The War Romance of the Salvation Army | Page 9

or
something good to eat when one is hungry, as it does through actual
preaching. It is the living Christ, as if He were on earth again living in
them. And when one comes to know them well one knows that He is!
"Go straight for the salvation of souls: never rest satisfied unless this
end is achieved!" is part of the commission that the Commander gives
to her envoys. It is worth while stopping to think what would be the
effect on the world if every one who has named the name of Christ
should accept that commission and go forth to fulfill it.
And you who have been accustomed to drop your pennies in the
tambourine of the Salvation Army lassies at the street corners, and look
upon her as a representative of a lower class who are doing good "in

their way," prepare to realize that you have made a mistake. The
Salvation Army is not an organization composed of a lot of ignorant,
illiterate, reformed criminals picked out of the slums. There may be
among them many of that class who by the army's efforts have been
saved from a life of sin and shame, and lifted up to be useful citizens;
but great numbers of them, the leaders and officers, are refined,
educated men and women who have put Christ and His Kingdom first
in their hearts and lives. Their young people will compare in every way
with the best of the young people of any of our religious
denominations.
After the privilege of close association with them for some time I have
come to feel that the most noticeable and lovely thing about the girls is
the way they wear their womanhood, as if it were a flower, or a rare
jewel. One of these girls, who, by the way, had been nine months in
France, all of it under shell fire, said to me:
"I used to wish I had been born a boy, they are not hampered so much
as women are; but after I went to France and saw what a good woman
meant to those boys in the trenches I changed my mind, and I'm glad I
was born a woman. It means a great deal to be a woman."
And so there is no coquetry about these girls, no little personal vanity
such as girls who are thinking of themselves often have. They take
great care to be neat and sweet and serviceable, but as they are not
thinking of themselves, but only how they may serve, they are blest
with that loveliest of all adorning, a meek and quiet spirit and a joy of
living and content that only forgetfulness of self and communion with
Jesus Christ can bring.
I feel as if I would like to thank every one of them, men and women
and young girls, who have so kindly and generously and
wholeheartedly given me of their time and experiences and put at my
disposal their correspondence to enrich this story, and have helped me
to go over the ground of the great American drives in the war and see
what they saw, hear what they heard, and feel as they felt. It has been
one of the greatest experiences of my life.
And she, their God-given leader, that wonderful woman whose wise
hand guides every detail of this marvellous organization in America,
and whose well furnished mind is ever thinking out new ways to serve
her Master, Christ; what shall I say of her whom I have come to know

and love so well?
Her exceptional ability as a public speaker is of the widest fame, while
comparatively few, beyond those of her most trusted Officers, are
brought into admiring touch with her brilliant executive powers. All
these, however, unite in most unstinted praise and declare that
functioning in this sphere, the Commander even excels her platform
triumphs. But one must know her well and watch her every day to
understand her depth of insight into character, her wideness of vision,
her skill of making adverse circumstances serve her ends. Born with an
innate genius for leadership, swallowed up in her work, wholly
consecrated to God and His service, she looks upon men, as it were,
with the eyes of the God she loves, and sees the best in everybody. She
sees their faults also, but she sees the good, and is able to take that
good and put it to account, while helping them out of their faults. Those
whom she has so helped would kiss the hem of her garment as she
passes. It is easy to see why she is a leader of men. It is easy to see who
has made the Army here in America. It is easy to see who