OFFENSIVE EVANGELIST.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17220, 10 August 1921, Page 2

OFFENSIVE EVANGELIST.

SYDNEY THREATENS TAB AND FBATHEBS. («om on* of» comresrowrare.) SYDNEY, August 1. A person calling himself ••Ambassador" Booth, who claims to be a son of the famous Salvation Army general, has been appearing «s an evangelist m various places in Victoria and *cw South Wales, and attacking the "sinfulness of Australians, and of Sydney people in particular. nis remarks have been peculiarly offensive. He has thoroughly and enthusiastically damned everyone in Australia, irrespective of age and condition, and has set himself up as one i entitled to pass an opinion on dancing,; surfing, racing, and every one of .ho, pastimes in which young Australia inThe ''ambassador" has been shrieking at Sydney from the safe distance of certain country towns. Sydney said nothing, but the people were quietly waiting. There was a definite movement afoot to catch Mr Booth as soon as lie set foot in the city, and give iiini an effective coat of tar and feathers. But he must huve heard a rumour of tha j scheme, for ho did not linger in Sydney. | Ho arrived from the west by one train. | and caught the next express for Queens-1 land. If, he comes back, he ought to provide himself with a bodyguard of prizefighters, because if the furious menfolk, whose sisters and wives he has gratu- i ltously insulted, lay hands on him, he j will have a peculiarly unpleasant ex- J perienco to add to his list of Sydney's; sins. I Mr Booth got into an argument wit h \ Bishop Long, of Bathurst —one of the' most remarkable figures in the Austra-' Han ecclesiastical world. Ho is a man of outstanding mentality, with a notable grip on Australian social prob-; lems, and, though a young man, is greatly loved by all sections of the people. Tho Bishop attended a ball: arranged by his parishioners, and', danced, wheroupoh the "ambassador" I publiCiV hurled a number of insults at I him. The "ambassador" was yelling I Ihimself hoarse in condemnation of I dancing at the time, and he took the Bishop's attendance at the ball as a challenge. The Bishop replied with dignity, and other people rushed in. A lady Baid that the "ambassadorV remarks made her feel as if slugs were crawling over her. His imagination and his mind were like a filtlhy cesspooL Whereupon the gentle "ambassador" came back with this: "As to the right-to-do-it but fhthy-to-speak-of-it lady who says she felt as if a slug were crawling over her, I am right glad 1 made her. for once conscious of the true nature of ballroom, one-stepping, i bunny-hugging, sensuous, powdered I nakedness. The 'naked-backed, bare-I breasted girl doing the beastly move- I ments of the modern dance, in tho arms I of many polished counterfeit Christian gentlemen—(this is a dig at tho Bishop) —will get infinitely moie harm than the slime of a slug will ever do Iher. . . As to Bishop Long's use of the gentleman's '• argument, he proposes I should be horse- I whipped. We.l, that is exact.y the Kind of treatment the Pharisees proposwi for the Lord Jesus. So I thank «od and take courage." I