第75章 MORE CRUSADES.(9)

We shall offer to all the ultimate possibility of being restored to Society in this country,or transferred to commence life afresh in another With respect to results we can speak very positively,for although our operations up to the present,except for a short time some three years ago,have been limited,and unassisted by the important accessories above described,yet the success that has at tended them has been most remarkable.The following are a few instances which might be multiplied:--J.W.was met at prison gate by the Captain of the Home and offered help.He declined to come at once as he had friends in Scotland who he thought would help him;but if they failed,he promised to come.

It was his first conviction,and he had six months for robbing his employer.His trade was that of a baker.In a few days he presented himself at the Home,and was received.In the course of a few weeks,he professed conversion,and gave every evidence of the change.

For four months he was cook and baker in the kitchen,and at last a situation as second hand was offered for him,with the [sic]

J.S.Sergeant-major of the Congress Hall Corps.That is three years ago.He is there to-day,saved,and satisfactory;a thoroughly useful and respectable man.

J.P.was an old offender.He was met at Millbank on the expiration of his last term (five years),and brought to the Home,where he worked at his trade a tailor.Eventually he got a situation,and has since married.He has now a good home,the confidence of his neighbours,is well saved,and a soldier of the Hackney Corps.

C.M.Old offender,and penal servitude case.Was induced to come to the Home,got saved,was there for a long period,offered for the work,and went into the Field,was Lieutenant for two years,and eventually married.He is now a respectable mechanic and soldier of a Corps in Derbyshire.

J.W.Was manager in a large West End millinery establishment.

He was sent out with two ten-pound packages of silver to change.

On his way he met a companion and was induced to take a drink.

In the tavern the companion made an excuse to go outside and did not return,and W.found one of the packages had been abstracted from his outside pocket.He was afraid to return,and decamped with the other into the country.Whilst in a small town he strolled into a Mission Hall;there happened to be a hitch in the proceedings,the organist was absent,a volunteer was called for,and W.,being a good musician,offered to play.It seems the music took hold of him.In the middle of the hymn he walked out and went to the police station and gave himself up.He got six months.When he came out,he saw that Happy George,an ex-gaol bird,was announced at the Congress Hall.He went to the meeting and was induced to come to the Home.He eventually got saved,and to-day he is at the head of a Mission work in the provinces.

"Old Dan"was a penal servitude case,and had had several long sentences.He came into the Home and was saved.He managed the bootmaking there for a long time.He has since gone into business at Hackney,and is married.He is of four years'standing,a thorough respectable tradesman,and a Salvationist.

Charles C.has done in the aggregate twenty-three years'penal servitude.Was out on licence,and got saved at the Hull Barracks.

At that time he had neglected to report himself,and had destroyed his licence,taking an assumed name.When he got saved he gave himself up,and was taken before the magistrate,who,instead of sending him back to fulfil his sentence,gave him up to the Army.He was sent to us from Hull by our representative,is now in our factory and doing well.

He is still under police supervision for five years.

H.Kelso.Also a licence man.He had neglected to report himself,and was arrested.While before the magistrate he said he was tired of dishonesty,and would go to the Salvation Army if they would discharge him.He was sent back to penal servitude.Application was made by us to the Home Secretary on his behalf,and Mr.Matthews granted his release.He was handed over to our Officers at Bristol,brought to London,and is now in the Factory,saved and doing well.

E.W.belongs to Birmingham,is in his forty-ninth year,and has been in and out of prison all his life.He was at Redhill Reformatory five years,and his last term was five years'penal servitude.The Chaplain at Pentonville advised him it he really meant reformation to seek the Salvation Army on his release.He came to Thames Street,was sent to the Workshop and professed salvation the following Sunday at the Shelter.This is three months ago.He is quite satisfactory,industrious,contented and seemingly godly.

A.B.,Gentleman loafer,good prospects,drink and idleness broke up his home,killed his wife,and got him into gaol.Presbyterian minister,friend of his family,tried to reclaim him,but unsuccessfully.He entered the Prison Gate Home,became thoroughly saved,distributed handbills for the Home,and ultimately got work in a large printing and publishing works,where,after three years'service,he now occupies a most responsible position.Is an elder in the Presbyterian Church,restored to his family,and the possessor of a happy home.

W.C.,a native of London,a good-for-nothing lad,idle and dissolute.

When leaving England his father warned him that if he didn't alter he'd end his days on the gallows.Served various sentences on all sorts of charges.Over six years ago we took him in hand,admitted him into Prison Gate Brigade Home,where he became truly saved;he got a job of painting,which he had learnt in gaol,and has married a woman who had formerly been a procuress,but had passed through our Rescued Sinners'

Home,and there became thoroughly converted.Together they have braved the storms of life,both working diligently for their living.

They have now a happy little home of their own,and are doing very well.

F.X.,the son of a Government officer,a drunkard,gambler,forger,and all-round blackguard;served numerous sentences for forgery.