GENERAL BOOTH.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2577, 4 February 1910, Page 2

GENERAL BOOTH.

WRITING HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY

In a tiny, plainly-furnished back room of his very modest home, at Hadley Wood, on the northern outskirts of London, .General Booth is writing Ills autobiography. He is writing it by fits and starts in the intervals between meetings and Salvation Army work in all parts of the country. AA r hen finished, the “Autobiography” (says the “Daily Chronicle”) will be a memorable work, filling up and rounding out an important chapter in tho social and spiritual history of England, nnd describing the beginning and the progress of what the late Sir AValter Besant called “The Great Endeavor.” The hook will have its world-wide interest, too. for, in its later phases, it will deal with the remarkable overseas development- of AVilliam Booth’s organisation. On its purely spiritual side the ‘'Autobiography” should have a wonderful fascination as a study in spiritual growth and inheritance. It lias been assumed that tile book would be ready for publication at the New A 7 ear, but that was doubtful when the last mail left England. The aged General was making heroic efforts to accomplish his task, and was progressing with it in spite of the distractions of his ordinary work. In the actual composition of the book he was receiving no assistance. but a visit to him at Hadley AVood showed that he was surrounded with an atmosphere of loving care, which helps to lighten his burdens. Tile “Autobiography” will cover a period of sixty-five years of active work, and the general does not mind confessing that one of liis inspirations in his task is the. portrait, hanging in his room, of his dead wife, the “Atother”' of the. Salvation Army, the courageous woman who. when the Methodist New Connection decided' to send him. on circuit work, instead of the revival work for which his heart, longed, echoed his “Never” from the gallery, and so determined his new start in life.