THE SALVATIONISTS.

Evening Star, Issue 6726, 7 October 1885, Page 4

THE SALVATIONISTS.

THE SOCIAL EVIL. Tha announcement that Marshal Booth would speak on the "Social Evil" and revelations of the ' Pall Mall Gazette' had the effect of attracting to the Garrison Hall last evening one of the largest audiences we have seen in the building. Many leading citizens were present, and the proceedings throughout were of the most enthusiastic character. .After the singing of a number of hymns (accompanied by the waving of handker- . chiefs) and prayer by the officers, Marshal Booth said he had been at work since yesterday morning at nine o'clock, when he attended a marriage service in that hall but he would endeavor to speak plainly, as he always did, and he prayed that the Holy Spirit might guide him to speak rightly on this most important and solemn occasion, He presumed the majority of the audience were fully aware that he intended to allude to the social evil-a -question which had excited much thought and consideration in the Home Country; but before doing so he would read from the Sth chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, commencing at the 18th verse. Doubtless some persons would wonder why he had chosen this passage; but as he stood there the visions of the scenes he had witnessed in Dunedin the previous night —or rather between eleven o'clock at night and four 1 o'clock that morning—rose before him, and he felt that he could join the weeping prophet and say : " Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of ..tears,,that I might weep day and night for :> the slain of the daughter of my people." He was glad, grateful, and proud that his mother's heart had been stirred to its depths

and that his father had taken so courageous and prominent a stand against the infamous and hell-favored iniquity that had been exposed.—(Hallelujah.) He had read the 'Pall Mall Gazette' through and through, but not without many a sting and many a tear; and as he flung it on one side lie had fallen cm hia knees a'ud said : "Thank God, such infamy does not exist in these sunny lauds." But during the same day a gentleman—a philanthropist—had said to him :" Mr Booth, I could take you in this city to a house whieh would cause you to bow your head in shame and indignation, and that would almost break the heart of the most stalwart father in this land." He replied that this could not be true ; but he had found it was true, and only too true. He had found that there was cause for a general uprising on the part of the public ; and if parents would have their daughters protected, if they would have the sublime morality which in the ranks of the Salvation Army was sought to be inculcated, they must be prepared to make a stand against this giant iniquity. It was quite time that someone spoke out plainly, and he for one would not cease to speak out out plainly.—(Applause.) That such things as he mentioned could take place unpunished was a disgrace to the land, and if no one else would take the matter up the Salvation Army would do so.—("Glory to God," and applause.) It was quite true that recently there had been a stir at Home, where a petition two and a-half miles long, containing 393,000 signatures, had been presented to the British Parliament. o\rer 50,000 persons took part in the procession. As a result of that mission a law had been passed at Home that every young woman should bo protected up to the age of sixteen. Thank God for that! But in these colonies a young girl of tho tender age of fourteen could sanction her own ruin, and leave her poor mother to go to the very threshold of the house where her child was to plead for her daughter's return without redress. Tho sooner another law was passed in these colonies the better. —(Amen, and applause). While thinking of some of the cases he was fille 1 with grief, 'Now, he asked, if this were the case with the daughters of those present, would they not rise en masse and declare it was time that something should be done to eradicate the evil ?—(Great applause.) On the previous night, in company withMajorPollard and one of the ladies taking an active part in the rescuing of these fallen creatures, he had visited some of the centres of iniquity in Dunedin. He was not going' to frighten any of his audience—(laughter)—but merely to give one-or two instances that came under their notice. In one of the houses they had visited was a young woman who denoted that she had been highly educated. _ It transpired that her father resided in a neighboring colony, but she refused to give his address, so that the Army officers might see if he would not restore her to his home. That was only one instance out of scores he could give. He believed that he was right in bringing these things to light, and in asking for the sympathy and practical aid of many of the ladies present with the Army in their efforts to repress vice and to reform the .vicious. The Army intended to have an office of inquiry, and to establish a home that would be a home in every sense of the word for those who had fallen. In this home the officers would seek the entire reformation—for they had no faith in mere outward reformation of the fallen —and the salvation of the outcast. Some determined step must be taken to cope with this great evil. In the Salvation Army rescue-houses close on 700 young women had been received, and the majority of them were to-day giving every satisfaction and were in positions of trust, having given evidence of a complete change, so that he had reason to invite help to cope with this monster iniquity. He had spoken plainly, and others would doubtless do the same; but he did not want the matter to rest within the walls of that building, but that what was said should be taken home,, and people should consider what could be done to increase the morality of our cities and our land. He thank God that he was there and for the work the Army were doing. If they could not save the men, let them save some of the women; but for God's sake let them rescue the children. -(Great cheering.) There was a lady upon that platform who had' been residing here for years, and who had toiled behindthe scenes for the rescue of fallen women.—(Hear.) In conclusion, he mentioned th-.it in the Evening Stak of that night there appeared an intimation that Mr Stead, editor of the ' Pall Mall Gazette,' and General Booth had been committed for trial for the abduction of a girl, Lily Armstrong. He was si'.re that they had only been actuated by the purest motives; and that the child hud been abducted so that she should not fall into the hands of wicked and designing men. But what

was imprisonment, wiiat was persecution, when acting in a gooil cause seeking the Master's welfare ?—(Applause, and " Praise the Lord " from several parts of the hall). Mrs Stewart bore testimony to the truth of the things of which Marshal Booth had been speaking. She had been in i)unedin four years, but could not claim to have had great success in the work in which she had been engaged. She had offered salvation to her lost and fallen sisters, and hoped to see results in the future. When the Army came to Dunedin she had been very mucji struck with the strange methods of procedure in winning souls to Christ, but she had seen the Army accomplish in a few days what she had labored for years to produce, and felt that it was not for her to find fault with the methods that had so succeeded. The question on which s'ie was asked to speak was rather a difficult one for a lady to handle before a mixed audience, but the dreadful evil in our midst made it necessary for someone to come forward to Bpeak upon it. It was now twenty-one years since she had given her heart to God, and God had given her courage to do what otherwise she would shrink from doing. At one time nothing seemed to her to make a woman so small as to go out of the conventional walk, and it was some time before she could sacrifice her ladyhood to her Christianity. Men thought that women were made to be instruments to pander to their lowest and most degraded tastes ; but the very hardesthearted of men would pause if they could see the wrecks v liich young and innocent girls became three, four, or five years after they had been brought to shame. She wished to say, too, that this evil could not exist were it not for the debasing influence of intoxicating drink. To the honor of her sex she could say that no woman could pursue an immoral life if her faculties were not deadened and her heart sunk in lethargy by this horrible stuff. She sympathised with the Salvation Army because they went directly against drinlj and tobacco, and in favor of the purest and highest morality. She urged on parents their responsibility in connection with the social condition of the City. Mothers should take care that their children did not congregate at street corners and play in the streets at night, for it was owing to the neglect of parents that children grew up to be an expense to the State and a disgrace to their fellow-citizens. There was much to be done, and whilst other people were speculating about it the Salvation Army had taken the work up, and her prayer was that God would bless them in it.—(Amen.) Mrs Graham made an eloquent appeal to the women of Dunedin to assist in rescuing their lost sisters. If they undertook the work with the love of Jesus filling their souls their mission would be successful. Major Pollard spoke with a view of impressing on those present their individual responsibility in this matter. He learned that there were seventy-six houses of ill-fame in Dunedin, and that they were occupied by between 200 and 300 fallen women. The Salvation Army intended taking up in earnest t le work of these women's reformation They intended establishing agencies in every large town in the world, so that their officers would be enabled to track lost daughters and restore them to their homes. As to the fallen women, they would not only be brought back from their evil mode of living, but a home would also bo provided for them.—(A chorus of hallelujahs.) The meeting terminated shortly before ten o'clock.