The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-11-15
AsHINGToNIAN RALLY.
Opening Meeting of the Seasonal City Hall
Last Evening.

The first of series of Washingtonian
rallies to be held during the winter. in
stituted by committee appointed by the
clergymen of the city. and composed of
Rev S. 3 Pearson, Capt Geo. II. Blake
and Rev. L. S. Sampson, took place at
the City hall last night.
A highly interested audience number
ing nearly 1000 was in attendance. and
the meeting was presided over by Rev.
Samuel f. Pearson.
The exercises begun by singing "All
Hail the Power Of Jesus's Name fol-
lowed by the reading of the Scriptures by
REV. DIR. Blanchard, and very fervent
prayer by Rev. Mr.. Pearson.
The presiding officer then stated that
the object of the gathering was to inaugu-
rate the movement Of last winter and lex
pressed pleasure at the goodly attic ndance
and then introduced as the first speaker
Capt. Geo. H. Blake, who said, in part:
Those men who, met in il Baltimore in
1910 had on conception of how far-reach-
ing their work would be. Since then
1900, 900 people, who had been the victims
Of intoxicants had been delivered from
the vice. In those days there were no pro-
hibitory laws, even a clergyman would
have felt insulted If upon making call
he was not invited to take drink All
this has been changed and the country
today is far different country.
Today our plan is to make an assault
upon the drink habit and to strengthen
and develop public opinion. For more
than SO years there has been no public
opinion. We have laws, but what have
they amounted to? We turn our back on
the prohibitory law; we have nothing to
do with the direction of sheriffs or mar
shals; we discard all these and propose
to fight the drink habit. Wherever we
find 1t, it is our foe We propose to fight
it with weapons of love, of intelligent
reasons and of persuasion. He closed with
an urgent appeal for total abstainers to
create a public opinion which would
reach "down stairs and up to God s
throne"
The Rev. DR.. Blanchard was the next
speaker. He made an earnest appeal,
addressing himself to the thought of
what a rich man might do for the Wash
| ingtonian movement in the city of Port
land
| Rich men, said the speaker, ought to
use their money before they die and see
the institutions which they endow. Sit
| ting in his study and thinking over the
drink problem, it occurred to the speaker
that one thing the rich men in Portland
might do would be to build building
as large, handsome and useful as the
new Y. NJ. C. A. structure for the use
of working men-the men not often found
in churches and whose home lives are not
always happy.
| They have a club near my church, said
| DR.. Blanchard, / hope it is healthful
place; it was built with the money OF
rich men, and why cannot this money be
used for such building as just mon
toned; with a large reading room, bow
| ling alley, gymnasium, magnificent lee
tUre room, etc., all of which would con-
tribute to the symmetrical development
of the workingman.
| Rev. Lewis Malvern was the next in
troduoad, and dwelt upon the danger OF
the use OF alcohol and with what dis
trust railroads and business firms looked
upon employees who used strong drink.
He paid glowing tribute to Portland as
a city where stocks of goods were magni-
foent, it's banks well equipped, Its safe
deposits numerous and it's comfortable
homes make it a symmetrical city. He
expressed absolute belief in the prohibi,
! tory law and could not for moment
lend assent to the proposition to license
| anything morally wrong. He thought
it well to initiate the Deacon who found
himself always on the right side becau {
"I see, said the Deacon, which side the
devil takes and then take the other side. >
! notable feature of the rally was the
spirited music which was inteIsperse6
between the addresses by large choil
under the leadership of Rev. Henry +
Dexter. and made up Of the singers o.
the Gospel Mission.
The instrumen tal part was carried by
three corn lists, Miss Evangeline Pear
son. Mr., Francis Bent and Alfred L.
Davis, with baritone horn by W. W
Evans ''The Gospel Net" ''Climb Up
Lift Up WANTED Boy" were among
their numbers.
| An invitation to sign the pledge wal
extended and at the close of the meeting
about 40 individuals availed themselves
to the privileges.