BLUE RIBBON ARMY MEETING. TE AROHA PUBLIC HALL.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 43, 29 March 1884, Page 2

BLUE RIBBON ARMY MEETING. TE AROHA PUBLIC HALL.

The following" report was held over from last issue : — On Wednesday evening, 1 tj Ui inst., the American Evangelists held a mooting in furtherance of the temperance cause in the Public Hall, commencing at 7.30 ; Rev. G. T. Marshall, Wcslevan Mini -tor, in the "hair. The meeting was op ned by sin.; ing a! hymn and prayer, after which i\li Dor- i man read the f)tli chapter of Isaiah.; Mrs Dorm.m next san^ as a solo a temperance hymn. Air Marshall tuen brieily introduced the prineip.il speaker of tiie e\<nin,g, Mrs Phelps, to the audience. This lady first referred to her 10n,4I on,4 experience in the temperance work, especially ni America, and how (rue she had found in that experience (rod's word respecting the miseiies brought about by stiong drink, not with respect to lun&elt in ;»ny way, l>ul amongst many with whom she had come in conwet. Until she hud been eiii>.u;ed right m the work of rescuing others, and brought into close contact with the victim* of intemperance, she had never fully realised wiiat was meant by the liible de-eiiption of it. The speaker went on lo say that every great reform iia.s been a work of time, line upon line, here a little a. id there a I'ttle, experience must be brought to bear, and the eyes of the people must be opened to see the evils of strong drink before they -will put it. }iwa\. it nad always been a wonder to her how such an article, which never brings in its train any .good, and does so much harm, was not long since diiven out of society altogether The women of Ohio, U.S.A., seeing its evil^, and that Government \>as so slack in devising any means to protect their homes which suil'ere I so much in consequence of strong drink, felt constrained to take the matter into their own hands, trusting in the arm of the Vlmighty to stay the evil. This wonderful worn 'li's whisky war was first started at a holiness convention i i Ohio. The speaker proceeded as follows : — God is always with every right cause, and we knew God was with us in this crusade against strong drink, and we were sure of victory. If it is wrong to drink intoxicating drinks, suiely it is wrong to sail it? and if it causes so much misery how can people license it to be sold ? Picture to yourself a cataract on a great river, numbeis of your fellow-beings continally going over and being lost, friends always trying to rescu? friends ; once now and then some were sa\ed, but numbers more weie coming on. At last people woke up to see what cm^ed this destruction, am) it A\as found that, above that cataract there were places established dealing out something that maddens the people, and caused them to not know what they weie doing. All tne energies of the.se women were brought to bear to stop the sale of this article. They went at it by prayer and self-denial. In a i>niphic and telling manner the speaker depicts I many of the scenes 1 that took place during this extraordinary and most successful campaign ; for successful it was, seeing that they never gave up until they had closed up every drinking s.iloon in Washington. During all the, time this was loing on they had the church bell tolled every 1 0 minutes, if. having been ascertained from statistics that every 10 minutes a poor drunkaru died in the United States alone. They stuck at nothing, and used to go down in the cellars tnem^elves, roll up the barrels of drink into the street, and then the honour of knocking in the head of the first cask was accorded to the poor woman who ha I suffered most tlirougli the driiii;. Tlio speaker pictured in

glowing terms the great delight of many of the poor mot'iers a« thf-y stood ronn I and saw the destruction of that which had caused them so much misery. JVlanyof the liquor dealers hel<; out a long time, hut it whs no u^e, they cotil I do no hnsino«s with a hitch of women round their door?, if not in<?jd<», singing hymns and praying. Those on duty were regularly relieved by others from time to time. In conclusion, Mrs P helps said none know so well as the liquor sellers themselves, if thny once implant in a man a taste lor strong drink, how difficult it will ho for him to give it up again once the t.iste for drink yets established. The poor victim fascinated as it were, ih-nwn on by an irresi^able impulse, quietly loses all sense of right, and a'l self-respect, and will stop at nothing to obtain the destroyer. The lady lecturer gave an amusing account of the groat attention this body of women bestowed on a liquor agent, who came to do business in Washington whiKt the crusade was goingon, following him abontto every house he went in ; in fact, taking care of him all day, which proved a blank one so far as orders was concerned, and when he gladly got away at night, escorting him to the station, and considerately wiring their friends in the next town he was bound for to meet him on his arrival and take good care of him aKo. The Blue Ribbon movement indirectly, if not directly, was tln> out-come of this movement. After the meefing was over quite a number came forward and feigned the pledge.