THE LATEST SENSATION OF THE SALVATION ARMY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1763, 16 August 1884, Page 4

THE LATEST SENSATION OF THE SALVATION ARMY.

(Pall Mall Gazette.) < Seldom has Exeter Hall seen a more 1 crowded meeting than that which was held the other night by the Salvation Army. The programme for the meeting was interesting enough to attract such numbers of people that long before the appointed hour the doors had to be closed on a large number of people outside. Five hundred male and fercale reclaimed drunkards, who were to testify to their rescue by tbe Army, were assembled on the platform anil dispersed about tbe Hall. General Booth presided, surrounded by his faithful staff. ' After the, ordinary preliminaries had baen gone through, some of the drunkards were called upon to tell their story, each in his or her own way. This they did, each and all with great eagerness and a small choice of expressions. They were of all sorts and conditions—tinkers, tailors, soldiers, sailors, beggar-men, and thieves. The two latter professions especially htfd many followers among the red-jerseyed soldiers. Besides these, however, there were a ci-devant waiter, a city merchant, a carter, a shiny negro, a pupil teacher, a laundress, and many others, who, according to their own accounts, had been little short of murderers and highway robbers, but were now the "happiest men and women in Europe." Their eagerness to tell the story of their careers became after a while so great that the general had more than once to break out into song, the only means of checking the enthusiasts. After this had had been at last effectively accomplished, it was announced that a supplementary meeting would be held at .Regent's Hall, Regent-street, at which more testimonies from the drunkards wocld be heard, and the first yacht of the Salvation Navy would be launched. The collection was then taken, and before Mrs Booth began her address on "Drink," the debt of ,£IO,OOO had becomo smaller by £6,000. There was great rejoicing in the camp at this announcement, especially at the mention of a donation made by an exCabinet Minister of £2O. Before the end of the meeting £3,901 of the remaining £4,000 was collected, and the General's words that "before we eat our supper £IO,OOO must be realised" seemed likely to be fulfilled to the letter. Mrs Booth, who delivered her address on drink with her accustomed eloquence and fervor, maintained that the only radical cure for drunkenness was to leave intoxicating liquors alone, Unless this was done—unless the upper classes of society abstained from the moderate use—could there be such a thing as the moderate use of an evil thing I—of strong drink, the evil could not be rooted out. The English nation was intelligent enough to see that the consumption of opium could never be stopped in China among the lower classes unless the higher would abstain from it; at Home they tried all possible cures, but had not yet been able to find the right one, The Salvation Army was laughed at and looked down upon tor the want of intellect among its members; this might be right, but they could at least claim to have from the very beginning pointed out the one remedy against drink to be —leave it alone, abstain from it altogether ; " unless you do this you are none of ours,"—The congregation was sympathetic throughout; no disturbance took place, and, whatever might be thought of the "exhibition," the fact that the Salvation Army has discovered a remedy for dipsomania which has proved efficacious in many worst cases imaginable, deserves at least the the attention of the social reformer.