War Cry - July, 2015 Page 33

The War Cry | JULY 2015

the Great Western Hall were well received,
as Booth followed her father's preaching advice:

"Plunge in the sword, Eva. Plunge it in to the hilt.

Reach the soul."

By 1887, the General was determined to relieve his

21-year-old daughter of her post, for she had worked
herself to the point of exhaustion. But before she

could be reassigned, she fell ill with scarlet fever, com-
ing close to death. When she finally recovered, she

was dismayed that she had lost most of her beautiful
auburn hair, and from that point on she wore a wig in
public.

Over the next few years, she served as her fa-

ther's troubleshooter. When there was difficulty
with persecution in a town, dissension in the ranks,
failure to accept Army discipline or even conten-
tious family relationships, William Booth's response
was simple--send Eva.

By 1888, Eva Booth was field commissioner for

the London area, and assumed the duties of princi-
pal of the International Training Home. In 1892,

William Booth sent his precious daughter to com-

mand the Army's work in Canada. In 1904, she was
appointed in charge of all Salvation Army activity
in the United States. She was 38 years old when
she took on that responsibility, where she served
authoritatively for 30 years. Ultimately, at the age
of 69, Commander Evangeline Booth was elected as
the fourth General of the Salvation Army world,
serving in that position until 1939.

Her family heritage, forceful personality, admin-

istrative skill set and lifelong commitment to the
poor combined to produce an exceptional leader who
decisively transformed The Salvation Army in

America in the first decades of the 20th century. She

cultivated influential friends for the Army, invested
in strategic property purchases and supported pro-
hibition and women's suffrage.

When San Francisco was shaken by a devastat-

ing earthquake, she reacted "as a cavalry war horse
to the sound of a bugle," sending immediate aid to
the victims. When World War I brought U.S. forces
to France in 1917, the General assigned young
women to mother the troops, with frontline support,
prayer and fresh doughnuts. She promoted annual
Boozers' Days in New York City, where she rounded

up drunkards, organized spectacular parades and
then passionately preached the Gospel of salvation
to her audience. When faced with the burgeoning
needs brought on by the Great Depression, she told
her staff, "Get busy." Keeping up with her was chal-
lenging for those who had the privilege of working
at her side, yet she still found time to share her
home and heart with four adopted children (Jai, Dot,
Pearl and Willie), and to ride her horse daily, a life-
long practice.

Evangeline Booth was a Salvation Army person-

ality extraordinaire. One writer suggested that she
had "egocentric proclivities," while the New York

Times

wrote of the complexity of her personality,

suggesting a remarkable duality, with the "charm,
humor, sympathy, enthusiasm, eloquence of a

woman who, almost certainly, would have succeeded
in achieving fame had she chosen the stage to be
her career; on the other hand, with the tenacious
purpose, unwavering faith, decisive and disciplined

statesmanship of an able executive." As author
Diane Winston suggests, she performed herself,

"creating a public narrative on her own terms."

That dynamic public narrative was surely moti-

vated by one thing: love. Love for God, love for fam-
ily, love for the poor and love for The Salvation

Army. Booth preached her first sermon to her audi-

ence of dolls on the love of God. Her words of coun-
sel in retirement, shared with a discouraged young
officer, were of love: "My dear, it is not so much
what you do; what matters is how much you love."

When Booth left New York to serve as General, her

friend Helen Keller claimed that "the whole world
has heard the beat of her great heart... the spirit of
love which is the spirit of Christ fills her soul." She
lived out the lyrics she penned: "The world for God...

I'll give my heart, I'll do my part."

Major JoAnn Shade has served in a variety of minis-
try appointments, and is the author of more than a

dozen books, including WomenVoices and Speak-
ing from the Gospels with Power (2013).

Marching

forward...

One Army, One Mission,

One Message

150

YEARS

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