The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-09-17
THEIR BEST GIFT.
Brftishers Presented DR.. Shell
don With Illuminated Address.
Story Of the Farewell Reception
in alliance News"
LETTER FROMR. WAKE
Former Kansan Writes to Old
Southampton Friends.
DIR. Sheldon Gives Them Some
Typical American HumOr.''

Rev. Charles NJ. Sheldon brought
back with him from England an Ill
Illuminated address from the temper
ance people of that country, which was
presented to him at a farewell recep-
ton given in his honor on August 80.
at the home of Hon. Mrs Eliot
Yorke. HANDLE Cliff, Netley. near
dress" is in the form of a parchment
book. and is as follows:
10 the Rev. Charles NJ Sheldon, D.
d, Topeka, Kansas, u. S. A.
Dear Dr. Sheldon:-We, the officers
OF the United Kingdom Alliance, desire
land, to assure you of our grateful
sense of the lasting service you have
rendered to the cause of temperance
reform in Great Britain. You have
visited and have been welcomed by
crowded meetings in a large number
or centers of population, and have
stirred up our friends to fresh enthus-
1asm by your plain and convincing mar
rative of the results of prohibition in
your own state of Kansas, and you
have made an appeal to the Christian
conscience of our people that will not
be in vain
don prosperous voyage to your native
land, and we trust you will return to
your home and work refreshed in bodv
ana mind and with happy memories of
your English tour.
We are. dear DIR. Sheldon. your
friends and fellow workers,
Left Jones, president; w. j. Cross
ley. treasurer; E. L. Hicks. Hon. sec
ecutlve committee; T. P. Smith, deputy
chairman executive committee; w.
Williams, secretary.
SOth August, 1907
Letter From Richard Wake.
In the Alliance News British
temperance paper, there is an inter
esting report of the farewell reception
rendered to DR.. Sheldon, at the time
the illuminated address shone forth.
AT mat reception a letter was read
from Richard Wake, formerly a Kan
sas man, now of Los Angeles, Cal Mr.
Wake signed the pledge in Southamp-
ton over so years ago, and when a
young man of twenty-five gave a lee
ture at the GuildhalI, in that town, on
"a Adyantages of ,Teetotalism to the
Wake left the old country for Kansas.
and became the chairman of the COM
mittee which drafted the prohibitory
liquor bill for this state. Mr.. Wakes
letter was as follows:
AS an old Southamptonian and la |
ter kansan, and having been iden- !
titled with temperance work in both |
the ancient town and the new state,
Pacific coast the magnificent cam |
paign conducted by DR.. Sheldon in |
your country and reported in the AL
lance News Though the reports of |
his speeches have been too meagre
yet from what I know of him 1 am
sure DIR. Sheldon has told the great |
story of the Kansas struggle and tri- |
umph with charming simplicity, and |
has presented an eloquent array of |
facts which has demonstrated to tens
of thousands of my fellow-cOuntry- |
men that in the suppression of the Ii |
QuOr traffic lies the solution of one of |
the most perplexing problems of mod |
ern civilization
1.-The labors of your distinguished |
guest, as we'll as of others less famous
who have visited you from this side
of the Atlantic, must have impressed |
the British public with the fact that |
your transatlantic cousins are far in
advance of the mother country on the
temperance question. Prohibitory |
laws in several states, local option in |
many others, the heavy burden of /
taxation imposed upon the traffic in
license territory the disappearance of
intoxicants from thousands of Ameri-
can homes not avowedly teetotal, are
among the evidence of the strong
hold temperance sentiment has Sc
cured in this country. The chief rea-
son is not far to seek. From almost
the beginning of the movement the
Christian ministry and churches have
can conscience has always been on
the right side of the conflict. This has
been a source of strength England
lacked for many years, and which
even yet is not enjoyed in the fullest
possible measur But 1 rejoice that
the old homeland is making great
strides in the right direction. Trust
ing that the coming year will place
upon your statute books a law. which
will inaugurate a new era in the tenn
perance crusade. 1 am, etc"
Typical American Humor."
DR. Sheldon made a speech at this
reception which the Britishers said
was full of typical American humor,"
and this is the way the Alliance News
reports the speech:
'Dr. Sheldon. who was greeted with
loud applause, made a happy re-
spouse. His address was full of typi-
cal American humor. and said that
after one of his meetings he had been
asked if when he went home he would
take the house of lords with him
(Laughter.) He declined. with
thanks, and said he did not know
what to do with it. But he would