Offensive Evangelist.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 August 1921, Page 3

Offensive Evangelist.

SYDNEY THREATENS TAR AND FEATHERS.

SYDNEY, August 1. A person calling liimself “Ambassador” Booth, who claims to he a son o ( , the famous Salvation Army general, has f| been appearing as an evangelist m van- h ous places, in Victoria and New South ]y Wales, and attacking the “s.nfulntss of Australians and of Sydney people m fc] rmiicul. His remarks have oeen g( peculiarly offensive. He has thoroughly nnd enthusiastically damned *v eryone h in Australia, irrespective of age am. 0 condition, and has set himself up as one * entitled to p?ss an opinion » dancing. a .surfing, racing and every one of the s pastimes in which young Australia in- a Bulges. . c The “ambassador” has been shrieking at Sydney from the safe distance of certain country towns. Sydney said nothing, hut the people were quietly waiting. There was a definite movement a foot to catch Mr Booth as soon as he , •set foot in the city, and give him an j effective coat of tar and feathers. But ( he must liaVe heard a rumour of the 1 scheme, for he did not linger in Sydney, i He arrived from the west by one train and caught the next express for Queens- | land If he comes back, he ought to pro- 1 vide himself with a bodyguard of prize- i fighters, liecause if the furious menfolk whose sisters and wives he had gratu- i itously insulted, lay hands on him, he t will have a peculiarly unpleasant ex- 1 perience to add to his list of Sydney’s sins. Mr Booth got into an argument with Bishop Long of Bathurst—one f the most remarkable figures in the Australian ecclesiastical world He is a man of outstanding mentality, with i notable grip on Australian social problems, and though a young man, is greatly loved by all sections of the people. The Bishop attended a hall arranged by his parishioners and danced, whereupon the “ambassador” publicly hurled a number of insults at him. The “ambassador” was yelling himself hoarse in condemnation nt 1 dancing at the time, and he took th<> Bishop’s attendance at the ball as a j challenge. The Bishop replied with dig- 1 nity, and other people nislied in. A : lady' said that the “ambassador’s” re- 1 marks made her feci as if slugs were \ crawling over her. His imagination and his mind were like a filthy cesspool. Whereupon the gentle “ambassador'’ came back with this: “As to the right. 1 to-do-it but filtby-to-speak-of-it lady who says she felt as if a si ig were crawling over her, I am right glad I made her for once conscious of the true nature of ballroom, one-stepping, bun - ny-hugging, sensuous, powdered nakedness. The naked-backed, bare-breasted girl doing the beastly movements of the modern dance, in the arms of many polished counterfeit Christian gentlemen—(this is a dig at the Bishop) will get infinitely more harm than the slime of a slug will ever do her. As to Bishop Long’s use of th,. gentleman’s argument, he proposes I should be horse-whipped. Well, that is exactly the kind of treatment the Pharisees proposed for the Lord Jesus. So. T thank God and take courage.” t mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmsm