Insensitivity
August 18, 2011
Occasionally I have been accused of insensitivity by some of the readers of Reformation 21 and others. I was delighted to read of William Booth the founder of the Salvation Amy who takes it to a whole new level.....
''In any event, he was clearly a man of profound insensitivity. No other assessment of his character can account for his reaction to his children's distress at the death of the family dog. It had been shot on his orders after it snapped at a servant who scolded it for leaping at bed linen which she was hanging out to dry. The dog was shot in haste and William Booth regretted his decision when he realised what he should have already known. The children were heartbroken. He decided, in an attempt to ease the pain, to retrieve the carcass and have the pelt made into a rug. When they reacted with hysteria rather than thanks, he was bewildered by their lack of gratitude.'' - Blood and Fire, Roy Hattersley, p179