THE TEMPERANCE MISSION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 5468, 28 January 1885, Page 4

THE TEMPERANCE MISSION.

Address by Mrs Lovett at the

Tlioatro Koyal,

The Temperance Mission services wore continued in tho Theatre Royal last evening, Tbero was a good attendance. The pro ceedings were commenced by several selections of vocal music by a largo and ofilclent choir, Under the conductorshlp of Mr Tude' hope. Rev. .1". H. Hill fertd fl portion of the Scriptures, and Rev. A. M. McOailutn offered prayer. Several hymns followed. The Chairman reftd a telegram from To Al'ohtt Congratulating Mr Booth On the siccessful starting of his campaign in Auckland. The Chairman added that, at the present time, when the publicans wore using every means in their power to debase the masses, it was tho duty of himself and other ministers of the. Gospel to endeavour to feocuo from tho grasp of the publicans their poor unfortunate victims. Ho was glad that tho Church had at last come to look upon tho practical as well as tho theoretical side of Christianity. It; was a glorious and blessed thing, ho thought, that temperance had become the handmaiden of religion. He welcomed Mr Booth to Auckland, and said he would be glad to sco him at Onehunga, where his church, the largest building in the district, was available for the purposes of the mission. Mr Booth, in commencing his address, said there would ba no meeting on Thursday; He facetiously recommended his heaters to keep " straight" on the holiday, and volunteered the information tnat he was going fishing. He was determined to catch a schnapper or a whale or something. Thedocttr told him that fish was good for the brains, and he felt that nothing less thail ft whalo would be any good to him. Mr Booth then introduced to the audience Mrs Levett, of Boston, Massachusetts. Mrs Levett, who possesses a good, clear voice, and speaks fluently and to the point, said that when she left her own dear home on the Atlantic coast, she felt that she was going amongst strangers, but ■ she felt that she was also going amongst people who served the same God as she did. After a brief reference to the relationship between England and America, Mrs Lovett said she wished to speak a few words respecting the work of the Women's Temperance Mission in America. The Society was the outcome of the nightly crusade commenced against the liquor traffic .in September, 1873. The Society was formed in the brain of Miss Frances Willard. It was formed in three orders. First there were the local unions, then the State Unions, and the National Unionß. Once every year, representatives from all over the States met together to plan the work for the coming year. The work went on until fourteen or fifteen State Unions had been formed with their local auxiliaries. Then there was a pause, caused by the fact that the women in the Southern States held aloof from what they called a Northern notion. Their President was a bit Conservative, and was disinclined to push the work where she had an idea that she was not wanted. Consequently, they plaoed their Secretary, Miss Willard, at their hood, and sent her into the South. People said they did not want her, but she strnsgled on. Friends were made here .. there by degrees, and then Miss Willaia telegraphed that she had not a dollar left, and could neither go on nor come back; and then they wired to her to draw on them for 500 dollars, and though they hadn't the money, they soon raited it. The result wbb that very soon Miss Willard could not fill on« quarter of her engagements, and the fact was undeniable that one little woman had conquered th 6 whole of the Southern States. Their motive was to save those babies that ,God had placed in their arms. Their object was to reach the children, and Bands of Hope were formed and spread over America. Then, resolutions were passed in the Houses of many of the States providing for instruction in the States schools in the nature and effects of alcohol. That was a great step, and the effect would be that all the children in these schools would receive this valuable instruction. But the moEt important reform which the women felt they could devote their weak strength to was that of constitutional prohibition. They had written and fought for that object, and the principle had now been made law in Kansas, lowa, and other States ; and they would not rest here, but, further States would follow. Some idea of the extent of their Society might be gathered from the fact that they had 200,000 members enrolled on their books. < They had State organisations in every State and territory of the Union except Alaska. There were hundreds of unions in some of the States. lowa, for instance, had 400 unions. The work was progressing, and they would only be content when they had unions in every separate community, Tho speaker made a pathetic appeal to the women of this city to assist in taking up the work, assuring them that the vast aggregate would be what they now saw in America. The result, too, would be the saving of the thousands who were carried away everyyear by tho demon drink. The address, whioh was a really excellent and forcible one, kept the attention of the audience throughout.