When, however, The General resolved to send Officers to America, there was hardly a voice in either Church or Press which did not ridicule the idea of our being of use there.  And in the case of almost every other country the same prejudice against English people having “the presumption to think” that they can give lessons in true religion to any other nation has made itself more or less felt, even to this day.

But, happily, The General never took counsel with flesh and blood upon such questions.  He knew that, whatever differences might exist between one race and another, there was everywhere the one sad similarity when it came to neglect of God and the soul.  That The Army must adapt itself to each new population he had always taught; but that it would ultimately succeed wherever there were masses of godless people, he never doubted.

Really the first extension to the United States came about, however, by no planning of his.  A family belonging to one of the home Corps emigrated, in 1879, to Philadelphia, where they commenced to hold Meetings there, meeting with such rapid success that two Corps were raised before the Officers for whom they pleaded could be sent to them.

When The General paid his first visit to America, in 1886, we had already 238 Corps in the Union, under the leadership of 569 Officers, mostly Americans.  Ten years later there came that terrible blow to him and to the Work, when his second son, who had been entrusted with its direction for a term, left The Army, and founded a separate organisation.  Notwithstanding the misunderstanding which followed, and the check to our progress that was necessarily involved, The Army went steadily forward, and The General visited the country from time to time, receiving on each occasion a very remarkable welcome.

The appreciation of his leadership was always of the more value in the United States, because the disinclination of the American people to accept anything like direction, let alone command, from this side the Atlantic was always so marked.  It is this fact which gives such special value to the sort of experiences we are about to record from one of the later tours of The General, that of 1902-3.

Summing up the journey and its general impressions to an old friend, he writes:—­

“Well, I have been busy and no mistake.  Day after day, hour after hour, you might say minute after minute, I have had duties calling for immediate attention.  Oh, it has been a whirl!  But what a wonderful rush of success the nine weeks have been since I landed at New York.

“The people, the Press, the dignitaries of all classes have combined in the heartiest of welcomes ever given in this country, I suppose, to ‘a foreigner’ of any nationality.  It has been remarkable, and, indeed, surprising, for it was so largely unexpected.

“I have just come into this city of Kansas.  The two largest hotels have competed