"The range of rooms was most elegantly fitted up for the occasion. The walls were all covered with white cambric, ornamented with rosettes of various colours, and elegantly interspersed with a variety of evergreens. The windows, fifty-six in number, were also festooned and ornamented with considerable taste. The tables, 630 feet in length, were covered with white cambric. At the upper and lower ends of each side-room were mottoes in large characters, 'temperance, sobriety, peace, plenty,' and at the centre of the room connecting the others was displayed in similar characters the motto, 'happiness.' The tables were divided and numbered, and eighty sets of brilliant tea-requisites, to accommodate parties of ten persons each, were placed upon the table, with two candles to each party. A boiler, also capable of containing 200 gallons, was set up in Mr. Halliburton's yard, to heat water for the occasion, and was managed admirably by those reformed characters. About forty men, principally reformed drunkards, were busily engaged as waiters, water-carriers, &c.; those who waited at the tables wore white aprons, with 'temperance' printed on the front. The tables were loaded with provisions, and plenty seemed to smile upon the guest. A thousand tickets were printed and sold at 6_d._ and 1_s._ each, but the whole company admitted is supposed to be about 1200; 820 sat down at once, and the rest were served afterwards. The pleasure and enjoyment which beamed from every countenance would baffle every attempt at description, and the contrast betwixt this company and those where intoxicating liquors are used is an unanswerable argument in favour of temperance associations." A tea-party at Liverpool, in 1836, was attended by a greater number, and the account shows very clearly that the early temperance gatherings will contrast favourably with the large Blue Ribbon meetings held at the present time:-- "The great room where tea was provided was fitted up in a style of elegance surpassing anything we could have imagined. The platform and the orchestra for the band were most tastefully decorated. The beams and walls of the building were richly ornamented with evergreens and appropriate mottoes. The tables were laid out with tea-equipages interspersed with flower-pots filled with roses. When the parties sat down, in number about 2500, a most imposing sight presented itself. Wealth, beauty, and intelligence were present; and great numbers of reformed characters respectably clad, with their smiling partners, added no little interest to the scene, which was beyond the power of language to describe."