OVER 8000 ADDRESSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23225, 24 June 1937, Page 20

OVER 8000 ADDRESSES

A WOMAN’S RECORD Nellie Abraham, noted preacher and lecturer in England, has just delivered her 8050th address, completing 47 years of public speaking. She began her career nearly 50 years ago by becoming an elementary teacher. “ I was only 12 years old,” she said. “The headmaster was rather sceptical about giving me the job because I was so small.” Her preliminary duties were to sharpen slate pencils, fill inkwells, kneel in a black apron to draw chalk lines on the floor, and to read Bible stories to a class of 60 infants. She received only 15s for three months’ work. “With my salary I bought a teapot, a pair of gloves, and a hymn book for astounded members of my fa mily,” she confessed, with a smile. , Since those days Nellie Abraham has travelled thousands of miles to address audiences in hundreds of Midland halls and churches. She has lectured on every subject, from politics to feminine psychology. In 47 years she has never missed an engagement to speak. “ For a hobby, I write words instead of speaking them,” she continued. " Dozens of my poems and songs have been published.”