The Angel Adjutant of "Twice Born Men"

by Minnie Lindsay Rowell Carpenter

In and out of the homes of the rich she went, bearing sunshine and gathering gold wherewith to push her campaign; but she had no time to make friendships there. A certain leisureliness is inseparable from the life of the well-to-do; time to talk; to be interested in a variety of subjects; to be amused; time even to eat and rest in correct form. With Kate, life was terribly real. On every side her eyes saw men, women, and little children weighed down with sin and sorrow, and her soul joined in the consecration of the great soul who wrote:–

My every sacred moment spend.
In publishing the sinner’s Friend.

Thus, while many rich friends opened their beautiful homes to her, placed their cars at her disposal, and begged for her company, she passed on her way with a smile that was wholly free from censoriousness. And there may have been another reason. In her nature was a deep love for the beautiful, the harmonious. Maybe she recognized in the good things of life a temptation which she needed to hold at arm’s-length, if all her spikenard were to be poured out for her Lord.

In any case, it was to Bethany-like households, where, as a rule, the occupants did their own serving, but were rich in love and in full sympathy with her spirit and purpose, that she tarried to gain strength or refreshment.

One of these friends, Mrs. Taylorson, is a bedridden saint, a remarkable woman in her ninetieth year, of charming countenance, keen, vigorous intellect, great heart and spiritual vision. In the school of affliction and discipline she had sought and found the blessing of Full Salvation, and though a prisoner in her home, her interests are wide, and her influence, by the ministry of prayer, great.

Hearing of Adjutant Lee’s arrival in the town, she sent for her, and from their first meeting this aged saint rightly estimated the beauty and greatness of the Adjutant’s soul, and felt there was a part she could play in her campaign. Mrs. Taylorson says:–

I realized that my ministry to her was to look after her bodily welfare. I took to my bed whilst she was stationed here: and living quite near to me, she would often slip in for a few moments. Her sweet face would come round the door like a ray of sunshine. She would give me a warm kiss, tell me the latest news –this case or that problem to pray over–then she was off again. But I saw to it that my maid always had something nourishing on hand to help that dear, worn body. How my maid loved her! The Adjutant’s influence so led her into touch with Christ, that life became changed for her.

Oh, how Kate Lee worked! Far beyond her strength. Often, after her quest for souls, she would pass this house at two o’clock in the morning. When I would remonstrate with her, she would reply, ’Oh, but I had such a case last night.’ Then she would relate to me the story. Once, kneeling by my bed, she said, ’Granny, last night I was afraid for the first time. Oh, this place, this place! The sin, the sin is terrible!’ And she described to me the horrors of iniquity she had seen in our town.

The transparent hands were tensely clasped; the strong alert features relaxed into contemplation, and my eyes lifted from the face of the aged saint to the wall beside her bed where hung a motto, ’Prayer brings victory.’ It was easy to realize how Kate Lee had gathered strength for the fight in that little sanctuary of faith and hope, and love, with the practical addition of a strengthening cup, ’always ready, that the Adjutant might not be hindered.’

Kate met her beloved old friend only once after her term of three years at Sunderland. When leaving London to spend a week there, she received a wire from her old lieutenant, then on duty amongst the troops in France, ‘Coming on leave; want to spend week-end with you,’ to which she replied, ‘Going to Granny’s. Come.’ It was a happy party that gathered in that old home. The joys of reunion were still fresh, when in the doorway another figure appeared–Lucy Lee, also home on leave from France. Heaven seemed to come down to earth for those four women. Three from the rush of the battle, bubbling over with stories of the Holy War, the fourth–her faculties fresh as those of the youngest–delighting to linger on the brink of eternity, that she might hold up the hands of these, her adopted daughters in battles for God and souls.