WILLIAM & CATHERINE BOOTH (PART 5)

Early Life of Catherine

Catherine had learned to read by the age of three. She would often stand on a stool and read aloud from the family Bible while her mother worked around the house and listened. By the time Catherine was twelve, she had read the Bible eight times from cover to cover and out loud.

A New Home

In 1834, Catherine’s father moved the family back to his native Boston in Lincolnshire, England. Catherine was about five years old at the time, and she would spend most of her childhood there. The family hoped the sea air would benefit the children’s health.

A Heart of Compassion

Catherine was not a girl marked with indifference. Again, the weakness of her health never hampered the passion in her heart, much less her intolerance for cruelty of any kind. She always defended the unfortunate and weak.

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Standing Up for Justice

One time, while riding in a carriage, she saw a boy beating a donkey with a hammer. Infuriated, she burst forth from the carriage, overtook the boy, confiscated his hammer, and sent him home with his ears still burning from her rebukes. She then dropped to the ground in a faint, and someone had to carry her home.

A Nine-Year-Old’s Boldness

Another time, when nine-year-old Catherine was playing outside and rolling a hoop down the street, a mob came toward her. A constable was half marching, half dragging a drunken man down the sidewalk. The mob had gathered to jeer and mock him along the way.

In the face of this cruelty, Catherine immediately took pity upon him. Even though her home was an active outpost of the Temperance Society, Catherine’s heart could not condemn the man. She could not stand such treatment of someone so disoriented.

Leading with Kindness

So, she marched into the midst of the crowd, right up to the face of the drunkard. Everyone was caught off guard by the boldness of such a small creature. They stopped dead in their tracks.

Catherine came nose-to-nose with the man, smelling the foulness of his breath and searching his eyes for some hint of humanity behind their empty stare. Then, taking him by the hand, she turned and began to lead him in the same direction the crowd had been taking him.

The man’s steps became steadier. The policeman no longer had to tug at him. Instead, he walked alongside him, merely holding his arm to steady him.

A Heart of Sacrifice

When Catherine heard about the plight of the poor in other countries, she gave up sugar and other luxuries. She sent the money thus spared to missionary societies instead.

To Be Continued …