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The War Romance of the Salvation Army

E >> Evangeline Booth and Grace Livingston Hill >> The War Romance of the Salvation Army




By the Governor:
Secretary of the Commonwealth.
copy/h



The Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
Executive Department,
State House, Boston, February 15, 1918.

It gives me pleasure to add my word of approval to the very noble work
that is being done by the Salvation Army for the men now serving the
country. The Salvation Army has for many years been doing very valuable
work, and the extension of its labors into the ranks of the soldiers has
not lessened in any degree its power of accomplishment. The Salvation Army
can render most efficient service. It should be the aim of every one of us
in Massachusetts to assist in every way the work that is being done for
the soldiers. We cannot do too much of this kind of work for them--they
deserve and need it all. I urge everybody in Massachusetts to assist the
Salvation Army in every way possible, to the end that Massachusetts may
maintain her place in the forefront of the States of the Union who are
assisting the work of the Army.

(Signed) SAMUEL W. McCALL,
Governor.


PROCLAMATION.

To the People of the State of Maryland:

I have been very much impressed with the good work which is being done in
this country by the Salvation Army, and I am not at all surprised at the
great work which it is doing at the front, upon or near the battlefields
of Europe. It is doing not only the same kind of work being done by the
Y.M.C.A. and the Knights of Columbus, but work in fields decidedly their
own.

It is now undertaking to raise $1,000,000 for the National War
Service and it is preparing a hutment equipped with libraries, daily
newspapers, games, light refreshments, etc., in every camp in
France.

Now, THEREFORE, I, Emerson C. Harrington, Governor of Maryland,
believing that the effect and purposes for which the Salvation Army is
asking this money, are deserving of our warmest support, do hereby call
upon the people of Maryland to respond as liberally as they can in this
war drive being made by the Salvation Army to enable them more efficiently
to render service which is so much needed.

[The Great Seal of the State of Maryland]

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused to be hereto
affixed the Great Seal of Maryland at Annapolis, Maryland, this fourteenth
day of February, in the year one thousand nine hundred and eighteen.

EMERSON C. HARRINGTON.


By the Governor,
THOS. W. SIMMONS, Secretary of State.

"The Salvation Army is peculiarly equipped for this kind of service. I
have watched the career of this organization for many years, and I know
its leaders to be devoted and capable men and women.

"Of course, any agency which can in any way ameliorate the condition of
the boys at the front should receive encouragement."

(Signed) FRANK C. LOWDEN,
Governor of Illinois.



"I join with thousands of my fellow citizens in having a great admiration
for the splendid work which has already been accomplished by the Salvation
Army in the alleviation of suffering, the spiritual uplift of the masses,
and its substantial and prayerful ministrations.

"The Salvation Army does its work quietly, carefully, persistently and
effectively. Our patriotic citizenry will quickly place the stamp of
approval upon the great work being done by the Salvation Army among the
private soldiers at home and abroad."

(Signed) Governor BROUGH of Arkansas.

Lansing, Michigan, June 13, 1918.



TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Among the various organizations doing war work in connection with the
American Army, none are found more worthy of support than the Salvation
Army. Entering into its work with the whole-hearted zeal which has
characterized its movement in times of peace, it has won the highest
praise of both officers and soldiers alike.

It is an essential pleasure to commend the work of the Salvation Army to
the people of Michigan with the urgent request that its war activities be
given your generous support.

ALBERT E. SLEEPER,
Governor of the State of Michigan.

MARK E. McKEE,
Secretary, Counties Division, Michigan War Board.



STATE OF KANSAS
ARTHUR CAPPER, GOVERNOR,
TOPEKA

August 8, 1917.

I have been greatly pleased with the war activities of the Salvation Army
and want to express my appreciation of the splendid service rendered by
that organization on the battlefield of Europe ever since the war began.
It is a most commendable and a most patriotic thing to do and I hope the
people of Kansas will give the enterprise their generous support.

Very respectfully,
(Signed) ARTHUR CAPPER, Governor.



"Best wishes for the success of your work. As the Salvation Army has done
so much good in time of peace, it has multiplied opportunities to do good
in the horrors of war, if given the necessary means."

(Signed) MILES POINDEXTER,
Senator from Washington.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WASHINGTON, D. C.


January 8, 1918.

Colonel Adam Gifford, Salvation Army,
8 East Brookline Street, Boston, Mass.

MY DEAR COLONEL GIFFORD:

I desire to write you in highest commendation of the work the Salvation
Army is doing in France. During last November I was behind the French and
English fronts, and unless one has been there they cannot realize the
assistance to spirit and courage given to the soldiers by the "hut"
service of the Salvation Army.

The only particular in which the Salvation Army fell short was that there
were not sufficient huts for the demands of the troops. The huts I saw
were crowded and not commodious.

Behind the British front I heard several officers state that the service
of the Salvation Army was somewhat different from other services of the
same kind, but most effective.

With kindest regards, I remain,
Very sincerely yours,

(Signed) GEOEGE HOLDEN TINKHAM,
Congressman.



This Condolence Card conveyed the sympathy of the Commander to the friends
of the fallen. Forethought had prepared this some time before the first
American had made the supreme sacrifice.

[Illustration (Condolence Card):
GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT

122 W. 14th Street New York

My dear Friend:

I must on behalf of The Salvation Army, take this opportunity to say how
deeply and truly we share your grief at this time of your bereavement. It
will be hard for you to understand how anything can soothe the pain made
by your great loss, but let me point you to the one Jesus Christ, who
acquainted Himself with all our griefs so that He might heal the heart's
wounds made by our sorrows and whose love for us was so vast that He bled
and died to save us.

It may be some solace to think that your loved one poured out his life in
a War in which high and holy principles are involved, and also that he was
quick to answer the call for men.

Believe me when I say that we are praying and will pray for you.

Yours in sympathy.

(Signed) Evangeline Booth
COMMANDER

A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS]



"COMMANDER EVANGELINE BOOTH:

"The comfort and solace contained in the beautiful card of sympathy I
recently received from you is more than you can ever know. With all my
heart I am very grateful to you and can only assure you feebly of my deep
appreciation.

"It has made me realize more than ever before the fundamental principles
of Christianity upon which your Army is built and organized, for how truly
does it comfort the widow and fatherless in their affliction.

"Tucked away as my two babies and I are in a tiny Wisconsin town, we felt
that our grief, while shared in by our good friends, was just a passing
emotion to the rest of the world. But when a card such as yours comes,
extending a heart of sympathy and prayer and ferrets us out in our sorrow
in our little town, you must know how much less lonely we are because of
it. It surely shows us that a sacrifice such as my dear husband made is
acknowledged and lauded by the entire world.

"I am, oh! so proud of him, so comforted to know I was wife to a man so
imbued with the principles of right and justice that he counted no
sacrifice, not even his life, too great to offer in the cause. Not for
anything would I ask him back or rob him of the glory of such a death. Yet
our little home is sad indeed, with its light and life taken away.

"The good you have done before and during the war must be a very great
source of gratification for you, and I trust you may be spared for many
years to stretch out your helping hand to the sorrowing and make us better
for having known you.

With deepest gratitude,"



"COMMANDER EVANGELINE BOOTH:

"I have just seen your picture in the November _Pictorial Review_ and
I do so greatly admire your splendid character and the great work you are
doing.

"I want to thank you for the message of Christian love and sympathy you
sent to me upon the death of my son in July, aeroplane accident in
England.

"Without the Christian's faith and the blessed hope of the Gospel we would
despair indeed. A long time ago I learned to pray Thy will be done for my
son--and I have tested the promises and I have found them true.

"May the Lord bless you abundantly in your own heart and in your world
wide influence and the splendid Salvation Army."



"DEAR FRIENDS:

"Words fall far short in expressing our deep appreciation of your
comforting words of condolence and sympathy. Will you accept as a small
token of love the enclosed appreciation written by Professor --------- of
the Oberlin College, and a quotation from a letter written August 25th by
our soldier boy, and found among his effects to be opened only in case of
his death, and forwarded to his mother?

I am
Yours truly,"


Enclosure:

"November 16, 1918.

"If by any chance this letter should be given to you, as something coming
directly from my heart; you, who are my mother, need have no fear or
regret for the personality destined not to come back to you.

"A mother and father, whose noble ideals they firmly fixed in two sons
should rather experience a deep sense of pride that the young chap of
nearly twenty-one years does not come back to them; for, though he was
fond of living, he was also prepared to die with a faith as sound and
steadfast as that of the little children whom the Master took in His arms.

"And more than that, the body you gave to me so sweet and pure and strong,
though misused at times, has been returned to God as pure and undefiled as
when you gave it to me. I think there is nothing that should please you
more than that.

"In My Father's House are many mansions,
I go to prepare a place for you;
If it were not so, I would have told you.

"Your Baby boy,"
(Signed) PAUL.
Chatereaux, France.
August, 1918.

N. B.--Written on back of the envelope:
"To be opened only in case of accident."


"COMMANDER EVANGELINE BOOTH:

"Permit me to express through you my deep appreciation of the consoling
message from the Salvation Army on the loss of my brother, Clement, in
France. I am indeed grateful for this last thought from an organization
which did so much to meet his living needs and to lessen the hardships of
his service in France. I shall always feel a personal debt to those of you
who seemed so near to him at the end."



"Miss EVANGELINE BOOTH:

"I was greatly touched by the card of sympathy sent me in your name on the
occasion of my great sorrow--and my equally great glory. The death of a
husband for the great cause of humanity is a martyrdom that any soldier's
wife, even in her deep grief, is proud to share.

"Thanking you for your helpful message,"



"Miss EVANGELINE BOOTH:

"Of the many cards of condolence received by our family upon the death of
my dear brother, none touched us more deeply than the one sent by you.

"We do indeed appreciate your thoughtfulness in sending words of comfort
to people who are utter strangers to you.

"Accept again, the gratitude of my parents as well as the other members of
our family, including myself.

"May our Heavenly Father bless you all and glorify your good works."

Miss Evangeline Booth,

Commander of the Salvation Army, New York City,
N. Y.

DEAR MISS BOOTH:

I beg of you to pardon me for writing you this letter, but I feel that I
must. On the 17th day of March I received a letter from my boy in France,
and it reads as follows:

"Somewhere in France, Jan. 15, 1918.
"MY DEAR MOTHER:

"I must write you a few lines to tell you that you must not worry about me
even though it is some time since I wrote you. We don't have much time to
ourselves out here. I have just come out of the trenches, and now it is
mud, mud, mud, up to one's knees. I often think of the fireplace at home
these cold nights, but, mother, I must tell you that I don't know what we
boys would do if it was not for the Salvation Army. The women, they are
just like mothers to the boys. God help the ones that say anything but
good about the Army! Those women certainly have courage, to come right out
in the trenches with coffee and cocoa, etc., and they are so kind and
good. Mother, I want you to write to Miss Booth and thank her for me for
her splendid work out here. When I come home I shall exchange the U. S.
uniform for the S.A. uniform, and I know, ma, that you will not object.
Well, the Germans have been raining shells to-day, but we were unharmed. I
passed by an old shack of a building--a poor woman sat there with a baby,
lulling it to sleep, when a shell came down and the poor souls had passed
from this earthly hell to their heavenly reward. Only God knows the
conditions out here; it is horrible. Well, I must close now, and don't
worry, mother, I will be home some day.

"Your loving son,"

Well, Miss Booth, I got word three weeks ago that Joseph had been killed
in action. I am heart-broken, but I suppose it was God's will. Poor boy!
He has his uniform exchanged for a white robe. I am all alone now, as he
was my only boy and only child. Again I beg of you to pardon me for
sending you this letter.



December 10, 1917.

Commander Evangeline C. Booth, New York City.

MY DEAR COMMANDER:

I have just read in the New York papers of your purpose and plan to raise
a million dollars for your Salvation Army work carried on in the interests
of the soldiers at home and abroad, and I cannot refrain from writing to
you to express my deep interest, and also the hope that you may be
successful in raising this fund, because I know that it will be so well
administered.

From all that I have heard of the Salvation Army work in connection with
the soldiers carried on under your direction, I think it is simply
wonderful, and if there is any service that I can render you or the Army,
I should be exceedingly pleased.

I have read "Souls in Khaki," and I wish that everyone might read it, for
could they do so, your million-dollar fund would be easily raised.

With ever-increasing interest in the Salvation Army, I am, Cordially
yours,

(Signed) J. WILBUR CHAPMAN.
Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in the U.S.A.


SALVATION ARMY IS THE MOST POPULAR ORGANIZATION
IN FRANCE.

Raymond B. Fosdick, chairman of the War Recreation Commission, on his
return from a tour of investigation into activities of the relief
organizations in France, gave out the following:

"Somewhat to my surprise I found the Salvation Army probably the most
popular organization in France with the troops. It has not undertaken the
comprehensive program which the Y.M.C.A. has laid out for itself; that is,
it is operating in three or four divisions, while the Y. M. C. A. is
aiming to cover every unit of troops.

"But its simple, homely, unadorned service seems to have touched the
hearts of our men. The aim of the organization is, if possible, to put a
worker and his wife in a canteen or a centre. The women spend their time
making doughnuts and pies, and sew on buttons. The men make themselves
generally useful in any way which their service can be applied.

"I saw such placed in dugouts way up at the front, where the German shells
screamed over our heads with a sound not unlike a freight train crossing a
bridge. Down in their dugouts the Salvation Army folks imperturbably
handed out doughnuts and dished out the 'drink.'"



WAR DEPARTMENT
COMMISSION ON TRAINING CAMP ACTIVITIES, WASHINGTON

45, Avenue Montaigne, Paris.

Commander Evangeline Booth, Apr. 8, 1919.
Salvation Army, New York City.

MY DEAR COMMANDER BOOTH:

The work of the Salvation Army with the armed forces of the United States
does not need any word of commendation from me. Perhaps I may be permitted
to say, however, that as a representative of the War and Navy Departments
I have been closely in touch with it from its inception, both in Europe
and in the United States. I do not believe there is a doughboy anywhere
who does not speak of it with enthusiasm and affection. Its remarkable
success has been due solely to the unselfish spirit of service which has
underlain it. Nothing has been too humble or too lowly for the Salvation
Army representative to do for the soldier. Without ostentation, without
advertising, without any emphasis upon auspices or organization, your
people have met the men of the Army as friends and companions-in-arms, and
the soldiers, particularly those of the American Expeditionary Force, will
never forget what you have done.

Faithfully yours,
(Signed) RAYMOND B. FOSDICK.



From Honorable Arthur Stanley,
Chairman British Red Cross Society.

BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY
JOINT WAR COMMITTEE

83 Pall Mall, London, S. W.,

December 22, 1917.

General Bramwell Booth.

DEAR GENERAL BOOTH:

I enclose formal receipt for the cheque, value £2000, which was handed to
me by your representative. I note that it is a contribution from the
Salvation Army to the Joint Funds to provide a new Salvation Army Motor
Ambulance Unit on the same conditions as before.

I cannot sufficiently thank you and the Salvation Army for this very
generous donation.

I am indeed glad to know that you are providing another twenty drivers for
service with our Ambulance Fleet in France. This is most welcome news, as
whenever Salvation Army men are helping we hear nothing but good reports
of their work. Sir Ernest Clarke tells me that your Ambulance Sections are
quite the best of any in our service, and the more Salvation Army men you
can send him, the better he will be pleased. I would again take this
opportunity of congratulating you, which I do with all my heart, upon the
splendid record of your Army.

Yours sincerely,

(Signed) ARTHUR STANLEY.



Extract from Judge Ben Lindsey's picture of the Salvation Army at the
Front:

"A good expression for American enthusiasm is: 'I am crazy about'--this,
or that, or the other thing that excites our admiration. Well, 'I am crazy
about the Salvation Army'--the Salvation Army as I saw it and mingled with
it and the doughboys in the trenches. And when I happened to be passing
through Chicago to-day and saw an appeal in the _Tribune_ for the
Salvation Army, I remembered what our boys so often shouted out to me as I
passed them in the trenches and back of the lines: 'Judge, when you get
back home tell the folks not to forget the Salvation Army. They're the
real thing.'

"And I know they are the real thing. I have shared with the boys the
doughnuts and chocolate and coffee that seemed to be so much better than
any other doughnuts or coffee or chocolate I have ever tasted before. And
when it seemed so wonderful to me after just a mild sort of experience
down a shell-swept road, through the damp and cold of a French winter day,
what must it be to those boys after trench raids or red-hot scraps down
rain-soaked trenches under the wet mists of No Man's Land?... Listen to
some of the stories the boys told me: 'You see, Judge, the good old
Salvation Army is the real thing. They don't put on no airs. There ain't
no flub-dub about them and you don't see their mugs in the fancy magazines
much. Why, you never would see one of them in Paris around the hotels.
You'd never know they existed, Judge, unless you came right up here to the
front lines as near as the Colonel will let you!'

"And one enthusiastic urchin said: 'Why, Judge, after the battle
yesterday, we couldn't get those women out of the village till they'd seen
every fellow had at least a dozen fried cakes and all the coffee or
chocolate he could pile in. We just had to drag 'em out--for the boys love
'em too much to lose 'em--we weren't going to take no chances--not much--
for our Salvation ladies!'"


HARRY LAUDER'S ENDORSEMENT.

In speaking of the Salvation Army's work before the Rotary Club of San
Francisco, Harry Lauder said:

"There is no organization in Europe doing more for the troops than the
Salvation Army, and the devotion of its officers has caused the Salvation
Army to be revered by the soldiers."

Mr. Otto Kahn, one of America's most prominent bankers, upon his return to
this country after a tour through the American lines in France, writes,
among other things:

"I should particularly consider myself remiss if I did not refer with
sincere admiration to the devoted, sympathetic, and most efficient work of
the Salvation Army, which, though limited in its activities to a few
sectors only, has won the warm and affectionate regard of those of our
troops with whom it has been in contact."

* * * * *

Mr. David Lawrence, special Washington correspondent of the _New York
Evening Post_ and other influential papers, in an article in which he
comments on the work of all the relief agencies, says of the Salvation
Army in France:

"Curiously enough the Salvation Army is spoken of in all official reports
as the organization most popular with the troops. Its organization is the
smallest of all four. Its service is simple and unadorned. It specializes
on doughnuts and pie, which it gives away free whenever the ingredients of
the manufacture of those articles are at hand.

"_The policy of the organization_ is to place a worker and his wife,
if possible, with a unit of troops. The woman makes doughnuts and sews on
buttons, while the man helps the soldiers in any way he can.

"_The success of the Salvation Army_ is attributed by commanding
officers to the fact that the workers know how to mix naturally. _In
other cases there had been sometimes an air of condescension not unlike
that of the professional settlement house worker_."

* * * * *

In a recent issue of the _Saturday Evening Post_, Mr. Irvin Cobb, who
has just returned from France, has this to say of the Salvation Army:

"Right here seems a good-enough place for me to slip in a few words of
approbation for the work which another organization has accomplished in
France since we put our men into the field. Nobody asked me to speak in
its favor because, so far as I can find out, it has no publicity
department. I am referring to the Salvation Army. May it live forever for
the service which, without price and without any boasting on the part of
its personnel, it is rendering to our boys in France!

"A good many of us who hadn't enough religion, and a good many more of us
who, mayhap, had too much religion, looked rather contemptuously upon the
methods of the Salvationists. Some have gone so far as to intimate that
the Salvation Army was vulgar in its methods and lacking in dignity and
even in reverence. Some have intimated that converting a sinner to the tap
of a bass drum or the tinkle of a tambourine was an improper process
altogether. Never again, though, shall I hear the blare of the cornet as
it cuts into the chorus of hallelujah whoops, where a ring of blue-
bonneted women and blue-capped men stand exhorting on a city street-corner
under the gaslights, without recalling what some of their enrolled
brethren--and sisters--have done, and are doing, in Europe!

"The American Salvation Army in France is small, but, believe me, it is
powerfully busy! Its war delegation came over without any fanfare of the
trumpets of publicity. It has no paid press agents here and no impressive
headquarters. There are no well-known names, other than the names of its
executive heads, on its rosters or on its advisory boards. None of its
members are housed at an expensive hotel and none of them have handsome
automobiles in which to travel about from place to place. No campaigns to
raise nation-wide millions of dollars for the cost of its ministrations
overseas were ever held at home. I imagine it is the pennies of the poor
that mainly fill its war chest. I imagine, too, that sometimes its
finances are an uncertain quantity. Incidentally, I am assured that not
one of its male workers here is of draft age unless he holds exemption
papers to prove his physical unfitness for military service. The
Salvationists are taking care to purge themselves of any suspicion that
potential slackers have joined their ranks in order to avoid the
possibility of having to perform duties in khaki.

"Among officers, as well as among enlisted men, one occasionally hears
criticism--which may or may not be based on a fair judgment--for certain
branches of certain activities of certain organizations. But I have yet to
meet any soldier, whether a brigadier or a private, who, if he spoke at
all of the Salvation Army, did not speak in terms of fervent gratitude for
the aid that the Salvationists are rendering so unostentatiously and yet
so very effectively. Let a sizable body of troops move from one station to
another, and hard on its heels there came a squad of men and women of the
Salvation Army. An army truck may bring them, or it may be they have a
battered jitney to move them and their scanty outfits. Usually they do not
ask for help from anyone in reaching their destinations. They find
lodgment in a wrecked shell of a house or in the corner of a barn. By main
force and awkwardness they set up their equipment, and very soon the word
has spread among the troops that at such and such a place the Salvation
Army is serving free hot drinks and free doughnuts and free pies. It
specializes in doughnuts--the Salvation Army in the field does--the real
old-fashioned home-made ones that taste of home to a homesick soldier boy!

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