A pleasant-faced little woman was talking to many persons in a great hall. She wore a dark dress. On the front of it were three white stars joined by slender chains. In the center of each one was a blue letter. The first letter was V, the second was P, and the third was L. Their meaning is Volunteer Prison League.

The little woman was Maude Ballington Booth, and she was explaining the work of this league, for she founded it. She said that she had come from England to the United States many years ago. Upon reaching here one of the first places she visited was a great prison in California. There she saw so much sadness and misery that she could not rest until she did something to help the men and women who were shut behind iron bars.

She began her work by holding a meeting in Sing Sing Prison on the Hudson River in the State of New York. She told the men that she was their friend and believed in them. She declared that there was no one so cast down or disgraced that he could not rise and make something of himself, if he would only try. Many of the men who heard Mrs. Booth that day had no families and had even lost trace of all their relatives. She said they could write her letters and she would answer. They had never before had any one treat them so kindly, and so letters by the hundred reached Mrs. Booth. One young man scarcely more than a boy, wrote her thanking her for the kind letter she had sent him. He called her “Little Mother.” Soon this title became known, and all up and down the prisons of the United States men came to talk of the Little Mother and look for her coming; for her first work in Sing Sing Prison was so successful that she went from state to state organizing Volunteer Prison Leagues.

It is not always easy to do right even when one is well, happy, and in his own home. Think, then, how hard a task the men in prison found it when they became members of the new league! The day a man joined, he had given to him a white button with a blue star and in the middle of the star was “Look Up and Hope.” He promised to do five things:

1. He would pray every morning and night.

2. He would read faithfully in the little Day Book the league sent him.

3. No bad language should soil his lips.

4. He would keep the rules of the prison.

5. He would try to encourage others, too, in right doing, and when possible get new members for the league.

From the moment a man put on a button, his guards and fellow prisoners watched to see if he would keep his promise. A framed copy of what he promised to do was hung in his cell as a daily reminder. If a man was strong enough to accept these five conditions, he came to be a changed person. He wanted to do right, and he 164 looked forward to the time when he would be free and could once more try anew in the big world.

Many persons told Mrs. Booth her plan would never work, but one by one men began to prove that it did. First there were dozens, then there were hundreds of men returning to their homes or going out to succeed in the business world.

By and by Mrs. Booth saw there should be places where the men with no families could go when they left prison. So she started “Hope Halls.” These are homes in the different large cities of the United States. The Volunteer Prison League has officers who manage them but the general public is never told where these houses are.

In bygone days many men upon leaving prison have been led away by old evil companions. Others have found no place to stay and no work open for them because a cold, unthinking public had called them “jail birds.” Mrs. Booth wanted these men to have a chance. Today a man who belongs to the league can, upon leaving prison, be directed to the nearest Hope Hall. There he can stay in comfortable quarters until he gets work. Kind friends help him and many business firms have come to take the word of the manager of Hope Hall. They give the man work and he goes out to take his place as a man among men.

Mrs. Booth has given her life to building up this league, and for many years earned all the money that 165 was needed for running expenses. She did this by writing, and speaking in public. Everywhere she went the people listened to her story and many were glad to help her.

Although we claim her as an American, Maude Ballington Booth was born in a pretty little English village. Her father was the rector of the little church, and her mother was a loving woman devoted to her home. She died when Maude was fifteen years of age and on the moss-covered stone that marks her grave are the words: “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever.”

From such a home the young girl went to London. There she met Ballington Booth, son of General Booth, founder of the Salvation Army. They were married and she came to the United States with him to interest Americans in the cause of the Salvation Army. This was a hard task. Oftentimes the army was jeered openly. The Booths were actually stoned while holding meetings in the streets. But this did not stop them. Their work grew, and at last they founded the Volunteers of America and became the head of this order.

The busiest persons generally have time to do many things. So it was with Maude Ballington Booth, for she wrote a number of books about her work with prisoners, as well as lovely fairy tales for her little boy and girl. These children missed their mother very much 166 when she went away to speak, so the next best thing to having her at home was to have the stories she made for them. These stories were sure to have accounts of pet animals in them, suggesting to the Booth children their own pets, and the following description of Snowball shows how well Mrs. Booth could picture the feelings of an insulted pussy cat.

“The three children seated themselves by the stately white cat; slowly the ragged coat was opened and out sprang a frisky plebeian kitten right under the Angora’s aristocratic nose. What a picture it was. The little black kitten startled and dazed by the light and warmth, and a great prince of a cat towering over her. Snowball was frozen into an attitude of horror at the unexpected apparition. Every hair stood erect and his back looked like a deformed hunch, while his yellow eyes flashed fire.

“‘Naughty, naughty Snowball,’ called Baby, when the cats had gazed at each other for a full minute. ‘It’s little, and it’s cold and it’s hungry.’

“Whatever he thought of Baby’s reproof, Snowball did think it was time to act, and like a flash the white paw darted at the offending kitten’s ear, and, I am ashamed to say, he spit most crossly in its frightened little face, then at one bound he sprang to the mantle-piece and sat there growling. The children looked dismayed; the little kitten stood looking up at its unsociable host with a sweet, questioning little face, uttering mild little mews of protest in answer to his thunderous growls.

“Then Brown Eyes’ wrath broke, and folding the kitten in loving arms, he said to Snowball, ‘You bad, ungrateful ill natured cat, I am surprised at you, petted and cuddled and fed on good things, you turn and spit at a poor little kitten, who only looked up into your face and asked you to love it. We’ll go away and leave you. You can stay there, and we’ll get a saucer of cream for this kitten who is far nicer than you, cross cat; you bad cat, we’ll leave you to yourself.’

“Left to himself Snowball repented but, alas! the door was shut. The merry voices that resounded through the house did not call him, while through the still room sounded the voice of his taunting enemy, that hateful clock, the words of which his conscience could so well interpret, ‘Cross cat, bad cat, bad cat.’”

For years Mrs. Booth went from place to place throughout the United States raising money for the Volunteer Prison League, but when her father died he left her a small fortune. Now she uses this money for the great cause she loves, and is spared the hard work of traveling and speaking. Those who have heard her, remember a small woman with a soft, beautiful voice. This voice urged the world not to look at trouble and failure, but to lend a helping hand to men and women who want to lead a better life by following the stars of hope.