If this question were put to the ordinary person of fashion or leisure, how would it be answered?
In many cases thus: 'The Salvation Army is a body of people dressed up in a semi-military uniform, or those of them who are women, in unbecoming poke2 bonnets3, who go about the streets making a noise in the name of God and frightening horses with brass4 bands. It is under the rule of an arbitrary old gentleman named Booth, who calls himself a General, and whose principal trade assets consist in a handsome and unusual face, and an inexhaustible flow of language, which he generally delivers from a white motor-car wherever he finds that he can attract the most attention. He is a clever actor in his way, who has got a great number of people under his thumb, and I am told that he has made a large fortune out of the business, like the late prophet Dowie, and others of the same sort. The newspapers are always exposing him; but he knows which side his bread is buttered and does not care. When he is gone no doubt his family will divide up the cash, and we shall hear no more of the Salvation Army!'
Such are still the honest beliefs of thousands of our instructed fellow-countrymen, and of hundreds of thousands of others of less degree belonging to the classes which are generally typified under the synonym5 of 'the man in the street,' by which most people understand one who knows little, and of that little nothing accurately6, but who decides the fate of political elections.
Let us suppose, however, that the questioner should succeed in interesting an intelligent and fair-minded individual holder7 of these views sufficiently8 to induce him to make inquiry9 into the facts concerning this Salvation Army. What would he then discover?
He would discover that about five and forty years ago some impulse, wherever it may have come from, moved a Dissenting10 minister, gifted with a mind of power and originality11, and a body of great strength and endurance, gifted, also, with an able wife who shared his views, to try, if not to cure, at least to ameliorate the lot of the fallen or distressed12 millions that are one of the natural products of high civilization, by ministering to their creature wants and regenerating13 their spirits upon the plain and simple lines laid down in the New Testament14. He would find, also, that this humble15 effort, at first quite unaided, has been so successful that the results seem to partake of the nature of the miraculous16.
Thus he would learn that the religious Organization founded by this man and his wife is now established and, in most instances, firmly rooted in 56 Countries and Colonies, where it preaches the Gospel in 33 separate languages: that it has over 16,000 Officers wholly employed in its service, and publishes 74 periodicals in 20 tongues, with a total circulation of nearly 1,000,000 copies per issue: that it accommodates over 28,000 poor people nightly in its Institutions, maintaining 229 Food Dép?ts and Shelters for men, women, and children, and 157 Labour Factories where destitute17 or characterless people are employed: that it has 17 Homes for ex-criminals, 37 Homes for children, 116 Industrial Homes for the rescue of women, 16 Land Colonies, 149 Slum Stations for the visitation and assistance of the poor, 60 Labour Bureaux for helping18 the unemployed19, and 521 Day Schools for children: that, in addition to all these, it has Criminal and General Investigation20 Departments, Inebriate21 Homes for men and women, Inquiry Offices for tracing lost and missing people, Maternity22 Hospitals, 37 Homes for training Officers, Prison-visitation Staffs, and so on almost ad infinitum.
He would find, also, that it collects and dispenses23 an enormous revenue, mostly from among the poorer classes, and that its system is run with remarkable24 business ability: that General Booth, often supposed to be so opulent, lives upon a pittance25 which most country clergymen would refuse, taking nothing, and never having taken anything, from the funds of the Army. And lastly, not to weary the reader, that whatever may be thought of its methods and of the noise made by the 23,000 or so of voluntary bandsmen who belong to it, it is undoubtedly26 for good or evil one of the world forces of our age.
Before going further, it may, perhaps, be well that I should explain how it is that I come to write these pages. First, I ought to state that my personal acquaintance with the Salvation Army dates back a good many years, from the time, indeed, when I was writing 'Rural England,' in connexion with which work I had a long and interesting interview with General Booth that is already published. Subsequently I was appointed by the British Government as a Commissioner28 to investigate and report upon the Land Colonies of the Salvation Army in the United States, in the course of which inquiry I came into contact with many of its Officers, and learned much of its system and methods, especially with reference to emigration. Also I have had other opportunities of keeping in touch with the Army and its developments.
In the spring of 1910 I was asked, on behalf of General Booth, whether I would undertake to write for publication an account of the Social Work of the Army in this country. After some hesitation29, for the lack of time was a formidable obstacle to a very busy man, I assented30 to this request, the plan agreed upon being that I should visit the various Institutions, or a number of them, etc., and record what I actually saw, neither more nor less, together with my resulting impressions. This I have done, and it only remains31 for me to assure the reader that the record is true, and, to the best of his belief and ability, set down without fear, favour, or prejudice, by one not unaccustomed to such tasks.
Almost at the commencement of my labours I sought an interview with General Booth, thinking, as I told him and his Officers (the Salvation Army is not mealy-mouthed about such matters) that at his age it would be well to set down his views in black and white. On the whole, I found him well and vigorous. He complained, however, of the difficulty he was experiencing, owing to the complete loss of sight in one eye, occasioned by an accident during a motor journey, and the possible deprivation32 of the sight of the other through cataract33.
Of the attacks that have been and are continually made upon the Salvation Army, some of them extremely bitter, General Booth would say little. He pointed27 out that he had not been in the habit of defending himself and his Organization in public, and was quite content that the work should speak for itself. Their affairs and finances had been investigated by eminent34 men, who 'could not find a sixpence out of place'; and for the rest, a balance-sheet was published annually35. This balance-sheet for the year ending September 30, 1909, I reprint in an appendix.[1]
With regard to the Social Work of the Army, which in its beginning was a purely36 religious body, General Booth said that they had been driven into it because of their sympathy with suffering. They found it impossible to look upon people undergoing starvation or weighed down by sorrows and miseries37 that came upon them through poverty, without stretching out a hand to help them on to their feet again. In the same way they could not study wrongdoers and criminals and learn their secret histories, which show how closely a great proportion of human sin is connected with wretched surroundings, without trying to help and reform them to the best of their abilities. Thus it was that their Social operations began, increased, and multiplied. They contemplated38 not only the regeneration of the individual, but also of his circumstances, and were continually finding out new methods by which this might be done.
The Army looked forward to the development of its Social Work on the lines of self-help, self-management and self-support. Whenever a new development came under consideration, the question arose—How is it to be financed? The work they had in hand at present took all their funds. One of their great underlying39 principles was that of the necessity of self-support, without which no business or undertaking40 could stand for long. The individual must co-operate in his own moral and physical redemption. At the same time this system of theirs was, in practice, one of the difficulties with which they had to contend, since it caused the benevolent41 to believe that the Army did not need financial assistance. His own view was that they ought to receive support in their work from the Government, as they actually did in some other countries. Especially did he desire to receive State aid in dealing42 with ascertained43 criminals, such as was extended to them in certain parts of the world.
Thus only a few weeks before, in Holland, the Parliament had asked the Salvation Army to co-operate in the care of discharged prisoners and gave a grant of money for their support. In Java the tale was the same. There they were preparing estates as homes for lepers, and soon a large portion of the leper population of that land would be in their charge.
General Booth told me the story of a celebrated44 Danish doctor, an optician, who became attracted to the Army, and, giving up his practice and position, entered its service with his wife. They said they wished to lead a life of real sacrifice and self-denial, and so, after going through a training like any other Cadets, were sent out to take charge of the medical work in Java. A recent report stated that this Officer had attended 16,000 patients in nine months, and performed 516 operations.
In Australia, the Government had handed over the work amongst the Reformatory boys to the Army. In New Zealand, the Government had requested it to take over inebriates45, and was now paying a contribution to that work of 10s. per head a week. There the Army had purchased two islands to accommodate these inebriates, one on which the men followed the pursuits of agriculture, fishing, and so forth46, and the other for the women. In Canada there was an idea that a large prison should be erected47, of which the Salvation Army would take charge. He hoped that in course of time they would be allowed greatly to extend their work in the English prisons.
General Booth pointed out to me with reference to their Social Work, that it was necessary to spend large sums of money in finding employment for men whom they had rescued. Here, one of their greatest difficulties was the vehement48 opposition49 of members of the Labour Party in different countries.
This party said, for example, that the Army ought to pay the Trade union rate of wage to any poor fellow whom they had picked up and set to such labour as paper-sorting or carpentry. Thus in Western Australia they had an estate of 20,000 acres lying idle. When he was there a while ago, he asked the Officer in charge why he did not cultivate this land and make it productive. The man replied he had no labour; whereon the General said that he could send him plenty from England.
'Yes,' commented the Officer, 'but the moment they begin to work here, however inefficient50 or broken down they may be, we shall have to pay them 7s. a day!'
This regulation, of course, makes it impossible to cultivate that estate except at a heavy loss.
He himself had been denounced as the 'prince of sweaters,' because he took in derelict carpenters at their Institution in Hanbury Street (which I shall describe later), to whom he did not pay the Trade union wage, although that Institution had from the first been worked at a loss. In this case he had made peace with the Parliamentary Committee by promising51 not to make anything there which was used outside the Army establishments. But still the attacks went on.
Passing from this subject, I asked General Booth if he had formed any forecast of the future of the Salvation Army after his own death. He replied that there were certain factors in the present position of the Army which seemed to him to indicate its future growth and continuity. Speaking impersonally52, he said that the present General had become an important man not by his own choice or through the workings of ambition, but by the will of Providence53. He had acquired a certain standing54, a great hold over his community, and an influence which helped to concentrate and keep together forces that had grown to be worldwide in their character. It was natural, therefore, that people should wonder what would happen when he ceased to be.
His answer to these queries55 was that legal arrangements had been made to provide for this obvious contingency56. Under the provisions of the constitution of the Army he had selected his successor, although he had never told anybody the name of that successor, which he felt sure, when announced, was one that would command the fullest confidence and respect. The first duty of the General of the Army on taking up his office was to choose a man to succeed him, reserving to himself the power to change that man for another, should he see good reason for such a course. In short, his choice is secret, and being unhampered by any law of heredity or other considerations except those that appeal to his own reason and judgment57, not final. He nominates whom he will.
I asked him what would happen if this nominated General misconducted himself in any way, or proved unsuitable, or lost his reason. He replied that in such circumstances arrangements had been made under which the heads of the Army could elect another General, and that what they decided58 would be law. The organization of the Army was such that any Department of it remained independent of the ability of one individual. If a man proved incompetent59, or did not succeed, his office was changed; the square man was never left in the round hole. Each Department had laws for its direction and guidance, and those in authority were responsible for the execution of those laws. If for any reason whatsoever60, one commander fell out of the line of action, another was always waiting to take his place. In short, he had no fear that the removal of his own person and name would affect the Organization. It was true, he remarked, that leaders cannot be manufactured to order, and also that the Army had made, and would continue to make, mistakes up and down the world. But those mistakes showed them how to avoid similar errors, and how and where to improve.
As regarded a change of headship, a fresh individuality always has charms, and a new force would always strike out in some new direction. The man needed was one who would do something. General Booth did not fear but that he would be always forthcoming, and said that for his part he was quite happy as to the future, in which he anticipated an enlargement of their work. The Organization existed, and with it the arrangements for filling every niche61. The discipline of to-day would continue to-morrow, and that spirit would always be ready to burst into flame when it was needed.
In his view it was inextinguishable.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
salvation
|
|
| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
poke
|
|
| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
bonnets
|
|
| n.童帽( bonnet的名词复数 )；（烟囱等的）覆盖物；（苏格兰男子的）无边呢帽；（女子戴的）任何一种帽子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
brass
|
|
| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
synonym
|
|
| n.同义词，换喻词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
accurately
|
|
| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
holder
|
|
| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
sufficiently
|
|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
inquiry
|
|
| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
dissenting
|
|
| adj.不同意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
originality
|
|
| n.创造力，独创性；新颖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
distressed
|
|
| 痛苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
regenerating
|
|
| v.新生，再生( regenerate的现在分词 )；正反馈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
testament
|
|
| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
humble
|
|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
miraculous
|
|
| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
destitute
|
|
| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
helping
|
|
| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
unemployed
|
|
| adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
investigation
|
|
| n.调查，调查研究 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
inebriate
|
|
| v.使醉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
maternity
|
|
| n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
dispenses
|
|
| v.分配，分与；分配( dispense的第三人称单数 )；施与；配（药） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
pittance
|
|
| n.微薄的薪水，少量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
undoubtedly
|
|
| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
commissioner
|
|
| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
hesitation
|
|
| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
assented
|
|
| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
deprivation
|
|
| n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
cataract
|
|
| n.大瀑布，奔流，洪水，白内障 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
eminent
|
|
| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
annually
|
|
| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
miseries
|
|
| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
contemplated
|
|
| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
underlying
|
|
| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
undertaking
|
|
| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
benevolent
|
|
| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
dealing
|
|
| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
ascertained
|
|
| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
celebrated
|
|
| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
inebriates
|
|
| vt.使酒醉，灌醉（inebriate的第三人称单数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
ERECTED
|
|
| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
vehement
|
|
| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
inefficient
|
|
| adj.效率低的，无效的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
promising
|
|
| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
impersonally
|
|
| ad.非人称地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
providence
|
|
| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
queries
|
|
| n.问题( query的名词复数 )；疑问；询问；问号v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的第三人称单数 )；询问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
contingency
|
|
| n.意外事件，可能性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
incompetent
|
|
| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
whatsoever
|
|
| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
niche
|
|
| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |