Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-04

the sticks on 1op of it. and then the coal
top of that. and then III 'ile iot 10
sether she'd soon have as nice lire as d
minister could want to toast his Sims at.
".Boys.' says |. you're dry now. but
You'll be drier on Friday night and m
going to light YOU all together ON that
night at half-past s.
well. they agreed to come at last and
| went home and l think l never PRAYED
as hard as ! did between that Tuesday
and that Friday. On the great nleht
when | was sitting i'll my study waiting
very nervously, I'll admit, heard
was my brave John Elliott with his five
men l can tefl You | was glad | took
them in and prayed together and l
gave them the pledge that had devised.
This is it:
. For God and home and native land,
] hereby promise to abstain from al
alcoholic beverages and to get as many
Others as | can to do the same
That last clause is the secret of it all.
! gave those men something to do. and
before they left the house made them
all promise 10 come back the next Fri
day night with six more men.
II had an anxious week and about SID
there was a knock and there was John
Elliott alone. Nv heart went down.
Your reverence he asked. what time
did You say We were TO come
- Come at once. John. | said, and he
ran across the road and back he comes
with eleven men. Every man of the lot
had caught his pal Next week there
were thirty-tHo men in my study and |
don't believe there ever was suCl an
other gathering in the $tudy of min
lister of the gospel. Some of the biggest
backguards and boozer' and drunkards
In the town We're there. One of them
hadn't been sober for twenty wears, eN
cept six months that he in jail.
gave them the pledge and there and then
we founded the Armagh City Protestant
Total Abstinence Union. When We grew
a little bigger we changed the city to
county and then we dropped the first
two words of the tit altogether, and a
month ago we had over 130.0OO enrolled
members. After that met i'll the
schoo!room attached to my church. and
tell YOU they We're wonderful meetings.
Time was when | wouldn't give the pledge
to a drunken man. Now l will and gladly.
Some of the truest men / have took the
pledge when they were drunk. And what
a time we had Every man who took my
pledge went out to catch his pal and
bring him in. and if his pal was d
drunken blacksuard SO much the better.
A month after we started | met fellow
minister who had been away on holiday
and asked him what he thought of it.
TN tell you what l think, Patterson
he said. When l went away | copldnt
walk up the street TO my house without
having my eyes and ears offended by the
sight and sound of Il dozen drunken BIAS
pheming vagabonds. When | came home
l walked UP the same way and | didn't
see a drunken man or hear an oath.
That's what I think of it,
Since those days Mr.. Patterson has
spoken in nearly every town in the north
of Ireland and in several in England and
Scotland. There is hardly town or
village in Down. Armagh and Antrim that
has not branches and most of the towns
in Tyrone. Londonderry, Donegal and
Fermanagh are also represented. The
writer asked Mr.. Patterson what the con-
crete result of the movement the
liquor trade was. but he declared that he