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Dririk aqd the Nation.

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Dririk aqd the Nation. Temperance Demonstration at Tonypandy. On Thursday1 afternoon and evening la,st Tonypandy was the venue of a large gathering of vv eslevan Methodists, drawn from all parte of the Rhondda Circuit, I the occasion being the long-looked-for- ward-to visit of that well-known temper- ance advocate, Rev. Henry Carter, of Harrow. The services commenced with a conference of temperance workers held at 3.30 in the afternoon at the English Wesleya-n Chapel, presided over by the circuit minister, Rev. W. R. Rose. Rev H. Cai-te,r commenced his discourse by asking the representatives of the various bands of hopes or temperance societies, numerous questions in relation to the working of their organisations, and gave some sound advice and methods to adopt for the advancement of the movement. He advised the importance of keeping the observance of Temperance Sunday, thus giving the scholars of the Sunday school an opportunity of signing the pledge. "If you keep a safeguard on the boys and girls," said Mr. Carter, "you will save t men and women of the future." All forms of evil would be. weaker if the i. drink traffic was not mixed up with it, because drink was at the bottom of two- thirds of the crime of the country. After the address, numerous; questions; were answered. After the service, tea was provided in the vestry, for visitors, when a goodly number were entertained. Fol- lowing the tea a demonstration of the Bands of Hope and Sunday Schools, took place, the procession starting: from Wes- ley Church, "Williiamaltown, headed by the Treorehy Wesleyan Brass Band. Banners and temperance mottoes were carried by the children and the demon- stration was one of the largest seen in connection with the Rhondda Wesleya-ns. Trinity Chapel (kindly lent) was the scene of the evening gathering, and the meeting was presided over by Dr. Alfred Jones, whose fame as a. temperance orator is just beginning to become known in Mid-Rhondda. He said he was delighted to preside over such a gathering. There were two reasons, he said, why he sup- posed he occupied the chair, firstly be- cause lie represented the medical side of the question, and secondly because he hod been a life-long teetotaller. Interest in the temperance question from a medi- cal point, commenced about 100 years ago, said Mr. Jones, when a Scotchman wrote a book on "The evil of Alcohol on the body." Since that time it had been one of progress, and the stars of the pro- fession were united in a, vigorous cam- paign for the temperance cause. Alcohol, if used it all, he thought, should be used just the same as other drugs. If any reason was to be found why people drank, it was for the same reason as John China- man took his opium, and that was be- cause it benumbed the brain (applause). Rev. Henry Carter then rose to address the; audience, taking as his subject, 'Drink and other social evils.' There were some people, he said, who were inclined to take rather a, pessimistic view of the temperance question, which was a great mistake. They should not let the foolish action of the House of Lords, in relation to the Licensing Bill, b80 thrown across the paths of human progress, and in the present political situation, the temper- ance reformer should not be down-hearted. On April 1st, the Children's Bill .would come into law. That was a, Bill to be proud of. It would make it illegal for little ones under the age of 5 years to be given intoxicants by its parents, and also it would be illegal for children to enter public houses during the hours of sale. The very title of his lecture, said the rev. gentleman, suggested that they should not think of drink from an indi- vidual standpoint, because it was bound up with every other social evil. The sweating system, gambling, bad housing, and the land questions, were dark and benighted evils, and lay at the back of all social problems. The drink problem could not stand alone the temnerance reform- er must be a social reformer, and the social reformer must be a temperance reformer. There was one problem, said the lecturer, in respect to which drink had a special bearing, and that was upon the little children, where the misery borne upon them by drunken parents, was plainly visible. The drink's relation to a child was murder, and children born into the drinker's family could not get so fair and just a start in life as those born into the abstainer's homes. It could be proved that children born of habitual drunken parents, bore enfeebled bodies, and hwbH «elf-oontro!. Here the lec- turer gave statistics bearing out his claim, which he had taken from medical authorities. Speaking of childhood as it presented itself to the day school teacher, he stated that at a New York school over 20.000 children were examined, and the habits of the parents inquired into, when it was found that, where both parents were drinkers, no less than 53 per cent. were, to use an American term, "dull- ards," and where both were abstainers, only 10' per cent. were dullards. The children were the citizens of to-morrow, and their character was being decided in the home life to-day, and, therefore, the country's future depended upon the total abstinence of parents. The problem of poverty, he said, was a great one, 12,000,000 inhabitants lived, either on or under the poverty line. Quoting Sir Thomas Whittaker, the rev. gentleman said that the average working man's family spent about zE17 per annum on strong drink, while the rich man's family spent about P,44 per annum. He de- plored this unwise expenditure of those who ought to know better. The average wage paid for unskilled labour in York, was 18s. per week, and to receive 21e in London, was the extreme, and if 8s. per. week was taken out of these small in- comes for drink, there was left a very small balance for food, rent, etc. Thus it was evident that some had to suffer, and the chief sufferers were the children. They had to learn the lesson of hardship Slowly and sadly, and God, in His infinite mty called them home and saved them from that bitterness which their parents had become acquainted to at their cost. The society of the N.S.P.C.C. was a satire itself on our civilization. To think that such a society was needed to protect the child from the cruelty of the parents was deplorable, 90 per cent. of the cases brought before the notice of that society were drink caused. Until Britain was organized honestly and bravely they had failed in their duty as a Christian nation. The usual votes of thanks brought a red letter' day in the history of Wesleyan Methodism in the Rhondda Circuit to a close.

Men in Fighting Spirit.

Meeting of Cymmeri Workmen.

Reclaiming Lost Women.

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