GENERAL EVANGELINE BOOTH

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20953, 4 November 1939, Page 13 (Supplement)

GENERAL EVANGELINE BOOTH

She “Caught the Flame” :: Served Humanity

Evelyn Ross in Christian Science Monitor

IN OCTOBER a tall, energetic woman will arrive quietly at an old-fashioned house in Hartsdale, New York, and the neighbours will say, “General Booth of the Salvation Army has retired, and come home to live.” But studying Evangeline Booth on the eve of just one more trip to Europe, as commander of 26,877 officers and cadets, in 97 countries and colonies, it is hard to f see what the terms of “retirement” can be for such a woman. The Salvation Army has been her life. At Columbia University, in June, they conferred the Doctorate in Law's upon her. This was the citation: “General of the Salvation throughout the world; daughter of him who was founder; conducting through a long and busy life, in England, Canada, Alaska, and the United States, that noble work for the care and inspiration of those vagt numbers of fellow human beings who so greatly need and so highly value th& care, that the Salvation Army is happily able to give them. Skilfully guiding and inspiring one of the most helpful and needed forms of human service in the world today.” As the words were rjead, and the hood adjusted, Evangeline Booth may have been thinking, “I have been guided a long way, from Christmas Day of 1865, in the city of Nottingham, England.” The Booth Family Was Lively. Though the career of William Booth was already set in a pattern of sacrifice, many human factors warmed the day-to-day affairs of the household. When Evangeline was just a little girl she had a marmoset. She fashioned a tiny uniform for it. But when she would have put a Salvation Army ribbon in its coat, her mother said gently, “But, Eve, it doesn’t live the life!” At five the cook reported to Catherine Booth that her daughter w r as catching the flame, for she had held one meeting in the kitchen, at which her audience was composed of miscellaneous dolls, cushions, and brooms to which she preached energetically on the problem of courage in adversity. She told the cook that the title of her sermon was, “Hi diddle, diddle.” It was no surprise to anyone when, entering her ’teens, she began to take her place in the work that had developed from the small local mission organised by her father, a mission which was to grow so immeasurably greater than he imagined. She chose the neighbourhood around Piccadilly Circus in London for her first work at preaching. At first no one knew her, for she wore shabby clothes in the belief that if she would learn to win the hearts of the poor she must know poverty herself. When they found out who she was, it was charged that she was seeking notoriety. Years afterwards, someone was to say, “If ‘manners make the man,’ then motives were to make this woman. A solidity of purpose was always steadying her enterprise, Through Success and Failure.” Some said it was unwomanly of her to go about, preaching in the streets as she did. But she thought not. From the first, she took the view that in the sight of God men and women were of equal status in such a work as she wished to do.

John Bright, the Quaker statesman, used to go to her meetings, counting it a privilege to listen to her. He remarked on her innate sense of rhythm, which, joined with a diction attuned to the splendour and beauty of the King James version, made it an inspiration to listen to her. In time, her father put her in charge of the International Training Garrison in Great Britain. She must have recalled that on the afternoon of June 12, in New York, when, for the last time in the United States before stepping down from her high office, she, as General, commissioned and appointed a company of new cadets to their posts of service. For a time she commanded the garrison. Then her father, as General, sent her to Canada as Training Commander. Thence she went to Newfoundland, and at last to the United States. When later the command was divided into four territories, she was appointed to supervise the whole, a task which she continued until September 3, 1934, when she was elected General. In 1917, when the United States entered the World War, there was a discussion as to whether the Salvation Army would accompany the American Expeditionary Force. The question was decided in the affirmative and, in offering its personnel, the Salvation Army’s many qualifications were pointed out, whether for service as chaplains, or with the Red Cross, or maintaining huts, hostels, or canteens. Men and women served side by side. Some thought that the Salvation Army lassies shouldn’t be going so near the front lines. But they had their orders to “Stay at the Scene of Action.** When the war was over, Evangeline Booth was given the Distinguished Service Medal. In 1904, when Evangeline Booth made her first address in the United States after coming from Canada, she was first hissed, then cheered, at Cooper Union. Indeed, she had to reach her first speaking engagement by a fire escape, because of the crowd gathered around the entrance, intending to delay or prevent her appearnce. But she had purpose, faith, and the disciplined statesmanship of the able executive. So she was able, step by step, to secure freedom to discharge her appointed tasks. The General of the Salvation Army must be a diplomat, else how could it be that Japan has doubled its contribution to the Salvation Army in recent years? Or how could it be that the General has received “nice letters” from Adolf Hitler, and that he has allowed Salvation Army workers to continue to wear the uniforms which distinguish them? In Italy, things have been a little difficult lately, since, the passing of the Commander there, who was a personal friend of Premier Mussolini, rsut such difficulties are transient and will work themselves out. For Evangeline Booth life may be. a little more exacting now. Perhaps there will be fewer speaking engagements, fewer demands upon her. But it is easy to imagine that it may be some time before the amazing momentum that she has acquired in 35 years slows down very much. If she is no longer General, she is still of the Salvation Army. And if the Salvation Army has one great mission, it is the promotion of peace.