BRAMWELL BOOTH

Northern Advocate, 15 March 1929, Page 3

BRAMWELL BOOTH

A WONDERFUL CAREER. (By “One Who Knows.”) As a Halva!ionist General Eramwell Booth has hail a long brilliant career. I( is regrettable that occurrences of recent years, and particularly recent months, should dim the lustre of his fame. To one acquainted with him, however, it is not possible to allow molehills in the entire prospective career to assume the proportion of mountains. Whatever faults there, may be Bramwell Booth takes second place to no one when the development of the Salvation Army is under consideration. A writer in “The British Weekly,” .Uuniary I! ms l ypresumably Ha.*cid Bogbie), speaking of Bramwell Booth, says, “William Booth, his father, was the creator of all that boundless enthusiasm which led to the formation of the Army, but Bramwell, working silently and ceaselessly in the shadow of that picturesque personality, was the organiser of victory.” He has been fortunate in possessing a capacity for assimilating the ideas of others. He himself often told with merriment how, when little more than a lad, he used to go to the garret of a poor but godly coster to be coached in public speaking,- On one of those occasions he broke down soon after he had started his speech, and the coster condoned him in the encouraging -words, “Go on, Mr Bramble, that’s good; the best thing about it, it was short.” It might bo a coster, or a captain at a village corps, or an alert staff officer at his elbow, all had grist for Bramwell’s mill. But to go back to the beginning of things, the first-born of the Rev. William and Mrs Booth, made his happy appearance at Halifax, England, on March 8, 1830. In early childhood Bramwell became susceptible to religious impressions, and when very young he registered his decision to follow -Christ in a children’s meeting conducted by his mother. He rapidly developed -strong religious sentiments) and by .the time he was 12 years old, he -whs fond of leading meetings for children. At the age of 18, he became a full-fledged evangelist; that was not long before the Christian Mission developed into the Salvation Army. With a comely impressive presence, his meetings were largely attended, and were characterised by out-of-the-way sinners repenting, and, .Christian, people aspiring to a higher standard of consecration. In 3880, when he was only 24 years of age, he -was given .the responsible position of chief of the staff, which ho filled with remarkable success till the death of his father, the first General, in .1912, when he then took the highest position in the Army. Although as chief of the staff his work was mostly administrative, behind the scenes 1 he devoted himself assiduously to officers, councils and public gatherings, particularly for young people. For over 30 years, with the aid of some very able officers, he paved the w r ay for the manifold develop-ment'of-the new Army. The new forces had to be disciplined and equipped, and financial systems devised. Officers had to be trained, regulations framed, andi literature provided. When in 1880 officers were sent beyond the British Isles, fresh problems had to be faced..

' A TOWER OF STRENGTH, The question of adaptation to the varied temperaments, languages, customs, and legal systems of countries abroad called • for keen foresight, shrewd insight, and not a little experimentation. The Army’s rapid success brought with it all manner of un-dreamed-of problems, but the chief of staff evinced a constant masterliness which made , him a tower of strength to his father, who spent much of his time in public, at home, and abroad. Perhaps one of Bramwell Booth’s most praiseworthy acts w r as Ms heroic stand with W. T. Stead (editor of the “Pall Mall Gazette”), and others in -a crusade for the emancipation of -women, and the destruction of the White Slave traffic. In 1885 these reformers determined to let the public know the dreadful things which were going- on. The age of consent was then 13. Young girls were being sold for a few pounds, and many of them were being sent abroad. 'Children were being entrapped into a life of'shame. Practical evidence was needed to impress Parliament and to rouse public indignation, A plan was adopted which meant buying two girls at £lO each to prove the truth of the assertions. This led to an .action against W. T. Stead, Bramwell Booth, and others, the ease lasting 13 days in the Old Bailey—the Central Criminal Court of the United Kingdom. The indictment was “unlawfully taking Eliza Armstrong, aged 13, out of the possession, of her -parents and against their will.” The court took no notice of the motive, and on strict legal grounds Stead was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment, and Bramwell Booth was discharged. But England was stirred, a lethargic Government moved, and the age of consent was raised to 16 years. This groat battle produced heroes, and Bramwell Booth was one of the foremost.

ECCENTRIC MOODS. The chief of the staff was not free from eccentric moods. Years ago one of Jiis plans to seriously impress an audience, and at the same time teach officers a lesson in the value of novelty, was to speak from a coffin on the platform at public meetings. Army field officers are noted for their courage in introducing novelties for the purpose of attracting audiences, ,but I do not remember hearing of any of

them emulating their chief in partially combining the' undertaking business with preaching. The chief at one time had a kind of special .regard for any officer plucky enough to do uncommon things, even if it was only opening instead of closing a service with the benediction. He himself, on more than one occasion, has stuck his umbrella into the ground, .andi addressed it till the gathering crowd of inquisitive onlookers became large enough for him to begin an open-air meeting. In one -of these whims defiance of conventionality tickled him

immensely. Possibly this -eccentric humour was a safeguard against cold propriety and ruts. In some respects the chief was a queer mixture of piety and jollity, and these frames of mind changed with astonishing -suddenness. The impressive pious mood inherited from his mother would, on the slightest provocation, give way to the contagious chuckle of his father. He enjoyed a good story, and there is one he used to tell about himself with evident relish.- After ho became General an elderly woman called to see him, and after a few formalities it was found she had come to -give him £IOO as a donation. General Bramwell was quisical. As she did not appear to be able to make such a handsome gift, he ventured delicately to inquire where she got it. He was curtly snapped up with the. reply, “That’s my business! If your old father what’s in heaven was here, he wouldn’t make so much fuss about it.”

Of course Bramwell Booth’s successes were not confined to his early or to his second-in-command days. Since he succeeded to the Generalship in 1912 the Army has invaded no less than 25 new countries, it has raised 8000 officers, organised 6000 corps and outposts, established 400 social institutions, and it preaches the Gospel in 33 additional languages. It is scarcely possible in a casual reflection of these figures to realise the enormous work entailed or to grasp the full extent of such wonderful advances. General Bramwell was an important factor in all this. And yet there have come towards the tail-end of this long brilliant record selfish moves, psychological blunders, and tactical mistakes, which might have produced untold harm. however, the General’s bitterest critic will not deny him credit for the great service he has rendered humanity as an officer of the Salvation Army.