In Darkest England and the Way Out

Vicki

It is late November and the Salvation Army’s bell ringers will be outside many retail stores around my area. I’ve always thought of The Salvation Army as a charity organization. Locally they provide a small food bank , heating assistance, and a secondhand retail store. In my own childhood, they helped my mother when in her mid-30s she suddenly became a widow. The Salvation Army has long been my charity of choice. I knew nothing of its history. I am appreciative of LibriVox and the reader is excellent. William and Catherine Booth definitely deserve their place in social service history. He had many,many ideas to alleviate poverty in England. Some of those ideas still exist. The organization had and still has a Christian orientation. Mr. Booth’s acceptance of people outside that religion was commendable. Having read many books of historical fiction set in the Victorian era, I lean toward stories of the upper class. Downton Abbey was a hit for me .Charles Dickens was an exception but he was required reading in school. Who can forget Tiny Tim? While listening to this book I was made more aware of the poverty of the period.I could only listen to a few chapters at a time, because of the lives of the poor and destitute of The Empire of that day. Humbling.