The Newtown bee., 1897-02-19
Local Affairs
TWO sTEREoPTI 'oH LEoTVREs THAT DREW
 oUTLARaE AND DELIGHTED AUDIENCES.
REV J. H. JAMES GIVES PEOPLE MUCH TO THINK ABOUT ON QUESTIONS WELL WORTH THINKING ABOUT.

Agreeable to the notice in last weeks | BEE Rev Joseph H. James, Secretary | of the Connecticut Temperance l Union, gave two stereopticon lectures in | Newtown on the first two evenings of this week. They were both largely at tended; they both held the closest at tention of the audience from the first picture to the lsst, and they both, with out doubt, set people thinking on some great subjects, if they did not do more than that. The first lecture was given in Costello's Opera House at Sandy Hook, Sunday ev- ening, February II. The hall was filled with a representative audience, every seat on the main floor of the hall being
 occupied, with many standing in the rear. Members of all the religious societies in the town sat side by side, and listened
 with equal interest to the facts brought forward and watched the views display l ed. The meetings were marked tribute l to the availability of the plan of those who differ widely from each other in many ways finding 8 common footing in | the advancement of great reforms. Rev 1 Otis w. Barker, pastor of the Coagrega
 tional church, in introducing MT James said every family in America, directly or
 indirectly, had suffered from the blighl
 of in5emperance; that the temperance
 movement may pesei ibly have had cham pions who had exerted wider inf ueuce
 than Mr James, but it never had sup
 porter wno put more heart into his work The lecture on The Problem of the Age" showed clearly that the drink evil
 was the greatest of all problems. Ous
 losses by fire are enormous, but they are a bagatelle compared to the waste Of money through liquor. The proportion of alcohol contained in various drinks was shown, and the speaker took occa- sion to pay his respects to the rural cider mill. '.Cider-drunk'' is worse than "whisky-drunk," because it makes one more beside himself and more abusive. The usual feature of ''sweet cider" is that it is always sweet, not till it is old, but until it is sold. Some sad pictures were thrown upon the screen showing some of the places where the lowest oi the low assemble, and also homes where misery and wretchedness reside because of drink. The "treating" habit is rather peculiar to the soil of America, and is responsible for many lives being derail' ed and led to ruin. A brighter side
 however, was presented in the display ) of what is being done to counteract the
 ravages of drink. The pictures of many
 prominent in the temperance reform were shown. Among these was the well
 known face of Bishop Tierney of Connec
 ticut, who, while administering the rite o , confirmation in the Roman Catholic
 church, has pledged 10000 boys anC girls to abstinence from intoxicants unti D they reached the age of 2l. Mrs Mar Il Hunts picture was given as the one wh' - conceived the idea Of teaching in thu r schools the effects of alcohol upon tn, body. All the States in the Union, bu
 three, now make temperance instruction
 compulsory in the public schools.
 The second lecture, "Figures on tn
 
 l was given at the Congregational churcl ,s in Newtown Street, Monday evening, Feb o; ruary b. The church was we'll filled '. many boys and younger persons beinI , noticed in the audience, who took i }. every picture and every word. Tn
 pastor of the church, Rev Otis W. BaI
 ker, introduced Mir James, saying tha
 he was not to give strictly temperanc IS lecture, but show, not how the worlt
 has moved, but how the world has bee
 moved by noble men and women. Thi
 was just what MT James did. In a yer - unique way he went through the world S' history .displaying epoch making me and epoch making movements. Begin t, ing far back with the giving of the divin
 law on Mount Sinai, some wonderful :. realistic views came before the eyes 0 the scenery along the route of the war ts derings of Israel, of Moses the grea
 law-giver, and of the giving of the Lay - itself upon the glory-encircled mount }. Christ's life, as the great impulse in tn world toward the right, called forth sev
 eral beautiful views. The Pilgrir 2 movements, the embarking at Deli
 Haven, the signing of the compact i
 the Mayflower cabin, the prayer-meetinl - in thewoods with sentinels on guard, tn
 So-foot monument to Pilgrim memory
 seemed call from out the past to nobl { deeds today. As picture after pictur
 revealed the good work that is bein
 done in many different ways, the love
 of righteousness could not but feel tha N. they who are for us are more than the : that be against us." It was splendi i. lecture and calculated to inspire all t
 higher living and nobler thinking.
 It may be worthy of notice that wha
 added greatly to the enjoyment of thi last lecture was the use of the ney