HARRY LAUDER IN THE PULPIT

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1958, 15 January 1914, Page 6

HARRY LAUDER IN THE PULPIT

SONGS AND A SERMON ON PIT TONIEB. Mr. Harry Lauder occupied the pulpit at Ancrlcy Congregational Church, South London, on a recent afternoon, and addressed a crowded men's meeting on the treatment of pit ponies. Many were tmablo to obtain admittance, and late-comers had to stand or sit on camp stools in the aisles. After an enthusiastic reception the comedian and ex-miner earned further applauso by singing "Anhio Laurie." Ho was driving a pony, he said, with a load of coal, T/hen the animal stopped »t a. spot where tho roof was higher Riid refused to proceed. Then it turned back into the working, and immediately afterwards tho roof fell in—"millions of tons of it," said iJr. Lauder. "That's why I am hero to-day." After his address, ho was asked if tho pit nonies were ever brought up for a breath of fresh air. "Yes," he replied, "they are—when the miners go on strike, or when a pony has his leg broken and is taken up—dead." One of the questioners caid things wero different m Engluish mines, and instanced the case fo a mino tho King visited. "Oh, yes," retorted Mr. Lauder, "they'd have tho por.ies all decorated up when tho King came." Replying to another query, Mr. Lauder said: "Tho cruelty is not general j it is occasional." Mr. Lauder received another ovation when ho sang "Hocked in the Cradle of the Deep."