CHURCH OF ENGLAND TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12571, 5 August 1901, Page 2

CHURCH OF ENGLAND TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

ST MATTHEW'S, ST ALBANS, TEM- • PERANCE "SOCIETY. ' i Adultßranch.) A meeting will be held; on Monday next, at 8 p.m.,'when the annual report and balance-sheet for the year ending July 31, , ISOi, will be submitted to the members of the Society, for adoption,, to elect officers and to arrange any other business, that may be brought forward. Musical programme, .recitations, etc. All over the age of fifteen and children in the' care of parents, are welcome. No charge. Collection to defray expenses. : City and Suburban Brass Band in attendance. . .A CAB-DRIVER'S SPEECH. """"" Mr T. Ryan, cab-driver, Royal Oak Cab Shelter, Pickering Place, Westbourne Grove, W". —As the church came and called me out of drinking ways, I think I ought to tell you what work she has dome with respect to my trade in my immediate neighbourhood. It is some four years since that a lady in bur neighbourhood came to'the various shelters situated in Westbourne Grove and g\ave us an invitation to a +ea, with a hope of forming a Sunday evening, class for drivers who did not attend; plares of worship. About forty responded to fh« call. After tea: various speeches were delivered, arid the result was that on the following Sunday evening wo attended the first service, and four men, took the pkdge —myself included. Since then the.work has progressed very favourably, alTout 200 , cab-drivers in our own immediate neighbourhood having taken the pledge. Many of them, relying on their own strength, went out into the full blaze of temptations besetting a, cabman's life, and fell back again into old drinking ways; but I am pleased to, say that, s ince our West End bramch started, about one hundred pledges remain, firm. We have many instances of men who had suffered terribly from the drink, and, of course, their wives and fami-l lies with them, who are now living testimonies to the benefits of total abstinence. A great means of promoting temperance amongst cabmen has been the shelters, of which there are now thirty-six in the streets of London, in which the attendants' give us much help. I should like to ask those who ride in cabs not to treat drivers to drink. You admit that a man drank in charge of a; vehicle is a dangerous man about the streets of London—then why increase' the danger by adding your "treat" to the "treats" of other people? * A man "three sheets in the wind" falls into the hands of a policeman; he is taken to the station, he is loeked-up, the wife and children are deprived of his services; he is next morning fined 40s or a month : the woman has to go from friend to friend to try and get the 40s, a.nd 3 if she,cannot get it the man hy s to go to prison for a month. How are the wife and children to get on then? They have to do the best they can, and let me tell you the best is very bad. I know from experience, and I am only telling you facts that I know of myself. If you take a cab and want to reward the driver, give him an extra sixpence, it will do him good. Cabmen are not the class they are represented to hi. If you go amongst them as cur good friend Mrs Strong (since called to her rest) used to do, you will find that cabmen will respond to your kindness. It was fine who got, me .to sign the pledge, and anything shs could do. for cabmen, at their homes or at the shelters, she did for thed. Push the cause amongst the cabmen, and teach them to say the little prayer on the back of our leaflet, and nine out of ten,'will be sure to keep the pledga. I know this from my own experience. On behalf of the members of my fraternity, who are members of the Church of England Temperance Society, I thank God and the workers in the cause for what they have dona for the cab-drivers of London. The little prayer spoken of in the above speech runs thus : PRAYER. 0 Lord, our Heavenly Father, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy, forgive me my past sins. Help me to ba truly penitent for them, and enable me to' keep my promise of abstinence, ior Christ Jesus," my Saviour's sake—Amen.