human
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.