National Republican., 1888-03-19
TEMPERANCE HEADQUARTERS.
odeon Hall Enthusiastically Dedicated
by Good Tcmplars.

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The ancient and much. occupied hall, the
second noor at the corner OF Four-and-a-
half and Pennsylvania avenue, was dedi-
dated anew to the cause Of temperance last
evening. But recently the walls were dingy
and maired, the floor stained and bcgrimed,
and the lights murky and dim. Now the
walls are beautifully papered, the floor is
white as though polished with fine sand, and
n clear and steady light from twenty-four
brilliant burners pervades every part of the
room. But u few weeks since II long row Of
muskets for drilling purposes stood against
the eastern wall. Last evening, sitting backs
10 the same wall, was row of heavier
guns turned against the drink habit and the
liquor traffic. They were Grand Chief John
II. Mahoney Past Grand Chief G. ". Whit
ney, Judge II. b. Moulton, Mai. Walker,
and Chief Dent, of the Jonadabs, occupying
neatly-carpeted platform, supplied with
desk and tables. At the south, and in
front Of the platform, was a new and full
toned organ, presided over by Prof. Hart,
of d. y. Holloway Lodge,and an impromptu
choir composed of some of the sweetest
singers of half dozen or more of Good
Templar lodges under direction Of the ac-
compBshed DR.. Ilensley, of Clements
Lodge, discoursed many familiar hymns
much to the ediilcation of an audience
which filed nearly every available chair in
the room.
The grand chief opened the meeting
with reading from Romans, xii, and
thin called upon Maj. Walker to lead IN
prayer. The chairman then delivered brief
address outlining the plans of the new man
ngemennt of the hall, that the place was to
he open on every Sunday evening under
Good Templar auspices, and that the plat
Golm was to be free IN its larger, most proper
sense. He appealed to the gentlemen pres
cnt not to forget that they were gentlemen,
and refrain from soiling the floor with to-
lacco. After expressing the brightest hopes
for the work to be done there in the next
two years, the grand chief introduced Judge
Moulton.
Mr.. Moulton occupied some twenty min
utes making.a most felicitous speech, com
mending In hearty manner the new enter
| pfise expressing himself as greatly pleased
| that the platform was to be unreservedly
| free TO advocates of any and every phase of
the Temperance question; rejoicing in the
| fact that the representatives of all these diff
icren shades of conviction were unit In the
| end soueht--the destruction OF the drink
habit aud the wiping out of the liquor
| traffic. He hroadened the scope outlined by
the grand chief by stating that the hall was
| tn be kept open every night in the week,
| every week in the year, in sunshine and in
| storm, for the advocacy Of temperance; that
J II was to be q, permanent temperance
| headquarters; that the Prohibition Union
was to have transparency in one of the
seven wide windows, and he hoped the
Good Teinplars would have another, the
Sons Of Temperance another, and so on till
each temperance organization in the city
was represented there. lie contrasted the
little concern which many good people seem
10 feel, in the face of this great evil, with
the intense alarm they would manifest were
| q tiger to break loose from his cage while a
menagcrie was passing along our streets--a
calamity, in its broadest sense, infinitely
lcss than the rum traffic.
Mr.. Dent beiug called upon, said he was
in fullest sympathy with every movement to
reclaim the fallen by the rum power, and
save the Young from its baeful influences;
that he had suffered much in his own
person from this great evil, but that for the
last seven years he had improved every op-
| portunty to advance the cause of temper
ance lie submitted that wherever tenn
pcrance meeting was being held would be
lie found brothers of his order, many of
whom had been Scared and bruised by this
monster, intemperancc. and that now they
felt It to he their duty to do all they could
TO help Others out of this degradation. lie
| promised to respond whenever possible to
any call the grand chief might make upon
him.
The chairman presented Past Grand Chief
Whitney, who filed the minutes allotted to
4
us the frequent applause abundantly showed.
lie opened with few pungent remarks In
| which the other speakers on the platform
came In for pleasant mention, aud then
| spoke appreciatively Of the cosmopolitan
rhaEslEeteF-ef theAerk. eHtlinea by the grand
I chief, and expressing the hope that the
pledge might he presented every meeting
lie then proceeded ut some length to Illus
| trate by pleasant anecdote the fact that there
we're some things about this subject that had
been definitely settled and very desirably so;
that certainty was so much better
thansunCertainty and suspense. lie adverted
to the general progress made in recent years;
spoke of the able presentment OF our cause
made by eminent women few weeks since
before the Senate committees; alluded to the
grand addresses made here some time since
by Bishops Ireland and Keane; commended
the discrimination made against liquor deal
crs by the Knights of Labor, which he char
acterized as one of the strongest organiza-
tions in the country; remarked upon the
facts that the Masonic fraternity had taken
similar action regarding the intemperate,
and that the Board of Trade of Cincinnati
even had closed its doors against those in-
dulging in strong drink. D..
Mai. Walker made a few remarks in his
forceful, sententious manner, and thus
closed the dedicatory services, which left a
well-founded conviction in the minds of
the Good Tcmplars present that this new
enterprise, which received the Endorsement
of the Grand Lodge last Saturday evening,
was to be, without peradventure, an un-
qualified success.