4 ,they sang on3 ,en marche1 en marche1 ,soldats1 vers la patrie6 ,en marche1 en marche1 ,soldats1 vers la patrie6 ,when they had finished the hymn1 the ,marechale thanked her audience1 adding that they could hear her again at ,rue ,auber ,hall2 and that she knew a ,friend1 of whom she wished to tell them4 ,as she and her comrades turned to walk out1 the man in the white apron bowed1 as if they had done him a service4 ,may ,i come another time8 said the ,marechale4 ,certainly1 ,mademoiselle6 ,they visited sixteen cafes that night1 and when she got home she felt she had never been happier in her life1 never nearer to ,jesus4 ,she had tried in her own way to obey ,his command1 ,let your light shine before men4 ,since then1 thousands and thousands of cafes have been visited1 and much good has thus been done4 ,let one case stand for many4 ,there used to be a well-known resort in ,paris called the ,cafe de l',enfer1 the windows and walls of which were painted with lurid scenes representing hell4 ,there rouged and powdered singing girls entertained people of the dare-devil type1 who sat drinking and smoking at little tables4 ,from an open coffin a grim skeleton stared at everybody1 and prizes were given for the most audacious witticisms about death4 ,the more outrageous the blasphemies were1 the louder were the roars of applause with which they were received4 ,but the ,marechale and her young lieutenants1 armed in complete steel--the panoply of ,god--were not afraid of the gates of hell4 ,having obtained permission to sing1 they mounted the estrade1 and rendered some of their most attractive part-songs4 ,the cafe orchestra at once took up the airs as if it had been paid to do so4 ,the songs of ,paradise were well received even in those regions1 and then the ,marechale1 stepping forward1 made a little speech3 ,you are very clever here4 ,you play very well4 ,but it is a role that you play4 ,your laughter is not real2 ,i can tell you the source of true laughter and true joy4 ,this is not life1 it is death2 ,i can tell you what real life is4 ,this is not peace1 it is an effort to drown care and forget trouble2 ,i can tell you the secret of peace4 ,let me give you my address1 where you can hear us sing again4 ,it required as much moral courage to deliver that speech as to face all the jurists of ,helvetia4 ,when the ,marechale was leaving1 she passed a lovely girl1 in whose ear she whispered1 ,what are you doing here8 you ought to be in bed4 ,who will give me a supper or a bed8 the girl plaintively asked4 ,i will6 exclaimed the ,marechale2 come with me1 quick6 ,she hailed a cab1 put the girl in1 and drove away4 ,the poor child1 eighteen years of age1 had a sad tale to tell4 ,she had noble blood in her veins1 and her mother and she had both been cruelly wronged4 ,the ,marechale led her to ,christ and ultimately secured for her a position in one of the best colleges of ,america1 where she was universally respected4 ,not long after she was installed there1 she sent the ,marechale #ejj francs1 with the pathetic message1 ,save another1 as you saved me4 ,the ,marechale's methods naturally gave offence to those who had not the courage to adopt them4 ,late one night she and some comrades were standing at the door of a theatre while it was emptying4 ,one of her young officers cried in clear1 penetrating tones1 ,prepare to meet thy ,god6 ,the words seemed to send an electric shock through the gay crowd4 ,thereupon a gentleman came forward to the ,marechale and said3 ,mademoiselle1 you are evidently young girls of good family1 and ,i am scandalised to see you here at this hour4 ,i1 too1 occupy myself with preaching1 but ,i am shocked at your behaviour4 ,really8 she replied1 and ,i am scandalised that you are scandalised4 ,you profess to believe the ,gospel4 ,how are you to get these indifferent tens of thousands to hear of the ,saviour8 ,they won't come to listen to you4 ,what more natural and more in accord with the principles of ,jesus1 than to go to them and compel them to hear8 ,ten minutes after1 the gentleman returned and slid a five-franc piece into her hand1 saying3 ,it is you who are right6 ,it was impossible for young girls to be in the boulevards towards midnight without being sometimes molested4 ,but the leader would instruct her soldiers thus3 ,if they say the vilest things in the world to you1 remember that is only the outside4 ,think of their souls which cost so dear to ,christ4 ,say one or two sentences that will remain with them1 and pass on4 ,more than once she proved this method of dealing to be very effective4 ,in a corner of one of the boulevards a gentleman approached her and asked for a rendezvous4 ,she looked at him in silence1 which he took for consent4 ,where8 he asked1 taking out his pencil and note-book4 ,devant le ,trone de ,dieu6 7,before the ,throne of ,god67 ,the man took to his heels1 and ran4 ,that went all over ,france4 ,one day the same sword will pierce the conscience of every roue in the universe4 ,the ,marechale's second original idea was to begin a series of ,conferences 7,meetings7 in the fashionable ,lecture ,hall of the ,boulevard des ,capucines4 ,her increasing popularity only deepened her sense of duty to the city of her adoption1 and suggested to her the possibility of bringing ,christ to the ,boulevards as well as to the ,villette4 ,she could not live in gay ,paris without profoundly pitying the thoughtless1 infidel ,rich1 for whom it is proverbially so hard to enter the kingdom of heaven4 ,her idea of attacking the central stronghold of the world's fashion and pleasure was a daring one for a woman1 especially for a woman of the ,marechale's youthful years4 ,about this time she read the ,life of ,napoleon1 and found in his astonishing career many lessons for an evangelist4 ,she was especially struck by his faith in his star1 and his contempt for ce bete de mot1 impossible4 ,she knew that she had something better to trust than a star1 and stronger reason for holding that all things are possible4 ,her new plan of campaign was great alike in its conception and its execution4 ,from the very first the ,conferences for men were astonishingly successful1 and they were renewed year after year4 ,the audiences were very different from a ,keswick or ,northfield congregation1 in which the preaching is mostly to the converted4 ,perhaps the best parallel to the ,marechale's ,conferences is to be found in ,professor ,drummond's ,sunday evening meetings for students 7men only7 in the ,oddfellows ,hall1 ,edinburgh1 which1 by a strange coincidence1 began in the same year4 ,having enjoyed the friendship of both these evangelists1 and listened to them many scores of times1 ,i have often been forcibly struck by their likeness to each other1 and for power to rivet the attention and inspire the confidence of cultivated men of the world ,i have met nobody to compare with them4 ,when the ,marechale came to hold her first ,conference1 the proprietor of the hall entered her ante-room and advised her to deliver a sort of ethical lecture1 rather than speak of salvation1 as it was the worldly fashionable public who would assemble1 and he was afraid they would not be pleased if they heard too much of religion4 ,but they listened with rapt attention while she spoke on the text ,without ,god and without hope in the world4 ,of the second ,conference ,galignani's ,messenger said1 ,the subject1 ',the ,greatest ,sin1' was treated with a force of religious arguments which made a visible impression on many persons in the audience4 ,the attention was deep and respectful4 ,the ,hall was crowded1 and the doors were vainly besieged by a numerous crowd1 the greater part of whom remained outside the open windows to hear the address4 ,another leading journal said1 ,she has profoundly astonished the citizen sceptic1 who has been out of the habit of being astonished for a long time4 ,her brother ,ballington was present at a later meeting1 and described the impression made on himself as one who did not know ,french4 ,i had to cover my face more than once while our ,marechale spoke4 ,her words1 though in a foreign language1 yet seemed understandable4 ,the ,spirit does not confine ,himself to words alone4 ,he speaks through the countenance1 and eyes1 and hands--,he fills the ,temples of ,his children4 ,three things struck me in that meeting3 first1 the rapt attention and interest of the audience1 and there seemed few who were not impressed at the close2 second1 the manner in which the people remained in the after-meeting on to the end2 third1 the utter amazement1 and yet perfect solemnity of the congregation1 when some sinner came up through the aisles to seek peace1 even rising as though to make sure that what they saw was a fact4 ,then he adds--and one notes the beautiful transition--,i was also present and took part in meetings at ,paris in which the very poorest were attending by hundreds1 and at which ,i saw men of the vilest caste and life getting saved4 ,no small part of the ,marechale's charm lay in her flexibility and adaptability--her ,pauline habit of becoming all things to all men--to the rich and to the poor1 to the wise and to the unwise--that she might win some4 ,at a later time the ,marechale delivered somewhat similar addresses in other cities of ,france such as ,nimes1 ,marseilles1 ,havre1 ,rouen1 ,lyons--and she was everywhere astonished to find that the ,french1 who seem the most thoughtless1 are yet among the most thoughtful people in the world4 ,the result of such ,conferences as these cannot be tabulated4 ,for one thing1 they made the ,marechale more than ever a mother-confessor and spiritual director4 ,the thoughts of many hearts were revealed to her at private interviews of which no record was kept1 and in letters1 one of which may be given as containing the secret of the ,marechale's power--her possession of ,christ's ,spirit--a second as showing the abyss of doubt from which many of her hearers had to be rescued1 and some others as indicating the wonderful success which often attended her efforts4 ,the first runs as follows3 ,i am glad you accept my request to visit my home4 ,you will consider the intention in asking you to come under my roof1 like ,one before you1 who had the noblest ,heart which ever beat for mankind4 ,it is because this ,great ,heart has possessed yours to the degree of rendering you like ,himself1 that you have profoundly moved me and made me better4 ,certainly ,i will speak with you on these vital subjects1 but ,i need more and more the moral and spiritual atmosphere of the meetings3 this opens the heart and at the same time deadens the opposition of the mind4 ,oh1 if the latter could hold its peace6 444 ,i have lived much in solitude1 and naturally these problems have been always with me4 ,i may say that the ,infinite has tortured me for twenty years3 lately ,i have arrived at the conclusion that one can know nothing4 ,so ,i shall be glad to speak with you and at length4 ,a second correspondent wrote3 ,your marvellous faith1 your simple and powerful eloquence so deeply moved me that ,i cannot but thank you4 ,i thank you as an artist1 as a sincere admirer of beautiful work1 of great characters2 ,i thank you as a man blase1 sceptical1 benumbed and deadened4 ,as a child ,i adored ,jesus1 and now1 after having thought much and suffered infinite pains which you cannot understand1 ,i have said adieu to faith and also adieu to hope6 ,i have become one of those you call sceptics4 ,ah6 do not say 'terrible' sceptic1 but unfortunate1 pitiable1 unhappy sceptic4 ,you are1 ,madame1 a great1 beautiful1 generous heart1 and if ever earnest good wishes have been worth anything1 ,i have cherished them for you1 your work1 and those who fight by your side4 ,you will believe me1 an unbeliever1 who envies you1 admires you1 and ideally loves you4 ,a third of her hearers wrote succinctly3 ,two of your meetings have sufficed to destroy infidel convictions of twenty years' standing4 ,a fourth1 after testifying to his respect and confidence1 said3 ,what your soul yearns for is conversion4 ,you would like me to add1 ,i am converted4 ,i cannot say that ,i am4 ,but you have made an incredible impression on me1 and you have made me love the ,christ ,i never loved4 ,he evidently could not rest there1 and soon he sent a second letter1 describing with thankfulness how one night1 in prayer and agonising mental controversy1 he had received a manifestation of the ,holy ,spirit1 which had finally slain his doubt and made him a believer in ,god4 ,the twofold purpose of the ,conferences was to conquer the feelings and tastes1 the etiquette and conventionality1 of people of the world1 and to awaken faith in unbelievers4 ,one day a very bad man thrust some bank-notes into the ,marechale's hand1 saying while he did so3 ,i believe in nothing4 ,you believe in nothing1 and yet you give me these bank-notes6 ,he replied1 ,i believe in you1 and ,i wish you had a hall in every town and hamlet and village in my country4 ,pull out your watch1 she said4 ,i believe in your watch1 ,i believe that it keeps time1 but ,i do not believe in its maker6 444 ,i am naturally just as great a lover of ease and comfort as you are4 ,the motive power--la force motrice--of my life1 the spring upon which everything turns1 is the love of ,christ4 ,you believe in me2 believe in ,him who has made me what ,i am4 ,the ,marechale's third new departure was perhaps the most important of all--the founding of an ,ecole ,militaire1 or school for cadets1 somewhat similar to the ,military ,school at ,clapton1 over which her sister ,emma at that time presided4 ,when ,catherine first went to ,france1 a very noted ,protestant pastor said to her1 ,you will never get three ,frenchwomen to live together in peace4 ,but at the ,training ,home1 ,avenue ,lumiere #c1 in the ,villette1 where the ,marechale lived all the year round with her officers1 there were as many as forty or fifty young women--among whom1 at one time1 a ,princess's daughters were side by side with scullery maids--and the harmony1 the love1 the spirit of never mind me1 which prevailed was one of the miracles of the work in ,france4 ,to the training of company after company of young cadets--,french1 ,swiss1 ,english1 ,belgian1 ,german1 ,italian and ,russian--the ,marechale gave a great deal of her time and strength1 her pattern being ever our ,lord's own training of the ,twelve4 ,all obeyed her joyfully and without question4 ,she realised intuitively that the highest thing in training is not discipline1 but something which discipline follows as light follows the sun4 ,that something is the spirit1 the atmosphere1 which men and women are brought into and which transforms them4 ,in the ,ecole ,militaire it was the selflessness of people who did not care what became of them4 ,where that spirit takes possession of any one1 there is no need to say to him1 ,you shall do this or that4 ,the law of the spirit of life makes him obedient without constraint4 ,the spirit of the ,marechale's leadership is somewhat expressed in ,garibaldi's call to arms often quoted by her4 ,his followers understood his motives1 realised his disinterestedness1 saw that rewards and honours were nothing to the man who was seeking the ,liberty of ,italy4 ,therefore they loved him so much that they would have died for him4 ,there was no marked difference between the ,staff and the ,field1 and yet there was discipline1 obedience1 devotion such as the world has scarcely ever seen equalled4 ,that was the spirit which the ,marechale sought to impart to the ,ecole ,militaire4 ,everything else--how to study the ,bible1 how to conduct meetings1 how to use the voice1 how to deal with souls--was subordinated by her to the one thing needful--the spirit of sacrifice4 ,we are sometimes told1 she once wrote1 that our uniforms1 our young women speaking in public1 our tambourines and our processions bring contempt upon religion4 ,it is a mistake4 ,that which is the laughing-stock of the world and of hell is a religion without sacrifice4 ,people will never believe in ,christians who1 while professing to be disciples of ,him who had not where to lay ,his head1 live in luxury1 seek first the comfort of their family1 the health and position of their children1 and let their souls perish for lack of that ,gospel which they profess to believe4 ,there is the secret of the unbelief of ,france2 that is what makes the young who are in search of the truth cry ',comedy6' ,on the other hand1 those faces which radiate the light from on high1 those young people who rise up to give themselves to ,god instead of the world1 those men and women who declare1 with a sincerity which leaves no room for doubt1 that they consecrate their life to ,god for the saving of souls1 are more eloquent than the most beautiful discourses4 ,the faces of officers and cadets who surrounded the ,marechale on her platform undoubtedly constituted a large element of her power4 ,renee ,gange1 the ,socialist1 wrote a fine appreciation of her and her comrades1 in which she confesses that what she finds remarkable among these young girls1 pretty as well as plain1 is the complete absence of the ordinary feminine expression4444 ,in looking with searching1 scrutinising eye at the faces enveloped in this ugly bonnet1 we have not deciphered the least vestige of this expression1 neither timidity1 nor awkwardness1 nor restlessness1 nor the consciousness that people are thinking of them4 ,nothing4 ,these faces are the free faces of free creatures4 ,one day a ,french ,baron1 who had received a great blessing at the ,marechale's ,conferences1 said to her in the great hall at the ,rue ,auber1 ,what you lack here is pictures2 for instance1 the saints4 ,those beautiful faces1 with their sweet celestial expressions1 diffuse a sentiment of reverence and quietness1 and they would form such a beautiful background to you4 ,you should have the ,virgin1 and ,saint ,francis1 and many others4 ,that is what you lack in all your halls3 could we not do something8 ,baron1 said the ,marechale1 will you come here next ,sunday evening8 ,yes1 certainly4 ,are you going to speak8 ,he never lost a chance of hearing her4 ,yes2 be sure you do not miss it4 ,next ,sunday evening she marshalled her little group of officers4 ,she filed them in1 men on one side1 women on the other4 ,she stood in the midst of them and spoke4 ,at the end of the meeting the ,baron came forward4 ,marechale1 he said1 you have no need of pictures4 ,those figures6 those faces6 they are your pictures4 ,her friend ,frank ,crossley was greatly struck by this incident4 ,he wrote3 ,i was specially interested in the remark upon inspired faces4 ,i once heard ,rendel ,harris say of the biblical critics1 that they might tear the volume into shreds1 but never could rub off the light of ,god from the faces of ,his people4 ,one of the cadets of the ,ecole ,militaire was ,constance ,monod1 daughter of the great ,protestant preacher whose hymn1 ,oh1 the bitter shame and sorrow1 is known everywhere4 ,having received salvation and rich spiritual blessings from attending the ,marechale's meetings1 she became one of her most devoted officers and warmest friends4 ,she was one day put up to speak to a very rough audience of lewd1 low men1 and one of the roughest and lewdest of them said1 with tears in his eyes3 ,oh1 what extraordinary purity in that face6 ,that was the expression which gave so many of the cadets their power in the cafes and in the slums4 ,it was what they were1 far more than what they said1 that did the work4 ,among the new cadets there was always a great heart-searching4 ,were they sure of their vocation8 ,had they a due sense of the seriousness1 the sacredness1 the responsibility1 the opportunity of the call to work and fight for ,god8 ,if they were not right there1 everything was wrong4 ,but if they had really left the world1 and come to learn to know ,,god1 ,he revealed ,himself to them1 and it was marvellous how rapidly they grew in that heart-knowledge which is always so much deeper than head-knowledge4 ,whenever troubles and difficulties arose1 the ,marechale's method was not to evade them1 but to grip things at the bottom4 ,an invitation to come and have a cup of tea would lead to earnest talk and prayer1 by which she nipped many an evil in the bud4 ,these personals1 as such interviews were called1 were remembered ever afterwards with gratitude4 ,the conquest of self1 the triumph of the spirit of love1 was illustrated in small matters as well as in great4 ,one day a ,frenchman1 ,francois1 refused to clean the boots of another cadet1 who was a ,german4 ,i clean a ,german's boots8 ,never6 never6 ,the ,marechale quietly said3 ,the boots will be cleaned4 ,never by me6 ,by you4 ,well1 not now1 let them wait6 ,the whole day passed1 and the boots were not cleaned4 ,the ,marechale knew what ,francois suffered inwardly1 and got him alone in the evening4 ,jesus died for the ,germans1 she said4 ,his lips remained tightly pressed4 ,he suffered1 and she suffered with him4 ,after a moment's silence he burst into a torrent4 ,we have endured too much6 ,think of the siege of ,paris4 ,that beast of a ,bismarck6 ,oh6 our country has suffered4 ,clean a ,german's boots8 ,never6 ,he raved4 ,the ,marechale was quiet and listened for a time4 ,then she said3 ,all that may be true2 but you are going to have a greater victory over the ,germans than ever the ,germans won over you4 ,the triumph which they had over ,france was a flea-bite in comparison4 ,she got his ear1 and talked to him of the highest things4 ,the victory which ,jesus won on ,calvary over ,pilate and the ,priests and ,judas1 this must be ,francois' victory4 ,go back to your trade unless you can win this victory4 ,this makes an apostle of ,francois1 and nothing else4 ,these boots are only a detail1 but they have brought to light something in you that is hindering the great victory4 ,and so they talked4 ,she would not force him4 ,next morning she gave a lecture1 at the end of which he came into her room and sat down4 ,there was a moment's silence1 and then he collapsed1 falling all of a heap and sobbing like a child4 ,marechale1 he said1 ,i will clean the boots6 ,such training inside the ,ecole made the cadets ready for any conflict outside1 and the triumph of the spirit of love was in some instances a preparation for death4 ,the first of the ,marechale's cadets to win the martyr's crown was ,louis ,jeanmonod4 ,he was a ,swiss youth1 finely built1 nearly six foot1 and twenty-one years of age2 a true soldier1 devoted1 courageous1 tender-hearted4 ,his months of training were almost over1 and in the last three weeks he developed wonderfully4 ,he visited the cafes with great success1 singing and speaking1 holding his auditors in breathless silence4 ,he had great power in convicting people1 and often his opponents would become his friends and ask him to continue to speak to them4 ,on a ,january night in #ahhe he was guarding the door of the ,hall at the ,quai de ,valmey1 when one of the roughs ran at him head foremost and butted him violently in the stomach4 ,louis managed to shut the door1 and next day went on bravely with his work1 even selling the ,en ,avant in the evening1 till the pain became very severe4 ,the doctor found that a quantity of blood had already settled in his lungs1 and soon after pronounced his case beyond all human skill4 ,louis was for a time delirious1 but he had never in his past life played the fool1 and he uttered no word that his mother would not have wished to hear4 ,he always seemed to be starting on a campaign4 ,were the caps1 the bags1 and everything else ready8 ,oh6 what glorious times were coming6 ,when the delirium passed1 and his mind became calm1 his pallid face shone with a strange light4 ,as soon as the ,marechale came to his bedside1 he saluted and said-- ,amen1 ,marechale1 amen6 ,what were his thoughts of the ruffian who had dealt the deadly blow8 ,he had only a single thought--,one day he will be saved4 ,detectives came to receive the dying man's description of the assailant4 ,a message from them to this effect was conveyed to ,louis1 who answered it in a single word3 ,jamais6 7,never67 ,but he described the guilty man to the ,marechale1 that she might know him and pray for him4 ,seeking her hand when the end drew near1 he said-- ,oh1 ,i love so much to hold your fingers4 ,jesus will take your hands1 ,louis1 and guide you into the port4 ,i will--let myself--be guided--by ,him4 ,the ,marechale prayed1 and with the spirit of ,saint ,stephen in his breast and the words ,it is too beautiful6 on his lips1 he went to be with ,christ4 ,belleville and the ,villette were stirred to the depths by a martyr's funeral1 and at the grave ,theodore ,monod spoke words which moved the hearts of all4 ,the young ,marechale who gathered round her men and women of this stamp--a willing people in the day of the ,lord's power1 ready for everything1 faithful unto death--evidently possessed high qualities of leadership1 and ere long the spirit of the ,ecole ,militaire was to be found in every station of the ,army throughout ,france and ,switzerland4 ,speaking at one of the ,general's great meetings in ,scotland1 ,professor ,henry ,drummond said that after travelling all over the ,south of ,europe1 visiting many cathedrals and hearing famous orators1 he had landed at ,marseilles1 and felt more of the presence and power of ,christ in the ,salvation ,army meeting-place of that town than he had experienced in all his wanderings4 ,the ,general repeated this to the ,marechale1 and she found that the meeting which had so profoundly impressed the ,professor had been conducted by a young officer1 ,mlle4 ,dormois1 who had recently left the ,training ,school in ,paris4 ,that the authorities at home praised ,god for the ,marechale's work scarcely needs saying4 ,her father's appreciation found expression in every letter4 ,here are brief extracts from three of them4 ,my dear girl1 my very precious girl1 ,i know you are after my own heart4 ,i place boundless confidence in your judgment and resolutions4 ,do not be afraid of anything or any one4 ,you are a true heroine1 a ,joan of ,arc1 indeed4 ,you must have a fearful strain upon you4 ,still a great part of your business is to keep yourself quiet and free from wearing care4 ,to be cool and steady under fire is the quality of the very best soldiers4 ,i fear ,i have not excelled in this direction1 and it is a very difficult property in our family1 seeing how full of sympathy and feeling our hearts and lives are1 but ,god can do much for us4 ,every letter from her eldest brother ,bramwell1 who was the ,chief of ,staff1 was a ,well done6 from over the sea4 ,writing in #ahhe--the year of his and ,stead's heroic crusade against vice--he said3 ,i get more and more dissatisfied with things human every day4 ,the world is all gone mad4 ,if it was only bad1 and not mad1 we could mend it1 but being both ,i get less and less hope instead of more6 ,we will now attend to quality more4 ,if we could get better people surely we should go faster4 ,i solemnly believe you are ahead of us on the ,continent in this direction4 ,in the following year he wrote3 ,do not think you will ever be less dear to me than you have been4 ,you cannot be4 ,i love and admire you1 and if you were my general to-morrow ,i should follow you to the last gasp and stick while there was one limb of me left4 99,,chapter ,,vii99 99,,woman',s ,,vocation99 ,there can be neither ,jew nor ,greek2 there can be neither bond nor free2 there can be no male and female3 for ye are all one in ,christ ,jesus4 ,after the lapse of many centuries this great apostolic saying is beginning to yield up its meaning and its blessing4 ,the ,mother of the ,army was one of the first to assert woman's liberty1 and her daughters entered into a sacred heritage4 ,having become a public speaker at fourteen1 and seen the work of faith rewarded with countless signs following1 the ,marechale could never harbour any secret fear that her ministry might be grieving the ,spirit of ,god4 ,it was impossible1 however1 that she should work for years without encountering many who had strong prejudices4 ,our ,lord's disciples marvelled that ,he spake with a woman1 and there are still disciples who marvel when a woman speaks for ,him4 ,in the summer of her third year in ,france1 the ,marechale attacked the old city of ,nimes1 in the largely ,protestant ,gard--the first of a series of campaigns which were the means of bringing a blessing to a number of the provinces of ,france4 ,on her arrival she found that ,m4 ,peyron1 an eminent judge1 who had greatly benefited from hearing her before1 had arranged a preliminary meeting of the orthodox of ,nimes--pastors and their wives and other ,protestant workers--to the number of about #abj4 ,he was anxious that they should be won before her campaign began1 but he had no idea that he had prepared for her one of the battles royal of her life4 ,the meeting being thrown open1 the doctrine of holiness--,god's power to keep ,his children from sinning--first came up1 and was violently attacked by several pastors who confounded it with perfectionism4 ,their remarks were loudly applauded1 and one lady screamed above the rest-- ,let him that is without sin get up and testify4 ,greatly daring1 the ,marechale whispered to a comrade who sat beside her1 ,rise1 ,bisson1 which he did1 and in a few simple words testified1 not indeed to his own perfection1 but to ,god's power to sanctify and keep as well as justify4 ,after a momentary lull1 the storm became fiercer than ever1 and the ministry of women was now the cause of war4 ,the ,marechale alluded to her mother's manifesto on the subject4 ,we have read it1 said a lady1 and we do not agree with it4 ,women are meant for the home4 ,they are commanded to be silent in the churches4 ,besides1 cried another1 you are not old enough4 ,the ,marechale quoted the words1 ,let no man despise thy youth4 ,but that1 retorted a pastor's wife1 was said to a man4 ,thereupon the babel of voices became deafening4 ,pretty and prepossessing girls1 a matron was heard to say1 should not show themselves in public4 ,if you do speak1 said a pastor1 skilled in distinctions1 you should speak to women only1 and not before men4 ,all through the storm the central figure was quiet and self-possessed4 ,but she was thinking hard4 ,the idea of a distinction in sex had never come before her as a speaker2 it was new and strange to her4 ,when she at length spoke again1 she put the result of her thinking into a simple1 memorable1 unanswerable dictum3 ,but there is no sex in soul4 ,perhaps somebody had said the same thing before1 but it was none the less original on her part4 ,then she expanded the truth3 ,the needs of a man's soul are the same as a woman's1 and vice versa4 ,you do not get up and say there are so many men and so many women in a meeting4 ,they all need salvation1 pardon1 purity1 peace2 all the gifts and graces of the ,spirit are for men and women alike4 ,of course1 she continued1 if any woman is so light and frivolous that she makes such a distinction1 that certainly proves that she has no vocation to be an evangelist1 and ,i should send her home by the next train4 ,she felt that the atmosphere of the room was horrible4 ,religious controversies1 like religious wars1 create a more frightful spirit than any other quarrels4 ,instead of prolonging the discussion1 the ,marechale sank on her knees and began to pray4 ,she had won by prayer many victories which were remembered after long years4 ,when she was a child of fourteen1 she attended a meeting of her mother's at ,ryde in the ,isle of ,wight4 ,she sat far back beside the door1 listening till the address was ended1 and then she heard her mother ask if some brother or sister would pray4 ,as nobody responded1 and the silence became too oppressive to bear1 ,katie rose and poured out her heart to ,god in tones of passionate earnestness1 seeking for a victory ere the meeting ended4 ,when she got home1 she was folded in her mother's arms and covered with kisses2 and forty years after1 when she was herself conducting a mission at ,ryde1 a saintly lady of ninety-two told her that no prayer lived in her memory like that child's prayer4 ,it was such a prayer--long1 intense1 passionate--that the ,marechale prayed among the orthodox of ,nimes4 ,that night the eldest daughter of ,m4 ,peyron1 a beautiful1 worldly girl1 was won for ,christ4 ,at seven o'clock on the following morning two pastors1 ,,mm4 ,challand and ,babut1 along with ,m4 ,peyron1 awoke the ,marechale4 ,they had come to say1 for themselves and others1 how they deplored the scene of the preceding night1 and to beg forgiveness4 ,on ,sunday morning the campaign proper was begun in the ,alcasar1 which was packed1 and the wives of several pastors were among those who came in tears to the penitent form4 ,albin ,peyron1 junior1 who is to-day the leader of the ,army in ,switzerland1 began the new life at a ,night with ,jesus which was held after that meeting4 ,in his youth he was the founder of ,la ,petite ,armee1 which did much good work among the children of ,nimes and other towns of ,southern ,france4 ,while the ,marechale was always at home in crowds1 she loved quiet interviews with individuals if possible still more4 ,in many of these talks the subject was the victory of faith4 ,during one of her tournees1 she was conducting meetings in a theatre at ,cannes4 ,on a lovely ,september evening she was walking towards the sea1 lost in admiration of the sunset4 ,fatigued with her ,sunday morning's work1 she was seeking a little repose4 ,she observed a priest slowly proceeding towards the hill on which stood a little ,catholic church4 ,his appearance struck her2 he looked at once so distinguished and so sad4 ,an inner voice said to her1 ,speak to that priest4 ,i cannot1 she said1 he would think me mad4 ,but the voice said the same words a second time1 and then she instantly obeyed4 ,hurrying towards the priest1 she said-- ,good-evening1 mon pere4 ,i presume you are going to the church on the hill4 ,may ,i accompany you1 for ,i would speak with you on spiritual subjects8 ,uncovering his head1 and bowing with great respect1 he answered1 ,certainly1 madame4 ,they walked on for a little in silence4 ,then she said-- ,what must ,i do to be saved1 my father8 ,keep the ten commandments1 he answered at once4 ,but the rich young man who came to ,jesus could say with his hand on his heart that he had kept them all1 and yet had no assurance of salvation4 ,he was in great trouble4 ,he said1 ',what must ,i do to be saved8' ,oh1 then you must take the holy ,eucharist very often4 ,but those who take it1 my father1 are they saved from sinning8 ,are they not the victims of the power of evil1 the same as others8 ,oh6 yes1 madame1 but then there is the ,confessional4 ,but does not the same thing apply to the ,confessional1 my father8 ,you must know that there are tens of thousands in ,france who confess1 but fall again the next day4 ,they have not found rest4 ,is not ,christ ready to save us if we are ready to be saved8 ,alas6 madame1 we shall sin always1 always1 to the very end of our lives4 ,but1 my father1 were not ,st4 ,augustine1 ,st4 ,francis of ,assisi1 ,st4 ,catherine of ,siena1 ,fenelon and many others1 delivered from the slavery of sin and self8 ,they attained to something definite--to holiness4 ,he turned with vehemence and said1 raising his voice-- ,ah6 madame1 but those were extraordinary lives4 ,those people were saints4 ,no1 my father1 they were men and women like you and me4 ,what ,god did for ,st4 ,augustine or ,st4 ,catherine of ,siena1 can ,he not do it for me if ,i am ready to fulfil the conditions which ,he lays down8 ,what does religion do1 what is it worth1 if it cannot deliver us from sin8 ,he did not answer4 ,he was silently thinking4 ,she went on1 ,is ,christ a ,saviour1 yes or no8 ,oh1 yes1 yes1 yes1 ,he is6 ,has ,he saved you1 my father8 ,they stood still for a moment1 and he turned his face away1 with a look of poignant sadness4 ,then followed a confession--one of the deepest1 most heartfelt cries she had ever listened to--ending with the words1 ,alas1 alas6 all the days of my life ,i sin1 and ,i expect to sin to my latest breath4 ,the ,marechale was profoundly moved1 and felt that she stood upon holy ground4 ,at last she spoke-- ,then ,calvary is the greatest fiasco the world has ever seen4 ,stretching out his hand1 he said1 ,oh1 madame1 do not say that2 it is blasphemy4 ,but1 my father1 we are in the presence of facts1 not fancies4 ,you have left what men prize most4 ,you have lived up to your light4 ,and what do ,i find8 ,torment instead of rest1 conflict instead of assurance1 bondage instead of deliverance4 ,surely1 my father1 ,jesus did not come to increase our burdens1 but to relieve them4 ,you remember ,his word1 ',come unto me and ,i will give you rest4' ,he said1 ',my yoke is easy and my burden is light4' ,are these theories to be preached in pulpits1 or are they realities8 ,by this time they stood on the summit of the hill1 and she said-- ,you are going to preach to-night1 mon pere8 ,yes4 ,would you like that we should go down the hill together and resume our conversation8 ,it would be a great pleasure1 madame4 ,he preached one of the best sermons she had ever heard1 partly inspired1 she could not help thinking1 by their intimate talk4 ,as the congregation moved out1 she stepped into a ,confessional box to wait for him4 ,she saw him turning this way and that with a look of disappointment1 and1 stepping out1 said to him-- ,i am here1 mon pere4 ,they began to descend the hill together4 ,my father1 she said1 ,i greatly enjoyed your sermon4 ,but how can you show others the way of deliverance if you have not found it yourself8 ,how can you unbind if you are not unbound8 ,how can you heal if you are not healed8 ,how1 my father8 ,do you not see that all this is only from the head1 not from the life1 the heart8 ,it is true6 ,but ,i try1 oh1 my ,god1 ,i try6 ,but it does not come in that way--by our struggles4 ,then how8 he exclaimed in a tone of despair4 ,does ,he not say1 ',abide in me1 and ask what you will1 and it shall be done unto you'8 ,does not ,st4 ,paul testify1 ',i can do all things through ,christ which strengthened me4' ,how many have given praise to ,him who is 'able to save to the uttermost' and 'able to present us faultless'6 ,put ,him to the proof4 ,if any one has the right to salvation1 surely you have4 ,they paused under a tree in the stillness of evening1 and1 while he stood with bowed head1 she knelt beside him and prayed4 99,,chapter ,,viii99 99,,the ,,renunciation ,,of ,,home99 ,early in #ahhg the ,marechale became the wife of ,mr4 ,arthur ,sydney ,clibborn1 an ,irish gentleman of ,quaker extraction1 lineally descended from ,barclay of ,ury1 the hero of one of ,whittier's finest poems4 ,brought up in ,bessbrook1 which was called the model town from the fact that there was no public-house1 police barracks or pawnshop in it1 he renounced excellent business prospects in answer to a call which first came to him through a simple1 earnest ,quaker minister1 ,sydney1 will thee not come with us8 ,the visit of some representatives of ,salvationism to ,bessbrook turned the current of his thoughts in a new direction1 making him exclaim1 ,here is primitive ,quakerism1 primitive ,wesleyanism1 primitive ,christianity6 ,as he had spent some years at school in ,switzerland1 and become proficient in ,french and ,german1 he was sent by ,general ,booth to assist the ,marechale in ,france1 and acted as her chief of staff until their marriage4 ,he was a man of great courage1 and received a medal from the ,french ,president for saving life from drowning4 ,as a servant of ,god he would1 one cannot but think1 have made a splendid ,huguenot or ,covenanter4 ,his heroic ideal was the persecuted ,quaker whose blood he had in his veins4 ,in the ,salvation ,army's early days of conflict he was the bravest of the brave4 ,he was stoned and covered with mud in the streets of ,geneva4 ,he was pursued by a ,parisian mob that howled ,down with ,jesus ,christ6 ,his life was attempted many times1 and he was condemned to death by the ,nihilists under the seal of the ,paris headquarters2 but he never went out of his way to avoid death or use carnal weapons4 ,mr4 ,booth-,clibborn has been specially used of ,god in removing the difficulties of those troubled with intellectual doubt and in opening the eyes of a large number who were in spiritual darkness4 ,the ,marechale was now obliged to leave the ,training ,home1 where her vie apostolique among her beloved officers and cadets1 whose every conflict and danger she shared1 had often seemed to her like life in an earthly paradise4 ,but whatever new duties and cares came to her in her little home in the ,rue d',allemagne1 she never allowed them to interfere with her vocation4 ,in the course of fourteen years ,god gave her five sons and five daughters1 among whom life was infinitely sweet to her1 yet all her public activities were maintained1 while her passion for souls burned with a clear and steady flame4 ,loyalty to ,christ now assumed a new aspect1 and the conditions of discipleship an added stringency4 ,a great sentence in the ,gospel--,verily ,i say unto you1 there is no man that hath left house1 or brethren1 or sisters1 or father1 or mother1 or wife1 or children1 or lands1 for my sake1 and the ,gospel's1 but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time1 houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands1 with persecutions1 and in the world to come eternal life--burned itself into the ,marechale's soul1 and she never doubted that she received her centuple just because she paid the price4 ,when she went to any of the towns of ,france to undertake a difficult campaign1 it was impossible for her to do her duty unless she fixed her whole mind and heart upon the work4 ,having to deal with the mass of sin concentrated in a large mixed audience such as she had to face in these towns1 and knowing1 as she used to say1 that every person had a skeleton in the cupboard1 she felt that she must become1 as it were1 the scapegoat to bear the sins of these people4 ,there was a sense in which she had to be like ,christ in this respect1 and so co-operate and suffer with ,him 7,col4 i4 #bd74 ,she must go and set herself apart to lift up hands to ,god in favour of the city4 ,she must say to every preoccupation1 every earthly tie1 ,stand thou there while ,i go yonder to pray4 ,she must live for that town and that people for six weeks1 or two or three months4 ,she might do a certain kind of work without giving her life1 but it would not be of the apostolic kind4 ,to get the hundredfold of which ,christ spoke she must leave father and mother1 home and child4 ,in some very real way she must sacrifice and suffer4 ,she had felt this from her childhood1 and she now saw it more clearly than ever2 there was always a price to pay4 ,the secret of success in such cases was the consciousness of a vocation and a passionate love too1 and the personal dealing with the ,christ of ,calvary4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,marechale 7,from a photograph by ,fred4 ,boissonnas1 ,paris1 circa #ahhj7 ,how hard it became for the ,marechale to accept this cross may be indicated by a touching scene depicted by her secretary1 ,miss ,gugelman1 who is now one of the bravest soldiers of salvation in ,india4 ',seek ye first the ,kingdom of ,god4' ,how clearly this was illustrated when1 at a late hour one evening1 just at the close of her month's meetings in ,paris1 the ,marechale bent over her little ones' cots to bid them good-bye before starting on her three-months' tour through ,france and ,switzerland4 ,evangeline1 the eldest1 had kept awake1 for she knew that her mamma was going away4 ,the little arms were flung round the warrior-mother's neck1 when1 raising her sweet tear-stained face1 little ,evangeline stammered1 ',maman1 stay with me1 or take me with you on your tournees4' ,our leader's all too human tears filled her eyes2 she kissed the little pleader1 and then wrapped her up in a blanket1 and brought her into the study to see us off4 ,it was painfully clear to us who were watching her1 that the leaving of her little ones for the war's sake was a heavy cross to the ,marechale4 ,thank ,god1 she shirks it not4 ,suppressing her feelings1 she went out into the cold and damp1 and started her long all-night journey4 ,that was in ,february #ahid1 and later in the same year she had two of the finest campaigns of her life--at ,havre and ,rouen4 ,the turbulent beginning at ,havre was graphically described by her friend the ,princess ,malzoff1 who accompanied the ,marechale in order to have a taste of the vie apostolique4 ,there was a great tumult in the ',lyre ,havraise4' ,the ,marechale had come to publish the word of love and salvation4 ,an immense crowd forced itself into the hall1 and who would have dared believe that they had all come simply to present the world with the most scandalous1 the most vulgar and odious spectacle that one can imagine8 ,when the ,marechale rose with great dignity and calm 444 she could not make herself heard4 ,every word was interrupted2 one could see that it was a prepared stroke4 ,one might imagine oneself to be in an asylum4 ,but she did not let herself be discouraged2 she persevered2 she walked straight into the midst of the infuriated crowd4 ,she did not tame these wild beasts1 but she came out victorious all the same4 ,tall1 beautiful1 calm1 sustained by her divine conviction and with the strength of a great heart1 she came back again and again--our admirable ,marechale6 444 ,in the midst of this infernal and ridiculous tumult a few elite souls felt a noble enthusiasm for this young woman who battled alone against a hostile and wicked crowd4 ,they came to grasp her hand1 to express their admiration for her and their shame for those who had broken the simplest laws of hospitality1 politeness and civilisation4 ,blessed be our ,marechale2 in her the whole ,armee du ,salut was personified that night in its strength1 its faith1 its persevering love4 ,tributes to the ,marechale under fire were extorted from all the reporters4 ,after two or three meetings the atmosphere was changing and the tide of battle turning1 when tidings came from ,paris1 that ,augustine1 the ,marechale's little son of two summers1 was alarmingly ill4 ,then came an indescribable mental conflict1 which ended in her deciding to remain at least another night and hope for better news in the morning4 ,she called her officers for prayer1 and that night spoke with a power and tenderness which held the vast audience as with a spell2 after which she had ,havre for six weeks in the hollow of her hand4 ,next morning she received a reassuring wire from home1 and1 sitting alone on the beach1 she wrote a hymn that gives perfect expression to the thought of the ,greater ,love--a hymn that has endeared itself in ,france as much to ,catholics as to ,protestants4 ,it begins3 ,qui quitte famille et terre ,pour mon ,nom1 pour suivre mes pas2 ,qui quitte enfants1 pere ou mere1 ,recoit le centuple ici-bas4 ,when this hymn was sung in the ,lyre ,havraise a night or two afterwards by one of the ,marechale's young comrades1 ,mme4 ,jeanmonod1 who had a beautiful soprano voice1 it was received with a burst of sympathetic applause1 and had to be sung over and over again1 till the audience knew it4 ,then there was a great harvest of souls to reap4 ,a letter written at the time gives an idea of the intensity of spirit with which the leader threw herself into the work4 ,meeting superb6 ,nothing of its kind since the days of ,geneva and ,nimes1 and even better in a sense than that1 as the infidels rush to hear me4 ,perfect order and people pleading to get in4 ,in these first audiences it has been too risky and excitable to allow any to speak but me4 ,they applaud everything1 that is1 when ,i have finished speaking1 and ,i never felt more free and regardless of man's opinion4 ,i am stronger with the rough element alone in my weakness1 so much stronger as ,i throw myself on them4 ,yes1 ,i am filled with the life and power of ,god for this town4 ,this hour may never come again4 ,my soul is on the full stretch4444 ,do you know what the ',centuple' is for me8 ,that my children shall become apostles6 ,oh1 ,i claim that of ,god1 and do you know there is an assurance in my heart4 ,in addition to the nightly crowds at the ,casino1 the ,marechale held afternoon meetings for women only1 at which she spoke on such subjects as ,the ,role of ,woman1 ,the ,mother of ,jesus1 ,the ,white ,robe4 ,nothing impressed ,havre more than the midnight suppers she gave to the filles perdues of the town1 not a few of whom were constrained to abandon the life of sin4 ,and so generous were the rich citizens in their offerings that at the close of the campaign the ,marechale was at length able to realise one of her cherished ideas--the foundation of a ,rescue ,home in ,paris4 ,after ,havre1 the ,marechale had a short breathing-space at home1 and then ,rouen had to be faced4 ,again the shadow of the ,cross fell upon little hearts and lives4 ,victoire1 who was nearly five1 pleaded with upstretched arms1 ,don't go1 mother6 stay with us6 7,ne pars pas1 ,maman6 ,reste avec nous67 ,evangeline1 who had just turned six1 had learned the lesson of separation1 and1 throwing her arms around her mother1 said1 ,maman1 if you do go to ,rouen1 will some souls be saved that would not be saved if you did not go8 ,yes2 most likely so4 ,then go1 ,maman6 ,and ,maman went4 ,while the good ,catholic of ,rouen was shocked1 the man in the street was amused1 at the idea of worshipping ,god in the ,theatre ,francais instead of the stately cathedral1 and between them they contrived to make the thing impossible4 ,what1 they asked1 could be more grotesque than preaching and singing hymns on the stage8 ,at the opening meeting the ,marechale herself obtained a fairly good hearing1 but a hostile element was present which every now and then convulsed the audience with laughter by some comical exclamation2 and when one of her comrades attempted to close the meeting with prayer1 the rout was complete4 ,prayer in a theatre was the limit1 and next day the ,marechale was informed by the ,mayor that he must pacify the public by terminating these proceedings4 ,the great ,casino1 at the corner of the square in which ,joan of ,arc was burned1 was then secured1 and the ,marechale began to deliver a series of addresses on ,the ,holy ,mother of ,jesus1 ,nineteenth ,century ,miracles1 ,confession1 ,restitution1 ,the ,saints1 ,the ,pater ,noster1 ,my ,credo1 ,the ,altar4 ,the crowds that filled the hall to overflowing were amazed to find that these subjects were all dealt with quite unecclesiastically1 and with such an exclusive application to the individual heart and life that sacerdotalism became1 as it were1 non-existent1 while the sinner and the ,saviour were made manifest and left face to face4 ,the people who came with minds alert left with hearts melted and consciences aroused4 ,soon there were great numbers of souls seeking spiritual help1 and the ,marechale announced that she would meet the convicted and anxious in one of the rooms of the ,casino4 ,no fewer than four hundred sought private interviews in that place1 which thus became a confessional of the simple1 primitive order4 ,not by priestly absolution1 but through personal contact with the one ,high ,priest and ,mediator1 was sin remitted and salvation won4 ,so many ,catholics were converted that the head of one of the seminaries thought it necessary to preach against the ,armee du ,salut4 ,an influential abbe1 on the other hand1 said3 ,i cannot1 of course1 agree with the ,salvationists1 but ,i am absolutely convinced of their sincerity1 and ,i am certain they are far nearer salvation than the majority of ,catholics4 ,the cure of the largest paroisse attended one day in his soutane1 gave an offering for the mission1 and bought the publications at the door4 ,when the ,marechale was about to speak to women alone on the ,holy ,mother1 two priests expressed their desire to be present1 and she had them concealed behind a curtain4 ,at the end they were deeply moved1 and assured her they had not heard a single word with which they were not in heartiest agreement4 ,such was the deep spiritual impression made upon the town that a newspaper was published containing nothing but accounts of her meetings and the work going on in the ,casino4 ,during all her years in ,france the ,marechale never posed as a ,protestant and never attacked ,catholicism4 ,creeds1 ceremonies1 penances1 pilgrimages--these things were to her neither here nor there4 ,she always went for the real1 and she found in ,christ not only true divinity but perfect humanity4 ,her sermon on the ,virgin melted thousands of ,catholic hearts1 and her fundamental doctrine of sacrifice never failed to evoke a response from the ,latin races4 ,she was an eager student--so far as the apostolic life permitted--of the writings of ,catherine of ,siena1 ,thomas a ,kempis1 ,madame ,guyon and ,fenelon1 claiming kinship with all who loved the ,lord ,jesus ,christ in sincerity and truth4 ,thus she had great power over ,catholics as well as ,protestants and infidels4 ,one of her most devoted officers1 ,m4 le ,roux1 had1 after a brilliant career as a ,catholic student1 completed his preparation for the priesthood and received the tonsure1 when he came under her influence and found his life completely changed4 ,and the following letter received from a lady-professor in ,rouen indicates the kind of impression which was made on many ,catholic minds4 ,dear ,marechale1 ,i wish to do what ,i have not yet dared to do when face to face with you--that is1 to express the pleasure which ,i have found in your charming ,conferences4 ,they have moved and troubled me to such an extent1 have thrown such light in my heart and mind1 that ,i ask myself what is going on within me4 ,your addresses1 so simple and yet so high1 so suited to your hearers1 so consecutive1 have influenced me more than all the beautiful sermons of the monks4 ,you have made me understand that ,god asks something else from us than outward practices and empty ceremonial1 and ,i feel that you have renewed a faith in me that had nearly disappeared4 ,you have made me taste1 thanks to your deep convictions and the warmth of your speech1 one of the purest joys ,i have ever known4444 ,be blessed a thousand times1 ,marechale1 for having revealed my religion to be under a new light1 for having shaken this apathy which rendered me incapable of every generous impulse1 for having made me more sensitive to the sufferings of others4 ,be blessed in your children1 who one day ,i hope will reward you nobly for all your sacrifices4 ,be blessed in humanity1 the great family which you have elected to live for and which is the object of your care4 ,does such a revival as this leave solid and lasting results8 ,let one case out of many be presented as evidence that it does4 ,m4 ,matter was a distinguished engineer and an officer in the ,french army4 ,extracts from two of his letters tell what the ,rouen campaign did for him4 ,beloved ,marechale1 ,three years ago tonight a poor man entered the ,casino through what appeared mere chance4 ,he was burdened with sorrow1 keenly conscious of his sins1 but never dreaming of asking the ,armee du ,salut--which did not even excite his curiosity--to help him1 hardly believing any more in the possibility of salvation for him4 ,god inspired you2 the ,holy ,spirit made your words penetrate even underneath the breastplate of sin which covered my poor heart4 ,two days after ,i was born to a new life4 ,from that moment ,god has strengthened1 protected and directed me4 ,i seek to love ,him with all my heart1 and ,i treasure a deep and loving gratitude to you4 ,and six years later3 ,i have made a pilgrimage at night in the deserted streets to the ,casino where ,god found me and where you were ,his ambassador4 ,this gentleman is now well known all over ,france for his work among criminals and drunkards1 and his services have been recognised by the ,french government4 ,he gets into personal touch with hundreds of convicts in order to speak to them of the love of ,god1 and down in the ,ardeche he has a ,home for four hundred little waifs1 mostly the children of criminals1 whom he calls the ,marechale's grandchildren1 he himself being her spiritual son4 ,the last time she visited him in ,paris1 they were engaged in eager and intimate talk1 when he said1 ,do you see that ivory pipe8 ,i have engraved on it the day of my conversion at ,rouen2 but since that time ,i have never had any inclination to smoke it4 ,and do you see that pile of letters8 ,these are from my boys in prison4 ,let me read one of them to you4 ,then he read the words of a convict who spoke of prison walls lighted up with the glory of ,christ's presence4 ,and he added1 ,do you remember you said to me when ,i was in despair over my past life1 ',these hands1 which have done so much evil1 will bring blessing and salvation where ,i can never go4' ,your words have literally come true4 99,,chapter ,,ix99 99,,the ,,friendship ,,of ,,christ99 ,one night a little card was placed on the table d'hote of the ,hotel ,meurice1 in the ,rue de ,rivoli1 intimating to the guests that the ,marechale would speak at an informal meeting in the salon after dinner4 ,among those who came to see and hear her was a little ,russian lady with deep and thoughtful hazel eyes4 ,she was the celebrated ,princess ,nancy 7properly ,anastasia7 ,malzoff of the ,russian court4 ,one of the ,czarinas died in her arms4 ,she was a friend of ,king ,edward ,,vii1 and her brilliant wit made her a welcome figure in every court of ,europe4 ,she spoke eight languages4 ,she was now well advanced in life1 and thought she had known everybody worth knowing and seen everything worth seeing in the world4 ,but that evening was the beginning of a new life of peace and joy such as she had never dreamed of4 ,from the moment the ,marechale opened her lips1 she was fascinated1 first by the speaker1 and then still more by the message4 ,next morning she came in her carriage to the ,villette4 ,the ,marechale was scarcely well enough to receive her1 but she would not take a ,no4 ,when she entered the ,marechale's room1 she threw herself by the bedside and exclaimed1 ,oh6 tell me1 how did you get to know ,him8 ,this was the commencement of a seven years' friendship1 and during all that time she was never out of reach without writing the ,marechale every second day4 ,the ,princess was a member of the orthodox ,greek ,church4 ,her mother had married her off at sixteen1 and she had eleven children by the time she was twenty-eight4 ,when she found that her husband had become unfaithful1 she dismissed him with an emphatic ,c'est fini6 and for more than a quarter of a century she had never seen him4 ,the ,marechale listened with deep sympathy to the story of her life1 and then said1 ,you must forgive him1 if you would be forgiven4 ,never1 never6 ,yes1 if you want ,christ1 forgive him4 ,never mind what he has done1 you must forgive him4 ,the ,princess could not4 ,a struggle went on in her mind for six weeks4 ,she began to come to the meetings at the ,rue ,auber1 but she had no peace4 ,the ,marechale opened the question again4 ,come now1 ,i want you to write and invite him to meet you at your hotel1 to dine with him1 and to forgive him4 ,a terrible inner controversy ensued1 and the ,princess became ill over it4 ,one can scarcely imagine what it all meant to her1 and yet thousands have to go through the same4 ,calling one day1 the ,marechale found her in a cloud of cigarette smoke4 ,princess1 how dare you smoke like this8 ,well1 ,i am surrounded by a thousand devils1 blue1 black and yellow4 ,you have been neglecting me4 ,a ceaseless conflict was raging in her breast1 and ere they parted that day she wrote a letter and said she would send it4 ,the ,marechale called again1 and found that the letter had not been sent4 ,then the crisis came4 ,princess1 you are lost4 ,if you do not forgive1 your heavenly ,father will not forgive you4 ,i cannot1 ,i cannot4 ,she was in agony of soul4 ,princess1 said the ,marechale1 are you perfect8 ,from the little ,i know of you ,i should think you have a very bad temper4 ,it is true1 it is true4 ,your sins have not been his1 but they are sins before ,god1 and have caused suffering to others4 ,if you want ,god to forgive your bad temper1 you must forgive him4 ,the ,marechale prayed1 and bade her look to the ,cross and see how ,christ forgave4 ,then she told her again what to do4 ,darling1 you are to invite him to your apartments2 you are to have a sweet little dinner for him and flowers on the table1 and when he comes you are to kiss him4 ,but ,i cannot6 ,yes1 you will2 and remember it is no forgiveness unless you kiss him4 ,forgiveness means kissing4 ,forgive him1 and ,i know peace will come4 ,very well1 ,i will1 ,i will6 ,the ,marechale chanced to be leaving ,paris for a time1 and said-- ,you will send me a wire when you have done it4 ,the ,princess invited her husband4 ,he made a long night journey4 ,she kissed him and forgave him4 ,next day the ,marechale received a wire which made her dance for joy4 ,it ran3 ,tout s'est passe comme vous l'avez dit1 et la paix du ,christ m'inonde3 ,malzoff 7,all is done as you said1 and the peace of ,christ floods my soul47 ,her husband died after a few months1 and her thankfulness for what she had done was profound4 ,the last years of her own life were beautiful4 ,in a letter which she wrote to ,general ,booth in regard to her friend's health she said3 ,i owe a great deal to the ,marechale4 ,she has given me a treasure greater than all the treasures of this world--she has given me a living ,christ2 she has put ,him not near me1 but in me1 in my soul1 and the gratitude ,i feel for that blessing is great4 ,an article from her pen on the ,army's work in ,paris contains these words3 ,the ,salle ,auber is to me now a holy place4 ,i feel the presence of ,christ there--,christ who has personally become a living ,saviour to me since the ,marechale brought me to ,him and committed me to ,his ,divine arms4 ,hundreds of letters1 the last of which was written in ,st4 ,petersburg on the day before her death1 reveal an intensely ardent nature1 and prove that the heart which truly loves never grows old4 ,we translate a few extracts4 ,i will use all my moral forces to prove to you that our mutual affection has advanced me in the path of holiness which you opened to me the very first moments ,i heard you speak4 ,god had pity upon me and sent you on my via dolorosa to open to me a new horizon1 a new heaven4 ,he carried my heart to you with an intensity of which ,i did not think myself capable4 ,i have found in you two beings equally precious to me--the first is a friend ,i love like a dearly beloved daughter2 the second the ,marechale of my ,salvation1 whose work1 vocation and power ,i admire--that moral power which you only in the whole world exercise over me4 ,if ,i had known you earlier1 you would have made a saint of me4 ,not any affection in the world1 not even my children's1 can replace yours for me4 ,what does it matter though everybody loves me if you do not8 ,i know that it is because ,i have not yet renounced my 'self1' my 'moi1' that your absence makes me suffer1 but ,i cannot help it--it is beyond my power4 ,i know also that the day my 'self' will be chased away--which is doubtful--,i shall love no one1 for to love one must be a self1 one must have one's own heart4 ,i doubt if there are any others who bear you such a deep1 complete1 living1 warm and luminous affection4 ,not that you do not deserve it1 but all natures are not alike1 and you know the fault of mine4 ,i cannot love by halves4 ',love wisely1' some one advises4 ,that word 'wise' hurts me4 ,i do not want to be wise in my love for you4 ,i prefer to love madly1 and that is what ,i do1 and you feel it1 don't you8 ,wisdom to the devil when it is a question of the heart4 ,i cannot believe that ,he must detach us from everything to attach us to ,himself--that would make me very sad4 ,on the contrary ,i feel that it is only human love1 disinterested love1 but deep and living1 which can make us understand ,divine love4 ,it is only through human experience that we can appreciate ,his great1 ,his mighty1 ,his eternal love for us4 ,all the life of ,jesus is filled with that palpable love for ,his creatures1 and that is why ,he is so near to us4 ,let me therefore love you without detachment1 and the more ,i love you the more ,i will love ,him4 ,one of her letters is peculiarly interesting3 ,i will see the ,emperor in these days1 and ,i will seek strength to speak to him4 ,you see1 my darling1 speaking is not enough1 one must in such a case pour out one's soul and feel that a superior force guides one and speaks for one4 ,it turned out as she hoped4 ,one night she was at the ,palace in ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,after dinner the ,czar came and seated himself beside her4 ,soon they were deep in intimate conversation4 ,she began telling him what her new-found friend in ,paris had done for her4 ,she talked wisely as he listened attentively4 ,at length he said-- ,but1 ,nancy1 you have always been good1 always right4 ,no1 she answered2 till now ,i have never known the ,christ4 ,she has made ,him real to me1 brought ,him near to me1 and ,he has become what ,he never was before--my personal ,friend4 99,,chapter ,x99 99,,the ,,burning ,,question99 ,it was the often expressed wish of ,mrs4 ,josephine ,butler that the ,marechale might be able to join her crusade against the infamous ,white ,slave ,traffic4 ,in one of her earliest letters to her friend she said3 ,dearest ,catherine1 the wicked party1 as you know1 have triumphed in the elections in ,switzerland1 and the ,geneva government has passed that evil ,law which our friends were trying to stop4444 ,how nice it would be if you and ,i could stand up together in ,geneva1 and denounce their wickedness and proclaim the ,saviour4 ,i should love to do so4 ,at a later time she wrote of her young friend1 ,oh1 ,i sometimes think if she were in the work of our ,federation1 what a harvest she might bring us in1 or rather bring in for ,god6 ,the ,marechale regarded the wish of that saintly and chivalrous woman as involving a kind of sacred trust4 ,her own heart was early and deeply troubled by the darker aspects of our modern civilisation4 ,when she and her two brave comrades1 ,florence ,soper and ,adelaide ,cox1 took their first flat in ,paris1 they were shocked to learn that they had as their nearest neighbours--above and beneath1 to the right and to the left--families unconsecrated by any marriage tie2 and in the course of their ordinary work they found themselves hourly confronted by all the devils of vice4 ,the lurid facts1 of which most ,christians1 happily for their own peace of mind1 know little or nothing1 were burned into the souls of these noble women1 each of whom dedicated herself to a battle a outrance against this most appalling form of evil4 ,and have they not faithfully kept their vow8 ,are there any living ,englishwomen who have done so much to protect our innocent children and raise our fallen sisters as these three1 who first toiled and suffered and prayed together thirty years ago in the ,villette of ,paris8 ,in redeeming her pledge1 the ,marechale not only gave midnight suppers to the filles dechues of the great cities in which she conducted her campaigns1 not only founded ,rescue ,homes in ,paris1 ,nimes1 ,lyons and ,brussels1 but endeavoured to make the problem of purity a national question1 to be dealt with in a statesmanlike manner by every patriotic citizen4 ,she frequently addressed great meetings of the men of ,paris and other cities on this subject1 making irresistible appeals to the heart and conscience4 ,it was astonishing how she carried the most critical audiences along with her1 though now and then an indignant hearer would leap to his feet and dash out of the hall or theatre in which her meeting was held4 ,she steadily refused to believe that nothing could be done for the morale of ,frenchmen1 and her faith in the innate chivalry of the people was amply justified4 ,the respect with which she was heard was a tribute not only to the personal magnetism of a consecrated life1 but to the ,christian ideal of chastity4 ,she was often told by journalists that any one else1 man or woman1 daring to utter half the home truths to which she gave expression would have been hissed out of the town4 ,explain it as one will1 when she pleaded the sacred cause of womanhood1 men applauded to their own hurt4 ,gentlemen1 she would exclaim1 ,i am not ,french1 but ,i love your nation4 ,i have made your country mine1 and ,i realise what ,france might be but for the worm which gnaws at the root of your national life4 ,it makes me shudder to think--it makes me literally sick to see--how many thousands of my sisters1 and your sisters1 in your beautiful city are ministers of vice4 ,so many1 your policemen tell me1 under twenty1 so many under seventeen1 so many under fifteen1 and there are even those known to the police who are not in their teens4 ,gentlemen1 they do not sin alone1 for we are all solidaires4 ,they are like your own girls1 your wives1 your sweet little daughters4 ,they have hearts1 they have brains1 they are intelligent1 they would make beautiful mothers1 our comrades in life's journey1 helping us and sharing our burdens4 ,and1 alas1 what have you made of them8 ,any nation which can look at that going on in its cities day by day and night by night1 without a word1 without a protest--which can see this splendid asset1 woman1 who should bear its sons and daughters1 sacrificed and sold to vice1 disease1 and early death1--that nation is on the decline4 ,do not tell me that a man worthy of the name can be silent in face of these stupendous facts4 ,such a man is not a ,frenchman4 ,i am told that things have always been so1 and will always be so4 ,i hear it said on every hand that this vice is a necessity4 ,that some women--that the daughters of the poor--should be sacrificed is regarded as inevitable4 ,well1 then1 gentlemen1 as you say it is for the public utility1 follow your reasoning to its own logical conclusion1 be just to these poor creatures2 do not despise them1 do not call them lost1 fallen1 prostitutes2 be honest and acknowledge them2 allow them to stand at least on the same level as our soldiers who sacrifice themselves for their country4 ,far from being ashamed of them1 honour them for their service to our sons and our nation4 ,but you say 'it is only une fille1' and one of your senators has publicly said that 'we are come to a fine pass if an honest man cannot buy himself une bonne fortune4' ,only a fille6 ,your mothers were once only filles1 your wives were only filles1 and what are your own daughters8 ,wherein lies the difference8 ,an honest man6 ,i am not a nun2 ,i am not a man-hater stalking through the world4 ,i revere man4 ,he is half a god4 ,look at his works in every domain--the king of creation1 given that wonderful command to subdue and rule1 having everything under his feet4 ,when he rises to his destiny1 and becomes a co-worker with ,god1 and puts his life and example--that wonderful miracle called influence--on the side of righteousness1 he rises to the sublime4 ,the sum of happiness1 of pure joy and peace1 that one good man can bring to the little group at home1 and then to the community1 to the city1 to the world1 cannot be estimated4 ,and the sum of misery1 the curse1 the blight that one man can bring to a woman1 to children1 to every one he touches--that1 too1 cannot be estimated4 ,an honest man6 ,he does not even stop where the cows and horses do4 ,he goes a thousand miles beneath them6 ,and yet the indulgence of the passions is no more a necessity than the drinking of alcohol is a necessity for an infant of a year old4 ,it is society that awakens those evil desires1 and they unfold themselves under the influence of a baneful education4 ,gentlemen1 you say that a bad woman is worse than a bad man4 ,have you ever reflected that the wrongs done to her are far deeper8 ,have you realised that her make-up is a thousand times more delicate and complex than yours1 and that as a consequence this sin makes shorter work of her8 ,her despair is blacker and she is reckless4 ,you take from her the hope of ever having a little home of her own1 of ever having a real husband1 of ever hearing herself called mother4 ,you have done that before she can realise what you have done4 ,she does not wait1 does not estimate4 ,the realisation comes to her later on in life4 ,and when it comes1 is it any wonder that she flies to drink and becomes a demon8 ,would not ,i8 ,would not you8 ,say all that you please against woman4 ,reckon up the sins on your side and on hers4 ,still your page is black as ink compared with hers4 ,think of the generous1 the absolute1 the totally blind ways she loves4 ',woman's heart runs down to love ,as rivers run to seas4' ,you have your life1 your work1 your amusements2 but love is her whole existence4 ,she is created in that way4 ,that makes your sin in deceiving a trusting heart infinitely greater4 ,you may go and have a good marriage afterwards1 and be proud of your charming wife's sweet looks1 but does not the vision of another1 a pale face sometimes flit across your mind8 ,and when you look at your little cot1 do you not see another baby face--another little life you have never owned1 of which you are the author1 and which is equally yours before ,god8 ,a woman's heart has been broken1 and there will be retribution4 ,while the ,marechale stood alone1 pleading as a woman the cause of woman1 her audiences of educated ,frenchmen were sometimes so deeply stirred and convicted that they would rock and sob under the power of emotion2 and when they rose at the end to sing a hymn that she wrote as a young girl--a hymn which has been translated into many languages-- ,ote tous mes peches6 ,ote tous mes peches6 ,agneau de ,dieu1 je viens a toi1 ,ote tous mes peches1 the words and music would sweep over the audience like a wave1 sending many away with consciences tortured and faces bathed in tears4 ,one morning1 after such a meeting1 there was a ring at the ,marechale's door1 and a lady was ushered into her presence4 ,coming forward without a word1 she took the ,marechale's face between her hands1 and warmly embraced her in the ,french fashion by kissing both her cheeks4 ,the ,marechale inquired what was the meaning of this sweet affection4 ,oh6 said the stranger1 you have restored to me my husband4 ,he was listening to you last night1 and when he came home he fell at my feet and begged me to pardon him1 vowing that he would never again be untrue to me4 ,that was but one of the many fruits of these addresses4 ,sometimes the ,marechale would read to elite audiences a letter which a man of high social standing wrote to a charming young girl whom he ought to have made his wife4 ,having met her at ,carnival1 he awoke in her heart an adoring love1 deceived her with a promise of marriage1 put a ring on her finger1 and after three years abandoned her and her baby boy4 ,the ,marechale took the letter to an eminent jurist and senator1 who confessed that for cold-blooded cruelty he had never seen anything to equal it2 but he sorrowfully added--such are the laws of ,christian lands--that nothing could be done to right the wrong4 ,the letter ran as follows-- ,,little ,,marie1 ,once again ,i must ask pardon for all the harm ,i have done you4 ,i hope1 however1 that you will be strong in trouble1 stronger than you have been up to the present4 ,this will be a very great consolation to me4 ,i owe many thanks for the resolutions that the good little ,marie made yesterday1 in spite of her heart and all her feelings4 ,believe that ,i shall never forget it1 and that it cost me much before deciding to break your ideal--but1 as ,i told you1 ,i prefer to be sincere4 ,as long as my heart was free from other passion ,i always considered you as the best friend ,i possessed4 ,if ,i was not completely happy1 it was that living without love was not to live--but you1 poor little ,marie1 you suffered6 ,you are worth a hundred times more than ,i1 and precisely on account of that we could not understand each other4 ,you who are so good--too good--permeated with the most delicate sentiments1 you could not conquer an ambitious man1 for ,i am very ambitious4 ,whilst you dreamed of a simple1 quiet life with me1 you must understand that violent passions1 riches1 and a luxurious life are for me essential4 ,in a word1 our ideals are completely different1 and it is a divorce of souls which ,i have accomplished in leaving you4 ,fate made us meet1 and fate separates us4 ,don't have any ill-feeling towards me4 ,my dream now is to create for myself quite a new life made up of goodness1 of love1 and above all faithfulness in a serious affection4 ,i sacrifice you1 it is true1 but if it were otherwise1 think of the torture you would have inflicted on me4 ,is it not better to separate1 each of us keeping a good memory of what made our union8 ,think also how my life is insupportable in this muddle now that ,i love truly4 ,you are good1 ,marie2 be courageous now4 ,the sacrifice that ,i ask of you is enormous1 ,i know1 but do it for love of me1 and ,i will be eternally obliged to you4 ,you will put all your tenderness in the little ,gustave1 whom ,i shall never forget1 and above all remember that he who loves well chastises well4 ,au revoir--au revoir6 ,once again pardon me1 and don't suffer too much by your exile4 ,my only hope is that ,gustave will recompense you largely for all the suffering you have endured1 so little merited during these long years4 ,i remain1 ,your devoted----4 ,marie was human1 and when the marriage day drew near there was a fierce flaming-up of resentment in her young heart4 ,she thought of making a scene at the church and spoiling the bridegroom's joy4 ,her brother fanned her burning sense of wrong1 and promised to back her up if she would seek revenge4 ,but the ,marechale pleaded with her1 the love of the ,crucified constrained her1 and on the morning of the wedding she wrote the following pathetic little note3 ,he is to be married to-day4 ,the wedding bells are ringing4444 ,it is all over1 dear ,marechale1 and ,i am on my knees in my little room4 ,all is well2 the peace of ,christ is in my heart1 and ,i have the victory4 ,this is no romance1 but a bit of real life4 ,which of us would have done as little ,marie did8 ,she did not know it1 but she was worthy that morning of the ministry of angels--the shining ones who have never sinned and never suffered4 ,sometimes the ,marechale would tell her audience a story to prove what wells of love there still are in the hearts of the most abandoned4 ,during a three months' campaign at ,lyons1 resulting in one of the most remarkable revivals in which she ever took part1 she was giving a midnight supper4 ,her officers had gone to the most notorious houses and left a card containing the words3 ,a lady who is devoted to the cause of women desires to speak to them on subjects which deeply interest them1 in ---- ,hall1 at twelve to-night4 ,supper1 music and singing4 ,the city had been moved1 and the rich demonstrated their sympathy with this effort4 ,having had frequent experiences of the risks attending midnight gatherings1 the ,marechale enlisted the interest of the police1 who on this occasion gave her all possible assistance4 ,late in the evening the table was covered with damask cloths and adorned with flowers4 ,a supper of roast beef1 vegetables1 fruit and black coffee was prepared4 ,towards midnight the piano began to be played1 that those who entered the hall might be welcomed with cheerful music4 ,some girls came in laughing1 and quickly went out again1 evidently thinking there must be some deception4 ,they did not believe that banquets were spread for nothing4 ,sometimes it was very difficult to convince them that the thing was not a farce4 ,presently a horrible old hag appeared--it would be difficult to imagine a more ugly1 repulsive woman4 ,coming up to the ,marechale she said-- ,you are the ,holy ,virgin4 ,i know it4 ,oui1 vous etes la ,sainte ,vierge1 je le sais4 ,the ,marechale did not know what to say1 so much was she taken aback4 ,you are the ,holy ,virgin1 the old woman repeated4 ,come along and have a talk with me1 said the ,marechale1 and take supper4 ,i am delighted to see you4 ,the woman laughed4 ,no1 no1 no1 it isn't me that you want--,ce n'est pas moi qu'il vous faut4 ,yes1 it is you4 ,i am happy1 believe me ,i am so happy1 to see you4 ,it is you whom ,i want4 ,do sit down4 ,at last1 with great difficulty1 she was persuaded to be seated4 ,but she stayed only a minute4 ,the ,marechale turned to speak to somebody1 and the old woman darted out of the hall4 ,she was gone like a flash4 ,we won't see her again1 ,marechale1 said one of the officers4 ,the ,marechale began to blame herself4 ,why did she not inspire the poor creature with confidence8 ,why could one not make her feel at rest8 ,why had she run away8 ,she had seemed to suspect something4 ,it was a sore disappointment4 ,after some waiting1 the girls began to come1 and the tables filled up1 but every time the door opened the ,marechale turned her eye towards it in the hope of seeing her old woman return4 ,a gloom had been cast over her spirit because that woman had gone out1 not believing that she was welcome1 thinking she was too old and too ugly4 ,the beautiful grace1 ,nous ,te benissons1 was sung1 prayer was offered1 and sweet music filled the air while the plates were handed round4 ,some of the guests were pretty and some ugly1 some young and some old1 some clad in rags and some dressed in the height of fashion4 ,some poor famished creatures asked for a plate of meat four or five times1 while others1 having already supped1 merely touched a little fruit with their dainty fingers and sipped a cup of black coffee4 ,the supper was nearly ended1 and the ,marechale was preparing to speak1 when the door burst open1 and in came our old woman1 with a pretty young girl1 fair as a lily1 on one arm1 and a dark one1 equally young and beautiful1 on the other4 ,up she came to the ,holy ,virgin1 with her dear old face radiant4 ,voila6 ,i have gone and found them4 ,it's these that you want6 ,for me it is too late1 but show them the other side of the medal4 ,the ,marechale could not speak4 ,her eyes filled with tears4 ,the words cut her through4 ,the woman did not know what an act she had done1 nor what an unforgettable phrase--le revers de la medaille--she had used4 ,i have spent a long time in seeking them1 she said4 ,i am pleased--,je suis contente4 ,and ,i1 too1 am happy1 said the ,marechale1 but especially because you have come4 ,moi66 for me it is finished4 ,for me it is too late4 ,but these--they are young1 they are pretty1 they have life before them4 ,it is these that you want6 ,the three sat down1 the ,marechale taking the old woman next to her4 ,and she never served a cup of coffee with such pleasure in her life4 ,in after years she would sometimes tell the story of that old woman on a ,sunday morning to an ,english congregation1 and then ask the searching question1 ,which of you has ever spent two hours day or night seeking for a lost soul as she did8 99,,chapter ,,xi99 99,,the ,,prodigal ,,son99 ,baron ,x1 the eldest son of the ,baron of that name1 was born at ,bordeaux1 and brought up in a family of strict ,catholic traditions4 ,he studied at the ,college de ,tivoli and the ,lycee1 but he cared for little except sport and pleasure4 ,after he had wasted much of his father's substance in riotous living1 he was informed that his allowance would be entirely cut off unless he went abroad for a time4 ,leaving home in disgrace1 he sailed for ,new ,york1 and was beginning to taste the bitterness of exile1 when1 chancing one day to enter a big restaurant1 he was astonished to meet his cousin1 the ,viscount of ,x41 who1 having inherited a fortune of two million francs1 was making haste to squander it4 ,falling upon each other's necks1 they at once became companions in pleasure4 ,giving themselves up to all kinds of insanity1 they spent immense sums in a few months4 ,baron ,x was afraid to give himself a single moment of reflection on the enormity of his errors4 ,he was inwardly miserable1 and found that everybody else who was pursuing pleasure was as unhappy as himself4 ,one night1 at a dance in ,montreal1 he said to the queen of the ball1 admired by everybody for her beauty and charm-- ,would that ,i could find out how to enjoy myself again6 ,she answered1 ,if ,i seem to be gay1 ,i have no reason for being so4 ,oh1 how ,i suffer6 ,the young man felt that existence became more and more mechanical1 the days succeeding one another in an endless monotony of unsatisfying amusements4 ,he seemed to be living in a bad dream4 ,after a while he returned to ,france1 and one evening he was sitting1 sad at heart1 on the balcony of the ,cafe de la ,paix1 wondering to what place of pleasure he should turn his steps1 when some ,salvationist girls came to offer their journal to the customers4 ,they were greeted with the usual pleasantries4 ,baron ,x asked the waiter if he knew who these people were4 ,oh1 yes1 ,monsieur1 they are the ,salutistes1 and if you want to have a good laugh1 you have only to go to the ,rue ,auber1 which is quite near by2 they have a hall there where you could spend a good evening4 ,his curiosity awakened1 ,baron ,x went to the place indicated1 taking a fille de joie with him4 ,the fair-haired young man and his companion sat at the bottom of the hall laughing4 ,that evening there were testimonies1 which somehow arrested ,baron ,x's attention4 ,he could not help asking himself how these young people seemed so happy4 ,then a young officer read the words1 ,the wages of sin is death1 but the free gift of ,god is eternal life through ,christ ,jesus our ,lord1 and delivered an address which was not correct in language1 but extremely incisive4 ,baron ,x said to himself1 ,he knows my history1 and speaks to me4 ,as he went out1 he bought some publications which were exposed for sale at the door1 and spent the night in reading them4 ,he came next evening alone1 and a great spiritual conflict began4 ,he continued to come1 and one night remained behind1 being in an agony of soul4 ,sobbing aloud1 he confessed that he had led a wild and wicked life1 dishonoured his name1 and broken his mother's heart4 ,at one o'clock in the morning he gave himself to ,god4 ,the ,marechale saw that he was afraid of himself in ,paris1 and opened her doors to him4 ,for six months he lived partly at her house and partly at the headquarters in the ,rue ,auber4 ,she soon came to know him through and through1 and was struck by his simplicity and absolute sincerity4 ,he had broken completely with the past1 and never had one arriere pensee4 ,he was ready for any sacrifice and for the humblest service4 ,one day a police agent came to tell the ,marechale that she had somebody living in her house and wearing the uniform of the ,armee de ,salut1 who was passing himself off as the son of ,baron ,x4 ,she called ,baron ,x1 and1 while the two men stared at each other1 said1 ,this is the son of ,baron ,x4 ,the official apologised and withdrew4 ,baron ,x had written to tell his parents of his conversion1 but received no answer4 ,after six months the ,marechale had to begin a tournee at ,bordeaux1 and told ,baron ,x that she would seize the opportunity to go and visit his parents4 ,he was overjoyed4 ,he hoped for much1 and said he would pray4 ,when the ,marechale1 clad in uniform1 drew near to the gates of the ,baron's chateau1 a complete stranger stopped her and exclaimed1 ,my poor child1 what are you going to do in that house8 ,she only smiled and walked on1 but the question came back to her mind afterwards4 ,ringing the bell1 she was shown into a luxurious room1 and presently the ,baron1 the ,baroness1 and their daughter appeared4 ,she was received as stiffly as if she had been the representative of the ,queen1 and found it hard to begin4 ,making an effort1 she said they had probably learned from their son that a wonderful change had taken place in his life4 ,she was happy to be able to confirm it4 ,for six months she and her officers had witnessed his life1 and had noticed nothing in word or look or act inconsistent with this marvellous change4 ,there was no answer4 ,the parents and daughter simply stared at their visitor4 ,she continued-- ,i know that his life has been bad1 but ,i thought that you would be glad to hear of his conversion4 ,then the ,baroness could no longer contain herself4 ,a torrent of words fell from her lips4 ,she depicted the scandalous life of her son1 who had been a real prodigal in every sense of the word1 gambling away their wealth1 bringing his mistress into their house1 and disgracing their name4 ,but1 said the ,marechale1 that was before his change4 ,do not bring up what he once was4 ,think of what he is now4 ,he has been living among my children1 and ,i can trust him to go in and out with them4 ,i know something of real conversions1 and ,i think ,i can judge4 ,i assure you that he has become a new man1 with new desires1 new aspirations1 a new nature4 ,these assurances only led to another realistic description of his sins4 ,but1 pleaded the ,marechale1 that was when he was ,saul2 now he is ,paul4 ,they stared and did not comprehend the meaning of her words4 ,let him come back to the ,catholic ,church1 said the ,baron4 ,that his son should profess to have been saved outside the holy ,mother ,church was evidently a last blow to his pride4 ,that is surely a secondary matter1 said the ,marechale4 ,considering what a sinner he has been1 you should not mind by whom the change has come4 ,he has been converted in the ,armee du ,salut1 but there is only one ,god and one ,saviour4 ,catholic and ,protestant are alike if they have no life4 ,but the ,baroness drew herself up in her beautiful robe1 and said-- ,let him come back to the ,catholic ,church1 or he will never receive another sou from us4 ,the ,marechale saw that it was time to end the interview4 ,very well1 ,baroness1 she said1 rising1 ,i will be your son's mother4 ,i will buy your son clothes and boots4 ,with that she left their house disappointed and weary1 having spent hours under their roof pleading their son's cause1 but they had never offered her so much as a cup of tea4 ,on her return to ,paris1 she called ,baron ,x4 ,his face fell when she began to speak4 ,she bade him be brave1 described to him her interview with his people1 and ended by saying1 ,i will be a mother to you1 and you shall never lack for anything4 ,he worked on with her in ,paris for some months1 and then he received a telegram1 ,come quickly1 father dying4 ,the ,marechale rushed him off1 and he afterwards gave her an account of his eventful journey4 ,when he got home1 he found the house silent1 every sound muffled without and within4 ,am ,i too late8 he asked4 ,no1 hush6 ,he has been asking for you all the time4 ,come quickly4 ,upstairs he went to his father's room4 ,entering1 he saw two thin white hands on the coverlet1 and heard a voice-- ,is it my son8 ,yes1 father6 ,with one bound he was at the bed-side1 and fell on his knees4 ,with breath coming thick and fast1 his father said faintly-- ,oh1 my son1 your religion is better than mine4 ,forgive your old father for not forgiving you4 ,holding his hand1 his son spoke to him of the ,saviour1 and sang to him some of the choruses he had learned in the ,army4 ,father and son were a thousand miles away from ,catholicism and ,protestantism4 ,they were simply in the presence of the ,saviour4 ,with words of salvation in his ears1 and filial arms around him1 the old ,baron passed away4 ,himself now ,baron ,x1 he came into his fortune4 ,however bad an eldest son has been1 he cannot1 by ,french law1 be disinherited4 ,for the next four years ,baron ,x was an officer in the ,armee du ,salut4 ,in ,paris and ,nimes1 ,england and ,belgium he worked with ardour for the salvation of souls4 ,he was with the ,marechale in her ,brussels campaign4#a #a ,described in chap4 xiii4 ,he married ,mlle4 ,babut1 the daughter of the well-known pastor in ,nimes4 ,as a girl she had been brilliantly clever1 but very wilful1 closing her heart to all who sought to influence her for good4 ,when the ,marechale came to ,nimes she went1 like everybody else1 to the meetings1 taking with her girl friends whom she excited to mock and laugh4 ,but a strange power seized her4 ,in vain she tried to escape by ridiculing what she heard4 ,one evening1 to use her own words1 the ,marechale--directed by ,god--turned her eyes full on me and said1 ',young woman1 you have not the right to waste your life4' ,clear1 pointed1 cutting like a sword1 this truth penetrated me1 and with it the conviction1 ',i ought to yield to ,god here and now4' ,three months later she was in the ,training ,home in ,paris4 ,the ,baron ,x and his wife afterwards became missionaries in ,madagascar4 ,they gave themselves heart and soul to the work4 ,when ,baron ,x's health began to fail1 they returned home1 and he continued to labour for ,christ as long as he had any strength left4 ,his end came in #aiaa4 ,pastor ,babut said he had been attending death-beds for fifty years1 but had never seen anything so beautiful as the ,baron's latter end4 ,courage1 said some one to the dying man4 ,courage8 ,i do not need it when heaven is open to me4 ,do you see the ,lord ,jesus near you8 ,but ,i am with ,him6 ,god has used you to work for ,him4 ,all ,i have done counts for nothing1 only the immense grace and love of ,god remain4 99,,chapter ,,xii99 99,,so ,,great ,,faith99 ,it was mid-winter1 and the ground was covered with snow4 ,there was no little anxiety at the ,villette4 ,forty hungry mouths had to be filled at the ,ecole ,militaire1 and there was nothing for dinner4 ,the simple fact was that the cash-box was empty1 and it was difficult not to have a heavy heart4 ,but the maxim of a ,salutiste is ,keep believing6 ,god had never forsaken the ,marechale when she trusted in ,him4 ,depression and melancholy she regarded as lack of faith4 ,she bade her secretary call a fiacre4 ,when they got in1 the officer said-- ,you have the fare1 ,marechale8 ,no6 ,but----- ,the ,lord have mercy upon you6 ,where is your faith8 ,get down on your knees and pray6 ,the officer instantly obeyed4 ,they both prayed--it was real prayer--and their hearts became lighter4 ,the fiacre drew up at the gate of a beautiful house in the ,champs ,elysees4 ,it had to be kept waiting1 for there was no money to pay the cocher4 ,the ,marechale was ushered into a luxurious apartment1 and was soon talking with a ,russian ,countess about her soul4 ,they had never met before1 but they found common ground4 ,i too1 said the ,countess1 adore the ,christ6 ,come and see4444 ,look1 the ,christ6 ,they stood before a beautiful picture of the thorn-crowned ,redeemer4 ,i adore ,him6 she repeated4 ,but it is one thing1 said the ,marechale1 to adore ,him here in these charming surroundings1 and another thing to adore ,him amidst the filth1 the immorality and the misery of the ,villette1 where ,i live night and day among the poor and the dying1 and where ,i have devoted young comrades who have left comfortable homes and bright prospects1 and are now labouring for ,christ and receiving nothing for it4 ,what is your adoring ,christ compared with theirs8 ,the ,countess was silent1 and evidently felt bad4 ,she had suddenly received a new ray of light upon the adoration of ,jesus1 and1 realising that deeds are better than words1 she left the room for a minute1 to return with an offering of #ejj francs4 ,it was by such gifts that the ,army was maintained on the ,continent4 ,the ,marechale1 it is somewhat strange to discover1 was not only the apostle but the financier of the ,armee du ,salut in ,france4 ,others1 of course1 could administer the funds1 but on her fell the burden of replenishing the exchequer4 ,as years passed and the work extended1 the task became more and more heavy4 ,officers had to be supported1 the rent of houses and halls paid1 the ,training ,home1 the ,rescue ,homes1 the ,orphanages1 the ,homes of ,rest maintained1 and to meet all this outlay the ,marechale toiled1 travelled1 and wrote countless letters4 ,those who adored the ,christ sent her their gifts from many lands4 ,while there were many generous supporters of the ,army in ,france and ,switzerland1 the largest contributions came from the home-country4 ,we have noted that the ,general did not like to see ,catherine's hand-writing1 because he thought of her weak spine4 ,yet in one day she and her secretary would sometimes write over a hundred letters with their own hands1 which at the end were too cramped to go on with more4 ,experience had taught her the value of a personal application4 ,many a well-wisher who would have given ,l#e in response to a typewritten letter1 did much better on receiving a warm appeal in the leader's own handwriting4 ,she even made it a rule to write receipts herself4 ,lean months tested the spirit of the ,training ,home4 ,though there was nothing to eat but a plate of cabbage-soup and a potato1 the cadets never murmured4 ,c'est la vie apostolique1 they cheerfully said one to another4 ,and it was easy to bear any hardship when their leader shared it with them4 ,one who was an officer with her for years wrote3 ,in all things she was our example4 ,if you wished to incur her displeasure1 you had but to give her something to eat which the workers did not have4 ,as she was in delicate health1 sometimes those around her would try to get a little luxury to tempt her appetite or strengthen her4 ,they would be met with the answer3 ',whatever is this8 ,it is not for me1 ,i hope1 because1 though it is very good of you1 ,i did not want it1 and will not have anything of the sort4' ,then she would share it all round4 ,whenever it became known that the exchequer was almost empty1 the officers and cadets knew that this was a call to prayer4 ,on one occasion the rents of the ,rue ,auber and ,quai de ,valmy halls were due2 there was nothing to meet them2 and there were but three days of grace4 ,these were days of agony4 ,all the officers who had anything to spare gave it4 ,the children in the orphanage gave three francs and ten centimes4 ,but when the best had been done1 not a tithe of the necessary #cjjj francs was in hand4 ,everybody met for prayer4 ,the ,marechale spoke on the words1 ,though the fig-tree shall not blossom1 neither shall fruit be in the vines 444 the flock shall be cut off from the fold1 and there shall be no herd in the stalls3 yet will ,i rejoice in the ,lord4 ,she rang the changes on that rejoice1 asking1 ,are we there8 ,yes1 they were all there--anxious for nothing1 but in everything by prayer with thanksgiving telling ,god their needs4 ,at such times the leader of the little band felt that ,god had to take care of ,his name1 ,his honour2 ,he had to send what was required4 ,who will call such a faith in question8 ,did not the ,german people say of ,luther1 ,look1 there is the man who gets from ,god whatever he asks8 ,when the ,marechale was travelling with her secretary in a third-class carriage in the ,west of ,france1 the poor people got in with their baskets of vegetables1 and one of them said in a loud whisper1 ,take care what you say2 these people when they pray get from ,god all they want4 ,to return4 ,on the morning of the last day of grace the ,marechale received a letter from ,scotland containing a draft for ,l#ajj1 a ,god bless you1 and nothing more4 ,she never knew what kind human heart had been moved to send the letter4 ,but she never doubted that ,god had sent it4 ,such occurrences were not solitary4 ,here is the testimony of ,m4 ,grandjean1 who was for years one of the ,marechale's best officers4 ,i think with gratitude to ,god of the difficult days in which our faith was severely tested1 when ,i was cashier in ,quai de ,valmy1 and ,i had not a shilling1 and we had to pay the #fjjj francs for rents and other expenses4 ,i shall never forget my overwhelming joy when one night ,i appealed to the cadets who could pray with faith1 and when five or six of us prayed with me in the little kitchen of the ,quai de ,valmy4 ,the next day the ,marechale received by the first post a cheque of #fjjj francs from some one who did not know that we were in need4 ,in one of her tournees the ,marechale was labouring down in the ,south of ,france4 ,though she was in the greatest need and had a heavy heart1 she went on with her meetings1 when a lady who had been wonderfully blessed1 and two of whose children had been saved through her ministry1 was moved to give her a thankoffering of #ejjj francs4 ,having to travel all night on the way back to ,paris1 and finding herself alone among a lot of working-men the ,marechale put the money in her bosom and prayed1 ,now keep ,thy little one1 but did not dare to sleep4 ,among the ,army's unfailing supporters in ,france were the ,marechale's personal friends4 ,one of the dearest of these was ,madame de ,bunsen1 nee ,waddington1 who wrote ,in ,three ,legations4 ,they first met in ,cannes1 where the ,marechale was conducting a campaign in the theatre2 and a great bundle of letters1 partly in ,french and partly in ,english1 testifies to the warmth of their friendship4 ,madame de ,bunsen once persuaded the ,marechale to rest for some weeks in her castle on the ,rhine2 and another time she tried to induce her to visit ,florence1 but the ,marechale could never quite get over the feeling that taking holidays was backsliding4 ,another of her constant supporters was ,mr4 ,frank ,crossley1 that high-souled man of business whose ,life has been admirably written by ,rendel ,harris4 ,soon after the ,marechale went to ,france he wrote to express his ardent sympathy with her work4 ,i have1 he said1 met and known well several ,christian workers--,d4 ,l4 ,moody1 ,miss ,ellice ,hopkins1 ,miss ,mittendorff1 and others--but ,i will tell you that perhaps none of these have created the same impression that you have done4 ,in one of her last letters she wrote ,tell me1 how is it that what seems so far off to us is near to you4 ,she was a beautiful soul and found peace in ,christ4 he received hundreds of letters from him1 and they are very interesting reading4 ,what chiefly attracted him to the ,marechale was her intimacy with ,christ1 which was the reward1 as he saw1 of self-sacrifice4 ,his words on this theme go very deep4 ,it is a struggle hard and long1 but it is only the struggling1 who spend their life-blood in the cause1 that can claim blood-relationship with the ,lord ,jesus4 ,the rest are second-cousins or not even as near as that4 ,they don't know ,him very intimately or feel much at home with ,him when they pay ,him a morning call4444 ,he makes the entrance high and the gate strait that it may be prized when gained--,i believe that is the key to the mystery of life1 or at least to a large part of it4 ,to let us up to the top for the prayer of a moment and the sacrifice of nothing would in many cases at any rate be impossible and useless4 ,tell me soon more of how to climb4 ,i am a slow learner4 ,mr4 ,crossley's nature had a pensive strain which the ,marechale's friendship helped to modify4 ,regarding such a matter he felt that speech should not go near the length of feeling1 but ere long we find him writing1 ,das hallelujah ,voegelein singt in meinem ,herzen4 ,his donations to the work of the ,army both at home and in ,france were very generous4 ,he gave the ,marechale many thousand pounds a year4 ,his liberality was part of his worship of ,christ4 ,nothing could be finer than the following3 ,i know you will be thinking it is a serious slice off my capital4 ,well1 it is a branch off the tree4 ',they broke off branches from the palm trees and strewed them in the way and shouted ,hosanna1' and so do ,i4 ,and again3 ,you are very grateful to me for what ,i have been able to give you1 but if you knew how indebted and grateful ,i also felt to you1 you would see how ,god makes us unequal that we may teach ourselves by the aid and necessary services ,he enables us to render4 ,mr4 ,crossley wished the ,marechale to accept a gift of ,l#aj1jjj for the maintenance of her family1 that she might be personally free from financial care1 and also offered to build her a home outside ,paris1 but she declined both these offers1 not wishing to be in a different position from the other officers of the ,army4 ,in #ahia the ,marechale went to ,america to raise funds for the work in ,france4 ,accompanied by her secretary1 ,mme4 ,peyron--who was her ,geneva convert ,mlle4 ,roussel--she sailed in ,october by the ,columbia for ,new ,york1 and visited twenty-eight of the principal cities of the ,states and ,canada1 holding sixty meetings1 travelling sometimes for thirty or forty hours at a stretch1 and once with the added experience of being snowed up for twelve hours4 ,she was everywhere very cordially received1 and all the buildings in which she spoke were densely crowded4 ,ministers offered her churches in which a woman had never spoken before4 ,after one meeting she received invitations from a ,bishop and seventeen pastors to address congregations on her work4 ,the reporters everywhere found her and her utterances good copy4 ,she was not able to see representatives of the press in ,new ,york1 although they came by dozens1 as one learns from the ,boston man who claimed to be her first ,american interviewer4 ,he found that her life in ,france has given a ,gallic twist to this ,englishwoman's tongue4 ,she is quite as ,french in manner as her staff-captain1 ,madame ,peyron1 the dark-eyed ,frenchwoman who travels with her4 ,one morning she got a great reception from the divinity students of ,yale1 to whom she spoke at length on the qualifications necessary for saving souls1 namely1 the possession of a pure heart and the baptism of the ,holy ,spirit4 ,when she had finished her address she said she was willing to answer any questions they might have to ask1 and for half an hour the students and several of the professors poured a host of questions upon her that would have embarrassed and muddled the clearest-brained ministers of the country under similar circumstances4 ,she1 however1 showed that she had answered questions before1 and gave answers that brought both laughter and applause1 for her wit is keenly cultivated4 ,it is interesting to see her through ,yale eyes4 ,her face is a study the like of which an artist or a sculptor might seek for years without finding4 ,in repose it reminds one of the pictures of the ,madonnas of ,michael ,angelo1 but when she speaks its earnestness is so intense that it is almost stern4 ,her voice is one that any actress might well covet for its depth and strength4 ,it is the equal of the great ,bernhardt's1 and yet it is sweet and soft1 and has none of the harshness of the masculine tone4 ,her accent is something charming1 for it has all the attractiveness of the ,english tongue made even more sweet by long familiarity with the ,french language4 ,from her long acquaintance with the lower classes1 the socialists and all free-thinkers of ,france1 she has acquired that fiery directness and ease and attractiveness in her speaking which is so characteristic of ,french oratory and so fascinating to ,americans4 ,it is no injustice to this remarkable woman to say that1 had she chosen the stage for her role in life1 her name would have certainly been as famous in that profession as it is to-day as the ,marechale of the ,french ,salvation ,army4 ,in ,america she had the immense happiness of being reunited with her brother ,ballington1 who1 being a year older than herself1 had been her chum in childhood1 and his wife1 nee ,maud ,charlesworth1 who had been her brave girl-comrade in the first days of persecution in ,switzerland4 ,in the end of ,january1 #ahib1 the ,marechale returned to ,france1 after an absence of three months and a half4 ,america had given her #fj1jjj for her work1 and memories of unlimited kindness4 99,,chapter ,,xiii99 99,,beauty ,,for ,,ashes99 ,you have added a new word to the ,french language1 said ,m4 ,sarcey1 the famous critic1 to the ,marechale2 ,i mean the word ',salutiste4' ,in #ahha there was not a single ,salvationist in ,france or ,switzerland4 ,after fifteen years there were #bbj stations and outposts1 over #djj officers1 headquarters in five cities1 and four weekly papers4 ,but these bare facts only feebly indicate what the ,marechale did for ,france4 ,in a moment of depression at the thought of ,french infidelity1 the ,princess ,malzoff once remarked to her-- ,the ,french have no soul4 ,how dare you1 asked the ,marechale1 say such a thing8 ,her friend replied with charming inconsistency1 ,but you have found the soul of ,france6 ,that was perhaps the highest tribute ever paid to her4 ,if one asks some ,frenchman who knew the ,marechale in those days how she won the heart of ,france1 one gets the answer1 ,but it is natural--she has the ,french temperament2 and1 besides1 elle aime la ,france4 ,if one asks some convert of hers how she found the soul of ,france1 the reply is1 ,ah6 she brought us the ,christ1 who is victorious everywhere4 ,both questions were answered together by one who1 speaking for many1 said1 ,she bought us at the price of tears and sacrifice4 ,when she was at the zenith of her power in ,france1 an admirable appreciation of her was written#a by one of the saints of the modern calendar1 ,miss ,frances ,e4 ,willard4 ,we extract a few sentences4 ,she inherits1 it is said1 beyond any other of the endowed and consecrated eight children of the ,general and ,mrs4 ,booth1 their special gifts1 graces1 and grace4444 ,the ,marechale's career already fulfils her father's prophecy that women will1 if once left free in their action1 develop administrative powers fully equal and oftentimes superior to those of men4444 ',i love ,france1' she said to me1 with sparkling eyes3 'it is a great and wonderful country1 and ,i love its people every bit as much as ever ,i loved my own4 ,i have become familiar with its peasants in the provinces2 have sat down with the ,french women who clatter about in sabots2 have shared their chestnuts with them1 heard of their sorrows as well as their joys1 and1 believe me1 the human heart is just the same in ,france as it is everywhere2 and if you classify the saints whose histories have come down to us1 ,france would occupy the front rank4 ,the nation that has produced a ,lacodaire1 a ,pascal1 a ,fenelon1 and a ,madame ,guyon1 does not lack the germs of spiritual life4' #a ,the ,review of the ,churches1 ,feb4 #ahid4 ,in #ahif1 however1 her career in ,france came to an end4 ,she received the command to go and devote herself to the work of the ,army in ,holland1 and loyally prepared to obey4 ,catholics and ,protestants alike were dismayed at the news4 ,one of her dearest friends1 the ,catholic scholar ,m4 ,lassaire1 whose exquisite translation of the four ,gospels had the honour of being put upon the ,index ,expurgatorius1 came to her and said-- ,you ought not to leave us4 ,god has given you the ear of the nation as it is given only once in a hundred years4 ,but ,i am commanded4 ,if the angel ,gabriel descended from heaven and bade you go1 you ought not to leave ,france6 ,theodore ,monod1 whose own family had been greatly blessed through the ,marechale1 deeply sympathised with her1 and grieved over her departure almost as if she had been his own daughter1 but tried to comfort her by saying1 ,you leave us your hymns6 ,the day on which the ,marechale left ,france was one of the two or three dark days of her life4 ,she felt somewhat like the young ,scottish ,queen who said as she gazed at the receding shores of ,calais-- ,adieu6 mon charmant pays de ,france1 ,adieu6 te quitter c'est mourir4 ,and yet she believed in her heart that ,god would work out ,his gracious purpose1 which no circumstances can ever alter4 ,that she loved ,france with a deep1 pure1 passionate love does not need to be said4 ,how ,france appreciated her in return may be indicated not only by ,m4 ,sarcey's emphatic dictum1 ,the devil take the country where she was born6 she is ,french in her soul1 but by any letter taken at random from hundreds which she received from men and women of ,france4 ,the following extract1 faithfully translated1 shows the calibre of the people whom the ,marechale was able to reach1 as well as the warm1 generous style in which the ,latin races habitually express themselves4 ,the evening in which you spoke of the scene on ,calvary and the words of the penitent thief1 ',remember me1' that simple story1 told by a believing soul1 had more effect upon me than all the theses1 quotations and theological arguments of all the doctors ,i have ever heard4 ,that expression1 that attitude1 that conviction1 that certitude1 that assurance1 that living faith which affirmed itself before me in an apostle1 a new disciple of ,christ1 and that melodious voice1 completed my transformation4 ,i believed that ,i was the penitent thief and you the ,christ who said to me1 ',when ,i am in ,heaven ,i will remember thee1' and that affirmation transported me4444 ,i marvel at the courage with which you endure fatigue1 mockery1 journeys1 labours of all kinds to conquer for truth and light the millions of savages who are still in ,france1 plunged in the darkness of error and superstition4 ,permit me to express once again my sincere admiration1 and to offer you in the name of my country 7,i am perhaps a little presumptuous to speak in the name of ,france1 but ,i have the right1 as much as the other ten millions of citizens7--in the name of my country1 and in the name of civilisation1 my warm gratitude4 ,deign to accept the homage 444 of a very humble soldier and disciple of ,christ4 ,swiss love1 too1 was now deep and strong1 as will be sufficiently proved by a single letter1 which enclosed a thankoffering4 ,dear ,marechale--7,how much that word contains of affection1 admiration1 and veneration1 ,i cannot express71--,these thousand francs fulfil their end where they do the most good and give you the greatest pleasure4 ,you always think of yourself last1 if you think of yourself at all2 that is why others must think of you4 ,i would have liked to relieve you1 dear ,marechale1 you particularly and personally4 ,but you are devoured by the zeal of your divine work1 and all goes that way4 ,be it so6 ,god will relieve you directly by ,his hand4 ,he will1 but do not forget yourself entirely1 ,i beg of you4 ,care for yourself1 for the sake of those who love you1 and who need your help1 and who find so much happiness in your heavenly affection4444 ,in the love of ,christ1 your devoted1 ,a4,s4 ,in the end of that year the ,marechale needed words of good cheer1 and they were not lacking4 ,her sister ,eva was one of her comforters1 sending many tender messages across the ,atlantic4 ,just after ,christmas ,day--,eva's own birthday--she wrote3 ,i cannot say how much you have been in my thoughts4 ,i wished ,i could have popped in and had a sister's birthday kiss and a good talk1 but the ,lord came very near to me1 and ,i was cheered that ,his birthday found me very busy on mine seeking the poor lost souls of men4 ,the years pass1 but then what matters8 ,every day brings us nearer our ,eternal home1 does it not1 and then we will live and love together for ever and ever1 all of us4 ,dear1 darling ,katie1 ,i don't like to hear you say the year has been a sad one4 ,you are treasured by us all1 by ,god and the world1 and how much you have done for the ,kingdom as well4444 ,there are some fond memories ,i treasure which have to do with you and me1 when ,i made you laugh and gave you baked potatoes6 ,i will write again soon4 ,till then and for ever after always the same1 ,eva4 ,commissioners ,e4,d4 and ,lucy ,booth-,hellberg--the ,general's youngest daughter--who took over the command of the ,army in ,france and ,switzerland1 wrote in their first ,annual ,report 7#ahif73 ,one of the last links in the long chain of desperate efforts for the salvation of ,france1 put forth with undiminished love and faith by the ,marechale1 was the ,lyons campaign1 which lasted for six weeks during the months of ,january and ,february4 ,supported by a number of believing and hard-working officers1 she conducted a series of truly remarkable meetings in the ,salle ,philharmonique1 which was filled on every occasion with an attentive and largely sympathetic audience4 ,the results of the campaign were most encouraging and of a decidedly permanent nature4 ,the local corps1 which up till then had led a very struggling existence1 received a powerful lift and is now in a healthy condition4 ,furthermore a considerable amount of prejudice against our work was removed and a number of friends and sympathisers were made1 the immediate result of which was the establishment of a ,rescue ,home for women in that city4 ,later on ,lucy wrote to the ,marechale1 ,darling1 your love for ,france is wonderful2 you cannot understand it4 ,had the ,marechale been sent to another of the ,latin races--for example1 the ,italians or the ,spaniards--her gifts might still have been used to the highest advantage4 ,she once conducted a brief campaign in a great hall at ,turin4 ,at the beginning she encountered a storm of opposition4 ,while she dedicated the child of one of her former officers1 her voice was drowned in an uproar which turned the solemn service into a fiasco4 ,the audience got completely out of hand1 and1 as a final stroke of devilry1 a troop of students1 headed by a big fellow with an evil1 cynical face1 came marching up the aisle1 shouting1 yelling and brandishing sticks4 ,the ringleader had made a bet that he would kiss the ,marechale4 ,her officers began to think it was high time to close the meeting4 ,but she was not near the end of her resources4 ,giving her familiar order1 ,leave them to me1 and pray6 she stepped to the edge of the platform1 and1 when the leader was within a foot of her1 fixed her eyes on his face1 raised her finger1 and sang--#b ,si tu savais comme ,il t'aime1 ,sans tarder tu viendrais a ,lui1 ,tu viendrais a l'heure meme1 ,tu viendrais des aujourd'hui4 #b ,this hymn was composed by one of her officers1 ,m4 ,grandjean4 ,the tune was one of the sweetest operatic airs of the day4 ,the clear1 sweet notes went vibrating through the great hall1 and ,italy knows the power of song4 ,the ringleader stood staring as if he had been petrified1 and his followers did not advance another step4 ,while the ,marechale sang on1 she was heard in breathless silence4 ,then she spoke for an hour4 ,the after-meeting lasted till midnight1 and the leader of the students1 completely broken down and sobbing like a child1 said1 ,oh1 stay with us1 you will make angels of us all6 ,in ,holland1 where the ,marechale laboured six years1 she was heavily handicapped by the fact that most of her speaking had to be done through an interpreter4 ,she had not that ,open ,sesame to the heart of a people--the mastery of its language4 ,she learned1 however1 to sing beautifully in ,dutch1 and the translation of her addresses was admirably done by her secretary4 ,if she could not deny that her heart was still in the ,rue ,auber of ,paris1 she repressed her tears and took her new task--a very tangled one--resolutely in hand1 doing some deep and lasting spiritual work in ,amsterdam and other towns1 where she sometimes had as many as forty or fifty penitents in one night4 ,she was lacking in what a statesman called ,batavian grace1 being cast in a very different mould1 yet she came ere long to feel quite at home among the warm-hearted ,dutch people4 ,she had taught ,paris to sing her hymn1 ,aimez toujours1 et malgrez tout aimez toujours1 and now she put the lesson into practice in ,holland4 ,preaching and living the gospel of love1 she had many tokens of success among all classes4 ,best of all1 she awoke in others the wistful desire to imitate her example4 ,one of ,queen ,wilhelmina's cabinet ministers brought his daughter1 a thoughtful young girl1 to a meeting conducted by the ,marechale1 and when those who were willing to give themselves to ,christ and ,his service were invited to show it in some way1 up went the hand of this eager girl4 ,her father at once whisked her out of the meeting4 ,but the deed was done1 and now there is no one who is doing a nobler work among the poor and sunken classes of ,holland than ,miss ,rose ,pierson4 ,of that happy day in her life she wrote long afterwards3 ,when ,i first heard the ,marechale speak ,i was a girl of seventeen4 ,i remember still every word she spoke4 ,i know it was a revelation to me what a reality ,christ could be to a soul4 ,i believe that was what impressed me--her perfect assurance of ,christ's presence and her own ardent love of souls4 ,holland gave the ,marechale two of her most efficient secretaries1 ,miss ,van der ,werken and ,miss de ,zwaan1 who ideally fulfilled all the requirements of the office--ability and willingness to nurse a babe1 make a cup of tea1 write a letter1 cook a decent dinner1 talk in two or three languages1 keep the door of a hall1 preach a sermon1 and generally make the best of everything6 ,it is possible that the ,marechale's exile from ,france deepened and enriched her nature1 drawing out stops not so often used before1 especially the vox humana--the voice of sympathy with all human pain and sorrow4 ,at the same time she began to have a more tragic sense of the world's sin1 which prompted one of her strangest and yet most characteristic impulses1 and issued in what was in some ways the most remarkable of all her campaigns4 ,one midnight1 while she lay awake in ,amsterdam1 she heard a clear inner voice saying to her1 ,go to ,brussels2 go in sackcloth and ashes2 go and tell of sin2 let everything in your person speak of sin and awaken conscience2 then proclaim1 ,behold the ,lamb of ,god1 that taketh away the sin of the world4 ,without waiting to take counsel with flesh and blood1 she went with her nurse-secretary ,swaan and her babe ,frida1 the child of peace1 to ,brussels1 and hired for three weeks the most beautiful hall in the city1 the ,salle de la ,grande ,harmonic--the same in which fair women and brave men danced on the eve of ,waterloo4 ,when she at length divulged to one of her comrades the fact that she was to appear in sackcloth and ashes1 he answered-- ,you cannot6 never6 ,i must1 it is so commanded4 ,so a robe de bure was made for her--a single-seamed garment of the coarse brown stuff worn by monks1 with a hole cut out for the neck and two for the arms1 and a hempen rope for the waist4 ,before the opening meeting she had intimate dealings with her officers4 ,it is necessary1 she said1 that one die for the people4 ,i want to bring that thoughtless1 frivolous city into touch with ,god4 ,i wish your faces to speak of another world4 ,it is your minds and hearts that ,i seek4 ,if you are going to think of your own people and your own concerns1 if you are going to be preoccupied with a hundred and one things1 go back at once4 ,i am going to live these three weeks as if they were the last on earth4 ,i have left home and little ones and am going to exist for this town4 ,if ,christ laid down ,his life for us1 we have got to lay down our lives for the salvation of ,brussels4 ,there were heart-searchings and confessions and tears among the officers2 fresh alliances were made with ,god2 and the ,marechale believed that this was one of the secrets of the wonderful success of that campaign4 ,on the evening of the first meeting1 she clothed herself in the robe de bure1 and put real ashes on her head4 ,but if ever the devil in person attacked any poor soul1 the ,marechale felt herself so assailed in those moments when the great hall was filling and she was waiting4 ,what shafts of ridicule were hurled at her as by a spiritual foe6 ,could any dress he more ridiculous1 any realism more contemptible8 ,how comical was that assumption of the role of prophet6 ,what a miserable fiasco the whole performance would prove6 ,she was seized with a paralysing fear1 and when ,antomarchi--her ,st4 ,francis--came to announce that the audience was ready1 he found her white as a sheet and shaking from head to foot4 ,have ,i made a mistake8 she asked4 ,no6 ,marechale1 go on6 go on6 it is all right6 ,tell them to sing and pray1 and then ,i will come4 ,her soul gathered strength from the strains of her own hymn1 ,o toi6 bien-aime fils de l'homme1 with the chorus-- ,viens1 ,jesus t'appelle2 ,ne sois plus rebelle4 ,viens au bien-aime ,fils de ,dieu1 ,crois en sa tendresse eternelle-- as well as from the succeeding silence in which she knew that faithful hearts were praying for her4 ,the clouds vanished1 the fear of men was gone1 and only the awe of the unseen world remained upon her spirit4 ,slowly she walked onto the platform1 not raising her eyes from the ground4 ,the audience seemed petrified by the strange apparition4 ,after a moment of deathly silence1 her clear1 penetrating voice sounded through the hall4 ',he was despised and rejected of men1 a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief 444 and we esteemed ,him not4 ,nous n'en avons fait aucun cas4' ,if ,i wear mourning to-night1 it is the better to express the feelings which are in the depths of my heart4 ,your people1 who are capable of great things1 are going to their ruin4 ,on all hands there are nameless miseries1 despairing cries of women and children without defence and exposed to shame and the most frightful misery1 and why8 ,because you have made ,him--,christ--of no account4 ,i mourn your sins1 the sins of your country2 the drunkenness1 the debauchery1 the selfishness1 the wrongs which are seen everywhere2 your rejection of the ,christ of ,god1 the ,saviour of the world4 ,this fills me with sorrow1 and this1 unless it is forsaken1 will bring upon you the judgments of ,god4 ,thus she unburdened her soul1 and thus began not a three weeks' but a two months' campaign1 which from the first moment--in so strange contrast to the tumultuous openings at ,havre and ,rouen--was marked by a beautiful reverence and solemnity4 ,the services of the police were never required during the whole time4 ,four or five evening meetings were held every week1 besides afternoon gatherings1 salon meetings1 and midnight suppers4 ,all ,brussels was moved4 ,an eminent statesman said to the ,marechale1 ,everybody has been ridiculed here except you4 ,ridicule kills everything2 you have killed ridicule4 ,in the full tide of the mission she wrote to her father3 ,most marvellously is ,god working here in ,brussels4 ,last night ,i had the concert-hall crowded and a great number were turned back at the door4 ,the silence1 the attention is unbroken1 and there is conviction among all kind of persons4 ,worldly and ,catholic papers speak beautifully of us4 ,four journals have given leading articles to me4 ,praise ,god1 it is all ,his work6 ,this morning ,i had a conversation with a senator who is at the head of the party of progress here1 and he says that the movement is the most remarkable the city has seen for a hundred years and that the effects are profound and astonishing4 ,another senator has sent me ,l#bj4 ,i feel more than ever now ,i ought to continue and push the battle4 ,we shall be able to do something extraordinary and put ,belgium on a new footing4 ,the first senator referred to in the letter was ,m4 le ,jeune1 who said to the ,marechale-- ,the bar1 the artist world1 society1 ,catholic and ,protestant--they have all come to hear you4 ,you are universal1 ,madame4 ,yes1 she answered1 the ,christ is universal4 ,during these two months she had daily interviews with men and women crushed under the burden of all kinds of sin--a burden that weighed so heavily on her own spirit that sometimes1 instead of delivering an address1 she could only fall on her knees and cry to ,god to forgive all the sins that come from the heart of man--murders1 adulteries1 thefts1 uncleanness1 lies1 blasphemies--all of which had been confessed to her4 ,it was a time of wonderful spiritual blessing for all her comrades1 who1 like her1 literally lived for the people4 ,one of them said1 ,we have grown as much with you in these weeks as in twenty years4 ,to a thousand men of the elite of ,brussels she delivered an address--which was afterwards published--on ,the ,greatest ,injustice of the ,century4 ,it was a woman's mournful1 tender1 passionate protest against man's sins in a city which had its twelve thousand so-called filles de joie1 many of them of the tenderest years4 ,one of her audience1 a typical ,brussels man of the world1 covering his face with a hand on which flashed a diamond ring1 and shaking with great sobs of anguish1 cried1 ,i am a leper--damned already6 ,madame1 said an editor1 they would hiss anybody else who said these things to them4 ,they bear them from you1 because they feel you love them4 ,one day she received an invitation to dine with a dozen anarchists4 ,her comrades told her of the danger of bombs1 etc41 but she went1 and1 many years after when asked by an ,english ,divine1 ,how did you get into such society8 she answered1 ,extremes meet4 ,so you are come to talk to us1 said ,elisee ,recluse#c with a smile1 of justification by faith and sanctification by faith1 etc4 #c ,exiled from ,france as an anarchist1 he had become a ,professor in ,brussels4 ,he had been trained as a ,protestant ,pastor4 ,he was the greatest geographer of modern times1 the writer of ,une nouvelle geographie universelle 7#ai vols474 ,oh1 no1 no6 ,i do not talk of doctrines4 ,they never troubled me in my life4 ,i care only for realities4 ,you have suffered2 ,i too have suffered4 ,let us begin there1 and compare notes4 ,some of you have been in prison2 ,i have been in prison4 ,you have been exiled2 so have ,i4 ,you have wept over the injustice and cruelties of the world2 so have ,i wept1 so do ,i weep4 ,and thus they found common ground1 agreeing in their diagnosis of the diseases of society2 differing only as to the remedy4 ,you believe in anarchy1 said the ,marechale4 ,one of your number said at one of my meetings that anarchy is the most beautiful of all religions4 ,i know a more excellent way--a shorter cut to making the world better4 ,you fling your bombs to destroy life2 how can people be converted when their heads are gone8 ,christ said ',follow me to ,calvary6' ,he shed ,his own blood4 ,no one else's4 ,he bids us save the world by denying ourselves and taking up the ,cross4 ,that evening ,elisee ,recluse drove her in his carriage to her meeting at the ,salle ,harmonie1 and in her little ante-room they prayed together4 ,a ,brussels sculptor begged the ,marechale to pose for him in her robe de bure1 but she declined4 ,renee ,gange1 the heroine of the ,belgian socialists1 after passionately embracing her before a thousand eyes1 published a charming pen-and-ink portrait of this enigmatic woman1 comparing her to a serene1 calm statue that almost smiles4 ,the fine and slender figure of the ,marechale will long remain one of the most curious1 the most strange apparitions in the midst of our society of money-makers and machine-constructors4 ,the prophet1 the mystic1 the saint will always be a mystery to the art and science1 not to speak of the sin and selfishness1 of the world4 ,this truth was finely expressed by a writer in ,l',art moderne of ,brussels4 ,the ,marechale does not seek to 'demonstrate' anything4 ,i have seen her shrug her shoulders a little and smile when some one wished to reason or discuss with her4 ,she could do it1 for she is intelligent and merveilleusement intuitive4 ,but her faith does not 'demonstrate' itself4 ,it lives and expands itself4 ,it affirms itself4 ,and those who1 now numerous1 have some psychological tact have felt that this woman obeyed something more powerful than herself4 ,perhaps she is the happy and unconscious instrument of an expansive force too much ignored1 too little recognised and obeyed1 as necessary for our preservation as the law of self-preservation itself4444 ,her addresses are neither weighed nor balanced4 ,but they have the colour1 the life1 the strong suggestiveness1 the moving sincerity of an inspiration come from one knows not where1 from above us1 from outside us--mysterious impulses of things eternal4 99,,chapter ,,xiv99 99,,to ,,thine ,,own ,,self ,,be ,,true99 ,in the year #aijb the ,marechale and her husband severed their connection with the ,salvation ,army4 ,concerning the causes that led to this1 it is their united wish that nothing should be said that would interrupt the good feeling that has always existed1 and still exists between them and thousands of their old and dearly loved comrades in that organization4 ,there are those who have misjudged the ,marechale in this matter1 as having taken this step for personal advantage1 and without due regard to its effect on her father and his work4 ,how little do they know the truth4 ,to one who has read the correspondence of those days1 and all other days since1 who has watched within the inner circle of the home1 overhearing the most confidential conversations1 nothing could be so shocking a contravention of the truth as to accuse this devoted daughter either of parental disregard1 or self-willed unconcern for the welfare of the ,kingdom of ,christ4 ,this step cost heart's blood to the ,marechale4 ,katie1 said the ,general in ,victoria ,station1 when she was starting on her second journey to ,france1 you have remarkable instincts2 follow them1 and you will never go wrong4 ,twenty years after1 her friend ,mlle4 ,constance ,monod1 the daughter of the great ,french preacher1 wrote to her1 ,i would beseech you to trust yourself1 trust your divine instinct1 which ,god has developed so1 so wonderfully in you4 ,heredity1 training and experience had combined to give her the instincts of a prophetic soul-winner4 ,the grace of ,god had imparted to her a spirit of wisdom and revelation4 ,her intuitions were at once her strength and her safety4 ,her instinctive love of the true1 the beautiful1 and the good1 her instinctive hatred of the false1 the sordid1 and the selfish1 formed the touchstone to which she brought everything in the moral1 social and religious life of ,france4 ,great numbers of the elite of ,paris and other cities1 who were technically far better educated than she1 came and sat at her feet1 because they bowed to the authority of the ,christ-,spirit in her4 ,and her instincts of sympathy with poor1 sick1 suffering souls drew multitudes who were outside the pale of the ,church to the ,saviour4 ,she always maintained that she went on her mission as a simple ,english girl1 doing only what any other girl1 with the same opportunities and the same faith1 might have done4 ,there is a divine power in a woman's instincts of purity and righteousness which puts the baseness of men to shame4 ,that power1 many believe1 will be the chief factor in the salvation of the modern ,church and modern society4 ,ours is an age which needs ,deborahs and ,huldahs with their divine instincts4 ,the ,song of ,songs tells how a simple ,hebrew girl1 tempted by the glory of the world1 but strong in her passion of holy love1 merited the wonderful ascription1 ,fair as the moon1 clear as the sun1 terrible as an army with banners4 ,if the ,christian womanhood of the twentieth century rises to that level1 the future of the ,kingdom of ,god will be far more glorious than its past4 ,the ,marechale's instincts for the beautiful in nature and in art doubtless constituted no small part of her charm for the ,latin races4 ,she looked at all the glory of heaven and earth with a poet's eyes4 ,during her early crowded life of evangelism in ,england1 her father once took her on a tour through the ,trossachs of ,scotland1 and the memory of that vision of beauty at the age of sixteen ever afterwards haunted her like a passion4 ,let me stay here6 she said to the ,general1 whose reply1 calling a soldier to arms1 equally remained in her memory3 ,men are more interesting than scenery4 ,if she scarcely ever took holidays in after life1 it was not that she did not sometimes sigh for the wings of a dove that she might fly away and be at rest4 ,there was a lifelong conflict between the natural and the ascetic in her4 ,she had never had time to cultivate any art except music1 but her sense of everything lovely in form and colour and sound was exquisite1 and she became without study a supreme artist in at least one department4 ,at the time of the coronation of ,queen ,wilhelmina of ,holland1 there was a grand ,exhibition of all that women can do in the modern world4 ,a deputation waited on the ,marechale and begged her to give an address along with two other well-known lady speakers4 ,she agreed to come1 provided she should be allowed to choose her own subject4 ,consent was readily given1 and she delivered an address in ,french upon what ,christ has done for ,woman and what ,woman for ,christ4 ,she gave no thought to the manner of delivery2 she merely realised that she had a golden opportunity of proclaiming her ,saviour to a magnificent audience4 ,she had never in her life received a lesson in elocution1 and to have done so might have seemed to her wicked backsliding4 ,but she was awarded the palm of eloquence4 ,if her scholastic education was somewhat defective1 she was wonderfully guided by her instincts in her later self-education4 ,during her ,american tour she was taken one day by three white-haired professors to see the greatest library in the ,states4 ,her unsophisticated mind was bewildered by all that mass of learning4 ,surely1 she said1 it must strike despair into the minds of the students6 ,one of her guides questioned her about her own favourite books4 ,well1 she answered1 ,i have never been a reader2 ,i think ,i have only two4 ,what might they be8 ,one of them you know4 ,yes1 the ,bible2 what is the second8 ,the ,heart of ,man4 ,i am always at it1 on land and sea1 in the streets and in railway carriages1 morning1 noon and night4 ,it helps me with my first book better than any commentary4 ,she came to know the ,bible with a thoroughness which not one man in ten thousand ever attains4 ,her spiritual instinct seized1 and her extraordinary memory retained1 the vital and the essential4 ,she never studied the ,bible in the ordinary way1 sitting down with lexicon and concordance4 ,there was no time for that in her busy life4 ,she took her spiritual food from the ,bible as the bee sips honey from flowers4 ,the ,bible was her companion and she read it for pleasure4 ,she absorbed and assimilated it without effort4 ,that she knew much of it by heart was of less importance than the fact that it became part of herself4 ,therein lay her power of expounding and applying it4 ,nothing1 said ,dr4 ,munroe ,gibson after listening to her nightly for a week1 charmed our people more than her expositions of ,scripture4 ,the truths by which she lived came to her intuitively4 ,her religion did not consist of commandments and dogmas4 ,it was life1 light1 liberty1 and above all love4 ,alike in what she accepted and what she rejected1 she acted instinctively--she could do no other4 ,she had an aversion to religious controversy4 ,arguments made little or no impression upon her mind4 ,she might sometimes be overwhelmed with theological doctrines1 the truth of which she could neither affirm nor deny1 but in the end she would emerge with the naive remark1 ,i am a very simple child1 and ,i must have a child's religion4 ,she always held that ,christ's religion is for the multitude1 and that the multitude are children4 ,the essence of ,christianity can be assimilated by boys and girls who do not know how to read and write1 and they may become saints and saviours4 ,a glance at the ,marechale's well-used ,bible suffices to prove that for her the heart of the ,old ,testament is in ,hosea1 the prophet of love1 and ,isaiah the prophet of atonement1 while the heart of the ,new ,testament is in the story of the returning prodigal or the penitent ,magdalene4 ,genius is never easy to understand4 ,its weakness is often related to its strength4 ,it has what the ,french call the defects of its qualities4 ,a great part of the ,marechale's power certainly lay in her childlike humility4 ,as a soul-winner she never gave the impression of condescending4 ,she did not need to stoop2 by nature and by grace she was meek and lowly in heart4 ,what drew multitudes of poor sinners to her was their assurance that she would hear with human sympathy their tales of sin and sorrow4 ,at one of her midnight suppers a ,french lady said to her1 ,i have been here all these years trying to bring these poor girls together4 ,how is it that you succeed where ,i fail1 in getting them to open their hearts to you8 ,perhaps1 said the ,marechale1 it is because ,i do not make them feel that there is a difference between them and me4 ,with her humility there was bound up a certain measure of self-distrust4 ,in her1 as in her father1 whom she resembled so strongly in spirit as well as in features1 there was an extraordinary combination of confidence and diffidence4 ,it used to be said by those who knew the ,general most intimately that1 while he commanded an ,army1 he was apologetic to his cook4 ,and if the ,marechale had a splendid moral courage1 as her manner of dealing with hostile crowds abundantly proved1 she had also a womanly timidity in which there lay a certain subtle danger4 ,so long as she had faith in her ,god-given instincts1 and in the individual guidance of the ,holy ,spirit1 she was unconquerable1 but if anything undermined them her power was for the time being paralysed4 ,for the criticisms of the world she cared little or nothing1 but the real love and understanding of her comrades was as the breath of life to her4 ,from them she was always eager to learn1 and sometimes she let the judgment of others obscure her spiritual and womanly intuitions4 ,she would sit at the feet of this or that teacher who spoke with an air of wisdom and authority1 when in nine cases out of ten the relation of teacher and taught ought to have been reversed4 ,as a rule1 her instincts made her a swift and unerring discerner of spirits1 but there were exceptional cases in which it almost seemed disloyalty to try the spirits whether they are of ,god4 ,one of her life-long friends1 ,mr4 ,w4 ,t4 ,stead1 who went down on the ill-fated ,titanic1 knew both sides of her character--her lion-like boldness as well as her dove-like gentleness4 ,he used to relate how she one day invaded the office of the ,pall ,mall ,gazette1 and summoned him with all the categorical imperiousness of her nature and her mission to quit politics and edit the ,war ,cry4 ,yet he used to say to her1 with a seriousness that was not altogether assumed1 ,you are damned by your humility6 ,it is well known that the ,marechale's husband was for a time a believer in ,dr4 ,dowie1 the ,scotsman who founded ,zion ,city beside ,chicago4 ,finding that certain doctrines such as ,faith ,healing1 the ,second ,advent1 the ,rapture of the ,saints1 which were to him1 as to thousands of others1 of vital importance1--were being faithfully preached by one who claimed to be the second ,elijah1 the ,forerunner of ,christ1 ,mr4 ,booth-,clibborn became a member of the ,christian ,catholic ,church4 ,having been a ,quaker minister before his twenty years of faithful service in the ,salvation ,army1 he also cherished the hope of perfecting ,zionism by adding to it his own peace principles4 ,the ,marechale could not accept ,dr4 ,dowie's claims1 but in her intense desire for family unity she consented to go with her husband to see ,zion ,city1 taking her two eldest daughters1 ,evangeline and ,victoria1 then fourteen and thirteen years of age1 and baby ,josephine1 who was but four months old1 with her4 ,they remained there four months1 ,july to ,october1 #aijb4 ,the diary and letters which she wrote during that visit are psychologically and ,spiritually among the most interesting human documents ,i have ever seen1 and sufficiently indicate her attitude of mind at this time4 ,but let us draw a veil1 except for one or two incidents and extracts1 over the dark anguish of soul1 the torture of uncertainty1 and the depths of despair which she then passed through4 ,she implored ,dr4 ,dowie to take her husband and ordain him without her1 but he emphatically refused to do so4 ,the following paragraph1 taken from her diary1 shows in what a painful predicament she found herself4 ,speaking of a friendly adviser1 she says3 ,he said1 as ,i was the wife1 the responsibility was on my husband1 and ,i must stand by him1 even if he was in error1 and ,god would forgive me if it was a mistake4 ,i felt so much taken aback by the way he looked at the matter that ,i turned the key of my heart4 ,to one of her dearest friends she wrote a long letter1 which was a cry out of the depths3 ,i am not easily given to discouragement or despair1 but my position must make angels weep1 if they can weep4 ,i cannot bring myself to accept ,dowie1 so much in him violates the highest spiritual instincts ,i have4444 ,the forcing of me outwardly does not convince me4 ,i have yielded all along the line1 and now here ,i am 444 but ,i am not in despair4 ,i have been4 ,it seems to me as if ,god1 who has seen the long agony1 will himself open the door4 ,i cannot go further in this direction4444 ,i feel a fear over everything4 ,i never was so unutterably unhappy in my life1 never4 ,oh1 will you not help me8 ,one day the prophet was attacking some noted evangelists of the day4 ,presently he began to fulminate against the ,salvation ,army1 and accused the ,general of failing to reprove the sins of the rich4 ,the ,marechale leapt to her feet1 and facing the prophet with outstretched finger and flashing eye1 an image of outraged justice1 exclaimed1 ,that is an untruth6 ,no man has been more faithful in reproving the rich than my father and it is cowardly of you to attack a man who is not here to defend himself4 ,the prophet visibly quailed under the withering rebuke4 ,it was the first time any one had withstood him to the face4 ,with an hour of thundering oratory he tried to obliterate the impression made on the vast audience1 but for once he was evidently checkmated4 ,at length ,dr4 ,dowie1 seeing he could not overcome the ,marechale's opposition1 and that her unwilling presence in the city was a disturbing factor among his people1 requested her and her husband to withdraw4 ,mr4 ,booth-,clibborn1 of whose absolute sincerity there can be no doubt1 was keenly disappointed at having to turn his back upon ,zion1 which had become to him1 as the ,salvation ,army in its early days a cause to live for1 and if need be to die for4 ,the strain on the ,marechale had been so great that when she arrived in ,england she was utterly prostrated4 ,two dear old cousins of her husband's1 the ,misses ,susan and ,esther ,bell1 in ,eastbourne1 nursed her back to life4 ,then came two dark1 silent years in ,brussels4 ,the ,marechale looked for a friend and found none4 ,all the world believed that she had joined ,zion4 ,the ,french papers announced that she had burned 7brule7 the principles for which she had once fought4 ,her daughter ,victoria1 who was with her in those years of lonely sorrow1 writes3 ,gradually her strength left her4 ,she suffered dumbly1 vainly hoping for some deliverance4 ,was this the ,marechale who had led her army to battle and faced the howling mob with a smile on her face8 ,her sorrow had crushed and sapped her courage which the storm of persecution only served to quicken4 ,her children had starvation staring them in the face2 another terrible illness1 brought on by household care1 laid her low2 her spirit was exhausted by the torturing strain of years2 and she could hold out no longer4 ,in a blind faith1 without conviction1 she was received into ,zion ,church4 ,broken on the wheel of life1 stretched too long upon the rack of this tough world1 she accepted--like ,savonarola and ,galileo1 like ,cranmer and ,jeanne d',arc--an alien creed1 without her reason being convinced or her heart won4 ,but--again like those--not for long4 ,her deliverance came in a startling fashion4 ,soon after her removal with her family to ,paris1 her husband began to suffer from the effects of a neglected influenza which settled in his knee4 ,true to his principles1 he refused to see a doctor4 ,when he was at the brink of death1 the ,marechale brought in a physician in the guise of a friend4 ,the sick man's case was at first pronounced to be hopeless1 but three of the finest surgeons of ,paris were hastily summoned1 performed four operations1 and saved his life1 leaving him1 however1 crippled for the rest of his days4 ,the dismissal of ,mr4 ,booth-,clibborn followed as a matter of course4 ,he had violated the strictest laws of ,zion by accepting the aid of surgery4 ,two of his own converts1 now followers of ,dr4 ,dowie1 invaded the sick room1 and handed him the fateful document4 ,some time afterward he wrote3 ,dowie was a good man at one time4 ,so was the devil4 ,dowie fell through the same sin--,pride4 ,in addition to a statement which was published in four countries1 he has recently borne the following conclusive testimony3 ,the ,marechale would never have had anything to do with ,dr4 ,dowie but for me4 ,when she came near him it was on every occasion unwillingly4 ,she suffered unutterable anguish1 pain and grief1 from the fact that from the first all her instincts1 as well as the consciousness of her true religious interest1 were against ,dr4 ,dowie's spiritual personality1 his ways1 his claims1 his style of government4 ,if1 in a kind of despair1 she went with me into it1 though she was in it she was not of it4 ,it was never sought1 it was endured4 ,the only comfort in the enduring was the possibility of doing a little good meanwhile to people in it1 and of ultimately helping in the opening of my eyes4 99,,chapter ,,xv99 99,,sursum ,,corda699 ,all the ,marechale's hearers remember her penetrating gaze4 ,no one ever encountered her eyes and saw them shift4 ,thousands have felt as if she were looking through all disguises into their very souls1 and her tapering index finger has often made the bravest quail4 ,all through the night1 wrote a convicted sinner1 ,i saw her finger pointing straight at me4 ,and one feels certain that her look was never more direct1 never more searching1 than when it was turned inward4 ,she has always had a passion for seeing things as they are1 especially the things of the spirit4 ,we are not surprised1 therefore1 at her often repeated words3 ,this experience has taught me the folly of violating ,god-given instinct1 and allowing the inner light of ,god's ,holy ,spirit to be darkened by man4 ,when ,i compare myself with what ,i was in the past1 in many respects it seems as if that person was dead6 ,drawn by the cords of love1 held by ties too sacred to be broken1 worn by years of poverty and sickness1 and moving at last in a kind of trance1 more dead than alive1 one of ,god's truest and bravest servants blindly stumbled on till she found herself1 for a time of agony1 in a spiritual prison-house from which there seemed to be no escape4 ,her greatest danger lay in a kind of fatalistic submission1 which would have meant permanent disloyalty to her own ideals and convictions1 as well as the abandonment of her vocation4 ,she read the letters of ,pere ,didon1 whose heroic acceptance of his destiny influenced her in the direction of sinking her individuality4 ,and one cannot understand the exquisite torture of her position unless one realises that her mind had often been made an arena of conflict between the apparently irreconcilable claims of the domestic and the apostolic life4 ,and yet1 ,father ,hyacinth once said to her in ,paris1 ,you are the only woman ,i have ever met who has reconciled the vocation of a mother with that of an apostle4 ,it may be appropriate to say here that the prayers of both father and mother have been answered in the conversion of their ten children1 who have of their own free will consecrated themselves to the service of ,christ4 ,four sons and three daughters are already engaged in active evangelistic work1 and have been used of ,god for the conversion of many souls4 ,to bring the ,marechale back to liberty1 ,god used the voices of nature1 of children and of friends4 ,she had always had a poet's sensitive ear for earth's thousand voices of praise1 and1 sitting in a garden on a spring morning1 she wrote3 ,the past1 whoever was right or wrong1 shall be buried4 ,let the dead bury their dead4 ,leave it1 and this beautiful spring-tide let us begin again4 ,the crocuses and snowdrops in this lovely garden all say1 ',new ,resurrection life6' ,her own children's voices called her back into the thick of the old spiritual battle4 ,now for the children1 she wrote2 they must all see some salvation work1 and they will feel the glow of the heavenly fire4 ,it will warm them1 and say something far more than all the ,bible lessons in the world4 ,her eldest daughters1 at that time girls of sixteen and fifteen1 but with a wisdom far beyond their years1 literally pushed her into the war1 and if ever she was unable to go they buckled on their armour and took her place4 ,mother writes me1 says ,victoria in her journal1 that ,evangeline held a beautiful meeting on ,sunday because she herself was too ill to go4 ,poor mother1 it is difficult for her to keep up her courage4 ,this diarist of fifteen thus philosophises on the meaning of her mother's sorrow4 ,everybody can understand why ,god lets people of the world1 the infidels1 the self-seekers1 the indifferent1 suffer4 ,it is to bring them to ,himself through disappointments in the world1 in themselves1 and in others4 ,but why ,he allows ,his children that love ,him1 those whose greatest wish is to serve ,him--why ,he allows them to suffer is a mystery4 ,perhaps it is to bring them into still closer communion with ,himself1 so that they may become one with ,him--,his1 body1 soul and spirit1 without reserve4 ,the ,marechale's friends helped to bring her back to her predestined work of soul-winning4 ,during a time of awful silence1 in which she never received a call and rarely a letter1 she had not courage to visit any of her old comrades in ,paris4 ,once1 in her great sorrow1 she wanted to get away to some sympathising friend and open her heart4 ,at first she could think of no one1 but suddenly she remembered a humble working woman1 and1 taking the train to ,paris1 she wearily climbed to the fifth story of a house in the ,villette1 sat down in this woman's little room1 and burst into a flood of tears4 ,her friend tried to comfort her and1 not quite understanding this passionate grief1 made her lie down in her own bed while she prepared for her a delicious little ,french meal4 ,twenty years before1 on a dark winter night1 the ,marechale was passing along the ,seine embankment on the way to her place of meeting on the ,quai de ,valmy4 ,she noticed a girl gazing at the dark1 cold waters1 and a voice told her that she was meditating suicide4 ,touching her arm she said-- ,don't look at those black1 cruel waters4 ,come with me and have a nice cup of coffee4 ,you seem to be in trouble4 ,the girl1 whose face was dark and sullen1 looked at her suspiciously1 and did not speak4 ,the ,marechale gently pleaded with her to come and hear a lady sing4 ,she sings beautifully1 and you will find light and warmth and comfort1 and you will have a good cup of coffee4 ,do come with me4 ,the girl at length consented and came4 ,she heard the ,marechale herself sing4 ,she sat right through the service without opening her lips and with a hard look on her face4 ,at the end the ,marechale went down beside her1 asked if she had enjoyed the meeting1 and said a word to her about the goodness of ,god4 ,at the mention of the name of ,god1 the girl burst into passionate speech4 ,god6 ,don't talk to me of ,god6 ,i hate ,him4 ,what has ,he done for me8 ,why did ,he take my mother8 ,he doesn't care for me4 ,if ,he did ,he would not have let me be born in prison4 ,what have ,i done to deserve such a life as this8 ,it isn't my fault4 ,but1 while the ,marechale talked with her and prayed with her1 the girl's heart was softened4 ,she began to attend the meetings1 and soon gave her heart to the ,lord ,jesus4 ,born in a prison1 and saved from suicide in the ,seine1 she became in turn her rescuer's best comforter in an hour of supreme sorrow4 ,when the ,marechale at length plucked up heart to revisit ,england1 after a long absence and silence1 her steps were directed to the home of a dear friend and kindred spirit in ,south ,london4 ,it was in early girlhood that ,mrs4 ,holman of ,jerviston was first attracted to the ,marechale4 ,her mother had1 as ,lady ,mayoress1 invited ,miss ,booth1 before the work began in ,france1 to address a drawing-room meeting in her house1 and the indelible impressions made on a receptive mind on that day proved an inspiration to a lifetime of quiet and devoted service of ,christ4 ,but so timid and dejected had the ,marechale become that she dreaded the reception that might await her even in the home of a lifelong friend6 ,she trembled as she dragged herself across ,streatham ,common4 ,she sat down on a seat and--her ruling passion strong as ever--spoke to a beggar about his soul1 feeling a certain new kinship with all outcasts and pariahs4 ,when she stood before her friend's door she scarcely had courage to ring the bell1 and if she had been told to go to the kitchen and have a cup of tea with the servants1 she would have answered quite simply1 ,yes1 ,i will go4 ,but ,mr4 ,holman himself opened the door1 and his hearty welcome and the outflow of a perfect sympathy at once cast all her fears to the winds4 ,her friends were ministering angels to her4 ,they nursed her back to health1 dried her tears1 and made her smile4 ,their little daughter--now one of the sweetest singers in ,london--carolled to her every morning and awoke the hallelujah bird again in her own breast4 ,and ,god ,himself was meanwhile doing for her what even the best of friends could not do--giving her the ,resurrection ,life1 re-animating her hope1 baptising her afresh with the ,spirit1 not of fear1 but of power and of love1 breaking all shackles and making her free--free from the ensnaring fear of man1 free to obey the ,divine call she had received even as a child--woman's ,pentecostal call to prophesy for ,christ1 her one and only ,master4 ,aller ,an fang ist schwer1 and the difficulties which the ,marechale encountered at the resumption of her work were enough to make any but the stoutest heart faint4 ,if she had in the past shown a bravery transcending that of even the bravest all this was of small account compared to the heroism now required of her4 ,in the past she had the help of her own people1 her spiritual children1 and a strong organization back of her4 ,now she was utterly alone1 thousands all over the world had an erroneous conception of the entire situation1 and many even believed she had made shipwreck of her faith4 ,her daughter ,victoria stands out during that lonely period of beginnings4 ,with remarkably clear judgment1 discernment and sympathy she cheered and inspired her mother with her own enthusiastic hopefulness and vivid faith4 ,the greatest service anyone could render the ,marechale was to bid her go on1 fulfil her destiny1 believe that ,god would again mightily use and bless her4 ,it might seem a small thing to say1 ,be of good cheer1 yet it was one of those little nothings for which she was ever afterwards profoundly grateful4 ,i remember her coming one evening into my ,chelsea study in a mood of depression1 baffled by life's insoluble mysteries4 ,wondering what would lighten for her the burden and the weary weight1 ,i took down ,browning and began to read ,rabbi ben ,ezra1 which was new to her4 ,from the opening words-- ,the best is yet to be1 ,the last of life1 for which the first was planned-- to the magnificent close1 that inspired ,sursum ,corda thrilled her as a message direct from the great ,heart of ,god4 ,only in one thing did she venture to differ from the poet4 ,he sees his heaven beyond1 she said2 ,i want mine down here in the salvation of souls4 ,as soon as she resumed her work1 she had her reward in signs following everywhere4 ,doors opened to her1 first in ,england1 then in ,scotland1 ,ireland and ,wales4 ,she brought the breath of life into many churches1 rekindled the zeal of many workers for ,christ1 and broke the chains which had bound multitudes of souls to an evil past4 ,her own experience had given her1 as a physician of souls1 perhaps a deeper sympathy1 a surer insight1 a greater power to grapple with every form of evil than ever she had before4 ,it became her mission to save people from themselves by convincing them that only one thing is entirely worth doing--living like ,christ by letting ,christ live in them4 ,there are certainly few evangelists who have changed the whole current of so many lives in our country4 ,young ladies about to pass within convent walls have found a more excellent way by receiving the living ,christ into their hearts4 ,actors and singers have consecrated their gifts to ,christ and ,his kingdom4 ,young men of the world have heard the call of ,god and resolved to enter the ministry or go to the mission-field4 ,god's gift of life has revealed to many questioning eyes its glorious possibilities4 ,multitudes who had no faith have heard another say that she has faith for them--a faith which has somehow dispelled the mists of doubt and error and brought them into the sunlight of ,divine love4 ,at the same time her ever-deepening knowledge of her two books1 the ,bible and the ,heart of ,man1 have made her a unique preacher to preachers4 ,one night at ,keswick1 in the summer of #aijg1 a brilliant young ,scottish minister1 who was a member of a large house-party of clergymen attending the annual ,convention1 came home late for supper4 ,excuse me1 he said1 as he sat down1 but ,i could not tear myself away from the open-air meeting in the ,square4 ,i never heard such speaking in my life4 ,i stood transfixed4 ,the preacher was the daughter of ,general ,booth1 and ,i never knew the ,english language was such a magnificent weapon until to-night4 ,her preaching was extraordinary4 ,next day1 through ,dr4 ,harry ,guinness1 who was her host1 she was invited to address that house-party4 ,another preacher who was present has recorded his impressions4 ,after tea we all gathered our chairs in a circle round her as she opened up some sacred chapters in her life4 ,hour after hour sped4 ,no one thought of moving to go to the ,tent meetings4 ,there we sat spellbound1 through a long evening1 feeling we had never come across such a being before4 ,this was the first of many such meetings1 to which as many outsiders were invited as the large drawing-room could hold4 ,what evenings these were6 ,highland worthies sat gazing at her with open-mouthed wonder1 held by her witchery1 her strange tales from actual life1 by her wisdom and pathos4 ,her voice1 rich and sweet1 sometimes fell to dreamy cadences1 and sometimes rose to the bugling of a gale4 ,it thrilled people and it melted them4 ,her eyes were wonderful4 ,sometimes they rested on one person in the audience with a soft and appealing look2 then they gleamed and blazed with holy passion4 ,her long arms with their fine tapering fingers--how they helped to express her mind6 ,but it was the face that was the great exponent1 and as emotions played on her own mobile features she also touched the deep chords of every minister's heart4 ,what struck us most was the access she won to the hearts of penitents4 ,the mother-love in her was so deep and real that we all felt as if we1 too1 could give her our sacred confidences4 ,a favourite word of hers was from ,st4 ,augustine1 ',love1 and do as you like1' and every man in our company felt she was a living illustration of it4 ,her beautiful and choice language1 simple1 fresh1 exquisitely fitting1 and used with superb ease and mastery1 was a constant amazement4 ,she never attempted addresses or expositions1 but her talks1 for no other name would she apply1 were now and again gemmed with texts which came as with a flash of diamonds1 flaming4 ,thus she revealed herself to men who know that the care of all cares is the cure of souls--cura curarum cura animarum4 ,she warned them that the apostolic life1 the most ,christ-like of all vocations1 is only for those who are willing to fill up that which is lacking of the sufferings of ,christ4 ,prayer and fasting1 love and sacrifice1 real asceticism combined with joyful enthusiasm are the conditions of success in the never-ending warfare with evil4 ,the world will always be a broad field of battle4 ,but the living ,christ gives so much of ,his real presence that ,his service is liberty and ,his rewards are sure4 ,no breath of human praise can compare with the fervent and life-long gratitude which souls rescued from the powers of darkness bear to their deliverer4 ,since the ,marechale laid aside the ,french language---perhaps only for a time--and resumed her mother-tongue1 she has received literally thousands of ,english letters from both continents testifying to blessings received through her ministry4 ,i here give a few carefully selected extracts from these letters with a few words of introduction4 ,one ,sunday morning1 as the ,marechale was about to address a large congregation1 the minister whispered to her3 ,you see those two young ladies in black1 if you can do anything with them1 it would be a miracle4 ,in one of the after-meetings of the mission1 the ,marechale approached the elder of these ladies and ventured to speak with her1 but intense reserve on her part made conversation impossible4 ,a cloud of utter despair seemed to have settled on her spirit4 ,the look in her eyes revealed sorrow too deep for words4 ,this is her story3 ,at twelve o'clock one night ,i was returning home from business with my mother and only sister4 ,i found the body of my father hanging in the corridor6 ,i was so horrified that for a moment ,i could not move1 then1 recovering my presence of mind1 ,i put out the lights and called my mother and sister to another door1 just in time to prevent them seeing the sight4 ,but ,i can never forget it6 ,then my mother's health broke down1 and for four years ,i faithfully watched and cared for her4 ,during this second painful trial ,i received the startling news that my dearest and only brother had met with a serious accident while driving his own automobile4 ,on arriving at the hospital in all haste ,i was met with the words1 ',too late4' ,he was gone6 ,the scene which followed is too terrible for me to speak of4 ,we adored him6 ,the effects of the shock hastened my mother's death4 ,we said good-bye to her1 and oh1 the recollection of it haunts me still4 ,after my mother's death my sister and ,i left the house of tragedy1 broken down with sorrow and grief4 ,these blows were beyond my powers of endurance4 ,in vain did ,i seek some ray of comfort4 ,then ,i grew careless6 ,wine began to get a hold on me2 and ,i sank into depths of despair1 of which you only know4 ,i really thought there was no ,god1 and contemplated ending my own existence4 ,through it all the ,lord was looking down in tender compassion and love4 ,he sent you at this critical time in my sad career4 ,when ,i look back on the past ,i can only praise ,god for what ,he has done for me1 through you4 ,i am now conscious of the fact that ,he has washed and redeemed me through the precious blood4 ,jesus is very dear to me4 ,he is the ,lily of the ,valley1 the fairest of ten thousand to my soul4 ,the pleasures of the world have henceforth no attraction for me1 in ,him ,i can overcome all temptations4 ,the following is from a gentleman in ,america1 who1 for thirty-five years1 had never entered a church4 ,he happened to hear the ,marechale once1 and1 rushing into the vestry1 he broke down utterly and told her the tragical story of his life4 ,he was an illegitimate child1 and his mother often used to beat him until the blood ran4 ,as a lad he struggled hard to be good1 and1 although he was sometimes led astray through the drink1 he always shunned anything of an immoral character4 ,he married a sweet ,german girl1 and by honest labour obtained a very good position in ,new ,york1 where he was esteemed by all who knew him4 ,at this juncture he met the ,french woman who ruined his life4 ,he told the ,marechale between his sobs that his wife naturally refused to have him back4 ,remorse and anguish of mind had driven him twice to attempt suicide1 but he was miraculously rescued4 ,in ,january1 #aiad1 he writes3 ,dear ,marechale and honored ,spiritual ,mother3 ,it was with joy that ,i received your dear letter4 ,god has indeed been wonderfully good to me1 an undeserving sinner6 ,he has rolled away the stone from a heart heavy with sin and sorrow4 ,i thank ,him daily for ,his mercy1 and wonder how ,i could ever have lived so long without ,him4 ,no wonder ,i failed and would have been lost1 had ,i not found ,him at last through you1 dear ,marechale4 ,life has a new meaning for me4 ,it is a pleasure to live now1 and before it was a curse4 ,the musicians are playing ragtime while ,i am writing this1 but ,god is playing another melody in my heart4 ,i thank ,him for the opportunity ,i have here to do good4 ,god has indeed changed me4 ,he has given me great power over the minds of my men4 ,the change which1 with ,his help1 ,i have been able to effect in their natures in two short weeks is wonderful to see4 ,i am happy1 very happy4 ,there is surely a devil1 for he has sorely tempted me1 but ,i shake him off like a feather1 smiling happily in my ,god-given strength4 ,i say to him1 ',i fear you not1 for ,i belong to ,christ ,jesus forever4' ,i am indeed in an unholy place4 ,it is given over to the devil in every form1 but what matters1 ,i belong to ,christ for all time4 ,in prayer and humility ,i thank and greet thee1 ,beloved ,marechale4 ,a beautiful girl in society writes the following3 ,all night long ,i have whispered your name over and over again to myself1 saying1 ',you have given me life1 ,marechale1 do you hear me8 ,,life6666' ,i was dying of remorse and fear4 ,i shudder when ,i think of what would have become of me if ,i had not come to you4 ,i used to say to myself1 ',oh1 well1 what's the use1 ,i have sinned beyond recall1 so why not sin again1 and again1 and again8 ,i am destined for ,hell anyway1 ,i may just as well get there as fast as ,i can'--that is what you have saved me from4 ,i wonder how many times ,i have prayed ',let me forget1 only let me forget1' and the more ,i would pray1 the more ,i would remember1 and the more ,i would remember the more terrified ,i would get1 until life seemed to slip away from me1 and ,i would fall down1 down1 down1 into a bottomless pit of horror4444 ,and now ,i ,,live6666 ,oh1 ,marechale 7how ,i love that name1 it sounds like music to me67 ,my mother gave life to my poor miserable body1 but you gave life to my soul4 ,my mother would not mind me loving you so if she knew that you gave me back to her4 ,again she writes3 ,i have lived alone1 absolutely alone4 ,god only knows how utterly alone ,i have been6 ,but now ,i have ,him1 a ,some ,one who cares6 ,is it not wonderful1 ,marechale1 ,i am no longer alone for ,i have my ,christ8 ,the warm thing that flames in my soul is the knowledge that ,he loves me6 ,now ,i know why all these years ,i have searched with empty hands for something4 ,i have it now1 ,i ,,live6666 ,a young gentleman whose life was transformed through attending the meetings held by the ,marechale's family in ,keswick writes from ,beyrout1 ,syria3 ,oh6 what a responsibility it is for us to be the ambassadors of ,christ1 to represent ,him to those who do not know ,him1 to be ,his ,images6 ,if it were not for us ,christians1 who so often stand in ,his way1 ,christ might have a chance4 ,some of the college men are meeting daily in my room to pray and ,i wish you could hear them praying in ,english1 ,arabic1 ,turkish1 ,armenian and even ,abyssinian4 ,you would not understand the words1 but you could never mistake the spirit4 ,to-day ,i invited a man whom ,i know is in the hold of a terrible vice4 ,he came1 and during the half hour he looked as though he had made a mistake in coming1 but1 before he left1 he had led in prayer for strength to overcome temptation4 ,don't you think ,america is a fine country8 ,and yet1 with all its great resources1 opportunities and phenomenal progress1 it is a very wicked country in many parts4 ,races1 nations and individuals may prosper and succeed in plans for betterment and still be without the realisation of ,god1--they may be ',good but ,godless4' ,illustration3 ,,the ,,marechale 7,from a photograph taken at the ,gainsborough ,studio1 ,oxford ,street1 ,london1 ,w41 in #aiac7 ,with the tribute of one grateful heart this sketch may fitly close4 ,i have been used in the past in the conversion of hundreds of souls1 but ,i made a compromise and it has spelt ruin to my soul4 ,no one knows how vile ,i have been1 meriting desertion by ,god and man4444 ,i had resolved to end my existence1 but somehow ,i was brought to that meeting to hear about that ,russian lady4 ,even then ,i determined you should not influence me1 but ,god somehow through you gripped my life4 ,i saw myself in the true light as 7,i say the words not in their usual sense7 a 'blasted hypocrite4' ,don't forget to echo and re-echo the words that reached me1 ',compromise with the world spells ruin4' ,that burnt into my soul4444 ,i remember while you spoke a big lump rising in my throat1 and just as you were closing your address the thought came1 ',i wonder if she would understand4' ,ay1 more1 ,i remember how you received me that day4 ,god bless you4 ,i came out of hell4 ,i have a clear sky4 ,i want to let you know that the consciousness of forgiveness of the past has come with almost an overwhelming force1 and an awful load has gone4 ,no daughter ever loved mother more than ,i love you1 ,i know that4 ,why is it8 ,because ,god made you the means of my salvation4 ,my heart just bursts with love and gratitude4 ,so ,i am yours1 and at that last great day you will see it if ,i come through at last4444 ,dear one1 have you ever thought of this--some one by a gallant effort rescues lives from fire or shipwreck2 the world applauds and honours the deliverer4 ,you 7by the grace of ,god7 rescued me from shipwreck of soul4 ,christ will own it before ,his ,father and all the countless multitudes4 ,,the ,,end