MR GRAHAMS LECTURES.

Southland Times, Issue 2090, 22 March 1875, Page 2

MR GRAHAMS LECTURES .

(TO THE .EDITOR OP THE TIMES.) Sib,— Riverton has lately been visited by » character known among the coarser classes of Dunedin by the name of Jock Graham. This gentleman, it seems, has lately been paying a visit t> Victoria. New S)uth Wales, and, if I remember correctly, some other part of Australia j and having returned from that continent, ho seems- anxious that the large amount of useful information gathered in his travels should not be lost to Riverton and other little plaea3 in New Zealand where he is not too well known to obtain a hearing. . , In what capacity Mr Graham travelled in Australia— whether aa a quack, a spiritist, a divine, or a swagmari— is be3t known by the parties he visited in, that oountey. But this wa well know, that the capacity in' whioh he ha.* paid Itiverfcon his first visit is, in ray opinion, everything but oommendable to himself, and reflects great discredit on those who can condescend to attend his exhibitions, after they have satisfied themselves as to their real character. Thechief characteristics of his entertainments aeom to consist in an admixture of the ridiculous, the sensual, and the holy, with a liberal sprinklta* of abuse, and a light vein of the obscena rutimia? through the whole. Table rapping, Bible lectures, Gbspel sermons, and buffoonery, all issuer from. the> same unhallowed souvoe. Lat my readers fancy a mortal who, with polluted lianii and heart, can recklessly lay hold of the most exalted things of the Deity, mix them in with low jokes and squibs, so as to render the mixture delightfully agreeable to the depraved tastes of the lowest of society ? No position in life can possibly be more degrading, in my opinion, than for a mm after he has acquired a pretty accurate knowledge of the Scriptures, to turn from the living way and spend the re3t of his days as a public jester in theservicsof the riffraff of society. Whether Mr G. is or is not, answering to the above, I leave for his hearers and himself to judge. To the most simple of Mr Graham's disciples, who think than as the bee extracts a little honey out of the mos' nauseous of fbwers, so will they be able to silt a little gooi out of aaoh entertainments as fie above-described, I beg to road a little advice out of a very old book—" Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter ? Oan the fig tree, ray brethren, bear olive berries, either a vine fUs ? So oan no fountain both yield salt water and fresh." If what Mr Graham has aa36rted in my hearin" be true in reference to his trials in Australia, the number of faces oarriod by that gentlomin under the same hat must hava considerably exceeded the number two. ' Belieying that hu wj,j admitted into a Presbyterian pulpit, wj ara OJ:npelled to believe that he presented hitnsalf on the occasion as a gentleman of the 9tim3 cloch. No I man of experience can ba ignorant of the jaalouiy with which, the Presbyterians guu-J the sanctity of their pulpits. This is of universal application. In this cisc Mr Graham mu3t have brought to bear on the matter a morn thm ordinary am >int of duplicity and craft in concealing the ol 1 wolf in a lambskin investment. Yes, indeed ; a lecture on prophecy and tha battle of Armageddon — what incongruity, what irreverence ! Shall swine oa3t Dej.rU bafore the swine and the God-fearing hold their peios? The bread may be given to the childron, and tha crumb 3to the dogs, but the pearls must ba regarded by us and our children a 9 heaven's greatest gift, not to be profanely treated, lest tha earth should be smitten with a curse. Now I have no desire to induoa your readers to treat with cont '.mpt or endlessness the very important subjects treated by thi3 wouli-ba lecturer. The coming retribution as foreshadowed by the Jewish prophets in the stories of the Armageddon overthrow ; the subsequent defeat of the Eings of the Roman habitable globi with their armies by the Prince of Princes ; and the hurling of the Apocalyptic Babylon into the abyss where she shall be found no more at all, are too deoply inscribe 1 by the Divine finger on the sacred page, to be overaightod by any careful reader of this holy book. I only beseech my readers, with myself, to deplore the fact that those most momentous truths should be paraded before the public in connection with the chicanery and foolery worthy only of a mountebank or a clown. Mr Graham will do well to be cautious how he examines the heads, and in what language ha describes the respective brain peculiarities of the, servant; girls of Riverton, lest his Riverton experiences should wind up after the fashion of Bruin's interview with the Bees.— Yuupj, &). William Roberts. Rivevton, 18th March, 1875. i —

Lady Students at G-irtchj College We clip'the following from the Bradford Observer Budget of the 23tii Deaetnbar last. The parties alluded to under the name of Kingsland are relatives of our fellow-townsman Mr John Kingsland. Two students at Girton College have been examined in the Natural Sciences Tripos. Miss Kingsland, daughter of the Rev. W. Kingsland of Bradford, passed in the second class, and has been appointed assistant lecturer in natural science and mathematics at Girton College. The other, Miss Dove, the daughter of the Rev. J. Dove, vicar of Cowbib, Lincolnshire, has been appoiuted an assistant mistress at Cheltenham Ladies' College, with a special view to teaching physiology. These ladies passsd the viva voee examination a:id also in physiology and chemistry. For the information of lome of our readers, we may explain that this examination, though not formally recognised by the University, is the same a3 that to which the students of the University are subjected. To pass in either the first, second, or third class ia considered equivalent to taking an M.A.. degree with honors. Miss Kingsland went to Girton upon a scholarship generously offered by a few ladies in Leeds, and supplemented by some in Bradford. Her success will doubtless bo very gratifying to those who have thus pratically shown their interst in the higher education of women. Seasonable Weatheb in Scotland. — Edinburgh, New Year's Day— Sandy : There's mair snaw this year than I've seen for mony a day ; it's by ord'nar. Jock : A.y, but it's vera saisonable \rather. Sandy: Deed, ye may say that, Jock— fine saft fain for the tbu folk.— Punch. A Philadelphia reporter in describing the turning of a dog out of Court, by the order of the Bench, says :— The ejected canine, as he was ignproiniously dragged trom the room, cast a glance at the Judge tor the purpose of being able to identity iiim at some future time.