WHAT HALLRLUJAH LASSES DID.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1184, 7 November 1884, Page 3

WHAT HALLRLUJAH LASSES DID.

A writer in a London paper says:— The first time 1 ever had an opportunity of seeing what a couple of girls could do in this new field of activity was in a north country to wn of about 30,000 inhabitants. On day in sum raer all the walla were covered with posters ooiitaining the simple an nouncement that “thehallelnjih lasses” were coming on such a date, and it w is currency reported that the largest hj ill in the town, a place holding some two or three thousand persons, had been taken for their services. On the day appointed, two girls, one ot som education but only IS or 19 years old wir.li no experence. and the other one about 25, almost without education, but possessed of a pie ising presence, ninch da malic ability and unmistakable earnestness, took up a position in the nurket place, gave outa hymn, and began to sing. They hud not a friend or a helper in tiio whole town. I ho novelty of the girls singing in the open air attracted the curious A large crowd assembled, which list ened with wonder to the brief but telling addresses of the girls and then walked in a I ody down to the ball, the girls walking backwards, leading them through the street, si ging on iheir way some of the m >rching music of the army, Fora that hour the victory was won The hall was crowded ever» Sunday :n I every night in the week for mouth’s. Even when the novelty wore oil the Sunday services were always crowded Many of the worst characters i i the town were reclaimed. Dmnk irda and wife-beaters became sa*ration soldiers, testified to the reality of the wc k that was done. A kind of church or cou "legation of the faithful w s built up entirely out of the non chnrchgoing classes. The whole of the lo\ve r quarters of the town weie “ niissior ed,” street by street, converts wore visited regularly, and the energies of the newly established organisation were directed against “ drink, sin, and the devil,” The services wei'e kept up every day in the week. Six services ou Sunday, three out of doors and three in, and two every week day one out and one in, with processings and missioning* to fill in the time, severely streined the capahi'ity of the las es. In addition to this lliev hud to find all die funds for the hire of their hj 11, which with gamimounted per annum, pay for all printing, and collect eveiy penny of the money of their own subsistence. The lasses did everything, arranged eveiything, collected everyth! ig, managed eery thing They tramped through the muddy streets, organised ths processions, raised the tunes, delivered the ad dresses, and drilled their motley con* verts into shape. How they kept up the “ go ” of the concern was a standing marvel. But they did, and when after six months they left, they had distinctly raised in the whole town the conception of what a woman could do,