INITIATING A CANDIDATE INTO THE GOOD TEMPLARS

Dunstan Times, Issue 1179, 3 October 1884, Page 3

INITIATING A CANDIDATE INTO THE GOOD TEMPLARS

The method of in,ti , tiro/ n candidate 1 if" a lodge of Good I’emplHrs is biuu alight improvement upon dm Bums programme so long in vogue by the ancient and honourable fraternity of the “ Sons of Malta.” A “chap" w*>n was taken from a lager beer saloon whore he got “tight” without knowing, chat lager would intoxicate, was put thr nigh a cold water treatment by the Good Templars a few evenings since. He “ the following expose of their initiation ceremony, for .vhicb, no doubt, he will be put through another course of cold water “ sprouts ” at the next meeting of the lodge : —ln the first place the victim foi initiation is blindfolded, bound hand and foot, and thrown into a cider, .press, and pressed, for fiye minutes. This is done* for the purpose of clearing his system of *• old drinks,” He is then taken out; of the cider press, and, bv means of a force pump, gorged with cistern water, after which a sealing plaster is placed Over his mouth, and is rolled in a barrel tour •or five- times acrass the room, the choir at the same time singing the Cold water song. Ho is now taken out of the barrel and hung up by the heels till the water runs through his ears He is then cut down, and a beautiful young lady hands him a glass of cistern water. A cold water bath is then furnished him, after which he is showered with cistern water. He is then made to read the Water Works Act ten minutes, drinking a glass of cistern water between each reading, after which tbe old oaken bucket is hung round his neck, and fifteen sisters with squirtguns, deluge him with -cistern water. He is then forced to eat a peck of snow, whi e the brothers stick his ears full of iceles. He is then run through a clothes-wringer, after which he is handed a glass of cistern water bv a young lady. He is again treated with ci-dcn water, and his boots filled with the same, and laid in a refrigerator. The initiation is now almost concluded. After remaining in the refrigerator for the space of hilf an hour he is again taken out and given a glass of cistern water, run through a clothes-wringer, and becomes a Good Templar.— American Paper .