Work of the Salvation Army Presented

Michigan, 1903

SOUP, SOAP AND SALVATION

MOTTO OF SLUM WORKERS SALVATION ARMY

WORK OF NOBLE MEN AND MEN ILLUSTRATED

LAST NIGHT BY ENSIGN BENNARD AT THE HALL

Many Scenes Taken From Life Were Very Pathetic

The Salvation Army hall at the corner of State and Union streets was packed last night when Ensign Bennard gave his stereopticon lecture on the Salvation Army and Its Work.

In introducing the Army itself and its beginning, the pictures of several of the most prominent officers were shown. These included Gen. William Booth and wife, Commander Booth- Tucker and wife, Brigadier Kate Cox and others. An interesting incident was related concerning Brigadier Cox's work in Detroit. She was thrown into jail for preaching on the streets and Frank C. Andrews of Detroit advised her to keep the law and she would not be put in jail. Within a week Andrews himself was confined in the cell next to the one occupied by Brigadier Cox and upon a charge much more serious than preaching salvation on the street corners.

The first special work shown was that among the fallen women and girls, and pictures true to life were shown of the Salvation Army lasses waiting at the doors of the saloons and dives for the women as they came out late at night. But the lassies do not only wait at the doors, they go inside and their influence is so great among the wicked people of the great cities that the chief of police of New York once remarked that he had rather have two Army lassies than half a dozen of his policemen to quell a riot in the worse parts of the city. In the work among the fallen women the Army has established and maintains homes where these sinful women and girls may go and begin life again. Some of them are kept for six months, some for a year and some for still longer periods. There are 5,000 girls passing through these rescue homes every year and the good done by them is incalculable.

The work in the slums was next shown and the motto of the slum-workers was given — Soup, Soap and Salvation — for it is generally necessary to give soup and soap before anything can be done along the line of salvation. Pictures were shown of Army Officers and girls starting out for work in the slums, equipped with mops and brooms, for in the slums it is necessary to fight, "dirt and the devil."

The social work among the poor workingman is an interesting phase of the Army work. Some of the shelters, which are really hotels, which are conducted by the Army in the larger cities, were presented to the view of the audience and a good idea of the work was gained. In these shelters beds are provided for 10 cents night and the clothes of those who stay over night are thoroughly disinfected and the taking of a bath is also compulsory. In this country there are 68 of these shelters and in the world there are more than 6,000,000 men sheltered over night every year. In this line of work are also the salvage stores where old garments are fixed over and furniture and everything necessary for housekeeping is sold for fraction of what it would cost at the regular stores of the city.

The farm colonies of which there are three in the United States were next shown and the method of their operation was told. The people who are placed on these farms are brought from the slums of the cities and are given so many acres of land to work. On these colonies the government has established post offices and the Army has built schoolhouses so that the children may be as well educated as the children of any farmer in the land.

The other subjects shown were about the prison work and work among the waifs. Many of the scenes thrown upon the canvas were pitiful in the extreme and the change after the Army had brought its influence to bear was wonderful.

Interspersed between the subjects were several illustrated songs in some of which the audience joined and some of which were solos by the ensign.

The meeting was closed with the old song, "God Be With You," illustrated with beautiful pictures.

—Daily Eagle, Traverse City, Michigan, Aug. 5, 1903, p. 1.

Christ's Descent to Earth

1901

If high intelligences looked down and saw what was going on, they must have prophesied extermination, complete extermination, of these offenders of Jehovah.

But no! Who is that coming out of the throne room of heaven? Who is that coming out of the palaces of the eternal? It is the Son of the Emperor of the universe. Down the stairs of the high heavens he comes till he reaches the cold air of a December night in Palestine and amid the bleatings of sheep and the lowing of cattle and the moaning of camels and the banter of the herdsmen takes his first sleep on earth and for 33 years invites the wandering race to return to God and happiness and heaven.

They were the longest 33 years ever known in heaven. Among many high intelligences, what impatience to get him back! The Infinite Father looked down and saw his Son slapped and spit on and supperless and homeless, and then, amid horrors that made the noonday heavens turn black in the face, his body and soul parted.

And all for what? Why allow the Crown Prince to come on such an errand and endure such sorrows and die such a death? It was to invite the human race to put down its antipathies and resistance. It was because "God is love." — Dr. Talmage


Card Parties

When church people call for a donation for a poor family a woman is hard pressed if she can't find some prize she won at a card party to give away.

The Danger of Charity — Completely Pauperized

1910

Albert W. Hebbard, New York's charity expert, said at a recent dinner:

"The great danger of charity is its pauperizing effect. This effect must be avoided, or the recipients will all become Jack Hanches.

"Jack Hanch, on the score of bad health never worked, and the pastor of the Methodist church, a man whose heart sometimes outran his head, sent the idler and his family weekly gifts of food and clothing — supported the whole crew, in fact.

"A church visitor, after listening to Jack's complaints one day, said:

" 'Yes, of course, you have had bad health, we know that; but one thing at least you ought to be thankful for, and that is our pastor's kindness in sending you all this bread and meat and jelly and blankets and so on. Don't you think it is good of him to look after you so well?"

" 'Good of him?' said Jack, impatiently. 'Why, what's he for?' "


Contented Heart Brings Cheer

This world is only a place of pilgrimage, but after all there is a good deal of cheer on the journey, if it is made with a contented heart. — Henry Van Dyke.


The Unlucky Mandrake

From time immemorial the mandrake has been associated with enchantments, and has ever been believed to be one of the most powerful charms of witches. Mr. Conway in a paper on "Mystic Trees and Flowers," states that "by popular superstitions in some places it is said to be perpetually watched over by Satan, and if it be pulled up at certain holy times and with certain invocations, the evil spirit will appear to do the bidding of the petitioner." (See Genesis 30:14ff).

From the Pew — You Make Your Own Heaven or Hell Right Here

1911

By William L. Brownell

The preacher drew largely upon his fertile imagination as he described to his flock the Celestial City, with its streets paved with gold and its alleys even bordered with precious stones. As he expatiated on the richness and splendor of the place he called Heaven, Mr. and Mrs. Bondholder, down in the pew, were pleased, highly pleased, and they said to themselves, "He is a great preacher," we must not lose him. We must raise his salary; his sermons are so sensible, so uplifting, he gives us something pleasant to think about; he is not always talking about the poor and their suffering, our duty and what will happen to us of we do not perform it."

Then the preacher forgot himself for a moment and was transformed into a mere man, a man among men, and he said: "My friends, for many years I have preached to you about a Heaven that was away off somewhere beyond the stars; a place where, no matter how you had lived here, no matter how unfair, how unjust you had been to your fellow men, you would, if at the last moment you repented, enjoy through an endless eternity."

The old preacher paused, leaned heavily on the pulpit for a moment and then continued: "I feel that I shall not preach to you many more sermons and now I want to say to you something which I draw from my heart and not from my creed, with reference to Heaven and your relation to it. I believe that the poor man is not more liable to reach this place, or condition than is the rich man; that every man is making his own Heaven or hell right here and now, a Heaven or hell which he will carry with him across the border; a Heaven or hell created by his own thoughts and his own deeds, and that just as many poor men as rich men are manufacturing hell records which their future life phonographs will grind out and compel them to listen to. If," he said, "any of you people want to enjoy a Heaven in the hereafter, my advice to you is to start one here, otherwise you will be a long, long time in working it up over there.

—Middletown Daily Times-Press, Middletown, NY, Aug. 5, 1911, p. 4.

Pastor Defends Dancing Class for Poor

Dec. 1898

Jersey City Pastor Who Provides Means of Pleasure for the Poorer Members of His Church

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey — Rev. John L. Scudder, pastor of the Tabernacle and First Congregational church, in Jersey City, N. J., who has started a dancing class in connection with his church work, has done so not only as a means of keeping the young people away from other worldly amusements, but because he believes dancing, under certain conditions, is perfectly proper. Mr. Scudder when seen regarding the dancing class, said:

"We have Biblical authority for dancing. Dancing is all right within certain limitations. In the crowded section of the city, where the young people are cooped up in tenements, the desire to dance is as great as among the wealthy, who can entertain their friends and hold receptions in their own homes.

"There is no place for the poor to go to dance but to the public halls. What harm can there be in their dancing beneath the eyes of their pastor and the deacons of the church? While I believe that dancing is perfectly proper in its place, there are limitations I would place upon it."

Aged Preacher, Dying in Poorhouse, Is Happy

1920

Aged Preacher, Dying in Poorhouse, Is Happy While Waiting His Death

INDIANOLA, Iowa — After half a century of service as a preacher of the gospel, Rev. James W. Prince is dying in the poorhouse near here.

From pulpit to poorhouse is a long road; the saintly old man is reaching the end of it.

After a remarkable lifetime spent in ministering wherever there were sick and needy, from the Chicago slums to our own State institutions, he has been tireless in good deeds.

Today, worn out by his long life of service to humanity, he lies in a bare upstairs room of the poorhouse, ready to die.

Appears as Ancient Prophet

The pallor of his face, his long white beard, the emaciated hand that lies upon the coverlet and is raised now and again to emphasize some noble sentiment of the Psalmist that he quotes — make the old man seem like a prophet of ancient times.

The visitor forgets the bare floor and staring walls and the poorhouse when the old preacher, asked how he is feeling, answers:

"Oh, I am happy! Gloriously and transcendently happy! Praise the Lord!"

To while away the long hours he recites, in what was once a powerful voice, long passages of scripture, ending on a high quavering note from sheer exhaustion.

Predicts Day of His Death

Lying there alone, he has come to believe that he is going to be translated — that he will not die, but will be like Enoch, who "walked with God; and he was not, for God took him." He is convinced that on the twelfth of May, that event will take place. The twelfth of May will be his 86th birthday.

The poorhouse is a bitter enough end to such a life, but it has been made bearable through a singular circumstance.

Forty-six years ago when he lived at Red Oak, the Rev. Mr. Prince held a great revival at which nearly 100 men and women were converted.

During those meetings he met a young man named Will Hewitt and a young woman who later became Mr. Hewitt's wife. Later he lost track of them, but when, old and friendless, he went "over the hill to the poorhouse," he found Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt in charge of the institution, and they have cared for him the best they could.