192 DISTINGUISHED CHURCHMEN
" But," continued Mr Carlile, " I think one of the most extraordinary cases was that of a youth who had been in gaol seventeen times before he was twenty-one for stealing watches. From his earnings in the Labour Home he managed to save enough money to buy a watch and chain of his own. When he left us to go to Canada he happily remarked, It is nice to have a "ticker" which you airit afraid of the "peeler" a-looking on ! That youth had worked six weeks for his watch, and then it was only a second-hand Water bury. But you see what pride he felt in having a watch which was actually his own ! "
" But does your Church Army system admit of these rescued ones rising in the Army scale to become missioners ? "
" Not too rapidly," was Mr Carlile s reply. " We are very slow in appointing our evangelists from the people who have been rescued by the Church Army. We find our supporters don t like the idea of it. We have all sorts as co- workers. We had one, a burglar who had been eighteen years in prison out of forty-two. He has been transformed into a most exemplary worker, and is doing excellent evangelistic work, though not paid for it. He is a voluntary agent."
" With regard to your missioners, you enjoy special concessions in the Diocese of London ? "
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