FATHER HAYS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 200, 22 August 1905, Page 3

FATHER HAYS.

THE CHILDREN'S MEETING. j There were about five or six thousand I children at the temperance gathering in \ the Drill Hall yesterday afternoon, and after they had taken the pledge terbally, 4200 forms of piedge were issued to children in the hatl. many hundreds leav-! ing the hall before the distribution was i complete. Father Hays Selivered a! simple, forceful address to the children, j treating them a* a da-*s with himself j a.-; the master, and c-a.llinjr upon them ■ to repeate verbally the dominant ideas: «f Fiis --peeirh. and reply by action to ! questions. The children res-ponded with ; a readiness that shov.od at least fairly' close attention. Father Hays dwelt on the evil that j the undue use of spirituous liquor had! upon man's frame, man's mind, man's I whole being. Would the children be like j the drunken men and women they saw? j I "Xo." , a prolonged shout.) Then let j them not abuse strong drink. Tt was; better to give it up altogether—men j were .stronger. lived longer, weri? able i to do more, suffer more, if they did not j take strong drink at all. Lord Wolseley \ said the total abstainer made the best, soldier in the world. Father Hays asked j rhe children if they would promise not j to drink strong liquors till they were! •2->. for they wer.-j the future men and wo- j men of Xew Zealand, and if they were i strong the nation would be great, and If i they were weak—morally or physically j — the nation would decay. If they left i drink alone they would be happier and ' better for it all their lives. The children repeated the pledge in a, series of shouts, and then huzzaed for "the Father and for Mr, W. J. Speight, and kept on } cheering for sheer love of it. A pleas- ; ant feature of the ceremony was the ! presentation by Father Hays" to Mr. W. i ■T. Speight of a framed photograph of hhnsHf f Father Hays}. as a momento of I the memorable gatherings Mr Speight ] with others had organised. Another: pretty feature was when a little air! in 1 the early part of the meetin? presented j the Father with a little bunch of violets. Father Hays sneaks for t&e last timp ! in Auckland at th,-> Choral Hall tomorrow evening, and tickets of admission are nmr on sale. Father Hays goes South to Wellington, and thence back to Ensland.