The Hero of the Humber; Or, The History of the Late Mr. John EllerthorpeWoodcock, Henry
Religion
The Hero of the Humber; Or, The History of the Late Mr. John Ellerthorpe
Woodcock, Henry
Ellerthorpe, John, 1806-1868; Heroes -- England -- Biography; Sailors -- England -- Biography
I have stated that our friend spoke at hundreds of temperance meetings,
and his bluntness of manner, curt style of address, and nautical
phrases, won for him a ready hearing. Whenever he rose on the platform
eyes beamed and hearts throbbed with delight. Not that his hearers
expected to listen to an eloquent speech, or to be amused by
laughter-exciting and fun-making eccentricities, but he rose with the
influence of established character, combined with an ardent temperament,
a ready wit, and a face beaming with the sunshine of piety towards God
and good-will to men. Besides, there was a just appreciation of his many
deeds of gallantry, some of which he occasionally related, and which
rarely failed to fill his hearers with admiration for the brave heart
that could prompt and the ready skill that could perform them. Hence, he
was listened to in the town and neighbourhood of Hull with an amount of
sympathy, attention, and respect which no other advocate of total
abstinence, possessed of the same mental abilities, could command.
[Sidenote: FORMS A BAND OF HOPE.]
The _Band of Hope_ had a warm friend and powerful advocate in the person
of Mr. Ellerthorpe, and it was in connexion with its services that he
found his most congenial employment. 3,000,000 of the inhabitants of
our country are now pledged abstainers from intoxicating drinks, and
this number includes upwards of 2,000 ministers of the Gospel. But
thirty years ago this cause was regarded with disfavour even by the
religious public. Hence, when Mr. Ellerthorpe and others sought to form
a Band of Hope in connexion with the Primitive Methodist Sabbath School,
Great Thornton Street, Hull, they met with much opposition from several
members of the Society, and also from some of the teachers in the
school, who were 'tipplers,' and could not endure the idea of a Band of
Hope. But the Band was formed, with Mr. Ellerthorpe as president, and it
soon numbered three hundred members. Before his death he saw upwards of
thirty of these Juvenile Bands formed in Hull. He attended most of their
anniversaries, throwing a flood of genial merriment, just like dancing
sunlight, over his young auditors. Hundreds of these 'cold water
drinkers' sometimes listened to him on these occasions, and as he
related some of the scenes of his eventful life, their young hearts
throbbed and their eyes filled with tears.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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