He was three weeks accomplishing the journey; and when he arrived in London spent the first day in search of work, which he failed to obtain. In the evening, seeing that a temperance meeting was to be held in a hall off the Westminster Road, he went to it; and asked to be allowed to speak. Some of those on the platform viewed with distrust the gaunt, shabby, travel-stained applicant. But he would take no denial, and soon won cheers from the audience. When he stopped short, after a brief address, someone shouted "Go on". "How can a chap go on when he has nothing to say?" came the ready reply. That night he had no money in his pocket to pay for a bed; so he walked the streets of London through the weary hours till dawn of day. Other temperance meetings he addressed; for his heart and mind were full of that subject. After one of the meetings a gentleman questioned him as to his means; and, finding the straits he was in, asked if he were not disheartened. "No," replied John; "it is true I carry all my wealth in my little wallet, and have only a few pence in my pocket; but I have faith in God I shall yet succeed." Struck by his manifest sincerity, the gentleman introduced him next day to a friend who took a warm interest in the temperance cause. "Which wouldst thou prefer, carpentering or trying to persuade thy fellow-men to give up drinking, and to become teetotalers?" he asked. Without hesitation John Cassell replied:-- "The work of teetotalism." "Then thou shalt have an opportunity, and I will stand thy friend." John Cassell now went forth as a disciple of the temperance cause. Remembering his experiences on the way to London he furnished himself with a watchman's rattle, with which he used to call together the people of the villages he visited. A temperance paper thus speaks of him in 1837:-- "John Cassell, the Manchester carpenter, has been labouring, amidst many privations, with great success in the county of Norfolk. He is passing through Essex--(where he addressed the people, among other places, from the steps leading up to the pulpit of the Baptist chapel, with his carpenter's apron twisted round his waist)--on his way to London. He carries his watchman's rattle--an excellent accompaniment of temperance labour." Cassell had a great regard for Thomas Whittaker. It was an address given by this gentleman which had first made him wish to become a public man. When he called on Mr. Whittaker in Nottingham, as already related, after some conversation had taken place, he remarked:-- "I should like to hear thee again, Tom". "Well," remarked Whittaker as a joke, "you can if you go with me to Derby." John accepted the invitation forthwith, much to his friend's chagrin, who was bothered to know what to do with him; for he was under the 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:--