MRS HAMPSON.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3779, 7 February 1881, Page 2

MRS HAMPSON.

J. P. Horn. February 4,1881. ..£,.

(To the Editor of tbe Evening Stak.)

Sir, —At the present time when scepticism is rife, and when religions majjgrs aredivided into almost innumerable units, ■ it is more than ordinarily necessary that attention should be paid. to spiritual matters. The crowd ot reverential listeners who attended Mrs Hampson'a lecture last evening demonstrated that the ecclesiastical worthies of the town had failed to satisfy them with the utterance of orthodox belief's. More light was needed, and the numbers of people who visited the talented lady last evening were amply rewarded for their trouble. In these days, when Mammon is worshipped in an almost equal ratio to the Deity, it is necessary that a reactioa should sometimes take place. An Evan* gelist arrives, and hundreds of people, wearied out of patience by listening to pointless sermons and Biblical expositions, eagerly take advantage of her presence. .Religion at the present time is in such a muddle that it is really impossible to know what is right and what is wrong. There are something like a score of sects on the Thames, and each is right, and charitably damns the other to everlasting perdition for holding a different view. .Religion, instead of being the true worship of the heart for the Deity, has become a social farce, in which the parson sustains one part and the congregation the other. To notice the way people in church repeat the creeds is ample proof of this fact, and the most solemn prayers are said while mentally contmeplating the value of a bonnet, or the excellence of a lady's dress. During the sermon the people either sleep, or wish themselves at home. While this state of things continues, it is refreshing to listen to a lady who is both eloquent and earnest, and who moreover does not treat her audience to a.string of unmeaning platitudes and common place arguments but whosspeaks the Gospel and preaches true Christianity unfettered by the petty dogmas of any church, and unalloyed by the selfish or pleasing doctrines set up for the purpose of making religion easy.-—I am, &c, Obsebtbb.

(To the Editor of the Evening Star.)

" The rank is but the guinea stamp, The man's the bowdfor a 1 that." BdRM, Sir, —Crowded meetings do not rank among the blessings of this life, but they show in first rate style what men are. Some, with true courtesy, rise and give the ladies their seats. Others (with the consciousness of the superiority of the male sex) will sit at ease, and, to all appearance, enjoy the sight of ladies standing; and if requested to move, become suddenly' so much interested ia studying the color of the ceiling that they cannot hear the request. A countryman says, " It's all cos of their broughtens up." Darwin would say, '.'They., are not properly developed." Can you tell whether the countryman or Darwin is right P — or, are they both wrong P— I am, Ac, Tom Danamos.

(To the Editor of the EFening Star.)

Sib,—About thirty-six years ago there was a man down South who had outraged the law, and received one year's imprison*, ment, but this did not satisfy his neighbours, who were constantly reminding him of the circumstance. As a last resourse he applied to the then Resident Magistrate, saying, " Master Poynter, they will keep taking away my character." The Magistrate, looking up laconically, replied, " Let them have it, Sam; it is no good to you." I was reminded of this circumstance by J. Horn, who, some 12 years ago, was placed as h& thought proper to place me—a stranger without a character on the Thames, but following advice so freely offered to me, he set about forming one. Thus logically considered, to hare to form one implies no pre-existence, and the necessity of labor to acquire what we are not at the time in possession of—in this instance, a character, the elements of which were to be straight forwardness and consistency—but he fails to cheer me on by assuring me he has at last succeeded. Indeed he leaves me in grare doubts since he so glibly and readily accredits me in using a dark, sly, and insinuating way, and as to consistency, &c, further doubt, and to continue to do so until he ceases to be the old correspondent in the Stab. My certes, tvlfiye long years before me with hard labor to acquire a character of straightforwardness and consistency to entitle me to any merit on the Thames. To use an American phrase, " it kinder comes quite natral to me," and then the probability is foreshadowed of losing it after all. lam glad to say that, from the uniform kindness that. I have met with since I hare been privileged to live on the Thames, I am led to hope, that long before the time,, assigned me, expires, I shall be inducted in * all the rights and immunities already so generously* and freely accorded me, as a stranger,' as an encouragement to persevere to be able to claim a right to citizenship. ,Mr Horn seems to be guided by that narrow contracted view—take every' man to be a rogue until you find him an honest man.. He also seems to think that a necesssary cbQsequeriee r of leaving a place is to leave character also; His may so faintly cast its shadow before that it may be possible to be unknowing and unknown. It is not so with the writer. There is not a place in New Zealand where he could be accounted a stranger, and I say boldly that there lives not the man who knows me but who, as 1 grasp his hand, can look with confidence in his face and say, "Friend, I have done'theeno wrong—that thou well knowest." I had

the temerity to bring my character with me, for, imperfect as it is, I could not afford to lose it or leave it behind. fc He thinks he has more right to feel it a serious matter tb be taken for me. It seems the feeling is reciprocal, so let it piss, and for, the future let each paddle his own canoe.—l am, &c,