I was dressed in the Santa Claus clothing
distributing presents to them. I never felt happier in all my life even
in the best days as a High Priest.

After passing successfully my preparatory studies in Los Angeles, word
came from the Headquarters that they wanted me in the college Training
Home, in Chicago, to take the course of officership; and the 15th of
August, 1905, finds me sweeping the back yard at the Training Home, West
Adams St., Chicago, Illinois.

Were it possible for every man and woman who pretends to be a minister
of Jesus, to pass six months in any of the Training Colleges of the
Salvation Army, then there should be fewer ministers, but far more
useful, in the betterment of the world, than many of them that are under
the present conditions.

It is the most psychological system, in these Training Colleges that
brings out all the virtues that every heart possesses and every bit of
iniquity that may be hidden in the personal character of the man or
woman who willingly denies himself or herself of all prospects and
pleasures in this world just for the only purpose to live and love and
serve the suffering humanity. There are exceptions to the rule among the
officers of the Salvation Army, once in a great while some one will
prove unworthy to the cause, but these exceptions are common in every
human institution, and they are so few in the Salvation Army that fully
justifies the public confidence upon this marvelously developing great
movement.

I went through the theoretical and practical work for which I could make
a whole volume of the experiences in the slums of Chicago, where I had
to reprove a policeman, whom I found in a saloon drinking in full
uniform, while in the back room there was a girl not over fifteen years
old, in the company of a most reckless middle-aged man, both
exceedingly intoxicated and still drinking. I dismissed the man, and
sent the girl to the rescue home, where she would be taken care of.

The 17th of January, 1906, I received my diploma as an active member of
the National First Aid Association of America, and my commission as a
Captain in the Salvation Army, and I was appointed in charge of No. 4 in
Chicago. I went to my quarters and there was not kindling wood enough to
start a fire, and no coal; and the weather 14 degrees below zero, half
the glass panes of the windows broken, and everything in the house
frozen, and the Corps indebted to the extent of 175 dollars, that I was