TO GET HOLD OF THE MEN.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1372, 24 February 1912, Page 6

TO GET HOLD OF THE MEN.

ADDRESS BY THE REV. C. F. ASKEW. A very pleasant social evening was spent at the St. Mark's : Schoolroom, in Sussex Square, last night, when the Rev. C. l'\ Askew, vicar of St. Mark's, met about eighty of the men of his parish. During tub evening items of entertainment wore rendered, and Bupper was handed round. In a brief and much-applauded address to the company, Mr. Askew said that he was merely going to say one or two words. He would take an opportunity of saying more when the monthly services were commenced. „ "It is a gTeat joy to me," he said, "bo welcome you to this little informal gathering to-night. I hope tho barrier which may—l say 'may' advisedly—have existed between us in the past will bo broken down, and that to-night wo meet as man to man, and I hope that spirit will bo reciprocated on your part. I hope you will go away feeling it was good to bo here this evening because you have learned a littlo more of others. There was a saying in England that the Baptists had all tho water, the Methodists all the fire, and'the Church nil tho starch. Ho hoped this parish would havo all tho water it needed, sufficient fire, and no starch. In England, too, they had all kinds of parsons—tho flying parson, the fightintr parson, the walking parson, many other kinds of parson, and a few working parsons. If ever he was known by any distinctive name, he hoped it would be by the name of the working parson: ho had come out here to work, and ho asked for their co-operation in an earnest endeavour to advance men in righteousness. , "I welcomo you from my heave," ho concluded. "As far as the Church of St. Mark's is concerned, wo do wish to got hold of tho men, and when you see a black coat and a white collar you can feel assured there is a warm heart (as far as I am concerned), which thinks of you, and hopes that blessings, spiritual and temporal, will bo yours." (Applauso.)