CHAPTER XXV.

HOMELESS GIRLS.

It was a fortunate event for our charity which led, in 1861, a certain
New York merchant to accept the position of President of our Society.

Mr. William A. Booth had the rare combination of qualities which form a
thorough presiding officer, and at the same time he was inspired by a
spirit of consecration to what he believed his Master's service, rarely
seen among men. His faculty of "rolling off" business, of keeping his
assembly or board on the points before them--for even business men have
sometimes the female tendency of rather wide-reaching discussions and
conversations--his wonderful clearness of comprehension, and a judicial
faculty which nearly always enabled him to balance with remarkable
fairness both sides of a question, made him beyond comparison the best
presiding officer for a business-board I have ever seen. With him, we
always had short and very full sessions, and reached our points rapidly
and efficiently. He had, too, the capacity, rare among men of organizing
brains, of accepting a rejection or rebuff to any proposition he may
have made (though this happened seldom) with perfect good humor. Perhaps
more than with his public services in our Board, I was struck with his
private career. Hour after hour in his little office, I have seen
different committees and officials of numerous societies, charities, and
financial associations come to him with their knotty points, and watched
with admiration as he disentangled each question, seeming always to
strike upon the course at once wise and just. A very small portion of
his busy time was then given to his own interests, though he had been
singularly successful in his private affairs. He seemed to me to carry
out wonderfully the Christian ideal in practical life in a busy city;
living day after day "for others," and to do the will of Him whom he
followed.

In our first labors together, I feared that, owing to his stricter
school of Presbyterian theology, we might not agree in some of our aims
and plans; but the practical test of true benefit to these unfortunate
children soon brought our theoretic views to a harmony in religious
practice; and as we both held that the first and best of all truths to
an outcast boy is the belief and love of Christ as a friend and Saviour,
we agreed on the substantial matter. I came, year by year, greatly to
value his judgment and his clear insight as to