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 expected to pay. You have to put yourself in a position of this kind in order to appreciate the circumstances under which I was placed. Yet, when everything seems dark, and there is no visible way out of the difficulty, it is then that with Jesus on our side, we shall always find some way. The first consideration in a missionary work should be to get souls converted to God. With much prayer and great faith upon the Almighty, I began my work, and when the Spirit spread all round that community and the sinners began to flock into the fold of Jesus, there was a change in a very short time. The old debt was paid, and we had comfortable quarters to lay our heads; and the roll-call of the Corps increased, and God was glorified, and there is a Corps, till this day, in Chicago, which they call the big 4 of the Salvation Army.