OLD CLOTHES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2212, 16 October 1907, Page 2

OLD CLOTHES.

LECTURE BY THE REV C. GRIFFIN.

As promised, the Rev. C. Griffin made his lecture entitled “Old Clothes,” delivered at- Wesley Church last night, pleasant and entertaining. Mr. Griffin first dealt with “oh\ clothes” shops in the second-hand quarter of London —Monmouth street, and Petticoat Lane, He drew attention to the many articles displayed in front of tho shops—a pair of little boots and socks, tolling of a mother’s grief for tho loss of her child; a threadbare frock coat, worn greatly at the elboivs, tolling of hard work by a London clerk; a patched garment, which indicated that tho former wearer preferred patches to raggedness, and v'as alivo to tho fact that carelessness in personal attire was liable to engender carelessness in higher things. Tho lecturer then made reference to a shoddy mill in Yorkshire, dealing in- an interesting manner with tho origin of shoddy. Shoddy w'as not, however, confined to clothes—in tho domain of literature the shoddy manufacturer took a hand, and turned out books, such .as -those rn nmisine to Put the tmiW-"" the royal road to learning, which, liko shoddy clothing, were very frequently a source of trouble to the buyer. Mr. Griffin touched on the honorableness of w'earing old clothes, quoting Burns’ “A man’s a man for a’ that” in corroboration. The many and varied uses to which old clothing is put were spoken of, and tho lecturer mado allusion to tho fact that young ladies and gentlemen w'riting love-letters could never be sure that the delicate writing material they were using had not the previous week been part of a shirt of a beggar. During the evening a collection was taken up in aid of the Maori missions fund.