48. Social Issue Lecturers
Salvation Army Discovers Lantern
General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, was a powerful lecturer who stirred large crowds all over the world. In this view, his wife and his daughter Eva are seated just behind him. Booth abandoned traditional church preaching, and took his message directly to the poorest of the poor, attracting attention for his sermons with the still-familiar drum and tambourine.
When Booth died, his daughter Evangeline, in sash, travelled the country with an illustrated lecture about his work, using slides like this of a Salvation Army orphanage. She eventually rose to become a General herself, commanding the Salvation Army in the United States.
In part because of Eva’s success with the lantern, it became a basic tool of communications for the Army. Today the Salvation Army remains one of the largest social service organizations in the world, with over a million “soldiers” following in the footsteps of the Booths. See a video here.
