TEMPERANCE REFORM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 74, 7 August 1901, Page 2

TEMPERANCE REFORM.

MR. WOOLLEY. AT THK THEATRE KOYAL. Though small to some of the audiences which he has addressed, it must have been gratifying to Mr. John Q. Woolley, the great American Temperance Beform lecturer, to see the packed audience which assembled to him in the Theatre Royal last night. Every geat was occupied, and standing room was at a premium. The gathering included a very large proportion of ladiep, and was also, it may be mentioned, composed of people of all nhades of opinioa on the question referred to. The Mayor (Mr. E. Dockrill) presided, and on the stage were also a number of prominent loeil worker* in the temperance cause. In introducing the leoturer, the Mayor briefly referred to the fact that during the past few years Britain and America had been drawn closer togather in many ways, and now it , seemed they were also to work hand-in-baad in dealing with this great , question of Temperance Reform. ' Mr Woolley, who was received with applause, said he would speak very ; fimply and hoped to interest his hearers in the subject he would discuss. He was not a preacher, but he felt he could not do better than take as what he miglit call a text for his address the words of Jesus Christ, " A sower went \ forth to sow." This was a common- : place sentence, but if studied carefully ■ it would bj found to bristle with com- ■ mon sense and truth. They could not J tall what a mas was when he was, so to speak, in his Sunday clothes or oo ; dnw parade—you must 6ee him at his s work. The speaker then drew a pic- ■ ture of a man working in a field amid I d<eary surroundings. This, he sail, . was a similar picture to the prohibiI tion movement The fight against tin : liquor traffic was one which must be I full i f discouragements. They heard . people S'iy that they shou'd move with '.l.e imes, and according to their sori'6undi«g<. Perple said to him i sometimes that he was ahead of the 1 time , and was pig-he»ped and fanat- , ical. Tais was ail right; but, said Mr. , Woolley, there was no time like the I pie6ent— they could not be "righter " r thunnjw. They were criticised as trying ; to be better than their neighbours. ', But prohibition work was ono of the s 'be*t euros for vanity. The meakest > paop'e who engaged in rescue work had ; to put, up with disappointments, and ; would find that their work had been [ fruitless But they should go on. ■ They should go on and do their work, remembering that" a sower went forth to sow." They must remember the I humility of the sower. He had learned I • that there was only one simple line of i '■ business which he could follow, and he j followed it. This was one of the hardj est lessons that the average man and t weman had to lrarn. The greatest 1 proposition to-day was what each was going to do in the work that was to • hand. It was by the ordinary sower I ju»t the simple Mr Nobody—that the , work of reform in this country and in ' his was to be carried on to success.! I The people were as a whole unanimous | on the desirableness for prohibition, , hut the question was as to the method. . He had never, for instance, seen a maa . ecclesiastical or lay whom he would • trust to sell him a horse. He must s*e , the animal and try him himself. It '■ was the road that told on him. Now what was wanted in horses and men was "roadsters." Were there not (plenty of men in their churches who answered to this decrip'ion? They ' were fine lookers, but no roadsters. If i they wanted a Christian they should , never judge him by his Sunday i character. A Christian minister 1 who was eloquent in the pulpit was often the reverse of that when , he came to vote on some questions ■ of party politics, or economics. If they > wanted to pet a minister with whom his people were willing to part, they should see him first—they should try him and see if he "shied" from the prohibition movement. (Applause). 1 " A sower went forth to sow." They should go forth, willingly, and not let themselves be conscripted. He appealed : to them, for the love ef the Siviour, to $o forth and work in the cause of prohibition, in the inte' est of their country and their fellowmen, The spmker I then gave a most humorous description of his persenal experience of " gentle ' man farming." The result was that he ' found that if he wanted his work done . well, he must do it himse'f. They ' should train their children themselves as they would have them trained, and not leave their training to othe> s—to j various societies, etc. There we e lot* of instances of th-'s, he doubted \ noty in this neighbourhood. Many of the victims of the drink traffic ' came from the Sunday schools. If th i 1 fathers and mothers would devote ] themselves to the rearing of thei children in the right way, there woul I be less victims of the traffic. H-< en- ■ treated his hearers to " go forth " and deal with the work of reform. This " go forthhess " was a ch -r.icteristic that was most needed in the churches. Reformers, ugain, sometimes got dig- ' couraged with "hope deferred" in ! their work; but they must continue ■ with the task. They must noi "gouge" 1 their reform principles down people'* threats. " The sower" had the attri--1 bute of ge tlenes=, and that was > what he and., all p ople wanted. 1 Mothers in dealing with thsir children ■ should be more gentle—m«ny of the youth who went to the drink shops 1 were sent there by scolding mothe-s. 1 " The sower" sowed broadcast, and this was what they required to do now —they must not try to ram their reform principles down people's t hroatp. 1 He urged his hearers to persevere, to possess their souls in patience, and saw good seed. They all coild do this, but they must be careful what they sowed, There was a difference between a sower and a grower as be illustrated by the old familiar anecdote of boys sowing beans and taking them up to see if they had grown. Then by an , artistic touch, which showed how keen an observer of human nature Mr. , Woolliy is, he described how, eventu- | ally, some of the beans came up, and the boys being called together die- i covered that truly tee beans had , sprouted but wr mg end up. (Inughtar). , This little episode the lecturer f adroitly turned to good account by j saying, " A Methodist cows seed, it t eom°s up a B iptist, and the, sower says [ ' Mercy alive 1 What have I done ?' " t (Laughter). When a man, however, ( planted a vote at the ballot, it was a serious thing, especially if the liquor c traffic by virtue of their vote became lan institution in their country. Ther ' they were responsible for the blood oi many victims. Hu could not do mucl in his own country to abolish the liquor traffic exespt by his vote, but H weuld continue to give that vote until the traffic was sent to the hell from which it came " Prehibition," s*id Mr. Woolley, " does not prohibit anj mora than a sewing machine ssws, foi

it takes a woman with muscle and will t") mik& a sowing maohine sew." Yet in Maine prohibition prohibited far batter than regulations regulated. Liquor sellers were not fools, and they felt that prohibition hurt them. No Christian Government ought to take annoy for permitting gin mills to exisS and p'ace temptation in the way of frail hum»ni'y. As sure as God existed, prohibition would be obtained; they must wait with patier.ee, and sjw th* go 'd seed, and it would in time bear fruit. (Loud applause.) The Mayor invited questions. Mr. Woolley requested that if aßy questions were asked th»y should not relate to lecil affrirs, but as to the working of the liquor laws in his own country; and any information he possessed would be given with pleasure. Bev. Garlick moved, and Mr. Gaukrodgar saconded, a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Woolley, which was carried unanimously. Mr. Woolley briefly acknowledged the compliment, and the meeting terminated with a vote of thanks to the Mayor for presiding;. The lecture throughout was listened to with evident enjoyment and interest, the large crowd present being frequently completely carried away by Mr. Woolley'* elocutionary powers. Not the least charm about the lecturer's matter was its broad-miaded fairness, which gave all the greater force to the truths which were pressed home with deep earnestness and power. The address was all too short for the audience, who would gladly have listened for a considerable time longer,