had attended. His last
years were full of peace, and were spent in serving God and rejoicing in
His Salvation.
III
A THREE-YEARS ENGAGEMENT
'What a need there is for effort and energy; or real religion and
common sense!'--MRS. BOOTH.
One Sunday, when Catherine and her mother went to the Meeting as
usual, they found a 'Special' there, taking the services. He was quite
different from the other Specials, and Catherine could not help noticing
him with extra interest. He spoke to the people's hearts, and was not so
much occupied in preaching a good sermon as in getting some one
converted. But he did preach a very good sermon for all that, and chose
this verse as his text--'This is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the
world.'
A few days later Catherine and her mother were spending the evening
with a friend, when the very same preacher came in, and was
introduced to them as the Rev. William Booth.
Catherine knew they had one subject in common--love for souls; but
before the evening ended she discovered that the young minister was
quite as earnest as she was herself in fighting the Drink curse and all
that was connected with it.
A few Sundays later Mr. Booth preached again in the same building,
this time as the minister, or, as we should say, 'Officer in charge,' and
no longer as a Special. And now you will guess that the two often met,
and that, because they had so many interests in common, they soon
learned to know each other well, till respect grew into friendship, and
friendship into love.
Catherine was at this time twenty-two years old, and Mr. Booth was
three months younger; but, though you would have said they were old
enough to know their own minds, they did nothing hastily, and would
enter into no engagement till they were quite sure of God's Will in the
matter.
Had Catherine ever before thought of the day when she would get
married? you, perhaps, ask. Oh, yes, indeed, and when but a girl of
sixteen-- directly, in fact, after she was saved--she settled in her own
heart what sort of a man her future husband must be. First, she decided,
he must be truly converted, and a total abstainer, not to please her, but
from his own choice. Then he must be a man of sense, or she could
never respect him; and, if they were to be happy, they must feel and
think alike on all important matters.
Ah, if our women-Soldiers and Cadets to-day would but follow our
Army Mother's example, there would be fewer unhappy marriages and
wrecked lives!
But in her secret heart Catherine had also, girl-like, some ideas about
the sort of man she would like to marry, if she might choose. He should
be a minister--that was the nearest she could get to an Officer in those
days; William was a name she particularly liked, and--if only he might
be tall and dark! If you had been there when Katie Mumford first
listened to his preaching you would have seen that he was 'tall and dark'
indeed.
But though William Booth loved Catherine with a deep and holy love,
which increased each time they met, yet he was very poor, and he
wondered if he ought, under the circumstances, to ask her to share his
lot. He wrote a letter to her, telling her how perplexed and troubled he
was, and her answer shows us that, right from the very earliest days,
before they were even engaged, her one desire was that his soul should
prosper.
'My dear friend,' she begins ... 'The thought that I should cause you any
suffering or increase your perplexity is almost unbearable. I am
tempted to wish that we had never seen each other. Do try to forget me,
as far as the remembrance would injure your usefulness or spoil your
peace. If I have no alternative but to oppose the Will of God, or trample
on the desolations of my own heart, my choice is made. "Thy will be
done" is my constant cry. I care not for myself; but Oh, if I cause you to
err, I shall never be happy again.'
It was not the fear of poverty that frightened her, for a few days later
she says:--
'I fear you did not fully understand my difficulty. It was not
circumstances. I thought I had assured you that a bright prospect would
not allure me, nor a dark one affright me, if only we are one in heart.
My only reason for wishing to defer the engagement was that you
might feel satisfied in your mind that the step is right.... If you are
convinced on this point, let circumstances go, and let
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