ay at the second
important stopping-place in the early afternoon, after incidental
wayside speeches and idylls, he went over the same ground in a
further address of an hour or more. Somehow in the afternoon he
appeared to speak with added individuality and passion, as if the
wants and woes of the world had been growing upon him since the
morning.

"A needed rest, perhaps a little sleep, then away once more by the
waysides and through the welcoming hamlets. The third and last
great stopping-stage was reached, as a rule, about eight o'clock.
He typified serene old age as he stood up in the white car, passing
the long lines of cheering humanity. Here in the evening light it
was not easy to regard him as a propagandist. He might be a study
for Father Christmas, or a philosopher who dealt much in
abstractions and knew little of men. The General who, twenty
minutes later, proclaimed his spiritual truths and his social
ideals to a new audience, seemed, once more, an absolutely
different personality. Often at these evening meetings he spoke for
the better part of two hours."

Chapter XXII

Our Financial System

The continued strain to raise the money needed for the work was,
undoubtedly, to William Booth the greatest part of his burden all the
way through life. And it is to this day the puzzle which makes it most
difficult to write as to The Army's finances. On the one hand, we have
to praise God for having helped him so cheerily to shoulder his cross
that he did not seem many times to feel the burden that was almost
crushing him to the ground, and hindering all sorts of projects he would
gladly have carried out. Yet, on the other hand, we must guard against
saying anything that could lead to the impression that The Army has now
got to the top of its hill of difficulty, and needs no more of the help,
in small sums as well as in big ones, that has been so generously sent
to it.

It would be hopeless to attempt to estimate the numbers of appeals The
General sent out in any one year, for he not only tried at fixed periods
to get for his various funds truly interested subscribers, but was
always seeking to link the hearty giver with the deserving receivers.

But perhaps the very extremity of his one need helped him with the most
practical wisdom to avoid all unnecessary expenditure, and to cultivate
all those habits of econom