GENERAL BOOTH.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5437, 19 June 1929, Page 2

GENERAL BOOTH.

A NOBLE GREATHEART PASSES.

(Written for “The Hauraki Plains Gazette” by C. W. Malcolm.)

Without exception, the greatest and noblest man the Salvation Army has ever had has passed to earned rest from labours that would baffle some of the world’s trained leaders and organisers. Eveiuduring the lifetime of his father, Founder William Booth, Bramwell was, behind the scenes, the “battle-thinker,” the Moltke of the Salvation Army, and during a long portion of his father’s generalship the reins of government were firmly gripped by the hands of the son. Like every officer in the Salvat'on Army, Bramwell, long before the actual Army scheme was worked out, had to begin at the beginning. Resembling his mother in this, as in many other traits of character, he shrank from publicity, and was therefore sent to work amongst children. Soon be gathered round him in a Bethnal Green cellar an ever-growing number of small ragamuffins, who, in course of time, came to form a children’s Salvation Army, of which little was heard in public, but which brought sweetness and light to multitudes of the burdened children of the slums. Meanwhile the Army was rapidly growing, and was absorbing and requiring an ever-increasing number or able helpers. In his distrust of his own powers, Bramwell Booth did not think himself fit for public work, and he had the additional excuse of indifferent health. But as more and more work began to press upon his parents he stepped quietly forward, assisting wherever the pressure was greatest, till no department held any detail he had not mastered. Congenitally with an outstanding legal mind, he was now being educated in a greater life-work than that which was offered by the wealthy gentleman whose startling offers had been sacrificingly rejected by the Booths that their first born might serve humanity to the full. Soon he became Chief of the Staff, his qualities fitting him ideally for the post. Quick to see and seize salient points, patient with details, broadminded and thoughtful, he combined tact of the heart and the head, which smoothes over a thousand difficulties and makes cheerful, willing workers. His knowledge of all matters of the Salvation Army was absolutely phenomenal, and it was all the result of patient, persevering labour of years of devotion and application. He knew everything from the duties of the lowliest rank-holder to the most involved plan of the organisation, and with that knowledge he had a remarkable gift for imparting and explaining it. Not only were his eyes, his face, and his manner startlingly like those of his mother—the greatest woman figure of her century—but he also inherited her wonderful gift of brilliant speech. His flow of words was unique, and they were always so outstandingly the right words that one could never find anywhere words that would fit more exactly or sound more beautiful. This cultured eloquence is a possession of practically every member of William Booth’s family, but to Bramwell had fallen the greatest share. On assuming rank General Bramwell Booth found the Army operating in sixty countries, and in the seventeen years since then he has advanced the organisation into over eighty lands. This has been a colossal task, exceeded only, perhaps, by that effort which brought the Salvation Army through the great World War one unbroken body. When William Booth died a great writer said he had the Nations for his pall-bearers and humanity for his chief mourner ! And what of Bramwell ? There will be a universal mourning for the Greatheart, inspired more, perhaps, by the sad event which has clouded his latter months. And thousands, yea millions, will wonder if it would not have been far better to have spared him the anxiety for the future of his beloved Army.

If . kings of nations mourned the passing of William Booth ; if. half a million gathered in the streets of. London to witness the vast cortegfe wend its way to the Abrey P,ark Cemetery ; if 35,000 persons gathered in the Olympia to pay their tribute at the memorial service, what scenes will attend the close of this great dispensation in the Army’s history ? There ,is always something inspiring about the passing of great men and women, but a more remarkable scene than that which transpired at the death of his own noble mother, as written by the late General Bramwell Booth himself, would be difficult to find on record :

“Soon after noon I felt that the deepening darkness of the long Valley of the Shadows was closing around my dear mother, and a little later I took my last farewell. Her lips moved, and she gave me one look of inexpressible tenderness and trust, which will live with me for ever. Again we sang :

“My mistakes His free grace doth cover,

My sins He doth wash away ; These feet which shrink and falter Shall enter the gates of day.”

“Holding her hand, the General gave her up to God. It was a solemn and wondrous scene. Kneeling around the bed were her sons and daughters, the dear General bowing over his beloved wife and companion in life’s long strife and storm, and giving her, his most precious of earthly joy and treasure, up to the keeping of the Eternal Father. Their eyes met—the last kiss of love- on earth, the last word till the Morning— and without a movement the breathing gently ceased, and a Warrior laid down her sword to receive her crown.” No less remarkable was the passing of the Founder himself 22 years later. Near the end he said to Bramwell, with a smile that was like a flicker of the old spirit, “I’m leaving you a pretty handful.” During the afternoon of August 20 a violent thunderstorm broke over the house, such a storm as had marked the end of Catherine Booth, his wife. The storm passed, and quiet succeeded. In the

evening there was a marked quickening of the breath and a weakening of the pulse. The Chief of the Staff (Mr Bramwell Booth) turned to the doctor and asked if this were death. “Yes,” replied the doctor, “this is death.” The watchers moved, ahd Bramwell bent over his father and kissed him.

And again Bramwell kissed his father, placing in his hand the cable which had come from Commander Evangeline Booth in America, saying, “Kiss him for me."

The next day Headquarters announced • “General Booth has lain down the Sword. God is with us.” And now the chief actor in both of these titanic dramas has lain down the Sword. Sad is it to not that the sister whom he loved, Comnffinder Evangeline Booth, of the United States, is ill at the present time. Soon, perhaps,, the day will come when the name of Booth will be but a dim memory in the Army, but to them has fallen the heat of the conflict and to them will the Eternal reward be made accordingly.