CHURCH OF ENGLAND TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10786, 13 October 1900, Page 5

CHURCH OF ENGLAND TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

THE CUP OF COLD WATER.

Would ifc not be a good thing if country members would place the letters C.E.T.S. conspicuously, on the outside of their houses as indicating theit willingness to give the cup of cold water to thirsty travellers, especially cyclists. A great boon would ba conferred upon the public,/ and it. wbulo be some counter-attraction to the public house.

"I say nothing against beer, if taken in moderation my friend. Now, do you take it in moderation?" "Well, your honour, I usually take mine in a pot.' .

Captain the Hon. T. A. Brassey, Acting Civil Commissioner of Pretoria, in a letter dated July sth, sajg:—"lt is a month today since we first reached Pretoria. I have since , been appointed Acting Givil Commissioner of- Pretoria. My duties are to collect all the revenue for the town and district of Pretoria—in ordinary circumstances £20,000 a month. I have been saddled with the extremely troublesome work of regulating the sale of liquors. Our regulations are arbitrary. All bars are closed. Hotels alone are authorised to sell liquor by retail, and that only during meal times; and woe betide the man who infringes these regulations. It will be much more difficult to gather up the threads of government here than in the Frae State. I trust that my friends at Christchurcli and Bournemouth will appreciate and approve of my decision, and will see no objection to their candidate's appointment as the first Acting Civil Commissioner of Pretoria. —"Good Templar Watchword," August 13th.

WHAT ARE WE TO DO" WITH OUR

CHILDREN ? (Continued from last week.) Here is a case in point—the last which occurred within our owp. experience during the last fortnight. A country girl, pure, innocent,'and unsuspecting, went to service jx a first-class hotel. The proprietors , ; Christian and eminently kind people, who take great care of their servants, would not willingly have exposed her to any undue temptation. The kitchen, however, whei*e her duties lay, was near to the public house tap, and older- servants in the establishment were in the habit of getting in by stealth some hot spiced drinks. At first she resisted the inducement to partake of these, no doubt from a natural distaste; then yielded, then came to like them, till at last she was in the habit of going frequently to bed in a state of incipient intoxication. The sequel is soon told. Her morale once undermined by the drink, her ruin soon followed. A few months found her the denizen of a wretched abode, writhing on a bed of anguish from a kick received from a drunken soldier, thence to be transferred to an infirmary, where she now is; thence, if she recovers, to the refuge in the penitentiary— to go out again, it may be, to service, but carrying with her the fatal certainty that the thirst for strong drink, once contracted, may at any time break out again, and plunge her into depths of sin and misery, if possible deeper than before. Cases like this might be multiplied to any extent. Now go back to the period of childhood again. Watch the preparation that is being made for dangers like these. It is little to say that nothing is being done by way of special precaution against them; we doubt whether every combination of in-' fiuences that could smooth the tempter's way, and give the victims up, an easy prey, to his machinations, will not be found in most cases to be at work.

We were present a few days since at a children's party. Seated at a supper table, among others who were somewhat older than herself, was a little girl, scarcely over, if indeed she had reached, her fourth year. She was asked by the lady of the house what she would have to drink. Her father, who was standing by, answered for her: "What sba likes—a little wine and water, perhaps." A glass of what appeared to be one of the strong-brandied sherries, was poured out, and some water added to it, and this poor child, who was evidently a veteran already in the army of topers, quaffed off her tumblerful to her foeart'e content. There is.nothing uncommon iii this. , '

[From the Reformation Movement in the Church of England, by Rev. H. J. Ellison, M.A., p. 85.] (To be continued next week.)

PAPANUI TEMPERANCE BRASS BAND.

On Tuesday evening last a special meeting of the above band was held in St. Paul's schoolroom, Papanui, Mr H. Forwood in the chair.The following resolution was unanimously passed by the members of the above band. Resolved: "That the Papanui Temperance Brass Band become incorporated under "The Unclassified Societies'. Registration Act. 1895.' by the style and title of ths Papanui Temperance Brass Band." 24