258 LETTERS TO THE "TIMES." v 



family concern. Mr. Booth,, senior, is General; 

 one son is chief of the staff, and the remaining 

 sons and daughters engross the other chief po- 

 sitions. It is Booth all over; indeed, like the sun 

 in your eyes, you can see nothing else wherever 

 you turn/ And, as Dr. Geikie shrewdly remarks, 

 'to be the head of a widely spread sect carries 

 with it many advantages not all exclusively spir- 

 itual.' " 



(2) " Whoever becomes a Salvation officer is 

 henceforth a slave, helplessly exposed to the ca- 

 price of his superiors." 



" Mr. Eedstone bore an excellent character 

 both before he entered the army and when he 

 left it. To join it, though a married man, he 

 gave up a situation which he had^ held for five 

 years, and he served Mr. Booth two years, work- 

 ing hard in most difficult posts. His one fault, 

 Major Lawley tells us, was, that he was ' too 

 straight ' that is, too honest, truthful, and man- 

 ly or, in other words, too real a Christian. Yet 

 without trial, without formulated charges, on the 

 strength of secret complaints which were never, 

 apparently, tested, he was dismissed with less 

 courtesy than most people would show a beggar 

 with 2s. 4:d. for his last week's salary. If there 

 be any mistake in this matter, I shall be glad to 

 learn it." 



(3) Dr. Geikie confirms, on the ground of in- 

 formation given confidentially by other officers, 



