The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1884-03-14

Though not large body, it is power in the
land and among religious denominations, and
it is cause for rejoicing that it has come to
the front in this great work.
The QUESTION Of allowing games in the
reading room has been topic Of discussion
in the meetings of the w. G. 7. U. for the
past three weeks. The following letter was
read before the Union, March 5th, and on
motion was ordered to be published:
MELVILLE, n j., Feb. 25th, 1884.
My dear Mrs. Crate -
GAS cold water to thirsty SOUL SO is good
news" Blessings on you and yours, and on
the W. c. T. U. and all the people of Woods
town.
Your letter presents panorama of faith and
works beautiful to behold, from the tiny seed
flower sown in your heart of hearts, to the
mighty, towering tree with its spreading
branches of Band of Hope, scientific instruct
ion, literature distribution, W. c. T. U. and
reading room, all of which will be a shelter to
the people of Woodstown. My faith for
Woodstown has never wavered since received
your first letter, yearning for the people-and
afterward met you in Bridgeton and heard
from your lips in convention the message you
had received "Open We the gates" I know
you can now testify to new beatitude, Bless
ed are they who heed the whisperings of the
still, small voice as it breathes upon the heart
strings, causing them to vibrate, till the whole
being is attuned, and hands, feet, brain, tongue
and pen are obedient to the melody of
Gods harmonious purposes. Your heart
sings for joy, know, and you are indeed
doubly blessed, for seldom is it the privilege
of any to witness such harvest as you wit
ness in only fifteen moons. live over again
our own experience in your letter; the indif-
ference of christian people, the fault-fnding
of temperance people, and the sneers of the
enemy Why here in Millville they used to
swear about us when they saw us pass to and
from our meetings on Friday afternoons; but
the lips that cursed lived to bless, and one
man who cursed died with prayer upon his
lips for us, and sent his dying message to the
w. G. T.. Q. to work and pray on. "Truly
He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him."
Admonish the people to watch, for eternal
vigilance is the price of this liberty also.
There is an old legend somewhere that after
great battle with the powers of darkness the
routed enemy gather in the air and hover over
the battlefield, watching an opportunity to
uyhi1 IL fha ale Iva o4F< III
rejoicing But beg pardon, my letter was
to have been about games in reading rooms
The question of games is the knotty one that
comes up at the opening of every reading
room, and it is momentous one that needs
much care and prayer in deciding. The great
trouble is to know where to draw the line
Our room is for boys only Eve have SO many
in the glass factories) still many said we
must have games or the boys would soon tire
of coming; but after much thought, counsel,
and prayer and study of cause and effect we
reasoned thus: IF boys learn games in our
room how long will it be before they will
want to go elsewhere to play-and on and on
to the billiard room, if not to gambling-and
SO while not opposed to innocent games of
skill, as such, we concluded to draw the line
in a safe place, as we could not take the re-
sponsibility of introducing them We opened
the room with all kinds of books, mostly il
Illustrated, from Mother Hubbard and Mother
Goose on up through all grades of innocent
literature kaleidoscopes, stereoscopes, magic
wheels, and other scientific amusements.
Blackboards delighted them, we have several
some skilled chalkist would draw bird flag,
animals, ETC., leaving it on for week or two,
and it was surprising talent brought out
among the factory boys. Those who could
not read or did not want to, would gather
around some grown person who would read
to them and they would crowd so close that
you could not stir finger, SO eager were
they. Bible stories delighted them most of
all, having charm about them which no
others have To all these have been added
recently the teaching of arithmetic and the