ich I have lived and
struggled, undermined and sacrificed. God will not fail you. Give
the children my dear love, and tell them that, if there had been a
Salvation Army when I was ten years old, I should have been as good
a Soldier then as I am to-day."

To the last she maintained her interest in comrades who were furthest
off, as well as in those who were near. To Australians she sent the
message:--

"Tell them I look on them and care for them, as for my English
children, and that I expect them to gather in many a sorrowing
mother's prodigal, who has wandered far from his Father's house."

Of one of those terrible occasions when it seemed as if the end had
come, The General writes, in December, 1889:--

"To stand by the side of those you love, and watch the ebbing tide
of life, unable to stem it, or to ease the anguish, is an
experience of sorrow which words can but poorly describe. There was
a strange choking sensation in the throat which threatened
suffocation. After several painful struggles there was a great
calm, and we felt the end had come."

What a mercy that nobody knew how many months of agony were yet to
follow! It was not till October, 1890, that the end really came. She
sent that year to The Army for its Self-Denial Week, the message:--

"My Dear Children and Friends,--

"I have loved you much, and in God's strength have helped you a
little. Now, at His call, I am going away from you.

"The War must go on. Self-Denial will prove your love to Christ.
All must do something.

"I send you my blessing. Fight on, and God will be with you.
Victory comes at last. I will meet you in Heaven.

"Catherine Booth."

On October 1st violent haemorrhage set in. The General was telegraphed
for, and after days and nights of continual suffering and extreme
weakness, she passed away on Saturday afternoon, October 4, 1890.

Writing immediately afterwards, The General said:--

"Ever since our first meeting, now nearly forty years ago, we have
been inseparable in spirit; that is, in all the main thoughts and
purposes of our lives. Oh, what a loss is mine! It cannot be
measured."

And yet, anxious, as in every other case, to make the very best of the
funeral for the good of souls, The General rose, by God's grace, so
completely above his own feelings as to be able to take part in all the
un