SERVICE AT WI-TAKO

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 138, 7 March 1929, Page 13

SERVICE AT WI-TAKO

MEMORIAL TO REV. J. HOLMES. An interesting ceremony following that »t Wi-Tako on Thursday, February 28, Was held at the base of the memorial cairn on Sunday afternoon, March 3, when Rev. G. W. Hunt, prison chaplan, conducted a dedicatory service “in memoriam” to the late Rev. J. Holmes, a' former chaplain. AH the inmates of the institution were invited to be present The pien arranged themselves in a semi-circle around the cairn’s base, and familiar hymns were sung. Mr. J. Blyth, an old friend of Wi-Tako and former organist to Mr. Holmes, presided at the organ. At a suitable interval, and standing in front of the cairn, the chaplain held up a photo of John Howard, the great apostle of prison reform, and then gave a graphic account of the. dreadful conditions and horrors of prison life in Howard’s day. The lesson was obvious, and there was no need to point a moral. Then followed a short address, which took the form of a fitting Gospel message on the love, pardon, and liberating power of God. The message was listened to with closest attention and reverence. At the close of the service the men proceeded through the bush to the clearing made by the inmates in their leisure hours, and with the permission- of the superintendent and his officers, a cup df tea was dispensed. and the opportunity given of a half-hour of happy conversation. Several of the meh expressed personally to the chaplain their, warm appreciation 1 of all that had been done. The words on the eairn are as follow: “In the Rev. Jas. Holmes visited this -prisbrn as a minister of the Gjispel and a friend in the time of trouble, and Wi-Tako is all tha batter because be visited here.”