The Herald of Wales. — 1887-02-05 (Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales)

BLUE RIBBON MEETING.  TEMPERANCE AND INTEMMEDIATE EDUCATION.  The fleas] weekly Blue Ribbon Meeting of the Gospel Temperance Union, was held on Saturday evening, at the Albert Hall, Swansea. There was an unusually large audience who evinced the utmost interest in the proceedings, whi..l were throughout of a most enthusiastic character—in fact the meeting was one of the moat successful which has been held since the commencement of the temperance movement in Swansea.—The Rev. F. Samuel presided, and was supported by Mr. Seth Joehna (Heath), Mr. George Matthews (Underfeed), Mr. George Blundell, "the Sketty Blacksmith," Mr. William Lloyd, Dr. Rawlings, Mr. Magee Banfield, Mr. Lloyd Davies, (secretary), the Rev. J. Bailey, Rev. Miles Duffil, and others. The Blue Ribbon Choir, under the efficient leadership of Mr. Trebeanie, was in attendance and acquitted itself in its usual admirable manner. The singing of hytna 292 opened the meeting, after which Mr. George Matthew read a portion of Scripture and engaged in prayer. The chairman, daring the course of a abort address, said that he had been identified with total abstinence for upwards of thirty years. It was very evident, from his own obeervance, and the great interest evinced in the weekly blue ribbon meetings, that the temperance , movement had made itself felt in Swansea, and I was doing an ineetimabie amount of good work. ' (Cheers.) 1 "The Lord is King" was then capitally sung by the choir. Mr. George Blundell, who next addressed the meeting, remarked that, but for the evil influences of drink, England would be the happiest country on the fame of the earth. His remarks wereinterspersed with several humorous anecdotes, which kept the audience in a coutinual roar of laughter. "When the Mists have rolled away " well sung by Mr. Seth Joshua, and loudly applauded. Mr. H M. Williams rendered a recitation entitled, " Sumthin' about strong drink: by Old Ebony," which displayed to great advantage his capabilities as an elocutionist. The plaudits which he received were deafening, and it was not until he had given a few additional lines that the audience became pacified. Mr Shugg next gave a solo, which met with a hearty reception. Mr Seth Joshua, who upon rising was received ' with loud and prolonged cheering, during the course of an eloquent and stirring address said that it was next to impossible to bring a drunkard to the feet of Christ, unless he could first be persuaded to renounce his damning sin of intemperance. As a nation, we teetered, encouraged, and supported a traffic whinh for many generations had been ring on, and which WU truly demoralizing, eocially, politically, morally, and spiritually, this mighty, wealthy, and Christian lsnd of ours. Drink was the traffic. Alcohol was the enemy of heaven, and the fiend of hell. (Sensation.) England, as the mightiest of empires, should not forget her responsibility to God, for it was God who endowed her with that responsibility. But alas, she did forget it by fostering in her midst that which was a curse to heaves and to earth. Gradually she was being lowered from the high position which she held among the wculd's nations. She was beinz dismembered, and brought down to the very dust. Referring to a Blil for the Sippression of the Drink Traffic in the United Kingdom, Mr. Joshua said that that Bill was of far greater importenoo than :the Diseetablishment and Intesmediate Education Bills. (Hear, hear.) The passing of the Drink Suppression Bill would do more to help the country than any other Bill that could be brought forward. (Loud applause.) True, the Intermedi to Educatmn Bill was of great importance from a worldly point of view, but it dwindled into the most abject insignificance when compared with the Drink suppression Bill, for that Bill was of eternal importance, not only to Great Britain, but to the world at large. It would be the means of saving countless numbers from a drunkard's hell and not until it was passed would England in reality become a free and Christian land (Cbeore.) This Bill embraced to :a groat extent loth: the provisions of the Diesetal baba nt and lutermediate Education Bills. It was no u s passing the Education Bill, without first making law the Drink Suppression Bill, for intemperance would counteract the spread of knowledge, considering that the E lueation Bill was for the benefit of the working clams, amongst whom intemperance WWI most rife. The meeting closed with the pronounciation of the benediction.  Shortly after nine o'clock, on Tuesday morn- I ing, Elizabeth Whiting, of Princess-rued, Bermondsey, London, surrendered to the police stating that she had murdered her two ohiairtn, whose dead bodies were subsequently disooversd.