The Observer.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 227, 17 January 1885, Page 2

The Observer.

Saturday, Jantjaey 17, 1885.

SALVATION DOaS IN THE MANGER,

Shall I ever be done with the vagaries of the Salvation Army ? Their truculence and obtrusiveness seem to increase daily. Having persuaded themselves that they only are on the right road to heaven, they look with lofty disdain on the supposed grovelling sinners who are outside the fold and do not contribute largely to the everlasting peregrinating hat. The latest instance of the intolerable cheek of the Harmy is reported from Henderson. It has been the custom of the settlers to hold an annual picnic on the best site available for the purpose, near a small clump of bush alongside a creek. But on New Year's Day, when the advanced guard, consisting of a few ladies, arrived on thA ground with a trap containing the commis-|F-sariat, they found that the Salvationists had jumped their claim. These courteous and gallant warriors abruptly ordered the ladies off the field, and as they were in strong force and were evidently prepared to resort to extreme measures, there was nothing for it but to yield to circumstances and seek som^L other site for the picnic, where they hopeaßk to be free from the impertinence of the self-^| righteous interlopers.

But they were quickly undeceived. JSToiP' sooner had the soldiers finished their gorge than a lob-sided looking fanatic yclept " Jimmy " intruded himself upon the picnicers to 'hawk the War Cry, rudely bawling out among the ladies in a voice which, is a cross between a donkey's bray, a foghorn, and the squeak of a saw-sharpener's file. The ladies, however, turned their backs on the intruder iv disgust, whereat the irate and ill-mannered lout remarked in a loud voice, "I didn't know I was among the Devils' mob !" Fortunately

for his skin and hair, there was no gentleman at hand to seize him by his collar and the slack of his moleskins and sling him into the creek, so he was permitted to console himself by bawling out at the top of his grating, discordant voice a Salvation ditty to the tune of a Christy Minstrel comic song.

I am. informed tliat tlio ground from which the Salvation Harmy so rudely ordered off the Lady settlers belongs to Mr "Woodward, of Mount Albert, but whether or not that gentleman had given them the exclusive occupation of it for the day my informant does not say positively, though he does not think it probable that the owner could have intended to exclude his own neighbours, who had been in the habit of using the place for their annual jucnics for many years past. If he did, however, the Salvationists shewed, in their characteristic style, how they appreciated the concession. They removed the gate from its hinges, turned it the wrong way, and left the ground without restoring it to its place. In striking contrast to this, the settlors themselves had always respected the property, and left it uninjured. It is becoming every day more apparent that piety, as the Salvationists practice it, is not conducive to decency and good behaviour.