Beneath the Banner by F. J. Cross
page 31 of 201 (15%)
page 31 of 201 (15%)
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impression that some members of the family where he expected to lodge
would not give a very hearty welcome to this rough fellow. This is Mr. Whittaker's narrative of the sequel:-- "We walked together to Derby that day. At the meeting he spoke a little, and pleased the people. When the meeting was over, he said:-- "'Can't I sleep with you?' "'Well,' I said, 'I have no objection; but, you know, _I_ am only a lodger.' "However, go with me he _would_, and _did_. That was the man. When John made up his mind to do a thing he did it; and to that feature in his character, no doubt, much of his future success may be attributed. The gentleman at whose house he met me at Nottingham, and who was ashamed of him, subsequently became his servant, and touched his hat to him; and John has pulled up at my own door in his carriage, with a liveried servant, when I lived near to him in London." John Cassell was now in the thick of the fight. In those days the opposition to the Gospel of Temperance was keen and bitter. Sometimes there were great disturbances at the meetings, sometimes he was pelted with rubbish, at times he did not know where to turn for a night's lodging. It was, on the whole, a fierce conflict; but John was nothing daunted. It is, of course, impossible to sum up the amount of a man's influence. John Cassell scattered the seed of temperance liberally. |
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