The sun., 1907-12-01

sOctallse Orators TAklng the PHace OF ths
OId Time ReIlgBonu Speakers.

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sScIaIlae Orators TAklng the PIaee Of the
OId Time ReIIgBSus Speakers.
LONDON. Nov. 2i.--Old LOndonsrs who
go to Hyde Park on occasional Sunday
afternoons to hear the speakers and watch
the crowds gathered about them say there
has been a great change within the last
few years in the trend Of Thought which
marks these OrstiOns. Al one time there
were a large number Of religious speakers
Church Armyists Christian Endeavorers
and Prohibitionists. with only meagre
scattering Of Socialists or other political
orators noticeable.
Now Il 10 just the other way. The re-
igious societies are much in tho minority.
while the anarchists. Socialists. Woman
Sufragists. &C, all the air with their
loud and long authorizations.
just in case some overxealous orator
should overstOp the limit OF tolerance and
try to incite to crime. there are plain clothes
men scattered among the groups. but they
almost never break up a meeting or have
to interfere in any way.
IL is certainly remarkable the extent
and variety Of the subjects dealt with at
these gatherings. Atheists and preachers
for the Band OF Hope, speakers from the
Union. the Catholic Educational Union and
the National Secular Education League
all preach their gospels to their temporary
followers. each without The slightest re-
gard for the others and not In the least
disturbed by the proximity Of an equally
foroeful neighbor holding and setting forth
exactly opposite views.
Here we have a Christian Endcavor group.
An old American negro is addressing the
crowd and urging them TO find salvation
as he has found Il, and with tears rolling
d0wn his dusky cheeks he prays for their
scals ~ DO saved as his will be. Then a
bustlinS cheerful gentleman in a high hat
takes his place and gives out hymn, read
ing the words OF each stanza slowly and
carefully so that the crowd may be tempted
to join in the singing. In case they
shouldn't, however. he has fortified his
own efforts by a small choir.
In the pauses OF the hymn can be heard
the voice Of the nearby anarchist shouting:
~.t is my firm and steadfast opinion that
our strength by sticking close, shoulder
to shoulder, in the march Of progress"
Beyond him is a scholarly looking man,
shabbily dressed. talking on humanitarian
deIsm; He has only tiny group OF
attentive listeners.
Still further on the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
have secured the services of an American
Indian, who Is addressing intelligently a
pearance than his words. just a little
beyond him is the yuffragette.
She Ia a very much in earnest young
woman, and the crowd is good naturedly
tolerant toward her efforts 10 convince
them. though there is general disapproval
cause she 10 so ardentlt pleading. She
courageously tries to answer all the face
tiOus questions which are put 70 her. and
fills in all gaps by reiterating the warcry:
low do yer know they want themp"
shouts a big burly man. Mine don't, do
yer, Nance?' and Nance murmurs some
thing to the effect that he'd BEST shut his
silly 'ead and not ave hevery one a-loOxin'
at them.
~OO'd get the wOrkin'man's dinner2"
inquiries a woman amid the approving mods
Of the crowd.
But this question does not impress the
suffragette as having much bearing on the
case in hand, for she ignores it. 20 the great
triumph OF her questioner, who feels that
she has scored point.
The Socialist speakers are from many
different organizations; There are the
Disaifected Socialists, the Socialist Party
of Great Britain, the Social Democratic
Federation, and the Clarion Scouts So
cialists. These speakers always have large
crowds around them. and II they misplace
a few his In their words they make up for
that deficiency in the vigor and earnestness
OF their discourse.
Mounted on an unevenly balanced table
is "A young man who shouts at the crowd
and tries TO make them understand how
capital Oppresses labor and how labor
must combine against the enemy.
81 am a workingman talking TO working
men and am proud of il, - he says, "and II
they was to hotter to make me Cabinet
Minister I'd say No, thank yer, I prefer
to remain a wOrkingman.'"
He gets few cheers at this dramatic
ending 10 his speech. and they are mingled
with the hoOts and laughter that the fiat
earthist nearby is receiving an he promul-
who quite naturally prefer 70 believe the
earth round like an orange or a ball, as IL |
was when they went to school
IL is Tower Of Babel OF ideas this Hyde |
Park forum, and as II has been for genera
tions so II will be for more generations. |
As the sneakers change so do the ideas, !
till the old ones come back all over again |
and are greeted as new.