Lectures at St. Leonards.
A Musical Lecture was given in the Workingmen’s Institute on March 16th to a crowded audience by Mr. Smithard, who entertained the company with an amusing address, interspersed with temperance melodies. Mr F. Thompons assisted with gruitous(sic) services at the piano.
Another Musical Lecture came off at the same place on the evening of April 3rd, and a similar one on the following evening. The hall was filled on each occasion, and Mr. Smithard was again the entertainer. His facinating(sic) style in favour of temperance appeared to be as convincing as it was amusing. W. Janson, Esq, and the Rev. Tilson-Marsh severally occupied the chair.
“Workmen, What they Are and Might Become” was the title of a lecture delivered at the Norman-road Temperance Hall on the 23rd of June, by Mr. Allen. The Rev. P. W. Ray, of Greensted, presided, and his opening address was so hearty as to evoke frequent applause. The lecturer handled his subject with great ability, and much enthusiasm was evinced.
“Alcohol and its Effects on the Organism of Man” was the burden of a lecture delivered at the Workingmen’s Institute, Norman-road, on the 11th of September, by Mr. T. A. Augustus Land, of Hastings. Mr. Carl Burg officiated as Chairman, and the lecturer’s remarks were of a lucid and forcible character.
Two Lectures by Mr. G. E. Lomax, one of the “great guns” of the Temperance party were given in the Workingmen’s Institute on the 23rd and 24th of September, to a rather small audience on each occasion. The subject of the first lecture was “Are Intoxicating Drinks the good creatures of God or the bad creatures of Man’s Invention?” – a subject that in the hands of so popular lecture(sic) as Mr. Lomax might have been reasonably supposed capable of attracting a “full house”. But such it did not, nor was it treated of in a manner as to confirm the good opinion that a previous hearing of Mr. Lomax had engendered. The subject of the second lecture was “That the Liquor Traffic is offensive to God, injurious to Man, and a Curse to any people, whether enslaved or free”. In this, as in the first lecture, “great expectations” were not realized. It might have been the limited attendance that induced the lecturer to adopt a talkative and rambling style in lieu of the logical requirements of a properly prepared lecture each with such pretentious and portentious a heading. There was, however, no lack of “stage effect”, nor was there wanting a plenitude of small talk and large talk – domatic(sic), bombastic, despotic and egotistic – that nearly eleven o’clock, displeased some and delighted others.
“The Blessing of Temperance” formed the topic of a lecture delivered at Hollington on the 21st of October by Mr. F. Beck, formerly of Hastings, but then of Portsmouth. It was a lecture with a more modest title than those of Mr. Lomax, and far more rational in treatment, one of its effects being to induce four persons to take the pledge.
