YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 430, 27 May 1871, Page 2

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

TnE second of the series of *' winte? evening lectures" was givan last evening by Mf. the subject being " The Siege of Paris." , x fc_» not easy to see how anything new could ie said upon an historical event so recent, or how an interest could be again excited upon a topic which many persons must have given up in weariness at what appeared sometimes to be an interminable narrative of horrors. Still the aspects in which vast and extraordinary occurrences present themselves to individual minds are different; and the points of view from which such themes are presented are various and distinct, according to individual peculiarities aad tastes This makes every narrative of such events interesting. Moreover, those who have read the accounts in the newspapers must; have been content to take up the. story in fragmentary portions. Much must have been .omitted that might possess a special interest, ano^ a great deal must have been unintelligible from, necessary compression. The task, therefore, which Mr. Rees set himself last evening was to take up the story of the Franco-Prussian war from the commencement, and, passing hasfci ty over ™ early stages and sieges, exh.' Ms'i kis ingenuity, or his descriptive re. *ourees, upon the mighty catastrophe in which this terribly-real drama culminated. ■*-"c lecture-room was crowded. There T»* as neither standing nor sitting room shortly after the hour announced for the lecture to commence. The Eev. Mr. Bree occupied the chair. The sources of information, from which the lecturer gathered a great variety of facts,, and which were arranged and presented with, great skill, were the same as most people haveaccess to. The occupations, however,, of most people will not admit of leisure to go through so many columns of printed matter. The most effective portions of the lecture were the description of Gambetta's armament of Paris, and the wonders of the " balloon post," the latter being capable, however, of a good deal more scientific illustration than was bestowed upon it. It is true Mr. Rees made no pretension to scientific illustration, but when he told us that by means of photography a " carrier pigeon " was enabled to carry two pages of the Times newspaper, 15,000 letters, and several hundred Government despatches, in one load, the fact itself is obviously capable of the most interesting unfolding. The lecturer was at various points of his discourse very loudly and generally applauded. His description of the interior of Paris had an interest of a melancholy kind. Some of the details might, perhaps, have been spared, but the distribution of darker and lighter colours must be taken at the will of the narrator. There there was no doubt left on the mind of the audience as to the direction which the sympathy of the lecturer took during the progress of the siege. The pictures of the consternation occasioned by the shells dropping on the roofs of private dwellings, the indifference of the billiard player-!, i n the places of public resort, over over which shells were passing in dozens, the gaunt spectres of skin and bone which craved food, although possessed of money enough, were well drawn. The whole lecture was a success, and though j confined to events which took place within 1 the besieged city, possessed a great deal of f instructive illustration. We heard very little J of what took place in the Prussian lines, although this must also be worth telling,and I would make the subject of another very efFec- j five discourse. At the conclusion, the lecturer j was loudly applauded, and a vote of thanks | passed to him by acclamation. —The next lecture will ba given on Friday, 2nd of June, by | the Rev. J. J. Lewis.