After that followed temperance work. This is how Miss Weston came to
sign the pledge.
She was working hard at meetings for the promotion of the temperance
cause when a desperate drunkard, a chimney sweep by trade, came to her
at one of the meetings and was going to sign the pledge.
Pausing suddenly he remarked, "If you please, Miss Weston, be you a
teetotaler?"
"No," she replied; "I only take a glass of wine occasionally, of
course in strict moderation." Laying down the pen he remarked he
thought he'd do the same. So after this Miss Weston became an
out-and-out teetotaler, duly pledged.
She had some experience of good work in the army before she took to
the navy. The 2nd Somerset Militia assembled every year for drill;
and for their benefit coffee and reading rooms were started and
entertainments arranged, Miss Weston taking an active part in their
promotion. The soldiers' Bible class which she conducted was well
attended; and altogether, as one of the officers remarked, "the men
were not like the same fellows" after they had been brought under her
influence.
The way Agnes Weston was first introduced to the sailors was singular.
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