INITIATING A CANDIDATE INTO THE GOOD TEMPLARS.

Evening Star, Issue 3281, 26 August 1873, Page 3

INITIATING A CANDIDATE INTO THE GOOD TEMPLARS.

The method of initiating a candidate into a lodge of Good Templars is but a slight improvement upon the r.au e programme so long in vogue by the ancient and honorable fraternity of the “ Sons of Malta.” A “chap” who was taken from a lager beer saloon, whore lie get “ tight” without knowing that lager would intoxicate, was put through a cold water treatment by the Good Templars a few evenings since. He “ peaches ”on the Templars, and gives the following exposS of their initiation ceremony, for which, no doubt, ho will be put through another course of cold water “sprouts” at the next mect ng of the lodge In the first place the victim for initiation is blindfolded, bound hand and foot, and thrown into a cider press and pressed for five minutes. This is done for the purpose of clearing his system of “old drunks.” He is then taken out of the' cider press, and, by means of a force pump, gorged with cistern water, after which a sealing plaster is placed over his mouth, and he is rolled in a barrel four or five times across the room, the choir at the same time singing the cold water song. He is now taken out of the barrel and hung up by the heels till the water runs through hia 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 the old oaken bucket is hung around hia neck, and fifteen sisters, with squirtgims, deluge him with cisti rn water. He is then forced to eat a pock of snow, while the brothers st : ck his ears full of icicles. He is then run through a clothes-wringer, after which he is handed a glass of cistern water by a young lady. He ia again gorged with cistern 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 half an hour he is again taken out and given i glass of cistern water, run through a clothes-wringer, and becomes a Good Templar.—American paper.