The Portland daily press., 1897-07-26
FRANCIS MURPHY'S TALK.
The Great Temperance Advocate at
His Old Home.

op ivy AiehAi ietoO llSlb u6 lllGU
with most cordial welcome, the memo
ry of which is likely to abide with him
a long time. Before him was an audi
ence which occupied every available seat
in the spacious hall, and on the platform
were Rev. Israel Luce, Rev. W. II. Fl.
McAllister, Capt Geo. H. Blake, D. P.
Parker, Mr. and Mrs. L. W. Edwards
of Westbrook, Mr.. and Mrs. f. A. Bent
and others.
'AI hail the power of Jesus's name,
was sung by the congregation, followed
by the reading of the Scripture and pray
er by the Rev. Mr.. McAllister.
Rev. Mr.. Luce made short speech of
welcome and feelingly referred to the
fact that 81 years ago in this city at the
Chestnut Street Methodist church, he
knelt at the altar with Mr.. Murphy,
whose career he had watched with great
interest, and through whose ministry mil
lions had signed the pledge; that no one
had ever gone from Portland who had
accomplished more good in the cause of
temperance than he. and that his name
was indissolubly linked with that of
Neal Dow.s
Mr.. Murphy then addressed the gather
ing. 81 am very glad and thankful,
said he, Sin the gracious presence of
God to come back to Portland. 1t was
here on the Sd of April, 1870, by invita-
ton of Mayor Kingsbury that 1 delivered
my first public speech. 1 talked two and
o al win ,Ixyf foil aI lint
up, and then locked myself up at the
thought of my humiliation. My friend,
e. N. Perry assured me that 1 did splen-
didly and that God had got something
for me to do, in short, to tell the story of
how the Lord Jesus saved me- I come
to you again after so many years to tell
the same story, and to gratefully call to
mind those who in my early days lentsa
helping hand, saying, Well done, Mr..
Murphy, keep up good heart
With much feeling, the speaker then
mentioned the names of his beloved
friends, Gen. Shepley, Col Bradbury, A.
A. Strout, Judge Webb and Mr.. Thomas
B. Reed, "who had filled the world with
his fame"
with reverent respect he remembered
his interview years ago with Gen. Neal
Dow, who, on putting his name to tes-
timonial, handed him nice little bunch
of money, saying, "God be with you
These and many Others" said Mr..
Murphy, "shall ever hold in grateful
and loving remem brance. have come
back, and in all my travels never have
seen city SO beautiful as Portland
He paid high tribute compliment to
the work of the different temperance So
cieties, the Catholic total abstinence So
ciety, the movements instituted by the
women and others and thought it hap,
by omen that the churches are getting
together; that the Universalist and the
Methodist are lying down together.
Don't fight with man about his re-
ligion or his race. am an Irishman,'
said Mr.. Murphy. ~ was not consulted
when was born, nor were you. Be
kind and generous. My candid opinion
Is that temperance can best be promoted
by closing the saloon between the nose
and the chin. In the city of Portland it
is time for you to stop grunbling am
giving you straight goods and yard
wide when say there is less drunkenness
in Portland than almost any place you
can visit. The trouble here is if one man
gets drunk the whole town knows it.
Don't magnify pimple into pumpkin,
for the statistics show that in June, 1897
the total arrests for all crimes, including
drunkenness, were less that in the preyi-
GUS year."
Referring incidentally to race suggested
by the reading of Scriptures from Cor
inthians, he said 'Why, Paul was an
Irishman;. can prove it. Paul says,
When was a child, spake as child
Whoever said spake except an Irishman,"
continued Mr.. Murphy.
The speaker then exhorted young men
to avoid what seemed to him besetting
sin, namely, shame of honest labor.
''Be men and not dudes. Avoid debt
and keep your right hand free. The Iiv-
ing consciousness of having done ones
best was pleasing in Gods eyes"
He wondered that children were as
good as they are, and thought reform
should begin at the Preside. There is
too much bossing; too many shut ups,
sit-downs, hurry-ups, instead of loving,
kind and encouraging words. More love-
less engrossment in the purely business
affairs of the world would make life's
paths less thorny.
''The kindness which lavished upon
my sons" said the speaker, "has returned
me ten hundred per cent" and to the
evident qualification of the audience he
described the happy lots in which the
lives of his sons were cast.
Mr.. Murphy then gave graphic de-
scription of the place of his nativity, his
early struggles with poverty, his painful
separation from his mother, and feeling
ly said, "that the shadow which he had
caused to cross her track could be attri-
buted to drink, to drink"
He appealed to all young men for
mothers love, for sisters love; to stand
shoulder to shoulder in the cause of So
hr;atv. RI Ia manly and t,,1,e and tt+b,