REVIVAL TRAGEDY.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 March 1922, Page 5

REVIVAL TRAGEDY.

PEOPLE BECOMING DEMENTED. The revival movement started recently in the fishing villages north of Aberdeen continues, and it is estimated that the number of converts now .total 10,000 (says the Glasgow Herald of early December). In many places the revivalists believe that the Second Coming of Christ and the end of the world are imminent. In the mission hall at Cairnbulg, a village near Fraserburgh, and one of the nerve centres of the revival, a curious miscellany of objects has been built up on the top of the organ. In the pile are about a hundred pipes and tobacco pouches, numerous packs of playing cards, large quantities of cigarettes, draught-boards and draught-men, “crown and anchor” boards, and several pairs of dancing shoes. Practically all the men in the place have given up smoking, and have surrendered their worldly “gear” so that a bonfire may be made of it in one of the village streets, an idea reminiscent of Savonarola and Florence. More wonderful still, in many places girl converts refuse to wear silk stockings with their best clothes, have lengthened their skirts, and adopted discretely high-necked upper garments. There are nearly 900 adult converts in Cairnbulg alone, and their zeal is exemplified by the fact that every one o-f them attends at least three prayer meetings daily. Visitors to almost any house in the village are asked on entering and before leaving to engage in prayer with the family, and it is quite a common occurrence for a customer at one of the local shops to pray with the shopkeeper before completing a purchase.

There is another side to the movement. A great evangelical upheaval of this nature is almost inevitably bound to prove harmful to some individuals unable to undergo without injury rhe emotional strain involved. Alerady five persons have been certified for admission to mental hospitals, three from Cairnbulg, St. Combs, and Fraserburgh having been removed to the Aberdeen Royal Asylum, and two from places farther north to institutions in Edinburgh and Perth.

The most tragic case of all was that of a young woman of 27 years of age, who had been married fifteen months. Three days after • • birth of her child a company of ‘.ii lagers came to the house and, standing by the bedside, sang hymns, prayed, and read the Bible. On the same evening she became delirious, and when medical aid was summoned her removal to the Royal Asylum at Aberdeen was ordered. She died seven days after her admission to the institution.

But there are humorous aspects too. For example, a boy who carried sandwich boards for a picture palace became “converted” the other evening .and asked one of the evangelists what he should do about his occupation. He was told he could continue carrying the advertisement boards, but he should not. on any account enter the theatre. A little later he was strutting about the streets displaying on his back and front posters announcing “The Delicious Little Devil.”