, 1873-05-10
A BUTCHERS TEA PARTY.

sl6Aa4 4a1t4o'
. A BUTCHERS TEA PARTY.
a Quccr Gathering In Spurgcon's Tab"
ernaG1es 49,
49,. From the London Daily Nttrs.
4 very remarkable spectacle might hago been
witnessed in the basement Of hr. Spurgeons
Tabernacle the other evening. About l,200
children, took tea' together. It was the eighth
celebration Of what has for Bome time come to
be knowHr as the Butchers Festival Eight
years ago Mr.: Henry Variey, himself then .
butcher, but now q well-known conductor OF.
friendly ten meeting. The majority of the in-3
yited guests, as they afterward explained, deem-
ed that a trick was to be played upon them,
aud therefore the party consisted of 10 only.
Tho next year, however, no suspicion was rlte,
and the difficulty WAS how TO- provide lor
has grown year by year, until, in 1872, nothing
less than tho Metropolitan Tabernacle would
suit the requirements Of tho feasters. Mr..
Spurgoon foil at once. and generously, into the
plan, and the Easter Tuesday butchers, festisl
At Eowington Butts ia now recognized inst1tu-
tion- The lect11re-rooms, class-rooms,. school
rooms, and Offices below stairs at the Tabernacle
are quite small town in their extent and num-
bor Of thoroughfares, md in the quantity OF IN
formation aud directions lberally printed on the
These large rooms wore full Of tea-drinkers.
With the exception of few ladies presiding
at the tables, it WAS found necessary to limit
the attendance to the aterner EEK. That
they were butchors, pnre snd SIN simple, no no
and faces could doubt; doubt though he reason-
ably might, If his attention had been confined to
the faultlcss broadcloth and neckties they wore.
All the types Of the order we're there. The smart
youth who, shining and hatleas, shoots round
-hor ha1t;r6 n n1nmr Htf1R tfNffinN
pony, handled the plum-cake as deftly as to-day
10 will handle the reins. The mild, rl1ddy-faced
giant, bashfully passing his tea-cup, was just
the man you would select for Telling prize
OK. The dapper comrado who questioned hlm
touching the milk and sugar, will, in duo
time, politely sell at the ruling high prices,
tho fish which his friend has killed. The
gathering wns cosmopolitan in other senses,
too for the master-man, whose chequo is q
bank-note at sr1ithhe1d, sat next to . 1owly
eaugl,ter-man, and pressed more cold beef upon
the porter, who would, in the course Of few
hours, be staggering under the weight Of 3 fresh
carcas Yet rough and ready as many Of these
men we're, there was nothing boisterous and
to the superfne soul to whom any tea-table must
be vulgar where l. $50 pounds Of meat, cWt: Of
bread, and cwt 6f cake are made to vanish like
chafT before the wind.
The area Of the Tabernacle was, later in the
evening, reserved for the butcher-guests, while
ence.. Mighty Was the cheer when Alr. Bpurgeon
and Mr. Varley, ascended the rostrum to open
the public meeting which was to supplement- the
tea. Little time was lost in beginning Twelve
hundred bntche1-@en singing n fui T9lune o.
fountain filed with blood" WAS at least a novel;
ty. The, hymn was followed by prayer from
Mr. 6purgeon, prayer adapted to tho compfe-
tensions of the congregation. It Ind much ref
erence to the market-place. and it's idlers. and
inculcated the necessity Of honesty and industry
in it. The reverend gentleman invoked q divine
blessing upon the shambles, and asked that,
though some of his congregation might be
drivers Of bullocks, they ehou1u not live or die
came forward when the speech-making began,
and, ns the product OF pence subscriptions
from the workingmen Of tho trade, pre-
sented Mr. and Mrs. Yarley and their
son with como Neutrality-suspicious. books.
and advice from Mr.. Varley. The speaker who
succeeded him was introduced as q gentleman
who could either kill a pig or preach sermon
as the Rev. ". Cuff, once student at the pas
tors college, now Baptist minister IN the coqn-
quaint style described the young speaker, and
tie butchers brought down the house when the
reverend lumorist laid it down as an indisputable
proposition that every butcher could drive horse
and cart, and that if anybody could make q
rocking-horse 50 16 miles an hour, he was the
individual. When it came to Mr. Cuff turn, he
manifested no desire to deny the soft impeach-
ment as to the pig-sticking but entered boldly
into his past experience IN the various branches
of tho profession. Mr.. Spurgeon, after few
amusing anecdotes made serious appeal to the
| butchers not to lose sight Of the paramount
claims Of Christianity, enforcing it BY 4 happy
reference to what once took place at the Smith
field they knew SO well. If tho Jehus Of the
gave in the matter Of cart~driving, the hospitals
would have less rprk and the list of fatal acci-