Salvation, Per "Cake-Walk."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7719, 23 January 1905, Page 4

Salvation, Per "Cake-Walk."

! LONDON,. Pec. 0Since the days of the exposure oi that unspeakably couple J> ,eotl ) ?'<' i Soro» ami the " "<va.ni, Loudon ha* been a cold place lor u<aihei»o - t -»>» reyuionrf. One after anotiu r "!Ev hiw 'arrfv«d Ml Of hope that in this great &ty they would and an ample .supply of cieduious tWs to : swell the rants oi their decide* ami restore their financial equilibrium, and one alter the other th.*y* have fokkvl \UAr u-ni* and vanished, leaving no trace behind them except unpaid bills. r ~ 'lhe latent arrivals in London are ;, a s»t of very unorthodox American who ai'e pleased to call themselves the *' Pentecostal Dancers," aw.l who seek to call sinners to repent by singing ami dancing tt la Miriam what time the Hal Sea had overwhelmed Pharaoh and his host:), Iha heads of this " cake- , walking " sect are Mr airti Mrs (Jbar oiah kent-Nhite, whose antecedents have not been tllvuiged, and a Chicago ex-hotelkecper named Harvey. This trio with some young jK?ople oi indiscreet ages, arrived from America at Liverpool some time a'-o, but Liverpool was sutt'mng from a recent overdone of Messrs Torrey and Akocaiider, «and would have none of the "Pentecostal Dancers." They could not even find a hall wherein to preach the gos|>e4 of salvation per cake walk, and coming to London, found almost as much difficulty being totally compelled to hire the . Oamberwefe Swimming lialh*?, which are rendered available for public meetings during winter by the simple x proccsb of boarding over the bathing apace. There for the past week the Poitecostals have bocn submitting their curious juuiblc of hustle, money-making and religious ecstacy to tho penniless youths and maidens of Cautbcrwell, to the great delight of the totter, who, unable to raise the coin fo frank t-hem into the local theatre or music-hul,, contrive with ftddtd improM'stit ions of their own, io make the Kent-White performances nearly "as good as a bloonrin' pantomime." 'J hj;: performance generally opc.,s with a rambling prayer, next comos a hymn, of sorts set usually to some tune moje appropriate to a Harvard Celchanty, aiti then the dancing begins, also the fun. The tum-tum of tho niiasioners' piano is the signal for the " congregation " to commence a sitting-down step-dance of their own, and as the stage perlo'itiers warm up to their work and their gyrations become more and more akin to cake-walking!, tin l audianco gives wiertf encouragement 111 the shape of cat-calls, tin-trumpet and invitations to 'lie dancers to " chuck 'em a hit higher." Onpu or twice, some excitable youths have gone so far as to hold a little '* n»x(vul " meeting on their own so far as dancing puic and simple may go, but once the meeting got so much put of hand that the police had to tie summoned to cool the imiour of certain (very) converts." Mrs Kent-White now declares Camlx.-rwell to he the " vuriy wickedest spot in wicked London." Not evtn her husband's terrifying statement that the place for everlasting torment, with its temperature of U7OO decrees Farhenheit, Is only nighteen miles down below tho place where Comberwell stands, or his lurid word pictures of them squirming in flaming torment can check-the exuberant hilarity of th> nnregencrate youth of the Iw.Uitr. • who greet with vocal " |ii|>-pip " or trumpeted " toot-toot " the most awful Pentecostal threats and vociferously encore the terpsichorean efforts of - the elect." S 0 sans dol- / lars. sans converts, the I>ancers are going to leave us, to seek first in Im»a, and then in Australasia, that which Mioy have failed to find here, lou are very welcome to them.—X. Z, Htnes. j