The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-07-27 00:00:00

EPIGRAM WITH MORAL.
AGAnI Is England victor in the field ;
Again Guildhall receives the Eleho shield;
Yet well shot, Scotia, well shot Erin. Sol
Shoots fiercely too. Ice 1 Soda! Elchohol
Wimbledon. —Punch

THE TEMPERANCE PETE AT THE
CRYSTAL PALACE.
Tuesday was the "Temperance day" at the Crystal
Palace. The fete is one that has been organized over
a long space of time, and of the very many thousands
who were present—and there were so many that the
Palace and grounds were inconveniently crowded— the
great majority came by excursion trains from remote
parts of the country, s,a-cial trains starting on the
day before from Cornwall, South Devon, Somerset,
and Dorset, from the far North, from the extreme East,
from the Midland counties, and, indeed, every railway
system had to arrange to bring votaries of the extreme
principle known under the name of the " tern; erauce
cause" to hold this celebration. The weather had no
effect in diminishing the numbers, for th !excursionists
were all present. If there were any shortcomings
canoed by the rain, they were amongst the Londoners.
The proceedings were to have commenced with a
grand demonstration in the way of march down by
road from London, by the various Teetotal Orders,
such as the Sons of Phrenix, the Independent Order
of Good Templars, the United Grand- Order of the
Phomix, the Original Grand Order of Phomix, the
Order of Rechabites, and the Sons of Temperance "all
in full regalia." The storm, however, came on, and
the procession was shorn of more than its fair propor-
tions; but, nevertheless, some did actually keep the
appointment, and carried out the resolve of coming by
road. The railways carried immense train loads,
and the roads were thronged with the excursion vans
of those who preferred thus making a long day of it.
By mid-day the arrivals began to thin, and the
Palace was then pretty full, and by that time the
amusements had well begun. Among the earlier were
the cricket match in the grounds, and a temperance
meeting in the central transept. At this meeting Mr.
Samuel Bowley presided, and Dr. Cuyler, of New
York, the Rev. J. P. Choun, of Bradford, and the
Rev. Newman Hall were the speakers. In another
part the youthful band of the Royal Hospital School
at Greenwich, in which it is said there is a large num-
ber of abstainers, played a selection ; and then was
given the grandest part ot the day's entertain-
ment—the concert of 5,000 voices in the Grand
Orchestra. The voices were chiefly those of children
who had been selected from provincial " Bands of
Hope," and trained by the Band of Hope Union, and
the singing wite r ectiliarly touching. The sight of the
children, ranged in sections, rank above rank, moat
of them well dressed, and all of them highly decorated,
was of itself a treat; and the manner in which
they answered the signals of their leader, Mr.
Frederick Smith, proved that they had been well
trained. In the evening two balloons raced, and as the
people watched these the clouds lowered and thunder
burst forth. At the same time Mr. J. Nich dam began
to form a prand procession in the grounds of the
" Orders." The Good Templars appeared to be the
chief in the number of members, and there was to have
been a grand demonstration of this Order in the
grounds just before the procession was formed. The
leaders had a sort of Japatiese-Chinese paporla to stand
in, and when the demonstration commenced the
thunder gave warning of the coming storm, and the
pelting rain interfered a little with this part of their
' arrangements. It VMS a pity more could not base
been heard about the Good Templara, for more would
have been interesting. From the information vouch-
safed, this appears to be a nominally secret society,
; the members of which take a "life long pledge." It
is stated to have 58 024 members—namely, 42,147
" brothers " and 16,777 "sisters."
An ether concert was given in too eveniree in the
Palace, and other temperance meetings were called,
at wnkh the fountains of eloquence were turned on in
full force. Performances on the Festival organ ended
the day's entertainment.
Me remarkable feature of the festival was that by
' arrangement no intoxicating liquor was sold within
" the Palace or grounds during the day, which rule was
closely adhered to.
The number present were—by season ticket, 13,187;
; on payment, 49,013; total visitors, 62,280.

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