A few days later Catherine and her mother were spending the evening with a friend, when the very same preacher came in, and was introduced to them as the Rev. William Booth.
Catherine knew they had one subject in common–love for souls; but before the evening ended she discovered that the young minister was quite as earnest as she was herself in fighting the Drink curse and all that was connected with it.
A few Sundays later Mr. Booth preached again in the same building, this time as the minister, or, as we should say, ‘Officer in charge,’ and no longer as a Special. And now you will guess that the two often met, and that, because they had so many interests in common, they soon learned to know each other well, till respect grew into friendship, and friendship into love.
Catherine was at this time twenty-two years old, and Mr. Booth was three months younger; but, though you would have said they were old enough to know their own minds, they did nothing hastily, and would enter into no engagement till they were quite sure of God’s Will in the matter.
Had Catherine ever before thought of the day when she would get married? you, perhaps, ask. Oh, yes, indeed, and when but a girl of sixteen–directly, in fact, after she was saved–she settled in her own heart what sort of a man her future husband must be. First, she decided, he must be truly converted, and a total abstainer, not to please her, but from his own choice. Then he must be a man of sense, or she could never respect him; and, if they were to be happy, they must feel and think alike on all important matters.
Ah, if our women-Soldiers and Cadets to-day would but follow our Army Mother’s example, there would be fewer unhappy marriages and wrecked lives!
But in her secret heart Catherine had also, girl-like, some ideas about the sort of man she would like to marry, if she might choose. He should be a minister–that was the nearest she could get to an Officer in those days; William was a name she particularly liked, and–if only he might be tall and dark! If you had been there when Katie Mumford first listened to his preaching you would have seen that he was ‘tall and dark’ indeed.
But though William Booth loved Catherine with a deep and holy love, which increased each time they met, yet he was very poor, and he wondered if he ought, under the circumstances, to ask her to share his lot. He wrote a letter to her, telling her how perplexed and troubled he was, and her answer shows us that, right from the very earliest days, before they were even engaged, her one desire was that his soul should prosper.
‘My dear friend,’ she begins ... ’The thought that I should cause you any suffering or increase your perplexity is almost unbearable. I am tempted to wish that we had never seen each other. Do try to forget me, as far as the remembrance would injure your usefulness or spoil your peace. If I have no alternative but to oppose the Will of God, or trample on the desolations of my own heart, my choice is made. “Thy will be done” is my constant cry. I care not for myself; but Oh, if I cause you to err, I shall never be happy again.’
It was not the fear of poverty that frightened her, for a few days later she says:–