TEMPERANCE MEETING.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 79, 1 October 1879, Page 3

TEMPERANCE MEETING.

The third >pf a/ series .of monthly entertainmetits, under the auspices of. the Slower of Feilding Lodge, I.6 JGiT., Was held m the Schoolroom on Thursday eyenipg^ yThere was a Very numerous attendance,, the large ro^ crowded. Mr. BlacktnoTO: was elected , to fill the chair. ; The proceedings commenced with the tinging of a Temperance Ode. ..', The Chqirmap spoke at considerable contrasting m,; fbiwible language the ' happiness which reigned m a temperance family, with the misery, ever inseparable froni the dwelling of a drunkard, Mr. Tarrant sang "Put me m my little bed," m a style whiph elicited great applause. Mr. Lucas responding to a call from the Chairman, said he was proud to see so.many present, as it showed that the cause of Temperance was not dead m Feilding. He considered one proof of the justness of their. caUse was the fact pf their meeting with ao much opposition. He was lately speaking with; a man who said that .no Christian man should preach Temperance, and that there was no commandment m the Bible enjoining it: But he (the speaker) thought the command, "Do good unto all men," waste the pointy for m preaching and practising they . were doing good to others as well as ~ themselves (applause). He would tell them a little anecdote. A man once pame upon a poor fellow lying drunk Opposite a public-house, so he went into ■ta.:' groeer'g shop, got a large sheet of "brown paper and a piece of chalk, and Wrote on it— "specimen of the work done within" — and covered tho man that was lyipg. m the road with it. A crowd collected, the landlord came out, andangrilya-ked "who did this." The Waiter replied, V If you mean who wrote ;- this, I did, but if you mean who made tho man dn-.uk, you did;" They often saw publicans' advertisements m the •papers, b\*kt he. thought they need not advertise,. a,a thepe were so many; " speci? ifflens of t^e w-orJ-; dqne within "toy be met with. There were plenty of houses -piade lnjserable by the « work." He 7 would implore those wljo knew what ywas # $ohei within^ tb keep out of the jpubUc-io^se. The world depended on the rising goueratibn; and ha besought them never. tQ ta^e their children into a public-house^ nor ever tq give, them a glass-, of beer a,t hou\e else they might have to, tr%ce their, sons decline into the vice af intem,peranca to that glass of heer. He would say God speed the Temperance ca,use m. Feilding and - though their number was small, he hoped it wo^ld soon be the greatest power m the place (applause). Mr. Andrews sang " Father pra^y with pc to-nig-ht^ m pleasing style. v . Mr. Boundy next addressed: the meeting. He said he woqld not pretend to bring new M^hnjeuita. before them, to . night, but would endeavor to bring' the • sabjeet befOT/B theirs iua new lights adducing his arguments from two books which he studied a great deal— the Bible and Nature. Many were under the impressian that the Bible countenanced the use of strong drink. Tliis wa,s . " -.a mistake for it did nsthing of the krind. Sfhere were fto les;S than nine, words m m the original which were all translated wine m our version, but not one of them resembled tha abominable stuff that was sold for wine. The wine m- common use among the Egyptiams wa,s nothing . ihore than the expressed j nice of grapes. Then again he wou,ld *^sk what was alcohol P Liebig, the mpst renowned of chemists, tells us that alcohol can Oflly be produced by the putrifaction of some •vegetable substance. It was a weliknown fact that m seeds a portion of them died that the other part might live, |0 m the matter of beer^ the malster .Watered the barley until it began to •nrouj. Thig was gtbpped just it*, the

.nick' of '-time, aad it was 'then only decayed barley. Was there, he would ask any other, article of diet that they allowed to decay? They all knew that m the case of meat or fish the least taint ef decay was repulsive,vaudvyet m that particular article of alcohol it . went down with a relish. It was amistake to suppose that there was any great strength m alcohol. It "was, strong enough to knock a man down, but it was not strong enough to set him up | again. The only nutritious element m beer was the saccharine, and from an analysis of AUsopp's beer, made by the celebrated Dr. Hassall, it appeared that there was only one-seventh per cent, of i sugar, or m Other words, they would have to drink seventy gallons of beer to obtain the equivalent of one pound of sugar. This beer cost m the colony 4s. per gallon, so that they would pay £14 for the ■ value of : a pound of sugar. Fancy any of them paying £14 to the grocers for a pound of sugar ! Then why pay itto the publicans ? He appealed to mothers, of whom a goodly number were present, never to allow their child-ren-to taste a drop' of the abominable trash sold as wine, beer, cidei, Ate. He would tell them a little anecdote. A party of ladies were discussing their troubles one day-^-ladies did sometimes air their grievances — all had spoken but one, and she was invited to tell hers. She. said they did not knpw%hat trouble was. ■ She had married young, and;was happy on a farm with her husband and children. One night, the were burned out-rstacks, house, eyerthing. Again they were comfortably settled on a good farm, a flood came, she was carried by her husband to high ground, where with the. children they thought they were safe/ The flood rose, she saw her husband swept away, and her sons one after, the other, and she had to climb a tree, .with her babe m her arms, where she passed the night. That was not trouble, That babe grew up, took to evil com--panions, and with them frequented the t public-house. One night when inflamed with wine he took the.. life of a* fellow creature and expiated his crime on the gallows. That was trouble. How. many he would ask had met with" a similar fate through the curse of drink. (Ap;* plause). a-'a - '77777 '"■'• 7Mr. Smithson gave a reading entitled "The vision of death*" whidh was well received. y Mr. Towler on being called upon by the Chairman, rose and came forward, He said that as it was the first time he had been permitted to address a congre-. gation he hoped they would excuse him if he made any mistakes. Some twelve or thirteen months, ago ;a. few of them had banded together to raise the name of Feilding, which had obtained an unenviable notoriety far arid wide, owing to. the drinking habits of the inhabitants. What numberless proofs of the evils pf ; intemperance iwere afforded m the newspapers••! How many were ruined through '< the social glass." It vt a• no uncommon thing to find a young man entering life with ;brilliant prospects, wh'ch were blasted by the/social glass. This social glass led to habits of drinking, to billiards* to bettirig ; oni horse racing ; his means were not sufficient for his habits," •branded for life. Many urged that it was no use their taking the pledge, they were only moderate drinkers ; tin y nev» • got drunk. The moderate drinkers were jiist the men they wanted to get hold of, for it was through these:- moderat3 drinkers that many mien who could not resist temptation were ruined; He had been a tippler- m his time, but for more than two years be had been, a total abstainer, sq : that he was m a position to say which waah^st. There Were many m that room who kne*w that teetotalism was twenty thousand times the best. He asked the young men to join the cause for the sake of their- character, and married men for the sake of their wives and forpilies. (Applause). ' A Hound by Messrs, Nichols and Tarrant, "Hark, the merry Qhristchiirch. bells*" went yery well. v A Selection by Mr. Daw's Drum and Fife Band, " Hon^e, Sweet Efoiftey * w as played m expelleh- time. „ The Bey. '"'Mr. Jones spoke at great length, and we regret that oiir space will not permit of more than a brief outline of what he said. There was one particular thing, he obseror-ed, that hadpleased him that night. .It was- that they had been addressed by those who bad studied both sides of "the question and he was. proud to think that; theyhad so many laboring men m Feildingwbo could testify that '-. te'etotalism was. the best (applause) . The speaker d welt at considerable length on the elevating tendencies of Temperance, and instanced a case m Blackburn, where a man who had lived m a miserable cellar before he took the pledge, afterwards gradually rose m position, and became a wealthy: man, respected by all. It was a fact that those most engrossed m the liquor traffic, advertised for. sober men—for they knew they could trust men that did riot drink. : Temperance was on. the right side. The Old Book! throughly sanctioned the course the G-ood .Templars took. The. mightiest and best men of Old, were Good Templars. Sampson ] per.fo.rmed all his feats on cold water. 1 Tlie brightest example of self-denial on record, John the Baptist preached to m Judah, and he did it on I cold water. Temperance was on the . side of all that w aa holy and just and good. There were many who asked " What'-s ma pledge," not a few knew what a pledge was when the wife was a little waspy A pledge exerted a restraining influence, and it was the pledge taken by the husband which prevented him leaving his wife. He wanted young men, to look at the picture presented by Temperance — happy-homes pleasant faces, and money m the pocket j to meet the exigencies of every day life '.— -for they had looked long enough on the pubJuVjivri's picture. It w as stated m the. papeifs, and ha had read it with grea.t sorrow-,, that £4 per head per. an-, num was spent m New m drink. The speaker concluded with an earnest appeaYto, %«£t6 |oihthe Tjemperaricejeoursa. —"-- y The Chairman m, i-un^ingy c audience for their attendance and at-, tention, and expressed a, hope that they had enjoyed themselves,- and invited them to. sign the pledge hpp^ and join the Order* The meeting separated after singing a temperance Ode^