MRS HAMPSON.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1154, 29 September 1883, Page 3

MRS HAMPSON.

A correspondent of the Sydney Bulletin, a society paper, writes thus of Mrs Harapson—* For weeks past she has numbered her daily audiences by thousands, and this is in the face of the counter attractions of the regular churches and the regular shows. Wherein lies the wonderful influence of this woman t She is handsome, but not very young; she is not well educated; she is not even eloquent; and yet she draws crowds together, such as have never been assembled by any man or woman in Australia. It may be vril force or it may be, animal magnetism, or it may be Heaven knows what, but it is altogether inexplicable and marvellous. Let all parsons look from their empty pews to the seething masses which crowd the Melbourne Town Hall to suffocation, and read the riddle if they can—it is above the comprehension of ordinary laymen. I heard her this morning and her words are tingling in my ears as I write ; when she can thus affect an old pressman, whose heart has been haidened for more years than he would care to mention, what a spell she must throw over the imagination of those who have been less exposed to the wickedness of this world.’

Mrs Hampson is reported to be literally turning the city of Adelaide—especially the church-going part of it—upside down. She is a phenomenon in the pulpit line. Tlie Rev. Charles Clark, in his palmiest days, never drew such audiences as she is drawing night after night in the Town Hall. Indeed all the ministers in Adelaide could not in combination have drawn such an audience as 1 (correspondent of the Argus) saw gathered to hear this great preacher. Hfnry Varley’s power pales before the wonderful influence she exercises. Men go to scoff, and remain to pray. Bankers, merchants, lawyers, members of Parliament, and members of the Press are constantly to be seen among the eager listeners who throng to hear the message this simple woman has to declare. The remarkable feature about her preaching is that she addresses herself more to men than to women. Though never forgetting her womanhood, she is never effeminate. Her success and her power are a painful commentary upon the ineffectiveness of the ordinary run ot our regularly ordained ministers. Our churches are half empty, and our best pulpit orators have to resort to special sermons and extraordinary services to attract a full church while hero is a simple, earnest woman, who, without effort, draws night after as night as many as may be seen in any four or five churches put together on the Suuday.