We have already had occasion, more than once, to
refer to the special importance attached by the subject of our
narrative to Bands of Hope, which he evidently regarded as, on the
whole, the most hopeful and easy means of rooting total abstinence
from strong drink among the principles and habits of a people. The
sayings, as we have seen, were daily on his lips as household words,
that the character of the next generation mainly depended on the
moral training of the children of the present, and that it was
always a more easy thing to prevent evil than to
recover from its bondage. And associations under such names as the
"League of Juvenile Abstainers" had existed early in the history of
the temperance movement, and done good so far as they went. It was
not, however, until 1876, that the Edinburgh Band of Hope Union was
founded, and that similar societies for the young began to be
recognised everywhere as a regular part of the temperance
organisation; and from the initiation of the Union until the end of
his life, Mr Darling was one of its most active Directors. He
delighted in children, and this made him all the more ready to give
himself to the movement with all his heart; for them he had the
sunniest smile and the heartiest laugh, and his facility in
addressing them increased with his experience and age. He knew how
to speak to children without being childish; and while there was
often very little attention to logical sequence in what he said, his
addresses abounded in homely pictures and in pithy sentences with
hooks which laid hold of the juvenile mind. Even the boy "roughs" in
the closes of the Old Town were won by him, and he knew how to lift
them out of the gutter without walking into it himself. By no
meeting of young recruits of total abstinence did Mr Darling receive
a warmer welcome, with his beaming countenance, than the Band of
Hope in his own congregation of Broughton Place; and their affection
sometimes sought tangible expression in gifts, the value of which
was greatly enhanced by the thought of the loving young hearts that
gave them.
His zeal in this matter, as in some others,
overleaped the boundaries of Edinburgh. He would willingly travel
long distances to assist in forming or fostering such Unions. Those
in Kirkcaldy, Falkirk, Stirling, and Jedburgh, and many other towns,
honour him to this day as one of their founders.
One story out of many illustrates his tact in
dealing with children. He had undertaken the management of a church
social meeting in a village about eight miles out of Edinburgh. A
multitude of the village boys had gathered around the place, more,
it is likely, from the love of fun than of mischief, but impeding
the entrance and making noisy demonstrations. Some men, in such
circumstances, would probably have come forth and scolded them,
threatening at the same time to bring the policeman with his "pains
and penalties" to disperse them. But our friend adopted a
course which showed that he better understood the hearts of such
youngsters. Coming out and looking kindly on them, he asked them to
be quiet, and stand aside for a time, promising that as soon as
their parents and friends had been suitably entertained, he would
provide them with an equally good meal, and inviting them one and
all to meet him at a given time in a neighbouring barn to which he
pointed. Of course he was punctually true to his engagement, and so
were the young and hungry guests to theirs. Arranged in good order,
tea was served, and bread and buns of every description were
distributed without stint, and by the time that the feast was over,
Mr Darling and his new friends had come to be on the best terms with
each other.
But this by no means exhausted the programme
which had all the while been in Mr Darling's mind. Referring to the
humble barn in which they were met, he began to speak to them of
Jesus Christ the Saviour of men, who had been "born in a stable and
cradled in a manger." By easy transitions he found his way to the
subject of intemperance, expatiating on the misery and shame and
ruin which it brought upon those who yielded to become its slaves.
Would it not be well for them on that very night to join in forming
a Band of Hope against this evil in its root and branch? He had
stricken the iron when it was hot, and his words did not fall to the
ground. Within a week, the news came to him that thirty-five names
had already been enrolled in the new society, which continues to
flourish up to the present day.
