Mary Scott (before she started her work on the streets) was living at a Girl's Industrial Home where she was looking after new recruits to the Salvation Army. One of the girls, who grew up with quite a charmed life, came back a complete wreck after spending a week a maternity home for unmarried mothers. She would have nightmares of the idea of even having to go back. She grew up so sheltered from that kind of life that she didn't know to process all of it.
(Now this is when I interject my own thought of throwing the little brat back in there and making her get used to it. This is real life! ...but that's just me).
Mary, having compassion for the girl, went to talk to the Major about the girl:
Ought not young cadets like [her] to be shielded from such knowledge as she had unwillingly gained, from such disillusioning experiences?
Major Grace Jackson was not so sympathetic as might have been expected. Salvation Army officer were not to be shielded from unpleasant things, but exposed to them. At the time Molly [Mary] felt the reply she gave was almost ruthless. But she never forgot it. Down through the years the stern words came to her, reminding her that she had enrolled as a soldier and was engaged in a battle.
...'Scott, you've got to look at sin,' said Major Jackson grimly. 'You've got to look it in the face, stare at it, glare at it. You've got to see it for the awful thing it is. And then you've got to go and do something about it!'
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