'"I am sometimes asked, What about those who have left me? Well, I am
thankful to say that we remain in sympathetic and friendly relations
with the great bulk of them. It was to be expected that in work such
as ours, demanding, as it does, not only arduous toil and constant
self-denial and often real hardships of one kind or another, some
should prove unworthy, some should grow weary, and others should faint
by the way, whilst others again, though very excellent souls, should
prove unsuitable. It could not be otherwise, for we are engaged in
real warfare, and whoever heard of war without wounds and losses? But
even of those who do thus step aside from the position of Officers, a
large proportion--in this country nine out of ten--remain with us,
engaged in some voluntary effort in our ranks."'
'But,' continued Mr. Bramwell Booth, 'I would be the last person to
minimize our losses. They may be accounted for in the most natural
way, and yet we cannot but feel them and suffer from them. And yet it
is all just a repetition of the Bible stories of all ages; nay, of all
stories of genuine fighting in any great cause.
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