Temperance Meeting.

Bush Advocate, Issue 355, 19 August 1890, Page 2

Temperance Meeting.

Mj? in^^h&i Ifovrp. Balli Ba^e\ virte. . c

Mr Knott/ delivered His temperance address last evening mr tjie. f^oton Hall , talcing for his subject " Slippery Places."' The attendance was fair, but not so good as supporters of the temperance cause might have wished. A strong choir was- present, and rendered some 6f. : the ; best: of 'Sahkey's hymns in a style. winch spoke well I for their attendance at 1 practice. The Rev. <Mr Wallace was in the chair, and in opening the meeting said Mr ', Knott had proved himself to be vuprtljy q{ listening ;<Jo. /Jhe cause which he was seeking to adyanceji^^ ! was one whicji 4eep|y- -(intere*ste y d ; everyone, and' lie was' pTeVsed to see ! that all through the .workpeople were. : being. entreated 'to'* 1 fight against the : drink. Ihey did not believe in temperance \ what they advocated" was total abstinence. Moderate drinkers said to themselves that they had sttfipGi^W'stre'tigtjhZof, BbihdUtd 'fa A them from,|a|ling into excess, b^ifit was from the 'moderate drinkers that the ranks,, of, th« drunkards were filled. He' had^ riiirtcti pleasure in introducing Mr Knott. MciiKriot^ wh6 i^afe: VeceivM* with applause, said if intoxicating drink w-as^useless; \s&y&' ityef erjarga* dijd; -toW the cause of un^qld misery why should they not fight' against' it? They were going to fight against i\ to. the,e.nc| ( He" had" visited AllsopV briwerks at £urton-on-Trent, ' and whift he v #l\V the : . immense (distillferi^S'tand/ <waret' houses, and the trains [ gotn'g. < awa# loaded with the product of these breweries,, aiiditjiougb.t otthe monied inheres, ts. /represented 'by ■ thjesev :it ce^rtaiiily seemed to., fiini , lijce running his head against a^bHek'w'all to speak against such vast monied interests. But they were going to speak against them. They were seeking to remove the cause of poverty and misery, and they wanted the young men to come and help them, and they wanted the women, with their winning influence to help them in the good work. Some persons # were very fond of arguing from scripture on the drink question, using the passage which sttited that the Lord made wine by a miracle and drank of it. Now he wasnotinaposition to prove that the wine Christ made wasunfermented wine, nor was anyone ! able to prove that it was fermented wine. One lady had said to him that because the Saviour made wine by a miracle she regarded it as a sanctified article of diet, and took it regularly with her meals. He said to her that he expected she also ate barley bread regularly. She said she did no,t, and wanted to know why he*asketl lifer the question, and he explained that as barley bread was made by the Saviour by a miracle it should be classed with wine as a sanctified article of diet. Oh no, she said, she didn't eat barley bread " because she did not like it." Every man 'who touched drink was standing on slippery ground. Moderate- drinkers said they were safe ; they could take a glass and leava it alone, but he would tell them that evory man who had ever become a drunkard lmd come to that ' thiwft frying to & » mitote fetor, 'an.4 ' imving fai)ed( Me related instances which had come under Jus observance of promising lives being blighted by the effect of nymfo !(t was' sometimes said that his statements were far-fetched, but the way to prove they were . aot was to bring them 'home, nncl'ihe' «!oser you brought them ho>7, 0 the more aonallinj- j;-; ue reßul j. s of the dri^l; traffic appear. He staid, tUaif eo.metime.s he {pit as b ( e would have to giye u.p, temperance work, as the tales of woe 'that were poured into his ears w_ero'so touching that at tium \\, seemed that h,i« l^eayt ip.v^st break; When a man ; had the appetite for drink it was a hard job to fight againat" it. He thanked Ood. tha^t

some bad been able to throw off the 1 craving 'for drink, and . were now! standiug free men, but; thoy had had a hard fight for ,it. There ,are plenty of men and women who say tpere is no danger tor ithera ; (they 4r,e ablj&vto, take their glass day by day and week-; by week, and they xj&n leave it alene when they like, so is no necessity for them to take the pledge. Rut iie^aid^man. Avho^were -walking drinking were falling down into i&u.ftkejmm..everx --to. ,- The^w^ek^ before he left Auckland to start on ! Sis lecturing tour he saw on one day ' in the paper that seven first offenders werrr^brought up v charged —w.itb' drunkenness, on another day there ' were five, another day four, and so i on, and thus it was that the ranks of ; the drHfikaids werfe recVuiited^ FATsout i five years ago he wen,t into the office ;of one of 'the" leading" merchants in Auckland, who asked him it,i>t w£,s MS" ifanfe flaPMssfl* 1 4n f > fch'fe l pafpW as speaking on ; th r #!tem pretttVice'question. ■ Hojsai&iti wa?v; The merchant then; ; said fcejhadgiKeJi him eceditfor, being, i a sensible 4$ wh ich, ,she . speaker : fflM o %i>;)ie he,..^a 8;:! a; ! sensible wan, !jO,n tie^dnnk question, | tit any Me.' * The 'merchant : said \ He did,. not think he'wa^&n'dHhat a man tikti i b6tlld 'not' ! a •' gfcas : and : lea" Ve 1 it alone wh*eh iW liked Was* ' n6t Worthythe!name of a mdn. ; The speaker t»l<i him> that he hadknoVvn merilo'fi 'intelleQVandjWho. were;weU-eduaated. no man who could not takelarglass and,, leave it alone when, h^nmracl 1 . ! Th'riS •yrfatfermiW 't^lecWe.r j ml hiWiitf^ußWi'-Btt'Mj'Auik-My/ j ohftnt Kvae so drunkifchat ieiduld not I walk,i ojcijvh&.^QMW' n^tohayiei Weft 'a$ c &£§&£s<¥&&■ > not >«ftU".f<ffsM> 1 assistance of two low cpnq]ga,njsn£,aj;, his side, n And. this was the man who 1 said that Wlyidolfr became drunkards. j Butfwiibuld ask those present if ! they had not known men of great ■ intellect and dazzling brilliancy who ; bad given promise of great good, but : whose. Jives, had r ended in, daricness through* «hVUcc^iWea 'dfinfe 1 ; The | other day he was walking through !oue > ; ! 9f )V the,.Bmalj[ tpw,nsbips, ,ir? ..the, i Wairarapa wfien me met'a gentleman j who asked him if he knew Mr So-and-So, a famous English- preacher. Yes, he said, he had heard him many |times. n W-ellp said , the. gentleman, ! pointing afcnm toe r6acrto J a misery : able, cast-down drunkard, that is lii 1 ? 1 brother, a man who promised to be a greater worker thart 'his brother, but who now is always begging money from the people of thR township so as to get drink. No, they were not all men of weak intellect who took to, drink. ; When^mah is 1 a moderate drlriksr it is a very easy matter for him to give up the drink, but afreij a, .time he kJs'gs I ' control -of -his' ne'rves/ / and when he would give up the habit he finds he cannot. H*. said that if the men;; who :sfrecpiorited; /hotels /.k'n^iv what was contained in the liquor supplied to them they would give it up once and for all. ..A .man at Hastings had told him that he did not drink out here, but it was not that he was an abstainer,' but on < a^ounti ,ojf the quality of the drink that was snpplied. He said he went into a hotel one day and asked for a glass of ale. It was supplied to him, and he drank half of the( contents jof.the^glassj : md then put; it down. ' He could not believe it was ale that he had been drinking^ afc it rushed to his head, and his throat was bupning.^ f rom the 'effedts of it. If he had drank the remainder of the stuff supplied tjQ.|hinv.he would have been drunk, and he decided that he would leave drink alone altogether rather than take liquor of that kind. Some days since, said the lecturer, he was, jwalkiqg. from $c, Qfhames. ,tpra township where he was to lecture when a buggy came along with only one man in it. . ; It appeared to him to be-a pity -to-haveroom going to waste ip^he buggy, so, he asked the driver for a 1 lift. *•' This was ' granted, 'and -on getting iiito conversation his cpnfpanioit fts'ltetl hi^n ■ what'his business was, and on being told that he was working in :the- temperance cause in* fornied.j hjm that he ; was .a > brewer. Of course a warm. argument followed, and the,, brewer, .told, him tha^ -^the abstainers would, do a, goocf work if they turned tfe'eif attention to the quality of the drißk Bold, as most of it was reallyi-ndtliing; i&ut poison. He (the lecturer) .'did? not beueSel a glasi of pure beer was. to be had in Hawke's JBgy, and he, would to. anyone who, would, briflg'.him a,, bottle of brandy, ilt was not' to Il be' 'tiaaV 1: ' In conclusion he advised them to drink water when they watit'ed' l a 'pii/e h ealth-gi^ing :berepags3fU.;\Waie^ never broke a father's or a mother^ .heart J Watet , n,Qyer/ i',iiined,,a reputation ! Water never sent a shrihkiug wretch to the gallows ! Pure sparkling wajje^ never; L " caused : ' ; th r e : ' . heartbreaking anguish of wife and children 1 Water never had f a curse thrown barik on it by- the dying: drunkard 1 (Loud ap r plauta.): 1 ■■.■.!' .-,;: ..',.' , ! ■.. ■ : .'■: The Eev. Mr Wallace then read over the pledge and invited those present to sign the pledge while music was,given by the choir. He said a meeting would be held shortly in coni nection 1 with tlie formation of a temperance society,; and o coffee supper will also be' held." Before Mr Knott c came he had only three pledges in his pledge book, and now, »vjth 'the eighteen who had signed the pledge [ that night, he had 61. (Applause.) Votes; of. thanks to the choir, the * $Rgaker, and the chairman brought s the meeting to a close. ;