MR GLADSTONE AND THE "ERRING YOUTHS."

Otago Witness, Issue 2355, 13 April 1899, Page 62

MR GLADSTONE AND THE "ERRING YOUTHS."

That Mr Gladstone was a supporter of moral reforms everybody knows, and the following facts show that he at times put his principles into practice, and with considerable success. Many years ago two young men, about whom he had heard, became notorious for their drinking habits, and it occurred to Mr Gladstone that he would make an attempt ' to reclaim them. Ho accordingly invited them to pee him at the castle, and there, J alone in the " Temple of Peace," he impressively appealed to them to change their ways, j and then knelt and fervently asked God to j sustain and strengthen them in their resolve to abstain from that which had hitherto done them so much harm. THE SF.QUKL. Tho sequel cannot be better told than in tho words of one of the men concerned, who says: "Never can I forget the scene, and as long as I have memory, the incidents of the meeting will be indelibly impressed upon my mind. The Grand Old Man was profoundly moved by the intensity of Lib solicitation. My companion is now a prominent Baptist minister, and neither of us from that day this has touched a drop of intoxicating drink, nor are we ever likely to violate an undertaking so impressively ratified in Mr Gladstone's library."